Music: Life Essence

Chapters

I Just Want My Music Back
Who Are You?
Nursed Into Friendship

I Just Want My Music Back

"All my life, I've been a person who has never had the drive to do anything, whether it’s school or any other event that requires effort. It can usually take me five tries to just be able to open my eyes in the morning, and it takes me at least two hours to get to sleep at night.

“Now, don’t get me wrong, I can be up and about on some days. I can be a high functioning member of society… sometimes. Any other time, I’m sitting in my computer chair looking for new music or new videos, being a lazy sack of garbage all day and night.

I’m a great thinker, though.

“See, I believe in different theories for everything. Well, not theories, more like dumb explanations or stories for normal things in life that I want to make exciting. Like electronics and other things of that nature use magic but in a different way than usually depicted in stories and shows and whatnot. I will take one to the grave, or whenever fate decides it doesn’t like me anymore, that involves music.

“I truly believe that music is something in a class of its own. It feels as if it shouldn’t exist because of the power that it can have on a person. It’s evolved throughout time, as if it is a living being itself. It’s learning as it exists through everyone, whether they know it or not. A heart beats, much like that of a drum that gives music its pulse, and vice versa. It breathes through every living thing and every machine.

It’s a parasite.

“It latches onto the minds of living beings, becoming entangled in the minds of those living beings until it forces them to create. They create because the music in their mind tells them to. It demands that it be heard so it can spread to like-minded people throughout its ecosystem. Funny enough…

“We’ve welcomed it. All throughout human history, along with that of the ponies of Equestria, music has existed. It’s helped people escape from being slaves by sending secret messages in Early American History, and it’s helped with the cultural development of Equestria and all life on the planet.

It’s not something to laugh at. It is stronger than us, with or without the help of a sentient mind. It occurs in nature and other methods. It will always be around, and it will make itself known.”

I finished my speech with a smile and awaited the judging of the three princesses before me.

“May I see this essay, Mister Logan?” Princess Celestia asked.

I held out the paper, not wanting to overstep my boundaries. I could feel the tingle of the magical aura as it came in contact with the paper. Floating over to Celestia, then to Luna, and, finally, to Princess Twilight, it came back to me.

No matter how many times I come in contact with it, magic will always feel as if it’s a magnified joy-buzzer.

“We have looked over your essay,” Celestia spoke with a slight magnitude. “We have decided you may have your device back.”

A smile came over my face but it slipped away when all three of them rose from their thrones.

“If you tell us what it is.”

“Well, to put it simply, it plays music.” I looked to each princess, but their faces didn’t change.

“And how does it do this, Mister Logan? We’ve tried tampering with it with the use of magic, but it has yet to show us any results.” Princess Twilight asked in a calm, almost intrigued, fashion.

‘Oh, great. I have to teach pony goddesses how to use an iPod.’

“Could I see it, please? It would be easier to show you than to tell you, because I didn’t manufacture it.” I asked, holding out my hand.

Princess Celestia then retreated to a room behind the thrones and shut the door. She came out a few minutes later, levitating my iPod with magic. She handed it to me, and proceeded to remain standing. “Come closer, and show us this device.” She gestured with a hoof to how close I should come. I obeyed and began to fumble with it. The screen lit up and showed my background with the slide bar above it. I slid it sideways and showed the princesses what was on the main screen. It had all the apps on it, but I moved them all except for Music and Minecraft Portable. I then opened up the music app and showed it to the princesses again.

“Go ahead and tap one of the song names. You can also scroll down by doing this.” I slid my finger down the screen and moved it a couple times so they could see how to do it. Princess Luna scrolled around a couple times and found a random song that she apparently thought was interesting.

“Final Fantasy? What is that?” She inquired.

“It’s a game. This is a song from the soundtrack.” I could see that she was still a little lost, but I tapped the song anyway. The battle theme from Mystic Quest started up, and immediately I was hit with mixed reactions. Twilight was surprised, Luna still looked a little lost, and Celestia’s face hadn’t changed. The song died away, and I hit pause to keep it from playing again.

“See? It’s not a threat; it’s purely for my enjoyment.” I said. The princesses seemed pleased with the demonstration.

“Very well, you may leave. But we will be keeping an eye on you.” Said the bigger of the sisters.

“Understandable. Thank you… but, I do have one question.” I said.

“And what might that be?”

“Well, you let me stay here for as long as needed to create this essay and reclaim my possession. Now that I’ve done that, I have nowhere to go. It’s like I said when I arrived here; I don’t know anyone and I only have this and the clothes on my back.” I stated as a wave of realization washed over me. I could feel the little tears on the outsides of my eyes, but I fought them back when I remembered that I was in front of the rulers of the world I’ll now be living in.

“Yes, that could be a problem… Twilight, may I speak with you for a moment?” Celestia led her former student to the same room she went in to get my iPod from. The way they conversed, along with the way they moved, was done in a very professional manner. It boggled my mind how Twilight could appear so regal, with only a few months of being a princess. Well, to my knowledge.

As Celestia shut the door, I looked around the throne room. It was a nice, faded gray all around. The chandelier hanging above me was beautifully crafted with intricate designs that must have been created by a master. The Sun and Moon, along with the sisters that represent them, were depicted all around the room. The walls were lined with a nice silver and gold that would intertwine and the corners.

Outside it was a nice, almost springtime, day. The birds were chirping and singing, the wind was pushing just hard enough to be noticed and considered a breeze, and the rolling hills looked as if they were changing shape because of the wiggling grass moving from the slight wind. It was a breathtaking scene, and I was half tempted to boot up the camera on my iPod, but thought against it just in case Luna thought I was lying to them. I caught myself smiling, something that happens a lot in this world. My reasoning is that the residual magic in the air affects human emotions.

My attention was torn away from the beautiful scenery by the opening of a door. The two princesses walked back in, and all three took their seats.

“Now, before we give you any information of your place of residence, we have a series of questions for you.” Celestia put her hooves together, a serene look taking over her face.

“Do humans have the ability to utilize the arcane arts?”

“No, not to my knowledge. We have fairy tales of how we could cast magic spells and things of that nature, but it was never proven to be correct.”

“Do you have any ill intentions towards our world?”

“Heavens, no. I never had any bad intentions on my own world, let alone this one. You’ve been nice to me this whole time I’ve been here and I have no idea as to why I would dislike you at all.”

“Very well. Do you know anything about us?”

“Nothing. All I know is that we think alike and that you are a sentient race. Well, that and that you can use magic.”

“Twilight, would you like to take over?” Celestia turned to look at the other princess.

“Certainly.” She stood up and walked over to me. She stood about a meter away, and stood tall and straight. “What are your normal eating habits?”

“Like, my diet?” She nodded. “Well, fruit and vegetables, grains, and meat.”

That didn’t seem to go over well with her.

“Is meat your main source of nourishment?” She asked.

“No, I can completely disregard it and still live a healthy life. I’ve never really liked meat, so I usually just stick the fruits and vegetables.”

“So you’re an omnivore. What is the average height for your species?”

“Thinking off the top of my head, probably around six feet.” I said while trying to remember how tall I was.

“Weight?”

“Oh, I have no idea. It varies with age.”

“Average sleeping habits?”

“Well, were supposed to get eight hours of sleep every night.”

“Can you hold out your hand?” I obeyed. She enveloped my hand in a purple aura. “How do you react to magic?”

“It’s like a buzzing sensation.” I said between giggles.

“It doesn’t hurt, or burn?” She asked. The color of the magic was getting darker.

“No, it just tickles!” I said as it continued to deepen in color. I started laughing, and tears were forming down my cheeks.

The magic dissipated, along with the tickling feeling, and I regained my sense my mind.

“That’s odd. That magnitude of magic would normally kill.” She said with a mystified tone.

“Wait, you were trying to kill me?” I asked as I was wiping away my tears.

“No, no. I was just running some tests. When you said it only tickled, I increased the power little by little.” She explained.

“Well, glad I could help.” I said, inspecting my hand for any damage. “Any other tests?”

“Just one… hold your breath.” She said. I didn’t have time to think about what she said, let alone do what she said before she wrapped my body in magic. The buzzing in my ears was unbearable, as well as the force coming from all sides. The buzzing grew louder, and with it, my sense of reality slipped away.

The only way I can describe it, is as if I was passing out. My vision darkened, the buzzing grew so loud that I couldn’t hear anything, my whole body felt numb and lifeless, and my mind went blank. I couldn’t think, I didn’t even know what was happening at that point, and it only lasted what felt like a second before she released the magic.

My vision was slowly starting to creep back in, as well as my hearing, but it was muffled. I could hear voices, but I couldn’t discern whose voices they were.

I noticed that I must have fell over after she stopped the flow of magic, because I had been lying on my back.

Everything was so bright, almost like life was made of Neon lighting, and a very loud bell was all I could hear. My skin felt like it was made of rubber and any move I made resulted in a very troubling feeling in the pit of my stomach. My head was pounding and aching, almost as if someone gave me a new brain.

It took about five minutes, but I was finally able to think and move on my own.

“Ugh… what, uh, what was that?” I asked no one in particular. The voices around me stopped.

“Are you alright, Mister Logan?” A soft voice called out to me. A warm feeling came over my body as I realized I was under a warm blanket.

“I don’t… know.” I said. ‘This magic shit sucks…”

“You should be fine, although the magic used on you was very heavy indeed.” The voice belonged to Celestia.

“What happened?”

She then explained that the magic that Twilight had used had searched through my memories, my knowledge, and everything that my brain had stored.

“Do not worry; we did not tamper with anything in your mind. We just searched it in order to figure out some things about your world, and more about you. We wanted to make sure you weren’t lying about the information you gave us.” The more she spoke, the more I could think straight.

“I assume you found nothing that would find me guilty?” I pushed myself up to lean against the headboard of the bed I was now laying in.

“You were telling the truth.” A new voice chimed in. I looked to my right and found the source of the voice.

“Princess Twilight, remind me never to get on your bad side.” I said with a chuckle.

Who Are You?

Over the next few weeks, things weren’t all that bad. I thought I would be treated like more of a prisoner than a guest, being that I’m a species they’ve never heard of, but I was treated like royalty. I had servers waiting on me at all hours of the day, asking me if I needed anything. In all honesty, it was really annoying.

Most of the time I ended up locking the door and blasting my music to drown them out, and while this was pretty rude, it gained me some popularity with the inhabitants of the castle. While I was not present at dinner, I was the topic of many conversations. Most of them included what the princesses were going to do with me, while the others included if they could see me perform my “Musical Magic.” The answer was, of course, no. That didn’t stop a couple of brave little sneaks from listening through the door.

It was obvious that they were out there. Every time I played something with foul language, LMFAO and music of the like, I could hear gasps and whispers slip under the door. I even heard one guy cuss me out with the same foul language he was hearing, saying that those words were unacceptable.

Princess Celestia came and went whenever she chose. It was awkward because I was usually singing whenever she decided to use some teleportation spell and sneak up on me. The conversations were mostly passive, like she had just seen me at Wal-Mart or something and decided to stop and chat.

It boggled my mind because, she’s a princess, for one, and I could have sworn she had the busiest schedule out of all three of the princesses. She would always stop for at least an hour to ask questions about my world, about my personality of all things, and what I can remember from the day I arrived here.

Today was no different.

“I don’t know. All I can remember is that I felt extremely dizzy, but that’s normal for me. I’ve been to the doctor’s to figure out why it keeps happening.” I took a seat on the bed while she sat in the chair across from it.

“The dizziness?” She asked.

“Yes. It all started after I hit my head on a metal bar when I was twelve. Ever since then, anytime I try to move I get extremely dizzy. If it’s really bad, I’ll just pass out.” I scratched the back of my head where the bar struck.

“So, you believe it is a brain injury?”

“I guess so. The doctor never told us anything. They did some tests and measured how sharp my reflexes are, told me to go home and wait for the information, but it never came. If it is a brain injury, it hasn’t affected my ability to think clearly. I can still add, subtract, multiply and divide with no problem. I play video games like a champ. I honestly have no idea what’s wrong with me.”

“It may not be something to do with you at all.” She paused for a moment, “How loud do you usually listen to your music, Mister Logan?”

“I never have it below full volume. Same with my headphones,” I stated.

“Can you show me the music you usually listen to? As long as you don’t mind,” She asked.

“Are you sure you have the time to listen to all of it? I have over eight-hundred songs on this thing.” I said while pointing to my iPod sitting on the bedside table.

“That’s quite a number. Just show me your top five songs.” She smiled.

“Alright, just give me a minute to put them in a playlist.” I picked up the iPod and unlocked it. I was on my way to searching for the songs when I noticed the battery had finally started going down. “Um, do you think you could levitate this thing first? It’s almost out of battery.”

She wrapped the MP3 player in a golden light for a few seconds, levitating it a few inches above my hands, and dropped it back down. The battery sat still for few seconds before shooting back up to 100%.

“Thanks,” I said while scrolling through my Music Library. It took a couple of minutes, but I found them and put them in this order:

AjumpsBshoots - Stone Tower Temple VIP
Alex S. – Maximizer
Beatdown (Strider Style)
Electro - Virtual Riot - Idols (EDM Mashup)
Energy Drink – Virtual Riot

“I would have you listen through my headphones, but they’re a little small for your ears.” I said as I held them up.

“Oh, it’s no problem. I can just use a spell.” She smiled and her horn lit up with the same magical aura as before. The magic snaked from her horn and wrapped around my iPod.

“Are you ready?” I asked. She nodded and I made sure the volume was at half to prevent any damage to her ears. I hit play and her ears slowly started to rise with the airy beginning to the first song on the list. Everything was normal, until it hit the drop. Her face contorted into a mystified sort of expression, as if she didn’t know what was going on. The further it got into the song, her face changed to a relaxed smile, and her demeanor seemed to turn soft.

‘I guess she’s enjoying it?’ I thought.

Her behavior was the same throughout every other song on the list, changing from uncertain to relaxed. I noticed while she was listening that the volume was changing at random. It was usually at full volume, which I thought was funny.

‘A princess in a world with little to no technology listening to Dubstep… what have I done?’ I asked myself with a smile plastered on my face.

As the final song reached its last few seconds, the magical aura having retreated, Celestia sighed.

“That was an amazing experience… what do you call that style of music?” She asked with the smile still lingering.

“Well, I’m not too educated on the exact credentials that make up each type, so I usually call all that Dubstep whether or not it actually is Dubstep.” I said, putting the iPod in my jeans pocket.

“Dubstep? What does it mean?” She tilted her head to the side.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no clue, that’s just what everyone calls it. I was always too lazy to actually look up the reason.”

“How does your species create this music?”

“We use computers. They’re basically very powerful versions of my iPod.” I stretched and laid out on the bed, placing the pillow higher up on the wall to sit up.

“While this is a very… different style of music, is there anything you listen to that is a tad… softer?”

“Well… I probably have like, five or six songs that are basically piano and soft vocals. Why, do you want to hear more?” I smiled.

“I would love to; unfortunately, my time is up. I must attend to my royal duties,” She stood from her chair and walked to the door, pausing as her magic enveloped the door knob. “Is there anything you need from me before I leave?”

I thought on her question for a second, and then realized the smell.

“Is there any chance I could take a shower somewhere? I’ve been in this room for weeks, and it gets a little hot in here.” I looked over the clothes I was wearing, and I was not happy with the results.

My black T-Shirt with a blue Scorpio symbol painted on the front was covered in wrinkles and sweat stains. My Jeans were about the same except they were extremely loose and barely hanging on whenever I stood. My black and orange NES bracelet was… well, nothing was wrong with it. My red pair of Converse was old and stained, but that’s how they’re supposed to look.

My hair was oily, matted, and just flat out nasty. I felt like I could crawl under a rock at the realization of my physical appearance and hygiene. Either Celestia didn’t care or she had a hell of a poker face.

"Yes, come with me. I’ll have one of my royal guards escort you.” The door opened, and a flurry of different colored ponies bolted in opposite directions. The princess smiled and waved a hoof, signaling for me to follow her. I hopped off the bed, remembering to hang on to my pants on the landing, and followed Celestia out into the highly decorated hallway.

Portraits engulfed the walls with a description and hoof-print underneath each one. The walls and carpeting were a rich pink with a golden flourish lining.

Celestia shut the door with a soft click, and took a left down the hallway.

The walk was a silent one. I found myself tapping a finger on my thigh to keep a beat out of boredom. As I did this, the beat turned into instruments.

Those instruments played their notes.

With these notes came lyrics…

A few seconds later I caught myself humming the tune I was listening to when I woke up in this world.

The feeling hit me with full force. My mind wandered, thinking every thought I’ve ever had at once, and what felt like every thought I would ever have. My head throbbed and, with every beat of my heart, my vision slowly drained, leaving a void of blacks, purples, and static. The void ebbed as a loud echo weaved itself through my thought deprived hearing. I could feel my body being lifted, the tingle of magic pressing against my skin, but it faded as the numbness overtook my senses.

Time was nonexistent. Nothing was real or fake, and everything absurd made sense. I could feel the colors around me, and smell the rain falling as it turned to mist around me. My senses had no placement and neither did the surroundings I was now taking in.

Familiar.

The only thing that was visible, other than water, was the gargantuan tree stump I was now standing upon. All around me was water, which looked like it belonged to an ocean, considering that’s what it looked like. Looking around I saw tubes of water draining from the sky, but the source of the water could not be found.

I’ve been here before. This is the Chamber of Giants from Majora’s Mask. I saw this during my first time passing out.

Why am I here again?

You’ve been here before?

Yes, except last time it was as if I was watching myself on a screen rather than being here myself. After the episode, I went home and played the game. I had stopped just before the fight with Odolwa during my first playthrough, so I loaded my file and beat him. Then I learned the Oath to Order, which I learned in this area.

Before you ever saw this?

Yes. I had never been here before, and I had never seen this place. I was scared, and I told my brother. He told me I was being weird, so I thought nothing of it. It makes me wonder, why am I back?

There must be some significance if you come here during a point where you can’t even think.

Who are you?

Oh, I have no idea. I didn't know if you knew…

Wait… who am I? Which one of us am I?

That’s a bit of a redundant question. Who is “I”?

Don’t pull that tricky shit with me.

Dude, just wake up already. I don’t know if “Wake up” is the right phrase, but do that too.

I passed out, right?

Sure? Who knows? You don’t. Neither do I. It’s kind of funny.

No, no it’s not.

Lighten up; you’re the one who did this to yourself in the first place.

Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?

Did you remember to wait ten seconds after you got out of bed?

… Shit.

Yeah, your fault.

Hey, shut up. I liked it better last time, when I didn’t have an annoying ass roommate to bug me.

Well, you’re almost back in reality.

How do you know?

You've been talking to yourself while some doctors have been checking you.

What? Oh, I was walking with Celestia. Still, how did you know that and I didn’t? I feel like I’m more self aware than you are. I can’t even see you.

I don’t know.

Of course you don’t…

Try to remember what happened here? I don’t want to have to explain all this to you next time.

Next time?

We both know it’ll happen again.

Yeah… well, bye.

“Bye? Who’s he talking to?”

‘Ew, my head hurts…’ My senses slowly drained back in.

“We don’t know, he’s been doing this for about ten minutes now. It started off as gibberish, but he started having a conversation with himself. Something about songs and masks.”

‘What happened?’

“Masks? What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know, your Majesty. He also said something about Magira or Majoca, something along those lines.”

‘It’s Majora, dump-ass.’

“Will he be alright?” It was Twilight.

“He should be fine. It seems that he experienced some sort of seizure.” I opened my eyes and sat up on my elbows.

“A seizure?!” I squealed.

Author's Note

To my readers, a little piece of information.

The whole thing with Majora's Mask and the whole "Saw it before I actually saw it." thing? That actually happened.

The problems with fainting? That's true.

Isn't it just wonderful? :D

Nursed Into Friendship

It’s a strange feeling, waking up dazed and confused. Shortly after my episode, I was taken into intensive care and given heavy medications that were supposed to keep me passing out and having seizures. They didn’t do much since it happened two times within a month.

I was told it was within a month, but I couldn’t keep track of the days anymore. I could barely recognize my own face because it wasn’t like the faces around me. All I had to keep my sanity was my iPod and visits from the princesses. They said they might have a cure for all this, but they would have to diagnose what my ailment is before they could ask.

“Ask who?” I called through the bathroom door as I looped a rope belt around my pants. I had just taken a bath and was putting my newly washed clothes on when the nurse knocked.

“Princess Celestia didn’t say. I was just told to relay a message to you.” She called back.

“Thank you, Nurse Fill Joy!” I heard a hum of approval as I slipped my Scorpio shirt over my head, laced up my Converse, and opened the door. I quickly closed it again and went to the mirror to check my hair. Using the brush on the counter, I brushed down on all sides and shook my head a couple times. Parts of my hair were still sticking out, but I ignored it and opened the door again.

My bed was in the corner with a highly decorative bed side table beside it. The room was primarily silver all around, but gold lined the walls and made up most of the accents. There wasn’t much else besides a window that took up a whole wall and the stacked medical shelf that sat above my bed.

It was a nice sight to wake up to, whether it was a good nap or a horrible encounter with my ass-hat of an alter-ego. Both times I went back; it was to the same place as the first. The only thing that changed was the color of the water. The first time it was a pearly blue. The second, it was a deep purple and the third was a vibrant orange. I tried asking the disembodied voice why it was changing, but it apparently didn’t know either.

‘That thing is screwing with me, I just know it.’ I thought as I sat on my bed and reached for a ceramic jar of medicine. I uncovered the top and took a swig. The medicine sizzled as it slithered down my throat, but by this time I was used to it. The first time hadn’t gone so well. I went to take a drink, like I was instructed, and when it reached my tongue I gasped and nearly choked to death.

It was a weird concept to me; just drinking a gulp of medicine. Normally a doctor would say something about dosage, but in this world it didn’t matter all that much. It wasn’t any medicine like on Earth, where exact measurement is put into each pill. As long as you didn’t drink all of it in one sitting, you would be fine and the medicine would kick in.

I use the term ‘Kick in’ loosely, mostly because it didn’t have much of an effect on me. Other than feeling a little giddy for no reason, I felt nothing. If anything, I take it just to feel happy. I wasn’t a junkie, mind you, but it was hard to genuinely feel happy in a world that was foreign to me. My family must be worried sick. My sister, on the other hand… maybe. We weren’t exactly the best of friends, so she probably had a hay-day with all the attention she probably got.

She always did want to be an only child.

I re-sealed the jar and placed it back on the shelf among the hoard of other medicines I am now required to take.

‘Where did Nurse Fill Joy go?’ I pondered, ‘Probably to go cheer up some of the other patients.’

Sliding off the bed, I grabbed my iPod and stuffed it into my pocket. The door to my room was identical to my last one but silver with a golden border to match the rest of the room. I swung the door open and heard laughter from down the hall.

‘Poor dude.’ I thought. Earlier this week a stallion had eaten a dish that was cooked with peanut oil and had a severe allergy attack. While a human, in worst cases, would be in the hospital for a few hours, allergies are more powerful with ponies. For the first day, he looked like a mushy, yellow marshmallow. He couldn’t open his eyes and couldn’t breathe on his own. The day before was the day he was able to actually speak. Nurse Fill Joy had made it her mission to be with him as much as she could, being the natural caretaker that she is.

I can sympathize with the guy, being that I have the same allergy. Well, I’m allergic to just about everything, so I can sympathize with a lot of people. I would have gone to talk with him, but my appearance probably wouldn’t be a good sight to someone who met with Death and faked him out.

One thing I liked about being in the castle was that I was given permission to roam around, just as long as I stayed hidden. Celestia must’ve realized that keeping me in a small room for a month probably wasn’t the best idea, so she put a charm on me. As long as I stood on my toes, I could move as quickly as I wanted and not make any noise. I had asked about invisibility, but she mistook it for wanting to sneak out.

‘Like I’d want to leave this place; I’m fed, pampered, and I don’t have to lift a finger!’ I thought as I snuck past a group of pompous looking ponies on their way out of the throne room. They had smiles on their faces, so that must’ve meant they made some money.

As I crept through the main lobby I could feel the cold stare of the guards’ eyes. I turned to face them and stopped.

‘How do they look so similar?’ I thought as I looked them over. The color of their coat and eyes were the same, as was their facial structure. The eerie feeling of their eyes burning through me overpowered my feeling of wonder, so I bolted down the hallway. I must have run as fast as a gazelle because before I knew it, I was at the entrance of the Royal Gardens that lay on the other side of the castle.

The garden was splendid with wonderful scents filling the air. The sunlight shafted through the leaves, creating a beautiful shadow effect on the ground. The wind was flowing with grace, the leaves that hung above me swaying with a soft rhythm, and the sounds of the chimes that lay hidden somewhere within the vast forest of a garden.

The many exotic plants around me were beautiful, although one of them started to move when I came near it. The bench that sat in front of a towering tree looked inviting, so I sat down and slumped into it. I took out my iPod and scrolled through for a while, looking for a nice, slow song. I found a nice, slow piano song from when I was a kid.

I hit play, and my eyes immediately felt as if they had weights fastened to them. I let my head fall over the edge of the backboard, and my eyes slowly shut themselves.

It felt like it was only seconds before I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Hoowhat?” I opened my eyes and saw that I must have been out for a few hours. The sun was just above the horizon.

“I wanted to know if you wanted to come see the princesses raise the moon.” Nurse Fill Joy tapped my shoulder a few more times to wake me.

“Alright, I’m coming.” I muttered as I muted my iPod and slid off the bench. As we were walking a few of the low-lying leaves and branches smacked me in the face, so I was nice and awake by the time we got to the viewing area, which was just across from the exit to the garden. The pathways that wound around the castle were beautifully decorated with ribbons and pink and purple pastel colored candles. I could barely make out the stars, as there was still light coming from the sun, and I saw the same constellations that could be seen on Earth.

‘I’ll need to ask Luna about that one…’ I took my seat and looked up to see both Celestia and Luna’s horns glowing with their respective colors. They didn’t look to be putting forth too much effort, as they looked to be charging their magic. I could also see Twilight standing behind Celestia, her horn glowing a dark purple, and some weird… thing standing behind Luna. I saw no horn, but it did have two mismatched wings on its back. Its eyes were crazy looking, and it had a different body part for each limb. One thought kept trying to invade my mind every time I looked at him.

“That looks extremely familiar.” I thought out loud. Nurse Fill Joy took a seat beside me.

“What does?” I pointed to it and she laughed. “That’s Discord. He recently came back from being imprisoned in stone. He used to be evil, but one of Twilight’s friends turned him good. He serves Celestia by… well, I don’t really know how. I just know he has a purpose.”

I scratched the back of my head in thought. “What did he do to get turned to stone?”

“He turned Ponyville into a town of Chaos. I didn’t get to see it, being stuck here with the patients, but the residents told me it was horrible. It took Twilight and all of her friends to take him down.”

“They turned him to stone?”

“Yes, with the Elements of Harmony. Twilight and all of her friends from Ponyville are the Element Bearers. If anything, it was really convenient that they happened to meet right at the time of Nightmare Moon’s return.” A visible shiver ran down her spine.

“Nightmare Moon? That doesn’t sound very pleasant.” I slid down in my pony-sized chair to try and get comfortable.

“It was what happened when Princess Luna was filled with jealousy over her sister’s fame. While everypony played in the day, they all went to bed at night. Princess Luna didn’t think this was fair, so she lashed out at Princess Celestia. She was banished to the moon for a thousand years.” She smiled. “Princess Luna returned when Twilight and her friends used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon. The Elements stripped away her hate and jealousy.”

“So, can that happen to anyone?” She looked at me, confused. “The whole ‘Nightmare’ thing?” I asked with heavy concern.

She brought a hoof to her chin. “No, I don’t think so. It may just be something with immortals, like the princesses.”

“That’s very reassuring.” I said. ‘A demon version of an immortal princess… that’s fantastic.’

“Oh, it’s about to start! I watch them every day and night, and it always makes me smile.” Fill Joy said with glee.

I was prepared to be blown away as the show began, but as both princesses lifted into the air, their horns glowing and shining with intense light, the light increased its intensity tenfold, and I instinctively shielded my eyes with my arm. I tried to look a couple more times, but the light only grew. By the time the sun had been lowered and the moon had peeked over the horizon, the show was over and I was pissed off.

“Well, that sucked.” I said. I folded my arms.

“What do you mean? That was amazing!” Fill Joy challenged.

“I suppose it would have been if I could have actually seen it.” I muttered under my breath. Fill Joy’s face softened in understanding.

“I know; it just takes a couple of times to get used to it. There’s always tomorrow.” She offered as she hopped off of her chair.

“Eh, maybe if I’m not sleeping.” I said. “Oh, and make sure to tell that guy with the peanut allergy that I said hi.”

“Why, do you know him?” She asked.

“No, I just know what he’s going through.” I said as I walked with her.

“Are you allergic to peanuts too?” She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side.

“Well, yes. You guys made me put all my allergies on that list, remember?” I said, thinking that I would have to do it again.

“Yes, I do. I just never read any of it. Care to share?” She asked. I looked down at her and saw the best puppy dog face I’d ever seen.

“Does it really matter that much?” I asked. In response, her face only got cuter. “Fine. Do you have an hour?”

I proceeded to tell her all my many allergies, mostly to foods, and the encounters that came with them. I had to explain many things to her because most of them involved things that could only be found on Earth, like T.V.’s and game systems. We went back to the bench in the garden so it would be easier to think, rather than walking aimlessly around the castle. She told me she was off of work for the night, so I spent a few hours telling her about many things from Earth. I started with video games because that was the easiest subject for me, and it slowly turned from electronics and gaming to music and famous artists.

“So, this ‘Michael Jackson’, did he actually… do that stuff?” Fill Joy’s face was filled with disgust.

“Well, I really have no idea. There’s still this big debate over it, so people still don’t fully know. I, personally, wouldn’t care too much either way. He made some really good music.” I said as I searched through my iPod to find a certain song about a criminal…

A criminal… that was smooth…

“But he could have molested children! What if one of those kids was you?” Her voice rose to a yell, and I shrunk back.

“… I have no rebuttal.” I admitted in defeat.

“Exactly.” She smiled, her face beamed with victory. “Any other artists that you like commit any horrible crimes?”

“Not that I can think of, sass-master.” A mock scowl slithered onto my face. “Although, I think a few of them have either died or been killed.”

“You talk about death like it’s nothing.” Her tone was soft.

“In my world, there’s plenty of shit hitting the fan every day, so I guess I’m just used to it. There is so much conflict on Earth that it’s actually hard to think differently. You see so many things trying to recruit you into different branches of combat just to go to another country and kill people. It’s either that, or we can’t even handle our own country. There are murders, car wrecks, pollution, and homophobia all over the world.” I took a breath of the fresh air and exhaled. “I’m almost glad that I’m in this world. I haven’t heard of anything like that so far, so it sound like this place is a Utopia.”

“I guess you could say that. Equestria’s not perfect, but the princesses try their hardest to make it that way.” Fill Joy stood and walked over to a small flowerbed full of roses.

“Let’s hope your leaders decide to keep me, then.” I looked up at the stars and saw the Big Dipper, or at least what I thought was the Big Dipper.

“What do you mean?” Fill Joy called.

“When I first woke up here, I was in the city below this place. I was apparently just lying in the street, and no one knew how I had gotten there. Truth be told, neither do I. When I was dragged to the princesses, they gave me a choice. I could either try and prove that I wasn’t a threat, or they could banish me somewhere.” I paused to look for a different constellation. “I had already been taking a walk before I appeared here, so I was already tired and scared. I chose to write an essay to prove my intelligence and that I had no ulterior motives as to why I happened to appear in the heart of a peaceful country.”

“They had you write an essay? What was it about?”

I smiled. “Music. I didn’t really have to write about much in particular, just something that I thought would turn their eyes away from me. Once they’ve declared that I’m not a threat, they’re going to find somewhere for me to live.”

“I hear Ponyville has a couple residents who are willing to take in some roommates.” Fill Joy suggested as she picked a flower from the ground.

“For an alien? I doubt it.”

Author's Note

Hey guys! I got this chapter done in about a day, which is my new personal record. If you find any mistakes in grammar or spelling, feel free to put a comment or message me.

Starting on the 29th, I have to be gone from 8 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. for Marching Band practice, so the chapters may take a couple days to get out. I would really much rather stay at home and write, but I can't back out of Band. (No matter how afraid I am of my teachers and their questions.)

I'm hoping that the length of each chapter will increase with every update, so I'm trying to work on that.

Thanks everyone.