Chapters The World I've Come to Know
When I started to come to, I could hardly hear anything. It was as if something were covering my ears. Although, my vision was blurry, I could make out a small light, possibly a candlelight. It was very dark from what I could tell. I could hear someone yelling. Were they yelling at me? What were they saying? I don't know, It's so hard to tell what's going on right now. What happened to me? I was laying on the ground and I turned over onto my back to hear a faint "chinkling" sound. I didn't exactly know what it was and I didn't quite care at the time.
I rubbed my eyes to try and get them to adjust to me finally waking up...that and the dimness. I looked to my feet and realized that they were clamped to a ball and chain. Upon further inspection, I realized I was held captive in the dark brown and mossy walls of prison cell, or what I think is a prison cell. What I thought was a candlelight was a small window that hardly illuminated the room.
"Oh, so, you're awake. The Princess would like to speak with you," some tough-sounding voice said.
"Huh, wha?" I asked, not quite knowing what was going on. Did he say "Princess?" Where was I? I'm certainly not where I should be now. There's no form of monarchy in America. I looked around and only saw a white miniature horse in armor standing outside the cell I was in.
"Who said that?" I asked to...pretty much no one.
"I did."
I didn't exactly know who was talking, seeing that I was the only person around. I looked around my cell. Still no one. My eyes fixated on the miniature horse. I stood up and walked to it. It was not tall at all. It didn't even make it to my chest, as a matter of fact. I squatted down to it's height.
"I'm going to sound so crazy for asking this, but, did YOU talk to me?" I said to the horse, not expecting an answer.
"Yes, yes I did. The Princess will be here shortly," it responded. I stood up and backed away from it.
"Woah. Woahwoahwoah. You just talked," I said in disbelief.
"That would be correct," it said back to me. I tripped over the ball that I'm connected to and fell backward, then rubbed my eyes. It was still the horse.
"This is a dream, right? Yeah, got to be from whenever I passed out," I said, still not believing that the horse just spoke to me.
"I can assure you, creature, you are not asleep. You are, in fact, awake," the miniature horse said. It's talking once again! I must have gone insane!
After a long while of staring at the horse, I stood up and brushed myself off in disbelief, only to notice that some of my clothes were singed. I looked to my hands. They seem to be...paler? No...they looked more gray! My mind started racing as I searched the walls of the cell over and over again trying to calm myself. The minimal light of the window was at about my height and did it's job of illuminating the room enough for me to see. The mossy walls had obviously not been cleaned in a while. My mind was put off track by the sound of a door opening and someone walking down some steps.
Another horse walked into the room. The only difference between the armored one and this one is that is was much taller than the other one, had a flowing mane and...a horn...and wings...
"Oh, God, now there's more," I whispered to myself. I walked over to them so I could get a good look at them and they could do the same to me.
"Good afternoon, creature," the taller one said.
I raised my voice so they could hear me, "Afternoon...Alright...I can try my best to accept that there are two horses that are talking in...wherever it is that I'm in..."
The taller one looked at me strangely. "Yes, you are, in fact, in Equestria. I'm not sure where you hail from, but, here, we are all ponies and I'd like you to address us as such," the taller one said.
I sighed, "Okay, I can do that."
"My name is Princess Celestia. I am one of the rulers of Equestria. I control the sun," the taller one said.
"Yeah, okay...I'm Raymond..." I responded. Controller of the sun? What's that supposed to mean? I noticed a picture of the sun was on the backside of this "Princess Celestia", but, that doesn't necessarily help me out at all. "Any chance of you telling me why I'm in...a prison cell? Restrained to a ball and chain?"
She looked at me as if I should know exactly why. "Because you showed up to this world by means that I do not know..." she stopped speaking for a moment.
"Okay, that's understandable...assuming that by "this world", you mean the "Equine-ria"or whatever you said," I said, crossing my arms.
"Equestria," she said glaring at me.
"Gesundheit," I responded with a smirk. That made her look around in confusion; she obviously isn't familiar with that term. Judging by the look on the armored one's face, he didn't understand either. That caused my smirk to turn to a smile.
"Yes, Equestria. The land full of Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasus alike. We live in harmony here and I wasn't sure if you were a hostile."
I guess that's reasonable enough , I thought.
"The other reason was because you are a biped," she responded.
I don't know why, but, I found that hilarious. I started laughing. Hard. Much harder than I thought I would.
"Did that seem funny to you?" she asked, raising a brow.
"Oh, God, yes, it did! Because I am a biped, you threw me into jail? You're hilarious!" I exclaimed though fits of laughter.
That caused Celestia to looked extremely angry at that note. "Well, you have to understand that I have had a...past when it comes to bipeds! One of them threw Equestria into ruin!" she said, furious.
She calmed herself very quickly and formed a smirk that one could almost call evil formed on her face. "I came here to listen to you plead your case, now I'm thinking about leaving you here," she told me.
I silenced much quicker than I think I ever have in my entire life as all the blood in my face flushed down into my body. If I had seen myself, I'd have probably been more gray than I am now. "Nonono! No! You don't have to do that! I can plead my case!" I exclaimed, trying my hardest not to be stuck in this prison cell forever.
She sat down in a chair nearby, "Then, do it." I looked at her for a moment gathering my words together.
"Alright, I don't exactly know what happened. I was on my way home and it was raining hard. Lightning struck very close to me and I almost got hit by it. About 20 minutes later and a mental reassurance that I wouldn't get hit by lightning, I kind of saw what I'm going to call "Oblivion," seeing that I don't know what it was that I saw,"
For the next twenty or so minutes, I tried to describe every little detail that I saw on that acid trip before I passed out. Throughout my explanation, Celestia simply just looked at me, her expression didn't change at all and her gaze never faltered from looking at me.
When I finally finished explaining my...whatever the Hell that was I saw, I said, "I don't exactly know how, but, I think that teleported me here," I explained, looking at myself from a small puddle on the floor. Upon inspecting my reflection, my eyes widened probably two times their normal size. Something was very, very wrong. My hair had completely changed color from brown to solid white and my eyes were two different colors! One was blue like it should be, but, the other was blood red! I adjusted my glasses and looked to her. Her brow furrowed as she noticed my state of distress.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, looking me up and down.
"My hair isn't supposed to be white...It's supposed to be brown! And my eyes are supposed to be only blue! What happened to me?!" I said, shocked.
"So, you've changed?" Celestia asked, raising her brow, "Is that an effect of your teleportation method?"
I looked to her, calming down. "It would appear so," I sighed. "Although, I don't even know what my teleportation method was. I don't know quantum physics, I don't have the scientific capabilities to come here...How does one such as myself get to place like this?" We stared at each other for a while in silence.
Celestia was the one to break the silence. "So, you don't know how you managed to get to Equestria?" she asked.
"No...No, it seems I don't..." I said, looking to the floor. I kept my gaze there for a long while until I heard Celestia lean forward in the chair she was in.
I studied her a bit, looking at her form and how she could do so much more than I could. "Well, eh, Princess Celestia, was it? Seeing that you have a horn and wings, I can only assume that you are part uh...what was it? Unicorn and Pegasus? I'm not too up-to-date with mythology as it is," I asked.
"I believe the term you're looking for is "Alicorn", and yes, I am one of them. I can use magic and fly," she explained, taking a more modest tone.
"Well, I can't do either of those things. I can just use brute force. That's it. But, I hardly resort to using that anyways, seeing that I hardly go outside other than to work. I have a tendency to recluse myself," I said.
She looked up to me, a bit concerned. "Isn't that a bit...unhealthy?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes, "Of course it is. I just hate every single human being on Earth! With very few exceptions!"
She looked at me with a confused look. "Hoo-man?" she asked, "Earth?"
I took my glasses off and put a hand to my face. "Yes. Humans and Earth," I said, putting my glasses back on. "I am an example of a human and Earth is where I came from," I said.
"Does this hatred spawn towards my subjects?" she asked, looking at me, concerned, obviously not for me, but, for those that she reigns over.
"No, no. If there's no humans here, then no," I explained, "But, as far as I know, I only came here through coincidence."
She started tapping her chin with her hoof. "Coincidence...? So, you're saying that you think that they won't come here..." she looked over to me, "...and you're the only one that did?"
I thought about it for a second. "That's right," I responded, confident with my answer.
She moved her hoof from her chin and looked at me. "Why is it that you hate your own kind? Certainly they can't be that bad?" she asked, looking to me with her head cocked sideways.
I chuckled at her statement. "You don't even know the half of it," I said, putting my hand behind my back and walking to the window. "My people...they are cruel and unforgiving and most of them just look out for themselves. They don't care about each other, to be honest. Most of them are greedy and all they want is power or money. Most of them are lustful and...well, you know. I only go around with those that look out for their friends and don't care about power, money, or women. The few people that can forgive you for whatever you may do," I explained.
She looked shocked from my explanation. She obviously didn't want any of this in her world.
"But, rest assured, I am one of those few that don't care for money, power, or women. I'm asexual after all. I don't have an attraction to women. I mean, would I like to have money and power? Well, yeah, that would be nice. But, I'm content with what I have as it is," I explained. She shook the look off her face and returned to her solid expression.
"I can see why you would hate them now. Although, it isn't very good to hate others," she said.
"Fine, I'll say that I "shun" them. Is that any better?" I asked, sarcastically.
"Actually, yes it is," she said, a smirk on her face. I took my glasses off once again and pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing. This caused her to giggle at my reaction.
She serioused up again. "I can only put my trust into your statement, but, if any more of your kind show up, you'll end up back in the dungeon," she said, magically floating over a key-ring from the armored pony.
"I'll take that risk," I said without a second thought, walking over to the door, "Hell, I'd even help you fight them off if they invaded this world."
She unlocked and opened the door before stepping out of the way, "You're free to go."
I walked past the door and then her, smiling victoriously. I walked up the stairs and out the door of this little cell block, which was empty. I looked around to see many other doors probably leading to other cell blocks. This entire area here was only illuminated by candles, so, I can only have the assumption that this "Equestria" is more primitive than Earth is. Part of me finds that to be a good thing.
A heard a set of hooves walk up the stairs and close the door behind them. I turned around and Princess Celestia was looking me dead in the eyes. I looked around the place one last time before asking a very important question.
"Uh...Where's the way out exactly?" I looked down each hallway, which ended in a turn or a fork in the path.
"This way, Raymond," she said, walking past me and forward, through the dungeon. I could only follow her as I didn't know where to go. It turns out, the exit wasn't that far way, just a few turns away. We walked up the stairs and up to a large, metal door. Celestia put her front hooves out and pushed open the door. I couldn't help but shield my eyes from the light. I'd gotten so used to the dim underworld of the dungeons that I hadn't really thought to ready myself for the light that would be coming in once I had exited this place.
The World I've Come to Know
"Something the matter?" Celestia asked, looking back to me. I was sheilding my eyes from the sunlight that was entering my eyes.
"I kinda forgot that I was gonna have to adjust my eyes for the light out here," I said, rubbing my eyes, "I think this world has a brighter sun than my world."
"Oh, really?" she asked, raising a brow, "I would have suspected that it would have been the same."
I stopped hunching over and stood to a normal standing position despite my eyes still burning. "I wonder what else is different...except for the obvious of there being no humans," I said, finally getting used to the light outside. I looked around at the landscape now that I could see. "I can see a lot of obvious differences between out worlds," I said, marveling and the city that presented themself in front of me; a city with walls of gray bricks and oddly colored rooves of yellow and purple. Most of the rooves spiral at the top and there was hardly no flat roofing. Some were spire-shaped and some were rounded! The only ones that did flat roofing either ended up being connected to another building or had an area that you could look at the city below with.
Celestia was looking at me marveling at her beautiful sity in front of me. "This is the city of Canterlot. It is the capital of Equestria and is the place that I stay at. Should you need me, I will be here, in the castle."
I looked at here for a while with my mouth open, but, I couldn't quite make the words, I just stood there with a open mouth as if I was about to speak. I felt like an idiot, to say the least. My eyes shifted back and forth as I went through her words over and over again. Eventually, I finally broke the silence.
"So...You're welcoming me to your world?"
"Yes," she said with a smile ever so present on her face. This has to be too good to be true.
"And I get to live here? Full citizenship, no questions asked? Even though I’m an alien from another world?"
"Yes...I was certain that I implied that when I told you where I would be," she said with a bit of a sharpness to her eyes. It quickly faded after that, though. "If you are going to be a friend to Equestria and you don't know how to get back, making you a citizen, if only temporary, would be acceptable," she said before turning to the streets of Canterlot, “Come, Raymond. I will first show you the castle.”
I followed her through street after streets. People bowed to Celestia and looked to me in complete terror, shock, or wonder. After what seemed like ages, we made it to the castle. Almost instantly when in sight, all the guards surrounded me and forced me away from Celestia.
“Woah, woah, woah! Gentlemen, calm yourselves! I’m with the princess!” I yelled out when shoved backwards. The guards were yelling at me and pointing spears, multiple ones telling me that I'll probably go to the dungeon if I don't tell the truth. I thought to myself, Shit! What am I supposed to do here?! Say that I am a random bystander?!
“Now, now, my loyal guards. Settle down. He did nothing wrong,” Celestia said, stepping through the crowd of guards.
“But, Princess, he-” a guard started.
Celestia interrupted him, “He is with me. Obviously, word hasn’t reached you here. But, I didn’t really expect that, seeing that there is no messenger in sight.” She cleared a path for me she walked to me and stepped out of the way so I could walk forward. I walked forward and front of the guards. They obviously don’t care about me since they got their orders from the princess.
I walked out of there and Celestia walked beside me. We walked into the castle walls as the guards still watched me just in case I didn’t pull anything unruly.
"The nerve of some people!" I said, disgruntedly.
"They are just doing their job, Raymond: Protect me, my sister, and the other princesses," she responded with her eyes closed.
"I think they do their job a bit too well," I said, rolling my eyes.
Celestia opened her eyes and looked to me, "Sometimes that's a good thing."
"Not if you jump to conclusions like that...Like someone else I know," I said, staring her down. She simply withheld her smirk from me.
We made it to the doors to the castle fairly quickly. They were huge, big enough for something four times my size. They were made of wood with two large, iron knockers and a long, iron frame. Or, at least I think that's wood and iron. I'm not entirely sure what these gates were made of.
I attempted to open the doors and, to my surprise, I found out that it was much lighter than I figured it would be. I pushed it open with ease and it revealed it to be an extremely large room with many tall stained glass windows with many things I didn’t really know what it was that was on these windows. Some consisted of some of what I’d assume to be happenings. I could only assume that these were not religious since they were, in fact, part of a castle and not a church. Some of them had some purple pony on it and a few other colored ones. I don't think I saw any of these in the city itself.
At the end of the red carpet we were walking on, there were a set of stairs leading to a two thrones. They were about my height. One of them were empty and the other had another...eh... “Alicorn”, was it? This one looked like Celestia, but, shorter, and pretty much only had one color pallet. She was mainly just blue and not any other colors aside from her emerald eyes. She did have the same mane as Celestia, though. It wasn’t multiple colors, just blue, with a bit translucent outline around her mane.
I walked down to the end of the room where the blue alicorn was. She was looking at me wide-eyed.
"Raymond?" Celestia said, walking next to me, "This is Princess Luna, my sister. Luna, this is Raymond of Earth." Celestia looked at me. I walked up the few steps to Luna.
"Hello," I said, putting my hand out to her. She shrunk back in her throne.
She whimpered, obviously afraid of me. I wasn't really surprised at her reaction, seeing that I was thrown in a dungeon and questioned while in a ball and chain only to be released if I made a promise to go back to that cell had any of my kind decided to invade her country.
I sighed and glared at Luna. I didn't move my hand. "Shake my hand, Luna, I'm not going to hurt you. What is with you people and your prejudice?" Luna looked over to Celestia, who simply nodded.
Luna looked to me and reluctantly shook my hand. "Hello..."
"There, was that so hard?" I asked.
She simply looked at me as I rolled my eyes.
"...Now that you two have been acquainted...I believe it's time for you to lower the moon, sister," Celestia said. Did she just say "lower the moon"?
The World I've Come to Know
Luna walked outside and drew in magic, which made it visible. She spread her wings and floated up into the air as the moon began to rise from the horizon. Celestia leaned in towards me.
"I'm sorry about her reaction, Raymond," she said to me, keeping her eyes focused on her sister, who was still raising the moon.
"Yeah, yeah..." I rolled my eyes. A sudden urge overcame me. "Hey, quick question. Uh...Where's the restroom?"
"Closest one is out the opening on your left, go up the stairs to the next floor, take the hall to your right. It should be the last door on the left," Celestia said, pointing to the doorway.
"Thanks," I said before walking away. Celestia simply just nodded and walked outside next to her sister and lowered the sun. I ran over this fact many times. It's obvious that the celestial beings do not move on their own. Does that means that this world stays in place in their solar system? When they say that she "raised" the moon, does that mean that the celestial beings go to the other side of the planet or is this world all simply flat land? So many thoughts were running through my head.
I walked through the doorway to be met by a tall staircase that probably went up a long while. The railing had a gold finish and the a long, purple carpet was draped over the stairs, ending in short, gold tassels. I ascended the stairs to the second floor and was met with a new doorway that was a red-ish painted wooden door-frame.
Beyond that was a hallway with a granite floor and white, stone walls. The walls had this gold trim and so did the door-frames. The doors themselves contained mostly a white to it, but, some of the indentions in the doors, along with the doorknobs, were gold. The doorknobs had a unique design full of different engravings. I highly doubt that the engravings contained some sort of meaning, though. It was probably just for show.
I walked down the hallway to the right, as Celestia had told me. There were two other paths to go down, forward and left, but, I didn't pay those much attention. Many guards looking at me intently. They obviously still don't trust me, but, they can't do anything about it unless I provoke them, which I have no intentions of doing. I walked down the seemingly endless hallway until I reached the end of it, in which I took the last door to the left. One of the guards tried walking in with me. I turned and he hit his nose on my stomach.
"I can handle this on my own, thank you," I said, shooting him an angry glare. I closed the door on him and locked it. I know that may have caused some suspicion, but, I didn't want them disturbing me. I turned back around to the room in front of me. The walls and floor were the same as the hallway and there was a purple mat in front of the toilet and sink. As far as I know, those were just a simple toilet and sink, except for the golden seat on the toilet, handles on both, and faucet. Everything was so low to the ground, but, I suppose that would be expected because of the height of the ponies in this world. There was also a bath tub, but I didn't bother with that.
I did my business, flushed, and washed my hands. As I dried my hands with a nearby towel, I looked at myself in the mirror, which rested in a gold frame. I'm going to have to get used to my right eye being red and my hair being white. This is just really strange for me to see. I've had brown hair the whole 23 years of my life. This sudden change is a lot to handle.
Thinking back on it, it's a good thing I'd shaved the other day, that way, I wouldn't have to do it later, I thought. I saw some of these ponies had some facial hair, so, there had to be some sort of razor here, probably a straight razor, but, anything will do, as long as I can shave. I won't want to look like one of the band members of ZZ Top by the time I'm 35 , I thought to myself. I sighed and walked back outside, in which the guard was still standing there.
"...Need something?" I asked, unamused. The guard simply stood there. "...Do you mind moving...?" I asked, trying not to get mad at the blue-eyed stallion. His only response was a few steps back. I walked out of the doorway that I could finally cross through with the guard out of my way and made my way back to Celestia and Luna. When I returned, it was dark out and the two princesses were in their respective thrones. Celestia craned her neck and looked at me.
"Welcome back, Raymond," she said with a smile. "Come, we have much to discuss." Her smile faded to a look of seriousness.
I walked over to the stairs and stood there, looking at the two princesses. "Alright. What's the first topic?"
"Getting you a home here in Equestria," she said.
Luna spoke up, "As Tia had explained, she is allowing you to take residence in Equestria with us, although, we can not allow you to stay in the castle."
"Why not?" I asked, recalling the staircase that led up a pretty long ways up. "There's hundreds of rooms here, why can't I-"
Celestia cut me off, "Your stature is one that is taller than most ponies. You'll need a house that is much more suitable to your needs."
I thought that over. A house to fit my needs? I guess that would be nice, seeing that the bathroom was suit for ponies and not myself. "Yeah, okay. That makes sense," I said, agreeing.
"We will be stationing you in Ponyville. There, you will find Princess Twilight Sparkle," Luna said.
Celestia continued Luna's statement, "Once you meet her, she'll introduce you to her friends and you'll probably spend a lot of time meeting those there." Celestia turned to Luna, "Luna? Do you mind going with Raymond to act as an ambassador for him?"
"No, now that We have acknowledged the fact that he is no threat to Us," Luna said.
"Alright, I'll agree to going to this "Ponyville" on one condition," I said, looking at Luna.
"And what might that be?" Luna asked.
"I'd like to also have another house here in Canterlot, so I can come here and stay for a while if I feel like it," I said with a slight grin. Luna looked to Celestia, giving that judgement to her. Celestia nodded.
"We will have a second house built for you here," Celestia smiled.
"Great! Now, next subject?" I asked, smiling.
"You'll need a line of work, so, we'll need to know your cutie mark," Celestia said.
"My what now?" I asked, confused.
"Take off your back leg coverings."
"E-EXCUSE ME?!" I exclaimed. A light yellow aura came around Celestia's horn and another around the waist of my pants. Before I knew it, the aura was attempting to pull down as I gripped tightly to my pants. "HEY! STOP THAT!" I yelled out, my grip failing. The light yellow aura faded.
"Something the matter?" Celestia asked looking at me oddly.
"Yeah! You don't just go and rip someone's pants off! That's just downright rude! And degrading!" I yelled, flustered, my face turning red out of embarrassment and anger.
"I can understand that, but, we must know what your cutie mark-"
I cut her off, "Alright, I'm going to stop you right there before you continue! Number 1: I don't have a..."cutie mark"! Number 2: You don't do that! Never do that again!" My face reddened even worse.
Celestia raised an eyebrow and turned to Luna, who did the same. "No cutie mark?" they asked simultaneously.
I calmed down fairly quickly when they said that. I got a bit scared as well. "What? Is that bad?" I asked, furrowing my brow.
"Yes. We can't know what line of work to put you in now," Celestia said.
"Do you have anything you are experienced in?" Luna asked. I looked at the two. I guess my lack of a "cutie mark" makes for a major detriment to the work force. "Well?" Luna asked.
"...I was studying to be a prosecuting attorney, but, I worked with a steel company back at home. I was part of the Acquisitions Department, working with inventory and purchasing steels," I said, thinking back to my office life.
"Prosecuting attorney?" Celestia said, looking back to Luna. "I think we could use another one of those."
My eyes lit up. I've wanted to be a prosecutor for years. "Oh, yes, please, I would love that!" I said, smiling. Luna saw my sudden change in expression and smiled. Celestia, on the other hand, didn't change her emotion.
"Your houses will be done in about a month or two," Celestia said. "In the meantime, you can stay in the castle."
"Alright, thank you," I said.
"You're very welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to sleep. You probably should, too, Raymond," Celestia said.
"I would, but, I'm an insomniac. I hardly sleep as it is. I have a tendency to stay up a long time during the night," I said. I could have sworn that Luna's eyes shined when I said that. Celestia gave me a look of concern before turning and walking away.
"You don't sleep very much?" Luna asked.
"Not really. I can't help it. Mental problems and what-have-you," I explained.
"We are sorry to hear that...but, at least you have more time to bask in the moonlight."
"I suppose I do," I said, turning to the door leading to a staircase. "Is there a balcony anywhere?"
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know, I've just wanted to be on a balcony of a castle for a while. Also, high places calms me down for whatever reason. I used to have an apartment on the fifth floor and I was always tranquil there. I'd spend some nights sitting there with a drink, just watching the outside world."
"We can show you to the balcony, if you would like."
"Oh, please do."
Luna walked to the door and started up the staircase as I followed obediently. She walked up six stories and down a plethora of hallways. She eventually found a large, purple door that she pushed open.
"Come in, if you may," she said, walking inside. I followed her before marveling at the room that presented itself. It was a fairly tall room and on the far wall, rested a large bed with blue sheets and pillows, supported by a gold frame. The room had other furnishings in it like a wooden desk with books on it, varying from encyclopedias to informative books centered around specific topics to novels. There was also a hand-drawn constellation guide-map rolled up on the desk with a blue wax stamp on it, a lantern, and a blue chest with a gold rim over to the side of the desk.
On the wall to the left of the bed was a purple stained-glass door to the outside. I ignored all the items around the room and walked over to the door because I didn't want to be nosy and rude. I put my hand on the gold handle, twisted, and opened the doors to the outside. A breath of the cold night air had hit me. It seemed comforting, and yet, at the same time, it was unknown. This world that I know nothing about had presented itself to me and I was allowed to start over. I've been given the chance to become what I've always wanted to be as well. This couldn't get any better , I thought.
I leaned on the railing of the balcony and took in the sight of the city. It was absolutely breath-taking, seeing this once bustling city reach so high into the sky and be so calm now. I looked up to the night sky and saw a beautiful array of stars and a full moon hanging high overhead. I smiled, seeing the sky out here. The wind blew onto my face as Luna stepped next to me and put her hooves on the railing.
"So, you bring on the night, hm?" I asked Luna.
"Yes, that is correct."
"Strange..."
"How is that strange, Mr. Raymond?" Luna shot me a confused look, furrowing her brow.
"Because the celestial bodies move on their own."
"On their own?"
"Yeah...Well, the sun never moves. The world just revolves around it. As for the moon, it revolves around the side that the sun is not seen...most of the time. There are such things as Solar Eclipses, where the moon blocks the sun. It involves the gravitational pull of the Earth and the Sun."
"Oh my..."
"Also, if you're going to call me a "Mr.", I'd prefer my last name: Frederov. My full name is Raymond Dietrich Frederov."
"Oh...We will try and remember that, Mr. Frederov. Your name is very strange sounding."
"Yeah, my name is Spanish, German, and Russian."
"Oh? There are such descents in your name...although, We must be honest, We have never heard any of them."
"Yeah, my family got around," I laughed to myself before looking down to Luna, who simply grinned.
"We are sure that's a good thing."
"I suppose so..." A long silence held itself afterwards.
"Mr. Frederov?" Luna turned away, ashamedly.
"Yes?" I held a look of attentiveness.
"We are...sorry for the way I acted towards you. It was wrong for us to judge you singularly on the way you looked." Luna sighed. "...But, now that We know you, We think that this is the beginning of a great friendship between us..."
I smiled. "Yeah...I'd like that...Only one thing, though,"
"What is that?"
"Drop the plural forms when referring to yourself. The "We"s and "Us"s are starting to weird me out."
"Oh, We-...I apologize. It's been an issue for the longest time and...I am trying to get rid of it," Luna said, blushing.
"Oh, I understand. I used to know someone who would talk to me like I'm someone else. "How is Raymond doing?" he would ask me. I knew him in my Secondary School. Freaked me out."
"I don't..."freak you out", do I?" She asked, looking back up to me.
"Nah. Aside from the whole pony thing and the plural forms when talking about yourself, then, you're just a friendly face to me."
"Oh? Are you not used to seeing ponies?"
"Well, I mean, I am. I've seen them before many-a-time in my life, it's just seeing them talk that's so...strange. In my world, ponies don't speak. One of your kind would probably be taken up by some scientific research lab to be tested for anomalies," I explained. Luna blankly looked at me. She obviously didn't understand.
"My world is full of humans like me and the only ponies in my world don't speak, so, it would be definitely strange to see a pony such as yourself there," I explained. Luna looked to her hooves, still leaning on the railing. A long silence followed.
"...What is your world like?" Luna asked.
"Oh, you don't want to hear about my world."
"Oh, but I do!" Luna said, smiling and looking up to me.
"Well...try to imagine this. There are some landscapes like...that," I said, pointing to some forestry far from the city. "But, we humans have lived and thrived for ages now, so, we've made whole cities. A lot of the world is a concrete jungle. Buildings and houses everywhere. Streets take most of the land. Although, there is some places in the rural areas that aren't like that. There's mostly just houses and stores around in those places. They're pretty tightly compacted in some areas, though. Outside of those little towns is nothing but forests until you make it to the next town or a big city. Me, though, I lived in a big concrete jungle. I worked as acquisitions for a steel company. It was enough for me to afford my little flat, so, it was good enough of a job for me, although, I didn't really like my workplace. I tended to ignore my co-workers. Most of them were really a drag. They that nice to other people." Luna looked at me, intent on hearing my story.
I continued, "Before I came here, I went and spoke to my old friend, Brandy. Nice girl. I asked her out a long time ago when I was in Secondary School. Turns out she was a lesbian. That was before I'd decided to be asexual. Luna stopped me there.
"Asexual? You don't need a mate to reproduce?"
I laughed at her question, "No, I was referring to my sexual attraction. Asexual, as in, I don't have one."
"You do not get lonely?"
"Well, yeah. I get lonely all the time, especially at night since I don't get much sleep. But, I don't feel as if I need someone with me. It's less money out of my bank account anyways." I checked my pockets, seeing what I had with me. Phone, wallet, keys, pen. Not much to work with here. I turned on my phone and it said that it held a full charge. I checked the time: 4:03. Now, that can't possibly be right , I thought to myself. Oh well. I guess my phone's clock screwed up again. It's not like it hasn't happened before. I turned off my phone, about to shove it back into my pocket until Luna stopped me.
"What is that?" Luna asked, her eyes about 3/4 their normal size.
"Hm? What's what?"
"That item you have in your hand," she asked, pointing to my phone.
"Oh, this?" I held up my phone, realizing she's probably never seen this thing before, "It's a cell phone. You can use it to send messages back and forth to a friend." I looked at my the phone in my hand, still off, "But, as expected, I don't have any service right now. I need that to send messages. You can also use this to talk to others without seeing them. I also need service for that."
"Oh...? So, it's like having a dragon with you, much like Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yeah...Wait, did you just say "dragon"?" I realized that this could be a problem.
"Yes, dragon. Most of them are...hostile, to say in the least, but, Twilight Sparkle's dragon, Spike, is much more...tame, to say in the least. He's her assistant and isn't too old. A few years younger than Twilight Sparkle, really. Albeit, he is still a infant, so to speak. Dragons do not age as rapidly as the ponies...although, my sister and I are immortal to age."
I went over this in my head a few times. "...I've heard stories of dragons before...in my world...I've never seen any because they're said to be extinct there, but, a long time ago, there used to be dragons everywhere before my people killed them all for being a threat."
"Y-YOUR PEOPLE MANAGED TO KILL ALL OF THE DRAGON KIND?!" Luna yelled, suddenly once again afraid.
"That I know of, yeah," I looked at Luna, who was backing away from me. "But, rest assured, I will not hurt anyone unless they have the intent to hurt me. I'll defend myself, of course. I won't go down without a fight. If my people can do it with a simple sword and shield, I guess I could, too." Luna didn't stop backing away. "Luna, don't do this again. I won't hurt you like you think I will."
"M-Monsters...Your people are monsters..."
"Oh, yeah, they are. Which is why I loathe all of them, save for a few of the tolerable ones. My people weren't content being the top of the food chain, they had to go even farther. They started killing each other. Starting wars and everything. And what was it for? Imperialization? Pointless, I'd say. They let their feelings of hate and anger take control and they just murdered each other. It was so pointless and stupid. Hence why I'm glad that I got to leave..." I paused a moment and laughed a bit to myself. "I remember..."See you around.""
"You're leaving?" Luna said, starting to trust in my words, but, still slightly afraid.
"Leaving? No, that was just the last thing that Brandy told me before I disappeared. Hm..."See you around," indeed..." I let go of the railing and turned away. "I'll need a place to sleep."
"Just across the hall from me," Luna said, looking up to me.
"Thanks," I said, starting to walk away.
Luna stopped me, "If you need me, you know where I am."
I stood there for a moment, "And you'll know where I am if you need me ." I walked to the door of the room Luna had told me to go to and held the doorknob for a while until finally going in and closing the door behind me. It was almost the same way as Luna's room, but, less objects were sitting around the room. I didn't pay much mind to it. Reminded me of some sort of fancy hotel room. I laid down and stared at my ceiling. It wasn't until a good hour later that I finally fell asleep.
The World I've Come to Know
I was awoken in the middle of the night by my door opening. I sat up and rubbed my eyes before looking in the doorway. I couldn't see much, but, I could see the slight shine of a certain pony's emerald eyes.
"Hm? What is it, Luna?" I yawned. She was suddenly startled as I got out of bed. I put on my pants and walked over to her. I kneeled down to her height, "Something you need?"
"N-No. Not really. I was simply wondering if you were awake at this hour."
"Hm? No, I'm not all that awake, but, it's fine. What time is it?"
"It is almost 5. I will have to lower the moon in about thirty minutes."
"I see. Well, I'm up now. You want to talk or something?"
"Yes, that would be nice."
"Come on in, then." I walked over to the desk and lit the lantern and illuminated the room. I put on all my clothes aside from my trench coat and my rain hat and took a seat at the desk adjacent from Luna, who sat on the bed. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Your kind, you mentioned that they kill each other...for what?"
My face turned grim, "Many different reasons, whether it be personal gain or just out of anger. There were also assassins that would be given a hit and they would profit from it when the deed was done. There was also such things as terrorism, where people will kill anywhere from a few tens, to hundreds, to thousands. There is also genocide, where an entire race is almost completely wiped from the face of the planet."
"These things cause wars, but, of course, nobody learns what happens. And no one is able to get over it, either. My world was cruel, Luna. Very cruel. I don't want to go back there. And if, by some sort of miracle, that they start showing up here for imperialization's sake, I will defend this world from them the best I can." I leaned in, "And I will not stop until they have been purged from this world."
Luna looked up to me, "You seem like you'd be willing to guard Equestria with your life."
"If I see fit, I will give my life to make sure this world stays as pure as possible. No more humans means that it is more pure than my world...I don't really like that subject. What else do you want to talk about?" Luna looked outside to the moon.
"...There isn't much. That subject was what I wanted to speak about," Luna looked to the ground.
"Oh...Well, I know for certain I'm not exactly pure. I've thought of different uses of objects in wars. I've thought of civilian self-defense weaponry, I've thought of military attacking weaponry, I've thought of idea after idea of different things, most of which were centered around one simple element, but, I won't talk about that. I wanted to get away from all that."
"Oh my..."
The door once again opened. Luna and I both looked over to the door to find Celestia standing there, looking as if she'd just awoken. Luna looked over to Celestia and I stood from my seat at the desk. "Good morning, Luna. I tried to find you in your room, but, you weren't there," Celestia eyed the two of us.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Tia. I had awoken earlier than presumed, so, in the meantime, I'd decided to speak with Raymond," Luna explained.
"That's quite alright, dear sister. But, you have to lower the moon so I may raise the sun," Celestia said, "Good morning, Raymond."
"Morning, Celestia," I nodded with a smile.
"You seem particularly cheery today. Did something happen?" Celestia raised a brow.
"Hm? Oh, not anything you don't know about. It's just that I get a chance to start over with two houses, one in two different cities, I get the job I've wanted for a long time, and I get a plethora of friends. The only downside is my form being a bit menacing."
"Oh, don't worry about that. We'll figure something out for that problem."
"Great! Then, there's no problems!"
"Excellent. Luna? Are you ready to lower the moon?"
Luna stood up and walked over to Celestia, "Yes, I'm ready, sister." Luna looked over to me and smiled. "Thank you for the conversation, Mr. Frederov."
"You're welcome," I waved.
The two walked out of the room and shut the door. I opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a piece of paper, balling it up. I closed the drawer and layed down to the bed and threw the balled up paper into the air and caught it as the sun rose and the moon fell.
-----
I got a bit bored of throwing the paper ball after a while, so, I went over to the desk and searched through it. It contained paper, quills, ink, and a few "office" supplies. There was also a small book in there. It had some sort of hard, vinyl cover on it. I figured it was some sort of book that some pony had written. I decided opened it and, to my surprise, it was blank. Completely blank. Every page was blank. Hm. I could use this as some sort of journal , I thought to myself. I took a quill and one of the small containers of ink and wrote in the past two days' happenings in it, or at least, I think it was two days. I'm not sure how long I was out, but, I think it was probably only a night.
I finished writing every single detail in it for a while. After that, I put on my trench coat and walked out of my room to go around the castle, attempting to find Celestia. I wanted to know what she was planning for me to be accepted. After a while of searching this floor, I finally found her room. I knocked on her door before walking in because I didn't want to be rude and found her at her desk writing, a pair of reading glasses resting on her nose.
"Hello, Raymond. How can I be of assistance?" Celestia asked putting down her quill and taking off the glasses. I walked over to her.
"Hey, Celestia. I wanted to know if you were planning something for your country to gain my acceptance."
Celestia looked at me and smiled, "I'm glad you asked. I'm working on some plans for the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow, where ponies all around Equestria show up to watch the moon be lowered and the sun be risen. I'd had the idea of elongating it a bit longer than most years," She looked back at the paper. "I will be hiding you backstage and I will reveal you at the end where you can speak with Equestria's residents. We'll be at your side so they don't completely panic. This should go according to plan. All you have to do is write down a speech."
I thought that over. It seemed good enough of a plan. Solid, sturdy. It may just work. "I won't write one down. I'll simply just wing it. I'm bad at memorizing words."
"As you wish." Celestia stood from her desk, "We will be having lunch soon. Would you care to join us?"
I thought back and realized I hadn't eaten yet since lunch on the day before I'd come to. Lunch really did sound like a good idea. "I'd love to."
Celestia walked over to the doorand opened it. "Go get Luna and you two can head to the dining hall. I'll be waiting for you there."
"Alright," I said before walking off to Luna's room. I walked down the hallway and made it to Luna's door. I knocked and opened the door to find her outside on the balcony. I once again ignored the documents and books strewn about and opened the doors to the balcony. Luna turned around and looked at me, smiling.
"Hello again, Mr. Frederov. How are you?" Luna asked.
"I'm doing very well. And you?" I asked, walking over to where she was.
"I'm fine. Is there something you need?"
"Well, Celestia wanted me to go and find you so we can go to the dining hall for lunch."
"Great. I was starting to become hungry as it is." Luna said, starting off; I followed.
"Hey, uh, quick question...What is it that your kind eats here?" I asked while walking.
"Vegetables, mostly. We also eat flowers, bread, et cetera. We make different foods with different ingredients as well, but, those are the main parts of our diets..."
"I expected as such. Well, this is going to take some getting used to. I'm not exactly a herbivore as it is."
Luna looked over to me, "Carnivore or Omnivore?"
"Latter. Although, I won't eat any of your ponies. Never tried it, don't intend to either. If it doesn't posess a level of intelligence like yours and my kind, then I might. I'll probably give up eating any form of meat for a while, though. Killing something that can express its thoughts through speech is too much for me to think about. Killing anything for that matter is a bit too much. Not too keen on the idea, but, if worse comes to worse, then I will do what is necessary."
I looked to Luna, who was looking straight ahead, not scared at all. "You're taking this surprisingly well, actually."
"Where you are, indeed, full of surprises, the shock factor isn't as bad anymore since I know that your kind kills each other," Luna giggled, "This one is more superfluous. I've gotten used to the small surprises about your kind."
"Fair enough," I said with a chuckle. We made it to the dining room fairly quickly. Celestia was sitting on the far end of the long table which could probably sit at least 25 ponies. There were approximately 15 ponies sitting at the table. All the ponies craned their heads to get a good look at the duo that walked in. Upon setting their eyes on me, almost of them froze and started to sweat. Celestia noticed this and decided to act against them before they did anything.
"Everyone, this is the newcomer I was telling you all about. If you'd introduce yourself?"
Some of the ponies were either guards or were pristine ponies of some sorts. This kicked in and I bowed to them all. Upon raising back up, I spoke. "Hello, my name is Raymond Dietrich Frederov. I am a human from another plane of the multiverse and my sole purpose here is to live much like the rest of you. I mean you no harm, the Princesses have made sure I do not. If I did, I'd be back in the dungeon by now."
The guards at the table and around the room nodded to the other ponies and most of them calmed down, but, it was obvious they still didn't trust me. The rest just eyed me, not as afraid of me as previously. Luna walked ahead and sat opposite to Celestia, on the other side of the table.
"Raymond? Why don't you sit down with us? Just choose a place somewhere and sit down. The food will be here shortly," Celestia said. I nodded and sat down somewhere in the middle of the table. Ponies scooted away from me when I sat down, obviously still afraid or uncomfortable around me. Some of them were whispering about me. One of them finally picked up the nerve to speak with me. It was a little foal, probably around five or six.
"H-Hello, Mister...Fre-...Fre-..." She was stuttering. Everyone went quiet and looked at me. All I did was smile.
"Frederov."
"Yes, th-thank you...Um...What did you say you were?"
"A human."
"A-Are you nice?"
I patted the foals head and chuckled. Every single pony in the room held their breath. "I try to be as nice as possible." She looked over to the doors to the kitchen as a few tens of workers came and put different trays on the table. Most of them eyed me, but, only for a few seconds. They probably had to be more focused on their work than me. I didn't mind. Less people to worry about me doing something, the better. Everypony released the breath they held.
Suddenly, ponies in black and red tuxedos and bowties fit for their body structure came out with metal trays and tops on the trays. They lifted the tops and revealed the foods on the trays. There were many diferent arrays of food; soups, stews, sandwhiches, vegetable trays, so many different foods were set down on the table, although some of which, I wouldn't call foods. There were some plates with different flowers on it. Then again, Luna did say they ate flowers, so, I suppose those aren't just for looking at.
The "waiters", if I can call them that, pulled ran back into the kitchen and returned with a tray of wine glasses stacked up on top of each other. Each holder of glasses had a pony pull a glass off the tray and put them upside down in front of each pony. It was if they were playing Jenga with glasses. They once again looked at me, not stalling. More ponies came out of the kitchen and set metal pitchers on the table. The pitcher holders ran back into the kitchen and set plates, small bowls, forks, spoons, knives, and napkins and set one of each in front of every pony. All the ponies ran back into the kitchen when they finished setting up the table and didn't come back out this time.
Celestia spoke up to the ponies at the table. "You may now proceed with eating." Everypony started putting foods on their plates and I did the same. I served myself a bowl of some creamy soup, which I think was some sort of mushroom soup. I wasn't quite sure. I also took a sandwhich that I don't think had any flowers on it, some celery, some carrots, and a biscuit. I took a random pitcher and poured myself a glass of whatever it was. It looked like tea, but, I couldn't be certain. I took a sip and realized that, yes, it was tea, but, unsweetened. I looked over to Celestia.
"Um...Question? Is there any sugar?" I asked.
"Sugar? There should be. Is there not any out?"
I searched the table. No sugar in sight. "No, I don't believe there is."
As soon as I said that, a "waiter" with a brown coat and a darker brown mane and moustache rushed through with a small bowl of sugar cubes and set it near me. "So, sorry, sir. We will try not to make that mistake next time."
"That's fine. I appreciate you being polite about it." He didn't look distressed at my appearance at all and, instead, looked welcoming of me.
"Thank you, sir," he nodded and rushed off. I smiled and grabbed a sugar cube, put it in my drink and stirred it with my spoon. I tasted it and it tasted not as bitter and more sweet. I then cleaned off my spoon with the napkin and began eating my soup.
----
After lunch was through, everypony left the room except for Luna, Celetia, and myself. The "waiters" came back out and started cleaning the table. I walked over to Celestia and Luna.
"Hey, uh...Is there anywhere I can take a shower and wash my clothes? Tonight, I'd really enjoy doing that." I felt dirty all over. I didn't just want a shower, I needed one.
"Um, yes. There is are showers in every bathroom in the castle. You can also give your clothes to the Royal Servant. You can direct them on how you would like your clothes washed. I will call one for you, if you'd like," Celestia said.
"Yes, that would be nice. Thank you."
"Come with me, Raymond," Celestia said, walking to the main room just before the doors of the throne room. She went to a system of bells and rang one. Quickly, a servant came by. She was about up to my waist with blue-ish mane and tail with a white coat and hazel eyes and the picture of a clothing iron on her flank. She had a white shirt-collar on with a yellow "C" and purple "L" embroidered on it. I didn't quite understand the collar with no shirt, but, I suppose that's fashion.
"Yes, Princess?" she asked, bowing.
"Raymond, this is Wish Wash. When you go to bathe, give her your clothes and she will wash all of it," Celestia explained. "If she hasn't returned when you get out of the shower, I suppose you can borrow a robe from me."
"Alright, easy enough. I'll be taking my shower now. Wish, if you'd come with me," I said, smiling.
"Yes, sir!" Wish Wash smiled at me. I started walking away with Wish Wash following me.
"Um...If you don't mind me asking, Mr. Raymond, what are you?" Wish Wash asked.
"You can just call me "Raymond" or, if you call me "Mister", you can call me by my last name, "Frederov". My full name is Raymond Dietrich Frederov."
"Okay, Mr. Frederov."
"As for what I am, I'm a human from another world or dimension, I'm not entirely sure."
"Oh...Okay, I understand." Wish looked over to me as we walked, looking up and down at my clothing. "So, how would you like you clothes washed?
"Oh, standard wash for all of my clothes, except my tie and trench coat. Those need to be hand washed or dry cleaned."
Wish looked at me oddly, "Dry cleaned?"
I looked at her for a moment until remembering that this place is more primitive than my world. "It's a form of cleaning that is easier than hand-washing clothes, but, you have to do it with chemicals. It's expensive back in my world. I highly doubt that you have those specific chemicals at hand, anyways. Hand-washing will be fine."
"Oh, okay. So, standard wash on your clothes except your tie and coat. Hand wash those two."
"Yes, that's correct."
"I'll see that it's done."
I smiled at her confidence, "Thank you, Wish."
"You're very welcome," She said, smiling up to me.
We reached the bathroom after a while and I opened the door and stepped in. "Hey, uh, just wait out here and I'll give you my clothes in a second."
"As you wish, Mr. Frederov!" She smiled, waiting outside the door.
I closed the door behind me and stripped down and put all my clothes (except my shoes) in one mass. I removed everything out of my pockets, double checked, and triple checked. On the third check, I noticed something hard in one of my inner pockets. Is that my cigar case? I thought. I pulled out a little silver case out of my jacket pocket. Hey, yeah, it is! Wait, shit, they probably don't have tobacco here. Dammit! I'll have to ration out the...five that I have , I thought, opening the little case. I sighed and put it all my items on the counter.
I carefully opened the door and pushed it out without revealing myself. "There we go. That's all of my clothes."
"Okay, Mr. Frederov. I'll return them to you when they are done!" I heard her say with the sounds of shuffling and then the clip clop of hooves rushing away. I sighed as I closed the door once more and turned to the shower-bath tub mix. It was a little short, but, I'm sure I'd be able to manage.
I took a long, hot shower. Probably too long of one. I didn't hear Wish Wash return with my clothes, so, I guess that means that I need to borrow a robe from Celestia. I dried myself off from the shower and put my glasses back on. I noticed a small closet-like room on the corner. I opened it and inside were many robes. All of them were pink and gold. Ohhohohoo...This is gonna be weird , I thought to myself.
I picked one out and, to my surprise, it actually went down to my knees. I put it on and secured it tightly. Hm. I guess this is what it's like to wear a kilt , I thought. I opened a small cabinet next to the sink and searched through it. To my surprise, it had everything that a normal bathroom cabinet would have. Brushes, lotion, cue-tips, etc. I pulled out the brush and brushed my hair to its normal state. I then pulled three cue-tips and cleaned my ears. Finally, clean again , I thought, stepping outside in the pink and gold bath robe.
The World I've Come to Know
Chapter 5: Celebratory Plans
As soon as I stepped outside, the guards outside of the room noticed me and started holding back the urge to laugh. I looked at all of them and chuckled.
"You all should be more hardened than this, gentlemen. You're guards, not bystanders. Besides, woud you rather me not wear this?" I said. The guards immediately stopped laughing and straightened their backs and resumed their duties. I smiled and started walking down the hall in the pink robe. I didn't mind the colour, it's just a robe after all. I looked over the railing of the upper floor of the main hall. There was the hustle and bustle of ponies down on the floor. I had to be careful not to look too far off the railing, otherwise, it would end pretty badly. The rail was only up to my thighs, or tall enough to where average ponies didn't fall off. Too short for me, though.
"I've been looking for you," a voice said behind me. I spun around and looked into the eyes of Princess Luna.
"Well, hi there," I said, surprised. "...Something you need?"
Luna looked away. "Not necessarily. I just wanted to talk," she said, taking a few steps back.
I furrowed my brow and started to lean on the rail. "You know, I'm curious...Why is it that you're so nice to me? I mean, Celestia told me that if humans try colonizing, I'd go to the dungeon; yet, here you are. Coming to talk to me so late at night and so early in the morning. Hell, not even people back in my world would do that. I don't understand it," I said, curiously, putting my hands in the pockets of the robe. They were a bit low, so I had to sag my shoulders to put them in the pockets. They were likely around the area of Celestia's flank. "You've been more friendly and open than the others."
Luna smiled warmly, "That's because I know what it's like to be..."shunned", so to speak. I know what it's like for everypony in Canterlot is scared and curious of your very being, your existence. I know what it's like to be avoided by others and, trust me, you will be." I scowled.
"Why is it that anyone would be...scared of you? I mean, you're nice to me, what reason would anyone have to dislike you?" I said, confused.
Luna sighed, walking over to the golden railing that I leaned on. She closed her eyes, "I'd rather we speak about this in private. It's not something I like to publicly talk about," she said, a tone of depression in her voice. I tilted my head back in confusion.
"Is there anywhere we can go to talk about this?" I asked.
"Yes. Come with me," Luna sighed before walking away and down a hall. I followed her obediently . We traveled down the hallway and down three flights of stairs before walking down another large hallway. We're obviously below the ground level and in some sort of basement. From there, we entered a room whose doors had one large crescent moon on the front of each f them. The room behind the doors had dark purple carpet and midnight blue walls. There was a large fireplace on one of the walls and in front of it where two couches and a lounge chair, all made of some sort of synthetic leather. Of course, they wouldn't use actual leather, I mean, they're ponies , I thought.
Luna sat down on the lounge chair, "Sit down, I'll tell you the story." I sat across from her, on the couch and looked at her. She didn't return the gaze, only stared into the fireplace. "A long time ago, a whole one thousand years," she closed her eyes as she spoke, "I had been corrupted. By what, I'm not certain of. As the tale that ponies used to say, it was due to the ponies shunning the night that I bring. Nay, I do not believe it is that. Something as simple as that could have possibly changed me like it did. It was with this corruption that I changed into Nightmare Moon, a bitter, hate-filled being that tried to bring night to this world. It was then that Celestia, despite trying to reason with Nightmare Moon, was forced to banish Nightmare Moon and I to the moon for a millenia."
Luna opened her eyes and looked to the floor, "I was still conscious of what was happening. It was as if I could see what was going on, but, I was unable to act upon it. It was like a dream I could not control. Something else acted in my stead and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't do any of that and I was still punished anyways." Luna looked up to me. "Upon my return, the ponies feared me for the longest time because they thought that I would become Nightmare Moon once more. They even made a whole "holiday", if you will, of it. "Nightmare Night", they called it. They would leave candy for Nightmare Moon so she would not return to...eat...all of them." Luna shook her head at the thought.
I frowned. "So, me being here causes fear?" I asked.
Luna nodded, "Yes, it does. We've had tens of hundreds of letters from the ponies here about you. Whether or not you are evil. You see, the last bipedal we've encountered was Discord, a draconequus. A mishmash of multiple different animals. Pony, deer, dragon, bat, and pegasi. He had a type of magic that would cause sheer chaos. He appeared before I became Nightmare Moon and my sister and I sealed him into a stone prison using the Elements of Harmony, which was used to put Nightmare Moon and I on the moon. The prison looked as if it were a statue of Discord, which sat in the labyrinth for so long, until about three years ago when he was released. The six current bearers of the Elements of Harmony had resealed him back into his stone prison and was let out once again about a year ago, where he was reformed into an ally."
I thought over this "Discord" character. "Hm, well, that certainly would be cause for them to have prejudice against me. Well, at least she didn't turn me into a statue upon my entrance to this world," I chuckled.
"Yes, well, do you see the reason as to why I would be so kind to you?" Luna asked, evading my joke.
I thought it over quickly, "I suppose...and thank you for it. I'd be lost here without someone's guidance."
Luna smiled at me, "Thank you, Raymond. I appreciate that." We sat in silence staring at the fire for a good thirty minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Soon enough, Celestia walked into the room.
Celestia coughed, "Good afternoon, Luna, Raymond."
I craned me neck over to her, "Is it already? I couldn't tell from the...lack of windows." Luna mouthed a sorry over to me.
"Yes, it's already three in the afternoon," Celestia smirked. "But, that's not quite why I'm here, I'm here to converse with you two about the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow." Celestia walked over and sat on the empty couch. Luna and I sat up in the chairs and turned to Celestia.
I coughed before speaking, "Okay, well, what's the plan?"
"Well, my idea is that we go through the celebration as normal and we finish with Twilight, as we did last year. We continue on with and do our small speeches as we normally do, and then Luna and I turn to each other and nod. We go off in different directions, Twilight with me. Then, horns start to sound again, drum roll, and you stand up on the stage, Raymond. Horns and drums stop, and you take a moment let them calm down and, when they are, deliver a speech that will assure them that they can trust you. Don't make it too long, don't make it too short. Don't be rude, either."
I soaked in all of the information and then started to nod. "Yes, okay. I can do that. Just wait for the horns and drum roll and go on the stage. Easy enough."
Celestia stood from here seat, "I expect you to be up at 5 o' clock sharp. The celebration starts at 6. It will be here in Canterlot this year."
"You'll see me then," I said while she left the room. When the door closed, I heard another voice speaking to her and they carried a small conversation. Soon enough the door opened and Wish Wash stepped inside and walked over to me.
"Your clothes are all clean, Mr. Frederov!" Wish said, gleefully pulling my clothes out of her saddlebag. "I'm assuming you wanted me to hoof wash them instead of...erm..."Hand wash" them."
I thought about it and realized my mistake. "Ah, yes, yes. Whoops. I meant..."Hoof wash". Just for future reference, if I ever say "Hand" anything, I mean "Hoof". These are hands," I said, putting up my hands and moving my fingers a bit.
"Oh, I see," Wish said.
"Well, thank you anyways, Wish. I greatly appreciate it," I said, picking up my clothes.
"You're very welcome, Mr. Frederov. If you ever need me again, just ask!" Wish said smiling.
I patted her head and stood up. "Luna, where is the nearest bathroom. I'm going to change."
"It's outside the room and to the left," Luna said. I nodded and walked away to the bathroom. It was almost exactly the same as the other bathroom, save for the color pallet being less gold and more purple. I removed all the things from the pockets of this robe and put them on the counter next to the sink before taking off my clothes and putting on my new, clean ones. I put all my things in their respective pockets once more before walking back out and going back to Luna.
The rest of the day went on like I'd expect it to. Exploring the castle, talking to Luna and whatnot. Later that night, while I waited for me to sleep, I thought about what might happen tomorrow. Hm. I wonder how exactly this is going to work tomorrow. I'm going to either have to make up the speech as I go or write it out right now...Ah, I'll just figure it out later.
The World I've Come to Know
Chapter 6: Speech-Giving Day
The next morning came along quicker than I expected. Luna walked in and woke me up to get ready for today before Celestia had raised the sun.
"I lower the moon in thirty minutes," she said. I sighed and put my glasses back on. I lurched over to the desk chair I had carelessly thrown my clothes on.
"Alright. So, why exactly do we have to get up so early?" I asked, buttoning my shirt.
"Because the celebration is going to be in thirty minutes, Raymond!" Luna yelled out. My eyes shot open and I quickly started to put on my pants.
"Shit! What day is it?!" I yelled out, buttoning my pants and starting to tie my tie.
"Raymond, have you forgotten?! It's June 21st! You know?! The Solstice?!" Luna yelled out.
"June 21st?! Bullshit! It was September 2nd, last I checked!" I yelled out, putting on my socks and shoes.
"Time hasn't changed yet, Raymond! It was the 20th yesterday and the 19th the the day before that!" Luna yelled as I tied my shoes.
"You know what? Whatever! I've gotta get ready. Is there a straight razor anywhere?" I asked Luna.
"Why would you need a straight razor?"
"To dice tomatoes-What do you think?! " I yelled out, putting on my coat.
Luna calmed down, "There is probably one in the guard's barracks, I'd suggest you check there."
"And where is that?"
"First floor, second hall to the left."
"Thanks!" I yelled back after walking out of the room and out to the barracks. I kept a brisk pace as I passed the wooden doors and golden hallways. I found a large door with the sign "Barracks" to the right of it. I sighed and pushed open the door. The moment I walked in, a bunch of colts getting ready for guard duty looked over to me with a blank expression. I smirked.
"Would anyone happen to have a straight razor?" I asked. The colts looked around until one spoke up.
"I got one!" A cream-colored pegasus yelled out. He had just put on his helmet before walking over to me. He held out a hoof and inside it was a gold-handled straight razor. "Here, you'll need this, too," he said, giving me a container of...shaving cream.
"Thanks...Uh..." I stood there, razor and cream in hand, without a name to thank.
"Folks back home in Mountgomery call me Peaches, so, you can, too!"
"Alright. Well, my name is Raymond Dietrich Frederov," I said, leaning over with a furrowed brow to get a good view of his cutie mark. A sheild. "...Your name is Peaches...?"
"Yep! Peaches n' Cream! 'Course, that's my nickname. Ah was called that because of the color of my coat. Ah didn't mind. Just a nickname, after all. Mah real name is Vigil Watch!" He said, taking pride in his name.
That sounds much more sophisticated than..."Peaches" , I thought.
"Phew! Look at the time! We've only got 25 minutes!" He said. "Well, we can't just sit here shootin' the bull. We gotta get ready. Judgin' by the fact you needed a straight razor, you'll need t'get ready, too! I'll leave ya to it," He said before going back to himself.
Nice guy , I thought, clutching the razor and shaving cream. Didn't think they'd have shaving cream, though. This world surprises me every day. I decided not to waste time and go to the nearest sink and shave the stubble off my face. It didn't take me too long before I was done. Luckily, I didn't cut myself given that I don't have much experience with straight razors other than this one time when my dad taught me to shave with one. It went...accordingly. Blood was spilled, but, it was fine.
I washed off my face, cleaned off the blade, closed the shaving cream, and then used a nearby comb to brush my hair. Afterwards, I took the things back to Peaches, where he gave me a "Thanks" and went back about his business. I left immediately after.
"I think I have...about ten minutes. Well, I might as well get a quick bite to eat," I said.
"There will be food after the initial event. There will be a party afterwards, you know." I spun around to the voice behind me and found Celestia standing there in her normal gleaming stature.
"Alright, I guess I'll just eat afterwards," I sighed.
"Raymond, is there anything you need to do before we start?" Celestia asked.
"Hmmm...No, I don't think so," I said, thinking of what I might need.
"Excellent. Come with me, then. We'll take an escort there. Luna is already in the carriage," She said, exiting the castle. There was a small carriage with pegasi guards walking out of a nearby door towards it.
"Well, hey there, Mr. Frederov! Fancy meetin' you again!" I heard a familiar voice call out to me.
"Hm? Yes?" I asked out to the voice, which came from a pony waving to me. It turned out that Peaches was one of the carriage drivers. "Oh, hello, Peaches."
"Looks like Ah'm in charge of bringin' you to the festival!" He said, smiling.
"Well, at least it's someone I know is...at least somewhat reliable," I said with a smirk.
"Heck, Mr. Frederov, you can count on me to get you there! In one piece, even!" He said, laughing. "Why don't y'all get on in the carriage? We don't got much time as it is."
Celestia nodded to him and walked into the carriage, where I followed suit with a thanks. When I sat down, I came face to face with Luna.
"Hello, Raymond," she said with an agitated tone.
"Hey, Luna...Look, I'm sorry for what I said back there, I'm not really a morning person and-"
"No need to apologize to me, Raymond, I already figured that much. I'd been a bit pressuring as it was."
I blinked a few times, not expecting her to be this friendly to me after how I treated her. "Huh...It seems I'm more used to human reactions than I'd thought. I expected the worst and got...well, kindness in return." Luna smiled.
"Well...that's...good?" Luna said, confused.
We kept idle conversation going as we got to the place, which was already set up and bustling with ponies in the crowd. I'd peeked through the curtain to see the group of ponies on the outside that don't even expect me. A few minutes passed by and the celebration began.
Celestia started with a few simple opening words, "Welcome, citizens of Equestria, to the Summer Sun Celebration!" and what-have-you's. After a while, Luna flew up into the air and started lowering the moon. A few seconds later, Celestia flew up next to her and began raising the sun and this...purple one that I can only assume is "Twilight Sparkle", flew up into the air and caused a brief explosion into a six-pointed star. All the ponies in the crowd started clopping their hooves on the ground and were whooping. Celestia and Luna landed with the purple one (Twilight Sparkle?). As planned, Celestia and Luna looked to each other, nodded and backed away with the purple one. That's when the drum roll started. Everypony looked around in confusion, seeing this abnormality in the normal celebration.
I sighed out of nervousness before stepping out of the curtain and walked to a nearby pedestal. The drums stopped and the horns started sounding. As I stood at the pedestal, I looked around with a smile, waving to everypony, who silently looked around in shock and awe. I felt like the leader of a country at inauguration. A small group gathered ready for some sort of attack. They'd never seen something such as me before, so, they have every right to be. As soon as the horns stopped I began to speak up.
"Good morning, Equestriaaa! " I yelled out. "I hope everyone has enjoyed the celebration up until now, but, it's not over yet! I believe I should introduce myself. I am the new resident of Equestria, Raymond Dietrich Frederov. I know my appearance may be...unappealing and, well, scary to some. But, trust me, I mean you all no harm. I'm here to live life as all of you. I have no magic or flight, so, you all can think of my as just another pony. A strange, white-haired, biped pony. Without a coat. And two different colored eyes." I got a chuckle out of some of the younger ponies with that one.
"So, yes, you'll be seeing me around. There's a construction crew currently building myself a house that will be fit to my needs in Ponyville, probably on the edge of town, near the, uh..."Everfree Forest," I think it was called. So, if you need me, I'll be there. If not, I'm probably either in town, or here in Canterlot. If you need a set of hands in a job, I'll gladly be of service...Within reason, of course. My hands are more useful than some of you may think," I said, twiddling my thumbs. One particular minty green unicorn appeared to be in awe about my hands.
"I hope to live a quaint forty or fifty years here in this world with all of you! There'll be a party after the ceremony from what I've heard, in the ballroom of the castle, hosted by a, uh... "Pinkie Pie?""
As the words came out of my mouth, I saw a pink pony jump up and scream out, "THAT'S ME!"
"I look forward to meeting you there, then!" I said as I snapped a point at her, causing some of the ponies in the crowd to shrink back. "As do I look forward to meeting all of you. You can speak to me personally at the party if you'd like!" I paused for a moment and thought if I had anything else to say. "Well, that's all, then! Thank you and have a wonderful day!" I said, waving as I walked back behind the curtain. More horns sounded and all ponies in the crowd were clapping (clopping?). As I walked past the curtain, I met up with Celestia.
"Well, that went well from what I can hear," she said, smiling.
"Yeppers...So, about this party?"
The World I've Come to Know
Chapter 7: The Performance
Not much time passed until the party started, and I showed up about five minutes late. It was somewhere on the second floor of the castle, I didn't exactly know where, which is why I needed a guard to escort me. Who else better than Peaches? As the doors opened, I was assaulted with the sound of music and hundreds of ponies collaborating, dancing, and singing.
"Have fun!" Peaches said, as he left for his duties. As I stepped through the door, the room turned silent immediately and the music stopped. All the ponies stood there and stared directly at me and nothing else. Suddenly, a pink blur flashed to me and I felt a pressure around me waist. I looked down and saw a pair of blue eyes staring at me from below.
"Looks like the new pony showed up!" the pink one yelled out with a giggle. As soon as she said that, all the sounds started again and a small group of ponies walked up to me, including that purple one that was at the celebration. Now that I've got a good look at her, she's an alicorn, just like the princesses! Is this the other princess that Celestia and Luna were talking about? I thought. All the ponies that surrounded me started talking at the same time, saying their own things to me. It was a bit overbearing, but, I tried to respond to them as best as I could. Soon enough, the purple alicorn spoke up to me, which made all the other crowding ponies quiet down.
"Ahem...I am Princess Twilight Sparkle," she said. "I am the librarian of Ponyville and the Element of Magic. I heard from the speech that your name is Raymond?"
"Yes, that's right. Raymond Dietrich Frederov. The first and, hopefully, the only human in Equestria," I answered.
"A "Hooman?" I've never heard of that species before," she said, inquisitively.
"Well, I don't think I'm quite from this world," I said.
"Hm...It's obvious to me that you've got a different anatomy, do you mind if I study you some time?"
"...I...guess?" I said, confused. The thought of her drawing me naked entered my mind. I shook it away quickly.
"Great! Oh, and, that's Spike over there," she motioned to the dragon playing the piano up on the stage. "He's a dragon."
"Hm...interesting...I've never seen a dragon in person before, but, then again, I hadn't seen talking ponies prior to me coming here," I said. "Then again, that was around the time of mages existing."
"Oh? You've never seen dragons before?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, uh...no. They're all extinct in my world. From what folk tales talk about, they'd terrorize villages, burn the houses, eat the people, and so on," I said.
"That's interesting. What happened to make them all extinct? I mean, they're everywhere in Equestria," Twilight said.
"Oh, you know...forced termination of their species."
"..."Forced...Termination?"..."
"...My people killed them all for the terrorizing of the villiages. Survival of the fittest, I suppose." All the ponies dropped their jaw at that...except for the yellow one, who shrunk back.
"Oh...my...gosh...Your people took on ALL the dragons...? AND WON?!" the blue one asked.
"...Yeah, I think that's how it went-"
"THAT IS SO COOL!" she screamed out erratically.
"Y-You wouldn't do that to Spike...w-would you...?" the yellow one nervously asked.
"Well...I don't see him terrorizing any villages...do you?" I asked.
"Well...N-No..."
"Then, he has nothing to worry about," I said, taking a seat at a nearby table and crossing on leg over the other.
"Would you like some cake?" a nearby waitress asked me. The pink one shook her head violently with a big smile.
"I maaade it speeeciaaaal...!" the pink one whispered out to me from across the table.
"...I guess, I could have a slice, sure," I said, looking at the pink one, who looked like she was going to explode. The cake arrived shortly after, which came with a small mug of...cider...?
"Us back at Sweet Apple Acres made that cider just for this occasion," the orange one said, seeming to take pride in her work. It was fizzing up to the top of the mug. This obviously wasn't any ordinary cider.
"Alright, all of you," I said, "Let's start with names. Going down the row starting with you," I said, motioning to the pink one at my left.
"I'm Pinkie Pie! Element of Laughter!"
"My name is Rarity, Element of Generousity."
"Mah name's Applejack! Ah'm the Element of Honesty!"
"F-Fluttershy...Element of Kindness..."
"Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in all of Equestria and the Element of Loyalty!"
"Hm...Interesting..." I said. "So, you," I pointed to Pinkie Pie, "make cakes, and you," I pointed to Applejack, "make cider?"
"Not just cakes!" Pinkie yelled out, "I make cupcakes, and strudels, and cookies, and sweet breads, and-" she stopped herself, "...And a whole bunch of other stuff!"
"Well, Ah make anything related to apples. Ah won't go too far into detail like Pinkie did, but, Ah'll tell ya this: Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville makes th' best apples in all 'f Equestria!" Applejack said.
"Well, I'll keep that in mind for when I move to Ponyville," I responded. Shameless self promotion , I thought.
As the night went on, we talked and had a good time. After about eight cups, the cider had been enough to give me a miniscule welcoming warmth of alcohol, meanwhile, some ponies were on their fourth and passed out. Some of the drinking adults called me a legend for being able to drink that much. It really wasn't that bad, though. Not very alcoholic, to be honest. Probably...2% alcohol, or whatever this depressant may be. After a while, the pianist, Spike, I believe it was, crashed at the piano. It's probably 10 PM by now and Twilight did mention during our conversations that he was only a baby dragon.
"Aw, man! Now who's going to be the entertainment?!" I heard a colt shout. A whole lot of ponies joined in with him on his complaining. I stood up, still sober, and walked over to the stage and stood up on it. I took a look at the piano and noticed that it's just like the ones on earth, same layout and everything.
I used to play the piano back home, I'd taken lessons for it as a teenager. Not too long ago, actually. The lessons are pretty fresh in my head , I thought. "Alright, everyone! I'll be the entertainment!" I yelled out to the crowd. The entire room started cheering as I sat down. When they quieted down, I spoke another time, but, into the microphone that was sitting atop the piano, "This one's an easy one from back home called "Entertainer ." Enjoy."
As soon as I played the first note, I thought I could sense something in my hands. I didn't know what it was, but, it was certainly there. Not a bother, though. I continued playing on. I began whispering the notes for the right hand to myself while I played as I continued the song. I had it memorized, as a pianist should. "A, E, #E, #F, D, #F, D, #F, D, D, E, #E, #F, D, E, #F, #C, E, D." The song went by fairly quickly as it should, it wasn't very long, but, this feeling in my hands...it started burning. It was as if energy was building up. The crowd clapped for me when I finished.
I began once again in the microphone, "We-he-hell, thank you, all. This next song is "Faster Than All !" Please help yourself to Pinkie's sweet treats she's so gratefully baked for us, and, don't forget to try Sweet Apple Acre's own cider! If you're of age, of course!" I snapped to them all and a small plant tipped over near the entrance. Everypony started clapping again as I started playing. I soon started to break a sweat as the energy in my hands started to cause me to heat up. I could hardly understand what was happening. A faint breeze blew through the shutters, which slightly calmed me down, but, it wasn't enough to stop the burning. When I finished, everypony began clapping and I was breathing fairly heavily. My hands burned, I felt like I was, quite literally, on fire! How strange it was to feel this after only playing two songs!
Twilight walked up on the stage next to me, "Raymond...You don't look so good right now...I think you should stop..." Some of the ponies in the crowd had noticed my distress and they started talking among themselves about it.
"No..." I replied, "I must do one more...Something faster than the other songs I'd played..." Twilight looked at me worriedly.
"Are you sure, Raymond? I don't want you to hurt yourself." I ignored her completely and spoke once more into the microphone, bearing a flat tone.
"...Death Waltz ..." I said. Some ponies looked around in confusion, no one had clapped this time. I began to play using both my hands and, when only a few measures in, I realized that I may not be able to do this, as this required more than two hands to play. Suddenly, my vision blackened and I stopped for a moment. "Yes...I see..." I said. My eyes turned a faint blue color and I could see a plethora of notes. I quickly began again, fastening my pace, and I doubled the speed of my left hand, simulating three hand's movements. Twilight noticed the glow in my eyes and started sensing something...different...
Ten measures forward, three hands were not in any way enough for this. I grunted as my right hand moved faster. "Four hands," I whispered to no one. Twilight still stood beside me, noticing how the glow in my eyes had made my pupils unable to be seen. She began to worry, but, I paid no attention to her. It wasn't long until I needed a whole six hands. I felt the wind pick up as the shutters started opening and slamming shut. A storm was brewing as I attempted to quicken the pace of my hands, but, I knew damn well that this would not be enough. I yelled out in agony as pain shot down my spine as I continued to play. Another set of arms made of pure energy sprouted from my back as I began playing. "Six hands!".
Ponies began screaming, the children crying for their mothers and fathers as they saw the one that claimed he was average have a new set of arms grow from his spine. Lightning struck time and time again, completely decimating trees in the royal garden and the wind grew stronger. Twilight began inching backwards away from me. I screamed out again in agony as more pain shot through my spine. Another pair of arms sprouted from my spine and I could feel the energy surging from my body. "EIGHT HANDS!" I yelled out in a doubled voice. The storm raged, sending in rain, hail, sleet, and snow. As soon as I began playing even faster, the piano, and me with it, began to lift from the ground, along with all the tables down below the stage.
The shutters of the windows were torn from their hinges and began flying around the room, splintering as they reached a speed not fit for their atomic structure. A torrent of wind, and all forms of precipitation that had entered the room spun around the whole room and attacked the now floating ponies. Celestia and Luna had rushed into the room only to begin stuck in the torrent themselves. They used a spell to stabilize themselves, but nothing could stop me but myself now. Twilight ran off the stage and met up with the other princesses, where they began trying to devise a plan on what to do. Twilight tried using a tranquilization spell on me, only for pain to surge up my spine as a new set of arms grew again to grab the spell in mid-flight towards me.
My eyes immediately turned from blue to red and I quickened my playing. I had become far too unstable. The torrent became even more violent, sweeping the princesses themselves off their feet, unable to keep stabilization. Guards tried rushing in to help and, as they tried to attack me with spears, the new set of hands simply grabbed and absorbed their weapons and threw them back into the maelstrom of weather, wind, wood, cake, cider, and the many guests that had been in the room. My nose began to bleed from both sides as I began to release energy. Luna managed to stay afloat in one place nearby myself and started yelling out to me.
"Raymond! You must stop this! This isn't like you!" She yelled out.
"Luuunaaaa..." I said, able to see her among the notes that were blinding me.
More guards suddenly showed up and the two free hands shot bolts of lightning that weren't enough to kill, but enough to temporarily parilyze them, picking them off one by one. I picked up speed with the left hands as the vortex in the room fastened with me. Twilight and the other "Elements" attempted to gather together wearing different decour, but none of them were strong enough to stabilize themselves. Every attempt Twilight had at keeping a shield up to block them from the spinning whirlpool that was this room was foiled by large slabs of wood slamming into the shield, destroying it.
Soon enough, the foundation of the ballroom we were all in began to crack, as if I was attempting to pull it from it's roots.
"Raymond, please! Stop this! If you don't, they'll turn you to stone like they did Discord!" Luna shouted in tears. My expression did not change as the music slowed slightly, but the maelstrom, only worsened. The piano keys started to split and crack from the force I was exerting upon it. Two of my hands went up the keyboard, half way down, back up, and down again. I quickened shortly after that with my left hands as they were just a blur. The entire guard force was attempting to help out here, but, were caught in the storm. I sharply and suddenly quickened my pace severly. It seemed as though every key was being played at the same time. With my hands going back and forth, there was no way you could keep up. That was until I slid all my hands up the keyboard in one single motion once, and then a second time.
"Raymond, please stop!" Luna yelled before being sucked into the vortex herself. I began slamming my hands down on the keys far too fast with all of my hands until I used all my hands to go up the keyboard playing every key. I paused for a moment as the vortex continued until slamming every one of my hands down on the piano, breaking it in two and causing the whirlpool to stop. In that moment, everything, including the piano, fell straight down, as if it had no velocity to begin with. Everypony hit the ground hard, except for me. I stayed in the place that I was and floated down to the ground as my vision came back and the hands receded back into my body. The moment I touched the ground, I almost fell over, only catching myself with a wall. The whole place was silent aside from glasses breaking.
I stumbled over to the door to the balcony and I walked outside. The weather had stopped out here and was dry, for the most part. I leaned on the railing and, the moment I put my hands on it, I had the overwhelming need to purge what was inside my body. I leaned over the balcony and threw up everything that was in my system, or what I thought was everything. My vomit was blue and glowing. It wasn't the food that I had, but, it was like an ectoplasm. I had to throw up more and more of it until I had finally gotten it all out of my system. When I was able to stand back up from the position I had vomited in, I pulled the cigar case out of my coat and took out a cigar and the small lighter/cutter I keep in it. I put the case back and cut, and lit the cigar. In the next moment, Celestia burst through the doors of the balcony.
"What do you have to say for yourself?!" she yelled out to me.
"I have...nothing to say..." I said, weakly, blowing out smoke.
"I thought you said that you didn't have any powers! And what was that chaos you stirred up in there?! Nothing?!" She yelled out. I didn't respond. "Speak to me!"
"I don't know, alright?! I have no idea what it was, how do you expect me to know?! The last time I'd heard of humans using anything like that, was in stories from the middle ages!" I started before coughing intensely. I leaned back over the railing and started dry heaving. I turned back around and continued puffing on my cigar. We stood there in silence, neither of us knew what to say.
"You don't know...?" she asked, the elements walking through the door. I shook my head, blowing out the smoke. She shook her head.
"That certainly was magic and of intense proportions," Twilight said.
"I don't know how to use any damn magic, alright?" I said.
"That only helps support my point," Twilight responded. "You don't know how to use magic and you started building it up while you were playing and you kind of...Magic Binged. You had to release it somehow and you kept pulling in more and more magic to use and it caused the mana whirlpool in there."
"Magic Binged, huh?" I asked.
"Yes, that's right. You obviously don't know how to control it right now, so...It should have been expected. Normally, you only see this in foal unicorns and sometimes fillies...I've never heard of it happening to a...human..." Twilight raised a brow. As I was about to respond, I turned around and began dry heaving again. This time, I spit out a bit more ectoplasm. Twilight cringed.
"Yeah...You've binged...really badly...I've never seen somepony binge this much," she said. I simply grunted, not standing up. Luna came through the door and walked over to me.
Celestia stopped her, "Luna, wait! He's dangerous!" Luna turned around and glared at Celestia.
"I trust him enough to believe he wouldn't do anything purposely malicious," she said, turning back around and walking over to me. Luna gently patted my back as I continued to dry heave. "There you go...let it all out..." she said, kindly.
"I...am not...a child..." I said through the heaves.
"Maybe not, but, you're still not doing so well in the health department," she said, smiling. I stood back up, with a cough. I had to relight my cigar again, which had everypony holding their breath.
"He's doing it again!" Fluttershy (quietly) yelled, ducking in cover behind Twilight. Celestia glared at me.
"Hm?" I looked up from my cigar. "Oh, no, this isn't magic. This is a small mechanism that makes fire." Everypony released their held breaths, but, Celestia kept her glare.
"Pardon him, Celestia," Luna demanded.
"Excuse me?" she asked, insulted.
"Pardon him. He does not not know what he is doing," she demanded once more. Celestia was about to say how wrong it would be until, "Pardon him or banish me with him," she said flatly.
"What?!" she exclaimed, furiously.
"You heard what I have to say, so, punish him. But, you will punish me once more," Luna said, spitefully. Celestia started stuttering a bit at a loss of words.
"Princess Celestia, I could teach him how to control his powers and use it for a better cause!" Twilight said. "He could be a valuable asset to us, seeing that he was powerful enough to make all three of us princesses lose our stance! If he just knows how to use it, he can help us immensely!" All the other Elements nodded in agreement, smiling. Celestia sighed in defeat.
"Fine. I will pardon you. But, if you can not contain your abilities and do something like this once more, Raymond, you will be severely punished," Celestia said angrily before walking away. I looked to Luna, then to Twilight.
"You two didn't have to do that," I said, taking a puff from my cigar.
"Yes, we did," the two said simultaneously.
I blew out the smoke, "If you say so." I turned to Twilight, "So, magic, huh?" I took another puff. "Let's get started some time soon, eh? How's tomorrow sound?"
The World I've Come to Know
It was perfect weather for me go walking. It had gotten the cold outside since it was almost September and the sky was gray. Nobody was really walking around at the time, except for maybe the occasional bystander that had to go to the drug store or some other place. People in this city normally get in their cars instead of walk from place to place. I was in my normal attire; black trench coat, white dress shirt, brown dress pants, red tie, and my brown leather shoes. I have a tendency to dress a bit less casual compared to the other people in this city who wear jeans and a t-shirt.
I kept my hands in my pockets and kept walking along the sidewalk. It's a Wednesday, so, I don't really have anywhere to go. My line of work doesn't have me working on Wednesdays, which I thoroughly enjoy, by the way. A breeze blew my coat in the wind as I walked. It was probably somewhere around 40 degrees out here. Wondering what time it was, I looked down to my gold and leather watch. I probably needed to go back to my house soon. 4:36. Yeah, I should probably start heading back home.
Deciding that it would be a good idea to go home now. It's not that I have anything really to do at home, I just don't really want to be around when it gets dark. The drug dealers and what not show up around then. I don't want any interaction with them. I managed to get back within the next 20 minutes. I took a bit of a shortcut to get home earlier. Normally, it would take around a good 40 minutes for me to get home.
I reached into one of my pockets and opened the door to my apartment and walked in. My apartment was pretty small, but, it had all my essentials; a kitchen, a bedroom, and a living room area. I can afford my living services and still have some money left over. I've been thinking of going back to my hometown and visit some of my old friends. My parents died a long time ago, one died about a year after the other, but, that's not very important.
As I sat down on my couch, I turned on the television and watched the recent news. A teenager has apparently ran from home. City life here is so bleak that I don't necessarily blame him. I'd want to go find a new place to stay, too. Something a bit more...adventurous. I'd want that. Maybe it's got a little bit to do with my lack of a social life. I don't necessarily go anywhere outside of my apartment unless a friend invites me to go drinking or to come over to a party with him. My cousin will sometimes invite me and a group of friends to go see a movie, but, outside of those few things, I don't go anywhere.
A knock on my door brought me out of my thoughts. I got up, tempted to hide and not answer the door because I had a pretty good idea on who was on the other side, but, I decided to open the door anyways. A slim man with light brown hair stood at my door with his hands behind his back, wearing a sweater-vest and some jeans.
"Hey, Raymond!", he said with quite the enthusiastic grin on his face.
"Hello, Stephen," I groaned, not really wanting to speak with him at the moment. Stephen was the stereotypical happy landlord. He's nice and all to me, but, I just can't stand that sometimes.
"...What do you want?" I asked after a prolonged silence.
"Today's collection day! Did you forget again?", he asked me. Oh yeah, it's the 30th today. I sighed. "I suppose I did. Hold on a second." And with that, I walked to my closet and pulled a box down.
"How much is it?" I asked, unlocking the box.
"$220!" he responded with much vigor in his voice. I looked up and glared at him, knowing that it had gone up a whole $40.
"Sorry, Raymond, it's just the economy," he responded, scratching the back of his head. I sighed once more, pulling out the money and locking the box. At least it isn't the price of some of the apartments around town. As I always tell myself, it could be worse.
I put the box away and walked towards my landlord who was now leaning on my door-frame. As I handed him the money, he regained his normal stance.
"Thanks for your business, Raymond," he said turning around and walking away. I was about to close the door on him until he stopped and turned around.
"Hey, I'm going to be having a bit of a get-together with a few friends of mine tomorrow. Would you like to come?" he asked with a smile plastered on his face.
"Thanks, but, I don't think I can make it. I've got a few things that I need to do," I responded, being unintentionally flat. His smile faded pretty quickly upon my response.
"Raymond, we both know that you don't have anything to do tomorrow. If you don't want to come, just tell me next time," he said before turning around and starting to walk away.
"You need to have a better outlook on life or you'll never be happy," he said, not slowing down his pace.
"I'll have you know that I am happy," I retorted, slightly angered with his statement. How could he just assume I'm not happy? He was walking down the sidewalk away from my house.
"Are you really?" he asked, now unable to hear me. Well, I guess I'm not exactly happy, but I'm content with how I am , I thought to myself.
The rest of my day didn't have much to it. I ate dinner, sat around in my apartment and slept. Being the insomniac that I am, I stayed up until 3 AM or so. I didn't really keep up with the time. The next morning, I looked over to the clock and looked at the time. I'd only gotten a few hours of sleep before I woke up. It was 7 AM at this point. I got up and walked over to my closet, picked out my normal attire, which I have many of, put on my clothes and readied myself for the day. As I looked outside my house, I noticed it was raining, so I took a wide-brimmed rain hat out with me. And with that, I took to the street and walked to my job.
On my way there, I decided to take to the more covered areas so I could avoid the rain as much as possible while I walked. No one paid me much mind while I walked, I just headed for my destination. When I got there, I hung my coat and hat on the rack next to my workstation. I had a small cubicle for processing for a steel company. It was easy work. I get all the orders, make sure the workers completed said orders, and take inventory before shipping off the steel. It's mostly just sit at a desk and, as my area states, process all the steel shipments.
I worked from 7:30 to 3:30, got off my work and started my walk back home. The rain only picked up in those 8 whole hours. I was only half of the way home until I saw a lightning strike hit the road next to me. It wasn't all that much, it was just "ZAP!" and that's it. No thunderclap or anything. None-the-less, it still scared me shitless. I ran to the nearest building and walked inside. It was a coffee shop. In fact, the exact coffee shop where my friend works.
When I entered the place, breathing heavily, I sat down immediately, hoping to calm my nerves. My friend saw my current condition and started busting a gut behind the counter. My only response was a glare. Her name was Brandy, a friend of mine ever since we were partnered up in Primary School. She was a slim young woman, slightly shorter than myself, with long brown hair that dropped to her shoulder-blades. I remember that she used to have it short and in a pony-tail in Primary School. That changed back in Secondary, when she did her hair like it is now. "I'm going on break, boss!" she yelled to the back. I heard someone else yell in response from the kitchen area of the coffee shop, but, I didn't care much for what they said. Brandy walked over to the table I was at and sat down.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," she told me, still smiling and and giggling.
"Yeah, I almost got struck by lightning," I said, shakily.
"You want anything? Coffee? Bread?" She asked. She was a pretty good employee here, on break and still doing service.
"Yeah, a, uh...A white-chocolate mocha will do." I responded, finally getting my nerves to calm down.
"Alright, coming up!" she exclaimed before running to the back and making it.
It wasn't too long until she came back with my order. Luckily, the restaurant was pretty vacant, so, there wasn't anyone for her to take orders from at the time. There was a long moment of my just sitting there sipping from my coffee cup and her just staring out into space. Suddenly, she broke the silence.
"You got a girlfriend yet, Raymond?" she asked me.
"Nah...You know me, Brandy," I said, taking a sip of my coffee, "I'm asexual, remember?" She looked at me with her pale blue eyes and furrowed her brow.
"Oh, right, I forgot. Well, how's life treating you?" she asked. I laughed at her question.
"You still thinking about others, hm? Well, life's doing well enough. Rent went up, but, other than that, it's all really just the same."
"Oh? Is that so?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Yeah. But, what about you? How's being a coffee-maker working out for you?" I asked, receiving a tired look.
"Oh, God, I hate everyone here," she responded, disgruntled, holding her head with her hands by her forehead.
"So, I take it that it's not working out?" I asked, trying to hold back my laughter.
"No! It really, really isn't. Everything about this place sucks! The floor is sticky, the people are either hipsters of some tired as shit businessman that can't place his order without falling asleep three times! Seriously! I hate it here!" she responded, obviously letting anger slip into her tone.
"Could be worse, Brandy." I said.
"How? How could it POSSIBLY be worse than this?" she asked, not believing my words.
"Well, you could be a garbage-woman." I responded, taking a sip of my coffee.
"Yeah...Yeah, I guess so," she said, defeated.
We sat there for a while again before she decided to speak up again.
"Well, at least you have a scapegoat for not being able to do the jobs like that," she said, leaning back in my chair.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. Bars in my back from scoliosis," I said, a bit angry, "But, at least it's better than saying "I was lazy", you know?" She looked at me and put a hand on her chin.
"Yeah, I guess so."
I stood and put my coat and hat back on. "Hey, I've gotta go. I'm going to want to my house soon, despite the storm," I said, throwing my cup away, "You should probably get back from your break anyways."
She stood up after that statement, "Oh, right. Well, see you around, Raymond!" I only waved in response as I walked out the door and back down the street.
Hopefully, this storm will let up after a while , I thought to myself. It was only about 10 minutes later that I found out that this storm was not going to let up. It only got worse. I guess I should have expected this from yesterday's weather. Unfortunately, I had to walk through an open part of a street to continue.
"Just my luck," I said to absolutely no one. I took a step onto the street and started to cross it.
ZAP!
Suddenly, I was thrown from the street entirely! I saw a torrent of colors, then I saw a constant strobe of black and white flashing that would be enough to make an man with epilepsy double over into a seizure! I saw many discolored scenes of purple mountains, to red plains, to green skies to black seas! I saw different creatures of large and small flash past me! All while listening to some deafening high-pitched humming noise! It reminded me of the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey!
I could hardly bear the situation in front of me! I wanted to scream, but, every time I tried, no sound would come out, or none that I could hear! I felt like I couldn't take any more of this and I thought that I was going to die! But, suddenly, everything blurred and I heard screaming. Then, there was only blackness and silence.
