The Sage

by Electric Blade

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Human, Adventure
Length: 2555

Eric, a brony, retained his extensive knowledge of the show when he fell victim to the cliche he loves to hate. However, now he has the ability to see the future as his equine self. Will the things he sees help Equestria? Or doom it?

Eric loves reading My Little Pony fanfictions. He's an extremely well-learned brony, knowing every experience the cast had since Episode One, Season One of Friendship is Magic. However, all he found sites was clones of the same premise! But Eric always dismissed these stories, knowing with complete certainty that My Little Pony was a made up show with a made up world.Then, he came home to find the Mane Six in his room. Waiting for him. As Eric falls victim to the cliche he loves to hate, he realizes that his extensive knowledge of the My Little Pony world is deepened as his equine self. Now, he can see the future of Equestria, and the things he sees lead him into a dilemma that will either save the pony nation…..or end it in catastrophe.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-03 09:28:21 UTC

Questions

So that was it then. He'd gone insane. He never expected it to happen this way. He always thought it would happen poetically, him accepting his fate, giving some inspirational words, and slowly losing his mind. Tragic. But of all the things he thought he would see whilst going utterly insane, none of them even came close to ponies.

Okay, some of them did. Fine, most of them. Okay, all of them. He thought My Little Pony was an awesome show. Fictional. Meaning made up. Equestria wasn't real, and neither were these ponies. Eric decided that he would embrace his insanity and live among his hallucinations peacefully. So, he walked across his room, sat on his bed, and opened his laptop. Eric turned on his laptop only to find that it was dead. "I thought the charger was plugged in," he thought to himself. He looked at the outlet next to his bed, to find that the charger was, to his dismay, not plugged in. He sighed gruffly and turned his gaze to the six ponies before him. The Mane Six, as they were called, were the main group of friends that premiered every Saturday. Eric knew almost everything about them. The main thing he was unaware of was most of the ponies' ages, but he did know that Rainbow Dash, the pegasus hovering in the air across his room, had turned 21 very recently. He found this out by counting the "birthaversary" candles on Dash's cake in the episode "Pinkie Pride". All six of them were staring at Eric, eyes widened in shock. Twilight Sparkle was the first to come forward and speak. Her horn glowed a bright purple, and a small sheet of paper levitated out of her saddlebags- Eric hadn't noticed them before- and floated in front of her, covered in an aura of the same color. She read as she spoke, leading Eric to believe that she was reading from a script.

"Greetings, human. I am Tw-"

The alicorn was cut short by Eric's interjection, as he simply wished to find out what his hallucinations wanted with him.

"Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn Princess, wielder and embodiment of the Element of Magic, formerly Princess Celestia's student, sister of Shining Armor, sister-in-law of Princess Cadance, lives in a library along with Spike the dragon."

The lavender mare's jaw dropped. Could he read minds? Was there actually magic in the human world? Was he some sort of superhuman? Many other questions swam through Twilight's mind like a raging whirlwind, but one stood out above all else:

How did he know?!

She shook off her stupor and addressed her main inquiry, asking how in the hay Eric knew these things about her. He simply smiled and said, "A magician never reveals his secrets."

"So there is magic in the human world?" Twilight narrowed her eyes in curiosity. There was something different about this human.

"Nope, I simply....have my ways." Eric replied coyly. He could have fun with this. Meanwhile, the other five ponies were still in shock, their confusion refreshed by Eric's extensive knowledge of their friend. However, Rainbow Dash was not one to be left wondering. She snapped herself out of her speechlessness and closed the gap between Eric's face and hers in an instant, beating her wings in a continuous rhythm. "Twilight asked how you know all of this. Answer us." She snarled.

"Calm down," Eric replied in the most level voice he could muster. "You'll have your questions answered...after mine are. First of all, am I insane? Second of all, why are you here? And finally, why me?"

At this, Twilight stepped forward, pulling Rainbow Dash out of Eric's face. She glared at the cyan pegasus, then turned her gaze back to Eric. "For your first question, no, you're not insane. For your second and third questions, Princess Celestia gave us orders to retrieve a human named Eric Jacobsen. You are Eric Jacobsen, right?" To this, Eric nodded his head, confirming Twilight's thoughts. She continued, "She didn't give us a reason, but we are to..." Twilight levitated a scroll out of her saddlebags and opened it with a crisp snap. She read, "'This letter is of the utmost importance. Locate Eric Jacobsen and transport him to the castle. Use whatever means necessary to bring him here. Signed, Princess Celestia.'" Twilight rolled up the scroll and stuffed it back into her saddlebag. "Does that answer your questions?" She inquired.

Eric froze. This meant that..... ARE YOU SERIOUS?! The other four ponies, already shaken out of their stupors, were watching him intently, eager to see where the situation would go. However, Eric had other plans for the mares, and addressed them each. He asked them if they had any questions. All of them did. They all started at once, and Eric didn't know whose questions to answer first, so he quieted the room down and said, "Each of you has two questions you can ask me. I will go from left to right, starting with Rainbow Dash." The mare was slightly surprised at Eric's knowledge of her name, but asked her questions nonetheless.

She pressed, "Why are you so okay with us being here, and...can humans fly?"

Eric was amused at her questions, and answered, "I originally thought I was going insane because you guys don't exist in this world. I decided that if I truly was losing my mind, I would embrace my hallucinations and live with them peacefully all poetic like. Also, although we can't fly, we do have machines that can, and have to be operated by humans. In fact, some of these machines can go faster than the speed of sound very easily. I'm sure you know what that feels like, right Dashie?" Eric used Pinkie Pie's name for Rainbow Dash for added effect. The mare was taken aback, and her face turned from one of curiosity to one of suspicion.

"How did you know about the Sonic Rainboom?" she asked furrowing her brow, but Eric smiled wryly and said, "Only two questions, Rainbow." The pegasus stepped back, disconcerted. Eric turned to Applejack, asking her for her two questions. She asked hurriedly, "Do you humans have apples here, an' are they good? Ah was just wonderin', seein' how y'all humans seem ta have almost everythin' us ponies do and more...." At this, Eric got a bright idea. He said in a rushed voice to the mares, "Stay here, I'll be right back!" At this, he jogged out of his room, making sure the door was closed, and ran downstairs to the kitchen. He threw open the fridge, looking around fervently. "There they are!" His eyes lit up as he saw the bag of assorted apples. His mother bought them just yesterday, so they should still taste fresh. He looked inside. Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith apples shined like jewels in the bag before him. He ran upstairs with his prize and into his room, closing the door behind him. He turned to Applejack, pulled out a Golden Delicious, and tossed it to her. She caught it, eyeing it hungrily. Eric passed the apples out to the rest of the ponies, leaving a single Granny Smith for himself. He sat back down on his bed and took a bite. It was amazing! He hoped Applejack and the rest liked theirs too. He grinned and said in his best Southern accent, "That answer yer question, sugarcube?"

Applejack looked up at Eric, eyebrows raised. "Ah guess you DO know a lot about us, huh?" At this Eric cleared his throat and, in his best Big Macintosh imitation, confirmed, "Eeyup." The earth pony froze for a moment, then smiled. Eric then turned to Rarity. He stood up, and extravagantly bowed towards the white mare. She looked like she was anxious to say something, but he couldn't tell what it was. "Miss Rarity, I am ready for your inquiries," Eric said in his best Alfred voice. The unicorn blushed and looked away, but quickly regained her composure and said in a demanding tone, "First of all, if you humans don't have magic, then what is powering that?" At this, she promptly pointed towards Eric's desk lamp. "It's complicated," He replied with a small nod, "What's your other question?"

Rarity couldn't hold it anymore. She had to know. "Secondly.....WHAT IS THAT?!" She cried as her horn glowed a bright shade of blue, gesturing frantically towards Eric's nightstand. He saw a faint glow from inside, and opened the drawers to find that a small turquoise bag was the source of the light. He opened the drawstrings to see his quartz crystal enveloped in the same color aura as Rarity's horn. "This?" Eric inquired, pointing to the rock. Rarity fervently nodded and trotted closer to it, saying in a rushed voice, "Yes! I've never seen anything like it before, and I MUST know its name!"  "Rarity, this is called Himalayan Quartz," Eric replied, surprised that ponies didn't have an equivalent of the crystal in Equestria.

The unicorn fixated her eyes on the crystal in wonder, marveling at its smooth sides and complexion. Eric pocketed the crystal, cutting Rarity's gawking to an awkward close. She blushed, clearly embarrassed at her dramatic reaction to the rock. She stepped back into the circle of ponies. But two were missing. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. "Fluttershy?" Eric called, assuming that she would have questions about human anatomy or the wildlife of Earth. In reply, he heard a tiny whimper from under his bed. He pulled away the covers to reveal a shaking Fluttershy......as well as some assorted and rather unsightly wrappers.

"Fluttershy, please get out from under there. I'm not here to hurt you, I was wondering if you had any questions for me," Eric replied to the nearly hysterical although admittedly adorable Fluttershy. She crawled out from under Eric's bed, still shaking from this strange encounter. Eric, nervous that his attempts to suppress a d'awwww were bound to fail, asked, "Fluttershy, would you like to know anything about humans or wildlife? You can ask two questions." Fluttershy nodded her head hesitantly, and began in a shaky voice, "I-I'd like to know what w-wildlife this planet has. I h-haven't heard anything about this planet yet. F-for my other question, I-I'd like to know what you call this p-planet...." She trailed off. "We call this planet Earth," Eric replied, making sure to emphasize the name. "And apart from ponies and some other creatures, as far as I know Equestria and Earth have the same wildlife." At this, Fluttershy's teal eyes widened. She was surprised- almost the same wildlife? She still had so many questions about what ponies had that they didn't, but abided by the two-question rule.

Eric looked around for Pinkie Pie, but to no avail. He realized what that could mean, and so lifted up his hand and counted down on his fingers from three. The moment he hit one, the party pony leapt out from under his.......pillow? How did she even- Eric cut his thoughts short, reminding himself not to question PInkie Pie. She landed squarely in front of Eric before shouting, "HIMYNAMEISPINKIEPIEBUTIKNOWYOUKNOWTHATSOHERE'SMYPARTYCANNON!" Before Eric has a chance to comprehend what Pinkie said, she reached behind her and whipped out a pink and blue cannon, pointed it straight at Eric's face, and unleashed a fury of confetti, streamers, and balloons. Eric's face became a colorful mess of paper and ribbons, which he wiped away before asking Pinkie what her questions were. She looked Eric dead in the eye, with the most serious face he had ever seen, and asked in an unnervingly level voice, "I have one question. Do. You. Have. Parties." Eric answered, "We do, and they're awesome," to which Pinkie Pie joyfully whooped and bounced in circles.

The questions were over, and Twilight stepped forward to make sure Eric was okay with leaving. He paused and looked at his laptop. It got him thinking of everything he could show the ponies, all the technological advancements he could spur simply by showing devices to them and explaining how they could work, Equestria would be modernized! Advanced! Better in every way! But then his thought wandered to darker ides of the story. That was exactly what humans thought, and it didn't work out so well for them. Ponies may go the way of humans, deforesting, polluting, creating corrupt political systems and corporations. New advances in weapons technology could lead to wars, and in a world of magic, that might end worse than any human war could. Eric wasn't sure. Should he be the catalyst for an industrialized Equestria and risk the simplistic life that he longed for every Saturday? The answer to Eric, however selfish.....was no.

Surprise!

"Ugh, another one?!" Eric shouted in frustration at his laptop screen. Surely it would be cowering in fear at his almighty fury, if it could. The target of his wrath was yet another cliched fanfic where the protagonist has a bad life at home, then SUDDENLY, PONIES! Now the antagonist is in Equestria, which is suddenly doomed due to the return of [INSERT PREVIOUS VILLAIN FROM SHOW HERE]. Meh. Those kinds of stories always popped up, and Eric learned to become...relatively indifferent towards them. However, this one was so identical to the last bazillion that he could no longer control his rage. After he cooled down, Eric checked the clock. 3:28 in the morning. He always found it was easier for him to stay up until his alarm, rather than wake up at his alarm. He sighed, a mixture of melancholy and frustration at the cliched fic, and continued browsing.

Eric awoke with a start. He looked around to see, to his dismay, he was still on the bus. The day at school had been relatively average, except that he had no homework, a strange occurrence. But he wasn't complaining. Days like this were rare, and after all, he had fanfics to read. The bus shuddered to a halt in front of his driveway, and Eric walked down the aisle and off the stairs, his sneakers making a satisfying clomp on the familiar pavement of the driveway. As he plodded up the asphalt, he thought he heard something implacable. A twinkle, maybe? Weird..... Eric thought to himself as he twisted the front door open. He walked inside, being careful to make as little noise as possible- his mother might be sleeping upstairs. She slept a lot lately. Eric knew that his mother had depression, so he figured the sleeping might be a result of that, but she only did this once before. Could it be because of his brother? He thought she already got over it. Eric shrugged it off and trudged upstairs. He went over to his room and started to turn the doorknob when he heard.... a gasp? Is someone in my room? Eric wondered, then froze when he realized what that could mean.

He decided to check. He was a little bit tired after all. Maybe he was hearing things. He had to be hearing things. Nobody was in his room, he locked the doors and windows. His neighborhood was supposed to be safe. Eric steeled himself for what was probably nothing inside, and opened the door.

Inside he saw six living, breathing, flying, hiding, staring, bouncing ponies.