Chapter 1 - Wibbly Wobbly ... Ponies?!
“Your highness, you requested my presence?” Gleaming Shield greeted the Sun princess. The unicorn mare had been called into Princess Celestia’s office to report on the activities of the Solar Guard during the final battle of the War of The Sun and Moon. Shield thought back to that horrid night, just over one week ago, and the events leading up to Princess Luna’s tumble down the slippery slope of her stressed psyche into the abyss of full on insanity… And her subsequent transformation into the abomination known as Nightmare Moon.
“Yes, Captain. Just requesting an update on what’s left of the Lunar Guard,” Celestia replied. “So then, you say the Lunar Guard transformed at approximately the same time as my sister?”
“Yes, your highness. Fortunately, it would appear that the abilities the connection of Nightmare to the Elements granted her were not also gifted in full to the Lunar Guards that were transformed, as evidence has been observed that they are not as closely tethered. Additionally, there were Lunar Guard ponies that weren’t close enough to your sister to be transformed, and following your sister’s banishment, were returned to their senses,” Gleaming Shield finished.
“Good. See to it they are granted whatever assistance they need. Dismissed,” Celestia said, turning to the various documents on her desk. Gleaming Shield nodded, and turned, exiting the room and closing the door.
Celestia sighed, trying to avoid thinking of the events of that night. The night she had to banish her sister to the moon, and the look of pure, unadulterated rage on her sister’s countenance just as she became the monstrous entity that had stolen everything she was. Nightmare Moon had begun the systematic decimation of everything she and her sister had built together soon after, twisting it to follow the warped regime of her possessed psyche. It was something she could not afford to let happen to her, let alone her ponies. They were innocent in the whole scheme, and if she’d had her druthers, wouldn’t have participated in the conflict at all. She knew however, deep down, that she didn’t really have a choice, after the Nightmare had weaponized transformed civilians and Solar Guards in order to turn the tide of the conflict after the comparatively small skirmish of the first battle… The battle comprised entirely of events leading to Nightmare Moon’s escape from her grasp.
‘I should have treated Luna as soon as I realized the presence of the parasite in her mind.’ She knew, however, that in reality, this was out of her control. She could not have done anything about the parasite, her slipping grip on the Elements and lack of traditional bearers preventing her from purging it without strengthening her Elemental tether with magical enhancements, thus corrupting it and causing it to deteriorate. She would ultimately have ended up accelerating the deterioration of her tether. Furthermore, such spells were extremely strenuous; she knew it was inevitable she would lose her hold, like all other bearers (though most lacked lifespans long enough to lose them naturally, dying before such occurrences and thus taking their status to their graves until their tether had deteriorated a sufficient amount naturally, after which new bearers would be selected by the Elements). She had no choice but to banish the Lunar diarch until new bearers emerged, as her grip was already too far gone to salvage for long enough to render her victorious.
Gazing out her window, she watched as the grass on the prairie-esque landscape appeared to shift hues first to gold, and then to a deeper red as her sun approached the treetops. The trees had sprouted the day after the battle, and had been growing at speeds that should have been impossible, with leaves that shimmered a shimmering, silvery color, atop grass that had been turned red by the magic that Nightmare Moon had flung about.
A strange shooting star caught her attention, white hot as it descended at speeds she had never observed, and never thought she would. It appeared to leave behind a trail of thick smoke. As it impacted the ground, it threw dirt and debris into the air, a shower of tephra settling over the impact site. A mere split second later, a deafening boom was heard, causing the ears of everypony within the camp to ring loudly. Barely a second after her ears stopped ringing, Gleaming Shield burst into her office.
“Your highness!” she began, awaiting orders diligently.
“Gather some other guards from the barracks along with your equipment, and full armor. We will be investigating the crash site of that projectile,” Celestia ordered. “I failed to identify it as it fell.” I don’t think it’s anything I have experience with, and I have a lot of experience.’
“Of course, your highness!” Gleaming Shield shouted, galloping off to gather the pegasi that Celestia had requisitioned. Celestia, for her part, visited her quarters to gather her own equipment; namely the armor she had been wearing during the final battle, and her broadsword, Solus.
30 minutes earlier, Low Equus Orbit
“Uggghh,” Thomas groaned. “Did anyone get the number on that truck?”
Only silence answered. Thomas slowly sat up, and opened his eyes.
“Okay, since when did I become a character on Doctor Who?” he asked groggily, beginning to overtake his lethargy. “And what’s with the lights?”
As the lights slowly increased in intensity, Thomas took stock of his situation.
He was sitting adjacent to the central console of what looked to be the Twelfth Doctor’s TARDIS. ‘I didn’t fall asleep here...’ He was wearing what looked like the Twelfth Doctor’s costume with the addition of a green bowtie. Every iota of his being ached like he’d been the victim of an abnormally violent collision; one that involved a semi, two Abrams tanks, and a freight locomotive.
Thomas agonizingly pulled himself to a standing position, taking his time. As he did so, he looked over the central console. It was then that he noted that the entire room was in a state of devastation, rather similar to the state of the Doctor’s TARDIS after the Tenth Doctor’s regeneration.
“Well, doesn’t look too promising,” he mused, unhappy at the state of affairs. “I could swear I was somewhere else entirely when I fell asleep… Okay then, rule number one of waking up in an unknown location, ‘check apparel for useful items and other such helpful gimmicks’. I already know what clothes I’m wearing, so what’s in my pockets?” he asked himself. Patting them, he started at the absence of his smartphone. “Well, it was inevitable I’d lose it eventually anyway, though I wish I could have kept it; it was a useful little gizmo.” Suddenly, he felt a long and cylindrical object in his right pocket. “Well, hello…! I hope that’s what I think it is!” It had a sort of unique, uneven symmetry to it, and felt artificial.
“Okay, that’s a little odd, but really cool.” Thomas pulled the object from his pocket to find that it looked a lot like a mix between the Tenth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver and the Eleventh Doctor’s Sonic. It had the extending bit of the Tenth Doctor’s sonic but also the green emitter lens and hinged dynamic wave amplifier apparatus that characterized Eleven’s.
“Well, alright... Why don’t we check the doors then?” he said to himself, strolling toward the doors of the TARDIS. As he opened them, glimpsing his unfamiliar environment, the first words to pop into his head were the epitome of elocution. ‘Oh, bother,’ he thought, uncomfortable with the sudden displacement.
Outside the TARDIS was a planet he supposed was relatively large. It looked similar to Earth, but wasn’t. The space between him and the planet was empty due to his close proximity, but stars and nebulae painted the interstellar landscape, stretching into beyond.
“Crap...” Thomas could feel his heart beating as he slowly began to panic about why he was in a completely unknown location, floating about in space, when he noticed something felt… anomalous, unfamiliar in his physiology. At first it was hard for him to pin it down, but at length, he eventually found its activity and correlation with his heartbeat to be a little jarring. ‘If something is messing with my heart… ’ Thomas thought to himself concernedly.It was almost as though he could feel a second heartbeat hammering away, slightly out of sync with the one he was used to feeling. He reached down, and felt at his chest. Sure enough, on his left side he could feel one heart and on the right he could feel another, chugging away. ‘That is not normal. Kind of scary, but awesome too – I could get used to this state of affairs.’
“Well then. I’m a Time Lord now. I guess that’s okay. Time Lords are cool.” Thomas turned his attention to the console. He briefly wondered at the present state of his family, having had a member torn away from their number so suddenly. He decided he’d think on that later, not enthusiastic toward the prospect of weighing down his psyche with such melancholy thoughts when so much opportunity lay before him. He decided that he would get the TARDIS underway, then come to terms with everything that was going on.
‘A new planet, a new world! I’d better see what’s up, and why, starting with my current state of being; not that I’d complain...’ The wellbeing of his family continued to niggle at him, however, and he decided he’d try to check up on them later, if they turned out to be accessible by conventional time lord means. Jerking out of his stupor, he returned to the task at hand, closure attained for the time-being. He pondered his situation.
‘Hmmm… Interesting problem, and definitely not one I thought I’d be taking great pains to solve prior to this particular chain of events.’
“...Now then, how does one get a damaged TARDIS to the surface of a nearby planet?” he asked himself, surveying the interior of the derelict time machine.
‘This hardly seems completely out of commission. There must be something in these controls, some mechanism here I can use...’
Thomas’ interests were then piqued by a lever that seemed to be glowing, wrenching him out of his musings. ‘That was convenient.’ Grinning, he walked up to the lever, grabbing hold.‘Once again, this thing hardly seems down for the count. This could be my ticket to the surface of that planet!’ Suddenly, he began to doubt his decision-making, but observing the rest of his surroundings, no options seemed to be more viable than the lever – it was one of the only fully functional controls in entire console array, for all he knew.
‘Well, what’s the worst that could happen? I’m a time lord now.’
Having made his decision, in the spirit of discovery, science, and all things wibbly, wobbly, and timey-wimey, he threw the lever, letting out an exclamation of “Geronimo!” as the time-travel apparatus gave itself to gravity, initiating its descent towards the unfamiliar planet. The TARDIS slowly began to descend, feeling sort of like an elevator.
‘Now I can start freaking out over what the hell has happened to me. Fun,’ he thought, as his mind slipped into mulling over what had happened.
When Celestia had first witnessed the strange projectile, she had been expecting a large crater, or at the very least something a little different than this. What she found at the ‘crash site’ didn’t look even remotely like something travelling at that velocity toward the ground should have after an impact. Certainly, she had not been expecting a big blue box to be placed upon the ground, perfectly upright, undamaged except for a crack in one of the windows. The strange object had the words, “Police Public Call Box” written across the top in bold white letters, and the ground around it appeared to have been scorched.
Suddenly, one of the doors on the side of the box swung open, expelling a large quantity of smoke, and unveiling a strange, bipedal creature.
“Alright, note to self: never stop paying attention to the control console ...... Assuming that’s what I did wrong,” It said, pounding its torso with an upper limb as it coughed, clearly trying to get some of the smoke out of it’s system.
It then raised its head, noticing Celestia and her guards for the first time. “Oh. Hello,” it said, voice sounding somewhat mirthful, despite his recent ordeal. “Who might you lot be?”
“I am Princess Celestia, current ruler of Equestria. You are?” Celestia replied, putting on an impassive, yet somewhat friendly face. She hadn’t been expecting to surpass the language barrier so quickly, nor did she expect the creature to be so good-natured about suddenly landing in an unfamiliar environment.
“You can call me Thomas,” the strange creature replied. “Might I ask why you and your associates have such well-used equipment? I would expect royalty and their guard to have spotless apparel. Untouched by charring, or other such telltale signs of recent use or damage. Certainly not in this condition - it looks a little tarnished; well-worn.”
Celestia’s face suddenly iced over, stoicism taking over her features. “That is none of your concern, Thomas,” she said. Her voice would have struck the spirit of caution into those even as impulsive or spontaneous as Discord. However, it seemed that the strange creature that stood before them was unfazed by the impassive mask.
“My apologies, I did not mean to intrude on heavy conversation. I think I know the feeling of wanting to step around that type of thing. Instead, might I inquire as to the year?”
“It has been approximately 750 years after the defeat of Discord. Most have taken to calling this time period the Celestial Era, with this being the first year of the era. It has been one week since the ... event that caused the switchover to a new time period,” Celestia replied, her voice seemingly devoid of emotion.
“I take it that event has something to do with the state of your equipment? After all, not many things cause the turnover of a historical era,” the creature replied, a note of curiosity creeping into its voice.
“I’ll answer that if you answer my questions about yourself. Do we have a deal?” Celestia replied, her voice making it obvious that she wanted to avoid talking about the event altogether.
“Fair enough, I suppose,” Thomas replied.
“First question. What in the name of sanity are you?” Celestia asked. She was extraordinarily curious about the strange creature, in part due to its status as the first and only extraterrestrial that she had ever encountered. She would likely find him to be interesting were he not sapient.
“That’s a complicated question to answer. Especially considering that I’m not sure what I am anymore,” Thomas answered. Celestia could sense that he was telling the truth do to her waning connection to the Element of Honesty.
“Explain.”
“I was born as a member of a species known as humans. However, some unanticipated anomaly has caused me to become a slightly different species. As far as I knew prior to these events, the species that I’ve transformed into was purely fictional. They were known as Time Lords, due to their technological mastery of the laws of time in the fictional set of stories they, ‘inhabited’, for lack of a better word. I still don’t know how I became one,” Thomas spoke forlornly. “Nor do I know how I wound up anywhere near your planet.”
“So, you are not only not of this world, but -” Celestia looked Thomas straight in the eye. “- you were transported to our world without your knowledge or consent.”
“And I have no idea how to get home from here.” Thomas closed his eyes, walked backwards slightly, and leaned against the closed door of the box he had arrived in.
“Second question, what is that box exactly?” Celestia asked, curious as to how it was able to survive plummeting out of the heavens with barely a crack.
“It’s called the TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. When it’s not in a state of disrepair like it is currently, it can go anywhere in both time and space. It’s also bigger on the inside,” Thomas spoke, leaning against the door of the TARDIS.
“What do you mean, bigger on the inside? And how does it maintain control in outer space?” Celestia didn’t seem to think, at first, that he could be saying what he was, or that it could be a useful vehicle without visible control surfaces.
“Well, I mean that when you walk into the TARDIS, it’s a larger space than appears feasible from the exterior. I meant exactly what I said; it’s bigger on the inside than it is outside,” He replied. “As for maintaining control, or moving, I have no idea how it does that. Just a vague idea of how to operate it. I’m going to have to learn how one of these days, all I did to get here was throw a lever.”
“You said that when your vessel is fully functional it could travel through time. How long would it take for you to repair your vessel?”
“I’m sorry?” Thomas replied, shooting Celestia a curious look, a little caught off guard.
“How long would it take for you to get your vessel’s time travel capability working again?” Celestia asked, leaning forward slightly.
“Well, I can’t really fix it, per se,” Thomas said nervously. “However, it does have a self-repair system. I’d just have to find the means to engage it,” he said, growing more confident.
“That being said, I think you want proof that it can travel through time. Can’t say I blame you, but I will have to lay down the ground rules about time travel,” Thomas began. “Rule number one, you can’t change history from what is recorded. In other words, no traveling one week into the past to change that event you refused to talk about. If you tried, you could cause a paradox that would threaten all life on the planet.”
At this, Celestia’s expression plummeted, her hopeful look gone with the wind. It was as if she had been hoping to change that event.
At this point, Thomas spoke up. “Sorry. It’s just something that you can’t safely do, at least so far as I’m aware.”
At this point, they all heard a strange roar echo out from the area of the nearby forest. It had a smoky rasp to it, as though the vocal cords of the organism responsible had been damaged.
“Did you hear that?” Thomas asked, slightly worried as to what could have produced the abrasive noise.
“Yes. It sounded worryingly similar to a dragon, but there seemed to have been something off about its roar...” Celestia turned towards the forest, looking around for the dragon responsible.
Suddenly, one of the guards shouted, “Look, up there!” As the gathered ponies, plus time lord, looked up, they bore witness to a strange creature.
The strange beast circling them was what appeared to be a dragon made of wood, with wing membrane comprised of dried leaves. As the troupe directed their gaze upward, the apparently hostile beast dove upon them, lobbing a blob of some viscous green substance through its chops. The sickly green glob landed upon the ground near the TARDIS, sending up an acrid cloud of a putrid green vapor and corroding surfaces it touched upon impact with astounding speed.
“Great,” Thomas said sarcastically, “That thing shoots acidic goo.” Celestia turned towards the strange beast and lowered her head, pointing her horn at it and firing a beam of energy. The wooden dragon burst into flame, its ashes dropping off its frame unceremoniously as it combusted. A whiff of vanilla permeated the air. Celestia looked mildly confused.
“That’s not how I would imagine a burning corpse should smell…” Celestia said curiously.
“Well, that doesn’t look like a forest interested in abiding by any set of conventions in particular, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Thomas replied sardonically. Celestia shot him a look, ruffling her feathers. She was just in time to hear the roars of what sounded like well over a dozen more of the plant-like draconic hybrids.
“Rule number two of time travel: When you encounter something that is easily defeated, assume that there will be more of them!” Thomas warned belatedly. “Everyone into the TARDIS!” At this, he spun around 180 degrees, jammed the key into the lock and gave it a violent and hasty twist, flinging open the doors.
“I think retreat would be prudent, your highness,” Gleaming Shield spoke, her voice snapping Celestia out of her slight stupor at seeing the large number of monstrous creatures. “Not to mention that Thomas’ ‘TARDIS’ is the nearest available shelter.”
“Right, everypony into the TARDIS,” Celestia ordered. The other guards took one look at the plant creatures and scurried into the open door of the TARDIS.
“Come on, we don’t have all day for you to get in here!” Thomas shouted. He started fiddling with levers and other thingamabobs, trying to bring one of the scanners online. With a frustrated growl, he banged the side of the monitor, finally getting it to work. “Last one through, lock the door.”
Just as he said this, Celestia came through the door, closing it behind her as blobs of acid struck the edges of the TARDIS’ shields. ‘Well, I don’t think we’ll be going out there anytime soon,” she said, not sounding terribly upset.
“I’m inclined to agree. Also, welcome aboard the TARDIS. I take it you now understand what I said about the size of its interior?” Thomas said offhandedly, not looking away from the scanner.
Celestia turned to make a sarcastic reply, only for the snarky thing she had been planning to say giving way to a rather simple affirmation of “Yes.”
At this, Thomas smiled. “Most folks in the stories Time Lords originate from, when entering a TARDIS for the first time, say something to the effect of ‘It’s bigger on the inside!’”
“Yes, well, that’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?” Celestia replied snarkily. As she looked around for more detail, she noted that the craft was very dark, surprisingly, and had a very large amount of damaged parts. There were unusual round things in pairs along the outer wall, and the central column of the room appeared hollow, containing several dark orange rods, which appeared to merge into the hexagonal console in the middle of the room before continuing beneath it, with a strange series of tiered, polygonal disks atop it, connecting it to the ceiling. A strange rolling light appeared to traverse above the strange round things, reminding her of some sort of fair attraction. Curiously, there was a chair, a small table, and a bookshelf on one of the two railings going around the outside of the room. And finally, there were four doors leading out of the room, not counting the exit of the TARDIS itself.
All in all, rather oddly similar to... her study. Celestia quickly dropped that train of thought with a vengeance.
“Might I ask what you are staring at so intently?” Celestia trotted over to where Thomas was standing. When she looked up at the monitor, she saw an overhead view of the area around them, with a strange cross shape overlaid atop it.
“To put it simply, the time travel systems are offline, but the engines should be good for one more spatial transit. This display is the landing site selector.” Thomas fiddled with some of the controls, moving the projected landing site to the north slightly. “Now which direction is your camp from here?”
“Slightly to the north, and a reasonable distance west.” Celestia watched as the strange visitor to her world moved the landing site to just outside the camp she and her guards had traveled from. He threw a lever, engaging the ‘spatial transit’. The disc apparatus affixed to the ceiling began to spin, and the central column began to oscillate up and down. A strange groaning noise seemed to emanate out of the room around them, sounding as though space and time were being rending in the face of the transit. The room shuddered briefly, before the sound began to dissipate, before disappearing entirely.
“Well, we’ve landed.” Thomas turned away from the display, looking towards Celestia.
“But we barely moved! How can we have traveled that distance so quickly?” Gleaming Shield burst out.
“Open the door and see for yourself!” Thomas said, with a smug grin on his face displaying his amusement at her objection.
When Gleaming Shield opened the door, she had not been expecting to find herself having opened the door out to just in front of the main gate of the camp.
“What?! Just... what?!” She all but shouted, her mind failing to come up with an adequate explanation of what just happened.
“Like I said, we’ve landed. Now if you would be so kind as to exit the vehicle and let out the rest of us, it would be much appreciated,” Thomas said, acting as though this was a common occurrence. Gleaming Shield looked back at him briefly, with an expression of awe and wonder.
Once they allayed the fears of the confused gate guards, the group made it’s way towards Princess Celestia’s office. Once Thomas was seated, and guards posted at the door, Celestia began asking Thomas questions. Once Celestia asked her final question, she relaxed in her chair somewhat.
“Any more questions you would like to ask me, your highness?” Thomas asked.
“No, all of my questions have been answered,” Celestia replied.
“Well then. My turn, I suppose. Might I inquire as to that ‘event’ you mentioned?” Thomas asked, a note of curiosity coloring his voice. Celestia outright flinched slightly.
“I did promise that I would tell you once you answered my questions, didn’t I...” her rather forlorn reply was more a statement than a question. “Well, the event started with my younger sister, Luna.” Thomas’ eyes widened slightly, surprised to hear about another royal in this tale. “A foreign parasite had commandeered her mind, driving her into insanity, and, unfortunately, evil. I confronted her in attempts to ascertain why she had begun shunning the nobles in her court. However, by that time the parasite had gained full control of her mind, and executed a transformation spell, turning her into an abomination that called itself Nightmare Moon. Our first battle ended in partial victory for my forces, but at a horrific cost.” Thomas had been leaning forward due to his interest in the tale. When Celestia began the next part of the story, tears began to fall from her eyes. “Nightmare Moon transformed several hundred ponies, citizen and guard alike, into strange, eldritch creatures. Her Lunar Guard had apparently been infected by a similar strain of the parasite, and some of them underwent transformations as well, while others merely attacked any Solar Guards they could find.” At this point, Celestia was barely keeping herself from simply breaking down and sobbing.
Thomas paused, allowing Celestia to compose herself. “Might I ask why you didn’t simply let her go?”
“First off, she was my sister. I normally have a low-level empathic link with her, and the parasite managed to cut it off. I was worried for my little sister. And for another,” Celestia raised her head, looking sadly out the window, “my sister and I controlled the movement of the sun and moon. I controlled the sun, and governed the day, while my sister did the same for the night and moon. Nightmare Moon wanted to bring about eternal night, which would have wiped out all life on Equus. I could not let that happen. However, the abominations Nightmare Moon created forced me to turn my attention to them, allowing Nightmare Moon to escape. The event was the final battle against Nightmare Moon and her forces. The b-battle where-” Celestia suddenly broke down sobbing, unable to keep her emotions under control. Gleaming Shield, who was the only guard still in the room, studiously looked away, uncomfortable seeing Princess Celestia sobbing openly. Thomas leaned forward slightly further, reached out, and put his hand on her hoof.
“Take your time.” Thomas looked at Celestia, forcing his face into an expression of sympathy. “I have a feeling that the ending to this tale isn’t a happy one, and I know how it feels to lose a loved one.”
“T-thank you,” Celestia said, slowly managing to bring her emotions back under control. “As I was saying, that battle was the last battle against Nightmare Moon. In that battle, I cast a modified banishment spell upon Nightmare Moon, sealing her into the Moon until new bearers of the Elements of Harmony can be found.”
“The Elements of Harmony? Never heard of those before. What are they?” Thomas asked, highly curious.
“The Elements of Harmony are basically magical artifacts that represent what their creators viewed as the, well, elements of harmonic relations, or harmony.” Celestia started.
“Hence the name,” Thomas surmised.
“Precisely. The elements themselves are Friendship, also known as Magic, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Honesty, and Laughter. I controlled Generosity, Honesty, and Laughter, while my sister controlled the other three.”
“Magic, Loyalty, and Kindness. I take it these artifacts didn’t react well to your sister’s transformation?” Thomas asked.
“If by not ‘reacting well’, you mean one of the three she bore ceasing to normally function, and one of the other two simply ceasing to recognize her as a bearer, sure. She retained her connection to the Element of Magic, allowing her to force a connection to the Element of Loyalty and simulate the effects of all the others but Kindness.” Celestia looked rather glum. “Her army was all but unstoppable, and she herself was nigh indestructible. She didn’t need the armor she wore. And her twin Lunarium short swords made short work of any armor I wore except for armor I forged using heat directly from the sun.”
“So the only reason you and your forces won is because of advantages in numbers?” Thomas asked, surprised.
“Pretty much.”
“Interesting.” Thomas took a look out the window. When he turned back towards Celestia, his facial expression could be best described as thoughtful. “If you need help with finding somewhere to fully rebuild, I’m more than happy to help. Not sure how well I would be able to do with the actual rebuilding, I don’t have much in the way of useful engineering experience, but I’ll help where I can.”
This caused Celestia to blink in surprise. “Why?” she asked, stunned that this strange creature would so willingly volunteer it’s time to help her and her little ponies.
Thomas shrugged, and replied simply. “Why not? It’s not like I have anything better to do while the TARDIS repairs, and I might even be able to gift some minor bits of tech here and there to make the process of building go smoother. I’d have both figure out how to build it, and make it either self-repairing or teach you how to build it. And I’m rather loath to running the risk of having you ponies end up depending on me to help you advance your tech.”
“Understandable. And frankly, Thomas.” Celestia looked Thomas in the eyes. “Thank You.”
Thomas smiled, at that time suddenly seeming much older and wiser than he let on. “No problem.”
And that was both the start of a wonderful friendship, and the start of the story of how Equestria was made.
Author's Note
1 - Solus is a term meaning ‘alone’ or ‘solitary’, derived from Latin.
