Twilight Sparkle Goes to Europeby Lord VinderChaptersAnd then I saw herWelcome to LondonLet'sAnd then I saw herI don't even know how it really happened. One moment, I'm cleaning off my bed and part of the room for late night/early morning sleep, and the next a flash goes off and blinds me for a good several seconds. I remember collapsing on my bed with thud, and groaning out very quietly as it was a time no one wanted to be woken at. “Oh my goodness,” a rather feminine voice called out with, and though not loud enough to wake to dead, she was still loud. “Are you alright?” “Just. Peachy,” I replied, pushing my self up and blinking rapidly as I halted my breathing and looked around the room for the voice. Thankfully, no one was waking up. I was safe for another moment. “Down here,” she said, thankfully quieter. And then I saw her, but it was something that I could not describe very well—mainly because I had never seen her kind before. She looked like a Shetland pony; small, and horse like but less natural. Where as an animal would have angles and lines, she looked more like an iPad then a horse. Being honest, she looked like if an iPad, a Shetland pony, and box of crayons had some sort of love child. Thats not to say she was ugly or anything of the kind, rather the opposite. She was rather adorable in her curviness and strange colours. She was small, perhaps four feet tall from...hoof to...horn? She had a horn. That was not natural. Then again, she spoke English fluently. “Can you understand me?” she asked, looking at me rather puzzled, with purple eyes that matched her coat? I reached out to stroke her cheek, too dumbfounded to speak. “Hey, watch it,” she called out, swatting my hand away with a hoof. “Oh. Sorry,” I muttered, finally able to speak. “Um. Hi.” “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Personal protegee to Princess Celestia,” she said proudly, though not in a loud voice. Wait, Twilight Sparkle? Theres a new one. Then again, I had a four foot tall iPad, shetland horse pony crayon box thing standing in my room. And, she had a horn. And I had no shirt on. “Uh. Well, Ms. Twilight. I am Daniel, uh a university student,” I said sheepishly. How does one top some Princess' student? Because I clearly wasn't doing a good job. “Hello Daniel,” Twilight said with smile, still looking at me with her beady large purple eyes. “Uh. So. You're not from here, are you?” I asked, trying not to look at her as I sat on my bed, my eyes flying around my room. This whole experience was freaking me out. This weird love child thing was freaking me out. Yet at the same time, it was nice. I didn't know this Twilight for more than 30 or so seconds, but already I could tell she wasn't a threat. She always smiled, made eye contact, and clearly wanted to be friends. Even if she did want to kill me, or take me away, or kill me in the place she took me away too, I was almost ok with that. So then why was I so afraid of her? She smiled at me, and sat down on my floor...right on a book. I really didn't do that good of a job cleaning. I quickly picked her up, she actually didn't weigh a lot for something four feet tall; maybe in total? But even if she was heavy, she was very, very soft and really warm so I doubt I could have noticed even if she was. “Uh. Thank you,” she said, not looking at me as she looked around the room from her new spot beside me. “But no. I'm not. I'm from Equestria.” she explained. “Can't say I've heard of it,” I noted, scratching my head, and barely hiding a yawn. “Is it in Europe?” “Whats a Europe,” She asked with genuine curiosity. Ok, she's not from earth. Glad I know that. Now, not to panic. “How did you get here,” I asked, my voice shaking a bit as it finally clicked in that something purple was talking in basic English with me. “Well, at the base of it, I used magic. Don't you have magic.” she asked looking all over me—for what I suspected to be a horn or some sort of appendage that would be a magic exit point. “Uh. No, no I can't say I do. In fact, magic doesn't exist here,” I said sheepishly. I assume kids, when finding out Santa isn't real, often looked very much like their very fabric of reality was just ripped to shreds. This pretty purple pony looked much the same way. Eye wide, and mouth open. Lip quivering, and a slight twitch in her cheek. “Magic, doesn't exist,” she asked, her voice soft and almost inaudible. “Not in my people,” I noted. “Never has. But we talk about it.” “Wait, what,” she asked—Twlight was it? “Yeah,” I said with a small smile. “Magic doesn't exist here, so we invent ways to do things we can't do. But we still toy with the idea of magic; how great it is, how wonderful life would be with it. How great it would be move a book from ten feet away. Or, how great life is without it; since it can cause so much destruction.” She seemed to calmed down a bit, but still seemed shock. “Mind if I try something, Daniel,” she asked sweetly. “Uh sure, I guess. Just keep the noise level down, I'm not the only one in this house,” I said watching her carefully. A blinding flash of light—like the sun itself just appeared feet from me, came to my sight. I wasn't thrown back, but I did fall onto my back, a groan escaping as my eyes were forced to see that of this unholy blind. It was incredibly painful; too painful to cry out at, and too bright to really and truly describe. It was almost a stereotypical view of heaven, but turned up to eleven. If this was magic, then thank God we had none of it. “Daniel? Daniel? Can you hear me,” Twilight asked, moving me with a hoof. “Yeah,” I said, eyes closed. “I can hear you.” “Are you ok,” she asked, fear lacing her voice like wood to a fire. “Oh no, I should never have tried that spell.” “Its fine Twilight” I said, patting her head—more out of instinct than anything. “I'm fine.” “I take it thats the first time you've seen magic,” she asked quietly, lying down on my bed. “Well, I guess. Though, you coming into my room was magic, right?” “Technically, it was more of a finishing of a spell. I was sent to this world by my teacher and her sister, her former student and, I guess one could call him an occasional ally,” Twilight explained softly. “But why here?” “My teacher heard of this world, and visits every now and then to see whats going on. Apparently, the last time she was here was 1851, and she visited many a place. Although I have heard suggestions that she came to this place in 1943 as well. Does any of this make sense to you?” Twilight asked, rather hopeful for a good answer. “I have no idea why 1851,” I admitted sheepishly. “And 1943, well that wasn't a great year for this place.” “Thats what she said, it’s why she never came back until tonight. 70-ish years to the day; and this is where she parted from after she surveyed the world.” Twilight explained. “She asked me to check up on this world here.” I nodded slowly, taking all she said in like a proverbial sponge. “Is this your first time here?” “Yes and no. I visited this place before, but I looked more like you. My guess is that there exists multiple worlds in which magic can send one to. My teacher always said she never changed when she came here. That would make this one a different world then where I was sent to.” “What kind of spell,” I asked. “A teleport spell; not a time-teleport spell, but just a regular old teleport spell.” Twilight explained. “Albeit a much more powerful version, but still a teleport spell.” “That's incredible,” I said, surprise filling the air around me. “Equestria must be amazing.” “It is, but it has its downsides. Just like your world,” Twilight said with a smile. “You'd think, but your teacher hasn't seen the worst of what we did.” I explained softly. “The last seventy years, to be honest Twilight, are some of the worst. Are we getting better? I guess, but its still a fight.” “What happened?” she asked in shock. “I mean, Princess Celestia mentioned a huge war was going on, but what could be worse than that.” “So much blood, so much loss, and so much destruction.” I whispered, not daring to look away from the ceiling as Twilight tried to coax the information out of me. “How do you mean?” “We ended lives; but without a body. We destroyed cities, and left not proof they existed. Twilight, you have no idea what we've done. It's horrible.” I explained. “What do you mean? Theres always a body; even in the metaphorical sense,” She protested with; she didn't want to understand. “An individuals outline on a building, thats what remains of them. Or remained I guess I should say. The photos, I can't describe them. I could show you, but I can't. Not if your mentor wants a better thought of who we are,” I explained to her. “She does,” Twilight explained quietly. “She wants to know you've done better throughout the ages.” “Ages? People are still alive from that war, Twilight. They remember the horror of it all,” I explained. “As for if we've done better, well. That war ended and there hasn't been one in Europe since.” “That’s something,” she said with a sigh. “Honestly, I don't understand your species.” “Yet,” I noted with a sly grin, getting one back from this unicorn with, wings. “You have wings?” “I'm a Princess! All Princess ponies have wings” Twilight explained with a beaming smile, and flapping them quickly which brought about a rather nice breeze—even if it did blow my papers all over the place. “Ah Twilight,” I said sternly as I started picking them up. “I had these already for tomorrow.” “Whats tomorrow?” she asked, watching me swerve around books and collect the wood fibre collections. “I leave this place for a little while” I explained, finding my ticket and itinerary of what we were going. 'Travel Study, May 2013' it read in big letters—thankfully not in comic sans. “Where to?” “Europe,” I said with a smile. “Thats where Princess Celestia was,” Twilight exclaimed with a large grin. “Can I come?” I said nothing as I thought. Aside from the serious logistic issues, there was also the issue of how does one hide something like her in this world? It would be fun though—walk through London with something like her. Playing tourist with someone who knew nothing of this world. I had to admit, it would be an amazing learning experience. “How would that work?” I asked. “How could you get there?” “I could teleport—if this world has no one else using magic, then the rate of interference should be low enough that I can do it with ease. Large distance or not.” Twilight explained. “Would you need anything?” I asked, turning to her. “If I lock onto your aura, I should be ok.” Twilight said, closing her eyes and pointing her, what looked to be, very sharp horn at me. Still, I felt the need to trust her. She hadn't done me by wrong—yet. “Is that possible?” I asked. “Would a non magical being give off an aura?” “It's faint, but its there. I can sense the aura of others in this building, but even weaker.” She noted. “Sad, really.” “Why is that?” “I guess you could call it a happiness meter of sorts. Lock on teleportation is possible in Equestria, but because of the amount of unicorns there it’s rarely done. However, a pony or persons aura is caused by their happiness. Really, it could be any emotion, but I've always done it by happiness. Each person, no matter how much joy they may express when compared to someone else will always give off a trace of their personality. It is that personality that a unicorn locks on to, to get to the location of somepony or someone.” Twilight explained carefully. “Does that make sense?” “Why happiness?” I asked. “Its a strong point of Equestrian society—we're happy, and we enjoy our lives,” Twilight explained. “Don't you all?” “I, I don't know. Its not something we focus on.” I said before smirking. “Maybe we just don't want to face reality.” “Then perhaps I should return,” Twilight said sadly. “I don't want to see this world. I don't like it” “Me neither. But maybe together we can see this world, for it is outside of what I've said,” I offered with a smile at her. “In the very least, I'd love to get lost in London and Paris with a friend.” Twilight smiled, and seemed to gain the will back. “Even if I have questions?” “I’ll find a way to answer them all,” I said nodding. “But can you stay hidden?” “I know an invisibility spell. If I use it, I'll stay hidden from people. As for food or something, I can eat grass,” She said with a smirk. “Ah. Right. Pony,” I said sheepishly. “It's not the greatest thing, but I'll live,” She said grinning. “Don't worry about me, I'll always be able to find you since I can lock onto your happiness.” “Talking though,” I stated, filing alway the last paper—homework for when I returned. “How will that work?” “I can read minds, and project my voice into your mind. Basically, we have a thinking conversation,” Twilight explained. “To keep our thoughts safe though, just start off everything you want to ask me with TS, and that way I know its you.” she ended with, a soft smile on her face. “That seems a little convenient,” I noted with a skeptical look on my face. “Its what my cutie mark means,” she started off with, moving her head in the direction of her....upper thigh area. “I have a talent for magic, so I'm able to do a lot with it; including invisibility and reading your thoughts. I still have to learn that stuff, but it basically means my magic reserves are larger than most other unicorns and combined with a love of learning and nothing is the limit.” “Ah. Right. Fair enough,” I said, not daring to look at her....backside. She grinned. “Culture thing?” “Something like tha-hey you said you wouldn't read my mind,” I called her out lond. This did not bode well for my future while. “Sorry, but I assumed it was something that you really didn't want to say, so I read your mind to see what was wrong—no harm done?” She asked, patting my leg. “No harm done,” I said with a sigh. “Just, try and keep out please, I don't want to make anything awkward for us.” “I have an older brother—there is very little you can do, but alright. I promise,” she agreed and, nodded in affirmation. “Just for future reference, what does speaking into my mind feel like?” I asked. 'You should sleep.' I could hear in my brain—like I was thinking, but as if some other power sent it to me. If this was what religious experience was like—talking with God and what not, I'm surprised most didn't go insane. “That...was,”I said. “It's easier to take when you're fully reseted. It can do a lot though; I can wake you up with it, alert you of other peoples presence. Really handy stuff I think.” she said with a smile. I just nodded and lay down on my bed. “Sleep wherever, I guess. This is my last night before the flight, so any issues are a one night thing.” “Ok,” Twilight said, flying over to my closet and settling herself inside of it. “This is almost cosy!” I laughed as I closed my eyes. I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but I knew it would be encountered with a friend. Author's Note 1851; founding of the New York Times, and also the Taiping Rebellion Please comment/ask questions. I'd love to hear/read from everyone. Welcome to London“So. How many more times do I have to keep teleporting for?” Twilight asked. “Two or three, I think. I’ll check,” I replied, checking the flight path map given to us by the airline. “Yeah, three; Belfast, Cardiff, and finally London.” “Do you any have better places for me to arrive at?” She asked with a tone of bitterness in my mind. I had been describing images every hour or so of the flight path so that way she didn’t have to teleport from Vancouver to London in one go. “What, didn’t like The Sun Voyager in Reykjavik? I thought it would have been a nice thing to see,” I noted with a smirk. “You try landing on it! It’s not comfortable to fall on!” “And how was I supposed to know that you would fall on it? I just assumed you’d be in the vicinity of it,” I defended with. “Besides, its not pointy.” “Thankfully,” she added with a dry tone. “Why couldn’t I have ridden in the cargo hold?” “I had no idea how to get you in there. But look at it this way, you got to see some cool sites around Canada,” I offered. “We’ll find you a way to get you on the plane when we return, alright?” “Return?” “Well, I assume you are returning to wherever you’re from, from Vancouver, right?” I asked. “I guess. Hadn’t really thought about it much,” she said. “Really though, I can leave from anywhere.” We spoke about nothing until I next gave her an image to focus on, the Belfast City Hall. It looked like a nice building, and was apparently iconic, as most places online described it. The building looked massive and was of Portland stone. I thought it seemed a little strange to ship stone in from Portland, but apparently the Isle of Portland was rather famous for its stone. The visible roof from the ground was the typical copper green thing, roofing. It looked great, but it seemed over used and a kind of architectural cliche. Twilight teleported to the building and commented how pretty she thought it was and said she’d fly over it--while invisible of course. She mentioned that it seemed larger than Canterlot castle, which I was told was the house of the co-princess who rule her home country of Equestria. It sounded rather fascinating as she described the place, and it seemed like she was high up the social and power totem pole, but I got the sense that she thought of the country like how one would a friend, and not as something to be ruled over. “They sound like great people,” I mused off to her, not fully paying attention as I asked the stewardess for a pop. “Pony,” she corrected. “We are ponies. But yes, they are.” “Any words of advice from them?” I jokingly asked. “A few, Princess Celestia always told me that the object of any good pony was truth, when I was growing up,” she mentioned. “This building is really nice to lie on.” “You grew up around a Princess?” I asked, more than a little surprised. “Yeah, she was my teacher, mentor,” she explained. “ Uncommon here on, earth was it?” “Earth, yeah. And no, that doesn’t happen here, at all. Ruler of a country, and a teacher? Never, or at least, not in a long, long time,” I explained. “Maybe in the ages of monarchy, but not here.” “Ages of Monarchy?” “Its a term, that I made up on the spot. Most countries don’t have a monarchy anymore, we elect our leaders,” I told her. “No immortal rulers here, well none conformed at least.” “None confirmed?” Twilight asked. “Kind of hard to not confirm something like that.” “Old texts and tablets tell of people who lived a long, long time. One country has a semi legendary Emperor who lived more than 2700 years ago and lived for about 126 years,” I explained. “Another tradition has someone living for nearly 1000 years, and that was over 3500 years ago.” “I take it such ages aren’t common?” Twilight asked. “I can expect to live into my 80’s or 90’s, so yes such ages are unheard of nowadays, let alone when there was no understanding of science or medicine,” I explained. “Well, do people actually believe those stories?” she asked, her curious tone gave me an instant headache. My heart sunk; this was not something I wanted to explain. “The first one, the guy who lived for 126 years, is mostly left alone. The amount of people who believe that, are few are far between,” I explained carefully. “I’m sure some do, but it would be hard to find someone who thought like that.” “And the second?” “Its part of religious doctrine, although how literal one should read it is up to some debated,” I said slowly. “It’s very controversial.” “Is there evidence?” she asked. “I would say that depends on how one defines the word,” I offered carefully. “What does that mean?” she asked. I could tell that she wasn’t getting what I was saying; must be nice. “It means it’s a lot of faith to take something like that. At best, its a really bad translation, at worst, its unfounded,” I explained. “This isn’t one of the most proud moments of my people.” “I can tell,” she said dryly. I said nothing as I assumed the purple pony judged me and my people for what some thought. I looked around the airplane and found people still sleeping. I hadn’t slept at all during the flight. Local time, in Vancouver, was about 11:45. Which meant it was almost time to have Twilight teleport again. I checked the flight plan, and we were on target for us to be flying close to Cardiff, or close enough at least. I checked my images, and found the next one. I studied it for a while, trying to figure out what to say. “Twilight? It’s time,” I said. “Alright, just give me a few seconds,” she said, as I presumed she stretched out her wings and body. “Where to?” I read her off what I could make out of Garth Hill. I described to her the view of Cardiff, and what to expect. A tall grassy knoll, but a little bigger then a hill. A few shrubs around the top and trees along the base. “It’s nice,” she noted. “Perfect for reading a book.” “That nice?” “Very much so. kind of reminds me of home, theres this hill near Ponyville that I’ve gone stargazing at, had a picnic, and everything,” she explained. “It’s good to find something like that here.” “You’ll find everything under the sun here,” I noted. “I haven’t seen a pegasus,” Twilight noted. “Or am I looking in the wrong area?” “Greek classics describe what we would call a pegasus, unicorns have popped up in various folklore, and your earth ponies are comparable to what we have here,” I explained. “Pegacorns though-” “What’s a ‘pegacorn?’” “You; flying unicorn,” I noted. “Or does your kind have an actual name?” “Alicorn.” “Isn’t that what your horn is called?” I asked. “No, its just call a horn,” she said carefully. “Am I missing something?” “Just terminology stuff that doesn’t translate or exist over in Equestria, I guess,” I explained. “Anyways, pegacorns, though, called winged unicorns, do exist, they can be found in some of the old Greek works as well.” “So I do exist?” “I would assume so, otherwise I’m suffering from serious delusion,” I noted with a smirk. “Suffering? Didn’t think I was that bad,” she said, her tone sounding, down? “Hey, I’m just bugging you. You’ve made this eight hour flight pretty fun, alright? So don’t be sad,” I said. “That’s kind of you to say, bu-” she tried to say. “But, or flank, nothing! I’ve enjoyed myself, and I’d dare say so did you. Am I right?” “I did,” she said, and I could feel her smile in my brain. It felt as if the tears of sad friend had stopped. “Then there is nothing else to say,” I ended. “Go enjoy Garth Hill, alright?” “Alright,” she said, saying nothing else. I presumed she flew around and around the Hill. It looked like a nice area at least. I relaxed into my chair, wanting to get some sleep before we landed in London. Local time in Vancouver was 12:30AM, meaning we had about half an hour till London. I closed my eyes and I think I fell asleep within moments. Or was I in some sort of inbetween area; where I was half asleep and half awake? It was hard to figure out. What wasn’t hard to figure out was the guy speaking French throughout the aircraft, about twenty minutes after I went into the land of sleep. I checked the flight plan before me, it was turned off. It seemed we were landing soon. “Twilight, you with me?” I asked, trying to regain some sense of consciousness. “Yeah, whats up?” “I’m in London, I’ll tell you the new place to teleport when I get a chance, alright?” “Sounds good,” she said. “Enjoy your nap?” “Nng,” I responded with. “It was ok.” “Not much of a sleep?” “Nothing substantial,” I noted. “I’ll sleep in the hotel. Which isn’t for awhile.” The plane came into the gate at about 12:56, four minutes ahead of schedule. We all clapped as the Captain announced we had made it, which always came to me as a sort of disbelief in his abilities. I found the people I had travelled with, but I didn’t know them well. “What gate?” The Professor mumbled out, running his hands along his short black hair and beard. He sounded like he needed coffee. “7,” I said simply, leading the way--by following all the people before me. “Sparkle, you with me?” “Yeah, time to teleport?” she asked. “Yeah, to me,” I said with a smirk. “But stay invisible, there is a lot of people here.” “No flying then?” “You can ride on my back,” I said simply. Within seconds, I could feel her jump on my back. She really wasn’t heavy, and she hung on perfectly so I could walk normally. “Comfy?” I asked, feeling her breath on my neck, it was a warm, but a pleasant kind of warm. “Yes,” she said, resting her chin on my shoulder, for support. “Lets get my bags then,” I said and continued moving throughout the airport. It was long hall, after long hall of people, a few closed shops, and more people. I lost track of those I travelled with a few times, but we eventually regrouped at the bag pick up line. “I’ll point them out, you get them?” Twilight offered, hopping off my back. “Where are you?” “On the moving thingy,” she said. “Sounds good,” I replied, walking over to the group. They, it seemed, already knew one another, rather well. Or least seemed to be getting along rather well. I didn’t envy them, nor was I a bit jealous. I knew one of them rather well. The Professor was off in his own area, looking for his bags, and looking frustrated. “Daniel, coming down now,” Twilight said, and I turned. Sure enough, my first bag was coming down. “Also, your friends bag is coming down, I think, the red one,” she added. “Zoey!” I called out, and the girl in question turned to me. “That your bag?” “Yes,” she replied. And I grabbed it. It was one of those modern looking shiny red travel bags. They looked like, but reminded me more of high level technology, then travelling. “Thank you,” Zoey said, smiling lightly. “You didn’t have to.” I just shrugged my shoulders, and returned to the carousel, eager to find the rest of my bags. The rest of mine came down, and so did everyone else’s. The Professors took the longest, but his came down to, the last of them all. “Everyone ready for customs?” The Professor asked. “Get your passports ready, and send up a prayer.” I wasn’t fully sure if he was joking, so I couldn’t answer Twilights question when she asked me. I looked at my phone: 3 AM Local Vancouver time, which meant it was about 11 AM London time. “Next please,” a calm and young British man called out to me. I walked up to the counter. He asked me several questions, and seemed to be sitting on a spike, but let me go after he was sure that a 20 year old student wasn’t a threat to the national security of the United Kingdom. “He seemed, nice,” Twilight commented as we left for the station following in behind the Professor and the group. “Just doing his job,” I noted, as we boarded the London Metro. Our group huddled together at the back as the Professor made it known we were riding this train for about a good hour or so. he also took the time to say something that made me, and probably Twilight smile--though for different reasons I think. “Alright, we have class tomorrow at 11AM sharp in the drawing room of the inn, no readings need to be done until the second day. But I am expecting you all to be bright eyed, and awake. Understood?” He explained, pulling out his iPad to check the timetable. We all nodded. “Good. Oh, and welcome to London.” Author's Note There is a couple references in here that I should explain. The two figures that are mentioned are the Japanese Emperor Jimmu, and the biblical figure Methuselah. As always, I'd love to hear from you, so drop a comment, and tell what you think. Is it, good, does it suck? Tell me! Let'sI walked out of the small boardroom, not very awake, and less aware with what just happened. Class had just ended, and most of us look stressed or tired, its nice to know I’m not alone, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Art interpretation, and the value of one's opinion was the name of the lecture, and I disagreed with what he had to say. “Fascinating!” Twilight said as I returned to the room I shared with several others. “I never thought of it that way.” “Thought of what?” I asked, grabbing my satchel and room key. “That you’d never have to deal with that?” “No, that art is that subjective,” she explained. “Weren’t you paying attention? I didn’t hear you think about the girls in the class.” “No interest,” I said as I returned down the stairs, and left just as the girls came up. “I just don’t agree with him.” “Well neither do I, but I think you might be taking it to an extreme,” Twilight noted. “I didn’t say anything,” I replied with, my tone swift and unwavering. “I can read your mind, Daniel, I know what you were thinking,” “So what was I thinking then?” “That art has a purpose, and a point to make, and that one point is the only point it is making,” she explained as I boarded the bus to the train station. “The very idea that something could mean something else, or have two points, is a notion that you cannot accept.” “I just don’t think people give enough credit to the artist,” I said, with a soft voice. It took me a few seconds to realize I had spoken aloud, and was getting looks from people on the bus. “That’s the first time you messed up, and you and I have been talking like this for four days,” Twilight noted. “You ok?” “It’s a topic I get passionate about,” I said, ending that discussion. “People focus too much on what they think, and not the point. Each piece of art, has a point to its existence; even if it just how one views a sunset, it still has a point.” Twilight said nothing, and so I presumed she didn’t wish to say anything more, for fear of more looks being given to me. I confess, I was relieved by what she did. Soon, we left the bus at the train station and boarded a train to Kings Cross. I had taken this journey already, so I knew where I needed to be. The train was crowded, so Twilight jumped onto my back, and rode on it. She always seemed a bit happier when ever she was on my back, it was nice to feel her warm breath, which wasn’t bad smelling, on the my cheek and neck. “Comfy?” I asked her, a smirk on my face. “Beats walking,” she said, though I could feel her grin in my mind. “I used to ride on my brothers back when I was younger.” “That must have been nice.” “I was just a filly at the time,” she added. “So I couldn’t walk a long time, like he could.” “Sounds like he’s a big guy. Well stallion, but you know what I mean,” noted. “Yeah, he’s in the military. Looks after an entire empires military now.” “Impressive family, your parents must be proud,” I added. “They are. They’ve always let us do what we wanted to do, and let us have fun doing it,” Twilight explained. She continued to tell me about her family, for the next ten minutes. Thankfully, this train ride had to be the longest one on the entire system as it seemed to take forever to reach Kings Cross, with or without a pony on ones back, telling them all about their family and how her mom was an editor and had been apart of a best selling novel series out in Equestria. Or how her dad was an accountant and amateur astronomer. He sounded like a cool guy, actually. I’d love to have met him. “Now arriving at Kings Cross, St. Pancreas,” the electric British lady said. For National, and International lines…” She faded away into the noise as I left the train, and I didn’t care to listen. I was staying right here in London for now. “Wow, lot of people,” Twilight noted. “Where are we?” “Welcome, to Kings Cross,” I said, a smile in my mind. “We’re going to the Library.” “I’m sorry, did you say library?” Twilight asked, racing though the question. “No, I said the Library,” I replied. “As in, one of the most important Libraries in the world, the National Library of the United Kingdom, and a place of near 14 million books. That, library.” There was no one near us, so Twilight ended her invisibility and jumped off my back, flying to look me right in the eye. “You’re serious, right?” “Super serious,” I said, adding a nod in, my lips flat. “I need to see this,” she stated. “You need to see this,” I replied. “I want to see this,” she stated. “Hop on my back,” I said, turning away from her. “You’ve got a lot to learn, and I’ve got a lot to share.” She did as I suggested, and we walked in, with her activating her invisibility moments after. The building was large and empty, save for a donation box, and a few people walking around. I could see a cafe in the back and a few more people around that. It was mostly empty, and I was ok with that. However, something caught my eye like none other I had seen since I came to London. A large book, made of what looked like bronze. Attached to it, was a chain and ball. It was massive, enough to hold several people sitting. “Books hold us captive,” Twilight said softly, not in my mind, but into my ear. “In this case, by the balls, or rather: ball” I replied, not missing a beat. She just sighed, and we moved in. “Seriously though, books capture us and hold us tight. The information controls, and commands us to action. We are decided on by what we read.” “You just redeemed yourself,” Twilight said. “For now.” I just laughed for a few moments. “Hop off, and go into that room,” I said, moving my head as we stood outside a small room. it wasn’t labelled, but I knew what it was. It was the room that might change her perspective on us, and her home. I was a little nervous, to say the least. “Ohh, I have to walk?” she whined, trotting in. I ignored her change in action from what she said with an eye roll. “This is the Magna Carta,” I said, pointing at a piece of paper behind a glass screen. “It’s almost 800 years old.” “That piece of paper?” she asked. “Must be important.” “Only the most,” I noted, adding a nod for extra measure. “It’s a foundational piece of paper.” “How do you mean?” “No freeman shall be imprisoned, or in anyway other way be harmed without a jury of his peers,” I read from the translation beside the document. “Do you know what that means?” “No.” “The ruler of the land cannot harm anyone, unless a jury of one’s peers, friends, countrymen, or equals say that person can be harmed. You cannot be accuser, judge, jury, and executioner,” I explained. “You mean, you cannot be hurt, just because the leader says so?” she asked, eyes going wide. “That is correct, this is the document that gave us that, well not really, but it did play a part in ensuring the legacy of that idea,” I added. Twilight sat down, the Magna Carta before her, though she could barely see it as the table was taller than her. She stared at the ground, and then looked up at me for a few moments, before returning to the ground. “It means one must be charged of a crime, or let go,” I further explained. “If that helps.” She said nothing, nor did she nod at all, but I think it did as she stood. “Can we move on?” she asked, pleading me with large purple eyes. I gave her mane a ruffle and nodded with a smile. “I’ve got something musical to show you,” I said and lead her out of the room and to a one of the many items behind a glass window. “This,” I said, pointing at an open book. “That?” “Forever, and ever, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,” I sang, somehow on tune. “King of Kings. Forever, and ever, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. And Lord of Lords. And He shall reign forever and ever.” Twilight just looked at me, with a puzzled look, and I just laughed at bit. “Its one of my languages most popular musicals.” “What’s it called?” she asked, quicker then I expected, but I paid it little mind. “Handels Messiah, but its just actually called Messiah, most just call it Handel’s Messiah to different from others and to honour that who wrote it,” I explained. “Weird,” she noted. “Equestria has something similar.” “What’s it called?” “Hoofel’s Magic,” Twilight said. “And what you just sang, sounds like a butchered version of it’s famous chorus; Fear It.” “Wait, you have an entire musical composition dedicated to magic?” I asked, a little shocked. “Yeah, many, actually. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna don’t like the idea of musical praises being given to them, so they supported them decided to magic,” Twilight explained. “I take it yours isn’t?” “I, guess it is?” I asked no one, save myself. “No, that sounds rude, its a story one. Story of a saviour for humankind. A powerful being who loves, and died for us.” Twilight raised an eye at the one, but I kept going. “It wants to share the story of that figure, and how good triumphs over evil, in the end.” “That’s weird,” Twilight said, after several moments of silence. “Nice, but weird.” I laughed for a bit, it would sound weird to people who didn’t understand. I couldn’t imagine what it sounded like to being who wasn’t of this world. “It’s more in-depth than that, obviously, but its famous,” I said with smile. “I’ll be sure to let Princess Celestia know that Hoofel’s Magic, exists here as something that tells the story of good beating evil,” Twilight said with a smile. “How old is this song?” “270 odd years,” I said, glancing over at the book. “Yeah, something like that.” “It’s a shame she never heard it when she was here, she always liked Magic,” Twilight noted, looking around the area of the library at all the old tomes. “It’s got a lot of subtle references, so it might have been hard to understand,” I noted, following her and looking at documents as well. An original Jane Austen, T.E Lawrence's shopping list for the Arabs. “It’s not about getting it, its about hearing talent. She loves to hear passion in one's voice when doing an art. Celestia always said it gave her job meaning when she did it, because she got to hear a reason to do what it required her to do,” Twilight explained. “Language wouldn’t matter, passion and talent does.” “Music transcends it all,” I added. Looking at a 1758 version of The Canterbury Tales, it was beautiful with its colours and intricate designs. I couldn’t read it, but it looked as if real love was put into the the leaves, branches, and letters. It made what I typed on a screen look awful by comparison. “Yeah. Hey, what’s this?” She asked, I turned to my left a bit and looked at what she pointed at. I looked at it, and my blood froze. Owen, Wilfred. 1917. Dulce et Decorum est, Draft. I said nothing as I looked it over a few times. It was the entire poem, and seemed not much was changed. He had really neat writing, and that almost made the entire thing harder to read. The last two lines hurt to read as I looked at the pony beside me, who I was sure did not know of the war. “Daniel, what is it? Tell me!” she whined, pulling at my arm cutely. “A. A war poem,” I said simply, not looking at her. “It’s a war poem.” “About what?” “Gas attack,” I said, barely able to get the words out. “Gas attack?” “Ruins the ar, kills people that way. They drown, in a way. Sometimes it burns their lungs apart. Not an easy way to die,” I explained softly. Twilight said nothing, but looked at the poem. “Read it,” she said. “What?” “Read it. Read it to me, aloud.” And I did. Twilight said nothing afterwards, but hopped onto my back, nuzzling her face into my neck. He fur was very soft and dry. “Daniel?” she whispered. “Yeah?” “Your kind hurts me,” she said simply. “They do,” I said, agreeing with her. “But do you know what else?” “What?” “They also protect me, and help me.” I didn’t say anything, I just smiled a bit. Twilight could be a silly pony, it seems. “They also tell stories, and what its like to be hurt, and though that, you learn and get better, right?” “To an extent, but yes,” I answered. “Your kind is hard to understand, but thats ok. I think I learned enough here, for now.” “For now?” “Yeah,” she said simply. “Head back?” “Yeah, lets. We’ve got the National Art Gallery in a little while,” I said, looking at my phone for the time. “That should be fun!” she said, sounding happier. “I get to see more of what your kind has done?” “Yeah, yeah you do,” “Nothing too hurtful, I hope,” she said. “If pain and suffering is there, then we can go through it together,” I said with an ear scratch to her as I left the area. “Let’s.” Author's Note A few things. I'm sorry this is late, a small emergency (nothing serious, it just had to be dealt with ASAP) came up that took me away from getting this done earlier. Add to the fact that I just finished tennis class this week, and I was a busy guy. I promise it won't happen again. Happy, belated, Flag Day, Denmark! Happy, belated, Fathers Day, in many countries! The title has multiple meanings. A let in tennis is a do over, of which this chapter has times in which a character wants a do over. A let's, or let us, as in the two going though problems together. Let's was also what I thought about naming this story. Hindsight tells me I should have. Side note: this chapter was brought to you by the Danish versions of Winter Wrap-Up, and Smile. Hoofel just sounds so cute.
And then I saw herI don't even know how it really happened. One moment, I'm cleaning off my bed and part of the room for late night/early morning sleep, and the next a flash goes off and blinds me for a good several seconds. I remember collapsing on my bed with thud, and groaning out very quietly as it was a time no one wanted to be woken at. “Oh my goodness,” a rather feminine voice called out with, and though not loud enough to wake to dead, she was still loud. “Are you alright?” “Just. Peachy,” I replied, pushing my self up and blinking rapidly as I halted my breathing and looked around the room for the voice. Thankfully, no one was waking up. I was safe for another moment. “Down here,” she said, thankfully quieter. And then I saw her, but it was something that I could not describe very well—mainly because I had never seen her kind before. She looked like a Shetland pony; small, and horse like but less natural. Where as an animal would have angles and lines, she looked more like an iPad then a horse. Being honest, she looked like if an iPad, a Shetland pony, and box of crayons had some sort of love child. Thats not to say she was ugly or anything of the kind, rather the opposite. She was rather adorable in her curviness and strange colours. She was small, perhaps four feet tall from...hoof to...horn? She had a horn. That was not natural. Then again, she spoke English fluently. “Can you understand me?” she asked, looking at me rather puzzled, with purple eyes that matched her coat? I reached out to stroke her cheek, too dumbfounded to speak. “Hey, watch it,” she called out, swatting my hand away with a hoof. “Oh. Sorry,” I muttered, finally able to speak. “Um. Hi.” “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Personal protegee to Princess Celestia,” she said proudly, though not in a loud voice. Wait, Twilight Sparkle? Theres a new one. Then again, I had a four foot tall iPad, shetland horse pony crayon box thing standing in my room. And, she had a horn. And I had no shirt on. “Uh. Well, Ms. Twilight. I am Daniel, uh a university student,” I said sheepishly. How does one top some Princess' student? Because I clearly wasn't doing a good job. “Hello Daniel,” Twilight said with smile, still looking at me with her beady large purple eyes. “Uh. So. You're not from here, are you?” I asked, trying not to look at her as I sat on my bed, my eyes flying around my room. This whole experience was freaking me out. This weird love child thing was freaking me out. Yet at the same time, it was nice. I didn't know this Twilight for more than 30 or so seconds, but already I could tell she wasn't a threat. She always smiled, made eye contact, and clearly wanted to be friends. Even if she did want to kill me, or take me away, or kill me in the place she took me away too, I was almost ok with that. So then why was I so afraid of her? She smiled at me, and sat down on my floor...right on a book. I really didn't do that good of a job cleaning. I quickly picked her up, she actually didn't weigh a lot for something four feet tall; maybe in total? But even if she was heavy, she was very, very soft and really warm so I doubt I could have noticed even if she was. “Uh. Thank you,” she said, not looking at me as she looked around the room from her new spot beside me. “But no. I'm not. I'm from Equestria.” she explained. “Can't say I've heard of it,” I noted, scratching my head, and barely hiding a yawn. “Is it in Europe?” “Whats a Europe,” She asked with genuine curiosity. Ok, she's not from earth. Glad I know that. Now, not to panic. “How did you get here,” I asked, my voice shaking a bit as it finally clicked in that something purple was talking in basic English with me. “Well, at the base of it, I used magic. Don't you have magic.” she asked looking all over me—for what I suspected to be a horn or some sort of appendage that would be a magic exit point. “Uh. No, no I can't say I do. In fact, magic doesn't exist here,” I said sheepishly. I assume kids, when finding out Santa isn't real, often looked very much like their very fabric of reality was just ripped to shreds. This pretty purple pony looked much the same way. Eye wide, and mouth open. Lip quivering, and a slight twitch in her cheek. “Magic, doesn't exist,” she asked, her voice soft and almost inaudible. “Not in my people,” I noted. “Never has. But we talk about it.” “Wait, what,” she asked—Twlight was it? “Yeah,” I said with a small smile. “Magic doesn't exist here, so we invent ways to do things we can't do. But we still toy with the idea of magic; how great it is, how wonderful life would be with it. How great it would be move a book from ten feet away. Or, how great life is without it; since it can cause so much destruction.” She seemed to calmed down a bit, but still seemed shock. “Mind if I try something, Daniel,” she asked sweetly. “Uh sure, I guess. Just keep the noise level down, I'm not the only one in this house,” I said watching her carefully. A blinding flash of light—like the sun itself just appeared feet from me, came to my sight. I wasn't thrown back, but I did fall onto my back, a groan escaping as my eyes were forced to see that of this unholy blind. It was incredibly painful; too painful to cry out at, and too bright to really and truly describe. It was almost a stereotypical view of heaven, but turned up to eleven. If this was magic, then thank God we had none of it. “Daniel? Daniel? Can you hear me,” Twilight asked, moving me with a hoof. “Yeah,” I said, eyes closed. “I can hear you.” “Are you ok,” she asked, fear lacing her voice like wood to a fire. “Oh no, I should never have tried that spell.” “Its fine Twilight” I said, patting her head—more out of instinct than anything. “I'm fine.” “I take it thats the first time you've seen magic,” she asked quietly, lying down on my bed. “Well, I guess. Though, you coming into my room was magic, right?” “Technically, it was more of a finishing of a spell. I was sent to this world by my teacher and her sister, her former student and, I guess one could call him an occasional ally,” Twilight explained softly. “But why here?” “My teacher heard of this world, and visits every now and then to see whats going on. Apparently, the last time she was here was 1851, and she visited many a place. Although I have heard suggestions that she came to this place in 1943 as well. Does any of this make sense to you?” Twilight asked, rather hopeful for a good answer. “I have no idea why 1851,” I admitted sheepishly. “And 1943, well that wasn't a great year for this place.” “Thats what she said, it’s why she never came back until tonight. 70-ish years to the day; and this is where she parted from after she surveyed the world.” Twilight explained. “She asked me to check up on this world here.” I nodded slowly, taking all she said in like a proverbial sponge. “Is this your first time here?” “Yes and no. I visited this place before, but I looked more like you. My guess is that there exists multiple worlds in which magic can send one to. My teacher always said she never changed when she came here. That would make this one a different world then where I was sent to.” “What kind of spell,” I asked. “A teleport spell; not a time-teleport spell, but just a regular old teleport spell.” Twilight explained. “Albeit a much more powerful version, but still a teleport spell.” “That's incredible,” I said, surprise filling the air around me. “Equestria must be amazing.” “It is, but it has its downsides. Just like your world,” Twilight said with a smile. “You'd think, but your teacher hasn't seen the worst of what we did.” I explained softly. “The last seventy years, to be honest Twilight, are some of the worst. Are we getting better? I guess, but its still a fight.” “What happened?” she asked in shock. “I mean, Princess Celestia mentioned a huge war was going on, but what could be worse than that.” “So much blood, so much loss, and so much destruction.” I whispered, not daring to look away from the ceiling as Twilight tried to coax the information out of me. “How do you mean?” “We ended lives; but without a body. We destroyed cities, and left not proof they existed. Twilight, you have no idea what we've done. It's horrible.” I explained. “What do you mean? Theres always a body; even in the metaphorical sense,” She protested with; she didn't want to understand. “An individuals outline on a building, thats what remains of them. Or remained I guess I should say. The photos, I can't describe them. I could show you, but I can't. Not if your mentor wants a better thought of who we are,” I explained to her. “She does,” Twilight explained quietly. “She wants to know you've done better throughout the ages.” “Ages? People are still alive from that war, Twilight. They remember the horror of it all,” I explained. “As for if we've done better, well. That war ended and there hasn't been one in Europe since.” “That’s something,” she said with a sigh. “Honestly, I don't understand your species.” “Yet,” I noted with a sly grin, getting one back from this unicorn with, wings. “You have wings?” “I'm a Princess! All Princess ponies have wings” Twilight explained with a beaming smile, and flapping them quickly which brought about a rather nice breeze—even if it did blow my papers all over the place. “Ah Twilight,” I said sternly as I started picking them up. “I had these already for tomorrow.” “Whats tomorrow?” she asked, watching me swerve around books and collect the wood fibre collections. “I leave this place for a little while” I explained, finding my ticket and itinerary of what we were going. 'Travel Study, May 2013' it read in big letters—thankfully not in comic sans. “Where to?” “Europe,” I said with a smile. “Thats where Princess Celestia was,” Twilight exclaimed with a large grin. “Can I come?” I said nothing as I thought. Aside from the serious logistic issues, there was also the issue of how does one hide something like her in this world? It would be fun though—walk through London with something like her. Playing tourist with someone who knew nothing of this world. I had to admit, it would be an amazing learning experience. “How would that work?” I asked. “How could you get there?” “I could teleport—if this world has no one else using magic, then the rate of interference should be low enough that I can do it with ease. Large distance or not.” Twilight explained. “Would you need anything?” I asked, turning to her. “If I lock onto your aura, I should be ok.” Twilight said, closing her eyes and pointing her, what looked to be, very sharp horn at me. Still, I felt the need to trust her. She hadn't done me by wrong—yet. “Is that possible?” I asked. “Would a non magical being give off an aura?” “It's faint, but its there. I can sense the aura of others in this building, but even weaker.” She noted. “Sad, really.” “Why is that?” “I guess you could call it a happiness meter of sorts. Lock on teleportation is possible in Equestria, but because of the amount of unicorns there it’s rarely done. However, a pony or persons aura is caused by their happiness. Really, it could be any emotion, but I've always done it by happiness. Each person, no matter how much joy they may express when compared to someone else will always give off a trace of their personality. It is that personality that a unicorn locks on to, to get to the location of somepony or someone.” Twilight explained carefully. “Does that make sense?” “Why happiness?” I asked. “Its a strong point of Equestrian society—we're happy, and we enjoy our lives,” Twilight explained. “Don't you all?” “I, I don't know. Its not something we focus on.” I said before smirking. “Maybe we just don't want to face reality.” “Then perhaps I should return,” Twilight said sadly. “I don't want to see this world. I don't like it” “Me neither. But maybe together we can see this world, for it is outside of what I've said,” I offered with a smile at her. “In the very least, I'd love to get lost in London and Paris with a friend.” Twilight smiled, and seemed to gain the will back. “Even if I have questions?” “I’ll find a way to answer them all,” I said nodding. “But can you stay hidden?” “I know an invisibility spell. If I use it, I'll stay hidden from people. As for food or something, I can eat grass,” She said with a smirk. “Ah. Right. Pony,” I said sheepishly. “It's not the greatest thing, but I'll live,” She said grinning. “Don't worry about me, I'll always be able to find you since I can lock onto your happiness.” “Talking though,” I stated, filing alway the last paper—homework for when I returned. “How will that work?” “I can read minds, and project my voice into your mind. Basically, we have a thinking conversation,” Twilight explained. “To keep our thoughts safe though, just start off everything you want to ask me with TS, and that way I know its you.” she ended with, a soft smile on her face. “That seems a little convenient,” I noted with a skeptical look on my face. “Its what my cutie mark means,” she started off with, moving her head in the direction of her....upper thigh area. “I have a talent for magic, so I'm able to do a lot with it; including invisibility and reading your thoughts. I still have to learn that stuff, but it basically means my magic reserves are larger than most other unicorns and combined with a love of learning and nothing is the limit.” “Ah. Right. Fair enough,” I said, not daring to look at her....backside. She grinned. “Culture thing?” “Something like tha-hey you said you wouldn't read my mind,” I called her out lond. This did not bode well for my future while. “Sorry, but I assumed it was something that you really didn't want to say, so I read your mind to see what was wrong—no harm done?” She asked, patting my leg. “No harm done,” I said with a sigh. “Just, try and keep out please, I don't want to make anything awkward for us.” “I have an older brother—there is very little you can do, but alright. I promise,” she agreed and, nodded in affirmation. “Just for future reference, what does speaking into my mind feel like?” I asked. 'You should sleep.' I could hear in my brain—like I was thinking, but as if some other power sent it to me. If this was what religious experience was like—talking with God and what not, I'm surprised most didn't go insane. “That...was,”I said. “It's easier to take when you're fully reseted. It can do a lot though; I can wake you up with it, alert you of other peoples presence. Really handy stuff I think.” she said with a smile. I just nodded and lay down on my bed. “Sleep wherever, I guess. This is my last night before the flight, so any issues are a one night thing.” “Ok,” Twilight said, flying over to my closet and settling herself inside of it. “This is almost cosy!” I laughed as I closed my eyes. I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but I knew it would be encountered with a friend. Author's Note 1851; founding of the New York Times, and also the Taiping Rebellion Please comment/ask questions. I'd love to hear/read from everyone.
Welcome to London“So. How many more times do I have to keep teleporting for?” Twilight asked. “Two or three, I think. I’ll check,” I replied, checking the flight path map given to us by the airline. “Yeah, three; Belfast, Cardiff, and finally London.” “Do you any have better places for me to arrive at?” She asked with a tone of bitterness in my mind. I had been describing images every hour or so of the flight path so that way she didn’t have to teleport from Vancouver to London in one go. “What, didn’t like The Sun Voyager in Reykjavik? I thought it would have been a nice thing to see,” I noted with a smirk. “You try landing on it! It’s not comfortable to fall on!” “And how was I supposed to know that you would fall on it? I just assumed you’d be in the vicinity of it,” I defended with. “Besides, its not pointy.” “Thankfully,” she added with a dry tone. “Why couldn’t I have ridden in the cargo hold?” “I had no idea how to get you in there. But look at it this way, you got to see some cool sites around Canada,” I offered. “We’ll find you a way to get you on the plane when we return, alright?” “Return?” “Well, I assume you are returning to wherever you’re from, from Vancouver, right?” I asked. “I guess. Hadn’t really thought about it much,” she said. “Really though, I can leave from anywhere.” We spoke about nothing until I next gave her an image to focus on, the Belfast City Hall. It looked like a nice building, and was apparently iconic, as most places online described it. The building looked massive and was of Portland stone. I thought it seemed a little strange to ship stone in from Portland, but apparently the Isle of Portland was rather famous for its stone. The visible roof from the ground was the typical copper green thing, roofing. It looked great, but it seemed over used and a kind of architectural cliche. Twilight teleported to the building and commented how pretty she thought it was and said she’d fly over it--while invisible of course. She mentioned that it seemed larger than Canterlot castle, which I was told was the house of the co-princess who rule her home country of Equestria. It sounded rather fascinating as she described the place, and it seemed like she was high up the social and power totem pole, but I got the sense that she thought of the country like how one would a friend, and not as something to be ruled over. “They sound like great people,” I mused off to her, not fully paying attention as I asked the stewardess for a pop. “Pony,” she corrected. “We are ponies. But yes, they are.” “Any words of advice from them?” I jokingly asked. “A few, Princess Celestia always told me that the object of any good pony was truth, when I was growing up,” she mentioned. “This building is really nice to lie on.” “You grew up around a Princess?” I asked, more than a little surprised. “Yeah, she was my teacher, mentor,” she explained. “ Uncommon here on, earth was it?” “Earth, yeah. And no, that doesn’t happen here, at all. Ruler of a country, and a teacher? Never, or at least, not in a long, long time,” I explained. “Maybe in the ages of monarchy, but not here.” “Ages of Monarchy?” “Its a term, that I made up on the spot. Most countries don’t have a monarchy anymore, we elect our leaders,” I told her. “No immortal rulers here, well none conformed at least.” “None confirmed?” Twilight asked. “Kind of hard to not confirm something like that.” “Old texts and tablets tell of people who lived a long, long time. One country has a semi legendary Emperor who lived more than 2700 years ago and lived for about 126 years,” I explained. “Another tradition has someone living for nearly 1000 years, and that was over 3500 years ago.” “I take it such ages aren’t common?” Twilight asked. “I can expect to live into my 80’s or 90’s, so yes such ages are unheard of nowadays, let alone when there was no understanding of science or medicine,” I explained. “Well, do people actually believe those stories?” she asked, her curious tone gave me an instant headache. My heart sunk; this was not something I wanted to explain. “The first one, the guy who lived for 126 years, is mostly left alone. The amount of people who believe that, are few are far between,” I explained carefully. “I’m sure some do, but it would be hard to find someone who thought like that.” “And the second?” “Its part of religious doctrine, although how literal one should read it is up to some debated,” I said slowly. “It’s very controversial.” “Is there evidence?” she asked. “I would say that depends on how one defines the word,” I offered carefully. “What does that mean?” she asked. I could tell that she wasn’t getting what I was saying; must be nice. “It means it’s a lot of faith to take something like that. At best, its a really bad translation, at worst, its unfounded,” I explained. “This isn’t one of the most proud moments of my people.” “I can tell,” she said dryly. I said nothing as I assumed the purple pony judged me and my people for what some thought. I looked around the airplane and found people still sleeping. I hadn’t slept at all during the flight. Local time, in Vancouver, was about 11:45. Which meant it was almost time to have Twilight teleport again. I checked the flight plan, and we were on target for us to be flying close to Cardiff, or close enough at least. I checked my images, and found the next one. I studied it for a while, trying to figure out what to say. “Twilight? It’s time,” I said. “Alright, just give me a few seconds,” she said, as I presumed she stretched out her wings and body. “Where to?” I read her off what I could make out of Garth Hill. I described to her the view of Cardiff, and what to expect. A tall grassy knoll, but a little bigger then a hill. A few shrubs around the top and trees along the base. “It’s nice,” she noted. “Perfect for reading a book.” “That nice?” “Very much so. kind of reminds me of home, theres this hill near Ponyville that I’ve gone stargazing at, had a picnic, and everything,” she explained. “It’s good to find something like that here.” “You’ll find everything under the sun here,” I noted. “I haven’t seen a pegasus,” Twilight noted. “Or am I looking in the wrong area?” “Greek classics describe what we would call a pegasus, unicorns have popped up in various folklore, and your earth ponies are comparable to what we have here,” I explained. “Pegacorns though-” “What’s a ‘pegacorn?’” “You; flying unicorn,” I noted. “Or does your kind have an actual name?” “Alicorn.” “Isn’t that what your horn is called?” I asked. “No, its just call a horn,” she said carefully. “Am I missing something?” “Just terminology stuff that doesn’t translate or exist over in Equestria, I guess,” I explained. “Anyways, pegacorns, though, called winged unicorns, do exist, they can be found in some of the old Greek works as well.” “So I do exist?” “I would assume so, otherwise I’m suffering from serious delusion,” I noted with a smirk. “Suffering? Didn’t think I was that bad,” she said, her tone sounding, down? “Hey, I’m just bugging you. You’ve made this eight hour flight pretty fun, alright? So don’t be sad,” I said. “That’s kind of you to say, bu-” she tried to say. “But, or flank, nothing! I’ve enjoyed myself, and I’d dare say so did you. Am I right?” “I did,” she said, and I could feel her smile in my brain. It felt as if the tears of sad friend had stopped. “Then there is nothing else to say,” I ended. “Go enjoy Garth Hill, alright?” “Alright,” she said, saying nothing else. I presumed she flew around and around the Hill. It looked like a nice area at least. I relaxed into my chair, wanting to get some sleep before we landed in London. Local time in Vancouver was 12:30AM, meaning we had about half an hour till London. I closed my eyes and I think I fell asleep within moments. Or was I in some sort of inbetween area; where I was half asleep and half awake? It was hard to figure out. What wasn’t hard to figure out was the guy speaking French throughout the aircraft, about twenty minutes after I went into the land of sleep. I checked the flight plan before me, it was turned off. It seemed we were landing soon. “Twilight, you with me?” I asked, trying to regain some sense of consciousness. “Yeah, whats up?” “I’m in London, I’ll tell you the new place to teleport when I get a chance, alright?” “Sounds good,” she said. “Enjoy your nap?” “Nng,” I responded with. “It was ok.” “Not much of a sleep?” “Nothing substantial,” I noted. “I’ll sleep in the hotel. Which isn’t for awhile.” The plane came into the gate at about 12:56, four minutes ahead of schedule. We all clapped as the Captain announced we had made it, which always came to me as a sort of disbelief in his abilities. I found the people I had travelled with, but I didn’t know them well. “What gate?” The Professor mumbled out, running his hands along his short black hair and beard. He sounded like he needed coffee. “7,” I said simply, leading the way--by following all the people before me. “Sparkle, you with me?” “Yeah, time to teleport?” she asked. “Yeah, to me,” I said with a smirk. “But stay invisible, there is a lot of people here.” “No flying then?” “You can ride on my back,” I said simply. Within seconds, I could feel her jump on my back. She really wasn’t heavy, and she hung on perfectly so I could walk normally. “Comfy?” I asked, feeling her breath on my neck, it was a warm, but a pleasant kind of warm. “Yes,” she said, resting her chin on my shoulder, for support. “Lets get my bags then,” I said and continued moving throughout the airport. It was long hall, after long hall of people, a few closed shops, and more people. I lost track of those I travelled with a few times, but we eventually regrouped at the bag pick up line. “I’ll point them out, you get them?” Twilight offered, hopping off my back. “Where are you?” “On the moving thingy,” she said. “Sounds good,” I replied, walking over to the group. They, it seemed, already knew one another, rather well. Or least seemed to be getting along rather well. I didn’t envy them, nor was I a bit jealous. I knew one of them rather well. The Professor was off in his own area, looking for his bags, and looking frustrated. “Daniel, coming down now,” Twilight said, and I turned. Sure enough, my first bag was coming down. “Also, your friends bag is coming down, I think, the red one,” she added. “Zoey!” I called out, and the girl in question turned to me. “That your bag?” “Yes,” she replied. And I grabbed it. It was one of those modern looking shiny red travel bags. They looked like, but reminded me more of high level technology, then travelling. “Thank you,” Zoey said, smiling lightly. “You didn’t have to.” I just shrugged my shoulders, and returned to the carousel, eager to find the rest of my bags. The rest of mine came down, and so did everyone else’s. The Professors took the longest, but his came down to, the last of them all. “Everyone ready for customs?” The Professor asked. “Get your passports ready, and send up a prayer.” I wasn’t fully sure if he was joking, so I couldn’t answer Twilights question when she asked me. I looked at my phone: 3 AM Local Vancouver time, which meant it was about 11 AM London time. “Next please,” a calm and young British man called out to me. I walked up to the counter. He asked me several questions, and seemed to be sitting on a spike, but let me go after he was sure that a 20 year old student wasn’t a threat to the national security of the United Kingdom. “He seemed, nice,” Twilight commented as we left for the station following in behind the Professor and the group. “Just doing his job,” I noted, as we boarded the London Metro. Our group huddled together at the back as the Professor made it known we were riding this train for about a good hour or so. he also took the time to say something that made me, and probably Twilight smile--though for different reasons I think. “Alright, we have class tomorrow at 11AM sharp in the drawing room of the inn, no readings need to be done until the second day. But I am expecting you all to be bright eyed, and awake. Understood?” He explained, pulling out his iPad to check the timetable. We all nodded. “Good. Oh, and welcome to London.” Author's Note There is a couple references in here that I should explain. The two figures that are mentioned are the Japanese Emperor Jimmu, and the biblical figure Methuselah. As always, I'd love to hear from you, so drop a comment, and tell what you think. Is it, good, does it suck? Tell me!
Let'sI walked out of the small boardroom, not very awake, and less aware with what just happened. Class had just ended, and most of us look stressed or tired, its nice to know I’m not alone, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Art interpretation, and the value of one's opinion was the name of the lecture, and I disagreed with what he had to say. “Fascinating!” Twilight said as I returned to the room I shared with several others. “I never thought of it that way.” “Thought of what?” I asked, grabbing my satchel and room key. “That you’d never have to deal with that?” “No, that art is that subjective,” she explained. “Weren’t you paying attention? I didn’t hear you think about the girls in the class.” “No interest,” I said as I returned down the stairs, and left just as the girls came up. “I just don’t agree with him.” “Well neither do I, but I think you might be taking it to an extreme,” Twilight noted. “I didn’t say anything,” I replied with, my tone swift and unwavering. “I can read your mind, Daniel, I know what you were thinking,” “So what was I thinking then?” “That art has a purpose, and a point to make, and that one point is the only point it is making,” she explained as I boarded the bus to the train station. “The very idea that something could mean something else, or have two points, is a notion that you cannot accept.” “I just don’t think people give enough credit to the artist,” I said, with a soft voice. It took me a few seconds to realize I had spoken aloud, and was getting looks from people on the bus. “That’s the first time you messed up, and you and I have been talking like this for four days,” Twilight noted. “You ok?” “It’s a topic I get passionate about,” I said, ending that discussion. “People focus too much on what they think, and not the point. Each piece of art, has a point to its existence; even if it just how one views a sunset, it still has a point.” Twilight said nothing, and so I presumed she didn’t wish to say anything more, for fear of more looks being given to me. I confess, I was relieved by what she did. Soon, we left the bus at the train station and boarded a train to Kings Cross. I had taken this journey already, so I knew where I needed to be. The train was crowded, so Twilight jumped onto my back, and rode on it. She always seemed a bit happier when ever she was on my back, it was nice to feel her warm breath, which wasn’t bad smelling, on the my cheek and neck. “Comfy?” I asked her, a smirk on my face. “Beats walking,” she said, though I could feel her grin in my mind. “I used to ride on my brothers back when I was younger.” “That must have been nice.” “I was just a filly at the time,” she added. “So I couldn’t walk a long time, like he could.” “Sounds like he’s a big guy. Well stallion, but you know what I mean,” noted. “Yeah, he’s in the military. Looks after an entire empires military now.” “Impressive family, your parents must be proud,” I added. “They are. They’ve always let us do what we wanted to do, and let us have fun doing it,” Twilight explained. She continued to tell me about her family, for the next ten minutes. Thankfully, this train ride had to be the longest one on the entire system as it seemed to take forever to reach Kings Cross, with or without a pony on ones back, telling them all about their family and how her mom was an editor and had been apart of a best selling novel series out in Equestria. Or how her dad was an accountant and amateur astronomer. He sounded like a cool guy, actually. I’d love to have met him. “Now arriving at Kings Cross, St. Pancreas,” the electric British lady said. For National, and International lines…” She faded away into the noise as I left the train, and I didn’t care to listen. I was staying right here in London for now. “Wow, lot of people,” Twilight noted. “Where are we?” “Welcome, to Kings Cross,” I said, a smile in my mind. “We’re going to the Library.” “I’m sorry, did you say library?” Twilight asked, racing though the question. “No, I said the Library,” I replied. “As in, one of the most important Libraries in the world, the National Library of the United Kingdom, and a place of near 14 million books. That, library.” There was no one near us, so Twilight ended her invisibility and jumped off my back, flying to look me right in the eye. “You’re serious, right?” “Super serious,” I said, adding a nod in, my lips flat. “I need to see this,” she stated. “You need to see this,” I replied. “I want to see this,” she stated. “Hop on my back,” I said, turning away from her. “You’ve got a lot to learn, and I’ve got a lot to share.” She did as I suggested, and we walked in, with her activating her invisibility moments after. The building was large and empty, save for a donation box, and a few people walking around. I could see a cafe in the back and a few more people around that. It was mostly empty, and I was ok with that. However, something caught my eye like none other I had seen since I came to London. A large book, made of what looked like bronze. Attached to it, was a chain and ball. It was massive, enough to hold several people sitting. “Books hold us captive,” Twilight said softly, not in my mind, but into my ear. “In this case, by the balls, or rather: ball” I replied, not missing a beat. She just sighed, and we moved in. “Seriously though, books capture us and hold us tight. The information controls, and commands us to action. We are decided on by what we read.” “You just redeemed yourself,” Twilight said. “For now.” I just laughed for a few moments. “Hop off, and go into that room,” I said, moving my head as we stood outside a small room. it wasn’t labelled, but I knew what it was. It was the room that might change her perspective on us, and her home. I was a little nervous, to say the least. “Ohh, I have to walk?” she whined, trotting in. I ignored her change in action from what she said with an eye roll. “This is the Magna Carta,” I said, pointing at a piece of paper behind a glass screen. “It’s almost 800 years old.” “That piece of paper?” she asked. “Must be important.” “Only the most,” I noted, adding a nod for extra measure. “It’s a foundational piece of paper.” “How do you mean?” “No freeman shall be imprisoned, or in anyway other way be harmed without a jury of his peers,” I read from the translation beside the document. “Do you know what that means?” “No.” “The ruler of the land cannot harm anyone, unless a jury of one’s peers, friends, countrymen, or equals say that person can be harmed. You cannot be accuser, judge, jury, and executioner,” I explained. “You mean, you cannot be hurt, just because the leader says so?” she asked, eyes going wide. “That is correct, this is the document that gave us that, well not really, but it did play a part in ensuring the legacy of that idea,” I added. Twilight sat down, the Magna Carta before her, though she could barely see it as the table was taller than her. She stared at the ground, and then looked up at me for a few moments, before returning to the ground. “It means one must be charged of a crime, or let go,” I further explained. “If that helps.” She said nothing, nor did she nod at all, but I think it did as she stood. “Can we move on?” she asked, pleading me with large purple eyes. I gave her mane a ruffle and nodded with a smile. “I’ve got something musical to show you,” I said and lead her out of the room and to a one of the many items behind a glass window. “This,” I said, pointing at an open book. “That?” “Forever, and ever, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,” I sang, somehow on tune. “King of Kings. Forever, and ever, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. And Lord of Lords. And He shall reign forever and ever.” Twilight just looked at me, with a puzzled look, and I just laughed at bit. “Its one of my languages most popular musicals.” “What’s it called?” she asked, quicker then I expected, but I paid it little mind. “Handels Messiah, but its just actually called Messiah, most just call it Handel’s Messiah to different from others and to honour that who wrote it,” I explained. “Weird,” she noted. “Equestria has something similar.” “What’s it called?” “Hoofel’s Magic,” Twilight said. “And what you just sang, sounds like a butchered version of it’s famous chorus; Fear It.” “Wait, you have an entire musical composition dedicated to magic?” I asked, a little shocked. “Yeah, many, actually. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna don’t like the idea of musical praises being given to them, so they supported them decided to magic,” Twilight explained. “I take it yours isn’t?” “I, guess it is?” I asked no one, save myself. “No, that sounds rude, its a story one. Story of a saviour for humankind. A powerful being who loves, and died for us.” Twilight raised an eye at the one, but I kept going. “It wants to share the story of that figure, and how good triumphs over evil, in the end.” “That’s weird,” Twilight said, after several moments of silence. “Nice, but weird.” I laughed for a bit, it would sound weird to people who didn’t understand. I couldn’t imagine what it sounded like to being who wasn’t of this world. “It’s more in-depth than that, obviously, but its famous,” I said with smile. “I’ll be sure to let Princess Celestia know that Hoofel’s Magic, exists here as something that tells the story of good beating evil,” Twilight said with a smile. “How old is this song?” “270 odd years,” I said, glancing over at the book. “Yeah, something like that.” “It’s a shame she never heard it when she was here, she always liked Magic,” Twilight noted, looking around the area of the library at all the old tomes. “It’s got a lot of subtle references, so it might have been hard to understand,” I noted, following her and looking at documents as well. An original Jane Austen, T.E Lawrence's shopping list for the Arabs. “It’s not about getting it, its about hearing talent. She loves to hear passion in one's voice when doing an art. Celestia always said it gave her job meaning when she did it, because she got to hear a reason to do what it required her to do,” Twilight explained. “Language wouldn’t matter, passion and talent does.” “Music transcends it all,” I added. Looking at a 1758 version of The Canterbury Tales, it was beautiful with its colours and intricate designs. I couldn’t read it, but it looked as if real love was put into the the leaves, branches, and letters. It made what I typed on a screen look awful by comparison. “Yeah. Hey, what’s this?” She asked, I turned to my left a bit and looked at what she pointed at. I looked at it, and my blood froze. Owen, Wilfred. 1917. Dulce et Decorum est, Draft. I said nothing as I looked it over a few times. It was the entire poem, and seemed not much was changed. He had really neat writing, and that almost made the entire thing harder to read. The last two lines hurt to read as I looked at the pony beside me, who I was sure did not know of the war. “Daniel, what is it? Tell me!” she whined, pulling at my arm cutely. “A. A war poem,” I said simply, not looking at her. “It’s a war poem.” “About what?” “Gas attack,” I said, barely able to get the words out. “Gas attack?” “Ruins the ar, kills people that way. They drown, in a way. Sometimes it burns their lungs apart. Not an easy way to die,” I explained softly. Twilight said nothing, but looked at the poem. “Read it,” she said. “What?” “Read it. Read it to me, aloud.” And I did. Twilight said nothing afterwards, but hopped onto my back, nuzzling her face into my neck. He fur was very soft and dry. “Daniel?” she whispered. “Yeah?” “Your kind hurts me,” she said simply. “They do,” I said, agreeing with her. “But do you know what else?” “What?” “They also protect me, and help me.” I didn’t say anything, I just smiled a bit. Twilight could be a silly pony, it seems. “They also tell stories, and what its like to be hurt, and though that, you learn and get better, right?” “To an extent, but yes,” I answered. “Your kind is hard to understand, but thats ok. I think I learned enough here, for now.” “For now?” “Yeah,” she said simply. “Head back?” “Yeah, lets. We’ve got the National Art Gallery in a little while,” I said, looking at my phone for the time. “That should be fun!” she said, sounding happier. “I get to see more of what your kind has done?” “Yeah, yeah you do,” “Nothing too hurtful, I hope,” she said. “If pain and suffering is there, then we can go through it together,” I said with an ear scratch to her as I left the area. “Let’s.” Author's Note A few things. I'm sorry this is late, a small emergency (nothing serious, it just had to be dealt with ASAP) came up that took me away from getting this done earlier. Add to the fact that I just finished tennis class this week, and I was a busy guy. I promise it won't happen again. Happy, belated, Flag Day, Denmark! Happy, belated, Fathers Day, in many countries! The title has multiple meanings. A let in tennis is a do over, of which this chapter has times in which a character wants a do over. A let's, or let us, as in the two going though problems together. Let's was also what I thought about naming this story. Hindsight tells me I should have. Side note: this chapter was brought to you by the Danish versions of Winter Wrap-Up, and Smile. Hoofel just sounds so cute.
