A Story About My Dad

We followed her through a large set of double doors that seemed to open themselves, a faint yellow aura surrounding them as they did. We walked through them.

Within a few moments of walking down the expansive hallways, filled with elegant tapestries and masterfully carved stained glass windows, we came upon a door that was overgrown with vines and ivy. On closer inspection, I realized that they weren’t living plants, but rather exquisitely detailed carvings. This door opened itself as well, the same aura around it, revealing a surprisingly small garden, considering we had landed in a palace.

Celestia walked to a metal, cushioned chair, fashioned out of wrought iron. Dad and I sat down across from her, and a moment later a guard appeared with tea.

"Would either of you like some tea? It's quite nice," she said as the plain porcelain teapot floated over to her cup and filled it. My father shook his head, as did I.

"Very well." She nodded. I noticed that her horn had the same golden aura as the teacup she drank from, but wasn't sure what to make of it. Celestia quietly sipped her tea as my father fidgeted.

Eventually, he said, "So why are we here?" His voice was impatient. Dad never was very good at waiting. Celestia looked up, her kind demeanor gone.

"Who sent you?" she demanded forcefully, but in that same sing-song voice of hers. "Was it Discord? Is he getting that loose already?"

My dad and I bore the same confused expression. I was about to ask who Discord was when Celestia spoke again.

"Clearly not. Who built those suits for you, then? And who taught you Equestrian?"

My father answered immediately."I built my own suit, and my uncle built the one that Sam is wearing. He invented the tech behind it, too." His pride in his uncle's work and his own colored his voice. “Furthermore, we sent ourselves. As far as I know, the language we’re speaking is English, not… ‘Equestrian’. I have no idea why I ended up here. I’m sure I calibrated the portal perfectly, so it shouldn’t have sent me here, goddammit!” He stood up from his chair, frustration in his voice.

Celestia set her tea down, looking over my father, surprised at the sudden outburst.

“Now, tell me where my uncle Fred is. I don’t have time for this!” my Dad said, trying to contain his anger and impatience. His eyes were wild, and he seemed like he might just attack Celestia. She, on the other hand, remained calm, taking another quick sip of her tea before setting it down again, the aura vanishing from around the porcelain.

“First of all, John, you will be respectful in my presence,” she said sternly, the pale aura encasing my Dad. The energy outlined him, and as he was lifted into the air a few inches, Celestia rose from her seat.

“What are you doing to him? Let him go!” I said loudly, trying to mask my worry. I realized I was standing now, having bolted upright as soon as he began to levitate. Celestia glanced at me for a moment, her eyes instantly softening as she peered into my own. She sighed, and looked down, the glow around my father fading.

He fell a few inches onto his feet, regaining his composure as he glared daggers at Celestia. She spoke in an apologetic tone.

“When I said everypony around here was on edge, I forgot to mention that included myself. I shouldn’t have been so hasty to assume you… Nevermind.”

“No, tell me what you think we are. I want answers, and I want them now!” my Dad said loudly, undeterred by the incident. I sat back down, my eyes pleading for my Dad to do the same, but he remained standing. Celestia took her seat, before sighing, preparing to speak.

“I mentioned someone earlier, by the name of Discord,” she began. We nodded, my Dad still impatient. “He’s been imprisoned for as long as I’ve been the ruler of Equestria. My sister and I thought we had sealed him away for good, but…” Her voice faltered slightly. “…but now we’ve been hearing reports of cracks in the statue he’s imprisoned in.” My Dad looked unimpressed.

“So what, you think a statue sent us directly into your throne room, to… do what exactly? Lady, you are thirty-two different kinds of crazy right now,” my Dad said, annoyed. He had calmed down a bit, but he was still obviously frustrated and angry.

“That’s not the whole story I’m afraid. Discord is the spirit of disharmony and chaos; I only imprisoned him in stone to prevent him from doing any further damage. But like I said, his power has begun to seep through recently, and everypony around here is vigilant for any signs of his corruption. Discord isn’t evil, per se, but if he’s known for anything, its the sheer randomness of how he manifests himself. The both of you just appearing seemingly from nowhere just …”

“Made you think this Discord person was behind it? ” My dad finished Celestia’s sentence. She nodded before my Dad continued. “Okay… Okay, okay, okay… That’s all fine and dandy, Celestia,” he said, “but -- and not to be rude here -- I honestly don’t care,” He paced around in front of her. I shifted in my seat a little, checking the lights on my glove one more time.

“With that out of the way, I need to know where Fred is,” Celestia tilted her head slightly in confusion at my Dad’s demand. He began to speak, but held the comment back, probably for the better.

“Alright, fine. Listen, I need to speak to somebody that knows where my uncle Fred is, and I need to speak to them right now,” he said frantically, looking right at Celestia. She remained in a confused state, unsure of how to respond. My Dad was obviously getting impatient, but an idea seemed to grace his mind, as his eyes lit up.

“So you can’t tell me where Fred is, but maybe you can tell me where he might be. Look, when I last visited Fred, who’s a human like me, he was living amongst these… frog people. They were about as tall as my daughter, they could speak English the same as we do, and they wore clothes. Also, they looked amphibious in nature, hence frog people,” my Dad said, trying to act out what he was saying and winding up looking just as crazy as he thought Celestia was.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you John, but…” She trailed off, what she was about to say on the tip of her tongue. After a moment, she suddenly brightened, exclaiming, “Wait! there is one pony that might know where to find your uncle.”

“Excellent! Where can I find him? Does he know  about Maddie too? Has he been spying on Fred? Ha--”

“John, I only saidmight know where to find Fred. There’s no guarantee she will know where to look.” Celestia said, cutting him off, her eyes contemplative. She was obviously regretting even mentioning this pony. My dad, however leaped at the lead, slim as it was.

“That’s fine! Just, tell me where I can find her.” Celestia mulled over the answer for a moment before replying.

“Very well, I will tell you where to find her. But first, you’re going to help me with something. I need you to--”

“Stop Discord from breaking out of his statue prison, I presume?” my Dad interjected. I turned my head a bit to make sure there were no guards around. With a sigh of relief, I continued to listen to the conversation, the guards having stayed out of the garden.

“How did yo--” Celestia began, a little surprised.

“I’m not stupid Celestia. If what you’re telling me about this Discord guy is true, stirring up all this anxiety even among what seems like your military, then he’s gotta be trouble. Not only that, he’s doing all of this while he’s encased in stone correct?” Celestia nodded. “This guy sounds like something straight out of Doctor Who,” my Dad muttered to himself, looking down at the floor. He looked back up at Celestia, a determined expression gracing his face.

“Alright then Celestia, I’ll be your stonemason, for now, and get that statue all patched up. The question is, can you convince Sammy?” he said, taking a seat beside me, and crossing his legs. He looked at Celestia smugly, while taking a moment to smooth his frazzled hair down.

“Of course I’ll help. Why wouldn’t I?” I said cheerfully.

“What’s in it for you Sam? You’re the one who kept telling me to stop searching for uncle Fred, after all,” he replied. I thought about it for a moment, but was interrupted by Celestia.

“What would you like Samantha?” I winced at being called my full name, but after seeing Celestia’s empathetic eyes I was a bit more comfortable with it. I contemplated what I wanted for a moment, going through the list of things I’d desired all my life.

Among the common stuff like money and fame that everyone wanted, there was one particular thing that I craved the most. It was what had gotten me to believe in my father’s tale about his search for his uncle Fred. Something that had changed my view on the universe, and was pretty darn cool to boot. I leaned over to my father, as I whispered it in his ear.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Dad, I’m not a little kid anymore, I can handle it. You showed it to me plenty of times before.”

“I just-- I don’t think it’s safe, Sam.”

I disregarded him as I spoke to Celestia. “I’d like for my Dad to give me one of his spare kinesis modules,” I said, gesturing to a rack of small cylinders in the back of his adventure suit. Celestia obviously didn’t know what I was talking about, but she understood that one of the cylinders was what I wanted. She eyed my father, jerking her head sideways slightly towards me.

“You heard her. If you want me to give you the location of the pony that might know where these frog creatures are, and by extension, your uncle, then you’ll give your daughter what she wants first,” Celestia said gently but forcefully and just a tad smug. My Dad shifted uneasily, letting out a long sigh as he reached back, disengaging the spare kinesis module and reluctantly placing it in my hand.

“On that model it goes on--“

“Yes I know, the right shoulder. It’s not like you’ve shown me every week for the past year or anything,” I said sarcastically as I slotted the small cylinder into place on my right shoulder. It fit snugly into the indentation, and I twisted it into place like a screw as I checked my gauntlet.

Excitedly, I pushed down the circle in the center of the top side of the glove that was now illuminated a bright white. I waited a second, and with low humming noise, the light turned red. I smiled slowly, realizing it had worked just as I’d imagined it would.

Of course I didn’t know how to actually use any part of the suit yet, but I knew that the kinesis module would definitely come in handy. I pressed the circle again, as the light returned to white, accompanied by the same humming. I grinned gleefully at my Dad who tried to look happy, but was clearly a bit distraught.

“Wonderful. Now then, it’s getting late and I suppose you two would like some rest,” Celestia offered.

“Well, actua--” My dad stopped, then just as suddenly continued, “You know what? Sure.” He’d apparently decided not to argue any more than he already had.

“Excellent, my guards will escort you to a guest room, you can spend the night there. In the morning you can ask a pony in the hall where to find me, and we can discuss the details of our arrangement,” she said kindly, taking one last sip of her tea before standing up. She gestured us towards the door we came in through, her horn glowing that same pale aura as the door opened. We stepped out into the hallway where the four ponies were still waiting, and Celestia followed right behind us, closing the door.

“Sergeant Steady Hooves, I’d like you to take John and Sam to the guest room closest to the throne room. 7A I believe. Thank you,” she ordered, but she did so as if she were asking a question forcefully. This Celestia sure was a weird one. A light blue pony nodded lightly, as he began to walk down the hall.

“Come along,” he said glancing over his shoulder. My father and I shot each other a look before we began trailing the pony.

“I don’t want you having that thing, Sam,” he whispered to me as we walked.

“Why? You seemed to be perfectly fine with giving it to me,” I replied.

“Showing and actually using something is not the same, especially when it’s dangerous like that module,” he rebuttled as we came around a corner, entering into a smaller hallway adorned with doors.

“Then you’ll just have toteach me how to use it, because I’m not giving it back. C’mon, Dad! I’ve  always wanted to try it out, ever since you first showed me it.” I tried to sound forceful, and yet imploring at the same time. He grumbled something to himself before responding.

“Alright fine, you can keep it for now. But you are not allowed to use it without me around. Understood?” he made himself clear as the pony stopped next to a beautifully carved door.

“Understood…” I mumbled to myself. The guard began to speak.

“Here we are, room 7A. If you just follow the short path we just came, you’ll reach the throne room, its only a minute or two away,” the gua-- Steady Hooves, right, said, before nudging the door open and heading back down the hall. I was still a bit weirded out at how well these ponies could speak English, or ‘Equestrian’ as Celestia had called it. Dad didn’t seem phased at all, though.

Then again, he once told me a bedtime story of how he had met these frog people, and of this one particular girl named Maddie. They went on a fantastical adventure in a strangely beautiful place to find Fred. I smiled, remembering it was the same story he’d told me a hundred times -- when he reached the part about the ice caverns, I could almost recite it word for word, because it had been my favorite part as a child.

I never really believed it until I was in my teens, when he first showed me the kinesis module, and I realized it was all true.  It all felt so surreal now, wearing the adventure suit.

And yet in a way, ever since I had first listened to that story about my Dad’s uncle, I knew there were other creatures out there who were sentient, like us.

I just never expected them to be ponies. Or as fluffy and, frankly, adorable as they were.