Chapter One: Friendship is Magic
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.
But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night.
Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon...
"...and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since," I said in a bored drawl. I closed the book I was reading, set it on my study desk, and buried my face in my hooves. I removed my purple glasses with my telekinesis and rubbed my eyes. I'm not even halfway through the book, and I'm already bored.
I heard the door to my study open. "Hey, Endgame," the voice of my assistant said. "You alright?"
I sighed and turned to look at Spike. Spike isn't exactly what you would expect from a Canterlot citizen. First of all, he's not even a pony. He's a baby dragon, and probably the only one in Canterlot. He was short, the tallest spike on his head only coming up to my knee. The scales on his head and stomach were green, as were his eyes, but the rest of his was purple. His eyes were also slit like a cat's.
"No, Spike, I'm not okay," I admitted. Spike was one of the only people I trusted, Princess Celestia being the only other one. "A few months ago, Princess Celestia assigned me to study the history of Equestria."
"Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Spike said.
"Why would she need me to study the history of Equestria when she's a thousand years old, Spike?" I asked. "I just...feel like I'm not being useful. And I hate not being useful, especially to Princess Celestia."
"Come on, Endgame," Spike said. "I'm...sure she has a good reason for this. Maybe she wants to give you a test. To make sure you aren't slacking off."
"Great, after a useless study session, I'm going to have a test," I said in a sarcastic voice. Sighing, I leaned back towards my desk and opened my book. "I'm going to get back to work, Spike. You can just...do whatever it is you do."
"Okay," Spike said. I could hear a sadness in his voice. He walked away and closed the door behind him quietly.
Once again, I sighed. I felt sorry for Spike. I'd been kind of ignoring him today. It wasn't like Spike had any friends. To my knowledge, I was the only pony he regularly talked to. Being ignored by your only really friend probably wasn't good for the little guy.
Still, I was frustrated. I knew that I could do more for Equestria, but here I was, stuck reading about Equestrian history. And it's not like I was going to make some deep observation.
Oh, pardon me. I didn't really introduce myself. Hi, I'm Endgame. Here's a picture of me.
If you couldn't tell, I'm Princess Celestia's prized student. She taught me personally how to do magic. I mostly do research for her, mainly involving different types of magic. If she's never heard of it or if it's so old she forgot about it, she gives it to me for research.
So, and not to sound like a douchebag, I'm kind of a big deal.
Well, now that you know about me, let's get back to the story.
About an hour after Spike's first visit, he came back into my study. He opened the door with such force that it made a loud smack! against the wall. I jumped and accidentally flung my book to the ceiling, where it preceded to make a slightly quieter bang!
Unfortunately, my head also bang against the ceiling. I feel back down to the floor. My body's impact with the floor knocked over the jar of pencils sitting on my desk. The glass jar hit the floor. Luckily it didn't shatter.
I stood up and looked back at Spike, my heart (and my head) still pounding from the whole experience. "Spike, please be easier with the door next time," I said. I noticed he was holding a letter in his claws. "What's that?"
"A letter from Princess Celestia," Spike said. Spike unrolled the letter and began reading:
My dearest student,
Your assistant, Spike, informed me that you have not been feeling useful to me. I apologize for giving you such a notion. So, I have a new assignment for you.
As I'm sure you know, the Summer Sun Celebration is coming soon. This year, we shall be hosting it in Ponyville. However, I cannot oversee the preparations, for I still have duties here in Canterlot. So, your assignment is to go to Ponyville and making sure everything is prepared for the Summer Sun Celebration.
However, that is not my only assignment for you. I want you to make some friends while you're in Ponyville. I can't imagine how lonely you must be in that library all day. Please, make some friends.
Your loving mentor,
Princess Celestia
A smile spread across my face. I was finally going to do something useful! Sure, I'd have to travel all the way to Ponyville, but the odds were I'd only be there one day. Soon, I'd be back home with my books and Spike.
Then, like getting run over by a carriage, the last part of the letter hit me. Make some friends. Even before I had started working for the princess, I had never been that social. The closest friend I ever had was my big sister. And she wasn't even around that much. Now my social life was practically non-existent, my only friend being Spike and the princess.
Oh, well. I didn't want to disappoint the princess. I would do my best to make friends.
After all, it's not like something life changing was going to happen, right?
The carriage touched down in the middle of a empty-looking section of Ponyville. Spike and I stepped out, trying not to draw too much attention. I probably looked like I was being given the royal treatment, and I don't want ponies trying to suck up to me.
I looked at the two pegasi guards who had flown us here. "Thanks, guys," I said. The two guards simply nodded in response before taking off back to Canterlot. I looked at Spike, who had a checklist under his arm. "So, let's get to work. Where do we start?"
"First, I think we should get a bite to eat," Spike said. "I think she said we'd be staying at the Golden Oaks Library."
As I listened to Spike, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I felt like somepony was watching us. I turned and saw a pink blur dart around a corner. I couldn't tell if it was a pony or not, but I knew that, whatever it was, it had been watching us.
Deciding to shrug it off, I looked back at Spike. "How about we go check on the food first?" I recommended. "After all, they're gonna need somepony--or somedragon--to sample the food." I winked at Spike, who smiled. "So, where's the food being served?"
"Someplace could...Sweet Apple Acres," Spike said.
I nodded in understanding. I pulled my map out of my vest pocket, unrolled it, and started walking towards the large farm shown on my map.
A couple of minutes later, Spike and I were walking up the path to a large, red barn. There were apple trees to the left and right of the path. Well, I guess we know what the main course is going to be, I thought. I hope the apples are amazing.
"Well, I don't see anypo-" I started to say.
"Yeehaw!"
I jumped, startled. I looked to my right and saw a mare running up to an apple tree. Before she would've run into the tree, she jumped, turning so that her flank was facing the tree, landed on her front legs, and bucked the tree with her back legs. The force of the buck shook the apple from the tree and landed in the buckets surrounding the tree.
Dang, I thought. She really should be easy with those apples.
"Do you think that's the mare we're supposed to talk to?" Spike asked me.
"Oh, right," I said. I walked up to the mare, finally getting a good look at her. She was orange, slightly paler than the average pumpkin. Her mane was a light shade of yellow and tied back in a ponytail (and, yes, I can see the irony). Her cutie mark were three apples arranged like the points of a triangle. She also had a brown cowcolt hat.
"Um, excuse me," I said, trying to catch the mare's attention.
The mare turned and looked at me. "Well, howdy there, mister," she said. She had a very heavy country accent. "What brings ya here ta Sweet Apple Acres?"
"Well, I'm here on behalf of Princess Celestia to check on the food for the Summer Sun Celebration," I said. I held out my hoof for the mare to shake. "My name's Endgame. And you are?"
"Name's Applejack," the mare said. She took my hoof and shook it. And I mean, shook it. She put a little too much force behind it. By the time she let go, I couldn't stop shaking my hoof up and down. I had to force it down with my magic. "No offense, mister, but ya have a bit of a weak hoofshake."
"It's kind of instinct," I said. "I'm always worried I might squeezed to hard, so I like to start out weak to see how frail or strong the over pony's hoof is." I grinned slightly. "Obviously, I didn't have to worry about that with you."
"Sorry 'bout that," Applejack said. "Ah'm not used to bein' around Canterlot ponies."
"Hey," I said, raising on eyebrow. "What does me being a Canterlot pony have to do with your hoofshake?"
"Um...well," Applejack stuttered, blushing, "Ah kinda thought you Canterlot ponies weren't as...str-strong as us earth ponies."
I sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought you meant that," I admitted. "Don't worry, I'm used to hearing the 'frail, proper' Canterlot stereotype. Well, let's talk about something a little less awkward. Is the food ready?"
Applejack smiled excitedly. She stood up on her hind legs and cried, "Soup's on, everypony!"
Suddenly, I heard something that sounded like a stampede. I looked and saw a hundred earth ponies run out of the barn, all of them holding some kind of apple-related food. The crowd of ponies was running right towards me, and I was too scared to dodge.
When the ponies were done running by, I was seated in front of a table with a bib--seriously, a bib?--around my neck. Standing across from me were all the ponies that had charge at me, all standing in an orderly line, like they were waiting for something.
Applejack stepped up beside and gestured to the line of earth ponies. "Now, why don't I introduce y'all to the Apple family?" she said. She pointed to the first pony in line. "This here's Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel..."
With everypony Applejack named, a pony stepped up and put some kind of apple-related food on my table. And with every piece of food set on the table, my eyes widened. I wasn't a big fan of most of what they were giving me. Whenever I ate an apple, I would just eat the apple. I wouldn't put anything fancy on it, much less turn it into a different type of food.
Finally, Applejack drew in a big breath and point to the last three family members: "Big MacIntosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith." The first was a large, red stallion with a short orange mane. The second was small, admittedly adorable yellow filly with a red mane and pink bow. The latter was an old (and I mean old) green earth pony.
"Well, um, I can see that food is all taken care of," I said, my heart pounding. "My assistant and I will be going now." I quickly scooped Spike onto my back and started to walk away.
Before I could get very far, I was interrupted by a cute voice. "Aren't ya gonna stay for brunch?" I turned and saw Apple Bloom looking up at me, trying to give me puppy dog eyes.
I sighed at sat back down, which the Apple family took as a yes.
This was going to be the longest lunch ever.
"Alright, next up is the weather."
Spike and I were walking back into Ponyville. My stomach was aching from all the apples I had eaten. Luckily, the Apple family allowed Spike to sample some of the food, so I didn't have to eat everything.
"I can't eat apples for a month," I said, groaning.
"The weather is supposed to be managed by a pegasus named Rainbow Dash," Spike remarked.
The two of us looked up at the sky, which was covered in small clouds. "Well, she's doing a dandy job of it," I said sarcastically.
Suddenly, something rammed into me from the left, sending me flying into a pool of mud. I groaned and looked at the pony pegasus sprawled on top of me.
She was cyan blue with magenta eyes. Her cutie mark was a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. The most striking part about this mare was her mane and tail. They were both in a rainbow pattern. And it was clearly her natural color. Her mane color and bright body certainly would've made her stand out among a crowd.
The pegasus noticed me looking at her and smiled sheepishly. "Hehe. Sorry about that," she said. I looked down at myself and noticed that I was covered in mud. I sighed. "Here, let me help you." The mare flew up to the sky and grabbed a cloud. I noticed that he cloud had a blue tint to it. She flew it over me and began stomping on it.
Suddenly, rain began falling from the cloud onto me. I could feel all the mud wash off my mane, coat, and vest. Unfortunately, it left the entirety of my mane drooping over one side of my face.
"Want me to dry you off?" the mare asked, poking her head through the cloud to look at me.
"No, that's quite alright," I said, standing up and walking out from under the cloud. I turned to face the mare, who was leaning back on the cloud like it was a bed. "So, you're Rainbow Dash?"
"The one and only. Why, have you heard of me?"
"Yes, in fact, I have," I said. "I heard from the princess that you're supposed to be clearing the sky for the Summer Sun Celebration."
"Yeah, yeah," Rainbow Dash said. "I'll do that once I'm done practicing?"
"What could you possibly be practicing for that you have to put off doing something for the princess?" I asked.
"The Wonderbolts!" Rainbow said, sitting up and turning to face me.
"The who now?" I inquired. I didn't know what the Wonderbolts were, but they sounded like a race team of sorts.
"Only the best fliers in all of Equestria!" Rainbow said excitedly.
"Do they have to be really fast?" I asked.
"Duh."
I suddenly had an idea. "Well, if you're Wonderbolt material, certainly you could clear the sky in, say...ten seconds flat? It would probably be some good practice, too."
Rainbow looked surprised by my suggestion. "Yeah, you're right!" she said. Then, she jumped off the cloud and quickly began bucking the clouds out of the sky in a similar way to how Applejack had bucked the apple tree. Just for fun, I decided to count.
1, 2, 3, 4...
Suddenly, something occurred to me. At the speed she was going, Rainbow Dash probably could clear the sky in ten seconds. I had just meant it as a joke, but...how could a pegasus be that fast?
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Sure enough, as soon as I got to ten, Rainbow back hooves connected with the last cloud, dissipating it. All Spike and I could do was stand there, mouths open and eyes wide. She had done it. Ten seconds flat.
"You're right," Rainbow said, "that was some pretty good practice." She flew down and stood in front of me. "What's your name, new pony?"
I finally managed to get my mouth closed. "Um, I'm Endgame," I said.
"Well, Endgame, you're alright. Maybe we could be friends."
"Yeah...maybe," I said. Holy cow, I was doing it. I was following Princess Celestia's orders without even trying.
"I better get back to work," Rainbow said. "See you around, Endgame." And with that, she turned and flew off, leaving me and Spike on the ground.
"Beautiful."
Spike and I had entered town hall to check on the decorations. What we had found had looked about twenty percent more beautiful than we would have anticipated.
Honestly, looking back, I don't even remember what he decorations looked like. All that I remember is her. That beautiful white unicorn mare. Her purple mane was styled perfectly, shimmering as the sun reflected off of it.
...Wait, where was I?
Oh, yeah, Rarity.
Anyway, that "beautiful" earlier. Well, I wasn't the only one who said that. Spike had spoken up at the exact same time I did. And, honestly, I couldn't blame him. She was beautiful. Possibly the most gorgeous pony I had ever seen. So gorgeous that Spike and I couldn't stop staring.
Eventually, she stopped looking through her fabric and noticed us. "Um...how may I help you?" she asked.
Suddenly, I found myself wishing that I had let Rainbow Dash dry my mane. I was still dripping wet, and my mane made me look like a dubstep artist. (Yes, we do have dubstep in Equestria. You humans don't get all the fun.)
"He-hello, there," I stuttered. Why was I so nervous? It was just a mare. Sure, she was sexy,but she was still just a mare.
I cleared my throat to continue speaking, but before I could go on, the mare suddenly gasped. "What happened to your mane, darling?"
"Long story," I said. "Anyway--"
Before I could speak, I was wrapped in a blue glow and levitated towards the mare. I looked back and saw Spike looking at me jealously. If it wasn't for the fact that a sexy mare was actually pulling me closer, I would've laughed. Instead, I was kinda scared.
The mare used a spell that instantly dried off all of me except for my mane. She pulled out a hairbrush and gel and began restyling my mane. I was too stunned by the whole experience to even speak. I won't tell you what was going on in the down under, but you could probably guess, and it made me feel kind of ashamed.
After about a minute, the mare said, "Done," and put a mirror in front me. She had done my mane back similar to how it always looked, put made it look more...proper. Like I was going to a fancy tea party or something.
I tried to say something intelligent, but all I got out was "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh".
"I know, you're speechless," the mare said. "I normally do dresses, but I'm not one to back down from I challenge." She pushed the mirror away and stepped in front of me. "So, how may I help you?"
"Um...my name's Endgame," I said. "I was sent here to check on the decorations for the Summer Sun Celebration on behalf of the princess."
"You work with the princess?" the mare asked. "Does the mean you're from Canterlot? I've always wanted to go to Canterlot. Is it everything I've ever dreamed of?"
She's getting awfully close. "I guess the depends on what you dreamed of," I said. Spike must hate me right now.
"Well, you probably don't want to hear about my dreams," she said. "Oh, silly me. I never introduced myself. I'm Rarity. Ponyille's leading fashionista!"
I simply nodded. I couldn't stand this feeling anymore. "Well, my assistant and I should probably get going. Royal duties and all." I smiled nervously.
"Of course," Rarity said. "I hope to see you around soon, Endgame. You could tell me all about Canterlot!"
I wasn't sure I could handle another meeting with Rarity, but I nodded anyway. I walked towards the door, and I had to turn Spike around so that he would walk with me.
"I can't believe you wouldn't let me talk to her," Spike said.
"I'm sorry, Spike, but I had to get out of there," I said. "You wanna go talk to her? I could probably handle the rest of this by myself."
"Really?" Spike looked at me, a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Of course," I said. "Just give me the list. When you're done, we'll meet back at the library."
Spike hugged my leg. "Thank you so much, Endgame!" he said. He handed me the list before running back to Town Hall.
I opened the list and noticed that I only had one more pony to visit. And it was music. I had always had an interest in singing ever since my sister took up piano lessons. She'd show me the words to her song, and I would sing along while she played piano.
I wonder what type of pony the music director will be. Maybe she'd let me help with the music. Then again, music with vocals probably wouldn't be good for the celebration. After all, the music is just to be in the background. Lyrics would probably just distract everypony from their conversations.
Wait a minute...why am I automatically assuming that the music coordinator is a mare? I'm sure that there are stallions other than the ones in the Apple family.
Actually, come to think of it, those stallions are the only ones I've seen around town. Where are all the other stallions? Were the stallions in the Apple family the only stallions in town? Is it like the village in Equestrian Attorney 2? Do the stallions just do physical labor while mares handle everything else?
Well, if that's true, I'm not sure if this is a town I want to stay in. I don't want to do just physical labor!
Before my thoughts could carry on any further, I suddenly slammed into a mare's flank. I heard a smell EEP! I shook my head, trying to clear all the dirty thoughts that came from bumping my face into a mare's flank. When my head became stable, I noticed that the mare I had bumped into was cowering on the floor. Oh, dear Celestia, she probably thinks I tried to rape her. "Um, are you alright?" I asked her.
The pale yellow pegasus mare squeaked in response. I noticed that her cutie mark were three butterflies in a similar pattern to Applejacks' cutie mark. She had a pale pink mane, but I couldn't see much of it because she was facing away me.
I held out my hoof. "I'm sorry about bumping into you," I said. "Let me help you up." I tried to make my voice sound as soothing as possible. Apparently it worked, because the mare took my hoof and allowed me to help her up. "I'm very sorry about that."
"I-it's okay," the mare said. Her voice sounded quiet and timid.
I tried to aleviate the awkwardness by saying, "So, uh, are you the music director for the Summer Sun Celebration?" The mare nodded. "Well, my name's Endgame. I'm here to check on the music for the Celebration. What's your name?"
"Um...I'm Fluttershy." Her voice trailed off and I couldn't understand what she said.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked. I had always had problems understanding people, and I hated making people to repeat themselves.
"I-I said my name's Fluttershy."
Suddenly, I got an idea. I cast a spell on the mare that, luckily, she didn't notice. "Could you saw that one more time?"
"I said my name's Fluttershy," the mare said. Her eyes widened when she heard how loud her voice was. Amplification spell. Works every time.
"So, Fluttershy, how is the music coming along?" I asked, covertly removing the spell.
"I-it's good," Fluttershy said. "W-would you like to hear it?"
I nodded. I was intrigued about how somepony this shy could organize enough ponies to make music worthy of being used for the princess's entrance.
That's when I noticed something. There were no ponies around. Not even any instruments. Just a bunch of birds on a tree.
Fluttershy turned to look at the birds and began talking to them. "O-okay, little birdies. One, two, three."
Fluttershy let out a five note tune. To my surpise, the birds followed with a similar tune. My eyes widened as I realized what song they were vocalizing. "You listen to Aria?" I asked.
"Of course," Fluttershy said. "Her music is amazing."
Should I tell her? Nah, I'll wait a while. "Well, you can certainly handle the music very well," I said. "So, I better be going. See you at the Celebration." Fluttershy simply waved, so I turned and walked back to Ponyville.
I was surprised at what I found when I saw Golden Oaks Library. I had been expecting a large, wooden building. What I got was a large, wooden tree with a door in it. I hoped that I wouldn't open the door and find a staircase leading downwards into the actual library.
I opened the door and noticed that the lights inside were off. It had become dark outside, so it was pitch black in the library. My fear of dark caused me to turn on my illumination spell, bathing the room in the yellow glow of my horn.
"Surprise!"
And there goes the food the Apple family made.
The lights to the library turned on and I saw the ponies that had made the noise. Luckily, they weren't the soul-sucking demons from the comics I had read as a child. They were all completely normal ponies and Spike. I noticed that all of the mares that I had visited today were here, including Rarity.
"What are you all doing here?" I asked, getting rid of my illumination spell.
"It's your 'Welcome ta Ponyville' party!" Applejack said. "Everypony who moves here gets one."
"Um, I'm not--"
Suddenly, a pink mare with a pink mane ran up to me and smiled wide. "It's my official job to welcome ponies to Ponyville," she said. She held out her hoof. "My name's Pinkie Pie."
"Endgame," I said, shaking her hoof. "I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding. I'm not moving to Ponyville. I'm just here for the rest of tomorrow. After that, I'm going back to Canterlot." The mares I had met today all looked slightly sad. "What's wrong?"
"Well..." Fluttershy started. "It' just--"
"You seem like you would be a great friend," Rainbow Dash said. "You helped me with my Wonderbolt practice."
"And you could tell me all about Canterlot," Rarity said.
"And forgave me for what I said 'bout ya," Applejack siad.
"And you were really nice to me," Fluttershy said.
"And they told me all about you," Pinkie said. "You sound like an amazing friend!"
I sighed. "Well, crap," I mumbled. I looked back up at the five mares who were looking at me. "Well, I guess I can stay. After all, you five seem like really good friends, too." I looked at Pinkie Pie. "Well, we'd probably have to talk more, but you just seem like a ball to be around. No sarcasm intended."
"Yay!" The five mares gathered around me and pulled me into a group hug.
Aaaaaand my boner's back.
Princess Celestia closed the door to her bedroom and trotted to her balcony. She looked up at the moon and sighed. Her thoughts went to her student, Endgame.
Endgame, she thought, I leave the fate of Equestria in your hooves.
