Author's Note

So uh... 5 years... Five years of not... Doing this. I'm sorry, to everyone for not getting on this... For this hiatus. I had a lot happen in my life, got married etc. And for a while I just felt no urge to write, and I kept trying and trying. Well the other day I noticed that people were still adding this story to their list, I couldn't fathom why either.

But finally I decided I need to write. You who like the story deserve to get more. Now I won't do a schedule, but I won't make you wait five more years for another chapter. I think having a schedule is what did me in originally. Just know that I will finish this story, but I'll probably redo a bit of the first couple of chapters as the whole bit for magic I tried is.. Well looking back it's cringy. Either way, here ya go, chapter 7.

7. Trip

“This is… a rather colorful train.” Isaac said to Twilight. The mare glanced up at him, then back to the train. The Friendship Express, one of the more well known trains and the only one that a pony could get a ride from Ponyville to Canterlot. A soft snort escaped Twilight before she levitated her belongings and made her way on. Isaac followed along behind her with Pinkie, for some unfathomable reason, clinging to his back with that wide grin of hers.

The other’s came in behind them, chatting, humming or laughing, but for the most part, aside from Fluttershy and Pinkie, completely ignoring him. The pegasus sat down beside him when he found a booth, his hands clasped together as he glanced out the window once more.

A company of guards had been sent to accompany them. Their purpose was to protect and escort the mares, Law and Isaac to the train station in the wee hours of the morning. Many side streets and pathways were taken to help keep Isaac out of sight. And when they arrived at the station, a barrier was placed to keep the few ponies from getting a good look at him that were there. A whole car had been reserved for them, for privacy..

The shade of the window came down suddenly, causing Isaac to jump slightly and look over at Twilight, whose magic had pulled it down.

“Sorry, but we can’t have any curious eyes trying to figure out what you are. Now… let’s talk about what’s going to happen when we get to Ponyville.” Twilight said, a parchment pulled from her saddle bag along with a quill. Clearing her throat, she continued on, “First, we’re going to get you to Fluttershy’s cabin, though I would rather you have remained under my care, I came to the conclusion that it may be best for you to remain outside of the town limits. At least until we can introduce you to the populace.” Her speech was almost detached and analytical. And by this point the train had begun to move. A slight jerk from the caboose pulling it along and towards Ponyville.

Isaac leaned to the side a bit, an elbow on the table separating them. He cupped his cheek in his hand and watched her with an amused glint in his eye, his lip twitching slightly. “Isn’t Miss Pie already handling that?” He asked.

Said mare was sitting in the booth behind them, though she had spun around and leaned over the seats to listen to them. When her name came up, she nodded rapidly.

“Yupperoonie! I’m going to throw him the biggest party I can think of!” She said with a smile.

Twilight looked thoughtful as she glanced at Isaac. “Alright, that might work. With a welcoming party the ponies will know someone knew is in town. And they may be more willing to look past your… appearance. Speaking of which.”

“I’m already planning on it darling,” Rarity said. She flicked some of her purple curls out of her eyes and smiled. “I’ll have a lovely ensemble made for him before the party. I’ll just need to take his measurements first.”

A nod from Twilight came shortly after before she paused. “You’ll have to do it at Fluttershy’s cabin. We can’t have him walking through Ponyville. Not yet at least.” Twilight responded. It was too risky for him to walk through looking like he did.

“If you could make it somewhat… loose? I’d appreciate it. Nothing fancy either. I don’t like dressing up.” Isaac threw in his thoughts. He didn’t like wearing dress clothing.. Did he? Even if his past self did, current Isaac really didn’t want to go through the hassle of wearing clothes that had a dozen different pieces to. Plus this wasn’t some formal party. At least he didn’t think it was. “Uh… is that alright with you Miss Pie?” He asked, glancing over at the bubblegum pink mare.

Pinkie snorted a bit and giggled before snapping to a more serious expression. “Okay first, stop calling me Miss Pie. You make me feel old! Just call me Pinkie! Second, and this is important. It’s a PARTY! A fun party! No funnerific! Funtastic? FAAANNNTABULOUS! You don’t need to wear some stuffy old suit!” She giggled again and rolled forward, tumbling over the booth seat and wedging herself in between Fluttershy and Isaac, her tail wagging and flicking much like a dogs. Which was odd enough looking on it’s own.

“My apologies Miss P- er… Pinkie.” Isaac said with a small smile.

Rarity on the other hand pouted a bit. “Fine then, have it your way.” She huffed.

They all shared a soft laugh, and Isaac turned his attention to Law as he slid into the booth beside Twilight, a mug gripped between his teeth, head tilted to the side. Once he sat it down he licked his lips, grasped the mug in both hooves and downed the drink.

A few seconds later he sat the mug down and sighed, licking his lips again to clean foam off it.

“Is that-”

“Yes it is.” Law cut him off.

“But aren’t you on duty?” Isaac asked, curious.

Law paused for a moment, lost in thought before looking at Twilight. “Am I on duty right now?” He asked.

Twilight groaned and rubbed her temple with a hoof. “You should know your own duty schedule.” She grumbled.

“Well, it’s changed though, hasn’t it? I mean unless we’re going by the one I had up north. Then… no I’m off duty at the moment, technically at least.” He said with a grin and quick swig of his drink.

Turning her gaze towards him Twilight looked thoughtful. “Alright, you can have the day off then. But tomorrow it’s back to business. Besides you already took your armor off it seems.”

Isaac blinked, and indeed Law had removed his armor already. The stallion looked a bit more relaxed, happy even. “How many drinks have you had already?” He asked suddenly.

Law tapped his hooves together. “Uh… a couple?”

“How much is a couple?” He shot back.

“Uhm.. four...ish?” Law replied with a sheepish grin.

Twilight opened her mouth, then paused to reconsider. Finally she spoke.

“You know, I should be surprised. But quite honestly I suppose when you live in a small little village in the north with hardly any crime. You tend to just do what you want, don't you?” She asked Law. The stallion looked down at the mug, embarrassed.

“I’m sorry Princess. Old habits really. I never had to deal with guarding the Princesses. I wasn’t the greatest student when I was forced to go through guard training. I barely passed written exams, though fighting and sword fighting, I excelled at. But I was still considered a fuck up, aaannnd after one too many drunken binges aaannnd drunkenly flirting with Princess Cadence-”

“Oh YOU’RE who she was annoyed with, and amused.” Twilight cut in.

“-Yes… But as I was saying after all that, they chose to put me somewhere that I could cause the least amount of problems.” He chuckled and sipped the drink again. “Still, It’s no excuse for me to drink like this in front of you or others. I’m sorry Princess.” He said.

Twilight waved a hoof, “Eh you’re off duty. And we aren’t going to be getting attacked on the train so don’t worry about it. I’ll let you slide, this time.” She said with a grin.

Something about the way she grinned, what she said, it set Law a bit on edge as he leaned away from her. “N-noted your highness.” He said with a slight hitch in his voice.

Shaking his head Isaac pulled the blind for the window to open it and stare out as the train made its way towards his new home. The landscape was rather gorgeous. So lively, so bright and vibrant. His mind began to drift to thoughts of the past couple of days. And once more he found himself wondering why he couldn’t remember his past, remember who he was aside from a name. Why had Celestia looked at him the way she had. What had his species done to cause such a dangerous situation as her sister losing her mind?

All of it, felt so… so familiar, and yet he couldn’t place any of it.

So many unanswered questions as of right now. Perhaps… perhaps eventually they will all come back to him.

Celestia had watched the train depart from her balcony, her eyes tracking it whenever it came into view as it circled the mountain and finally headed east towards Ponyville. The morning had been rather eventful. She reviewed the morning as she stared off into the distance. The problem had been attempting to keep Issac out of Luna’s way as she finished off her night shift, even more so was figuring out a way to keep her from seeing his dreams and getting curious. It wasn’t so much that she was trying to keep them from meeting each other, but that it wasn’t the right time just yet for them.

She had no intention of stopping them for the rest of their lives, that’s a task even she could not perform. A bit of time was simply needed to allow Issac to recover from his very long slumber and hopefully regain some sort of memory of what had transpired long ago.

“Princess?” Isaac had thought towards Celestia, who turned her attention to him as they were walking through the massive hallways.

“Yes, Isaac? Is something on your mind?” She replied.

“I-” He paused for several seconds, attempting to figure out how he wished to word his question. He opened his mouth, about ready to answer when a door was whipped open to their left and he was unceremoniously thrown into it, the door slamming closed as he laid with a bucket on his head, a broom sliding to the side and slapping the top of it, causing a ringing in his head. “Celestia what is the meaning of this!” Was… what he wanted to say… but he heard her speak first from the other side of the door.

“Dear sister! Good morning!” Celestia said.

“Mmph…” Was the response from the ruler of the night.

“Something the matter Luna?” Celestia asked as the sound of Luna’s hooves grew louder.

“It’s just been a very long night. It appears as if someone had been dreaming in the local area, but for some reason I simply could not penetrate the fog. It was a nightmare, and I couldn’t help them for some reason.” Luna sounded mildly distressed by the situation. Celestia of course, appeared rather nervous suddenly.

“O-oh? Is that so Lulu?” The question and slight stutter had caused Luna to squint at her with a hint of suspicion. Then, she sniffed the air for a moment, and sneezed. “What is that smell sister?” Luna questioned, wiggling her nose. It twitched as she sniffed around, almost like a curious dog. Even her tail twitched back and forth as she trotted around the area.

Normally, Celestia would be tittering and giggling like a filly over this adorable display of… well adorableness, if it weren’t for the fact that she was trying to keep Luna from finding the source of the scent.

“Ah, what smell Luna? I don’t smell anything.” She said as she attempted to subtly guide her away.

“Bah! Do not lie to me sister! Surely you must smell it as well!” A silence descended for a moment, and then. “It smells… familiar but I cannot quite place it Tia.” A snort and mild sneeze before she grumpily began to move away from the closet. “I fear I’m going mad again sister. Because that smell should not be here…”

Celestia cleared her throat a bit, then nodded. “Perhaps you need sleep, you must be dreadfully tired Lulu.”

Luna grunted in response, her eyes half lidded before she let out an almighty yawn that seemed to rattle the vase nearby. She promptly did a one hundred and eighty degree turn and began walking towards the Lunar wing of the castle. The scent… she knew it, but couldn’t place it, and that was what bothered her the most.

Once Luna was well out of sight and hearing, Celestia opened the door to the closet and stifled a laugh as she saw her friend strewn about within. “Come Isaac, we are already late in meeting the others for your trip.” She used her magic to help pull the bucket and broom off the confused human.

“Celestia… your sister. She sounded familiar. Do I know her?” He asked. This caused Celestia to look at him with a small, somber smile.

“Soon I will explain everything, but for now you have a train to catch my old friend. And you have a recovery to make, hopefully along with some of your memories. I don’t want to overload you by trying to explain everything right now.” She said as they made their way through the castle, to meet his new caretakers.

It had been a situation that Celestia had held her breath on. Luna, her sister, had been naught but 10 feet away from the very cause of her turn into Nightmare Moon. And that source had no idea of it. No clue that he had brought about so much trouble, even though he had, in truth, done no wrong.

Shaking her head she turned from the balcony as the train disappeared in the distance, she had duties to attend. Isaac’s appearance was no excuse for her to neglect them either.

The abrupt stop of the train jerked Isaac awake. He wearily blinked and looked around, not quite sure where he was for a moment. The pink ball of fluffy hyperness reminded him very quickly.

“Wakie, Wakie, eggs and bacyyyy!” Pinkie cried out as she pounced atop the human.

“Omph! Pinkie please! I’m not ready for this!” He protested as she bounced atop his thighs a few times.

“No one’s ready for the Pinkie!” She cried out over the sounds of oofs and grunts that escaped Isaac.

“Pinkie! Stop that this instant!” A purple aura surrounded her and lifted her off as Twilight spoke. “He’s not a bouncy castle!”

Pinkie curled her hooves into her body as she floated before Twilight. “Sorry… I was just so excited!” Pinkie replied as Twilight lowered her to the ground and let her go from her magic hold. Pinkie trotted in place for a moment, then with an unintelligible rapid fire of words, bolted off.

“I… what?” Isaac questioned as he looked at Twilight. In return, she shrugged her shoulders and sat on her rear. “Pinkie, nuff said.” She responded. Isaac took the response as it was, then stood and groaned, popping and cracking various parts of his body. It was at least an hour before the guards made their way to the car they were in to inform them that it was safe to exit the train and begin their trip to Fluttershy’s cottage.

He had to give the guards credit, they had done quite well in figuring out a safe path they could take through the small village. Twilight had managed to use a bit of magic to distort the image of Isaac, a perception spell that would fool the local ponies minds. They would see him of course, but the moment they looked away, they forgot what they had just seen. To them, it would appear as if he wasn’t even there.

Now of course that didn’t mean they completely forgot. To the ponies, when ever they began to think of it, it would be like trying to remember something important, but the more they tried the harder it would be to bring the thought to focus.

“Eventually-” Twilight said to Isaac as she explained the spell to him, “-somepony will remember. Hopefully though by then you’ll have been integrated into the village.” She finished as they found themselves at the edge of the city, bordering what was known as the Everfree Forest. There they met Fluttershy, who had gone ahead earlier to get the cottage ready. She came out with a faint smile on her adorable muzzle.
“W-welcome to my home Isaac. I uhm… I tried to make the basement as comfortable as possible. I know that it’s not preferable but it’s the only area big enough for you.” She said in her typical, quiet voice. Isaac smiled and gave her a gentle pat on her head, earning a slight squeek and blush from the mare before she made her way towards the door, wings ruffling and flapping a bit, leading to her seeming to jump and skip a few times.
“This is where I leave you, for now at least.” Twilight said when they got close to the door. “I’ll be by tomorrow to talk with you, provided nothing comes up. Fluttershy will take good care of you, don’t worry. See you later Isaac!” She gave a wave of her wing before trotting away, leaving Isaac with his new, quiet friend. He took a moment to look at the small village in the distance, arms crossed and wings folded tight to his back. He had a lot to learn… a lot to remember. He just hoped that he made a good impression when Pinkie threw her party to introduce him to the village.