A New Challengeby xzillerationerChaptersChapter 1Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 1Hi, my name is Alpha. I’m a simple pegasus pony, a victorian ‘one’ on my flank. I have a brilliant white coat, and a short, deep blue mane. I bet you’re wondering what my cutie mark means, aren’t you? Well, I’m extremely skilled in the computer and electronics fields. There aren’t too many computers in Ponyville, though. So I rarely get a chance to visit. Same with Canterlot, Princess Celestia, praise be her, likes to keep things traditional. Princess Luna on the other hand, she wants to modernize the city, but Celestia won’t let that happen. So, she generally spends a lot of time in more modern cities such as Manehattan or Las Angelemare. Hell, she even spends a little bit of time in the small town of Canterborough. Yes, Canterborough, one of the smallest, yet paradoxically most technologically advanced towns in Equestria. Okay, technically, it’s right on the border of Equestria, so it has a lot of influence from the neighboring country of Narnland. I know, what a weird name. But, apparently, in their native tongue, it means “Land of Many Peoples”, but, as soon as they changed from Zebarian to common for their official language, people have been pouring into Equestria. They also tend to go through the city of Pouston, which is far to the west, actually. But, back on subject. I live in Canterborough, well, lived, but I’ll get into that later, doing IT work for a living. I know, pegasus, IT, who’d have figured? Fixing computers has it’s ups and downs, occasionally I’ll find some...nice pictures of a very good looking mare, and occasionally I’ll be able to swipe a game or two. Now then, where do I come into this story? Well, my life was average. I wouldn’t call it unexciting, not by a long shot. It wasn't as exciting as some pony’s lives, or as boring as others. Being in Canterborough, we often don’t hear about events until weeks after it happened. We didn’t hear about the Discord event until a week after it happened, his initial reign of chaos was limited to Ponyville while he had the Holders of the Elements to take care of. The only reason I even knew about the Royal Wedding before it happened was because I was invited to help with the computers. I bet you’re wondering how I got invited, aren’t you? Well, there are plenty of computer programmers, or designers. They develop software, then others use that software to do research, or to communicate. But there really aren’t too many that know how to fix one. Weird, right? I thought so. So, my name came up one day during a Canterlot meeting about the current state of technology in the city. They said I was the premiere pony for the job. Yeah, premiere. Apparently in the entire principality, there’s but 100 IT ponies. Most of them are in Manehattan, and are on 24/7 alerts at various companies, so they couldn’t be so easily recommissioned. I do freelance, working at my own shop. So, I guess I was the one to be called to make sure technology, the cameras, the computers, all worked perfectly. The reason you really didn’t see many cameras or computers there was due to Princess Celestia, they were all behind the scenes. Equestria is a much more modern country than most think. It’s just the highly publicised places, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and the like, are all generally not modern. Princess Celestia technically has power throughout the entire land, she just doesn’t really use it much. But she has a lot of influence in Canterlot and Cloudsdale and Ponyville. But,this isn’t the story of industrialization. No, this is the story of how I fell in love with the most wonderful mare in the world. With her help, I developed a technology that unified...technology and magic. It was a simple device, translated magic into binary pulses, I love binary, and made it much easier to use a computer. Unicorns didn’t need the very awkward interfaces that pegasi and earth ponies needed. They’re getting better, though, the interfaces. But that still begs the question of how I met her in the first place. Well, it’s a very simple one. It starts at my house, with me, and my roommate Omega. “The shaped macaroni has a much higher cheese-to-noodle ratio than the normal kind.” I said, a smirk on my face, knowing I was right. Omega, not fully awake yet, sat back and sipped his coffee. It was clear he didn’t care, as he wasn’t awake yet. “Why are you eating left over macaroni for breakfast?” Omega asked me, still half asleep. “Because I didn’t feel like making anything.” I replied. Truth be told, I wasn’t awake fully either. I was talking out of my ass for most of it. “Plus, if it’s available, why shouldn’t I eat it?” I continued, putting another bite of the delicious meal in my mouth. Omega just facehooved, sighed, and trotted away, no doubt to prepare for the day. It was a few minutes, and the rest of the bowl of macaroni, the delicious Princess Luna shapes, when I heard a knock on the door. “Don’t worry, I got it!” Omega shouted from the other room, so I threw the bowl in the sink and went upstairs to prepare for the day. Okay, I was going back to bed, but that’s a different thing altogether. I decided to take a shower real quick, but just as I got to the bathroom door, I heard Omega yell for me. “Alpha, come down here.” Oh boy, when he used that tone of voice, I knew I was dead. It was kinda...calm. Yet, at the same time, demanding, and angry. I went downstairs to find a royal guard pony, one from Canterlot no less, at our door. They say Canterlot guards have the most serious faces when on the job. That’s kinda an understatement. He asked me, in a very serious manner, “Are you the pony named Alpha Bit?” Well, shoot. It appears I was that pony. I didn’t think I did anything wrong, and wouldn’t they have a warrant if I did? “Yes, I am. How may I help you?” I asked him. He rifled through his bag until he pulled out a scroll. Oh Celestia, it’s the warrant! “You are hereby cordially invited to the Wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor, to serve as the Royal IT Pony, to make sure that all of the technology at the ceremony goes smoothly.” He said, leaving both me and Omega stunned. He continued, “The ceremony will be held in one week’s time, at Canterlot Towers, in the capital city of Canterlot. Travel will be provided for, as will payment for your services, and compensation for missed work. This is an official Royal Decree, so you shall be given time off from your workplaces. If it is not a problem, I was told to leave for Canterlot immediately. Are you able?” He never once broke his serious expression. “Uh, yeah, just give me a few minutes to pack my stuff...” I said, before realizing that I had one tiny problem, “I’ll need an assistant,” I continued, “Omega here will be very good at it!” Omega just facehooved. Taking Omega to the side, I said to the guard, “One moment please.” His response was very serious. “What the hay, Alph, I can’t just take two weeks off to go help you, especially when you don’t need it!” Omega quietly shouted at me, “There’ll be, what, ten computers there?” Omega apparently didn’t realize what a chance this was. “You can get royal orders to get them to let you take the time off! They’ll have no choice in the matter!” I also quietly shout, “This is our chance to get big! To hobnob with Royalty!” I tried building excitement in him, but apparently he wasn’t awake yet, “we can hobnob!” I emphasized hobnob. It’s a fun word. “Fine.FINE!” Omega loses his cool and finally snaps, eliciting a response of joy from me, “Go pack your things, I’ll talk to the guardpony.” I rushed upstairs, and started packing my things. I packed my nicest suit for the wedding, my toothbrush, my hairbrush(Gotta stay classy), my laptop, and whatever else I could think of that I might need. Whatever, we’ll be striking gold in Canterlot, royals, especially the ruling Princesses, have a habit of overpaying. Call it generous, or call it that they’ve had thousands of years to gather wealth and simply have so much they don’t know what to do with it. I’m leaning on the latter. Oh, yeah, I also packed Omega’s things. Including his autographed Luna picture. I swear, he had a crush on her ever since she came back from the moon a few years ago! He’s not looked at another mare in ages. Oh my...how could I forget? I also packed my Limited Edition Canterlot Ms Smartypants...action figure. I’ve had it since I was a foal, it’s my favorite thing. No, it’s not some gift from a fallen parent, or a long lost friend. The story is much simpler than it sounds. One day, I found a few bits on the ground. So, I went to the store and bought her. That’s it. She’s my favorite because it reminds me of my foalhood, something I desperately miss. Omega seems to not understand this, and constantly berates me for having such a foalish memento locked up. He was never really connected to his childhood, but that’s another story for another day. Anyways, I gather up my things, and head out to meet the guard pony out front. “We’ll need to stop by my workplace, inform them of my leave.” Omega said, the first smile on his face this morning, since he got to ride in the chariot. “It has already been seen to, we must leave now, they’ll be sealing off Canterlot a few hours after we’re scheduled to arrive, and nopony can go in or out.” The guardpony, I think his name was Hammer, informed me. With a smile on my face, I entered the chariot, hoping that Omega would do the same. Well, he got on the chariot, but the smile was missing. Now, when Omega smiles, he’s usually happy. Woah! What a shocking revelation, I know. Well, he usually stays happy for at least a half an hour or so, the amount of time it takes you to come down from a sugar high. My smile drops as I look over to him, the ground slowly fading away. “What’s wrong? You seemed to happy being able to fly a moment ago.” I say to him, outside the earshot of the guardponies. “We get to see the princesses, right?” I nod, “Well, what if I meet Princess Luna again, and she doesn’t like me this time??” Instantly I knew his problem. Okay, earlier I said he loved her since the day she got back. Well, technically, that’s true. He met her at the Nightmare Night Celebration, just a quick meet, nothing serious. Well, quick from her perspective. They chatted it up while in line for some snack food, something about an Apple family. He says they hit it off, I hardly believe it. Shortly after he went to Canterlot on a ‘business trip’, he barely does anything around his office anyways, and came back with nothing but a signed picture of the Mare of the Moon. He brought four bags of things with him. Perhaps he sold it all? “Relax, you said you two hit it off before, right? Perhaps she remembers you?” I replied, giving the most caring look I could muster. He smiled back, but, rather than replying, just looked off into the distance. I’ll give you a spoiler, she did. Well, I think. You know, I think now would be a good time to tell you about this mare I meet here. I’m sure you already know who I’m talking about. She’s the smartest, cutest, most all around best pony in the land. Smart, being, she’s widely considered one of the most prestigious unicorns in the land. That’s one problem I had to face. I, no matter how good I was, had to deal with being a pegasus, and not being able to actively use magic. Sure, I could fly fast, and computers came as naturally to me as flying did to Rainbow Dash, but still no horn. Little did I know, she didn’t much care. Being an alicorn’s personal protege kinda makes you a little agnostic on that matter. I’m sure you’ve already figured out who I’m talking about by now. Twilight Sparkle, the mare everyone knows. Well, they all say they know her. Most only know of her. I’m sure you know who she is, she is the Princess’s personal protege. So why am I telling you all this? I’m not really sure. I just want someone to know how amazing she makes me feel. Hopefully she’ll realize how much I love her. As of yet, I am not with her. But, my story is not the story of how I got with her, really. So I'll spare you the details, and jump to Canterlot. We were given a stay at a luxurious hotel, one of the best in the city. It's right next to the castle, so we're within walking distance. It's a nice room on the top floor, not the biggest, but big enough for both of us and all of our, my, equipment. We slept a lot the first day, probably should've been setting things up. Admiring the room, I had but one thought. "Damn. This is way better than we could've ever afforded!" Omega predictably wasn't too thrilled with that statement. "Yeah. I'm still shocked you got this place." His look of excitement never faded. I rolled my eyes, as was customary. "Well, help me get unpacked.” So we started unpacking. First was the clothes, all 3 of them, next was the equipment. There were servers, desktop, laptops, smart phones, pda’s, etc etc. Each smaller than the last. By the time we finished taking everything out, and setting up some of it, which included hacking into the hotel’s wifi, which they charged up the flank for due to it being one of the only hotspots in all of Canterlot. A few places had wifi, most notably Canterlot Towers. Weird, isn’t it? Princess Celestia, the one who dislikes technology like this, allows it in her castle. This is also probably because Luna said so, and they have equal power, so Celestia can’t go against the orders of the Princess of the Night, and vice versa. One last thing I took out was a picture of Celestia’s hoof. No, I don’t have a hoof fetish, it was a prank gift from Omega years ago. I really latched onto it, taking it in stride with swag. I pretended to love it, I had it framed, which was a very awkward conversation at the photo shop, and put it on my hearthpiece. Where it sits until we go places. I don’t mean, down the street, but whenever we go somewhere, and stay overnight, I take it, and put it on the hearthpiece there. “You brought that?” Omega said with a facehoof, as I was about to reply, a knock came onto the door, “I’ll get it.” Omega claimed, since he was closer to the door, and opened it. On the other side was a palace guard. “I have come to extend an invitation to a Royal Dinner from Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. It is customary to invite all members of all teams to a dinner the night before the work on the wedding starts.” Oh Celestia, that had taken us all day. “Alright, when is it?” “It is being held in 30 minutes, I trust you two can safely get yourselves over?” The guardpony still looked very serious. Omega said yes and closed the door, then trotted over to me. “Don’t buck this up.” He said to me before gathering his goods and starting towards the doors. I did the same, and we had a silent walk to the towers. The dining hall was beautiful. They had always said that all of the castle was beautiful, but this didn’t even compare. It was gorgeous beyond belief, and the evening sunlight glistened, bouncing off various objects around the room. Somehow, they managed to make the sunlight fall directly on the table. Princess Cadence was there, the guest of honor it seems. She caught everyone’s, basically me, Omega, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and about a half dozen other ponies I don’t know nor care to remember, by ringing a glass with a spoon. “Listen up, everypony, I want to make a toast!” We all looked over towards her as all the chattering in the room ceased. “To my wonderful staff who I hope will make sure this wedding goes smoothly, I just want to personally thank each and every one of you. To Applejack here, we’ll have a wonderful cake, and delicious baked goods for the reception!” The orange pony blushed, and replied, “Aww, shucks, well thank ya, it’s no trouble at all.” “To Rarity, who will be designing what I hope to be the most beautiful gowns I’ll ever have the pleasure to see.” A white unicorn blushed, and looked away, mumbling something I couldn’t hear. “To Fluttershy, for arranging such a wonderful ensemble for the music.” I didn’t quite find one named Fluttershy there, but I did find a few yellow feathers with my eyes. “To Pinkie Pie, for planning what I hope to be the most amazing an amazing party!” A pink earthpony stood up, and did a bow. I don’t know why, but it seems she was a little bit out of character there. “To Rainbow Dash for the post Wedding fireworks!” A rainbow maned pony just nodded. “To my soon-to-be husband, Shining Armor for planning security.” He just kissed her cheek, which made her blush a little. “To Alpha and Omega, for making sure it’s well connected and that all of the new technology goes smoothly.” I didn’t see what Omega did, I was lost in my napkin. “To Vinyl Scratch for the music in the reception, I hope it’s quite good.” So I know what you’re thinking. Obviously, this Cadence was a changeling. But, sometimes, when you’re low on power as one, you act like the pony you’re impersonating. It’s how you get their memories, their personality. It takes a lot of power to override this. It’s all really complicated and such, I’ll have to ask Twilight about it sometime. Oh, wait. Well, Cadence finished the toasts, and let everyone mingle about. I was seated next to Twilight Sparkle, the only pony in the room not mentioned. I spoke first. “So, I’m Alpha...” I can’t believe I’m doing this. “Hi, Alpha.” She looked so sad, I had to know what was wrong. “What’s the matter? You look awfully glum with such a fantastic meal sitting in front of you?” She sighed and looked at me. “It’s just that Princess Cadence doesn’t remember me.” I glanced over to Omega, who was quietly munching away at his snacks. “Remember you? Like, has she met you before?” “She used to foalsit me when I was a filly, we were the best of friends. The only pony I really talked to aside from my family and Princess Celestia.” Wait, what?! She knew Princess Celestia AND Princess Cadence PERSONALLY? I had to get to the root of it. “You knew the Princesses?” “Oh, that’s right. I never gave you my name. I’m Twilight Sparkle, when I was young, Princess Celestia took me under her wing as a personal student. And Shining Armor is my brother.” Oh boy, here it goes. “Really? That’s actually kinda awesome. A personal protegee to the Princess herself.” “Yeah, it has it’s memories.” She chuckled. “I was never really an outgoing pony so most of those memories involve books.” “It’s okay, most of my happy memories involve either a complex binary equation or computers.” Twilight started casually munching on her food. I didn’t even realize I had any. “Really? Binary? I’ve read a little about that but never really looked into that.” My speciality. “Well, ms Sparkle, binary is really simple. You have two numbers, one, or zero. On, or off.” Twilight rolled her eyes, and smiled. “I know the basics, but I never got into the arithmetics of it. Weren’t you also good with computers?” “Oh, yes, very good. I was called here to make sure things go smoothly with all the new computers during the wedding.” My other speciality. “There are computers here?” She looked somewhat confused. “Yes, they’re mostly going to be in the background, and used to give televised coverage of the wedding to ponies who either weren’t invited to personally attend or who couldn’t make it.” “Ah. Last time I used a computer I nearly broke it. I tend to shy away from technology, no need for it. I’ve got magic.” Apparently her special talent was magic. Who knew? “Magic? I wish I could do magic, make my life so much easier.” I laughed a little. “Well, pegasi don’t generally use magic. Although, recent studies have found that you guys use magic during flight and when manipulating the weather.” “Oh, yes, manipulating the weather. I totally use it for more than napping on clouds.” Twilight put her hoof to her chin and giggled. “I’m sure you do. Water, so good for electronics!” She looked so smug. “Totally.” The conversation started to trail off so I decided to turn towards my food. The food was amazing, I’ll have to admit. We both sat and ate in a comfortable silence, and before I knew it, the dinner was over. Twilight left before I could do anything else, so I had to simply go back to my room. Wonderful. Chapter 10Chapter 10: Perhaps I should explain myself. My name's Omega, I lived with Alpha. He asked me to take over the narration right now. I was a little confused by what he meant, but I went with it. I'm a simple maroon unicorn with an orange mane, a Victorian '0' as my cutie mark. I was surprisingly never made fun of for it. I'm a computer programmer by trade, although my favorite past time is setting up systems. I just never really got into it, I suppose. Anyways, I'm not one for big flashy introductions like some ponies, instead I think I prefer to get right into the story. Whereas Alpha's was him so far meeting Twilight and royally bucking up with her, this is my story. It's simple, it's not very long, and it's fun. It begins at the banquet. I was, somehow, sitting next to Princess Luna. “Omega! It has been so long since I have seen you!” Luna said, remembering our meeting so long ago. “Yes, it is nice to see the Princess of the Night again. I thought you were going to keep in contact?” “Oh, well, I never really got your address, and your name wasn't much to go off of, so I didn't really know where to look...heh” She seemed somewhat nervous. At the time I had no idea why. “Really? Must've forgotten to give it to you, did you ask around at all?” “Yes, I did. But, I couldn't find anything. Do you live in Ponyville?” Ah, that must be it. “No, actually. I was with Alpha visiting some of his family. I just tagged along because it's awfully lonely in Canterborough at times, and I needed a well deserved vacation.” “A well deserved? Do you not go on many vacations?” “No, not really. I tend to work a lot. My job demands of it.” She pretended to not remember what I did, but I easily saw through the veil. But I played along anyways, more fun that way. “Oh, yes. Err, it's been a little while, what do you do again?” “I'm a computer programmer, you know all those fancy computers? I write software for them.” “Oh! I see! A colt of impressive skill sets, it seems.” She's always a flatterer. “Yes, I would say so myself. But, I have noticed a severe lack of computers in Canterlot. Do you know the cause of this?” “Sister, it seems, does not take well to technology. She doesn't outright ban them, but it's public that she doesn't like them, and because of that most ponies are too scared to set up any shops that sell them. I have offered my blessing, though. I have extended a reach to offer my personal protection to any shop that will be brave enough to set up in those fields. Sister says that she doesn't want Canterlot to turn into an industrialized mess of a city like Phillydelphia.” “Phillydelphia isn't that bad. They make a lot of really cool gadgets!” “We know! Err, sorry, I tend to resort to the Royal We when excited, but I've told her time and time again that we wouldn't need to industrialize. Cities like Phillydelphia would produce all of our goods, we would just modernize. We would set up a computer network.” “You know, I do have ideas on how to set up a whole outlying system of communications that doesn't require magics. You have all those plumbing infrastructures, right? The ones that Princess Celestia so embraced a few years back?” Luna nodded, and I continued talking. “Just run wires with thick insulation through them. We don't need to drill new holes, although that would bolster the economy. It wouldn't affect the outlying appearance of Canterlot, and would still allow for modern computerized systems.” “I don't know, maybe she's just concerned about the place of magic in a modern world?” “Well, ponies don't need to replace magic. A lot of ponies have very specialized magics, most don't do well for communication, so that's where this system comes in. Magic will always have it's place. I mean, it's so advanced, it's almost magic anyways.” “This is true, but what about ponies that don't want to adapt?” “Then they don't have to use it. It's entirely opt in. You just flush a special wire down the toilet, and wait a little while, and some specialized magics will grab it and connect you.” “Well, this plan sounds like it could work. But, I don't believe now is the time to talk about it, no matter how interesting it is.” I had realized she's right, dinner is no place to talk about a complete overhaul of the current communications industry. “So, then, Princess, what do you propose we chat about?” Luna blushed, quite visibility considering the color of her coat. “Perhaps we could talk about life? My life has been quite boring as of late, I urge to hear exciting stories about brave and hansom ponies such as yourself.” Well, there goes any nod of subtlety. “Oh, my life isn't exciting. All I've done so far is program computers, and get in occasional disputes with Alpha. I took a trip to Canterlot a little while ago, I was kinda surprised I didn't see you.” “Oh, yes. I've been busy lately, but I think I'll be fine soon. There was unfortunately a threat made to Canterlot, so I have to be extra careful and watchful. But, enough about that, what were you in Canterlot for?” “Oh, my boss sent me on a trip here. I still don't know why, but at least I got a signed picture of you.” I chuckled, not out of insincerity, but out of the fact that I'm talking to the mare I have a picture of. “An autographed picture? I never signed any.” Luna put on a false grin as I realized my picture was a fake. “So, my picture was a fake?” “Unfortunately, but I can see about getting you a real one.” She smiled at the end of the sentence. It was wonderful. We continued chatting and flirting back and forth for the rest of the dinner. It felt like hours, it was wonderful. The entire time, though, Luna seemed, uncomfortable, nervous even. I had tried to divine what's wrong, but I couldn't. Besides, any magic would put her at a suspicion. Then it hit me. I was walking out, about to go catch up to Alpha, when Luna tapped my shoulder. The blush on her seemed too intense to belong to anypony but a royal alicorn. She was even more nervous than before, it seems. “Yes, Princess Luna?” “Omega, I was wondering, if you, err, I...err.” She couldn't finish a sentence she was so nervous! It wouldn't surprise me if she nervoused all over the place right there. “Ilikeyouwillyougoonadatewithme?” That came out so fast it took me a moment to comprehend it. The brief pause was enough time for Luna's mind to interpret my answer, and start walking away, with her head hung low. Princess Celestia shot me a cruel stare. “Luna, wait.” She perked up at this, as if she knew what I was going to say. “I never said no. In fact, I'd love to! It just took me a moment to transpose what you said.” I finished it with a giggle. Her mood visibly brightened, and Princess Celestia smiled, and tended to whatever she was doing at the moment. I sighed a breath of relief. “Re-really?” “Yes. I'm gonna be honest with you here, I liked you since the day we met in Ponyville, I just wasn't really sure if I would ever be able to...you know...” Luna nodded. “I can be quite intimidating at times. But, once you really get to know me I'm just another pony that loves fun! Albeit, I'm royalty, but that's just a side thing.” She couldn't stop smiling. “Perhaps we could go out tonight? I know of this wonderful movie theatre down in Ponyville. Perhaps we could attend a showing right after I raise the moon?” “I'd love to. When do you have to raise the moon?” “In about a minute, come, you can watch.” Luna led me out to a balcony not too far away from the dining hall. She informed me that this was here so she could raise the moon if she got caught up in there in the evening. Everything was so beautiful and majestic. The lights from Canterlot lit up in the most spectacular way. I could see why Princess Celestia didn't want the city industrialized. I look over towards Luna, who had on a gentle, yet graceful smile. Her horn glowed softly, I looked back and saw the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. Turning back, Luna spoke to me. “Beautiful, isn't it? Sister always produces the most amazing sunsets on important days.” It was. I looked over towards the eastern horizon, and saw the stars starting to poke up around the valleys. “If you look down there, it's Ponyville.” She pointed to a faint light in the horizon. “Takes a long way by train, but by air it's such a short trip.” Her horn glowed with more vibrancy, and her wings spread out. Her cutie mark started glowing. She was obviously very in tune with her moon. With one final jolt, as blast of light purple magic shot out towards the skyline. The moon poked it's nose up. This was by far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I was so enthralled by it, I failed to notice the other celestial being approaching behind. “It's a great honor, you know.” I turned back to see Princess Celestia. Oddly enough, she was without any of her usual jewelry and trinkets. She spoke with a calming grace and a caring smile. “Watching a Princess raise her body like that. Luna must really like you.” The Moon blushed at those words, which set off a giggle in the Sun. “Of course I do, Sister. Else I wouldn't have brought him here.” Luna took a step closer to me. “I'm glad. He comes from a noble bloodline, that unicorn.” Me? Noble bloodline? “I'm honestly surprised he's not living in Canterlot as nobility.” “I have royal blood in me?” “Not royal blood, but noble blood. You could join the ranks of nobility in here if you so choose.” I thought it over for a minute. “No thank you, Princess. I like my quiet life in Canterborough. Although it'll likely change with Princess Luna here, I'd rather not be with those...” Luna chuckled. “With those prudes? I understand, I do not like them either. Although for future reference you may call me just Luna, if you wish.” I smiled at it. “Alright, Luna.” Princess Celestia looked at the moon for a moment. “It's getting late, shouldn't you two be off to your...movie?” She chuckled, and left us there. I heard her say something about young love. “She's right, but I don't think we'll make it by chariot. If I flew there personally, I'd be there within ten minutes.” “But I can't fly, I don't have any wings.” I lamented. Luna grinned. “Then perhaps you'll have to ride with me?” Luna said as she unfurled her wings, and gestured for me to hop on. I nervously climbed on top, and held her around her neck. “It's not that scary, I've heard.” A quick giggle and we were off. I've always loved flying, definitely one of my favorite activities. I swear I was a pegasi in my past life. Luna jumped off the balcony, and quickly flapped her wings. Gaining altitude, we also picked up speed rather quickly. It was so amazing, my eyes watered. Since she had a few minutes, she decided to pitch through the city streets to amaze me. We ducked through a tight alleyway, eliciting awe from the ground ponies. Onto a main street, we darted right through before finding the edge of Canterlot and gliding into a dive. It must've lasted a long time, although, before I knew it, we were gently gliding at a rather fast rate. “You seem comfortable, not you first time flying I take it?” She yelled back at me. “No! I love flying!” She smirked, and dove into Ponyville. We stopped off just outside the town, prepared to hoof it the rest of the way. “Ponyville!” “Yes, there is this fantastic movie theatre just this way.” Most ponies that were out at this hour shot Luna a familiar, friendly smile. Approaching the movie theatre, we looked up. The only movie playing. 'Tales Of a Canterlot Assassin'. Oh, boy. We bought our tickets, which had a severe discount for some reason, and went inside. Stopping for popcorn was fun, because the pony serving it to us was kinda...off. “I think that popcorn pony was serving us something...strange.” Luna said as she prodded the popcorn. She readjusted in her seat, obviously not designed to fit an alicorn of her stature. Not she was fat, she was just...larger. Skinny, though. I'm gonna stop describing her before I get smacked. “I hear this movie was good.” She said, just as it started. It wasn't. I've seen a lot of movies, but this was no where near good. We came out laughing our flanks off at the movie's attempt to be serious. But it's hard to take it seriously when the mane character is saying 'Ah, buck it! I love you, Gent Flankkicker!' and that pony is being played by Derpy Hooves. I'll give you that she's a really good actor, just not in serious movies. “Oh my...remember that part where he said that line? That was hysterical!” We both fell over laughing outside, as a Royal Chariot landed in front of us. Luna raised an eyebrow, then lowered it. “Perhaps we should take the chariot back, believe it or not, the trip here was rather taxing.” Luna said. “Is that a fat joke?” I teased. Ah, yes. Self deprecating humor. We both stepped on the chariot, and sat flank to flank. It was a long ride, about 3 hours due to the slow nature of the guard ponies, so we had a lot of time to talk. We didn't talk much, though. Luna quickly fell asleep on my shoulder, she was that tired. When we arrived back in Canterlot, Luna excused herself, she had to go watch out over the city. I was sent back off to my hotel room. Man, what a night. Chapter 11Chapter 11. Back to Alpha, it seems. I got back to my hotel room, and was alone for a few hours. It was boring. My computers weren't set up, so I couldn't use them, there was no one to talk to, I didn't even think about reading, either. So I just watched TV. It wasn't all that good. I'll spare you my boredom, and cut to when Omega walked in. “I just had the most amazing night!” Omega said, plopping down on his bed, obviously tired from whatever transpired that evening. “Oh? What would that be? Went on a date did you?” Omega nodded. “Wait, I thought you had the hots for Princess Luna!” “I do.” Omega was already confusing me. “Then why'd you go on a date with another pony?” “I didn't.” His short replies were annoying me. “So...wait...you went on a date with Nightmare Moon?” This seemed to get him riled up. “She's not Nightmare Moon! Her name is Luna!” So, what just happened was, while I was off meeting, and striking out, with the pony of MY dreams, the pony of his dreams agreed to go on a date with him? My pony was but a simple unicorn, not even nobility. His was a motherbucking Princess! “You went on a date with Princess Luna!? How'd you get her to agree to that!” “I agreed. She asked me out.” At this point, I was sitting on the edge of my bed. I promptly fell back, landing with a distinct thud onto my mattress in sheer...I'll admit it, sheer jealousy. “The Princess asked you out?! What spell did you cast to make her do that?!” “I didn't, she's had a crush on me since we met back at Nightmare Night all those years ago.” Obviously there's no way any sane pony could keep a crush on someone for that long, but, then again, we're talking about the Princess of the Night-ow. “Wow, you really know how to get some flank!” My teasing was always fun. “It wasn't that kind of date, although she did fall asleep on my shoulder on the ride home.” “Wait, ride home? As in, it wasn't in Canterlot?” Sigh. “No, it was in Ponyville. Enough about me, I saw you with that mare, how much flank are you getting?” “Wha-oh, tons! I got so much that I'm just giving it away!” “So you got none?” Hopefully my plan would succeed, though. Simply asking out Twilight would likely result in disaster, so over the next week I planned to get to know her, make her fall in love with me! Then she'll awkwardly ask me out, and I'll nobly say yes, because that's the kind of stallion I am, a gentlepony. “I'm working on it.” Damn I was smooth. “Uh huh. So you struck out?” “Yes. And I have no idea how to fix it!” “Relax! You just met her! She can't be that golden!” She was purple. “You don't know that! You know me! How many mares do I look at!” “It's not about quantit-” I cut Omega off. “HOW MANY MARES?!” “One.” “Yes, one.” I rolled over in my bed and went to sleep. I was tired, I was sad, and I didn't want to piss him off. I'll tell you the story of that other mare. It was Nightmare Night, in Ponyville. I was dressed as a mouse. A computer mouse. I thought it was clever. Omega didn't think so. Speaking of Omega, he had gone his separate way by this point. I was in line for some punch, when a mare dressed as a scarecrow approached me. It was late, so I was really tired by this point. I kinda just wanted to get some punch and go. “Howdy, Ah ain't seen you 'round these parts much. You new around here?” She asked. “Oh, yeah, sort of.” “Sorta? What does that mean?” She looked at me with an inquisitive eye, and a cocked eyebrow. “I don't live here, I'm just visiting some family. We don't really celebrate Nightmare Night where I'm from.” Omega said that if my timing was correct, this is about when he met Luna. “Visitin' some family? Now that's respectable. Where ya from?” “I'm from Canterborough, but I grew up in Cloudsdale.” “Cloudsdale, eh? Do ya know Rainbow Dash?” Who? “No...?” “Oh, well, worth a shot. Anyways, y'all look awfully tired. Why haven't ya started heading home yet? Or, at least the place yer stayin'?” “Oh, I dunno.” “Alpha, wake up. We have to start setting up the servers today.” Huh? Wha? “Alpha, wake up.” I was jolted awake by my bed suddenly not being under me. “Alright, alright! I'm up!” I said in a groggy manner, that which seems to be the standard for ponies that aren't morning ponies like Omega. “Come on! A couple guards took the stuff already, and plugged everything in. We just have to go configure the firmware.” I looked at Omega with a spite of malice. “Fine.” I won't bore you with the details of that, but we already had everything basically preconfigured. I had to adjust some of the DNS and AD settings, and we were good to go. It left us with a lot of time to hang around the castle. “Alpha?” “Yes, Omega?” “What are we doing?” Truth be told, I don't know what we were doing. Although, later I did find out that Luna had cast a spell on us. But that's irrelevant. We wandered into the kitchen at about lunchtime. There I saw an orange mare I would come to know as Applejack. Luckily, we caught her at a slow point. “Oh, hey there, what can Ah do for ya?” She said. “We got hungry. This place smelled good.” This caused Applejack to chuckle. “Well, we got food aplenty. Don't you worry 'bout that. Grab somethin', we won't be making the actual treats for the wedding until the day before. Keeps 'em fresh.” My mouth watered as I looked over the delectable treats, in disbelief that these would be made for no reason other than practice. “Damn.” I let out as I tasted one, it was just as good as it looked. “You know, I've always loved baked apples.” “Ah, really? That's my specialty, ya know.” She seemed so proud. “Well, got anything else? Like, any meals?” I didn't want to eat cupcakes for lunch, really. “Well, ah got some stuff fer sandwiches, but that's it, we don't really have much in the way of meal foods, most of it will be delivered soon, as Ah'm gonna be making more about the day before fer the actual wedding.” “Sandwiches sound good.” They did. We had our sandwiches, and left. One day I'll have to befriend Applejack. She sounds like an interesting pony to be friends with. We were wandering around when I found a party pony, bouncing around. Apparently this was usual. “Hey! You're that pony that's setting up the computers!” Well, she wasn't that bad. “Yes, I am. My name is-” “Your name is Alpha! I was at the dinner last night! I was so excited when I heard there was a pony there I hadn't met! It meant a new friend!” “I always look forward to new friends!” I put my hoof around Omega. “This one isn't very good.” He grimaced. “I could be both your friends!” Omega slipped away, obviously not enjoying the bromance, with a poor excuse. “I think I hear Luna calling!” And galloped away before I could rebut. Pinkie looked somewhat confused. “Why would Princess Luna call him?” “He and her are dating, as of last night it's official.” Hmm, that went smoothly. “Woah! Dating a Princess! That must be awesome! I bet Twilight's brother knows what that is like!” “You know Twilight?” Pinkie was a VERY interesting character.... “I do! I'm one of her absolute best friends! We hang out all the time!” She bounced, and beamed at the same time. I'm not sure how. “Really? Maybe you could help me with that.” “Oh! Do you want to be her best friend to? You can't have too many best friends!” “Well, about that.” I had started blushing, which was surprisingly easy to see through my white coat. Well, not really. Pinkie seemed to pick up on my cues. “Oh! You like like Twilight, don't you!” If there were any other pony around, I'd shush her, but we were alone for some reason. “....y-yes.” I started to hang my head when Pinkie picked up back up. “No need to feel ashamed! Twilight's a great pony! I'm sure you two would get along great!” “Well, we do, but I was too nervous to do anything and I think I struck out...” “Struck out?” Despite her being wise to the romantic process, she was a bit clueless to that term. Well, it doesn't exactly have much usage outside of Canterborough. “It means I did poorly, as in she'll never date me.” “Silly! I'm sure that's not true! Twilight is one of the most forgiving ponies I know! She's just awesome!” I put on a fake smile. “You sure? I'm sure she'd never go for a stallion like me.” Dropping my smile, I sighed. “She'll never go for a pegasus.” Pinkie, obviously seeing my distress, jumped and sat down next to me. “Come now, I'm sure she'd love you, if you let her.” I raised my head in confusion. “After all, her brother is marrying a pegasus! And a unicorn. She's also an earth pony.” “An alicorn?” “Exactly!” Pinkie's cheerfulness distracted me for a moment, but also brought a smile to my face. I close my eyes, and when I open them, she was gone. That was weird. Looking around a bit, I decided to head off when I didn't find any traces of her anymore. I instead ran into Twilight. Well, sorta. She seemed kinda...off. Unfortunately for me, it was dark, so I couldn't stay and chat. Plus her friends were also there. So, I went back to my hotel room. I fell asleep quickly, to my delight. I woke up to a moon in my face.
Chapter 1Hi, my name is Alpha. I’m a simple pegasus pony, a victorian ‘one’ on my flank. I have a brilliant white coat, and a short, deep blue mane. I bet you’re wondering what my cutie mark means, aren’t you? Well, I’m extremely skilled in the computer and electronics fields. There aren’t too many computers in Ponyville, though. So I rarely get a chance to visit. Same with Canterlot, Princess Celestia, praise be her, likes to keep things traditional. Princess Luna on the other hand, she wants to modernize the city, but Celestia won’t let that happen. So, she generally spends a lot of time in more modern cities such as Manehattan or Las Angelemare. Hell, she even spends a little bit of time in the small town of Canterborough. Yes, Canterborough, one of the smallest, yet paradoxically most technologically advanced towns in Equestria. Okay, technically, it’s right on the border of Equestria, so it has a lot of influence from the neighboring country of Narnland. I know, what a weird name. But, apparently, in their native tongue, it means “Land of Many Peoples”, but, as soon as they changed from Zebarian to common for their official language, people have been pouring into Equestria. They also tend to go through the city of Pouston, which is far to the west, actually. But, back on subject. I live in Canterborough, well, lived, but I’ll get into that later, doing IT work for a living. I know, pegasus, IT, who’d have figured? Fixing computers has it’s ups and downs, occasionally I’ll find some...nice pictures of a very good looking mare, and occasionally I’ll be able to swipe a game or two. Now then, where do I come into this story? Well, my life was average. I wouldn’t call it unexciting, not by a long shot. It wasn't as exciting as some pony’s lives, or as boring as others. Being in Canterborough, we often don’t hear about events until weeks after it happened. We didn’t hear about the Discord event until a week after it happened, his initial reign of chaos was limited to Ponyville while he had the Holders of the Elements to take care of. The only reason I even knew about the Royal Wedding before it happened was because I was invited to help with the computers. I bet you’re wondering how I got invited, aren’t you? Well, there are plenty of computer programmers, or designers. They develop software, then others use that software to do research, or to communicate. But there really aren’t too many that know how to fix one. Weird, right? I thought so. So, my name came up one day during a Canterlot meeting about the current state of technology in the city. They said I was the premiere pony for the job. Yeah, premiere. Apparently in the entire principality, there’s but 100 IT ponies. Most of them are in Manehattan, and are on 24/7 alerts at various companies, so they couldn’t be so easily recommissioned. I do freelance, working at my own shop. So, I guess I was the one to be called to make sure technology, the cameras, the computers, all worked perfectly. The reason you really didn’t see many cameras or computers there was due to Princess Celestia, they were all behind the scenes. Equestria is a much more modern country than most think. It’s just the highly publicised places, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and the like, are all generally not modern. Princess Celestia technically has power throughout the entire land, she just doesn’t really use it much. But she has a lot of influence in Canterlot and Cloudsdale and Ponyville. But,this isn’t the story of industrialization. No, this is the story of how I fell in love with the most wonderful mare in the world. With her help, I developed a technology that unified...technology and magic. It was a simple device, translated magic into binary pulses, I love binary, and made it much easier to use a computer. Unicorns didn’t need the very awkward interfaces that pegasi and earth ponies needed. They’re getting better, though, the interfaces. But that still begs the question of how I met her in the first place. Well, it’s a very simple one. It starts at my house, with me, and my roommate Omega. “The shaped macaroni has a much higher cheese-to-noodle ratio than the normal kind.” I said, a smirk on my face, knowing I was right. Omega, not fully awake yet, sat back and sipped his coffee. It was clear he didn’t care, as he wasn’t awake yet. “Why are you eating left over macaroni for breakfast?” Omega asked me, still half asleep. “Because I didn’t feel like making anything.” I replied. Truth be told, I wasn’t awake fully either. I was talking out of my ass for most of it. “Plus, if it’s available, why shouldn’t I eat it?” I continued, putting another bite of the delicious meal in my mouth. Omega just facehooved, sighed, and trotted away, no doubt to prepare for the day. It was a few minutes, and the rest of the bowl of macaroni, the delicious Princess Luna shapes, when I heard a knock on the door. “Don’t worry, I got it!” Omega shouted from the other room, so I threw the bowl in the sink and went upstairs to prepare for the day. Okay, I was going back to bed, but that’s a different thing altogether. I decided to take a shower real quick, but just as I got to the bathroom door, I heard Omega yell for me. “Alpha, come down here.” Oh boy, when he used that tone of voice, I knew I was dead. It was kinda...calm. Yet, at the same time, demanding, and angry. I went downstairs to find a royal guard pony, one from Canterlot no less, at our door. They say Canterlot guards have the most serious faces when on the job. That’s kinda an understatement. He asked me, in a very serious manner, “Are you the pony named Alpha Bit?” Well, shoot. It appears I was that pony. I didn’t think I did anything wrong, and wouldn’t they have a warrant if I did? “Yes, I am. How may I help you?” I asked him. He rifled through his bag until he pulled out a scroll. Oh Celestia, it’s the warrant! “You are hereby cordially invited to the Wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor, to serve as the Royal IT Pony, to make sure that all of the technology at the ceremony goes smoothly.” He said, leaving both me and Omega stunned. He continued, “The ceremony will be held in one week’s time, at Canterlot Towers, in the capital city of Canterlot. Travel will be provided for, as will payment for your services, and compensation for missed work. This is an official Royal Decree, so you shall be given time off from your workplaces. If it is not a problem, I was told to leave for Canterlot immediately. Are you able?” He never once broke his serious expression. “Uh, yeah, just give me a few minutes to pack my stuff...” I said, before realizing that I had one tiny problem, “I’ll need an assistant,” I continued, “Omega here will be very good at it!” Omega just facehooved. Taking Omega to the side, I said to the guard, “One moment please.” His response was very serious. “What the hay, Alph, I can’t just take two weeks off to go help you, especially when you don’t need it!” Omega quietly shouted at me, “There’ll be, what, ten computers there?” Omega apparently didn’t realize what a chance this was. “You can get royal orders to get them to let you take the time off! They’ll have no choice in the matter!” I also quietly shout, “This is our chance to get big! To hobnob with Royalty!” I tried building excitement in him, but apparently he wasn’t awake yet, “we can hobnob!” I emphasized hobnob. It’s a fun word. “Fine.FINE!” Omega loses his cool and finally snaps, eliciting a response of joy from me, “Go pack your things, I’ll talk to the guardpony.” I rushed upstairs, and started packing my things. I packed my nicest suit for the wedding, my toothbrush, my hairbrush(Gotta stay classy), my laptop, and whatever else I could think of that I might need. Whatever, we’ll be striking gold in Canterlot, royals, especially the ruling Princesses, have a habit of overpaying. Call it generous, or call it that they’ve had thousands of years to gather wealth and simply have so much they don’t know what to do with it. I’m leaning on the latter. Oh, yeah, I also packed Omega’s things. Including his autographed Luna picture. I swear, he had a crush on her ever since she came back from the moon a few years ago! He’s not looked at another mare in ages. Oh my...how could I forget? I also packed my Limited Edition Canterlot Ms Smartypants...action figure. I’ve had it since I was a foal, it’s my favorite thing. No, it’s not some gift from a fallen parent, or a long lost friend. The story is much simpler than it sounds. One day, I found a few bits on the ground. So, I went to the store and bought her. That’s it. She’s my favorite because it reminds me of my foalhood, something I desperately miss. Omega seems to not understand this, and constantly berates me for having such a foalish memento locked up. He was never really connected to his childhood, but that’s another story for another day. Anyways, I gather up my things, and head out to meet the guard pony out front. “We’ll need to stop by my workplace, inform them of my leave.” Omega said, the first smile on his face this morning, since he got to ride in the chariot. “It has already been seen to, we must leave now, they’ll be sealing off Canterlot a few hours after we’re scheduled to arrive, and nopony can go in or out.” The guardpony, I think his name was Hammer, informed me. With a smile on my face, I entered the chariot, hoping that Omega would do the same. Well, he got on the chariot, but the smile was missing. Now, when Omega smiles, he’s usually happy. Woah! What a shocking revelation, I know. Well, he usually stays happy for at least a half an hour or so, the amount of time it takes you to come down from a sugar high. My smile drops as I look over to him, the ground slowly fading away. “What’s wrong? You seemed to happy being able to fly a moment ago.” I say to him, outside the earshot of the guardponies. “We get to see the princesses, right?” I nod, “Well, what if I meet Princess Luna again, and she doesn’t like me this time??” Instantly I knew his problem. Okay, earlier I said he loved her since the day she got back. Well, technically, that’s true. He met her at the Nightmare Night Celebration, just a quick meet, nothing serious. Well, quick from her perspective. They chatted it up while in line for some snack food, something about an Apple family. He says they hit it off, I hardly believe it. Shortly after he went to Canterlot on a ‘business trip’, he barely does anything around his office anyways, and came back with nothing but a signed picture of the Mare of the Moon. He brought four bags of things with him. Perhaps he sold it all? “Relax, you said you two hit it off before, right? Perhaps she remembers you?” I replied, giving the most caring look I could muster. He smiled back, but, rather than replying, just looked off into the distance. I’ll give you a spoiler, she did. Well, I think. You know, I think now would be a good time to tell you about this mare I meet here. I’m sure you already know who I’m talking about. She’s the smartest, cutest, most all around best pony in the land. Smart, being, she’s widely considered one of the most prestigious unicorns in the land. That’s one problem I had to face. I, no matter how good I was, had to deal with being a pegasus, and not being able to actively use magic. Sure, I could fly fast, and computers came as naturally to me as flying did to Rainbow Dash, but still no horn. Little did I know, she didn’t much care. Being an alicorn’s personal protege kinda makes you a little agnostic on that matter. I’m sure you’ve already figured out who I’m talking about by now. Twilight Sparkle, the mare everyone knows. Well, they all say they know her. Most only know of her. I’m sure you know who she is, she is the Princess’s personal protege. So why am I telling you all this? I’m not really sure. I just want someone to know how amazing she makes me feel. Hopefully she’ll realize how much I love her. As of yet, I am not with her. But, my story is not the story of how I got with her, really. So I'll spare you the details, and jump to Canterlot. We were given a stay at a luxurious hotel, one of the best in the city. It's right next to the castle, so we're within walking distance. It's a nice room on the top floor, not the biggest, but big enough for both of us and all of our, my, equipment. We slept a lot the first day, probably should've been setting things up. Admiring the room, I had but one thought. "Damn. This is way better than we could've ever afforded!" Omega predictably wasn't too thrilled with that statement. "Yeah. I'm still shocked you got this place." His look of excitement never faded. I rolled my eyes, as was customary. "Well, help me get unpacked.” So we started unpacking. First was the clothes, all 3 of them, next was the equipment. There were servers, desktop, laptops, smart phones, pda’s, etc etc. Each smaller than the last. By the time we finished taking everything out, and setting up some of it, which included hacking into the hotel’s wifi, which they charged up the flank for due to it being one of the only hotspots in all of Canterlot. A few places had wifi, most notably Canterlot Towers. Weird, isn’t it? Princess Celestia, the one who dislikes technology like this, allows it in her castle. This is also probably because Luna said so, and they have equal power, so Celestia can’t go against the orders of the Princess of the Night, and vice versa. One last thing I took out was a picture of Celestia’s hoof. No, I don’t have a hoof fetish, it was a prank gift from Omega years ago. I really latched onto it, taking it in stride with swag. I pretended to love it, I had it framed, which was a very awkward conversation at the photo shop, and put it on my hearthpiece. Where it sits until we go places. I don’t mean, down the street, but whenever we go somewhere, and stay overnight, I take it, and put it on the hearthpiece there. “You brought that?” Omega said with a facehoof, as I was about to reply, a knock came onto the door, “I’ll get it.” Omega claimed, since he was closer to the door, and opened it. On the other side was a palace guard. “I have come to extend an invitation to a Royal Dinner from Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. It is customary to invite all members of all teams to a dinner the night before the work on the wedding starts.” Oh Celestia, that had taken us all day. “Alright, when is it?” “It is being held in 30 minutes, I trust you two can safely get yourselves over?” The guardpony still looked very serious. Omega said yes and closed the door, then trotted over to me. “Don’t buck this up.” He said to me before gathering his goods and starting towards the doors. I did the same, and we had a silent walk to the towers. The dining hall was beautiful. They had always said that all of the castle was beautiful, but this didn’t even compare. It was gorgeous beyond belief, and the evening sunlight glistened, bouncing off various objects around the room. Somehow, they managed to make the sunlight fall directly on the table. Princess Cadence was there, the guest of honor it seems. She caught everyone’s, basically me, Omega, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and about a half dozen other ponies I don’t know nor care to remember, by ringing a glass with a spoon. “Listen up, everypony, I want to make a toast!” We all looked over towards her as all the chattering in the room ceased. “To my wonderful staff who I hope will make sure this wedding goes smoothly, I just want to personally thank each and every one of you. To Applejack here, we’ll have a wonderful cake, and delicious baked goods for the reception!” The orange pony blushed, and replied, “Aww, shucks, well thank ya, it’s no trouble at all.” “To Rarity, who will be designing what I hope to be the most beautiful gowns I’ll ever have the pleasure to see.” A white unicorn blushed, and looked away, mumbling something I couldn’t hear. “To Fluttershy, for arranging such a wonderful ensemble for the music.” I didn’t quite find one named Fluttershy there, but I did find a few yellow feathers with my eyes. “To Pinkie Pie, for planning what I hope to be the most amazing an amazing party!” A pink earthpony stood up, and did a bow. I don’t know why, but it seems she was a little bit out of character there. “To Rainbow Dash for the post Wedding fireworks!” A rainbow maned pony just nodded. “To my soon-to-be husband, Shining Armor for planning security.” He just kissed her cheek, which made her blush a little. “To Alpha and Omega, for making sure it’s well connected and that all of the new technology goes smoothly.” I didn’t see what Omega did, I was lost in my napkin. “To Vinyl Scratch for the music in the reception, I hope it’s quite good.” So I know what you’re thinking. Obviously, this Cadence was a changeling. But, sometimes, when you’re low on power as one, you act like the pony you’re impersonating. It’s how you get their memories, their personality. It takes a lot of power to override this. It’s all really complicated and such, I’ll have to ask Twilight about it sometime. Oh, wait. Well, Cadence finished the toasts, and let everyone mingle about. I was seated next to Twilight Sparkle, the only pony in the room not mentioned. I spoke first. “So, I’m Alpha...” I can’t believe I’m doing this. “Hi, Alpha.” She looked so sad, I had to know what was wrong. “What’s the matter? You look awfully glum with such a fantastic meal sitting in front of you?” She sighed and looked at me. “It’s just that Princess Cadence doesn’t remember me.” I glanced over to Omega, who was quietly munching away at his snacks. “Remember you? Like, has she met you before?” “She used to foalsit me when I was a filly, we were the best of friends. The only pony I really talked to aside from my family and Princess Celestia.” Wait, what?! She knew Princess Celestia AND Princess Cadence PERSONALLY? I had to get to the root of it. “You knew the Princesses?” “Oh, that’s right. I never gave you my name. I’m Twilight Sparkle, when I was young, Princess Celestia took me under her wing as a personal student. And Shining Armor is my brother.” Oh boy, here it goes. “Really? That’s actually kinda awesome. A personal protegee to the Princess herself.” “Yeah, it has it’s memories.” She chuckled. “I was never really an outgoing pony so most of those memories involve books.” “It’s okay, most of my happy memories involve either a complex binary equation or computers.” Twilight started casually munching on her food. I didn’t even realize I had any. “Really? Binary? I’ve read a little about that but never really looked into that.” My speciality. “Well, ms Sparkle, binary is really simple. You have two numbers, one, or zero. On, or off.” Twilight rolled her eyes, and smiled. “I know the basics, but I never got into the arithmetics of it. Weren’t you also good with computers?” “Oh, yes, very good. I was called here to make sure things go smoothly with all the new computers during the wedding.” My other speciality. “There are computers here?” She looked somewhat confused. “Yes, they’re mostly going to be in the background, and used to give televised coverage of the wedding to ponies who either weren’t invited to personally attend or who couldn’t make it.” “Ah. Last time I used a computer I nearly broke it. I tend to shy away from technology, no need for it. I’ve got magic.” Apparently her special talent was magic. Who knew? “Magic? I wish I could do magic, make my life so much easier.” I laughed a little. “Well, pegasi don’t generally use magic. Although, recent studies have found that you guys use magic during flight and when manipulating the weather.” “Oh, yes, manipulating the weather. I totally use it for more than napping on clouds.” Twilight put her hoof to her chin and giggled. “I’m sure you do. Water, so good for electronics!” She looked so smug. “Totally.” The conversation started to trail off so I decided to turn towards my food. The food was amazing, I’ll have to admit. We both sat and ate in a comfortable silence, and before I knew it, the dinner was over. Twilight left before I could do anything else, so I had to simply go back to my room. Wonderful.
Chapter 10Chapter 10: Perhaps I should explain myself. My name's Omega, I lived with Alpha. He asked me to take over the narration right now. I was a little confused by what he meant, but I went with it. I'm a simple maroon unicorn with an orange mane, a Victorian '0' as my cutie mark. I was surprisingly never made fun of for it. I'm a computer programmer by trade, although my favorite past time is setting up systems. I just never really got into it, I suppose. Anyways, I'm not one for big flashy introductions like some ponies, instead I think I prefer to get right into the story. Whereas Alpha's was him so far meeting Twilight and royally bucking up with her, this is my story. It's simple, it's not very long, and it's fun. It begins at the banquet. I was, somehow, sitting next to Princess Luna. “Omega! It has been so long since I have seen you!” Luna said, remembering our meeting so long ago. “Yes, it is nice to see the Princess of the Night again. I thought you were going to keep in contact?” “Oh, well, I never really got your address, and your name wasn't much to go off of, so I didn't really know where to look...heh” She seemed somewhat nervous. At the time I had no idea why. “Really? Must've forgotten to give it to you, did you ask around at all?” “Yes, I did. But, I couldn't find anything. Do you live in Ponyville?” Ah, that must be it. “No, actually. I was with Alpha visiting some of his family. I just tagged along because it's awfully lonely in Canterborough at times, and I needed a well deserved vacation.” “A well deserved? Do you not go on many vacations?” “No, not really. I tend to work a lot. My job demands of it.” She pretended to not remember what I did, but I easily saw through the veil. But I played along anyways, more fun that way. “Oh, yes. Err, it's been a little while, what do you do again?” “I'm a computer programmer, you know all those fancy computers? I write software for them.” “Oh! I see! A colt of impressive skill sets, it seems.” She's always a flatterer. “Yes, I would say so myself. But, I have noticed a severe lack of computers in Canterlot. Do you know the cause of this?” “Sister, it seems, does not take well to technology. She doesn't outright ban them, but it's public that she doesn't like them, and because of that most ponies are too scared to set up any shops that sell them. I have offered my blessing, though. I have extended a reach to offer my personal protection to any shop that will be brave enough to set up in those fields. Sister says that she doesn't want Canterlot to turn into an industrialized mess of a city like Phillydelphia.” “Phillydelphia isn't that bad. They make a lot of really cool gadgets!” “We know! Err, sorry, I tend to resort to the Royal We when excited, but I've told her time and time again that we wouldn't need to industrialize. Cities like Phillydelphia would produce all of our goods, we would just modernize. We would set up a computer network.” “You know, I do have ideas on how to set up a whole outlying system of communications that doesn't require magics. You have all those plumbing infrastructures, right? The ones that Princess Celestia so embraced a few years back?” Luna nodded, and I continued talking. “Just run wires with thick insulation through them. We don't need to drill new holes, although that would bolster the economy. It wouldn't affect the outlying appearance of Canterlot, and would still allow for modern computerized systems.” “I don't know, maybe she's just concerned about the place of magic in a modern world?” “Well, ponies don't need to replace magic. A lot of ponies have very specialized magics, most don't do well for communication, so that's where this system comes in. Magic will always have it's place. I mean, it's so advanced, it's almost magic anyways.” “This is true, but what about ponies that don't want to adapt?” “Then they don't have to use it. It's entirely opt in. You just flush a special wire down the toilet, and wait a little while, and some specialized magics will grab it and connect you.” “Well, this plan sounds like it could work. But, I don't believe now is the time to talk about it, no matter how interesting it is.” I had realized she's right, dinner is no place to talk about a complete overhaul of the current communications industry. “So, then, Princess, what do you propose we chat about?” Luna blushed, quite visibility considering the color of her coat. “Perhaps we could talk about life? My life has been quite boring as of late, I urge to hear exciting stories about brave and hansom ponies such as yourself.” Well, there goes any nod of subtlety. “Oh, my life isn't exciting. All I've done so far is program computers, and get in occasional disputes with Alpha. I took a trip to Canterlot a little while ago, I was kinda surprised I didn't see you.” “Oh, yes. I've been busy lately, but I think I'll be fine soon. There was unfortunately a threat made to Canterlot, so I have to be extra careful and watchful. But, enough about that, what were you in Canterlot for?” “Oh, my boss sent me on a trip here. I still don't know why, but at least I got a signed picture of you.” I chuckled, not out of insincerity, but out of the fact that I'm talking to the mare I have a picture of. “An autographed picture? I never signed any.” Luna put on a false grin as I realized my picture was a fake. “So, my picture was a fake?” “Unfortunately, but I can see about getting you a real one.” She smiled at the end of the sentence. It was wonderful. We continued chatting and flirting back and forth for the rest of the dinner. It felt like hours, it was wonderful. The entire time, though, Luna seemed, uncomfortable, nervous even. I had tried to divine what's wrong, but I couldn't. Besides, any magic would put her at a suspicion. Then it hit me. I was walking out, about to go catch up to Alpha, when Luna tapped my shoulder. The blush on her seemed too intense to belong to anypony but a royal alicorn. She was even more nervous than before, it seems. “Yes, Princess Luna?” “Omega, I was wondering, if you, err, I...err.” She couldn't finish a sentence she was so nervous! It wouldn't surprise me if she nervoused all over the place right there. “Ilikeyouwillyougoonadatewithme?” That came out so fast it took me a moment to comprehend it. The brief pause was enough time for Luna's mind to interpret my answer, and start walking away, with her head hung low. Princess Celestia shot me a cruel stare. “Luna, wait.” She perked up at this, as if she knew what I was going to say. “I never said no. In fact, I'd love to! It just took me a moment to transpose what you said.” I finished it with a giggle. Her mood visibly brightened, and Princess Celestia smiled, and tended to whatever she was doing at the moment. I sighed a breath of relief. “Re-really?” “Yes. I'm gonna be honest with you here, I liked you since the day we met in Ponyville, I just wasn't really sure if I would ever be able to...you know...” Luna nodded. “I can be quite intimidating at times. But, once you really get to know me I'm just another pony that loves fun! Albeit, I'm royalty, but that's just a side thing.” She couldn't stop smiling. “Perhaps we could go out tonight? I know of this wonderful movie theatre down in Ponyville. Perhaps we could attend a showing right after I raise the moon?” “I'd love to. When do you have to raise the moon?” “In about a minute, come, you can watch.” Luna led me out to a balcony not too far away from the dining hall. She informed me that this was here so she could raise the moon if she got caught up in there in the evening. Everything was so beautiful and majestic. The lights from Canterlot lit up in the most spectacular way. I could see why Princess Celestia didn't want the city industrialized. I look over towards Luna, who had on a gentle, yet graceful smile. Her horn glowed softly, I looked back and saw the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. Turning back, Luna spoke to me. “Beautiful, isn't it? Sister always produces the most amazing sunsets on important days.” It was. I looked over towards the eastern horizon, and saw the stars starting to poke up around the valleys. “If you look down there, it's Ponyville.” She pointed to a faint light in the horizon. “Takes a long way by train, but by air it's such a short trip.” Her horn glowed with more vibrancy, and her wings spread out. Her cutie mark started glowing. She was obviously very in tune with her moon. With one final jolt, as blast of light purple magic shot out towards the skyline. The moon poked it's nose up. This was by far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I was so enthralled by it, I failed to notice the other celestial being approaching behind. “It's a great honor, you know.” I turned back to see Princess Celestia. Oddly enough, she was without any of her usual jewelry and trinkets. She spoke with a calming grace and a caring smile. “Watching a Princess raise her body like that. Luna must really like you.” The Moon blushed at those words, which set off a giggle in the Sun. “Of course I do, Sister. Else I wouldn't have brought him here.” Luna took a step closer to me. “I'm glad. He comes from a noble bloodline, that unicorn.” Me? Noble bloodline? “I'm honestly surprised he's not living in Canterlot as nobility.” “I have royal blood in me?” “Not royal blood, but noble blood. You could join the ranks of nobility in here if you so choose.” I thought it over for a minute. “No thank you, Princess. I like my quiet life in Canterborough. Although it'll likely change with Princess Luna here, I'd rather not be with those...” Luna chuckled. “With those prudes? I understand, I do not like them either. Although for future reference you may call me just Luna, if you wish.” I smiled at it. “Alright, Luna.” Princess Celestia looked at the moon for a moment. “It's getting late, shouldn't you two be off to your...movie?” She chuckled, and left us there. I heard her say something about young love. “She's right, but I don't think we'll make it by chariot. If I flew there personally, I'd be there within ten minutes.” “But I can't fly, I don't have any wings.” I lamented. Luna grinned. “Then perhaps you'll have to ride with me?” Luna said as she unfurled her wings, and gestured for me to hop on. I nervously climbed on top, and held her around her neck. “It's not that scary, I've heard.” A quick giggle and we were off. I've always loved flying, definitely one of my favorite activities. I swear I was a pegasi in my past life. Luna jumped off the balcony, and quickly flapped her wings. Gaining altitude, we also picked up speed rather quickly. It was so amazing, my eyes watered. Since she had a few minutes, she decided to pitch through the city streets to amaze me. We ducked through a tight alleyway, eliciting awe from the ground ponies. Onto a main street, we darted right through before finding the edge of Canterlot and gliding into a dive. It must've lasted a long time, although, before I knew it, we were gently gliding at a rather fast rate. “You seem comfortable, not you first time flying I take it?” She yelled back at me. “No! I love flying!” She smirked, and dove into Ponyville. We stopped off just outside the town, prepared to hoof it the rest of the way. “Ponyville!” “Yes, there is this fantastic movie theatre just this way.” Most ponies that were out at this hour shot Luna a familiar, friendly smile. Approaching the movie theatre, we looked up. The only movie playing. 'Tales Of a Canterlot Assassin'. Oh, boy. We bought our tickets, which had a severe discount for some reason, and went inside. Stopping for popcorn was fun, because the pony serving it to us was kinda...off. “I think that popcorn pony was serving us something...strange.” Luna said as she prodded the popcorn. She readjusted in her seat, obviously not designed to fit an alicorn of her stature. Not she was fat, she was just...larger. Skinny, though. I'm gonna stop describing her before I get smacked. “I hear this movie was good.” She said, just as it started. It wasn't. I've seen a lot of movies, but this was no where near good. We came out laughing our flanks off at the movie's attempt to be serious. But it's hard to take it seriously when the mane character is saying 'Ah, buck it! I love you, Gent Flankkicker!' and that pony is being played by Derpy Hooves. I'll give you that she's a really good actor, just not in serious movies. “Oh my...remember that part where he said that line? That was hysterical!” We both fell over laughing outside, as a Royal Chariot landed in front of us. Luna raised an eyebrow, then lowered it. “Perhaps we should take the chariot back, believe it or not, the trip here was rather taxing.” Luna said. “Is that a fat joke?” I teased. Ah, yes. Self deprecating humor. We both stepped on the chariot, and sat flank to flank. It was a long ride, about 3 hours due to the slow nature of the guard ponies, so we had a lot of time to talk. We didn't talk much, though. Luna quickly fell asleep on my shoulder, she was that tired. When we arrived back in Canterlot, Luna excused herself, she had to go watch out over the city. I was sent back off to my hotel room. Man, what a night.
Chapter 11Chapter 11. Back to Alpha, it seems. I got back to my hotel room, and was alone for a few hours. It was boring. My computers weren't set up, so I couldn't use them, there was no one to talk to, I didn't even think about reading, either. So I just watched TV. It wasn't all that good. I'll spare you my boredom, and cut to when Omega walked in. “I just had the most amazing night!” Omega said, plopping down on his bed, obviously tired from whatever transpired that evening. “Oh? What would that be? Went on a date did you?” Omega nodded. “Wait, I thought you had the hots for Princess Luna!” “I do.” Omega was already confusing me. “Then why'd you go on a date with another pony?” “I didn't.” His short replies were annoying me. “So...wait...you went on a date with Nightmare Moon?” This seemed to get him riled up. “She's not Nightmare Moon! Her name is Luna!” So, what just happened was, while I was off meeting, and striking out, with the pony of MY dreams, the pony of his dreams agreed to go on a date with him? My pony was but a simple unicorn, not even nobility. His was a motherbucking Princess! “You went on a date with Princess Luna!? How'd you get her to agree to that!” “I agreed. She asked me out.” At this point, I was sitting on the edge of my bed. I promptly fell back, landing with a distinct thud onto my mattress in sheer...I'll admit it, sheer jealousy. “The Princess asked you out?! What spell did you cast to make her do that?!” “I didn't, she's had a crush on me since we met back at Nightmare Night all those years ago.” Obviously there's no way any sane pony could keep a crush on someone for that long, but, then again, we're talking about the Princess of the Night-ow. “Wow, you really know how to get some flank!” My teasing was always fun. “It wasn't that kind of date, although she did fall asleep on my shoulder on the ride home.” “Wait, ride home? As in, it wasn't in Canterlot?” Sigh. “No, it was in Ponyville. Enough about me, I saw you with that mare, how much flank are you getting?” “Wha-oh, tons! I got so much that I'm just giving it away!” “So you got none?” Hopefully my plan would succeed, though. Simply asking out Twilight would likely result in disaster, so over the next week I planned to get to know her, make her fall in love with me! Then she'll awkwardly ask me out, and I'll nobly say yes, because that's the kind of stallion I am, a gentlepony. “I'm working on it.” Damn I was smooth. “Uh huh. So you struck out?” “Yes. And I have no idea how to fix it!” “Relax! You just met her! She can't be that golden!” She was purple. “You don't know that! You know me! How many mares do I look at!” “It's not about quantit-” I cut Omega off. “HOW MANY MARES?!” “One.” “Yes, one.” I rolled over in my bed and went to sleep. I was tired, I was sad, and I didn't want to piss him off. I'll tell you the story of that other mare. It was Nightmare Night, in Ponyville. I was dressed as a mouse. A computer mouse. I thought it was clever. Omega didn't think so. Speaking of Omega, he had gone his separate way by this point. I was in line for some punch, when a mare dressed as a scarecrow approached me. It was late, so I was really tired by this point. I kinda just wanted to get some punch and go. “Howdy, Ah ain't seen you 'round these parts much. You new around here?” She asked. “Oh, yeah, sort of.” “Sorta? What does that mean?” She looked at me with an inquisitive eye, and a cocked eyebrow. “I don't live here, I'm just visiting some family. We don't really celebrate Nightmare Night where I'm from.” Omega said that if my timing was correct, this is about when he met Luna. “Visitin' some family? Now that's respectable. Where ya from?” “I'm from Canterborough, but I grew up in Cloudsdale.” “Cloudsdale, eh? Do ya know Rainbow Dash?” Who? “No...?” “Oh, well, worth a shot. Anyways, y'all look awfully tired. Why haven't ya started heading home yet? Or, at least the place yer stayin'?” “Oh, I dunno.” “Alpha, wake up. We have to start setting up the servers today.” Huh? Wha? “Alpha, wake up.” I was jolted awake by my bed suddenly not being under me. “Alright, alright! I'm up!” I said in a groggy manner, that which seems to be the standard for ponies that aren't morning ponies like Omega. “Come on! A couple guards took the stuff already, and plugged everything in. We just have to go configure the firmware.” I looked at Omega with a spite of malice. “Fine.” I won't bore you with the details of that, but we already had everything basically preconfigured. I had to adjust some of the DNS and AD settings, and we were good to go. It left us with a lot of time to hang around the castle. “Alpha?” “Yes, Omega?” “What are we doing?” Truth be told, I don't know what we were doing. Although, later I did find out that Luna had cast a spell on us. But that's irrelevant. We wandered into the kitchen at about lunchtime. There I saw an orange mare I would come to know as Applejack. Luckily, we caught her at a slow point. “Oh, hey there, what can Ah do for ya?” She said. “We got hungry. This place smelled good.” This caused Applejack to chuckle. “Well, we got food aplenty. Don't you worry 'bout that. Grab somethin', we won't be making the actual treats for the wedding until the day before. Keeps 'em fresh.” My mouth watered as I looked over the delectable treats, in disbelief that these would be made for no reason other than practice. “Damn.” I let out as I tasted one, it was just as good as it looked. “You know, I've always loved baked apples.” “Ah, really? That's my specialty, ya know.” She seemed so proud. “Well, got anything else? Like, any meals?” I didn't want to eat cupcakes for lunch, really. “Well, ah got some stuff fer sandwiches, but that's it, we don't really have much in the way of meal foods, most of it will be delivered soon, as Ah'm gonna be making more about the day before fer the actual wedding.” “Sandwiches sound good.” They did. We had our sandwiches, and left. One day I'll have to befriend Applejack. She sounds like an interesting pony to be friends with. We were wandering around when I found a party pony, bouncing around. Apparently this was usual. “Hey! You're that pony that's setting up the computers!” Well, she wasn't that bad. “Yes, I am. My name is-” “Your name is Alpha! I was at the dinner last night! I was so excited when I heard there was a pony there I hadn't met! It meant a new friend!” “I always look forward to new friends!” I put my hoof around Omega. “This one isn't very good.” He grimaced. “I could be both your friends!” Omega slipped away, obviously not enjoying the bromance, with a poor excuse. “I think I hear Luna calling!” And galloped away before I could rebut. Pinkie looked somewhat confused. “Why would Princess Luna call him?” “He and her are dating, as of last night it's official.” Hmm, that went smoothly. “Woah! Dating a Princess! That must be awesome! I bet Twilight's brother knows what that is like!” “You know Twilight?” Pinkie was a VERY interesting character.... “I do! I'm one of her absolute best friends! We hang out all the time!” She bounced, and beamed at the same time. I'm not sure how. “Really? Maybe you could help me with that.” “Oh! Do you want to be her best friend to? You can't have too many best friends!” “Well, about that.” I had started blushing, which was surprisingly easy to see through my white coat. Well, not really. Pinkie seemed to pick up on my cues. “Oh! You like like Twilight, don't you!” If there were any other pony around, I'd shush her, but we were alone for some reason. “....y-yes.” I started to hang my head when Pinkie picked up back up. “No need to feel ashamed! Twilight's a great pony! I'm sure you two would get along great!” “Well, we do, but I was too nervous to do anything and I think I struck out...” “Struck out?” Despite her being wise to the romantic process, she was a bit clueless to that term. Well, it doesn't exactly have much usage outside of Canterborough. “It means I did poorly, as in she'll never date me.” “Silly! I'm sure that's not true! Twilight is one of the most forgiving ponies I know! She's just awesome!” I put on a fake smile. “You sure? I'm sure she'd never go for a stallion like me.” Dropping my smile, I sighed. “She'll never go for a pegasus.” Pinkie, obviously seeing my distress, jumped and sat down next to me. “Come now, I'm sure she'd love you, if you let her.” I raised my head in confusion. “After all, her brother is marrying a pegasus! And a unicorn. She's also an earth pony.” “An alicorn?” “Exactly!” Pinkie's cheerfulness distracted me for a moment, but also brought a smile to my face. I close my eyes, and when I open them, she was gone. That was weird. Looking around a bit, I decided to head off when I didn't find any traces of her anymore. I instead ran into Twilight. Well, sorta. She seemed kinda...off. Unfortunately for me, it was dark, so I couldn't stay and chat. Plus her friends were also there. So, I went back to my hotel room. I fell asleep quickly, to my delight. I woke up to a moon in my face.
