My eyes jerked open as my alarm droned, wrenching me from my slumber. I groaned loudly and smacked the top of my alarm clock, stopping the ear-grating sound. I rolled over onto my back and rubbed my eyes ruefully, praying that by some miracle my alarm had gone off early, and that I still had time to sleep. I turned my head to look at my alarm clock. 6:45. No luck. With another prolonged groan, I rolled out of bed and stumbled out of my bedroom and into the kitchen.
I rushed through my morning preparations as quickly as I could while still giving a half-hearted effort to look presentable. It's not that I really cared about how I looked for school, but dear Celestia, every other kid lurking the halls at Baton Ridge High School did, and therefore I had discovered that at least trying to look halfway presentable makes the day go by a lot easier, and considerably lowers the insults directed at you.
After I was ready, I sat down on the old, worn, ugly brown couch in my living room to begin the only part of my morning routine that I sincerely enjoyed. I turned on our outdated giant box TV and switched to my favorite show: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic.
I can't really describe my love of the show in words. When I first heard of the Brony phenomenon, I was honestly indifferent. But when one of my friends (well, I call him a friend, but he probably doesn't care whether or not I'm breathing right now) told me and a few other everyday losers that he was a Brony, I decided I would give the show a try myself.
The bright colors, the likable and surprisingly complex characters, and then there was Equestria itself, the bright, enchanting world that the ponies lived in. Equestria was an absolute wonderland, with everything from small, homey towns to giant, bustling cities. It was also filled to the brim with ponies and a huge variety of magical creatures. I had always dreamed of living in Equestria, with the friendly and adventurous ponies that called the place home.
The particular episode that I tuned into also featured Princess Luna, who was my personal favorite character on the show. She was an all-powerful alicorn that had the power to raise the moon and reveal the stars each and every night. All unicorns in Equestria had the ability to use magic, but alicorns are practically deities in the show, and their magic far exceeded the unicorns'. The only other alicorns in the show were Princess Celestia (who raised the sun), Princess Cadence (who rules the Crystal Empire), and, more recently, Princess Twilight Sparkle (who... Honestly mostly just sits in a gloomy crystal tree-castle with her friends).
The Princesses and their roles in Equestria were honestly one of the most appealing aspects of the show to me. Although my love for the show and its unexpected fandom was unparalleled, I made it priority number one to make sure nobody from my school ever found out about it. I was already somewhat of a bullying target, and I was fairly sure that if said bullies knew I was obsessed with a little girls' show about pastel-colored ponies, the situation wouldn't improve.
"Ivan," my mother called from the other end of the house. "You're going to be late for school! Turn the TV off!" I groaned for the thousandth time that morning and switched off the episode right as it got to the climax. "Hurry up, you're going to miss the bus!"
"Shut up, I'm going!"
Before you comment on our wonderful mother-son relationship, let me inform you that I am her only child, and that she expects me to be perfect in every way. And then, when I turn out to be a socially awkward teenager that watches a little girls' show and camps out in his room all day, my mother isn't too overly happy. I know she only wants what's best for me or whatever, but I'm pretty sure I deserve to have a speck of control over my own life.
I leaped from my spot on the couch and angrily picked up my backpack up off the floor. I can't really say that I was looking forward to the school day too much. The biggest thing I had to look forward to all day was taking truckloads of crap from teachers and brainless bullies. I stomped my way to the door before my mom caught my arm before I could get it all the way open.
"What do you want," I demanded impatiently. "Ivan, I need to talk to you. Now.
"And I need to get to school." I pulled away from her grip and stamped out of the door, walking towards the street. I didn't care that I was walking to another atrocious day at school, I didn't care that I probably just made my mom cry. I was just so done with all of it. It didn't initially register my mind that I had just walked into the middle of the street until i heard a faint noise, which I registered a second later as an ancient diesel engine, which was immediately followed by squealing brakes.
"IVAN!" My mother's cry was the last thing I heard before I turned and saw my school bus heading directly towards me.
And then everything went black.
"Mi- a- -kay -ee he-?"
"Ohhhhhhhhhh..." I tried mentally to make sense of the voice I just heard. It sounded familiar, but in a weird way...
"Are you okay? Hey!" It was a female voice. Reality started to enter my mind. I felt like I was lying face-down on something. I tried lifting my head up to look, but a shattering wave of pain flew through my body and put my maw back on the ground. My eyes were open, but the scenario in front of me was so blurry I couldn't even tell what I was supposed to be looking at.
"Are you hurt? Do you need help getting up?"
"Uggghhhhhhhhh..." I tried to use my hands to push myself up, but pain flared again when I tried to move my shoulders. After a few more tries I finally managed to get my arms up, but i was surprised when I couldn't feel my fingers. My arms also felt different. In fact, now that the pain and numbness was subsiding, everything felt different. I could also tell that something was covering most of my body. It felt like dirt... or sand. And it was warm. Very warm. I finally began to push myself up, and I felt the dirt (at least I hope it was dirt) begin to slide off of me. But when I tried to get my legs under me, I gasped and face-planted back on the ground. Did my legs just bend the wrong way? Suddenly, I remembered my school bus roaring towards me, the sudden pain, and then the blackness. Was I dead? Did I break my knee? Was I covered in my own blood? Okay, probably not, but still.
"Here, let me help you up." Once again, that strangely familiar voice chimed out. I felt like I had just about made the connection as to who it belonged to, but what happened next shook away my thoughts.
Suddenly, Something that felt like a giant hand positioned itself underneath my stomach and began to pick me up out of the dirt. After it lifted me up a decent ways, I heard that mysterious voice gasp, which seemed to be followed by more gasps. I tried to position myself on my hand and knees, but was further surprised when my arms and legs touched the ground evenly, all while fully extended. What was going on? I still couldn't see anything, so I smacked my head in an attempt to get my vision to clear, and was surprised yet again when my hand felt more like a slab of wood than... well... a hand. But the aggressive face-palm did the trick, and the fog finally began to fade from my eyes.
I stood there... and I stood there... and I stood there... I was staring at the ground, which was consisted of blackened, faintly smoking dirt. But that wasn't what was holding my attention. I was also staring at my hands... except they weren't hands. They were hooves. Dusty black hooves. It wasn't until that peculiar voice spoke again until I finally looked away.
"You.. you're... but... no, you can't be... I-" she stopped talking because I was now staring at her, mouth agape. I now realized why her voice was so familiar to me; because I watched her on TV almost every day. I was staring at Princess Twilight Sparkle.
I don't really know how I can describe how she looked. The best description I can give is that she looked like her model on SFM, but a thousand times sharper and more defined. Her coat was a shimmering lavender, and her straight, flat dark purple hair was broken by a stripe of pink. A majestic horn jutted out from her bangs and stood proudly from her forehead, and her grand feathered wings were upright in shock. Her tail was the exact same shade as her mane, with the same pink stripe, and her cutie mark stood out boldly from her flank; a bold pink star surrounded by small white twinkles. Her eyes were pools of black, surrounded by dark purple irises. She was real, standing there right in front of me. But she seemed to be... tiny compared to me (but of course that wasn't at the front of my mind at that point in time.)
My mind did backflips in my head as I tried to piece together what was happening. My mind suddenly focused on the weird sensations my body had been having ever since I'd heard Twilight's voice. Twilight spoke again right as my brain made the connection.
"Who are you?"
Her tone was awed, filled to the brim with wonder. Without taking my eyes off of her, I quickly responded "I- I'm a pony, aren't I?"
She stared me up and down for a few seconds, and then proceeded to open her mouth, but nothing came out.
"Whoa. This is totally not happening, is it?"
Oh, no. I knew that voice all too well. I looked up above Twilight into the deep pink eyes of Rainbow Dash. At that exact moment, I also realized that I was standing in a giant crater, as if a meteor had crashed down, and I was directly in its center, with Twilight standing four feet away from me. Rainbow Dash was standing on the edge of the crater, flanked by Pinkie Pie and Rarity. I looked around and realized that the lip of the crater was packed with ponies, all staring at me.
I looked back at Twilight. "Is... Is there something wrong with me?" I realized that my scratchy, annoying, teenager voice was gone, and replaced with a silky voice that seemed like it would come from a professional narrator. Twilight was still frozen in shock. "Why did you gasp," I asked. "Why did you gasp!?"
Suddenly, her horn was surrounded by a pink aura. a faint pink glow materialized inbetween us, and suddenly I was looking at what had to be a mirror image. I was staring at myself now, only I wasn't myself. I wasn't just a pony. I was an alicorn.
My nose and mouth had been replaced by a muzzle, with a jawline so rugged it could've probably cut diamonds. I was absurdly tall, and my eyes were a dark, demanding shade of lavender, even darker than Twilight's. My skin (or, coat) was a dusty black color, and my neck was tall and prominent, similar to what I'd expect from Luna or Celestia. My hair was pure black...but it wasn't hair. It was... pulsating. It was exactly what I'd imagine Luna's hair to be like, rippling and speckled with sparkles, except it was totally pitch-black. A grand horn that was easily twice the length of Twilight's protruded from my forehead, and my sides were graced by giant regal wings, each sporting hundreds of smooth black feathers. I even had a cutie mark; a grand white star with a jagged, dark purple crystal rising up behind it.
I was the most handsome horse I had ever seen, but I had no idea how to react. Eventually the magic mirror disappeared, and a more composed Twilight was standing in front of me. We stared at each other for a few more moments before I finally broke the silence.
"I need to get out of this hole," I said in my silky new voice. Man, I sounded like a white version of Morgan Freeman.
Twilight just nodded, and unfurled her wings. I did the same, marveling at how natural it felt. I couldn't even feel my wings before, but now that they were out, I felt every feather. I took small flaps that gradually intensified, and before I knew it, I was floating out of the hole. Flying just felt so... natural. I found a place to land behind the crowd of ponies (who were now staring up at me), and slowly descended onto the ground. Now that I was out of that hole, I could see that I was in Ponyville. The buildings were impressively curved and colorful, and looked as if they should've been made out of gingerbread rather than wood.
I turned around to see Twilight standing in front of me yet again, but this time flanked by the rest of the Mane Six and Spike, the rest of the ponies migrating behind her. She was still just staring at me, albeit with a bit more composure now.
"You've got some talking to do," Rainbow said in her raspy tomboyish voice.
Suddenly, after that, Pinkie gasped. "are we going to hear the impossible alicorn meteor pony tell us where he came from?" She looked at all her friends in turn and then turned towards me and smiled so wide I thought her face would split in half.
I gulped. "So... you want to know?" They all nodded. The crowd of ponies behind them leaned in simultaneously.
"Alright. Well, here goes..."
I swear, I waited twenty minutes for them to respond... for any of them to respond. But nope, they just stood there. No murmurs, no whispers, No "this is all a joke, right?" They just stood there and stared at me (all except Twilight, who was staring at the ground, obviously trying to process what I had just said).
"Uhhhhhh..." I made an attempt to break the torturous silence, but Pinkie beat me to it.
"Why is everypony so quiet? I thought it was a great story!" The crowd of ponies suddenly shifted their stares from me to Pinkie, who instantly lost the blatant smile that dominated her face. "What, was it something I said?"
Twilight finally spoke up. "The place that you were talking about, the place you came from... It sounds similar to a place I've been to... but, why are you here? And the way you came down... it just doesn't make any sense..."
"I don't know! How am I supposed to know? I don't even know how I got here! What do you mean came down?"
"Ooooooooh, I know!" Pinkie began skipping towards me gleefully. "You were a meteor, and you crashed down right in the middle of Ponyville! Nearly gave the entire town a heart attack!" As she said the last words, she suddenly took a great bound towards me, putting her face less than an inch away from mine. But a second later, she suddenly became encased by a pink aura, and soon she floated back to her starting place. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"Pinkie Pie, you really need to learn when to shut up." If I wasn't so distraught at the moment I probably would've laughed.
"Wait, I was a meteor? But then how did I-... look, I need to find out what happened. What I'm doing here. I don't know how but... I just have to."
Twilight nodded. "It's okay. Hopefully the Princesses will be able to help you."
My heart skipped a beat. "The Princesses?"
Applejack spoke up for the first time. "Well, you did cause a giant crater in the middle of Ponyville. Seems kinda' obvious to me that the Princesses would take interest."
Spike spoke up, too. "That and Twilight sent a letter to them telling them what happened."
My stomach started turning over on itself. I could feel sweat beginning to drip down my face. The Princesses. Oh dear Celestia, no. I mean sure, I'd always wanted to meet them, especially Luna, but not like this. I was a pseudo-deity that fell from the freaking sky. Something like that is hard to not perceive as a threat. Sure, they were nice and gentle in the show (for the most part), but this was real. (well, at least it felt real). Equestria's criminal justice system had never really been exploited in the show, at least to my knowledge, except for maybe banishment to the Everfree Forest or, absolute worst-case scenario, Tartarus. Was I going to end up being Tirek's cellmate? Existing as a criminal under constant guard by a giant three-headed dog?
No, no way. The Princesses would probably be suspicious, maybe even spiteful, sure, but they wouldn't lock me up in the pony equivalent of hell, would they? Of course not. I tried to calm down, but the thought of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna traveling to Ponyville to see me kept my blood pressure far above what I was sure it was supposed to be.
"Darling? Are you... alright?" I was kind of thankful that Rarity cared that I was possibly about to have a stroke, but I didn't look at her, I looked at Twilight.
"What... what do you think they'll say?"
She just looked at the ground and shrugged. "I don't know."
After that the talking was pretty much over. Some of the ponies from the crowd dissipated, but a grand majority stayed. I could only assume they looked forward to watching the Princesses visit their hometown to check out the mysterious, supposedly all-powerful dork that had crash-landed in their front yard. Even though I was obviously an alicorn, I didn't feel powerful. I just felt sick to my stomach.
After a few more minutes of staring at the sky in the direction of Canterlot (which was just barely visible in the distance, latched onto the side of a mountain), I finally began to make something out in the distance. I decided to not even try and kid myself. I could've tried to tell myself that it was a bird or some magical flying creature, but I knew it was a royal chariot, likely pulled by a team of muscular pegasus guard ponies. And sitting in the chariot would be the unchallenged rulers of Equestria themselves. And they would be arriving in mere moments.
When the chariot finally touched down, I could see it was made of gold and painted wood, pulled by a team of six burly pegasi, all with light brown coats, blue hair, and decorated with royal guard armor. But I was much more focused on the Princesses themselves, and they were a lot to take in.
They both stretched out their wings and hovered out of the chariot in perfect sync, and then proceeded to land gracefully in the ground in front of me.
Celestia was just as tall as I was, maybe even taller, and the daylight radiated over every inch of her cream colored coat. Her hair a pulsating rainbow of blue, green, and pink. Her eyes were a friendly shade of pink, but radiated wisdom and power. She had been alive for thousands of years, and it definitely felt like it. Her grand wings graced either side of her body, and her prominent horn stretched proudly into the sky. Her cutie mark was a brilliant sun that seemingly emanated warmth around her. But what shocked me the most was that her face showed no emotion, no surprise. Twilight hadn't known I was an alicorn when she had sent Celestia that message because I was covered in charred dirt. There was no way Celestia knew before now, but if she was the least bit surprised, she didn't show it.
Luna was a completely different story from her sister. Her expression sent me a crystal-clear message: don't test me. She wasn't quite as tall as her sister, but at that moment it felt like she was taking up half the universe all by herself. Her coat was a sleek, dark indigo color that contrasted shockingly from the bright daylight, and her hair was a pulsating mass of dark blue, twinkling like the night sky. A prominent crescent moon cutie mark graced her flank, and the fur around it was just as dark as my pitch-black LED-powered hair. She radiated mystery and power, and, even with the unnerving glare she was hammering me with, was easily the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on.
They were both decorated in regalia, and were as grand as life itself. I stared at them until Celestia finally spoke.
"Who are you?"
"I-Ivan..."
Celestia paused for a moment, then a small smile appeared on her lips. "Well, Ivan. We-"
"Why are you here," Luna interjected. Her tone was full of authority. I gulped.
"Your guess is as good as mine..." She glared at me venomously. I could feel myself shrinking back. "Well, what I meant to say is... I don't know. Apparently I fell as a meteor or something and then... here I am?"
My answer sounded lame even to me. I could hear the still-gathered crowd murmuring in the background. I just watched the two sisters. They exchanged a look with each other and nodded. Then they proceeded to look back at me and Celestia spoke again. "We need you to come to Canterlot with us."
My jaw fell slack. I couldn't believe what was happening. Luna raised an eyebrow. "well?"
"...Alright," was all I could manage. Man, was I a smoothtalker, or what?
Celestia and Luna both turned around and began walking back towards the chariot. I followed, being sure to keep a good ten feet between us. They stopped right as they reached it and turned back to eyeball me. It took me a few moments to realize they wanted me to get on first. I turned to Twilight unwittingly, not knowing how to react. She just gave me a reassuring look and nodded. I nodded back, then proceeded to hover up off the ground and get into the back of the chariot. Celestia and Luna followed after, signaled the guards, and we took off.
Soon we were out of Ponyville and soaring freely towards Canterlot. The guards were flying surprisingly fast, and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the ride. The wind rippled my mane and streamed against my horn. If the rulers of Equestria weren't sitting three feet in front of me, I probably would've thrown my front legs up and wooped for joy.
Although I enjoyed the ride, I couldn't help but notice that Luna would look back at me every few minutes. The only reason I probably noticed this was because of the fact that I kept staring at her like an idiot (what, she was hot!), but it didn't exactly make me feel more comfortable.
After about twenty minutes in the air, we finally began closing in on Canterlot. And wow, was it something. It was literally a city-sized castle chilling on the side of a cliff. Castle spires rose up out the ground, and a river flowed the length of it and fell off the side as a majestic waterfall. It was even better looking in real life than it was on the show, and we were heading straight for it.
We landed in front of what was easily the largest tower in the city. The royal chambers, maybe? Celestia and Luna stepped out of the chariot and turned to me.
"My sister and I have something to do. Wait here," Celestia commanded. I nodded.
They both turned their backs to me and began walking towards two large ornate statues; one of the sun and one of a crescent moon. They took their positions underneath said statues as their horns began to glow. They unfurled their wings and began rising up towards the sky.
My heartbeat accelerated. Was I actually getting to see the transition between day and night? Like clockwork, the sun began to lower itself, turning the sky from bright blue to orange to red, until the sun eventually slipped below the horizon. At the exact same time, the moon began to rise, and stars began to dot the darkening sky. Although the moon rising was beyond beautiful, the stars were what really took my breath away. I was even able to make out constellations (most of them ponies, if you can believe it). But then I froze. My eyes were locked on a clumsy, seemingly meaningless patch of stars. I don't know what it was about them. They seemed... almost right, but not quite. Maybe if I could fix them...
It was about that time that I felt a previously unknown muscle flexed somewhere inside of me. A sound that reminded me somewhat of a pipe flute droned in my ears. Then, before my eyes, the stars within my sight began to move. Groggily, slowly, but they did. I told them where to go, willed them to their new positions in the sky. Then, right as that mysterious muscle began to ache, it was done. I looked back down to see that the Princesses had finished their jobs, and that they were both staring at me, completely dumbfounded. Uh, oh. Unbelievably, inconceivably, I had messed up again. Or had I?
Luna stepped forward and walked towards me until she was only three feet away. I realized that I was now standing on the ground instead of in the chariot. How did that happen? Luna stared at me for a moment, her expression no longer judgmental, just awestruck. She looked up, as did I, to a brand-new constellation; a constellation of Luna herself. We looked back down at each other, and Luna finally said something.
"How?"
I felt a huge idiotic smile cross my face.
"What, you're not going to thank me?"