The Eternal Bodyguard
By LukasAngelis
Chapter 1: My New Life
Dear Diary, Journal, (whatever): 6/20/1000
Five Years.
It has been five years since I have come to Equestria. Five years of waiting to go home, five years of looking over this little filly grow into quite the young mare. It's finally time for the day to arrive. The one thousandth Summer Sun Celebration. When Nightmare Moon comes and we finally go to Ponyville. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, I guess since this is such a momentous occasion I should start from the beginning.
I still don’t fully remember what happened to bring me to this magical land. But I guess it doesn’t matter; all that should matter is how and when I get back. I've always been one of those guys in the background. It doesn't help that I was a security guard, you know, one of those guys that most people tend to ignore unless they're getting in your way. That was me. I know I was good at my job, or at least good enough to get a couple of personal security guard jobs. I guess one could even consider me a bodyguard on some contracts. Though I did have more experience with just general security.
I think I had a moderate life, I was still young, mid-twenties, in decent shape, not too tall, not too short, and had a steady and decent income. The only thing that I didn't really like was that I didn't get to see my kid enough, I had a son from a previous marriage, and when that ended, so did most of my time with my son. I loved him more than anything as any good parent should. I just miss him so much, I wish... ah never mind what I wish for anymore. Anything I wish, I've wished a thousand, if not a million times before.
Anyway, I do (or at least did) consider myself quite the Brony. I very much enjoyed the show of My Little Pony. I figured I had seen every episode almost half a dozen times each (at least until the season 5 break). Read quite a few fanfictions, watched a lot on YouTube. Never thought much about it. I just grew to love most of the characters.
All I remember of that now infamous night, was it was a normal night of pizza and soda and a TV binge. I had a long and boring day at work that day and was looking forward to just vegging out for the first night of my three day weekend. I remember being so exhausted after coming home that I didn't even take my shoes off or even empty my pockets. I figured if they bugged me enough, they would find a way to handle themselves.
I was relaxing in my comfy recliner and rewatching an episode of MLP on Netflix. While I can't remember the names of the episodes anymore, I do remember it was the one where Fluttershy was watching Princess Celestia's pet phoenix. Not my favorite episode but it has it's moments. I like to have it playing in the background just to have something to fall asleep to. Anyway I had fallen asleep and don't remember anything else. Next thing I know I'm landing on my back onto a marble floor, hard. I can easily say that is not the most pleasant way to wake up.
I got the wind knocked out of me so I open my eyes and start gasping for breath. Once I actually recovered, I got up to wonder just where I was. I could tell it was daytime and I was in a big hall. Something was definitely not right. Something about the castle seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. Firstly, I would like to say that one of the things I like to pride myself on is the ability I have to handle whatever someone throws at me. In other words, I don't lose my bearing easily, and it is quite hard to fluster me. I felt I had to take inventory to make sure I was all there and what I had: head was there, two arms, ten fingers, two legs, two feet, everything seemed in place. Clothes: one white T-shirt, one pair of blue jeans pants, pair of socks, pair of white and black running shoes, wallet, keys, and MP3 Player with headphones. So everything I had when I went to sleep was still there... interesting. After that assessment I decided to explore my surroundings, maybe find someone to help me.
I could mostly tell this wasn't a dream, since that landing pretty much disproved that. And I highly doubt someone could sneak into my apartment, drug me and drag me... somewhere. So that left me with... no logical explanation, not enough information even for an illogical one.
At any rate, I had been searching for a couple of minutes and had found not much of anyone. All I had was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind like I should know where I am.
As I'm walking along I hear voices from around a corner, as I look around the corner to see where they originate from, all of a sudden everything goes black.
As I struggle to regain consciousness, I feel like I can't move a muscle. I hear multiple voices talking around me.
"Princess, we found this creature sneaking around the halls, he looked dangerous so we felt it was necessary to subdue him."
"Honestly I don't see what is so dangerous about him, I must say his size and shape are a tad unusual but I wouldn't just go accusing him for something like that"
At that voice, I knew something had to be wrong in my head. I clearly recognized that voice, but I knew that was impossible, this had to be a coincidence, or just some really vivid dream, there was no possible way that this was actually-
"Princess Celestia, what do you want us to do with the prisoner? Should we take him to the cells until he wakes up?"
"Princess Celestia???" I had mumbled.
"It appears our young friend here is waking up anyway. So you may go stand guard outside the door."
I heard the guards respond fervently, "Your highness, shouldn’t we stay in case he causes some trouble? He could be dangerous."
I opened my eyes but still couldn't really move, all I could see was the ceiling of an enormous, what I guessed was a throne room.
"I believe I can handle it," I heard her give a small giggle. "You're dismissed."
I heard clanging and clopping as the guards went back to their rounds. As they were leaving, it was getting easier to move again. As soon as I could I slowly stood up. I was still groggy but my vision was clearing.
I couldn't believe my eyes, on the show the castle was always majestic but that's nothing to seeing it in person. My eyes couldn't hold still as it took in the amazing architecture, the awe inspiring stained glass and the enormous... everything in this grand room. All around I looked until my eyes settled on the six foot (six and a half if you add the horn) alicorn princess.
The princess, in all her splendor, was as always a courteous host. "Hello, my name is Princess Celestia, what is your name?"
Again I find myself quite hard to fluster, but this was pushing even me to a kind of breaking point already. "My name is Lukas Jackson. With all due respect Princess, how in your name did I get here?"
The smile from Celestia's face seemed to vanish, "Excuse me? I honestly don't know what you are doing here. My guards found you, as they say, sneaking around the castle. In fact, I was going to ask you the same question."
"I don’t know how I'm here. All I know was I was asleep in my apartment, then all of a sudden, I'm here. Then, I go to see where I am and someone knocked me out. That's all I know."
"That is very unusual. Where exactly are you from?"
"I'm from Dallas, Texas, in America. Planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. I can't really give any more info than that, though I wish I could."
"You must be very confused about where you are, you are in my kingdom of Equestria, in the city of Canterlot."
"Believe it or not, I actually know where I am."
"You do? It is quite strange for a human to know this place is. And even less to be as level headed as you seem to be."
"Wait, you know what I am? How do you know I'm human?"
"I'll tell you what, you must be exhausted. Why don't I order you a room so you can rest and get some more time to gather your thoughts.
"Then you can join me for dinner tonight and we can discuss your dilemma."
Being that I was jostled out of sleep, and thrown into a world I didn’t even believe existed an hour ago I had to agree with the princess. I sat down on some steps to try and gather my thoughts while she ordered a guard to ready a room. I was then led by what seemed to be a very wary four foot tall guard earth pony to my room. I found the bed which seemed to have been either adjusted for my size or brought in that is normally for one of their larger guests. The room had reminded me of the episode which Rarity had stayed at the castle, it kind of looked like that. While I still was 99% sure this wasn't a dream, this seemed to be way too lucid and vivid than anything I could possibly imagine.
I was so out of it and confused by my whole situation that as soon as the guard left and shut the door, I plopped on the bed and just crashed.
After about two hours of sleeping, I woke and just laid there. I was feeling a bit calmer and a lot less tired, but still didn't want to get up just yet, so I just looked up at the ceiling and did what I always did, analyze my position. Here I was, in a place Bronys only dream of going, and this appeared to be fully real. I can find out so much of what really happens here that it’s a dream come true. On the other hand, if I am really here, now my son is effectively fatherless, not to mention my work and my friends, all two of them, will be wondering where I am.
After thoughts for both pro and con were rushing in and out of my head for at least ten minutes, I just stopped and realized that there is no point in worrying about this kind of thing if Princess Celestia can just send me back home like that.
I heard a guard knock on the door about an hour after me waking up saying that Princess Celestia was inviting me for dinner. I told him to give me a moment to get up and ready.
Let me just say that toilets in Equestria take a little bit to figure out.
I went down to meet the princess, following the pegasus guard because I knew I would get lost otherwise, and felt like having a conversation.
"So what is your name?"
"Excuse me?"
"My name is Lukas. What is your name?"
"Wind Waker."
"How long have you been a guard?"
"Two years. Are you going to be asking a lot of questions?"
"I just figured I'd be friendly, since I have no idea how long I'm going to be here for."
"Whatever."
We made our way to the private dining room of Princess Celestia where I sat down at what looked like a miniature feast, all looked delicious, and some I might actually able to consume. I was curious as to where the princess was at the moment.
I guess I expected her to be announced or something, so I just sat there looking around waiting. For being a private room, it still looked magnificent, I guess the builders wanted every last brick in this place to look as regal and elegant as possible. I wish I could describe better what I saw, but there was just so much even in that (relatively) small room, that I wouldn't even know where to begin.
As I was admiring the silverware, I was a tad startled to hear the princess's voice as she entered the room, and as I heard it I bolted to standing as if I was in trouble "I apologize for not being here when you arrived, I had a long running meeting." She stopped with a surprised look on her face, then gave a small chuckle, "You don't have to be so nervous; you can relax."
"Thank you Princess, I just thought to somepony of your esteem, I should at least be courteous and respectful. "
"And thank you in return, but please feel free to speak openly and candidly."
"Thank you again, I must say this food looks amazing. I wouldn't think you would have any kind of meat at all, you know since you are herbivores."
"We are, but we get omnivore and even some carnivores as ambassadors every so often, so we have to be able to treat them as they would hope to treat us as well, and since I know humans are omnivores that maybe you wouldn't like some of the foods we have here. Please eat, we have much to discuss."
"Yes Princess."
"Now first, I must ask again, do you have any idea now of how you got here? And how exactly do you know of this place? I've never known anypony outside our world, especially a human, that knows of Equestria."
"First of all, I still have no idea how I got here. I've thought about it for the past few hours, and I haven't come up with anything. As for your second question it might be a bit complicated."
I spent the next half hour eating and explaining to her that in my world, their world was simply a TV show that I enjoyed watching. And that their world was, or so I thought, just made up in some woman's head. Since I still didn't know when I was in the timeline; I tried not getting into any specifics, like the adventures of twilight and her friends. I simply mentioned she Celestia herself was on it.
"That's incredible, so you know every major event that is going to occur?"
"I don't really know. To know what I know, I'd have to know when I am. How is Twilight Sparkle?"
"Twilight? My new protégé?"
"New protégé?"
"Yes, Twilight just became my student, along with getting her very own cutie mark. I know I'm going to be very proud of her in years to come."
This blew my mind, I couldn't believe I was so far back in the timeline. There was no way I'd ever see any of the events from the show. Oh well, I thought."
"Princess, sorry to change subjects so abruptly, but do you know of any way at all that I can get home?"
"Oh, transporting you back home? Hmm... Well, I can't do it right now, but it is possible that there is a spell in the library that may be able to return you. I have a spell for transferring a pony, but transferring a pony and transporting a human is bit of a different spell, but I'm almost sure that one exists somewhere in the library"
"That's good news, I guess. But as much as I would love to see this place and learn what I can, I really would like to get home."
"The major issue would be finding the world that you are from. There are almost countless worlds, and in all my years, even I have only seen a handful of human world. and never have I taken somepony from them."
"So...how long could this take?"
"…Assuming that we can find the spell, which in itself could take several weeks. As busy as I am, and that I am the only pony powerful enough to help you, it could take weeks or... even months to find the correct world. And I hate to say, but that's assuming the best."
"WHAT!?!? What do you mean MONTHS!? I have to get home! I have a job! I have a SON I need to get back to!"
"I understand the frustration that you must be feeling-"
"NO, this isn't frustration! This is sadness! This is anger! I was hoping I'd only be here a couple days, not weeks, and certainly not months! What am I supposed to do for months being here?"
"I apologize for the news I have given you, But I can assure you that if we can find that spell, I will try my best to get you home. As for what you are supposed to do, we can support you at the castle and you can stay in that room as long as you are here."
"I just can't believe this, I can't believe I won't be able to see my son." I was feeling like I was starting to cry. " I won't even have a job by the time I get back. What about my son? What about... I think I need to go back to bed." I stood up from the table and started to leave the room. Celestia asked the guard to escort me back, but she also stopped me.
"Lukas, just please promise me you are not going to do anything drastic. I'd hate for only sadness to come from you being brought here."
"Just.. fine, nothing bad will happen. I promise." And I stormed out of the room. I knew what she meant, she was hoping I wouldn't like jump out of the window or choke myself with my shoelaces or something like that. And while her concern was endearing, it was also unnecessary. I am not the kind of person to hurt themselves like that, even if all hope had seemed lost. It was just a lot to take in over such a short period of time. Besides if I did end up killing myself, then my chances of going home go from ~10% to 0%. So it would be kind of pointless.
I got back to my room and before the guard left I asked for a glass and pitcher of water. I thanked him, and wished him good night. I sat in my room for a few hours thinking about my situation.
After calming down, I remembered and realized that no good would come from me worrying about not being able to go home, even if I hated the fact that I am trapped here. I couldn't do anything about it so I need to take advantage of what I have. I needed to have a plan if I wasn't going to die of boredom in this room waiting for some hope to come through. I went to bed hoping that I could come up with something in my sleep.
In the morning I got up early to see Celestia's sunrise for myself. And I must say, I have, only a handful of times in my whole life, seen a better sunrise, it was simply magnificent. When I saw that sunrise, I knew that things could still look up, I just have to play my cards right. I was served breakfast in my room, scrambled eggs and toast. And as I ate I started forming a plan. I needed a job here, both because I hated being a mooch, and I needed a sense of purpose. Unfortunately, I knew being a human would greatly hinder my ability to find work. I also knew that while I had knowledge in quite a few subjects, my job skills in most things were limited at best. All I had pretty much known for the last seven years was guarding. I guessed I could try and be a castle guard, but something about that seemed... off. It would be cool, but I knew I could think of something better.
Being a Canterlot guard for months might be fun, of course it also might be boring. From what I knew of the show, The guard's job goes from incredibly dull to life shatteringly terrifying in the span of a day. If there was only another way to be able to guard someone, and maybe not be shocked by every major thing that happens.
That's when it hit me, what if I was Twilight's guard, her own bodyguard? That way, I could help keep someone safe, still be doing my job, and I would get to "hang" with the future princess of friendship, just in case I really was stuck here. Win/win I thought. Of course I knew it wouldn't be that easy, why would someone put me in charge of guarding Twilight when they don't anything at all about me. I would just have to join the guard first and work my way to that. All there really was to do was convince Celestia.
After breakfast, I tried to some of my normal morning routine, mostly exercise. too bad the room wasn't really big enough for me to run around in. All I could really do was some pushups and sit-ups. but it gave me time to think out the details of my plan that I would tell the princess of the sun.
After cleaning up again, I asked the guard outside my room if I could have an audience with the princess, he left and came back in about five minutes. He then escorted me back to the princess whom was back in her main chamber.
"The guard has told me you wanted to see me about something?"
"Yes, your highness. After giving it some major thought I feel I need to decline your offer for free room and board at the castle."
"I'm not sure I understand. How else will you be able to survive in Canterlot? You would need bits for food and shelter. How exactly do you propose to do that?"
"As I said Princess, I have given it much thought. And after thinking it over, I was hoping, with your divine permission, that I could join your royal guard here in Canterlot."
"You want to be in the royal guard? May I ask why?"
"Ma'am, I just figure it would be the closest to the job I had before, and in case somebody finds the spell to send me home, I'm right there and ready to go. Not to mention I have both MP training from the army and security training with one of the best corporations where I'm from. So while I would need some specified and refresher training, it would be simpler than bringing on someone fresh."
"While that is true, I'm just unsure of how the rest of the guard will act toward a human guarding alongside them."
"I'm willing to give it a shot if you are your highness, and I will prove myself to whomever I need to to show that I can do this job."
Princess Celestia grew silent in thought for a few minutes, I could see that she was both weighing the options and seeing if I had some kind of ulterior motive. "I will have to discuss this with the Captain of the Guard and see what he says. Until then, I would ask you to stay inside the castle grounds. I should be able to have an answer by tonight."
"Thank you princess." I said as I was dismissed.
I left the throne room and returned to my room, I spent a couple hours resting and relaxing. I explored the grounds a tad bit (always watching my back so I didn't draw too many eyes) and found myself in the guard training grounds. It had a weapon field (looked mostly for spears, javalins and archery), a track, a sky track for the pegasi, and more areas for different types of training that I couldn't even come close to identifying.
I went back to my room after grabbing a bite of fruit to eat. It was quite still in my room, from my window as the sun was setting I could have sworn I could see Ponyville, or at least the town hall. I just wondered when and if I would be able to see it anytime soon.
I got a message around 7:00 to go see the princess once more. I went back to the throne room once again a lot more nervous than I had been in a long time. And a lot more nervous than I think I should have been. As I approached Princess Celestia, I saw that there was a unicorn with her in what looked like high military garb.
"You requested to see me Princess?"
"Yes Lukas, I have spoken about our situation and your solution in to Captain Bronze Star for the last few hours. And while he seems a tad reluctant to let somepony in his ranks that's not actually a pony, he is willing to give you a chance."
Whom I had guessed was Captain Bronze Star spoke up,"Listen here son, I don't know what you think you can add to my guard, but my ponies are the best trained in all of Equestria. I don't know what kind of training you think you have from wherever you come from, but from your build I can already tell you ain't got the guff to stand in this regiment."
"We'll see about that, good sir." I said trying my best to be confident and keep to my plan.
While I will go into greater detail (maybe) of my trials and tribulations of the last five years later, I will give the gist next time I write. We have a party to go to tomorrow. The party of one unicorn named Moondancer.
Signed as Always, Lukas Jackson
Author's Note
If Lukas' reaction seems a bit odd, just remember that his account may not be exactly what happened, just how he chose to remember it.
Chap 2: Welcome to Ponyville
The Eternal Bodyguard
By LukasAngelis
Chapter 2: The Summer Sun Festival: Year 1000
Dear Diary: 6/21/1000
It's finally here, the thing I've been waiting for for five years. The apparent start of the show's timeline. A lot has happened in that time since I came here, I won't go into great detail, we have to leave for Moondancer's party soon, and I know Twilight will be looking into the Mare in the Moon legend that kick starts everything. I will try to give the highlights in this updated journal.
The first few months were difficult, not because of all the training and trying to get into the guard. That was easy, only took me two weeks to pass the physical exam, laughed when I passed; mostly because Captain Iron Cross figured I would never pass it after my first failure. He had to buy me dinner after that.
No, the hard part was two things. The food and the disease. Had to find a regular way to get my protein without meat; life with vegetarians. Got bored of beans really quickly. Though I must admit, Donut Joe's is a fantastic sweet shop.
But the disease was the worst. At first, I was fine, then two months after getting here, it was like I was bombarded with five or even ten different diseases at the same time. I felt like I was going to die. Luckily Celestia and their doctors were able to help me. I don't even remember what diseases I had. The really, really weird thing after all that was, I haven't been sick since then. Not even the slightest cold in four and a half years. Damn Equestrian bacteria.
It's sometimes truly incredible how things work out in your favor. My plan to become Twilight's bodyguard didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. Only took two years and some damn convenient plot devices. Haha. Like in those two years I saved Twilight's life twice, prevented her from being kidnapped three times, once directly and twice stopping plots to do so.And wouldn't you know it, but who got in the same classes as me but the one and only Shining Armor. I'm not sure if it was Divine Providence, or Celestia knew more than she was letting on. Which I guess would still be Divine Providence in a way.
Shining Armor and I became quite good friends, best friends actually. We had classes together and sort of became rivals, I don't know if he liked me at first, but eventually it became more of a friendly competition that evolved into friendship. We pushed each other our hardest and traded top spots in the class constantly. We got the same assignment in Canterlot for a few months. We had shifts together, and when things got slow, we talked about just about everything. She even introduced me to Princess Cadence, and we also became good friends. He got reassigned after a year, but we still wrote and saw each other.
Anyway, because of my encounters with saving Twilight, the awards I got for my achievements, and my friendship with Shining, when my reassignment came up. I was able to choose my own assignment. I personally requested from Princess Celestia to be Twilight's bodyguard, with an amazing endorsement from Shining Armor, and a reluctant endorsement from Iron Cross (he never did learn to like me, haha), Princess Celestia allowed it.
Twilight had met me before through Shining, but was her usual self. Or at least, pre-show self. Studying and antisocial. The only ponies she was warm to was her brother, Cadence and, of course, Celestia. It was such a switch to see Twilight as she was before the show when I only remembered her from afterward.
It took quite a few months for her to become sociable toward me, some because of her personality, some because she was taking care of Spike, partially because I was human, but mostly because of her studying classes.
After a while, I connected to Twilight by becoming more than just a bodyguard. I effectively became her caretaker. I guarded her, taught her and helped her with many things. I tried not to take Spike's future job, but I also needed her to trust me. Which after three years of doing the job, I'd say she trusts me more than anyone outside of her family with the exception of Princess Celestia, Cadence and Spike.
I had agreed to the job and was able to have one day off a week. for security reasons, I tried never to have the same day multiple weeks in a row. On those days, my weekends off went from days studying, to days traveling across Equestria, usually Ponyville if not in Canterlot. Spending a few hours with Shining Armor when he was in town. And also nights of drinking.
I was able to commission a very special broadsword from the Canterlot blacksmiths. I wanted a weapon for the upcoming battles I knew were to come in a few years. It was made with unicorn magic to make and keep it as hard and sharp as possible, though it wouldn't have any magic left in it. I was able to etch all along the sword runes that I had found in my studies. These runes would protect it, and hopefully me, from magic, good, bad and neutral. I also carried with me a kind of Bowie knife just in case. I would hope that I would never have to use either of these on anyone. And I have yet to use them for anything short of detainment in all the time I had been here. Thankfully.
I find it very sad that I am still here. At first, I tried to get a hold of Celestia once a week or so to see how progress was going with trying to send me home. Every single week came back with nothing. After six months I started to ask less frequently. I got homesick quite often at the time and once or twice had quite a bout of depression, luckily Celestia, Shining Armor and Cadence were able to help me out of my hole. After one and a half years. I finally received news that she had found the spell to teleport a nonmagical being across worlds. I was so excited; I figured that my way home was already paved. I wish that were the case. Celestia had been searching for my home for all that time, but to no avail.
After all my time of being her bodyguard, I just have one thing to say really. Thank the maker for both having my mp3 player and being able to magically recharge it. Because it is incredibly boring about 50% of the time, especially when she is in class and I have to wait or nap outside.
I should probably wrap up right now, We are at the park and have to get going soon.
So until I write again, I don't know when that will be, may the maker guide me home.
Lukas Jackson
Lukas closed his diary and looked about the Canterlot private library. Twilight had been studying what looked like a book of legends. Lukas kept looking at his watch, as he was prone to do, thinking that maybe they should leave for the party of Moon Dancer's that Lemon Hearts had invited her too.
All of a sudden, Twilight closed the book she was reading. She looked up at her caretaker. "Lukas"
"What is it Twilight?"
"I've been reading this legend of the two sisters story, and I was wondering how much you know about it."
"Well, Twilight, I'm not sure how much more I know than that book you're reading. The long and the short of it is, the moon princess got jealous of the sun princess, tried to take over, and got banished by the sun princess to the Moon with the Elements of Harmony. The image we see in the moon today became part of that legend to become the Mare in the Moon legend. But again, that's a really blunt version."
"Wait, the Mare in the Moon? I think I've heard that name before. What is that legend?"
Lukas sighed, "I don't know when it was written, and I don't know who wrote it. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of those end of Equus stories that come out every few years. I've never put much faith in any of those, and I think most ponies have forgotten this story even exists. But the story pretty much says that Nightmare Moon declared that on the dawn of the longest day of the thousandth year of her imprisonment she would return and, I guess, take over all of Equestria. Or maybe all of Equus, I don't fully remember."
"When would that be though?"
"I figure since this is the year 1000, and I don't really know the reasoning for the restarting of counting the years, I'd guess that it probably means this year. Or more specifically, the day after tomorrow."
Spike had come through the door with the present that Twilight was supposed to give to Moon Dancer.
"What! Nightmare Moon is coming back in two days, and nothing has been done to prepare for it?!"
"Uh, the story is considered an Ole mare's tale. Like I said, most ponies don't even know the story exists."
"Still I think Princess Celestia should be made aware of this. SPIKE!"
Spike put down the present and hurried over,"Yes, Twilight?"
"I need you to take a letter to send to Princess Celestia, telling her about Nightmare Moon."
"Okay... Ready."
"My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster!"
"Preci.. Pre."
Lukas chimed in, "Just use edge, Spike. I'm telling you Twilight; this is a waste of time."
"Okay, edge."
Twilight gave a glare at Lukas, "Continuing. For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is, in fact, Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
"Twilight, even if Princess Celestia read and responds to your letter, what do you really think she's going to do about it? Have extra guard detail? Cancel the celebration and go into hiding?"
"I think Lukas is right Twilight; I think that the Princess is going to be too busy to respond."
"I don't care, send it anyway Spike. Lukas, this could affect all of Equestria if it turns out to be true. I think that Princess Celestia would be concerned if she knew about this epidemic that possibly could occur. Spike, send the letter."
Spike held the scroll in his claw and teleported it away with his fire.
Lukas shook his head in his hand, "Twilight, even if she responds, I don't know if you are going to like the response.
All of a sudden Spike coughed up and spewed the scrolled response from the benevolent Princess.
"See? I knew she would want to take immediate action." Twilight said as she saw the letter.
Spike unrolled the letter and cleared his throat as he began to read, "My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books."
"WHAT!!!"
"Haha, I told you Twilight. "
Spike cut in, "There's still more Twilight. 'My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends."
"FRIENDS?! Why does she expect me to make friends in Ponyville when there is such a major potential disaster on the rise?"
"Like I and Celestia and your brother have been telling you for years Twilight, you need friends outside of those you read in books."
Twilight looked like Lukas had said she was being sent back to magic kindergarten. She felt as if everything she knew just fell apart. How could both her mentor and her guardian be acting as if it was an ordinary day when it could very well be the start of some sort of apocalypse? Her mind couldn't figure out this turn of events, but then she also had something else to worry about, as unimportant as it seemed.
"So what then? We go to Ponyville to help set up immediately?"
Lukas felt a need to correct,"Normally yes. But we do still have the business of Moon Dancer's party to attend to first. "
"But Lukas, this was a direct proclamation and order from Princess Celestia, she told us to go; that means we need to get going and get on this."
"And as I said, typically I'd agree with you, but you made a promise, even if it was an off-hand one, to go to Moon Dancer's party and I intend to have you keep that promise. "
"That party is of no never mind Lukas, Princess Celestia gave both you and me, an order, and we have to abide by it."
"You leave that to me; I will simply explain to the princess it was my doing, that way you will get into the least amount of trouble. And I won’t have any more of this; it is the end of discussion.”
“But, Lukas-”
“No, buts, Twilight Sparkle Shine. We are going to that party, then to Ponyville. Now move it young filly.” Lukas said in his most stern voice.
Twilight hated when he used her full name, and when he called her a filly even though she knew he usually used it as a term of endearment for her, ever since she knew him. But she also knew there was no use arguing with him when he was this way. “Fine, but let’s hurry.”
Twilight, Lukas, and Spike all left to Moon Dancer’s party. Twilight may have been physically there, but she seemed to act as unsociable as possible. She barely talked to her friends; she kept looking at the clock. Lukas saw that she was acting extremely unfriendly and thought to himself how much of a shame it was that she didn’t seem to want anything to do with these nice ponies.
After half an hour of being at the party, Twilight pulled Lukas away from the party,“Can we go now? We’ve been here long enough. We need to get on my assignment from the Princess.”
“Of course Twilight. I don’t know what is with you today. Your acting like I’m your enemy here.” The three of them left walking together to meet up with the chariot at the transport station.
“I’m acting this way because the fate of Equestria, maybe even all of Equus may be in trouble, and I seem to be the only one that cares.” The three of them made it to the chariot, “It just seems like the world is against me. So, sorry for being a bit temperamental!" She said with sarcastic frustration.
Lukas hesitated from the chariot for a bit. Twilight noticed,” What’s wrong Lukas, scared of flying?”
“To be honest, my little filly, it's not the flying that scares me, it’s the crash after the fall that does. And with all due respect, this transport doesn’t seem all that safe with no restraints at all.”
“Don’t be silly; you know the magic will keep you in.”
“Well I’m sorry, forgive me for not trusting the magic to hold me in, when your own magic seems to have little to no effect on me at all. “
“I’ve told you dozens of times; I don’t know why my magic doesn't seem to affect you.”
“Maybe it has to do with all the times you used it on me, I’ve grown something of an immunity.” Lukas considered as he edged into the chariot to sit down.
“I don’t know Lukas. All I know is we need to get to Ponyville; we’re already late and we need to get the Summer Sun Celebration set up speedily.”
The chariot whisked off into the air swiftly. Lukas held on to the side of the craft for dear life as Twilight and Spike argued back and forth about the letter from Celestia and about how the Princess told Twilight to make some friends.
After about an hour of what Lukas thought was a bumpy ride (so much so that he almost lost his lunch), the chariot landed in Ponyville. Lukas had been there a couple of times on his days off. It’s just usually he took the train to get there. The three of them got off of the chariot, and it took off returning to Canterlot.
"I've been meaning to ask you Lukas, why do you have your swords with you?" Spike asked cautiously. "You're not expecting anything dangerous, are you?" He added as he inched closer to Twilight and Lukas.
"No, I'm not Spike. I've been to Ponyville before, and it's one of the safest towns in all of Equestria. But that doesn't mean that there isn't going to be danger. And trouble doesn't exactly give advance notice to when it's going to happen. So what's first on the agenda for the celebration?"
Spike responded, "Uh, first thing on the checklist is the food. So we would be heading to Sweet Apple Acres. We would be meeting with an earth pony named Applejack."
The three walked the path to Sweet Apple Acres. Lukas meanwhile was a bit preoccupied feeling like something that should have happened, didn't. But let that feeling pass.
As the farm came into view, Lukas spoke up,"Now Twilight, I don't want to have to tell you that you need to be on good behavior."
"Why would you need to tell me something like that? You always tell me how good and respectful I am."
"Yes, but I also know that this is a different kind of culture than you're used to. And I know how stubborn you can be about accepting new things that seem odd to you."
Twilight just sneered at Lukas after he said that. The three came to the barn and main house, a tan pony saw them and walked up to them, the mare noticed Lukas first both because he's a human and because she knew him.
"Well, howdy Sugarcube. We haven't seen you around these parts in months. What brings ya'll about today?"
"Good morning Miss Applejack. First of all, the apples seem to be doing great this year, and so are you, haha. Second, let me introduce you to Miss Twilight Sparkle and the young Drake Spike. Twilight, Spike, this is Applejack. Current manager of Sweet Apple Acres."
"Well nice to meet you Miss Twilight and Spike. It's always nice to make new friends. Me an' Lukas have been friends for a couple months an' any friend of Lukas's is a friend of the Apple family."
Twilight started, "Wait, friends? We're here to make sure the food preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration are coming along and will be ready."
"Well shoot, everythin's going smoother than a sanded 2 by 4. Would you care to see how the foods going first hand?"
"That sounds fine, but I can't be too long I still have a lot of things to check," Twilight said, probably more haughtily than she intended.
Applejack tried to ignore the rudeness of her guest, for her own and Lukas's sake, "Well sure, miss Twilight. You can try some of the food and meet the family. We don't have too much of the family here. A lot of them were here about half an hour or so ago, but they had more preparations to make. But you can, at least, meet my siblings, Granny and a few of my cousins."
The four of them walked up to the barn, where there was a table completely covered in all kinds of apple treats. There was also a few other ponies around the table. All Lukas was thinking was, 'I hope this goes better than I think it will.'
After almost 45 minutes of introductions and stuffing all three of their faces with food, Twilight's more than the other two. Way longer than Twilight wanted it to be, and she was starting to get quite annoyed, Twilight cut herself away from the get-together, and announced that they had to go because they had a lot of things to do. She again sounded rather curt in her speech, and though it went unnoticed by her, the Apple family felt that she was acting really snooty. As Twilight and Spike were walking away to check on the next task, Lukas decided to hold back and perform a bit of damage control.
"Hey Applejack, can I talk to you?"
"Of course Sugarcube, I hate soundin mean, but I can't believe that that pony could be your friend, Spike was nice plenty. But I swear that mare is one of the rudest ponies I ever did meet. It's like she didn't want to be friends at all and it was completely horrible just to meet everyone if my family members."
"Well, I hate to say it Miss Applejack, but you were being a bit pushy. Though I know you were just excited. Truth be told, Twilight hasn't been having the best day, so that probably has something to do with how she's acting. In fact, that's a reason I came back to talk to you, could you do me a favor and find Pinkie Pie, I want her to throw Twilight a party that evening to welcome her to Ponyville, and I want all of you to attend. It would mean a lot to me, and I'll owe you one."
Applejack was a bit shocked with all that, but Lukas was her friend, so she said okay. Lukas thanked Applejack and told her he would see her at the party tonight. He said goodbye and ran off to catch up to Twilight and Spike.
Unfortunately, it took a lot longer than he thought it would and by the time he saw her, he knew that she had already met with Rainbow Dash. With her mane froofy from the spin dry from Rainbow.
Lukas would have laughed if didn't already know what had happened. "What happened to you little filly?"
"That dang pegasus Rainbow Dash, first she gets me all wet with rain, she gives me attitude about clearing the sky, then she tries to "fix" the problem, and that's how my mane got like this, I'm telling you Lukas, my day is just getting worse and worse. I just want to get these last few things done then go rest."
"At least, you have a nice library to rest in that the princess set up for you." Spike said through his giggles, trying to make Twilight feel better.
"Honestly Spike, you, Lukas and seeing the library and being able to rest quietly are the only things keeping me going right now. I've been completely ignored, pushed aside, pulled around, and now thrown about in a whirlwind. I've just about had it."
"So what's left on the agenda Spike?" Lukas asked.
"All I see left is decorations with Rarity, and music with somepony named... Fluuttershy?"
"That's Fluttershy, Spike."
"Sorry."
Twilight asked,"Is there anything I should know about Rarity, Lukas?"
"All I know for fact is that she is a unicorn pony who is an up and coming fashion designer in Ponyville. Other than that, most of what I know is rumors and second-hand talk." Lukas stated, knowing he couldn't reveal too much, "In all honesty, in all the times I have been here, I have never had a real reason to meet her."
Twilight seemed pretty agitated,"I can't believe this day. I just hope it doesn't get any worse."
"Perhaps you would like to get on to Fluttershy with the music and have me deal with Miss Rarity?" Lukas asked having an idea and trying to lessen Twilight's stress.
"That would be fantastic, but it's supposed to be my responsibility."
"I think you have been through plenty so far, so I will handle Miss Rarity and the decorations, and you go on with Miss Fluttershy. I insist."
"Thank you Lukas, I owe you one."
"My pleasure little filly. Come along Spike."
Spike was confused, "Why do you need me?"
"No reason, I just have a feeling you'll appreciate it." Lukas said with a bit of unintended whimsy. "We'll catch up with you in a bit Miss Twilight."
So Twilight walked off to where she was told Fluttershy lived. Meanwhile Spike and Lukas headed off to the town hall.
Lukas had seen the town hall plenty of times, at least from the outside. He had only been on the inside once to get his weapon permit for Ponyville. But how it looked on the inside, this time, was absolutely incredible. He had to admit to himself that while Pinkie Pie could decorate for even the best of parties. He thinks Rarity could match her for decorating for a soirée.
Spike spoke up, "Absolutely gorgeous. I've never seen such beauty."
Lukas giggled, "Spike, are you referring to the decorations? Or the perhaps the decorator?" Spike blushed at that comment.
Lukas saw Rarity up close for the first time since being in Equestria. And he was actually surprised that she actually was more attractive than he had previously believed. Not that he went for the made up look, but he could see what Spike saw in her.
Lukas decided to speak up to get the attention the busy unicorn, "Excuse me, Miss Rarity?"
Rarity was a tad surprised at the interruption but was more surprised at the fact that she was meeting the human she had heard so much about his dragon companion. "Oh, excuse me sir. Sorry, I was a tad distracted with finishing up here. Can I help you?"
"Yes ma'am, I am the guardian of the unicorn Twilight Sparkle, along with her assistant Spike, and we are simply seeing that all the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration are coming along and will be completed in time."
"Of course they will sir. You have the number one fashionista in Ponyville on the job, and it will be done. Aside from that sir, I'm glaf to meet you and surprised that you've never introduced yourself to me before today. I've seen you around town before and been wanting to challenge myself by designing a suit for you. How about when this is over I can do that at no charge?"
"Maybe we can discuss that afterward Madame, or also maybe you can do the same for my drake companion? Anyway, along with the celebration, I have one more thing to ask."
"Yes, what is it darling?"
"Well, my care is new in town, and I wanted to have a welcome party at the library for her. I already have Pinkie Pie setting it up, but I would really appreciate it if you could go. Being new in town she needs some friends, even if she thinks she doesn't need them."
"Of course darling, I love Pinkie Pie's parties. And I'd be happy to be her friend if she's from Canterlot, then she knows a lot of high-class ponies."
Lukas gave a bit of a glare that fortunately went unnoticed by Rarity, this being one of the reasons he never liked her all that much. "Thanks, I will see you tonight, Miss Rarity."
Lukas and Spike exited the town hall and made their way toward Fluttershy's house to meet backup with Twilight. Spike, finally finding his voice spoke up, "Wow Lukas, she was, she was incredible, I think she may be the mare of my dreams."
"Spike, I'm not condoning or endorsing your feelings, but you know she's like three times older than you? Haha." Lukas mentioned. But Spike wasn't listening.
After about twenty minutes they had caught up with Twilight, who, while having had calmed down, couldn't get Fluttershy to speak up and looked like she was starting to get frustrated.
"I'm just wanting to know some of the details of what you are going to perform; I don't mean to be rude. I just want a sample." Twilight said really trying to keep her cool.
"...um...okay...um...things will be fine...", Fluttershy said nervous and scared of this new pony. "I just need to calm down the birds."
The birds could tell their master was nervous, and that made them over-excited, and they weren't going to calm down anytime soon.
Lukas and Spike saw the frustrated Twilight and the scared Fluttershy and Lukas felt he needed to help out. As he approached, he slowed down and called out to Twilight.
"Hey Twilight, everything's good with the decorations. Hows it going with the music?" Lukas said. He didn't know how Fluttershy would react to him since they had never actually been introduced. He hoped that she wouldn't be additionally scared.
As it turned out, Fluttershy had heard a lot about Lukas through other ponies, mostly, Applejack, Pinkie Pie Rainbow Dash, and was actually kind of intrigued to meet him. What she didn't know was about Spike. So it was almost too much for her, and she spoke almost as fast as Pinkie.
"Oh my, it's a baby dragon and the human Lukas. The dragon is just adorable, and I've heard so much about you mister human. I'm so excited I don't know who to talk to first."
Lukas responded first,"Please Miss Fluttershy, call me Lukas, and I would recommend speaking to Miss Twilight first."
Spike decided he needed to be in the spotlight also, so he went on,"I'm Spike, nice to meet you Fluttershy. "
Fluttershy got even more excited when Spike said this,"He talks too, that's incredible. You've got to tell me everything about your life and how you can talk, and what dragons talk about. And Lukas you'e got to tell me everything about you too, I've never seen you up close, so I want to know everything about you too."
Lukas for the first time in a long time felt a bit of embarrassment at how Fluttershy was acting toward him he was going to tell her that most of what she wants to know is secret, Twilight spoke up.
"Okay, so I guess everything is ready for tomorrow. We have got to get back to the library. It's been a long day." Feeling slightly more irritated than she had been before Fluttershy, she just wanted to go sleep.
The three of them started on their way back to the library, but Fluttershy followed right along talking to Spike and asking him questions, Spike feeling pride at answering, and asking Lukas questions, most of which he either didn't or couldn't answer. And Twilight getting more agitated and annoyed and what she considered a growing pest.
After half an hour the four made it back to the library, the sun was almost set and Twilight just wanted some peace and quiet. "Well, not that it hasn't been lovely getting to know you, we really must be going. The celebration is tomorrow, and we need to rest, especially Spike."
Lukas checked in the window and saw all the ponies inside, glad that Pinkie came through. He decided to help Twilight along with getting inside. "Absolutely Twilight, there is a lot to do tomorrow, and no one wants to be exhausted when doing them." Knowing perfectly wel l that no one was going to get any sleep.
Fluttershy heard this and started to walk back to her house as Twilight and Spike headed into the library. But Lukas knew that Fluttershy was supposed to be at the party too, so he caught up to her quickly. He whispered to her, "Miss Fluttershy, stick around; we've got a welcome party for Twilight going on let's go." He put his hand on her back which made her strongly blush which went unnoticed by Lukas.
But Fluttershy responded well enough through her squees. "Okay."
Lukas caught up to Twilight just in time to for surprise to come out. It seemed to Lukas like half of Ponyville was there. Although he doubted half of Ponyville could have fit in the tree. Needless to say Twilight was surprised and not in a good way.
"What are all these ponies doing in my house!"
Lukas while understanding if her attitude was still annoyed by it. "I asked Pinkie Pie to set this party up to welcome you to Ponyville. As is standard Pinkie Pie tradition."
Pinkie interrupted,"That's right, Applejack came up to me and told me that Lukas was in town, and he had his friends from Canterlot here for the Summer Sun Celebration and that one was a unicorn named Twilight, and one was a dragon named Spike, and he wanted to throw a welcome party for everyone and since I am the party planner of Ponyville I set this up! Isn't it awesome?!
Twilight was livid at this, "WHAT!" What were you thinking Lukas, we have a lot of work to do."
"Twilight, we've come to Ponyville effectively as ambassadors and the princess's representatives. Since chances are this won't be the only time we are here, I made it a point that you make some friends here. As was ordered by Princess Celestia. So you might as well enjoy yourself little filly."
Twilight whispered to Lukas to not scare anypony, "Lukas, Nightmare Moon comes tomorrow; we have to get ready for that. I don't have the time nor desire to make friends in this town nor any other town."
"And what are you going to do to Nightmare Moon? You have no idea if it's even happening and you even more so don't know what you'd be up against or anything. So don't worry about things you can not change and get into the swing of things."
Pinkie interrupted the two of them talking, "Hey you two, no hiding in the corner. Especially you Twilight Sparkle, it is your party. Come on, let's par-tay! Lukas you have got to try some of this punch."
"Get into the party," Lukas said to Twilight,"Hey Miss Pinkie, I hope that's not special punch. I'm still on duty."
Pinkie assured him, "Of course not, silly willy. Only Applejack has that, and she didn't bring any. Even though I asked her to." Pinkie gave an accusing glance at Applejack.
"Pinkie, why would Applejack bring alcohol to a welcome and make friends party? This isn't one of your let's make "friends" parties you naughty mare. Haha"
Twilight was exactly having the best time. She wanted to gather books on Nightmare Moon and the elements of harmony, but every time she turned around there was another pony in her face wanting to be her friend. She was getting more and more frustrated by the minute and just wanted these ponies out of her house. She felt helpless so she did the only thing she could. She went to bed.
Spike went in to try and rectify the situation and get Twilight to join the party again, but all he did was make her more annoyed and frustrated at all the ponies in her house. At the end of the night, he tried again to make her feel better.
"Twilight, isn't it a good thing that so many ponies want to be your friend? There's a lot of nice ponies here."
"Spike, how many times do I have to say it, I'm not here to make friends. I am here for the celebration and to see what I can do to stop Nightmare Moon. And even if I was here to make friends, why would I want a bunch of pushy, loud, arrogant, and in some cases, seemingly psychotic ponies as friends?"
Meanwhile, the other mane five still there were talking to Lukas. Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Listen Lukas, we know you're cool. But it doesn't seem that Twilight wants any friends, and it also seems like she isn't a very good friend either."
Rarity put in her two cents, "While I don't usually agree with Rainbow Dash, it seems, in this case, she is right. That unicorn wants nothing to do with us, and it seems she's trying her hardest to appear as unapproachable as possible."
Lukas knew he had to do something or else something really bad might happen, "Ladies, I understand where you're coming from. The fact of the matter is that Miss Twilight has a lot on her mind, and making friends isn't one of them unfortunately. But I assure you that it is very important that she makes some friends, even if she doesn't want to. All I ask is to give her another chance, for me."
Applejack spoke, "Alright, Sugarcube. I'll try again; she must be awful stressed with all that's going on." The other girls hesitantly agreed.
"Thank you all. It means a great deal to me."
Back in the bedroom, Twilight and Spike were still talking about the celebration and the ponies that wanted to be her friend. "Spike, I understand that they mean well, it's just this isn't the best time to be making friends. I just don't know why I seem to be the only one that gets that."
"Twilight, I'm glad that you're finally seeing that these ponies want to help you, but why don't we put all these problems off for another day, the celebration will start soon."
"Oh no, I really wish what I think is going to happen won't happen."
The eight of them, along with the rest of Ponyville, went over to the town hall. Twilight, fearful of what might be; the other ponies and Spike, joyful and happy over the happening festival, and Lukas, looking more serious and cautious than Twilight had seen him for a long time.
"Lukas, I thought you didn't believe me, why are you so on guard?"
"Well Twilight, two reasons. One there's a lot if ponies out here and as well as I know mobs if a fight breaks out, for whatever reason, there could be a lot of damage. Two, from what you said. I mean what I do know of legends is even the most obscure and forgotten legends are based on some fact, however small it might be. So I just have a feeling something will happen. I don't know if it's Nightmare Moon or some natural disaster. But something will happen today."
At the town hall, Lukas saw a lot of ponies, most of which he recognized. A lot recognized and greeted him and his friends. They all saw the mayor approach the podium looking proud of her town and of herself for hosting the festival. She spoke to the crowd.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration! In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."
Lukas felt something; he didn't know how to explain it."She's gone."
Twilight heard him and got worried; she asked him, "Who's gone, Lukas?"
"Princess Celestia is gone. Nightmare Moon just took her."
Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing, the princess gone? And that quickly? There had to be something they could do. She looked up just in time to see Rarity running up from backstage screaming how the princess had disappeared.
Lukas looked intently at the balcony wondering what exactly was going to happen next. All of a sudden he felt a chill, as if the temperature decided to drop ten degrees. He saw fog pouring in from the windows and from the balcony where the mayor and Rarity were. The fog billowed black as night and cold as ice, circling around in a thick haze swirling into a tighter and tighter form. Then a solid figure seemed to appear out of the fog, and there she was. The first of what Lukas considered actual plot villains.
Nightmare Moon.
Author's Note
So here finally is chapter 2, took a long time with a lot of life events getting in my way. I hope chapter 3 comes out faster. I also hope that you enjoyed this second chapter. please leave any suggestions compliments or complaints in the comments box as is per usual. I greatly appreciate it.