The Monster of Canterlot High
“Are you sure Twilight’s supposed to meet us here today?” Rainbow Dash asked while she bounced a soccer ball from one knee to the next before headbutting it straight up before catching it with her foot. “I mean, she is a princess after all. Maybe she got held up with her, like, royal duties or something.”
“Does Twilight strike you as someone who would ever not follow her schedule to the very letter, Darling?” Rarity said while pouring a cup of tea for Fluttershy. She met Rainbow’s gaze with a sideways smirk.
“Girls, relax. Twilight said she’d be here, so she’ll be here. Just sit down and enjoy some of these fritters Applejack made.”
“Ya won’t regret it, that’s fer sure. It’s uh recipe Granny taught me when Ah was jus’ learnin’ how ta cook.” Applejack commented as she held out one of her prized baked goods that was promptly snatched out her hand by Pinkie Pie who swallowed it whole without even chewing.
“Mmm… I can’t argue with that!”
The six girls all laughed at their friend’s antics and continued to enjoy their impromptu picnic at the base of the rearing Wondercolt statue that doubled as a gateway to Equestria. The other students had already left the grounds, it was Friday and who wants to be at school on Friday afternoon. The only reason these students were still here was because the seventh member of their group had sent word that she was planning to visit. What was more, she was going to bring someone new. Her cousin.
Sunset looked at her watch. “Alright, girls, it’s about time for Twilight to-” Sunset was cut off by a brilliant glow coming from the statue/portal. Shielding her eyes, she said, “Ah, that must be her now.”
The group watched the statue with anxious smiles on their faces. They loved their friend, Twilight, and wished she could spend more time in their world, but they knew that wasn’t realistic. Twilight may have helped save their world, twice, but her world needed far more, and more often. They had all chosen to, instead, focus on the fact that their friend was here now.
Twilight was thrusted through the portal, shortly followed by Spike, and straight into the arms of the five human versions of her best friends, plus one pony turned human. She immediately, and happily, returned the warm embrace. She didn’t even have to see their faces to know exactly where she was or who was with her.
“Ooh… I’ve missed you girls so much,” Twilight cooed.
“We’ve missed you, too, Twilight. Canterlot High just isn’t the same without you here,” Sunset said.
“Indeed,” agreed Rarity. “Now, where is this charming relative of yours? We are all just dying to meet him.” The others agreed.
“He should be right behind me. I’m sure his mother is just having trouble releasing her hug. She tends to be a little protective of him.”
As soon as Twilight finished speaking, the portal lit up again. However, what stepped out of it was not what anyone was expecting. Instead of another human, a huge, white, stallion (and as made evident by its stance) ducked through the portal and stood there, shakily, on its hind legs, observing its new surroundings.
“Um, Chris?” Twilight prompted, drawing the stallion’s attention to her. The response she got was a series of neighs and whinnies. “I didn’t shrink, you’re huge!”
Chris looked down at himself and saw that he was indeed different. He pressed against his head with his hooves in a frantic attempt to see how much he had changed, only to be more panicked by the fact that he was using hooves for the act. Then he made it worse by holding his hooves out where he could see them more clearly. That’s when he fell over backwards.
“Chris! Calm down!” Twilight shouted as she ducked his kicking hooves. “Believe me, I know changing like this comes as a shock, but you’re going to hurt someone!”
Chris froze. He craned his neck to look at Twilight, quickly saw another issue, then rolled over unto his stomach and backed into the statue. Why was he a horse? Why was he so big? And why was he naked?
“Uh, Twilight? What’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked as she approached the huge, cowering horse. “Why did ya bring uh horse?”
“I didn’t. This is Chris. He normally doesn’t look like this though. He’s a human, like you all, but the portal must have changed like it did me and Spike.”
“Yeah,” concurred the dragon turned canine. “Hey, we should get a picture of this for Celestia.”
Chris snorted and glared at Spike, a loud whinny was aimed at him. “Chris is right, Spike, though I prefer he not swear at a child,” Twilight warned. “This is not the time for joking. Though his mother might actually like that.” Another whinny followed her statement. “Well, she would,” she defended lamely.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Sunset interrupted. “Who did you say his mother was?” There was some braying from Chris. “P-Princess Celestia!?” Sunset dropped to her knees and bowed to the ground. “Forgive me for not showing the proper respect, your highness.”
“Oh, Sunset, he doesn’t like when people do that. Get up, please,” Twilight told her.
Sunset stood back up slowly, looking around at her friends with a spreading blush on her face. She then had to lean back in shock when her vision was suddenly filled with a horse head. Chris nickered and snorted at her in what seemed to be a soothing tone. She could only respond with a wide-eyed nod before she registered what was happening around her.
“She… she was worried about me?” Chris nodded and snorted at Sunset’s question. “Geez, and I said all those mean things to her back then.” Sunset couldn’t believe that Celestia had been concerned over her well-being years after Sunset had rejected her teachings and philosophies before abandoning Equestria all together. She knew Celestia was caring, but this was ridiculous.
“Uh… what’s up with you?” Rainbow asked, speaking for everyone.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Twilight responded.
“She means, what’s with the horse? What’s with Sunset bowing to him? And why are you talking to him?” Applejack asked for her.
“I already told you, this is Chris. He’s my cousin, kind of, and he’s normally a human, like the rest of you. I don’t know why he’s turned into… this.”
“Maybe the portal transforms everyone that passes through it? That would explain you, me, Sunset, and Chris,” Spike offered.
“That makes sense, actually,” Twilight considered. Chris made more horsey rhetoric. “I don’t know, but you’ll probably change back when you go through again. I am kind of surprised you don’t have your wings.” Chris responded with a whinny. “Yeah, yeah, your wings are very pretty,” Twilight rolled her eyes with a sideways smile.
“Alright, enough. There is no way you can actually understand him,” Rainbow Dash said.
“I don’t know, Rainbow. There are times at the shelter where I could almost swear I knew what the cute little critters where saying,” Fluttershy defended. Chris perked at the sound of her voice.
“You mean the rest of you can’t hear him talking?” Sunset asked. “I wonder if that has something to do with the fact that they lack Equestrian magic.”
“That would also make sense. What do you think, Chris? Chris?” Twilight looked behind her where Chris had been only to find him not there. He had gotten up and trotted over to Fluttershy.
“Oh, hello there,” She nervously said as she stroked the side of his face and neck. Chris purred in response. “Wow, your fur’s really soft.”
“Fluttershy, you know he’s not a normal horse, right?” Sunset asked.
Spike laughed. “Right now, you’re petting the crowned prince of Equestria like a cat.”
Fluttershy quickly pulled her hand away. “Oh, my. I’m so sorry.”
Chris turned and neighed at Spike. “What? She was.” Chris snorted at Spike some more. Spike plopped onto his haunches and crossed his forelegs. “Fine. He says you can keep going if you want.”
“Chris, remember, that’s not your Fluttershy and I don’t think she would appreciate you being petted by someone else. Even a different version of her,” Twilight warned. Chris nodded, lowered his head, and sighed before walking back to her with his ears drooped. He flopped onto the ground and curled up. “Oh, stop being a huge foal.” Chris curled up tighter and hid his face from Twilight.
“Is your cousin always like this, Darling?” Rarity asked.
“No, he’s not. He’s just crazy for the pony Fluttershy. He’s probably acting like this because she’s a human,” Twilight suggested while pointing toward Fluttershy, who was blushing.
“I see,” Rarity considered. “Though that does raise an interesting point, why did you bring him here? Not that we aren’t very pleased to see you though.”
“Oh, well you see, Chris and our Fluttershy are getting married. Chris wanted to find his parents, who are also human, so they could be there. I thought that this might be their home world, so I brought him here to find them.” Chris made more noises, but it was clear to even the non-Equestrians that he was not happy. “How can you tell?” Horse noises again. “Yeah, well, in my defense, you’re the only human I saw before coming here.”
“Wait, so you’re saying all the humans you know are the same color?” Sunset asked.
“Uh…?” Rainbow started.
“Chris told Twilight that his parents couldn’t possibly be here because the humans from his home aren’t as colorful as you all,” Sunset answered.
“My, how dull that would be,” Rarity complained.
More equine speak came from Chris. “Huh. Still odd.” Twilight looked around at the questioning stares from her friends. “He says that all the people he’s ever seen where shades of brown, ranging from light tan to almost black and their hair colors were just as dull.”
“Well, that’s better, but not much.” Rarity’s look of disgust was palpable.
“I’m sorry that we couldn’t find your parents, Chris. I know how much you wanted to see them again.” Chris nodded his oversized head in acknowledgement before resting said head on Twilight’s shoulder and blowing air through his lips. “Unh. There, there,” Twilight grunted under the weight while patting his cheek.
“Oh no. That’s so sad,” Pinkie said as she rubbed his barrel. Somehow, she had gotten onto his back without anyone noticing. This was causing Spike to, hypothetically, lose his mind in laughter.
“Pinkie, please dismount the prince.”
“Aww, but he’s so soft, Rarity!”
“Pinkie!” Everyone shouted.
“*Huff* Fine.” Pinkie slid off Chris’s back looking dejected.
“I know I can be a little lax on the whole pets on campus thing,” a familiar voice from behind them spoke, “but a horse is a little too much.”
Chris, having recognized the voice of his adopted mother, spun in excitement, but was not prepared for what he saw. There was something wrong with the picture of Celestia and Luna in human form, and Chris didn’t like it. He grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and held her in front of him like a shield while he cowered behind her.
“Oh, come on. You can’t be all lovey-dovey with human Fluttershy and then weirded out by human Celestia and Luna. You are being extra strange today,” Twilight grumbled. Chris’s response was to growl over her shoulder. “Whatever.”
“Twilight, it’s so good to see you,” Celestia greeted, “unless there’s another threat to the school that I need to know about.”
“No, nothing like that, Principal Celestia. This here is my cousin, the crown prince of Equestria. His name is Christopher Sol. He’s acting like this because… well, your Equestrian counterpart is his adoptive mother.”
Celestia and Luna both stared wide-eyed at the large beast trying to hide behind this small girl. Luna’s brain was the first to reboot. “Well, that was… unexpected.”
“Indeed,” Celestia managed to say. “I… I don’t know what to say.” She approached Chris and reached out a hand.
“Um, Principal Celestia, he’s not an animal,” Twilight Pointed out. “Maybe don’t try to pet him.”
“Oh, um, right,” she said as she retracted her hand. “Sorry. Uh, I don’t really know what to do right now.”
“That’s okay, you don’t have to do anything,” Twilight offered. Chris growled and spoke equine to her. “Yeah, I know you don’t like this, but it’s happening. Now be nice.”
Chris slowly poked his head out from behind Twilight, then whinnied softly. Cautiously, Chris got to his hooves and approached Celestia. He bowed his head and brayed. Celestia looked at him then to Twilight.
“He said ‘hello,’” Twilight told her.
“H-hello, um, should I call him son or…”
“No. Definitely not. Chris takes his family very seriously and that would only make him angry.”
“Oh, okay. Hello, Chris. It’s nice to meet you.” Chris nodded again with more braying. “This is strange. I can’t believe I’m talking to a horse,” she rubbed her forehead.
“But, Principal Celestia, I’m a pony,” Sunset said, pointing to herself. “So is Twilight.”
“Don’t forget about me,” Spike interjected. “I’m a fire breathing dragon.”
Celestia and Luna both stared at the students and talking dog before them. Somewhere in their life, things had taken a hard-left turn. These seven girls contained three aliens, had strange magical powers, saved this world twice, and were now presenting them with a horse that was in fact a human and, in a roundabout way, Celestia’s son. The only way this could get weirder was if there started to be duplicates of these girls showing up.
“Ri~ght. Hello, Chris. It is nice to meet you,” Celestia said with a small bow.
“Yes, I too am pleased to meet you,” Luna added with her own bow.
Chris bowed also and then stated horse words. “He said ‘it was nice to meet you, too.’ Listen, we came here to, hopefully, find Chris’s parents, but he says they won’t be here. Apparently, it’s the wrong Earth.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything we could do to help?” Celestia offered.
Chris neighed. “No, thank you though. Unfortunately, we will have to be returning home soon. Chris can’t survive without the magic of Equestria.”
“What!?” Pinkie was instantly in Chris’s face and how somehow obtained a set of nurse’s scrubs. “We need to get you into magic quarantine! Stat!” She was shoving with all her might against Chris’s barrel, trying to force him back through the portal. She might as well have been trying to move a barn.
Sunset placed on hand on Pinkie’s shoulder. “Pinkie. I don’t think he, nor Twilight, would risk bringing him here if doing so would have put him in immediate danger.”
Pinkie slid to the ground, leaning against Chris’s forelegs. “Yeah, *pant* I guess that makes sense.”
“Still though, maybe we should be going. I mean, there’s not much of a point in staying here when we know that we can’t find his parents here.” Chris turned to look at Twilight. “No, we cannot keep this Fluttershy. Besides, she would just turn into a pony the moment she stepped through the portal. Plus, two ponies with the same personality? What would that do to her Elemental power? Ugh, I don’t even want to think about what Discord would suggest.”
“Wait, who’s Discord and what might he suggest?” Rainbow Dash asked as she stepped in front of a whimpering Fluttershy.
“Are you telling us that Discord is free?” Sunset Shimmer barely kept the quiver of fear out of her voice.
“Discord is the living embodiment of chaos and he broke free about a year ago. He has sense been conformed into a…” Twilight and Chris looked at each other and shrugged, quite a feat for a horse, “mostly helpful individual. That was all thanks to our Fluttershy befriending him and showing him a better way of being. He and she continue to be good friends, but he can be a little over-the-top sometimes. He would never hurt her though.”
“Um, if it’s all the same to you, I would rather not meet him,” Fluttershy said around her friend’s shoulder.
“It’s okay. None of us did at first either. He does grow on you though,” Twilight smirked. “I’ll let you know when I start to enjoy his antics.” Chris chuckled knowingly. Of course, horses can’t laugh so it came out very differently and made the girls cringe.
“I’ve read the history books and the tales of Discord,” Sunset said, mildly flabbergasted. “I can’t believe you all managed to befriend and reform him.”
“To be honest, neither can I, but, we did. Oh well, I think we should just head back now. What about you Chris?” Chris looked back at Fluttershy and whined. “Oh, for crying out loud! Fine. We’ll take some pictures. For you and your mom. Happy?” Chris lowered his head but nodded consent. “Good. You big baby.”
A few hours later, back in Equestria
“…Look how handsome you are. Oh, I wish I could have been there to see you in equine form.”
“Thanks, Mom. It’s always nice to hear that you’re not good looking the way you are normally.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Celestia and Chris both smirked at each other.
“I still can’t believe this is what I would look like if I were human,” Fluttershy held the photo in front of herself, staring in disbelief. “Was she pretty?” she asked bashfully.
“She was beautiful,” Chris said as he pulled Fluttershy close to himself. “However, you’re prettier.”
“Smooth, Chris,” Twilight teased.
“Don’t be jealous, Twi. Someday you may have a Fluttershy of your very own,” Chris teased back as he nuzzled a giggling Fluttershy.
Celestia looked at the lovers then back to the photo floating before her. She really did think her son was quite handsome as a stallion, though she would never want to change him from his true self. She did, however, feel sorrow deep in her heart. Her poor boy, who had brought such joy to her life, had been taken from his own world and might never find a place where he truly fit in. Even in a world of his own kind, Equestria kept him from his own kind.
Celestia lowered the photo and looked back to Chris. He had pulled Fluttershy into his lap and was happily rubbing her tummy. For her part, Fluttershy was blushing lightly and giggling like a schoolfilly. Twilight was laughing at their antics before she tackled the two causing all of them to go rolling across the rug. She couldn’t help but smile at the laughing heap.
Maybe he had found his place after all.
