The Equestrian Double Gamble
Chapter 6: Having Fun
Previous ChapterNext Chapter~Summer~
When I got close to the castle’s front door, I paused to take note of the Solar and Lunar Guard contingent waiting near a particular pair of sun and moon themed chariots. I guess the Princesses came by after Twilight sent that note.Being careful about it, I shifted into pony form, basically getting rid of my chitten in exchange for fur. With that set, I headed in.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but we’ve been informed there’s a changeling in the area. I’m sorry, but it’s just procedure and I have to check you.” the guard said. Mentally, I smirked as an idea came to me. I heard FC over the line, however, cutting me short.
“Sir, I am the changeling.” I replied to the guard. “And I hate to burst your little bubble, but not all of us are the monsters we’ve been painted to be. I’m one of the two ponies that stopped a rampaging, corrupted Geist here.” Needless to say, the guard was shocked.
“Okay, if that is true, then where is the other pony who also helped?” The guard asked, a little bit skeptical, not being sure if to believe me or not.
“Right here.” I heard FC say. Me and the guards got spooked. How did he get here? We didn’t see him flying or hear the telltale sounds of teleporting. What was he, a ninja?
“That was rather prompt of you. I thought you were still out training.” I said as I turned to him.
“Nope, I was just waiting for you to tell me when to arrive, or if things got out of hoof.” he said with a bit of a smile.
“Well, it’s welcome nonetheless.” I said before turning back to the guard. “Can we go in? We’d like to meet the Princesses.”
“U-uh… just… let me get my superior.” he said before going in alone. His silent partner stayed to watch us. I was content to wait, but there was something creepy about the way he was staring at me. I couldn’t sense his emotions, though that could just be an armor enchantment, but either way, I was unnerved about him. After a while, I got bored of having a staring contest and started looking elsewhere.
“...” He replied.
“Cool. Do you think we could spar sometime? I know I’m powerful, but I’m usually only fighting towering behemoths or swarms of low-tier beasts. I’m curious to know just how tough a specially trained opponent is.” I requested.
“...” He answered.
“Alright then. Would you know anyone who’d like to?” I asked at his apparent denial.
“...” His eye twitched.
“Good conversation.” I said before leaving him alone. Then I turned to FC and whispered comedically loudly. “I don’t think he likes me very much.”
“Hard to tell actually. Let’s just leave them be to do their job.” he replied.
~Night Guard~
How the buck did she just… it’s like she read my bucking mind! She carried on a conversation without me saying a damn thing! Just… WHAT THE BUCK!?
~Summer~
The other guard came out soon with some other pony who had a longsword unsheathed. This pony had probably the evilest look a pony could have without blatantly looking evil. That is to say, he had the villainous appearance, but not the villainous colors. His coat was brown and his mane was black and pointy. He also had a goatee.
“Ah, yes… the two heroes…” he said with no hidden amount of malice. I blinked as I stepped back from him.
“Wow, it never fails! Heh, that prank is always a good opener. The obviously evil guard, about to begin a monologue… Heh… well, it’s helped a lot with keeping me from getting in unnecessary trouble.” he said, before holding out his hoof. “Howdy. Name’s Shadow Mask.”
“Um… wow. You got me good, dude. Name’s Summer Dash. Nice to meet you.” I said with a smile as I shook his hoof.
“FC Dracsemi. Also nice to meet you.” replied, shaking his hoof as well.
“Alrighty then. Let’s get you little lovebirds to the Princesses.” he said, turning and leading the way. I blinked at that word. I turned to see FC facehooving.
<... I am okay with that.> I replied. With that, FC followed after the guard, and I shortly after. For effect, I leaned slightly against him in an act of love. He even put his wing over me.
Up at the top of the stairs, I recomposed myself into a professional pose to show the Princesses some respect. FC followed suit, probably because he knew first impressions mattered a lot.
“Hello, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna.” I greeted in a royal tone of voice.
“Your Majesties.” FC said while bowing his head and putting one hoof across his chest.
Celestia and Luna turned to face us, though Luna’s turn was quicker and more hostile than Celestia’s. I nearly flinched at Luna’s rage. “So you’ve come to us, vermin…” Luna nearly snarled at me, clearly not liking changelings all that much.
“That I have, your highness. However, would you kindly refrain from using that term against me? I’m not a power hungry fool like that idiot Queen that tried to attack all that time ago. I know whom would make better allies than enemies… as should you.” I said, narrowing my eyes at her for that last part. “I would very much prefer not to fight, but if you force my hoof… well, you won’t have a very good time.”
“Is that a threat?” Luna seethed.
“No. It’s a warning. I sense your rage, but I beg of you not to be blinded by it. You already have been once, and it cost you greatly.” I told her. Luna flinched as if I’d shot her. That reminder was enough to quell her rage, at least for now.
“You’re right…” Luna admitted. Celestia put a reassuring hoof on her sister’s shoulder, looking at me with a stern gaze.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“Would like the long story or the short version?” FC asked. I could sense he was getting tired of explaining all the time. Maybe Twilight should have included that information in her letter.
“Short, if you will.” Celestia requested. I smiled as I stepped forth.
“Basically, we came to live here. Thing is, we gotta participate in a rather dangerous deal if we want to stay.” I said. “Oh, and if you come across any strange objects that throw voices into your head with messages about summoning, could you please bring them to us? They’re from others like us.”
“I still do not understand those tokens. We were never told about tokens in that deal.” FC replied.
“Well, the dude did Displace us.” I countered. “We are Displaced now.”
“Yeah, but I never heard about tokens before now. Anyways, let’s get back to the topic.” FC said. Something told me he didn’t want to get too off topic.
“Yes… what exactly was this deal you mentioned?” Luna asked. I sighed at this part.
“That’s a rather dangerous topic… alright, imagine every fictional story you’ve read is a sort of link to another reality, timeline, world, whatever you want to call it. Now, he and I are authors in our world who tend to write fan content about this one. Naturally, we each made original characters - the ones you see before you right now, and have had them face many challenges. Our deal is that we get to come here… but if we want to stay, we need to avoid dying to each enemy we’ve written our characters facing. And that means a lot of things that could potentially kill you two. Now since we’re every version of our characters wrapped into one package, we stand a much higher chance of surviving, but it’ll still be a challenge.” I explained.
“Princesses, I am sorry you are caught up in this mess, partly because of me. The person we made a deal with, I knew some of the deals he made in the past would conflict with my morality. But we promise to make sure we don’t fail.” FC said, hoping to ease the tension with the princesses so we probably wouldn’t be sent to the moon.
“Besides, if all else fails, we can just fuse… if we can find the right spell.” I said sheepishly.
“F-fuse…!” the Royal Sisters paused to glance at each other at the mention of that, eyes wide. “That is… a highly advanced ability only few are ever able to accomplish.” Luna started.
“Luna and I were once capable of using it. But then…” Celestia trailed off, remembering some bad memories.
“Discord… King Sombra… the long winter we trekked through… all of that wore away at our unity, preventing us from fusing again.” Luna picked up for her sister. “Until eventually, I became Nightmare Moon, and all sense of Unity vanished, thus destroying any chance of that spell’s further use between us.”
“Well, it might take some time, but it will probably be harder for us, considering I have two other voices in my head. The only time they aren’t fighting with each other and me is when I go Darkling form. And before you ask, I do not like talking about how I got that form.” FC replied.
“Hey, if that’s the one time you’ve got the greatest harmony, then it might actually work out…” I muttered. “See… I’m a rather dark and slightly psychotic individual.” I said, leading the way for the realization. Celestia and Luna looked between us nervously.
“Well, I get along with one of the voices, and you met him Summer. The other one is Animalis, and he is not so nice. He is kind of the dragon part of me that I do not like, being all the bad things like Wrath, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth. Fortunately, he doesn’t pop up very often. You could say between the other voice and my morals, he is pretty much locked up.” FC explained, calming the princesses down a little bit.
“Oh. Then yeah, could be a problem.” I admitted.
“Trust me, Darkling form is when I am in pure Harmony. It is kind of a dark Harmony though, but it will work. One thing we have to get sorted out now though is living arrangements. I can easily build a house, but I just need a spot with plenty of space in order to do that.”
“Oh, there’s plenty of space on the outskirts of town. I believe there’s a plot available near Vinyl and Octavia’s house.” Twilight supplied.
“Sound good enough for me!” FC simply replied. “Anything else you would like to discuss with us your majesties?”
“Yes, actually. If you can find the time, I would appreciate a document of the beings you two will be facing, so we might know or at least anticipate what we should watch out for.” Celestia said with a smile. The word Document set Twilight off like a bullet.
“Ooh! Can I record?!” she excitedly asked.
“I will give information on all the enemies I have faced.” FC said.
“And I mine. I have nothing to hide.” I added. The princesses nodded their satisfaction, before returning their attention to Twilight. Satisfied the Princesses hadn’t attacked, I turned to leave… before remembering something. “Oh! By the way, there’s something I need to talk with your captain of the guard about.”
“Whatever about?” Celestia asked, curiously.
“Turns out the reason Queen Chrysalis attacked you was because she thought you ordered guards to burn her daughter with cursed flames when she was just trying to come to you with diplomatic intent.” I told her. Her eyes widened in shock at the implications.
“Fortunately for Chrysalis, her daughter survived, but was crippled. I will say this, there is almost nothing that can stand in the way of a parent’s wrath.” FC replied, a serious enough tone that it felt like the room got colder.
“This certainly explains a lot…” Celestia muttered grimly. “But what do you need my captain for?”
“Permission to run a few tests. I’m gonna make some fake speeches and see how the guard regiment reacts, both visibly and emotionally. Those that react with abnormal glee and hatred might be part of a terrorist cell that has their own view of what Harmony is supposed to be. That’s the running theory about who hurt Chrysalis’s daughter, anyway. I just want to make certain, though I’ve already told Chrysalis of this possibility. She was very pissed at you, though I think some of that anger came from me saving of her ass from a bunch of Shades.” I said. Celestia blinked.
“That’s a rather bold suggestion, Summer. What gave you that idea?” Luna stepped in.
“Firstly, it’s happened in a very dark story I once read back home, and secondly, these are almost exactly the same circumstances. Except here, Celestia doesn’t appear to have had a changeling queen take her place while she recovered from fatal wounds for over a thousand years.” I explained.
“Right… that linked worlds thing you explained…” Celestia deadpanned. “Are you even certain your information is accurate?”
“Well, considering who we now are is every instance of our characters thrown together, and the details of our deal, and the fact that I’ve done a roleplay involving said terrorist cell, it’s very likely.”
“I hate terrorists. They are usually formed from the religious extremists. Just look at Al Qaeda, ISIS, or any other group. Heck, I didn’t even agree with the Crusades.” FC replied. “Celestia, you defeated Nightmare Moon, no offense Luna. The both of you beat a god of chaos, a dark king, and a magic-eating centaur, and I am talking about them being beaten the first time. Yes, you did defend your subjects, but there are consequences for every action. We usually go for the least amount of consequences, but sometimes there are consequences we can not foresee. There might be some ponies who think of you as gods, which means you are bound to get some cult followings. Heck, the brony fandom has the whole Solar Empire versus New Lunar Republic arguement.”
The two sisters blinked in surprise at that one, and looked at each other. I could tell they were getting ideas from that. “Speaking of consequences, I think you may have accidentally inspired some kind of war game.” I told FC.
“I just hope it is tabletop and not actual war games involving real weapons.” FC quipped back.
“I believe we’re satisfied for now.” Celestia assured. Luna nodded, echoing her sister’s sentiments.
“Then we’ll need to get going. We’ve got a house to build.” I said before heading out.
“Time for me to work my stuff.” FC said as he cracked his...claws? I don’t know how he could crack knuckles with clawed hooves. Better not question it. We soon made our way to where we were going to build, and I took the time going there to make myself a Token. I made a small circular snowflake, crafted just right to be usable as a necklace, and then put a bit of my power into it as I spoke my message.
“Heya, the name’s Summer Dash, your friendly neighborhood werewolf bugpony badass. Feel free to bug me for whatever, but if you’re on a team I don’t support, then… Well, you better be ready to have a bad time.” I spoke. The newly made token glowed a faint blue aura to show it was done, and I let it drop. “Heh… there’s mine then. You gonna make one too?”
“Maybe, but considering the whole Gaia Terran thing I had made for myself, I don’t think so. Now, let me work my Minecraft magic.” With that, FC opened up his pocket space. “Why don’t you see what Vinyl and Octavia are up to while I build.”
“Okay.” I said, heading off. I got to Vinyl’s quickly enough, and I heard some music playing in there. Judging from the genre, I’d say Octavia was in the zone at the moment, so I made my entrance quiet, but not unnoticable.
“Hey Summer!” Vinyl said quietly. “What brings you here?”
“Boredom, mostly. Music’s great though.” I whispered back.
“Yeah, Tavi’s really good. Where’s FC at?” Vinyl replied.
“Building. We just got done talking with the princesses, told them about the deal we made to get here. Really wish I’d gotten to take my laptop with me, show you two some of the music your fans on earth have composed, but… well, hindsight is 20/20.” I shrugged.
“Bummer. I'm surprised me and Tavi have fans from another dimension, Though. What are some of the more well known names? I might look forward to it.” Vinyl said.
“A few are Wooden Toaster, The Living Tombstone, Mandopony, Forest Rain, Delta Brony… There’s a few others I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I’ve enjoyed a lot of music from them.”
“Those names actually seem kind of cool. Hey, do you and FC want to have dinner with us? Me and Tavi are going to meet some of our friends at Hayburger.” Vinyl asked.
I shrugged. “Sure, why not? I’ll let FC know when he’s done.”
The music came to an end. Apparently Octavia had finished playing. She then noticed that I was here. “How long were you here? I didn’t notice you come in.” Octavia said.
“Not that long ago. I think it was during the climax of the song.” I said, reflecting on how it had sounded. Suddenly, I got an idea. “Hey, you mind if I borrow a violin? I wanna see how far I can take my mimic ability, and try to copy a song from my memories.”
“I don’t have one on hand, but we could go to the Ponyville Musicians’ Guild to grab you one.” Octavia replied.
“Alright. We should grab an electric guitar while we’re there too.” I said, already eager to play the song.
“Alright then. Well, is there anything you want to talk about?” Octavia asked.
“Just a bit about music. I can think of a few musicians back home you might enjoy. I’m actually planning on playing a song from one of them.” I replied.
“Oh, I guess that could work.” Octavia replied. “I don’t really have much to do, maybe we just go out around the town.”
“Yeah, that seems like a good idea.” Vinyl added in.
“Alright then. Let’s go.” I said, heading out. I let them lead the way to the guild, and greeted Lyra there. “Hi Lyra.”
“Um… hi. How do you know me?” She asked uncertainly.
“I’m a human that watches critical events in this world’s history through what my world perceives as fiction.” I bluntly replied. Octavia deadpanned as Lyra froze up upon the mention of a human.
“Oh, great… now Lyra’s going to be collecting 20 bits from everypony in town. I was hoping it would be delayed, but…” Octavia quipped.
“That’s… a lot of info dump.” Lyra slowly stated.
“Huh, I was expecting her to go all nuts, not be broken.” Vinyl said. “I guess the added bit about how our world is perceived broke her.”
“Shouldn’t be. She sees humans the same way.” I said. Lyra blinked.
“Huh. I guess I do.” she muttered.
“You mean as fiction? The way she goes about it, it’s like she was trying to convince ponies that aliens or the Illumarenati are real.” Vinyl replied.
“I didn’t say anything about how we talk about it. Just the way we see it.” I retorted.
“Oh, you mean fangasming.” Vinyl simply said.
“Eh… close enough. Anyway, I’m here for a violin. Got a song from home I wanna play.” Lyra smiled as she turned and gestured for me to follow.
“Oh, sure, come on. I’d love to hear.” She said as she lead the way. I followed gladly, ready to take up the instrument.
“This is going to be good.” I heard Vinyl say.
“Hell yeah it is. Alright, let’s do this.” I said as I used the Shadow Clone ability. The clone grabbed an electric guitar as I grabbed the violin, and I started channeling my magic into mimicking Lindsey Stirling. The familiar feeling of shapeshifting took place and now I was standing up on two legs and holding the instrument with hands.
I started with the catchy tune of Roundtable Rival, tapping my feet to the beat of the song and setting the peaceful theme of typical western life with a hint of competitive drive to it. I looked at Octavia to see how she liked it so far. She seemed interested at least. I then let my clone follow up with the guitar, setting up a sense of challenge, shifting them into a sort of Bandito look. Then I joined in with the violin, playing the same tune and setting a showdown theme. The two of us began circling each other in hostile stances as we played, occasionally doing a couple aggressive steps toward each other as if feigning attacks. Then I busted out with the violin climax, copying Lindsey’s dance moves to the beat.
I shot a glance at Octavia once again as I danced and played, wondering just how into this she was getting. From the looks of it, she was starting to get hyped. When the climax finished, I had my clone dispel, leaving the guitar there as I played more cheerfully, as if celebrating a victory. However, I then had my clone reform while my back was turned to it, and pick the guitar up again. I turned around, feigning surprise as they play the guitar solo line again, quickly setting a theme of revenge. When they finished the guitar lines, they snatched the violin out of my hands with magic, playing long and high notes on it as they continued the guitar notes. I stepped back as they danced tauntingly toward me.
What followed was a long build towards the climax, each move I made to get the violin back without magic marking each rise in tempo. All music cut of as I got the instrument back, and I grinned at the clone. Then I hit the climax, spawning a couple of extra clones to do a synchronized dance with me. I turned to Octavia as I finished, dispelling all the clones.
“So, how’d I do?” I asked, still in anthro form. All I saw was that Octavia’s jaw was hanging open, looking utterly shocked. Vinyl on the other hoof, was in a different state of surprise.
“That was AWESOME!” I chuckled at their awe, and turned to see how Lyra was doing. She had stars in her eyes.
“Good to know Lindsey Stirling’s talent is appreciated even across dimensional barriers. Don’t think she’ll ever know though, but hey.” I chuckled again. “Plenty more where that came from, too.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Vinyl said. I then felt a familiar connection open up.
FC said, a bit of disappointment in his tone.
<It helps that I summoned a Builder’s Wand from the Extra Utilities mod from Minecraft. Makes building big projects like this easier and faster. For some reason, I got the building speed of the characters from Minecraft Story Mode. Enough of that for now, I am *really** hungry from all the things we did today.>* FC simply replied.
“So, who’s up for some food?” I asked.
“I’m up for some grub.” Vinyl simply replied.
“Well, since I invited you, I’m ready to go eat.” Octavia added in.
“Sure, I’ll come along with you.” Lyra said.
We all headed out, going straight to the restaurant first thing. We met FC there, who’d already arrived ahead of us. I could see that Lyra was rather surprised about FC’s appearance. Apparently Vinyl’s and Octavia’s two other friends, Bonbon and Derpy, also showed up.
“Well, let’s go get our food.” With that, FC went right in. I chuckled as the rest of us went in.
“Hi, I’m Summer.” I introduced myself to Derpy and Bonbon. Derpy smiled back, but Bonbon gave me a heavily scrutinizing look. After a moment, she sighed.
“Please tell me you can at least control the Wolf.” She pleaded. At that, Derpy and Lyra tensed up.
“I can Turn at Will.” I replied.
I saw FC’s ear flick, like he heard, and I could definitely see he had tensed up, like a fight was about to happen. Maybe I should check with him through the mental connection to see what is going on. However, I made sure the others here knew I was no threat to them first.
“Yeah, relax. If she wants, she can act like a big puppy.” Vinyl assured.
“That is true. I have seen it myself.” Octavia added in.
“Alright, I’ll believe you… for now. So, what exactly does a changeling like you want here in Ponyville?” She asked a bit too casually for me.
“Just to live. You could say I’m changing professions. I used to be just another shitheaded teen back on Earth, occasionally writing something here and there, but now I’m jumping to a more exciting life, hunting monsters and… well, living here.”
“Wait...What?” I could see that she was confused.
“Oh, that’s easy. She and that dragon pony used to be humans.” Lyra said, trying to explain the situation.
“Yeah, we made a huge, dangerous deal with a powerful guy to get across the dimensional barrier. Turned into characters we made on our way through.” I explained further. I turned to the waiter guy and took a look at the menu. On a whim, I just picked the Double Cheese Haybacon Burger, with a side of Hayfries and a Ponycola for a drink. FC ordered ten Triple Cheese Haybacon Burger with one side of potato fries and a Sunset Sarsaparilla. The ponies ordered theirs and we all took a seat at a big table together.
“So, you mentioned you two… became the characters you made, right?” Bonbon said to start a conversation. “What exactly have those characters done?”
“Me, mostly fight of darkness based creatures, while in between trying to live as normal as a life I can.” FC simply stated. I could vouch for that, considering he didn’t like having to fight so many enemies in that one RP we were in together.
“I myself am an adventuring treasure hunter, and at one point I was possessed by a dark entity similar to the Nightmare from Luna, and I tried to kill everypony but a time traveling skeleton kicked my ass.” I said. “Oh, and just a warning, but there were a whole shit ton of cloppy artifacts. A few turned into boss fights.” I warned FC.
FC’s eye just twitched. “There is not enough brain bleach in the world to get rid of such images.”
“Sure there is. Here, let me provide.” I said before using my changeling side to turn into a cute kitten. I started doing some tricks and flips and meowing with a cute pose for every trick I did. The girls all Daaaaw’ed, immediately dropping their freaked out faces.
“Sorry Summer, but I have a high tolerance for cute stuff. The first time my heart stopped was from this, because of cuteness and feels.” With that, FC sent over a song from his memory, sharing it through our mental connection.
In the middle of the song, I saw Rainbow Dash walk in, and fought the urge to laugh. “Really Summer?” FC deadpanned.
“What? I haven’t read any relevant fics. And I’ve been in way too many grimdark situations to immediately think of a cute scene when I hear something like that. I am a messed up person.” I said.
“Welp, if we have to deal with an enemy that somehow weaponizes cuteness, we’ll be able to handle it.” FC stated.
“Unless you have, we won’t.” I replied. “Oh, but I have fought Chara. And I won, but that was only through this character’s sister helping.”
“I could tell about Chara, since you mentioned it. But maybe we should talk about how we are going to deal with elementals if a problem comes up with them.” FC said.
“Elementals?” Bon Bon simply asked. I was a bit surprised since I assumed those were common knowledge.
“Elementals are a special class of creature, being made of an element they represent, as they originally controlled the environment of Equestria before ponies came to it. They are rather angry towards ponies at present, since you guys have taken control of what they have. There are a few last places left for them, the main one being the Everfree Forest. Why do you think the Everfree Forest is so dangerous for ponies? It is their last home they have. The only elementals I know you guys have dealt with are timberwolves, which are nature elementals.” FC stated in a tone that meant he was on the side of the elementals, but wouldn’t outright attack ponies.
“Wait, you mean everytime we had to deal with natural disasters not caused by Discord or some other villain, it is very beings of nature attacking us out of resentment?” Vinyl asked, shocked that this information didn’t ever pop up before.
“Yep. Stray storm clouds, floods, unscheduled blizzards and storms, and volcanoes erupting. All caused by elementals being resentful.” FC replied.
That left everypony at the table shocked, except for me and FC.
“Now we’ve got a few ideas about how to help with that, maybe bring some harmony between nature and ponies, but until we talk to the right ponies, that’s all they are.” I said.
“Well, they seem to starting to become more prominent, considering the jengu that we met early today. If they are starting to take on their forms, I have a bad feeling tensions are coming to the point things are going to erupt.” FC said in a warning tone. “Also, I think we shouldn’t really use the term ‘harmony’ so much, considering how it could be taken. We should probably start with a truce at least.”
“Maybe. Then we can work on Unity later.” I agreed.
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” FC said.
“Your food.” Someone said as they set a massive plate of orders down, letting us sort out whose was whose.
“Thanks.” FC said to the person who brought us our food. I meanwhile began sorting through it all and staying silent as the rest continued to talk.
Lyra picked up the conversation, leading it her own way then. “So, what exactly was life like as humans?” Lyra asked, prompting facehooves throughout the Cafe.
“Well, personally, not really that exciting. While Equestria has magic, we don’t have that in our world, so we make do by inventing a lot of things. I am just glad we left before Donald Trump could be elected president.” FC replied. “He insulted a Muslim family whose son died protecting his country, saying his sacrifice was worth nothing. Back home, I have a friend in the military, so that hit close to home.”
I laughed a hollow laugh. “Yeah, personally I hope that bastard takes a bullet to the brain if he does get elected.”
“I see it that if he gets elected, humanity is probably going down the road to either extinction, or the Fallout Scenario.” FC replied.
“Well, either way, we aren’t going back.”
“Um, by the sounds of it, this Trump guy doesn’t sound like a very likable person.” Lyra said.
“Yeah. And half of the nation supports him becoming president. But the dude is so controversial, people are picking fights over matters that even relate to him and those fights turn into all-out riots.” I said.
“Yeah, and I think the only reason why he is supported is because he is a bloody millionaire.” FC said, pure disgust in his voice. I sighed as I finished organizing our meals.
“Yeah, money is… A really big issue in our world. The smart people hate how it works, but aren’t determined enough to make a change. The determined people are the stupid people mostly, but the minority don’t have enough numbers to matter. You could say I’m a mix of both. I’m super determined in a lot of things I do, but whether I’m stupid or smart about it? It’s up for debate a lot of the time.”
“Then there is the fandom we belong to, the bronies. Octavia, Vinyl, and you already know about this, but in our world, your world is viewed as a television show. One of the reasons why I became a brony is because I wanted to escape the reality of our world, because Equestria just seems so peaceful compared to it.” FC said to Lyra, as he took a bite out of one of his burgers.
“Pfffft, hahahahah! Nice one… Just how peaceful do you think Equestria is?” Vinyl laughed.
“Considering how our world is constantly in war, has multiple terrorist groups, there are multiple school, mall, college, or convention shootings, and gang violence, thus leading to a lot of death in our world, I would definitely say safer. You might have your villains trying to take over the world or such, but there are far less deaths.” FC said in a rather serious tone. The ponies at the table were shocked.
“Okay, I guess our world is safer compared to yours.” Vinyl said.
“But why is there so much violence in your world?” Lyra asked.
“I just guess it is part of human nature. I mean, we had evolved from having to fight for our very survival, so violence may be ingrained.” FC said, and I could sense a lot of sadness from him.
“Really I think it’s more the predatory part of our omnivorous nature. The only reason we even CAN live in civilization is because once upon a time, people were smart. There was also a point where the main reason we fought was for freedom, but once that was… mostly not an issue, it started turning into fighting for greed, lust, wrath… mainly whatever sins people had. I find it rather easy to believe at some point in the future, it’s going to turn into Anarchy for the sake of Anarchy.”
“I mean, Equestria seems more united than the freaking country we came from. There are far less racial tensions or similar things. I mean, you guys still do have some, but not enough for hardcore stereotyping that it causes violence. I don’t consider the creatures of this world, like hydras, chimeras, and manticores, as part of that violence, since you guys are more adept at handling those kinds of things than a human would. Heck, most of the creatures here don’t exist on our world, since they seem to be mythological to us.” FC added in.
“But in the end, our world was born to fight. Video games didn’t make it any easier not to… Well, except Undertale, that one helped a LOT, but there are still people who hate without reason.” I continued.
“Speaking of Undertale, the best way to describe our world would be the famous Flowey quote. ‘In this world, it kill or be killed.’” FC said. I chuckled at that, though the girls didn’t take too well to it.
“That doesn’t sound very pleasant…” Lyra whimpered.
“Oh, don’t worry. Not every human world is like ours. You guys have a parallel one here, hidden in Twilight’s castle somewhere. Don’t tell her I told you.” I whispered conspiratorially.
“If you do want to find it, I will tell you this: the portal to it is a mirror.” FC said to Lyra.
“Hey wait, I thought Twilight made a custom portal tuned to the transdimensional magic diary… I guess I should have watched the movie again while I had the chance.” I lamented.
“Well, she hooked up a bunch of machinery to the mirror to use said magic so she could go there anytime, so I guess we are both right.” FC said. Lyra looked hyped as hell.
“I definitely want to go there!” She said, the hype amping her voice.
“Just don’t run into your alternate self. Or forget to ask Twilight if you can use it.” I told her cautiously.
“Wait...there’s a human version of me?” Lyra asked.
“Why do you think it is called a parallel universe? Of course there is going to be another version of you.” FC replied.
“There’s a human version of all of you. Of everyone in this world.” I finished.
“I would personally say my favorite human version would be yours, Vinyl. I mean, she has a freaking car that transforms into a full blown concert sound system!” FC said to Vinyl.
“Awesome!” Vinyl said, excited that her human self was a badass.
“I know, right?” I added to the hype. “...I never made a version of Summer for that world though… I wonder what she would be like…?”
“I know what my human version would look like, considering I had made FC before I was a brony. I just had to figure out what my pony self would look like.” FC added in. I didn’t know his OC was made before he even became a brony.
“That’s cool to know. But still, maybe I should see if I can find the Human Summer if I ever go to the Equestria Girls world.” I contemplated.
“I say go for it. If she’s half the badass you are, she’ll definitely be fun to meet.” Vinyl encouraged. I smiled at her.
“I think I will… just not now. I’m still acclimatizing to Equis.” I accepted.
“Same here. I rather have something stable to come back to when we go to that world.” FC added in.
“Nam.” I finished the last bite of my meal. “So… I’ve run out of topics.”
“Yeah, same here. I guess we will see you guys tomorrow.” FC said as he finished his meal. “Besides, I still have to show Summer the house I built for us.”
“Cool. Guess we’ll see you guys later then.” Vinyl said as she too finished.
With that, we left Hayburger and I followed FC. When we got to the house, I couldn’t believe it. He had made the house in a way that it would stick out, yet would still fit well in Ponyville.
Considering how it looked, it looked pretty good. We entered the house, and the inside was a little bare. I guess FC didn’t have enough time for furniture. We went upstairs and he showed us our rooms. At least they had beds, and I could sense a soundproofing spell on the walls. FC left to his own room to retire for the night, while I got in bed. Who knows what surprises tomorrow would hold.
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