The Box That Changed Everything

The Box That Changed Everything

By Xaiden

Chapter VI: Odd Dreams & Bad Flying

Part 1: The Dream

The debate over where I should stay did not last long, it ended quite abruptly when Spike reminded them that Princess Celestia told them to treat me as a guest and not their personal servant. After giving a quick look of thanks to Spike, I promised, no Pinkie promised, to all of them that I would stay with all of them. Finally, with the problem now resolved, everyone began to yawn and started to say their goodbyes to each other as they slowly filed out the door. As for me, I went over to Twilight and asked her if I could stay over here tonight.

"Of course!" She responded with a tired smile, "Just let me go put Spike to bed and I'll show you to the guest room."

"Okay thanks!" I said, watching her walk upstairs to Spike's bed.

Around two minutes later, I heard quiet footsteps and looked towards the stairs just a Twilight Sparkle reached the ground floor. Then, walking up to me while letting out a quiet yawn, she said.

"Alright," She said while rubbing her eyes with her hooves, "follow me, the guest room is just behind the library."

As she nudged her head, pointing towards a door on the other side of the room, I walked beside her as we both quietly tip-toed across the room. Once we made it to the door, Twilight turned the knob with her hoof, causing the door to slowly creak open. Slowly, I looked around the room and noticed that there was only a bed and a bookshelf with a couple of books scattered about. As Twilight watched me walk about the room, she looked at me.

"Is everything okay in here?" She asked, rotating her head sideways. "I know it's might not seem like much, but I don't often have overnight guests here so the place may seem a little old..."

"Don't worry," I said reassuringly, "it's fine."

"Alright then..." She said, walking out of the room, "I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay, well goodnight." I said back to her, closing the door behind her.

While I stepped towards my bed, I began to look around my new room, searching to see if I could find anything that would possibly be of interest me. Only as soon as I laid down on the bed, a wave of exhaustion hit me with a such a magnitude of force, my mind drifted away from it's consciousness in mere seconds.

You know how I said earlier that things only got stranger after my visit with Princess Luna? Well my dream was only the start of it.

In my dream, I stood inside of a white matrix, with odd symbols floating around me. Symbols that reminded me of the writing in the book that Luna found in her library. As I began walking around in my bizarre surroundings, the environment unexpectedly changed, and suddenly laying before me sat an enormous barren desert, a desert  that seemed to go on for miles. When I looked about the mountain I noticed a sign that stood weakly that the base of the mountain. Cautiously, I walked over to the sign, not knowing what to expect next. When I made my way to the sign I noticed clearly that it had been there for quite a bit of time, as it's foundations were weak from slowly eroding away for years most likely. Yet, as I looked closely at the sign, I noticed there was an image indented deep into the wood, an image of a crescent moon accompanied with a spike that crossed through it.

"Odd..." I said to myself out loud, not sure what to make of the signs emblem

As I continued to walk around the sign, a glint of light hit my eye. Quickly, I turned around to find it's source, and what lay in the sand. Now unlike the sign, the scroll looked relatively new, as the paper did not look like it had been through any sort of deterioration. As I held the scroll with my hooves, I began to gingerly unroll it until it laid completely spread out in the sand. When I looked at the now unraveled scroll, I could see fair amount of writing throughout the scroll. Despite it gradually fading away...

Wait, fading away?

With a shock, I dropped the scroll as the writing mysteriously faded away. Frantically I tried to read as much of the disappearing text as I could, but it was to late, the last of the text slowly faded away...

Immediately after the test faded, the scroll began to instantaneously weather away in my hooves, slowly turning to dust as it blew away in the dry desert wind. As I stared at the sand, not fully realizing what just happened, I began to feel a low rumble at my hooves. Quickly, the rumble began to intensify as the sand around me started to sink. Then without warning, the sand beneath me opened up and I cried out in terror as I helplessly fell down an endless hole. All I could see was darkness, all I could feel was the rushing of the air flowing around me. Yet, aside from the sound of my cry's and the air racing past me. I heard a voice, a whisper.

"Arise..." It whispered in my ear. Then out of nowhere, the darkness was overcome by a sudden flash of light. When my vision returned, I was back in my room, laying on top of my bed. As I rubbed my eyes, I picked myself up from the bed and began to walk out into the main room, where my nose was happily greeted to the smell of eggs and toast. As my nose located it's source, I looked over to a table where Spike and Twilight Sparkle were joyously eating away at there breakfast. When I walked over to the table to sit down, Twilight Sparkle took notice of me and smiled.

"Glad you're awake!" She said while happily munching on her toast, "Come on and sit down, Spike made you some as well!"

"Well thanks Spike!" I said, as the young dragon handed me a plate full of toast and eggs "I could really use something to eat!"

"You're welcome!" He said back to me while wiping the bread crumbs off his face with a napkin.

As I began to eat the meal that lay before me, I noticed Twilight Sparkle began to eagerly watch me, trying to observe my every move, even Spike had a quill with some parchment to take notes with.

"Is everything okay you guys?" I said, making it quite obvious that I was feeling uncomfortable.

"Yea, everything's fine," Spike said, beginning to explain, "Twilight just wants to know about the behavior of humans and--"

"That's enough Spike." Twilight Sparkle said with a sheepish look on her face, soon accompanied by a nervous laugh. Looking back towards me, she continued.

"Look, I don't mean to intrude your privacy, it's just that I don't often get the chance to meet someone from another dimension. I'm sorry if this is making you feel awkward, but I would like to get to know more about... You..."

"Well that's fine." I said while raising one of my eyebrows, "Just try to be a bit more subtle..."

"Oh, why... Yes of course..." Twilight said, now blushing under purple fur, "Subtle..."

Twilight Sparkle, quickly excusing herself from the table, left me sitting there awkwardly with Spike, who looked just as confused as I was. I tried to start a conversation, or anything that could help me out of this awkward situation. However, as I tried to speak, I constantly had to stop myself as each question would make things only seem weirder. Spike, seeing my hopeless attempt to begin a conversation, took the initiative and started it himself. As we ate our breakfast, we talked, however it was only for a few minutes. Finally, as we munched on the last bit of our breakfast, Spike ended the conversation as he picked up his plate and brought it over to the sink and began to wash it. As for me, I proceeded to do the same, carrying my plate with my mouth and placing it in the sink next to Spike's. After I finished cleaning the plate, Spike grabbed it and put the plate away in one of the many kitchen shelves.

As we finished cleaning up the kitchen, I turned to Spike as he was walking towards the library.

"Spike?" I asked, watching the baby dragon turn his head. "Would you mind telling Twilight that I'm going out? I'd like to explore for a little while, you know, have a look around?"

Spike looked back at me, "Well uhhh, sure I guess. Just try not to get lost."

"Okay," I said with a soft smile, "Well I'll see you in a little while."

"Okay, see you." He replied, continuing to walk into the library.

As I gingerly stepped outside of Twilight Sparkle's Library, I looked about my surroundings and decided to explore.

And exploring is exactly what I did...

End of Part 1

*   *   *

Part 2: Learn to Fly

As I stepped outside in warm summer air, began my exploration of Ponyville, giving myself a five-star I-don't-know-where-the-buck-I'm-going tour of the town. As I walked through the city, I took a mental note of how the town was set up, like where the houses were, the shops, the restaurants, the parks, ehh you get the point. After an hour or two of non-stop walking throughout the city, I now had a good idea of where everything was and how to get around. Though as I was trotting through one of the parks, I suddenly noticed that my hooves had gone numb from walking non-stop for the past two hours. As I facehoofed myself for not realizing this earlier, I quickly made my way to the nearest park bench and began to calmly massage the bottom of my hooves.

"You don't always have to walk all the time you know." Said a familiar cocky voice.

Surprised, I snapped my head upwards to find the source of the voice, but instead of finding the source, my head hit something above me, something with fur, something that lost it's balance, and I was the only thing between it and the ground.

With a yelp, the cyan pony crashed on top of me, knocking me off the park bench and forcing my face to make friends with the stone sidewalk.

"Hey, why'd ya do that!" Shouted Rainbow Dash while she rubbed the back of her head.

As for me, once I had picked myself up from the ground I glared at Rainbow Dash, giving her a facial expression saying Really? Then again, as I remembered how she acted when I met her the day before, what could you expect from a pony who holds her pride to such a magnitude. But fortunately for me, she got the message.

"Oh, right..." She said, trying to hide her face which was momentarily flushed with red. "Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it!" I said reassuringly, "Now, what were you saying about not having to walk all the time?"

As I said this, her look of embarrassment was replaced with a large cocky grin.

"So, you want to learn how to fly, huh?" She said with her usual tone of arrogance.

"Well actually I think it was you who offered to--" I corrected, but was cut off when I noticed that she was giving me a grim stare, making it quite obvious I was supposed to be the one eager to learn how to fly when it was her who offered to teach me. Reluctantly, I let out a sigh of defeat and decided to play along, but not before messing around with her.

"Why yes, it would absolutely be the most stupendously wonderful thing in the whole wide world!!" I said, with a quite a bit of sarcasm. "In fact, I would nearly drop dead if Rainbow Dash would be so generous to teach me how to fly!"

To add to the effect, I turned towards her  while grabbing the sides of my face with my fore-hooves.

"No way! It's Rainbow Dash!" I exclaimed as I pretended to faint, holding one of my front hooves over my forehead.

Once I finished my little scene, I picked myself up off the ground again and looked cheerfully at the cyan mare, who was clearly unimpressed.

"Alright, you've had your fun," she stated while hovering over my head, "but would you like me to teach you how to fly?"

"That would be wonderful." I said, now with a serious tone.

As we walked to the middle of an open field, Rainbow Dash stopped and turned her head towards me.

"Okay first thing your going to need to know is how to get yourself in the air." She said as she bent downwards, preparing to jump. "Just do as I do."

Confused, I said, "Well I don't think watching is going to teach me anything."

I doubt she really heard me as my voice was muffled by a sudden a gust of wind, she jumped straight up and began to steadily flap her wings, slow enough to prevent any acceleration, yet fast enough to keep her in the air. As she floated in the air above me, I tried to copy the way she launched herself in the air, slowly I began to lower myself towards the ground trying to recall her exact movements. Finally, I pushed up in the air and began to rapidly flap my wings, trying to gain lift, fortunately, I was able to create enough lift to get me off the ground, unfortunately, it was too much. I could hear Rainbow Dash uncontrollably laugh as I spiraled out of control, crashing into a tree. As I lay there by the tree, Rainbow Dash flew over towards me, still laughing at me.

"You should of seen your face!" she said between  "I haven't seen a crash like that since Junior Speedsters Flight Camp!"

A loud groan was all I could say in reply. Slowly, I picked my self up and walked back over to where I first attempted to get myself in the air. Just like the first time, I steadily lowered myself to the ground, determined to get it right this time. Moments later, I pushed off the ground and leaped into the air, unlike last time I slowed down the rate at which I flapped my wings. Though as you could most likely guess, this time, I was too slow and almost immediately after I jumped in the air I hit the ground face-first. Rainbow Dash however, was kind enough not to laugh out loud, but still couldn't keep herself from letting out a quiet snicker. However, I ignored her and took the crouched down once again, trying to remember exactly as Rainbow Dash showed me. Finally, after taking a deep breath, I quickly looked up, then jumped.

My eyes were closed as I jumped, bracing myself for when I hit the floor, but as the moments started to pass by, nothing happened, all I could feel was the soft gusts of wind that my wings created each time they stroked past my side. When I opened my eyes, I looked down, half expecting to find myself still on the ground. Yet, as I looked down, I realized that I was indeed floating. With an excited gasp, I quickly turned to Rainbow Dash, who watched from her cloud above.

"Nice job rookie!" she said with a smug grin, "But how 'bout we practice some real flying."

As she motioned me with her hoof to follow her, I flapped my wings to push and quickly glided towards her.

"What do you mean real flying?" I couldn't help ask as I slowed down next to her, landing on a cloud that hovered next to hers.

"Oh, I think you know what I mean." She replied as she lowered herself into the same position she used less then a few minutes ago. "How about we have a friendly race, first one to round Ponyville wins."

"Alright, I'm in." I said accepting her challenge. "When do we start?

"How 'bout... NOW!" She said, bolting from the cloud at an astonishing speed.

Quickly recollecting myself, I leaped after her, trying to catch up. However, I still wasn't used to flying and nearly fell to the ground.

"Your going to have to go faster if you want to win!" I heard Rainbow Dash yell as the distance between us steadily grew.

What caused the following action, still eludes me today, I don't know if was her taunt that caused it, or my determination to beat her, but something happened, something caused me to gain an understanding of how to use my wings. Soon, I began to slowly close the gap between us, getting so close I was directly behind her. Apparently, she didn't notice me as I pulled up behind her, as she made no effort to get away from me. Eventually, I began to notice her tiring, seeing this as my chance to gain the lead and win, I broke out from behind her and started to fly up next to her. Her face still makes me laugh to this day, it was a look of shock, a look of disbelief. With the finish line now in sight, I rapidly began to flap my wings, continuously spanning the gap between us. Feeling proud of my soon-to-be victory, I looked back towards Rainbow Dash, waving at her mockingly with a large grin on my face. Yet something seemed off, as I tried to look closely at her, which believe me, isn't easy when flying at fifty miles-per-hour, it seemed as if she was... smirking?

Why the Hell is she smirking? I thought to myself, but as I turned my head back around, I only had seconds to find out what she was smirking about, and it hit me right in the center of my face.

"Ca-Caaaaphhhf!" Shrieked many of the crows as the rammed into my body, face, and even wings. Making me violently spiral out of control. Yet, as I heard Rainbow Dash cheer with cry of triumph, I saw that she didn't fully realize what had actually happened to me. Speaking of me by the way, as I happened to spiral  downward, I saw that I was heading straight towards the ground.

"Bloody hell!" Was all with that I had time to say before I crashed.

End of Part 2

Okay before you guys leave, there's a couple of things I'd like to say.

First, I'm sorry if there's any grammar mistakes or something of that sort, I didn't have any time to send this to my prereaders (Speaking of prereaders, if you'd like to be one, just ask).

Second, I don't know how this news will be taken so I can't decide if it's good or bad, I'm currently writing another story (It will be in 2nd person), however, it won't be released for while since I'm waiting until I can some cover art. (Thank you Arby Works!)

Finally, I've asked you guys to do this in a comment, and now I'm asking you to do this here, I'd honestly appreciate it if you guys would take the time to read the blog posts, I feel as if I'm taking to myself when no one takes the time to read it.

Anyway, that's about it, hopefully I can write chapters a little faster in the future.

Thanks for reading

~Xaiden