Chapters The Box That Changed Everything
The Box That Changed Everything
By Xaiden
Chapter I: The Box
It was dark when I woke up, and all I could taste was dirt and blood. I was riding my bike down a trail that I knew like the back of my hand when out of nowhere my front wheel hit something and I lost control and swerved off the trail’s road, ramming into a tree. When I crashed I knew I must have passed out for a while as it was late at night when I arose from my unconsciousness. As I picked my myself up and dusted off my gear, I was to drowsy to aware how I could see everything around me perfectly when normally after sunset you can’t see your own hand in front of your face. Finally realizing this, I looked around and noticed that about 50 feet away from me sat a box, almost the size of a small dictionary, emitting a strange unearthly light that almost looked ominous. Though still dazed by the crash, I put the thought of the box in the back of my mind and continued to wipe off my shirt and check my bike for any serious damage. Finally after about 5 minutes of checking I got back on my bike and set off back home, giving the strange box one final stare just as the light from the chest began to dim …
I arrived home around 11:30 in the night, but I wasn’t concerned. I lived by myself and in doing so I had no curfew, no bedtime, no extra dishes, laundry, money, time, but most importantly. I had no one to love. I was usually the shy kid at school who everyone thought was on drugs or had some disability that kept me from being socially active. But I didn’t mind, for back in my youth, I was always the kind of “isolationist” as I would call it, didn’t like to work together, didn’t like being bossed around, etc… Mainly, it was because I thought I had better things to work on than my social life. And needless to say that has now become a curse. Since now if felt as if I had only set myself up for a life of loneliness and would never truly find someone to love. But back returning to when I got home; for obvious reasons, all that was on my mind was that box. I figured since it was too late to go back and check the box again, I’d go to bed and go back to where it was in the morning. The next morning I awoke with eager intentions to find out more about that mysterious box I had ran into last night. After wolfing down a plate of eggs and bacon, I raced out the door and leaped up on my bike, zooming down the road to the trail.
As I came upon the spot where the chest was, my bike skidded to a halt as I located the box just like where it was last night. As I crouched down to pick it up, I began to notice an etch on the the lid of the box and as I looked closer at the etching I could not make out what the etch was, even after ten minutes of pure eye straining.
“Uhhhh... That’s weird...” I muttered to myself, continuing to examine the box and it’s odd nature.
Finally after about another five minutes of examining the box, I did what anyone would do when they’ve found a mysterious box that they found on a nature trail. Open it of course! But as I tried to pry open the small box open, the lid wouldn’t budge. But after further examination of the box I noticed a small key hole That’s when all of the sudden something caught the corner of my eye, a small glint in a pile of leaves. Not understanding how I noticed that, I quickly dismissed the thought and made my way to the pile of leaves and picked up the key. Much to my convenience the key fit the lock exactly and is I turned the key the boxes lid opened with a small pop, and inside the chest lay a small little black gem in the simple shape of a circle. However, though the gem was black, it radiated an enormous amount of light...
“Just like the light from last night,” I thought to myself, “This ‘thing’ keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
After the light from the gemstone began to dim I tipped the box over to dump the gem into my hand. But the moment the gem touched the palm of my hand, my vision went dark.
The Box That Changed Everything
The Box that Changed Everything
By Xaiden
Chapter II: Where am I
"Hey y'all, come over here and check this fellar out! He isn't looking so well!"
"Well duh silly! He's completely unconscious!"
"How did you find him Applejack?"
"Well, I was bucking apple trees for this year's harvest when all of a sudden, I catch this 'ere young fellar out like a light!"
"Hmmmm... Say, do any of you recognize this pony here? I don't remember anypony that look like this!"
"Maybe he's a new here and got lost in the apple orchards."
"Oh don't be ridiculous Rainbow Dash, the only way to the apple farm is through ponyville. One of us would have seen him before would've have came all the way out here!" Said a pony who seemed to have a regal attitude.
"Well aside from the fact of how he got here, he's obviously lost and needs help, I'll take him with me to the library until he wakes up. Until then, I think you all should go around ponyville and ask anyone if they've seen this pony before!"
"Got it!"
"Okie-Dokie"
"Will do!"
"You can count on us partner!"
"Okay then, I'll let you guys know when he's feeling better! See you guys later!"
_______________________________________________________________________________
As I came to my senses, i noticed that i was laying in a bed inside of what seemed to be a tree.
"Where am I?" I asked myself, reaching to rub my eyes.
...
But when my hands made contact with my face, I did not feel a pair of fingers or, but instead, I felt a pair of hooves!
Shocked by my sudden discovery, as i leaped from the bed I ran to the closest thing that could reflect an image only to find in horror that I had been transformed into a red pony with black eyes and a light brown mane. But no, not just a pony, but actually pegasus to be exact.
...
Terrified, I let out a giant scream, but was almost immediately silenced when a dark-purple unicorn galloped into the room, shocked at the sudden disturbance.
"What's wrongs!?" She said, trying to keep calm over the situation.
"What's wrong?" I cried "WHAT'S WRONG? I'M A PONY THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG!"
"Well of course!" she said in a confused manner, starting to lose her cool, "What else would you be?"
"No you don't get it! I'm not from here! I'm from a whole 'nother world! I'M A SUPPOSED TO BE A HUMAN NOT A PONY!"
"Hmmm a human you say? This seems like something Princess Celestia would be interested in..." She said with a concerned look on her face, "Spiiiiiiiiiike" she called while searching through what seemed like an endless supply of books.
"Yes m'lady" replied a purple dragon that sprouted out of nowhere.
"Send a letter to Princess Celestia, tell that a uhhhhh--" She stopped, "What are you again?"
"A hu-man!" I responded irritably, still shocked from the drastic changes my body made upon changing worlds.
"Ahh yes, a human!" she resumed, unamused at my rude attitude "Tell Princess Celestia that a 'hu-man' has entered our world, has somehow been transformed into a Pegasus, and that I request her assistance immediately!"
"Yes ma'am" replied Spike, who had just finished the letter and sent it to Princess Celestia.
...
After a couple of minutes or so passed I finally began to get over my predicament and was starting to become fascinated by my new form. At one point I even tried to fly, though it only resulted in a broken window, three burned books, and a very irritated Twilight Sparkle.
Around an hour or so later, there was a knock on the door, and as Twilight opened the door a great light filled the room and in came somepony who only needed a mere glance to be classified as only the highest of royalty, and who else could it be other than Princess Celestia herself.
View Online
The Box That Changed Everything
Chapter III: Questionnaires With Princess Celestia
The Box that Changed Everything
By Xaiden
Chapter III: Questionnaires With Princess Celestia
I sat there, simply in disbelief at what was before my eyes. The Royal Princess, majestic, regal, and anything else you could use to describe someone as magnificent as she was. Thought one thing confused me, when she entered the room, the only noticeable feature was her frown.
...
"Ahhhh! Princess Celestia, it's wonderful to see you here! Come right on in!" Twilight Sparkle said with a rather unrealistic smile on her face, motioning for the princess to enter her house."
"When you said that a human was here, I tried to get here as quickly as I could." The Princess replied, still with a frown on her face. " So, where is this human, I'd like to meet him and ask him a few questions."
"Oh yes right this way." Twilight Sparkle responded, motioning for Princess Celestia to follow her.
As Twilight Sparkle led Princess Celestia into the room where I was being held, She said to her,
"Here he is, we found him passed out in Applejack's orchard, none of us had ever seen him before so I took him here." she explained to Celestia promptly, "Recently, he just woke up and started panicking, saying he was a human so I knew i had to let you know."
"Well it's a really good thing you did," Princess Celestia replied, turning to face me, "because something really important must of had to have happen for him to be here."
"What do you mean Princess Celestia?" she asked with a quizzical look on her face. "I mean, I know that this is an odd event to say the least, but what makes so important?"
"All of this, I will be happy to explain to you later my young pupil, but for now, may I speak to this man in private?" She asked kindly with almost a look of... worry? Like she was trying to get Twilight Sparkle out of the room.
"This must really be important for Princess Celestia to act... so... worried." I thought to myself, scratching my head with my hoof, yet still not used to my new body.
"Uhhhh.... Sure, okay Princess" Twilight Sparkle said, closing the door, her facial expression making it obvious that she now really wanted to know what was making Princess Celestia so antsy.
And as soon as the door clicked shut, Princess Celestia's worried look immediately was replaced by a slight frown as she turned and looked at me, trying to hide in the corner.
"Oh don't be so silly, I'm not going to hurt you, I only want to ask you a few questions!" she said slowly walking up to me, holding out her hoof as a sign of peace.
Afraid that she might be planning something, I just cowered even further into the corner.
"My, you remind me of one of Twilight's friends, Fluttershy." She said giggling, "But really, I honestly only wish to ask you a few simple questions."
Realizing I had no other option, I took her hoof and walked with her to the middle of the room and sat down, on a cushion and prepared for her questions.
"So, do you know how you got here?" She started looking at me with questioningly
"Yes, it all happened when I... when I..." I said, struggling to remember, but somehow, it felt as if something was blocking my memory from me, "I can't remember..." now giving Princess Celestia a confused look.
After say this, Celestia's face, once again ,became fill with worry, but upon noticing what she was doing, quickly put on a fake smile and tried to resume as if nothing had happened
"Okay, on with the next question--"
"Everything alright, Princess, it is princess right?" I asked cocking my head sideways, wondering what all the oddness was about
"Yes everything is alright," She said, her face returning to "normal," "and yes I am a princess but you can simply refer to me as Celestia." she finished with a smile.
"But back to the questions," she resumed, " second question, do you happen to remember anything from your life before you were transported here?"
That to, I could not remember, and simply shook my head saying, "No..." but this time, I looked carefully at her face to see if she would would get worried again, but to my dismay she kept a straight face this time and simply kept going on with her questions.
"Okay, question 3: does this image remind you of anything?" she said, slowly handing me an image. An image containing what appeared to have an open little chest, and inside it contained a... a small, circular, black, GEM!
Then suddenly I involuntary let out a cry and my vision became obscured while images of the events right before I entered Ponyville flashed before my eyes. And when my vision returned I let out a small yelp and jumped back shivering at what just happened before me.
"A gem, it was a small circular black gem that brought me here!" I cried to Princess Celestia, explaining what happened; "I was going down a trail one day my bike crashed and I found that little chest that had that gem and when i touched it, it brought me here!" I yelled looking at Celestia, who was just surprised as I was.
"Well that answers those questions, but do you remember anything else? Anything other than what brought you here
Dismayed, I responded with a shake of my head and looked down
"Don't worry my young friend," The princess said looking down at me, "I knew someone else how might be able to help out?"
"Who?" I asked
And as if on cue, the burst open and Twilight Sparkle who said, "Is everypony alright? I heard screaming! IS SOMEPONY HURT!"
Taken back by the passion in this pony I looked up and said to Princess Celestia with a confused face, "Her?"
"Of course not!" she said with a laugh "But now that you mention her, Twilight?" she asked,
"Yes Princess Celestia?" she said almost immediately, eager to do as her princess commanded
"Go get your friends, I'm sure they would love to meet him," She said, directing her attention to me, "You and I are going to go see someone who might know what to do about this..."
"Who?" I said, eager to know the mystery person, I'd be going off to see.
"My sister," she said, "Princess Luna."
The Box That Changed Everything
Chapter IV: Going to Canterlot
The Box that Changed Everything
By Xaiden
Chapter IV: Going to Canterlot
As I sat there, wondering what the future had in store for me, I heard Twilight Sparkle start to introduce me to her friends. Slowly, each of them came up and for a moment I'd exchange a couple of words with each of them, some more open than others.
...
"Howdy!" said applejack, eager to meet the me "You didn't happen to eat any of my while you were on my farm did ya?
"Uhhh no, not that I remember." I said with a laugh,
"Oh, well okay then." and at that she left to go back and talk with the other ponies.
Next, there was Pinkie Pie
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?" She asked with zeal, obviously trying to learn as much as she could from me,
"Well, due to some recent events, I can't remember, sorry 'bout that." I said with a nervous chuckle followed by a fake grin
"Awwww well that's a shame! I KNOW, WE'LL GIVE YOU A NEW ONE!" she exlaimed, her face beginning to explode with happiness
I was nearly about to try to hide again until another pony named Rainbow Dash cut in and said
"Woah Pinkie, hold your horses, I think he's had enough trouble for today, why don't you see if Twilight Sparkle needs your help with anything."
"OKIE DOKIE!" Pinkie said in reply, then bounded off to go see Twilight as Rainbow Dash had said.
"Uhhh thanks for that," I said to Rainbow Dash, reaching out to shake her hoof with mine
"Ah it was nothing!" she said shaking back, "Name's Rainbow Dash, you?"
"Don't remember had my memory wiped clean when I transported here."
"Ah ok, well good luck with that!" she said and was off back to go talk to someone else.
After Rainbow Dash there was Rarity, and well with Rarity, it was almost like talking to Pinkie Pie except the only thing she talked about was clothes. As much as what I found her talking about, rather boring, I pretended to listen as if I cared rather than immediately get on her bad side. But eventually, she realized and that I was soon bored of listening her talk about fashion so she left too.
Finally, the last pony to greet me was Fluttershy,
"Uhhh... hi...." She said, trying to cower away almost as I had when I first met Princess Celestia,
"Is everything okay? Something wrong?" I asked, wondering if it was something wrong with me,
"No, it's not you," she replied, seemingly getting a little more comfortable talking to me, "It's just... I'm not usually comfortable when I meet new people, that's all." She said quietly, almost as if she didn't even believe herself !
For almost a minute there we just stood there, staring at each other, awkwardly, only getting even worse as the seconds passed by.
"Well it was nice meeting you," I said, finally breaking the silence "hope we meet again sometime soon eh?"
"Oh yes," she said, now with a bright smile on her face, "that would be wonderful!"
"Well, I'll be seeing you," I said to her, waving my hoof "goodbye."
"Bye..." she said, walking away slowly, as Princess Celestia called for everyone to come meet her in the center of the room at once. Once we all gathered in front of Princess Celestia, she began to explain to them what was going to happen.
"Ok so I see that everyone has made themselves acquainted with our little friend here?" She said, pointing her hoof over to me as I smiled back to the ponies.
"Well our friend here, has been magically transported here and in the process, has been transformed into a pony as well." she stated, watching everyone but Twilight and I gasp and look back at me a second time, making me feel even more uncomfortable than before.
As Princess Celestia continued to explain the situation, all of the other ponies kept looking from Princess Celestia to me, back and forth... Back and forth... Only increasing my discomfort.
Finally, when she had finished explaining, she call me up to stand next to her and said to each of them,
"For now, he will come with me to Canterlot so that we can try to find some answers to this strange phenomenon," she stated looking at me with a smile, "but when he returns, I wish for all of you to treat him as if he were your friend."
"Besides," She continued, "He may end up becoming one of your best of friends."
"But with that said, I wish you a farewell, " she said with a grin,"And you," she said looking at me down by her side, "Come on, let's go take a tour of Canterlot."
Then, she touched my forehead with her horn everything went dark, again.
When I my vision returned this time, I was no longer inside a library, but instead this time, i was in a large courtyard, one with many different paths leading around the large castle, and all i could do about it was stare at it in awe. While slowly taking in my surroundings i heard Princess Celestia say to me,
"Amazing isn't it?"
All i could do was nod
"Well let's get inside," she said in my ear, "Princess Luna is waiting for us!"
As we walked into the throne room I noticed two thrones, one for each of the princesses, and sitting in one of the thrones, was Princess Luna.
The Box That Changed Everything
Chapter V: Princess Luna's Library
Before you guys read this, I would like to give a quick shout-out to Thomas R , he has been a MAJOR help with the editing of this chapter, so props to him!
The Box that Changed Everything
By Xaiden
Chapter V: Princess Luna's Library
"Hello," Princess Luna said, looking at me with a welcoming smile, as if I were a friend she had not seen in a long time, "I hear from my big sister that you were transported to this realm by an some black gem in a mysterious box, am I correct?"
I nodded in reply.
"And tell me," she continued "You only have the memory of what caused you to be teleported here, but that was only unlocked after you were shown an image of that specific black gem, is that not true?"
"Yes ma'am..." I replied, unsure of how she knew exactly what happened.
"Uhhh... may I ask something?" I said to her, "How exactly do you know all of this?"
"I was well informed." She said with a smug grin, while at the same time nudging her head towards Princess Celestia.
With a cocked eyebrow I looked at Princess Celestia and asked her, "How, you've been with me ever since we met back a Twilight's house"
She giggled and looked at me, "Telepathy." she said, but her lips didn't move, I assumed to prove her point.
"But back to the matter of importance" Luna continued "Celestia, if you mind, may I speak to him alone?"
"Oh..." Celestia said, her face also repeating what Twilight's did when Celestia asked to speak to me by herself not so long ago. "Sure, go right ahead." Now awkwardly leaving me alone with Luna.
After Princess Celestia left the room Luna turned her head towards mine and said in a soft voice, "Follow me."
Following her, we walked behind her throne where she reached to what seemed to be a small button on the back of the throne. When she pressed it I felt a low rumble at my hooves and watched in awe as her throne started to slowly move forward, revealing a secret passage, which most likely was the reason she wanted to speak with me in private.
"Now listen," Luna said looking at me with a stern face, "Celestia doesn't know about this, and I'd like to keep it that way."
I looked at her questioningly and asked, "Why keep it a secret? Just tell her and I'm sure she'll be fine with it."
"Not likely, but that story's for another time." She replied, looking up into the sky, as if she were looking for something, then quickly turned her head back to me "Now go on, get going. I'll be right behind you!" she said while nudging me down the stairs with her snout, causing me to nearly tumble down the seemingly endless flight of stairs.
As I regained my balance I looked back at Princess Luna who followed me down the steps, just a little more graceful than I did. Once she stepped inside, she pulled a lever that was to her side and I watched as her throne slowly rumbled back into place. Walking down ahead of me, she looked back towards me, "What are you waiting for, an invitation?" she said with a smug grin, "Don't worry, nothing has been down here for a long time."
Reluctantly I followed, trying to stay close to her, which wasn't necessarily easy since I was still unused to my hooves. After a few minutes of walking, I tried to break the silence by hopefully starting up a conversation.
"So..." I said awkwardly, "Anything else you know about me that I should be know about?"
"No," She replied quickly, making it seem as if she was hiding something, "Everything I told you when we met was what Princess Celestia me , why did she not tell me something that I should know about?"
"No," I said back, "Was only wondering."
Continuing on down the stairs, Princess Luna began asking me simple questions, some about my amnesia, some about the my life, even a few about the gem that brought me here, but no matter how simple the question was, I was unable to remember, and only replied saying that I couldn't remember. Sooner or later, Luna became fed up with constantly hearing the same reply and discontinued with any questions after that, leaving the remainder of the trip in silence.
Still, as we ventured further down the stairs, my mind was unable to stop thinking about the strange behavior that Luna had been demonstrating since we met in the throne room, how she treated me so nicely, how she looked up into the sky right before we headed down the dark staircase, and now, how she acted as if there was something that she was trying to hide. It was all just to odd, then again, it's not like someone touches a mysterious gem and gets transported into a whole other world ever day.
Finally, after what seemed like twenty minutes of walking down the dimly lit stairs, we arrived at a large stone door that had strange markings etched all over it, and in the center, was a small hole, the size of a unicorn's horn.
"We're here." She said, looking at the door with a bitter face.
"Something wrong?" I asked, unsure of why she was acting in such a strange way.
"It's... nothing..." She said, looking at me with a sad sort of smile, "Now let's see if I can remember how to open this."
Slowly, she inserted the tip of her horn into the small hole where we heard a loud CLANK , signifying that the door was now unlocked. After that, I watched in amazement as the door slowly opened, revealing a small darkened room which clearly had not been used for a long time.
Looking at the princess, I watched her as she slowly walked inside the room, using the magic from her horn as a source of light. Then, she walked up to one of the walls, carefully avoiding anything that might cause her to trip where she pushed a button. At first nothing seemed to happen, but suddenly several torches that hung from the wall lit up, giving a us a more reliable source of light.
As the room became filled with light, Princess Luna began searching for the shelves for a book that could possibly help with my predicament.
"Try not to touch anything, okay?" Luna said, not even turning here head to look at me.
"Uhh... Okay?" I said with a puzzled face. "But can I still come in? Maybe look around a little bit?"
"Yes, of course." She replied, still not paying much attention to me.
As I walked into the room, the first thing I noticed were shelves that ran parallel with the walls, each filled with old, dusty, most likely long forgotten books that had probably not seen any sunlight for a long time. Along with the shelves, I noticed that there stood a single table, but it wasn't the table that caught my attention, for on that table, there lay a small little book. Now, the book had small differences as that it was quite smaller that most of the other books in the room, other than that, it seemingly had no notable differences. That was until I walked up to where it lay on the table and noticed that this book looked like it had recently been read. Curious , picked up the book and began to examine it. As I rotated the book I noticed the cover, which only inflamed my curiosity. Memories: is what was pressed on its cover with golden lettering. Then, as I was starting to turn the cover, I heard Luna cry, "Ah-ha! Found it!" causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. Shocked, I accidentally dropped the on the floor, not knowing what to do, I knocked the book with my hoof under the table just as Princess Luna walked up to the table. As she walked up next to me, I noticed that she was carrying a rather large book on her back, which she proceeded to place on the table. Looking at the book, it was covered with so much dust, I could barely make out the title on the book until Luna blew off the dust. Even after blowing off the dust, I still couldn't make out the title as it was written in a language that was unfamiliar to my understanding.
Looking at the princess I asked, "What is this?"
Smiling, she turned towards me, "It's an old book that talks about ancient and mysterious relics. Now, it's written in an ancient language that even my best historians will have trouble deciphering. I'll warn you, this will take time but I'll be sure to let you know when we find something."
"Uh, sure..." I replied, not sure of what to say next, "I guess that's fine with me."
"Okay than," Luna said in response, "Now if you can remember the way out of here, tell Princess Celestia that I've found a book that might be able to help you. And until we can find something that can help us learn more about this gem, you'll need to stay in Ponyville for the time being. Okay?"
"Okay then." I said "Oh Princess Luna?"
"Yes?" She said, looking up from the book.
"Good Luck." I said with a smile as I started heading towards the stairs. Though as I was starting to walk up the stairs, I could have sworn I heard her say "Thank you... "
...
Eventually, after I making it out of Luna's secret passage and into the throne room, I went outside and found Princess Celestia, who greeted me as I entered the courtyard.
"You were in there quite a long time," she said with a mildly concerned face, "did you two happen to discover anything that may help you learn about that mysterious gem?"
"Yes actually," I said, "Princess Luna, found an old book about ancient and mysterious relics. Only problem is, it's written in some ancient language and it's gonna take Luna and some of her historian's quite a bit of time to translate."
"That's wonderful news!" Princess Celestia said, turning towards me with a warm smile. "But if it's going to take some time for Luna to see what that book says, I guess I'll have you stay with Twilight Sparkle and her friends in Ponyville until she finishes translating that book."
"Oh no, I couldn't do that," I replied "They all seemed like they were really--"
"You don't need to worry about that dear," Celestia said, interrupting me "Twilight and her friends already said that they would be happy to let you stay with them."
"Really?" I said surprised that the people who I barely had any time to meet were yet, so kind enough as to give me a place to temporarily live in, "But when did you ask them?"
"While you were talking with Luna." She said with a giggle, "What, did you think that I just sat outside and waited for you while you were with my sister."
"Oh..." I said quietly, my face quickly turning red with embarrassment. "My bad..."
"It's okay," She responded, her face still covered in a smile, "Now let's get you back to Ponyville, your friends are excited to meet you." As she said this, she lowered her head to mine, lightly tapping my forehead as she did when she brought us here to Canterlot. And just like last time, my vision blurred white.
When my vision returned to normal, we were back in Twilight's house where I was greeted warmly by Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
As each of them greeted me, I turned to Princess Celestia and thanked her just as she teleported back to Canterlot. Then as I turned around to face each of the ponies Twilight Sparkle walked up to me with a smile.
"Don't worry about having to tell us what happened," Twilight Sparkle stated, "Princess Celestia told me everything and we are more the happy to have you stay here with us until things get sorted out."
"Yea, if you need a place to stay, we could always an extra hand down at Sweet Apple Acres partner!" Applejack said as she walked up next to Twilight Sparkle.
"Hey same here," said Rainbow Dash, now hovering over the other two, "I could use someone to help me practice some new flying moves I'm trying to learn!"
Next Rarity walked over now joining in with the rest "I must your assistance down at the Carousel Boutique, I have loads of outfits I'd like your help with."
"Oh yes, I could use some help too," I heard a Fluttershy, who was slowly walking up behind the rest of the group, "I mean, only if it's okay with you of course..."
As I turned towards her to say yes, Pinkie Pie bounced right in front of me, nearly scaring me out of my own skin.
"Don't forget MEEE! I know what you can help me with! A surprise party, for YOU, then it wouldn't be much of a surprise than. Wait I--"
"Pinkie Pie, I think that's enough." Twilight Sparkle said, slowly dragging Pinkie Pie back to the rest of them. "Sorry about that." she said with a laugh. "But as for me, I could always use some extra hands when I reorganize the books."
As all of them stood there in a group, I looked at them with a sheepish look on my face. "Thanks you guys, I really appreciate the kindness, but I've had a really long day and I'd like to sleep for a little while, anyone mind letting stay at their place?"
As soon as I finished my sentence, I was nearly forced to the ground with each of them asking me if I could stay at there place. Yet, as uncomfortable as it may have seemed, I was okay with it. I thought to myself: These ponies, not even knowing who I am, are nearly going crazy just to show me kindness, kindness that I had never experienced anywhere else. The kind of kindness that makes you want to stay. And along with those thoughts, I said to myself Maybe things might not be so bad if I stay here, maybe I could actually stay, live out my life * here*, the place where I actually feel wanted, loved. Maybe, just maybe, instead of just strange events that happened one after the other, maybe things might turn out to be normal...
In no way could normal be used to describe the events that happened next, looking back on this I now wonder...
How could I have been so wrong?
The Box That Changed Everything
Chapter VI: Odd Dreams and Bad Flying
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
The Box That Changed Everything
Chapter VII: Crash Reports
I can't apologize enough for how long this chapter took to wrote, already being 5 weeks into school (Which has been the main cause of the delay), and I'm in a lot of high level classes that already have me racked me up the ass with nearly 8 hours of homework, my time to write is REALLY short! Though I promise you, I WILL NOT DUMP THIS STORY! One last thing I'd like to add before I forget, one of my friends on this site has recently started writing stories like I have, so if you have some extra time check him out.
Oh and please don't forget to leave a comment, I'd like to know what you guys think, as well as any suggestions and such!
~The Box that Changed Everything
By Xaiden
Chapter VII: Crash Reports
I woke with a shock, taking short gasps of air as I quickly looked about my surroundings. When my vision steadily came into focus, I found myself to be in a white bed, a hospital bed to be exact. When I tried to move around, I felt a sharp pain ripple through my wings, forcing me to wince in pain. Looking at my wings, I turned my head to see that every square inch of them was covered in bandages.
"Great... " I muttered to myself, displeased with my situation.
When continued to look around the room, my eyes wandered as to a button that happened to lay on the end table to my right. Curiously, I reached my hoof over to the button and picked it up, briefly examining it. With nothing interesting about it, I pressed it. And no sooner after I pressed the odd button, the door immediately swung open and in popped a nurse.
"Looks like your finally awake!" The nurse said, greeting me with an unrealistic smile. "Ya gave the doctor quite a scare when they got a look at you ya know?"
"Really?" I said while raising my eyebrow, "What happened to me?"
When I asked this, the nurse pursed her lips and pointed her hoof over to a couple X-rays that hung on the wall, "After the doctor took some X-ray scans of you body, he said the main bone in each of your wings had broke in over several different places, along with some minor fractures along the lesser bones as well..."
After a detailed explanation of the X-rays and a few other things that involved my broken wings, the nurse said goodbye and left, leaving me alone in the room. Now normally I would've accepted this time alone with open arms, as I said before, I was usually the guy who didn't often speak. But as I lay there in my bed, I thought about the six ponies who had found me, none of them knew a thing about me, yet they gladly took me into their homes. Showing me a level of kindness I was not to familiar with. However, my thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock on the door. As the nurse and I looked towards the door, another nurse, who carried the same plastered smile as the other one, poked her head in the room and looked directly at me.
"Sir," she said with an upbeat voice, "you have a visitor, would you like me to let her in?"
"Uh yea, sure." I replied, "Send her right in!"
As the nurse pulled her head back through the door, I watched as Rainbow Dash walked in, holding a smug look on her face.
"Wow, you've barely been in Ponyville for two days and you've already landed yourself in the hospital!" Rainbow Dash said with a snicker, "Gosh, people think I'm to reckless!"
I gave her an embarrassed chuckle, "What can I say? It's hard to fly when a flock of birds nail you in the face."
"Oh yea about that..." She said, looking quite red on the cheeks, "I'm sorry for not warning you, didn't think that you would have crashed like that. Speaking of, how are you holding up? You feeling okay?"
"Uh yea, I'm feeling fine." I said, taken back by her concern with my well-being, "Though they're saying I'm not going to be able to fly for quite a bit of time, even when I get out of the hospital. So I guess we'll have to put off 'flying school' 'til then."
She looked at me in disappointment, "That stinks..."
I sat there in an awkward silence, not sure what to say to her. However she broke the odd silence with a sigh.
"I think I'm gonna go now, I promised Applejack I'd help her with today's apple harvest, so see you around later?..." She said while turning toward the door.
"Yea sure!" I replied, looking down at my sheets as she walked to the door.
"Oh wait! There's something you should know." She said, abruptly stopping near the door.
"And what would that be?" I asked.
"I'd think of a temporary name for you, 'else Pinkie Pie's gonna come up with one for you." She replied, her face holding the oddest of smiles. "And trust me, you probably won't like what she comes up with."
"A name? Hm..." I said, trying to come up with a name to call myself by. "How 'bout you just call me... Red... I-I mean, at least until I'm able to remember my real name..."
She gave me with a confused look, "Red? Hm... Seems a bit predictable for a name, but I'll tell the others that that's what your going by now."
With one last glance, she gave me a wink and like that, she was gone, once again leaving me alone in my hospital room. I let out a deep sigh as I laid down in my bed, quickly drifting off to sleep.
~~~
A week passed by while I was in the hospital, even though as I was forced to remain in my bed, I found myself being frequently visited by each of the six mares. Usually they would come in one giant group. However Twilight Sparkle would sometimes come by herself and teach me about the history of Equestria for hours until my mind was numb from the hours of study. One day however, as I waited for Twilight Sparkle to stop by for my daily history lesson, I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in!" I said, expecting to see Twilight Sparkle enter the room.
As usual, Twilight Sparkle entered the room, but this time, she was accompanied by a doctor.
"Hey Red!" Twilight Sparkle said while giving me a quick wave, "I'm sorry for getting here late, I just got distracted reading about this new spell."
"Don't worry about it, it's fine." I said reassuringly, "But what's with with the doctor?"
"Oh him? He was on his way to see you as well." She replied.
"Ah yes I was just getting to that!" The doctor said, walking closer to me. "I happen to have some really good news for you!"
"And what would that be?" I asked, curious to know.
"Well," He said looking down at a file with my name (Red) labeled on it. "It would appear that after looking at recent X-rays of your body. Your bones have recovered at a miraculous rate. So fast in fact, that you'll have made a full recovery by tomorrow. So we have had the nurses make sure your checked out whenever you're ready."
I looked at him with utter disbelief, "That's amazing!" I said, now looking at Twilight.
As the doctor walked out the room, Twilight looked at me with a warm smile.
"Well, I was going to teach you about some history about Princess Luna today, but I think we have a better things to do."
Together we shared a laugh as I prepared to leave the hospital.
~~~
As I took my first steps in a week outside the hospital, I constantly had to keep myself from falling over. Though only after a minute or so of walking, I was back to normal. While we made our way to Twilight Sparkle's house, I saw many different mares and colts going about their business, whether it was as simple as buying food from the market, or as complicated as the to-do lists mothers have when they care for their newborns. Yet as I was watching them, I noticed one thing that I had not often seen before, everyone was happy . Not the kind of happiness that is blind, but the kind of happiness that could make even the saddest of ponies smile.
Could this place really be as nice as it seems? I thought to myself, though the answer was obvious, it seemed as if it was to good to be true.
Yet thoughts were cut short, again , as I walked face first into Twilight's front door.
"Uh... Were here?" Twilight Sparkle said trying to hold back a giggle.
"You don't say?" I remarked, rubbing my forehead.
As Twilight opened the door to her house we both stepped inside.
"SURPRISE!!! " I heard multiple voices shout as I walked inside the tree house.
Taken completely by surprise by the sudden assault of shouts, all I could manage to say was something along the lines of "Huh?"
"Surprise silly!" Pinkie Pie said popping in front of my face. "Don't you see, it's a surprise party for you!"
Still dazed by what had just happened, I only just cocked my head sideways.
"What for?" I asked.
To answer my question, Rarity stepped in front of Pinkie Pie, "For you dear. When each of us heard that you had injured yourself and were in the hospital, Pinkie Pie--" "That's me !" Pinkie Pie said, interrupting. Rarity, after letting out a sigh, continued, "Yes, Pinkie Pie decided that we should throw you a surprise birthday party for when you got home, which brings us here."
"Really?" I said, "Thanks you guys!"
As the party spanned throughout the afternoon and well into the night, it went by as a blur, and before I knew it everyone had either left or had fallen asleep randomly on the floor. As for me, I had gone to my room that Twilight Sparkle had let me stay in, only to find that it was being occupied by Rainbow Dash, who laid there as if she had gotten into a wrestling match with the sheets and lost. With a sigh of annoyance, I turned around to leave and find another place to rest when I heard a light rustle. Looking behind me, I saw Rainbow Dash looking at me pensively. Cocking her head sideways, she looked at me as I were a part of a dream she was having. However the weariness from the party, combined with being half-asleep, it was merely moments before I heard her soft breathing accompanied by the slow rise and fall of her chest, indicating that she was once again asleep. With another sigh, I tip-toed (More like tip-hooved in that manner) to the door and quietly exited the room. Yet, as I closed the door and went to find another place to rest, I heard that voice again, the melodious voice that was calm yet eerie, the voice from my dream that happened so many nights ago. And like the last time that I had heard the voice, it only said two words.
"Go back... " was what the voice said to me, causing me to stop and look about the room. Yet, I took the voice as merely a hallucination from my lack of sleep and hobbled over to the nearest chair, falling asleep in a matter of moments. Though as was lowering into the chair, I thought about the voice I had just heard. Go back... It had said to me.
So why didn't I go back?