Games We Play

Breakfast consists of pancakes filled with different kinds of jam, and maple syrup. Seriously, are all ponies masters of cuisine? I know for sure that the Apples can cook and bake more kinds of apple pastries that I have ever imagined, all wonderfully delicious, but even the finest of their cookies are put to shame by Fluttershy's pancakes. And I haven't visited Sugarcube Corner yet. After finishing breakfast, we say our goodbyes, and finally I can head back to Twilight's Friendship Castle. Though this time, I am awake. Some ponies are staring at me still, but they appear to be rather curious than hostile. I catch the eye of a mint green unicorn with a harp cutie mark. She waves, then trots up to me. I can see some fan-girl enthusiasm radiating from her face and her moves, though I don't understand why, I see no pony celebrities around me.

"Hi. I am Lyra Heartstrings. I am so happy to meet you!"

"Hi. My name is John. Pleased to meet you too." She offers a hoof which I shake. Upon ending the hoofshake, I realize that I can't move my hand. I see her horn glowing and a small magical aura surrounding my hand.

"Yes! A human! Everypony told me humans exist only in mythology, but now here you are, standing before me!" Well, looks like she is fascinated by my human form. This starts to get very awkward.

"Well, this is quite interesting, Miss Heartstrings, but..."

"Lyra. Just call me Lyra."

"Well, Lyra, but I have things to do, so if you could kindly release my hand, I'd appreciate that."

"Heh. Sorry. Can I accompany you at least?"

Sure, after yesterday's events and my last nightmare, why not? I guess I can still handle some more awkwardness. "Sure, why not. I'm heading to Twilight's to discuss a few things and get a new job." I say in a reluctant tone.

"Yesss!" She exclaims with glee.

We barely walk fifty meters when I notice the brown stallion with the hourglass cutie mark. He doesn't wave, nor say a word, just aims that same piercing look at me. Lyra catches my direction of look.

"Do you know him?" I ask.

"Not really. Nopony does, not even Pinkie Pie. His name is Time Turner, but that's all I know about him. He is almost always alone, almost never saying a word. Rarity thinks that he is an alicorn in disguise waiting to take over all the universe, but suffice is to say, she is not very sharp. She may be a clever businessmare and may have a good fashion sense, but she believes and shares gossips, urban legends and conspiracy theories too often. Some think that he is not even a pony, but an almighty deity in the body of a pony, while some ponies think he is just an ordinary earth pony with weird habits. I myself don't think that he is a deity, nor an alicorn, nor an ordinary earth pony. He seems like somepony who knows a lot, but wants to keep it to himself."

"Well, thank you. At least this is some help." So apparently he knows a lot more than an average pony. It is not impossible that he knows who I am, where I am from, where my world is, but he won't tell.

Meanwhile, we have arrived in front of the Friendship Castle. "So, thank you for accompanying me, Lyra."

"Hey, I don't have to leave yet, at least I can say hi to Twilight!"

"If you insist, why not?" I knock on the door. It opens within 10 seconds, and an infuriated Twilight shows up.

"Hello, John and Lyra."

"Hi Twilight." We say in unison.

"John, it is good you are here. We were just thinking about sending the Royal Guards in search for you. Please enter. Sorry Lyra, we are facing serious problems here. We don't have neither time nor capacity to deal with your obsessions now. Princesses business."

I enter the door which closes behind me with Twilight's magic. "What's the matter, Twilight?"

"This morning, the moon was still up when Princess Celestia raised the sun, so she had to lower the moon herself before a mass panic could erupt. That is just the beginning. She headed immediately to Princess Luna's quarters, and she found her sister in her workroom unconscious. The rest will be discussed by the three of us and you."

Twilight leads me to a throne room of her castle where the two princesses are sitting with unhappy faces. Princess Luna's face speaks of fear and worry. She even has tears in her eyes, as if she has recently cried, though I don't know why, while Princess Celestia tries to hold a poker face, but I can observe the anger and disdain directed towards me. I have a bad feeling about this.

"Greetings, Mr. Kramer. As you already know, I found my sister unconscious this morning. Do you have an explanation?"

"Greetings, Princesses. To answer your question, Princess, I am really sorry, but I have no clue."

"Are you implying that you don't know anything about your little prank last night in which you scared my dear Luna so badly that she fainted?" She asks menacingly.

"I remember having the worst nightmare of my life including my dearest friends here and that at one point, Princess Luna appeared and fainted, but that was just a dream. It doesn't have to affect the happenings of the reality, just my mind processes the information formerly received, If I'm not mistaken."

"You are lucky you are telling the truth. I have cast a lie-detecting spell on you the moment you entered, but it hasn't acted so far. So, you didn't deliberately scare her, but the damage is still done."

"If you allow me some forwardness, Princess, I must ask: how did Princess Luna know about my nightmare? Isn't she responsible for raising and lowering the moon, placing the stars and guarding the night sky? How come she has seen my nightmare?"

"She is the Princess of the Night. She can read the dreams of the ponies, and even modify them to a certain level. But she has never ever had to see the amount of violence and cruelty displayed in your nightmare. She hasn't spoken a word since she was shaken back to consciousness, nor have slept. Upon entering your nightmare, the scene shocked her so deeply that she couldn't do anything, not even escape or wake you up. You know, Luna is awake while dream-reading, so if a nightmare frightens or shocks her, it affects her while she is awake. That's why she fainted in your dream and in reality also."

(Twilight forgot to mention this!) "I am very sorry. I didn't know Princess Luna had the ability to read an individual's dreams, but even if I had known, I have little to no control over my dreams. I appreciate the help, but it would be safe to all of us if Princess Luna refrained from visiting my dreams in the future. I really didn't want to harm her, nor any of you."

"You really mean it?" I almost didn't hear that. I meet the teary-eyed gaze of Princess Luna, who looks still afraid. It pains me deeply to see her like this.

"Yes, Princess. It was just an accident. I can't promise anything, so as I said before: You should better not visiting my dreams. With my past, and with my crimes committed, the nightmares can return anytime. I deserve to face them, but I don't want to expose anypony to them anymore."

"If you really don't want to harm me, then give me a hug."

"Of course."

I hug the teary-eyed Princess, who begins to relax a bit, probably the first time since morning.

"Just remember, Mr. Kramer. Should you do any harm to my sister, I will personally read through your mind and select the most painful method to execute you, do I make myself clear? The same applies to you, Twilight. I know you adore me, but do not miscalculate, I will dispose of you without any second thought if you endanger Luna again. After all, John was just having a nightmare with no control over it, you were the one who summoned him to Equestria deliberately."

"Princess, I'm... I...

"You better feel sorry, Twilight. Remember this before you commit another failure in the future. Magical experiences have their limits. Farewell." With that, she teleports out of the throne room with Princess Luna.

Well, looks like asking Twilight about jobs is out of commission for today. She doesn't feel angry anymore, she feels ashamed, just as me. I don't know how ponies handle shame, but I have a good method: I go for a walk.

I spend the remainder of the day wandering around town, thinking of the events which happened recently. Do I really belong here? It looks like I am still a threat to those around me, even unwillingly. I just hope Fluttershy will never get to see the same dream myself and Princess Luna have seen. It is almost evening. I see a little bar next to me called "The Golden Barrel". A thought occurs to me: why not? I am well past trying to solve my problems by getting drunk, but a few drinks never hurt, and anyway, if I have to live the rest of my life here, then it is time to learn how the ponies socialize in a bar. I enter the bar, and walk up to the counter and greet the bartender, who is a middle-aged stallion with a blue coat and has three jugs as a cutie mark. Luckily I have some bits with me.

"Good evening. A jug of Sweet Apple Cider, please." The bartender looks at my human form with a bit of surprise, but he serves the cider nevertheless. Probably he has seen his own share of strangeness throughout his life already.

"Just a moment. That will be 3 bits. Thank you."

I take my drink and sit down at a small table far from the populated area. My mind starts to wander, when I hear the clop of hooves approaching. Upon looking at the direction of the sound, I see an unfamiliar pegasus mare with a teal coat and an amber-gold striped mane and tail holding a jug of cheap cider in her mouth. Her mane seems as if it was not combed, rather styled to minimal aerodynamical resistance in a wind tunnel. Her cutie mark consists of a lightning bolt and three stars, while her eyes have almost the same amber hue as her mane. Upon further inspection I notice that she is fairly muscular in general also, but even with her general build, her wing muscles stand out, even more than that of Rainbow Dash.

"Hello. Do you mind if I sit?" She asks in a casual manner.

"Help yourself." I answer. My observations so far: Ponies with pink coat colors are cheerful party ponies. Ponies with mint green/ teal coat colors will bother me when I would rather be alone. Good to know.

"Name's Lightning Dust." She introduces herself while extending a... wing instead of a hoof. I can notice that some of the pegasus mares present start to glare at us with a hint of disapproval, though I don't know why.

"My name is John. It is nice to meet you."

"Forgive me if I'm blunt, but what are you exactly?"

"I'm a human. I was summoned here by Twilight Sparkle by accident from another universe."

"Wait. You try to tell me that the Princess of Friendship messed with forbidden magic and cast a summoning spell? That's definitely something." She looks like as if she didn't believe that she heard.

"Yes. How do you know so much about magic? You aren't a unicorn."

"Neither are you. Though I work at Cloudsdale Weather Factory, and many of our activity requires magic. Mostly pegasus magic, but still, it never hurts to read and stay up-to-date about the different kinds of magic."

"Cloudsdale Weather Factory? What is that for? Do they produce devices which manipulate the weather?"

"No. We produce the weather. The winds, the different kinds of clouds, the raindrops, the snowflakes, the lightning bolts and the rainbows."

"Well, that is a lot to take in. You manufacture components of weather? Where I come from, weather just happens. We have means to lessen the impact of a weather disaster, but we don't produce the components of it. You mentioned you work at Cloudsdale Weather Factory. Is Cloudsdale the name of a town, like Ponyville?"

"Yes, it is. I was born and I am living there currently also. It is a town funded and almost solely populated by pegasi, even these days. All the best fliers are born and trained in Cloudsdale. Whoops, it seems our jugs have run empty. I'll get some new ones."

Before I could protest, she was already up, holding the empty jugs in her mouth. On her way to the counter, an inebriated pegasus mare with a lilac coat and a blonde mane bumped into her.

"Watch your step, drunkie!" She yelled, and pushed the tipsy mare aside. Well, it looks like she is even more brash than Rainbow Dash. From what she told me, she isn't from Ponyville, yet she acts as if she owned the place. The same pegasus mares who glared at us earlier intensified their glare, now clearly directed at her. Suddenly I realize that it is time to act, if I don't want to witness a fight. I make my way towards the counter to meet her and the soon-to-be angry pegasus mares surrounding her before she starts a fight.

"Sorry ladies, I apologize for her misdeeds. Lightning Dust, could you stop, please? You are bullying the locals."

"So what? These worthless drunkards should be taught a lesson not to mess with real pegasi."

"So you think we are inferior to you?" Asks the same lilac-coated mare who collided with her accidentally. "Just make the first move and we will put you in place."

"Come now, Cloud Kicker. I know you. You are so sloppy and shallow that you have already been fired from Cloudsdale Weather - twice! I don't know how much time in Blossomforth's bed did it take to get you back but you will be fired again, and after that, you won't be hired ever again. I see you have Flitter and Cloudchaser with you, the ones who had to train to gather enough strength even to be able to cloud bucking."

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Lightning Dust. Though now, I take my leave."

"Ha-ha. You'll never get yourself a stallion again and you know it! Even aliens can't tolerate your shit."

"John, wait! Don't just leave me behind!"

"What's your problem, Dusty? You can still chase him down the street and beat the crap out of him just as you did with your latest coltfriend. And your other coltfriend before him."

"That's a lie! I only beat my coltfriend once, because he was cheating on me with Rai..."

I close the door behind me. The lilac mare, who I assume to be Cloud Kicker is right. I don't need this shit on top of my life right now. I have enough to deal with already. It's a pity though. She seemed to be so well educated, so well-read, but it looks like she is a bully. I start to walk back towards Twilight's when I hear the door open. No surprise, Lightning Dust has just taken her leave and is heading towards me.

"John, please, wait for me!"

You know what? I'll wait for her. Let's see what happens.

"Why did you leave? I could have handled those three excuses of a pegasus."

"No, you couldn't have." I retort. "You could have beaten them up, so what? You would have been banned from The Golden Barrel, alongside with me, if I'm unlucky enough. I handled them, as well as your foolishness."

"What? You dare talk to me in such manner?"

"Yes. Do your worst, and prove Cloud Kicker right. I have been through a lot already, I can handle anything your kind could throw at me. I stood my ground against the Princesses in debate. I have met humans like you. I broke them all. Goodbye."

With this I head back to Twilight's. I don't know whether Lightning Dust is following me, or is still standing there, or has already left somewhere else. I couldn't care less. I have a night to sleep through, and tomorrow, some jobs to apply.