Harvest Blaze

Alright. Sorry about that. Old habits die hard. So, where was I? Oh, right, I'd just told Twilight my pony name.

"What do you mean, you can't get your name right? Sounds like a pretty simple name to get right." she questioned, looking at me, clearly confused.

"No, my name isn't actually Harvest Blaze. It's... something else, but when I try to say it, for some reason I say Harvest Blaze instead. Hm... I wonder if there's a way to work around this problem..." Jack had always told me to find ways around my problems, not to just accept and move on. Figure it out. Then I realized... "My name is like a certain word, but missing one letter. If whatever force this is will let me say that word, then I could probably tell you what letter to remove to make it my name!" I told her.

"Oh. Well, that's... interesting. Um, why don't you come with me, and... we can talk somewhere besides the... broom closet..."

I looked behind me, and, sure enough. I'd materialized in a broom closet. Great. Just wonderful. With my luck thus far, I wouldn't have been surprised if Wiz had shown up. Thankfully, he didn't. "Right... so... um... do ponies get... married? YES I SAID IT. MARRY. TAKE AWAY AN R." I exclaimed, excited that my plan had worked.

"Um, yes, they do, and... Mary? That's a weird name. Not that you're weird, that is! It's just that your name is weird... in that it's unusual! As in, we don't have a lot of ponies with names like that. Unless your special talent is marrying ponies? That would be interesting... not that there's anything wrong with that, I mean-" she chattered, clearly trying to be nice, but realizing that everything she said could be taken badly. Until I interrupted.

"SHUSH. It's fine. I know what you mean. Twilight Sparkle isn't exactly normal where I'm from. Neither is Harvest Blaze, or Midnight Emerald. So yeah, don't worry about it." I told her, stepping out of the broom closet. "Man this feels weird."

"What? What feels weird? Are you sick? Do you need something? Medicine? Blankets? Water? Food?" she started to go on again.

"AH!" I interrupted again. "I'm fine. It's just weird to be walking like this. I'm used to going around on two legs, not four. That's all."

"Oh. Okay. Well, follow me. Oh! I wonder what Starlight would think of this..." she said, clearly meaning the second part to be kept to herself.

"I heard that." I smiled.

"What? Heard what? Hehehehehe..." she laughed, nervously.

"Hey, it's fine. I'm teasing. So, princess, huh? Will I get to meet her majesty?" I asked her.

"Princess Celestia? Oh, no... though she would probably be very interested... come to think of it, that might be a good idea... I mean-"

"Whoa whoa whoa. Princess Celestia? What about the Queen? Or the King?"

"What? Equestria doesn't have a Queen or King. Just the Princesses. There's Princess Celestia, who raises the sun, Princess Luna, who raises the moon, Princess Cadence, who rules the Crystal Empire, and me, the Princess of Friendship." she told me, just as we walked into the throne room.

"Whoa..." I whispered, wide-eyed at the decor. "Is that a map of the world? That's a lot of thrones. What's with those symbols? What the! Two of them just showed up there! What's that about?" I chattered as Twilight ran over to the map table thing.

"Those symbols are cutie marks, and it looks like two of my friends just got called on a friendship quest." she answered. Seemingly both excited and disappointed. Somehow.

"What's a cutie mark? I mean, I get that those symbols are cutie marks, but... what makes them cutie marks?" I asked.

"A cutie mark is a representation of a pony's special talent, what makes them special. Like my cutie mark. My special talent is magic. Rarity is a designer, but she is capable of a special spell that lets her find gems. AppleJack is an apple farmer, and Pinkie Pie is a party planner. Rainbow Dash is capable of doing the Sonic Rainboom, and Fluttershy is good with animals, understanding them on a level most ponies can't." she answered, motioning towards each throne as she said their names and talents.