Chapters I could barely feel anything... and my surroundings were bright, much too bright. I looked around and found I was sitting over a small coffee table, with a nice looking old man on the other side. He seemed to be drinking a cup of tea, but I didn't get the chance to ask what it was before he noticed me and spoke.
"Ah hello! You're finally here, wonderful! Er.. not so wonderful..." As he said that, he looked down and frowned, seemingly discontent with something. He took another small sip of his tea and continued. "Well best not to dawdle, you are... quite dead i'm afraid."
I just stared with a look of disbelief and confusion he seemed to pick up on, "Yes, i'm so so sorry, I accidentally filed some paperwork wrong and... the world took you too soon i'm afraid..." It didn't make any sense, wait a second, was this God?!
"...wait... just a sec here, are you God??" I managed to choke out, at this point the confusion on my face must have been ludicrous. "A-hah, yes that's me! And like I said i'm really quite sorry..."
"It's uh... okay? Can I.. go back?" I asked, realization dawning on me rapidly that, holy fuck, I am dead! Like, pearly gates, dust in the wind, POOF! "Again, no i'm afraid... But! I can resurrect you in another world, and as such, I found another world to send you to, a world I happen to know you quite enjoyed in your time on Earth." He finished with a small smirk and a wink.
"oh... well that doesn't sound so bad... where will I be sent?" I asked, genuinely curious as to my fate. "Equestria of course! You happened to be quite the fan of the realm so I figured what a better way to repay you than to send you to it!" He smiled, took another sip of tea and waited for my reaction patiently.
I gawked, very excited at the prospect "seriously?! oh man i've wanted to go there for years now! wait... what about my family back on Earth?" I was suddenly hyper aware of my life on Earth. I really didn't like just leaving my parents like this... but I just wanted to know if they would be okay.
"Ah human compassion, a wondrous thing indeed. Yes, yes, they will be quite okay. I made sure to have them mourn you healthily. If it's any consultation I made it seem like you went peacefully in your sleep." He offered genuinely. "thank you... that's a load off my shoulders at least..." I put in almost silently.
"Think nothing of it, son. Now of course ill be giving you some special abilities, what would you say about video game powers, hmm?" As he concluded, I felt my smile somehow return to me.
"this is... of course! that sounds amazing! and... thanks, for giving me another opportunity." I concluded as we both stood up, a swirling purple portal opening just behind me. "Of course, now please, enjoy life again!" I barely heard him as I stepped through the portal, and consciousness left my body.
When I was conscious enough to form thoughts again I was in a black room, in-front of a glowing white video game like main menu screen. It had all the standard options, New Game, Load Game, Cheats, Quit, wait... cheats?
As my mind hovered over the 'Cheats' option, the button clicked and a new menu opened, listing all kinds of options to be enabled and disabled. "Enable unlimited mana? Enable console commands? What does any of this even mean?" I said to no-one in particular.
I pawed through a few more options before deciding it best to not mess with any of them, and returned to the main menu screen. The next menu I accessed was 'Load Game' in which I found a couple of old saves, all corrupted. I stared at them, realizing that in all likelihood, these were my old life's saves.
I really don't know how long I stared at them before once more retreating onto the titular, boring main menu screen. I accessed the 'New Game' option, and the room I was in spun to reveal a blank character sheet. After gathering my senses I noticed a new menu wanting something.
[Enter Name]
Oh... right... I would need a new name. I thought back to my many OCs, but none seemed right all of the sudden. And so I sat, creating a new name for myself until I finally found a somewhat decent fit. I entered 'Dawn Twinkle' into the sheet. Yeah, yeah, know. But pony naming conventions are stupid anyways.
[Enter Character Stats]
Before me laid a Fallout style S.P.E.C.I.A.L menu, where I currently had five points in every category. The menu said I had 15 points to divide, so I put five points each into Luck, Intelligence, and Charisma. The menu seemed to accept this, and a pop-up menu alerted me to a new perk.
[New Perk Added: Studious. This Perk gives you +2 to Intelligence and Luck in the presence of more than 15 books.]
Huh... that seems oddly specific for a perk... whatever, i'm certainly not complaining! As the pop-up menu disappeared, a new menu grabbed my attention.
[Create Character Appearance]
As I looked through numerous options, I couldn't help but laugh. "So life really will be just like a video game now? Right down to a custom character? Wow... can't say i'm not excited." The first option that the menu asked me was Male, or Female. I figured I might as well try new things, and picked Female. Next on the list, basic appearance like coat, mane, and eye color.
For coat I went with a light purple fading into a light yellow towards my... hooves... yeah, MY hooves. Oh man that's seriously weird to say. For MY mane, ugh again that's weird, I went with a medium length kind of cut, with a dark blue color streaked with gold highlights. Lastly, eyes. I chose golden eye color, like a rising sun. Damn that was cheesy.
The next question gave me pause, Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth Pony, or Alicorn. The smart thing to pick would have been Alicorn, but then again that might have caused some undeserved stress to the Equestrians... so I decided against it. I picked unicorn, and went on my way to the next menu.
[Choose A Start]
[Daughter Of Nobility: Be born into a wealthy canterlot family, and become part of the Elite.]
[Discorded Reality: Start the game as the infamous Discord, right as he escaped from stone. !Warning, high chance of GAME OVER!]
[Siblings To Harmony: Become the twin of a main character, and possibly upstage them, or take their place entirely.]
[Natural Born Alicorn: Automatically chosen if picked Alicorn, this option will find you in the care of Celestia and Luna.]
[More Options Below]
Wow... that's alot to consider... But I reckon i'll take Siblings To Harmony. I've always felt a connection to Twilight, she's always been my favorite, so i'll be twins with her. As soon as I thought that, the menu accepted my unspoken answer alerted me to another new perk.
[New Perk Added: Sibling To Magic. Will learn magic 125% faster, Mana pool increased by 75%.]
Whelp, i'm gonna be OP as all fuck. But then again, who's complaining in the volatile world of Equestria? Being over-powered is better than being under-powered... right? Ah who am I kidding, I just like cheating in video games.
[Create Cutie Mark]
Oh. This is slightly unexpected, I figured that it'd just show up at some point because of destiny... or something. Oh well. I drew an Asclepius staff on top of a purple six pointed star with wings in my head, and a vision of the mark appeared in-front of me. Perfect.
[Complete Character?]
Before I finished I quickly reviewed my character. Dawn Fade, a unicorn mare with Twilight 'Friggin Sparkle as a sister. Ah jeez, my life is about to get weird. I mentally prepared myself to click 'Yes' but I hesitated. If I click this my old life is really gone... but I'm still me... hopefully.
With that worrying thought, I quickly shoved anything darker from my mind, and I once more prepared myself for whatever was waiting on the other side of the button. I clicked 'Yes' and instantly a white light engulfed me, and a system notification came up.
[Old Save Corrupted, Delete Old Save?]
I clicked 'Yes' before I could really think about it and then I started to hear a baby cry... wait that was me! Why was I crying? And then I heard a masculine voice. "It's another girl? Uhm... Congratulations Mrs. Velvet."
The room was quiet now. As far as I could tell I was in the forehooves of my mother, Twilight Velvet. Yeesh, that's super weird to think about, huh? Yeah this is gonna take a little getting used-to. I'm in no rush though, laying here in her arms is just serene, like all is right in the world.
It felt natural, like I was meant to be here. I'm really gonna miss my Earth family though... but i'm sure they'll be okay without me. I really should stop thinking about them for now anyways. I have a new family to think about afterall. Speaking of new family, I felt Twilight stir next to me, trying to get closer to mom.
The moment could have lasted for hours, but I slowly drifted off to sleep before too long. When I woke up I was in the hospital's nursery, it seemed. I looked around and noticed other infants around my age, one of note was staring bullets into me.
It was my sister Twilight, she seemed to be analyzing me. As I turned to inspect her closer, I noticed something above her head, it read: . Huh, did everyone have that? As I looked around to confirm, I noticed similar text appear above other new-born foals saying similar things. Then I looked at my own tag.
. Well i'll be damned, guess this really will be like a video game. Whelp, might as well get used to Twilight's adorable eyes then. As I stared into her adorable fucking eyes I wondered idly if me existing would change her destiny, yanno, becoming 'Queen of Magic' and all that jazz with the elements.
[New Perk Acquired: Deep Thinking, gain +1 to Intelligence, and also +1 level of Observation]
[Skill: Observation, Allows you to gleam more information from objects and other beings]
Huh, neat. Guess I can notice a speck of dust on a shelf or something now, whatever, s'neat anyways. Using my newfound power I shall observe YOU, Twilight Sparkle! And so I did, and I probably looked like a fucken idiot doing it too. I noticed some things about her though, like how her 'Mana' is much higher than anyone elses' in the room. Even mine, and mine was magically enhanced by God... or something.
Another thing I noticed was just how much she wanted to be closer to me, she was as close as her crib would permit her to be. I guess that made sense, considering how close she and Shining Armor were. Wait... I forgot about Shining Armor! Oh man, I can't wait to meet him, in the show he always seemed to be the lovable idiot archetype. Really curious to see if that's true or not.
But that can wait for later, for now though I turned my attention to getting over to Twilight. No matter how I thought about it, there really was no way except for a teleportation spell, and I'm probably not high enough level for that... but fuck it, can't hurt to try... right?
I focused on what I knew about teleportation, and I tried to let Mana flow into my horn. Wow should it burn this much? Probably not, wow, ouch! Fuck this really burns! I released the magic and the burning stopped, but I felt something cold slide down my muzzle, then my body started to shake as it sobbed.
That attracted the attention of a nurse, who suffice it to say, was pretty shocked. I mean, it isn't everyday an infant tries to use magic and fails a spell so spectacularly. Before I knew it, I was picked up in a soft orange glow and given some nuzzles, and soft, kind words. It helped, and I eventually stopped crying.
It was comfortable, and I eventually drifted off to sleep while looking directly at my sister, the worry that was painted on her face draining, just as my own expression showed a calmer emotion than the previous minutes. I was set down in Twilight's crib, evidently the nurse instinctively knowing we wanted to be closer, and she returned to her vigil of the other foals.
The next couple of days were a blur in my infant mind. I was taken to my new home with Twilight, and I met our big brother, Shining Armor. Oh man he was so scared when he first saw us, apparently they were only expecting Twilight. Funny how that worked out, huh? Well you get what you pay for in any case.
I overheard the conversations my parents and some doctors were saying as we left too, saying how I was a 'Magic Anomaly' and that I didn't exist until I was being born. Great planning, game powers, great planning. The very frazzled looking stallion repeating this information to my parents was apparently sleep deprived, and i'm guessing its my fault. Whatever, I didn't choose to die in the first place dude!
But in other more wholesome news, me and Twilight share a room with our parents for the time being. They are still renovating dad's old study to be our room, but hey, i'm not complaining. Me and Twilight are getting along like a house on fire too, she can't be away from me for long without getting worried. And yes, it's absolutely adorable.
She can't really talk yet though, that's pretty understandable considering shes only like, 5 days old. Also, she's older than me, so it's quite literally the Twilight before the Dawn. I hate how the universe just did that to me. Shining is really going into his brotherly role though, he's barely older than eight and already loves us more than reason. He hasn't gotten his cutie mark yet, but I suspect that's going to change soon though.
Another important event to note, I leveled up recently! And whew boy was it weird. It was so unexpected, like there I was, using Observe on pretty much anything to deal with the boredom that being an infant brings, and boom, Level 2. Time seemed to pause and I was shown a semi-transparent menu that showed a couple perks to choose. I chose 'Retention', and that perk let me keep the bonuses I receive from long rests and study sessions for three times as long. Neat.
That's pretty much the highlights of the last few days, Oh, but I did learn why messing with magic like I did was a bad thing. I heard mom talking to dad about it yesterday, she said something about foals not being able to properly construct a spell matrix in our minds. Makes sense, it was probably stupid to attempt it in the first place at my level. My guess is that raw Mana was just coursing through my horn, which is probably bad.
But yeah, welcome to Equestria, and i'd punch an alien but there are none. Ah fuck! No-one is gonna understand my jokes here! Wait... that means I could create anything from Earth here! Ohoho man, this is gonna get interesting fast. But for now, I'm gonna shelve those ideas, in favor of a nap with my BBBFF (Big Brother Best Friend Forever), and TSBFF (Twin Sister Best Friend Forever). Hey, don't judge me! I figured it would be easier to start sooner than later.
Oh! Also I realize I've totally forgotten to explain who I was, although it hardly matters now I reckon. Back on Earth I was an EMT, so I spent a few long years learning medical junk to help people. And if you remember, when I made my cutie mark I put the staff of Asclepius on it. It's an ancient greek symbol for medicine, so hope that clears some stuff up there.
But i'm probably rambling and off topic, where was I? Oh right, trying to figure out how to pass time. Since i'm a twenty-something in the body of an infant, I generally don't need help eating or anything like that, but mom still tries anyway. But all the ease means that I have nothing to spend my time on besides sleeping or trying to level, which, is fucking hard considering I can do exactly three things: Sleep, play with Twi, and Sleep.
Hah, I swear that filly is glued to my hip. I already love her like a sister, which I guess is only natural. It's like this world wants me to really become part of it, I don't really know why. Maybe the ol' G-man just wants the best for me? Who can say really. But in any case i'm really growing attached to her too, and my whole new family here.
Shining is at school most of the day, but when he gets home all he does is spend time with me or Twi. Hes also definitely the 'lovable idiot' archetype, but if anyone else says that about him i'll literally punch them. Of course my punch is, in reality, an adorable slap at worst. I've also noticed that I have certain powers of persuasion, noticeably when I flash a sort of puppy-dog eyes look. Dunno, guess that type of behavior is instinctual.
But I really should be going to sleep soon, Twi doesn't sleep until I do, which I suppose is natural considering shes older, guess she feels like she has to protect me. But until the day comes where I can actually tell her I can look out for myself, she'll be the best older sister there is.
And then I went to sleep with Twi snuggling close, yup, life is one hundred percent going to be alright afterall.
[System Alert! Date is 4/12/1425, making today the Fifth year of continual activation, conrgratulations user!]
I awoke with the alert in my vision, ohoho man! Fifth birthday is today... 5 years already? Feels like a lot longer.. bah, in any case I should probably inform you about whats been happening! Oh man where do I even begin? Life has been packed with things happening recently. I guess i'll start with the earliest events you missed.
So around four and a half years ago is when me and Twi started walking around on our own, and yes it was adorable, and yes Mom took pictures. So we strutted around never leaving eye-shot of each other, busily babbling out imaginary words which we could both understand completely, it was really weird. Part of our twin bond, got a psychic link of sorts.
Oh yeah the psychic link, I should definitely explain that. Okay so basically from what I've read, twins who are both unicorns are always linked through magic in one way or another, Twilight's and mine manifested through a mental connection. We can tell what each other are feeling emotionally with a pretty high accuracy, sense each other's magical signature, and most importantly feel when we are in great stress. Comes in great handy... hoofy?
But that aside, the next few events are important, so take notes, there'll be a pop-quiz. The next thing that happened about 4 years ago, around our first birthday, when we learned to speak proper Equestrian, which in my case manifested in a simple Perk. I think the text was something like 'Perk Acquired: Equestrian, like English except horse.' Yeah that's 100% not what it said... gimmie a break it was 4 years ago.
Whenever we got the ability to speak, poorly mind you, but speak nonetheless, we were chatty as all get out. Me especially, trying to learn the customs of a new culture was hard given my twenty years in another one. Which brings me to the puns. Dear god the fucking puns. Things like 'Put your hoof in the door', or 'Manehattan'. I mean, the fandom thought it was bad just watching the show, try fucking living it!
Lets uh... move on. From our speech enlightenment came my almost supernatural intellect, or at least thats how the doctors phrased it. Called me and Twilight 'child prodigies', yeah her I understand but I mean i'm just a normal guy in the body of a 2 year old, course i'm gonna be smarter than average. But, as soon as I could I started reading, if only to have something to explain why I knew so much so young.
One particular field i'm versing myself in is medicine, I still want to help ponies, yeah yeah it's sappy but it's always been my calling. But as it turns out, pony bodies and human bodies work pretty similarly, except for some key differences. You see, ponies have a special organ running through their bodies, known as the 'Lambda System'. This organ is how ponies access magic so easily, and every race has it. Notably, Unicorns have a bigger Lambda System, while Earth Ponies and Pegasi have smaller ones.
I'm also assuming Alicorns have massive ones, but there's no tomes on their physiology anywhere. Trust me, I've looked. But besides all the medical garbage, me and Twi have learned how to spell cast! We learned this a few years ago, and it has made our lives just so easy, you wouldn't even believe. Like, remember that old meme 'theres an app for that' ? Well i'm not being facetious when I say, there IS a spell for that. For anything, probably.
Our first spell we learned was levitation, which when I learned it gave me an alert saying I unlocked a new field of magic, as well as a new menu titled 'Magic and Spells' in my inventory. Its a lot like Skyrim's inventory screen actually. On the topic of magical fields, I've read there are five distinct ones. Those five being: Basic, Advanced, Combat, Medical, and Celestial. Basic is pretty all encompassing, Advanced is too hard for me and Twi right now, Combat was made specifically for the guard and army, Medical is mostly healing magic, and Celestial... well Celestial is special.
There isn't a whole lot of information about this field, but from what I've gathered, it's specifically for Alicorns only. It controls things like the sun, moon, other celestial bodies, and forces of nature itself. It's how Cadance could be 'The Princess of Love' or how Twi could be 'Princess of Magic'. It's really cool honestly, I wish there was more information about it, but what can you do, it's probably restricted for a reason.
And with all those fields come different magical spell matrixes. Basic is rather simple, Advanced is a lot harder, Combat requires special training, Medical takes a special talent for casting, and Celestial is probably very intricate and beautiful. What I learned the hard way however, is that trying to cast a spell, say Teleportation, is impossible without knowing the baseline matrix for the field its in. Teleportation is an Advanced spell, so I could have seriously fucked something up back when I was a toddler.
So with that, we come to today. Five years in Equestria. Half a decade of being a pony... I just gawked at the ceiling above me. At this point me and Twi had our own room separate from Mom and Dads, and we had each claimed a half of the room for our respective possessions, which were mostly books. But still, I briefly contemplated just trying to go back to sleep, but Twilight started to wake up just then, and nopony messes with her schedule, or Celestia help you.
I got out of my bed and moved over to put away the book I fell asleep reading when I heard the soft *clop* of hooves on the wooden floor, and I turned my head around to see Twilight doing much similar activities to me. "well good mornin' TBSFF, sleep well?" Twi turned to me with her usual morning excitement, which was almost non-existent. "Yup! Excited to finish that book about fire magic later!"
"uh-huh, just remember to leave some for the rest of us, okay?" I asked her with very obvious sarcasm, which she could actually pick up on in this universe. Turns out, having the influence of a well adjusted sister in her life has made her more of an extrovert than in canon.
"Of course! I'd never leave you hanging TBSFF!" She smiled towards me, and yeah I can still confirm, cutest filly in all of Equestria right here. She has magical powers of persuasion I swear to Celestia. In any case, I smiled back and started a quick trot out of the room and off to Shining's. A typical morning would be similar to this, except me and Twi would usually get up later. Not today though! I mean, you only turn five once! Or twice for me, heh.
As me and Twi silently pushed open Shining's door, we stealthily crept up to his bed. Once we were near our target, we commenced operation 'Wake Up Shining So He Could Give Us Birthday Presents Earlier' has a ring to it right? 'Course it does, I mean I came up with it afterall! With a nod of our heads, we slowly managed to get onto his bed, where we found a distinct lack of Shining Armors! From behind us we heard the door shut, and a slowly building evil laugh combed the room.
"Foolish young ones, you cannot ever wish to beat the master of stealth and deception at his own game!" It was him, the voice of none other than Dread Armor, evil spy stallion extraordinaire! He had caught us! "Dread Armor! Oh no!" I heard Twi squeak out while staring wide-eyed at the imposing colt slowly trotting towards us with obviously evil intentions. "hold you foul fiend! what have you done with our brother!" I called to the evil mastermind.
"I have captured him! He is my prisoner! Just like you will be shortly!" He suddenly jumped towards us, but he was too slow for our masterful reflexes! We each flanked him and before he could react, we tackled him to the ground "AAARGH! Pathetic fools! You cannot hope to defeat me!!" He tried really hard, honest, but he just couldn't get us off of himself. "Okay you might hope to defeat me, but not without great difficulty!" Again, we were too heavy.
"Okay fine im defeated, blerghh" And then he died, serves him right, the evil jerk! We both got off of him, beaming with pride at the fiercely won battle. Shining stirred back to life and laughed "Happy birthday you two, what are you now, 20?" He asked with a proud brotherly smile on his face. "No! Were both five today!" Twilight responded before I had the chance.
"Wow, a whole five years old huh? Sounds like you both deserve pancakes on such a momentous occasion!" His proclamation was met with immediate applause from me and Twi, and we both rushed out of the room, and down the stairs. We waited for him to follow, and when he came down the stairs we trotted beside him to the kitchen where me and Twi sat at the table, waiting.
Shining, all things considered, was a pretty good cook. Of course, I wouldn't call pancakes a hard thing to create, but his were always really good. Twi chalked it up to him being a whole 13 years old, but I guessed it was because Mom taught him how to take care of some things after me and Twi were born. Cheers for tiny miracles, huh?
Not very long after we sat down, we had full plates of mouth watering cakes set in-front of us, and we eagerly accepted the colt's tribute. Like always they were amazing, doubly more so today for whatever reason. I suspected he added more sugar, and he definitely got a letter of approval for me, and from the looks of it, Twilight too.
"Thanks BBBFF! These are always amazing!" I stated much the same to him as well, and he smiled warmly back at us. From the stairs we heard a heavier clopping noise approach us, and we turned to see Dad sleepily come down the stairs "do I smell pancakes?" Ah yes, the most sensible question to ask.
"course pops, on the counter." I pointed to the counter of the island, and he smiled a sleepy smile. He really wasn't a morning person, but he tried his best. I mean, his name is Night Light afterall. On that thought though, me and Twi can rise easy as anything, It HAS to be because of the names. That's the only explanation, 'cause back on Earth I couldn't get myself awake for shit.
Moving on, we went about our normal morning routines and settled into the living room, reading and doing various other activities for a few hours until around noon. Twi was excited because five was the age magic kindergarten started for Canterlot. Couldn't say I wasn't excited either, I was craving magic skill like it was a drug or something.
[New Quest Added]
Magic Kindergarten
[Quest Rewards: 2000 EXP]
Holy shit! That's enough XP for at least 3 levels! I took a moment to steady myself and accept the quest, at which point Mom came downstairs and told Twi and me that we were starting classes next week. Convenient. I silently mocked the world for it's predictability, to which point I promptly apologized and begged not to get fucked over.
Later in the day we were sat around the kitchen table, sitting over a cake with 5 burning candles on it. Our family was singing 'Happy Birthday' while me and Twi sat awkwardly, smiling and waiting to open presents and eat cake. Overall, it was a very good day, Twi thought so too, but only because Shining gave her a book about shield magic. Figures, huh? I got some neat books about medical magic, which you can be sure I will read at a later time.
The rest of the day was spent laughing with Shining about how he managed to get cake frosting on the ceiling in a rather hilarious display of 'That's why banana peels aren't a joke'. But as the twilight faded into night, we were laid down to bed for sleep. Hopefully I'll be able to learn how to use Medical magic at some point, right now it's barely anything more than a fever dream for me right now. But i'll get there one day!
For now though, Twilight is asleep and I really should be getting off as well. It's been a very good day, and i'm sure tomorrow will be even better. But there's been one nagging thought at the back of my head all day, could magic kindergarten lead to something more? Like Celestia's School? Dunno, but I do know I'll probably have to substantially improve my Mana for that, so that'll be a longterm goal.
...No quests? All right, all clear on the western front. Eesh, even that one was bad for me. Ah man I need sleep, that sounds like a pretty good idea actually. So I started to drift off into the darkness that was unconsciousness, and I dreamed about the future, and how amazing it would be. But the future isn't all rainbows and sunshine...
Author's Note
I wrote this at 2am over the course of like 2 hours, there might be some typos but otherwise I think this is pretty darn solid. Oh also, sorry for not updating in like two weeks, I havent felt the spark to write. Ill try to update around twice a month or so tho. Cheers!
-J
