The Tale of a Traveler (Edited)

“Real?" Dash repeats. "That’s the weirdest name I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard my fair share of weird names.”

“Dash! Show some respect!” Applejack exclaims, smacking the Pegasus upside the head. “He jes' helped us save Ponyville, and our flanks while he was at it!”

“Hey, it’s no problem,” Real says, unfazed by the comment. This surprises the Mane Eight, but they don't have to wait long to know why. “I got that a lot while I was traveling. Ponies and other creatures haven’t seen a human before, so I can understand why they’d be quick to judge.”

“Wait, you didn’t just get here?” Tionic asks, raising an eyebrow. “How long have you been here?”

“Rough estimate? Give or take six months.”

“S-six?!” Rarity gasps, holding a hoof to her muzzle. “Darling, what have you been doing all this time? Where were you if you came so early?”

“Traveling the world, training. When you get dumped on the other side of the world in a different continent, it takes some time to get around, especially when you’re unable to tell which way is which in an open field and end up walking in circles for days.”

“Another -! Oh my, where have you been sleeping all this time?”

“Wherever I can find shelter," He shrugs, thinking back to the various spots he slept in over the past few months. "It was either a cave or tree, but sometimes I needed to make my own while I was on the road. If anything, I prefer trees. They give me a better vantage point if something happens while I’m asleep.”

“Oh!” Rarity dramatically faints onto a red velvet couch that appears in a flash of blue light. Sonic and Dash glare at the fashionista, insulted by how she reacted since they also slept in trees from time to time.

"Drama queen," Dash mutters to Sonic, who silently nods. "We sleep in trees all the time, and she doesn't act like that! What gives?"

"It's different," Rarity pipes up, not moving from her couch. This surprises the two, causing them to flinch in surprise. They're about task how she knew what Dash said, but she beats them to the punch. "I may act as if I have fainted, but it's just an act." She stares out of the corner of her eye, still unmoving. "You two have a choice between sleeping in a tree to an actual bed, he didn't."

“You know what," Real pipes up, hoping to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand. "How ‘bout we go find someplace to sit down so I can explain why I'm here? Anypony have any suggestions?”

“How about my castle?” Twilight offers, pointing in the direction of Castle Friendship. “We can discuss it in the map room after we get the ponies and Mobians back to their homes.”

Real nods. “Lead the way, princess.”

It takes about an hour to get things sorted out with the Ponyvillians. Many of them were scared that the Storm Creatures would come back out of nowhere, but the Mane Eight assured them that they wouldn't come back. It took some extra convincing to get the Flower Sisters to leave the castle, but with help from Mayor Mare, Tionic and Twilight were able to get them out of their castle. Afterwards, in the map room, the Mane Eight sit in their respective crystal chairs around the holographic map of Equestria, each decorated with their Cutie Marks (or symbols, in the case of the hedgehogs), and Real stands next to Twilight.

“Wow,” Real marvels, examining the map. He waves a hand through Mt. Aris, watching the hologram conform to his hand. “You can see from Yayyakistan to Zebrica! Though, I'm surprised parts of Ponyland and all of Mobius aren't on the map. What's up with that?"

Twilight shrugs. "I'm not entirely sure myself. We're learning more and more about what the Tree of Harmony gave us every day! The map used to only display Las Pegasus to Manehatten, now it spans the continent and parts of another! Plus, there used to only be seven chairs here, but now there's an extra two for Sonic and Tio!"

“It's a big ol' bag of mysteries, ain't it?” Applejack says, giving the table a hearty smack. “Who knows, maybe it'll do something else other than summon us for friendship problems like it's been doin' for th' past few years.”

“YEAH!” Pinkie exclaims, jumping on the table and pointing to a small village in a remote location. “The first mission it sent us on told us to go to this village where everypony had the same Cutie Mark because of a mare named Starlight Glimmer and she took our Cutie Marks and put them in a vault of them and Fluttershy snuck out to get them but she found out that Starlight still had ours so we came up with a plan to expose her and once the villagers knew that they raided the vault and got their Cutie Marks back and Starlight tried to get away with our Cutie Marks but the village ponies helped us get them back before she got away into the mountains! OOH, another time it - MMPH!” An orange hoof stuffs itself in her mouth, preventing her from rambling on any further before it got out of hand. Er, hoof. Either one works.

“Alright, Pinkie, ah think he’s got th' gist of it,” Applejack says, rolling her eyes as she pulls her hoof back and wipes it on her chest. She turns to Real as she trots back to her seat. “So, ya said that you were gonna tell us how ya got here, right sugarcube?”

“Snrk!” Real holds back a snort of laughter. “Yeah, I was. Ok, so where should I start?”

So it all started about, eh, seven months ago, back in my world. My parents were given this old full-length mirror from our neighbors, as a little parting gift of some sort, but I’m willing to bet that the only reason they gave it away was that they had run out of space to pack anything else into the moving truck. That thing was stuffed to the brim - I’m still surprised that it didn’t burst, it looked like it was about to explode at any second!

Over-stuffed moving truck aside, my dad had the bright idea to stick it in my room. Now, at the time, I had a weird fear of full-length mirrors for some reason, so didn’t really like it being in my room, but after a while, it just became part of the wall. A week or two later while reorganizing a few things, I noticed a slip of folded paper tucked behind the mirror, just barely noticeable. I pulled it out, opened it, and was surprised to see what looked like a blueprint drawn on the paper. A diagram of the mirror was shown, small notes pointing to various parts of it, but it looked different than what was in front of me. I then noticed a small inscription written along the border of the mirror drawn on the paper. Looking back to the mirror, I could see the same lettering engraved into the metal. It was in a language that I had never seen before, but to my surprise, I understood it. Strangely enough, it looked familiar, almost as if I had seen it somewhere before...

Being human, I recited the inscription out loud, thinking something would happen - and something did. With a clunk, a four-sided star popped out of the top. A small platform slid out from the bottom of the mirror, raising it slightly. It widened a bit and got taller as it continued to clunk away. As quickly as it had started, the mirror went silent. It almost seemed to have doubled in size, because it was now two feet taller and about a foot wider than it originally was - the mirror now looked exactly as what was drawn in the blueprint. After taking a second to process what had just happened, I put the paper on my desk and slowly left my room, walking away from whatever had just happened.

Later that day, I came to get something when I started to hear something. It kind of sounded like static fuzz from a dead T.V. channel.

As I tried to find where the static fuzz was coming from, it started to get louder, and I noticed the star on top of the mirror started to glow. The fuzz started to clear, and I could hear something trying to speak.

…….al……….Re……eal……… Real……

As it cleared up, I noticed that the voice was calling my name, and it sounded familiar - a little too familiar in fact. Then, the star started to shine a bright white light and emitted a high-pitched whine, and it got so intense that it essentially flash-banged my senses. Once the spots in my eyes dissipated and the ringing in my ears stopped, the first thing I saw shocked me to the core. A hologram. But it wasn’t just any hologram - it was a hologram of Twilight.

TWILIGHT?!

M-Me?!

Are ya sure ya saw Twilight, sugarcube?

I'm pretty sure there's only one purple alicorn with dark navy blue hair, pink and purple highlights, and a six-sided cutie mark with six white stars around it, Applejack.

…Fair point.

But how?!

That’s what I’m getting at. The hologram may have depicted Twilight, but it wasn’t Twilight per se.

What do you mean?

Well, she told me.

…She… told you?

Exactly. Well, after I woke up after blacking out... I think. My memory’s a little fuzzy around that point.

You blacked out?! Were you alright?

Yes, I was fine, Fluttershy. I did wake up with a small lump on my head, but nothing too serious.

After I “woke up,” Holo-Twi (that’s what I’ll call them just to avoid confusion) introduced herself. Apparently, the Tree of Harmony can manifest itself to others in the form of someone/pony that they are the most comfortable with. And the one I’m the most comfortable with is Twilight for some apparent reason (not that I’m complaining or anything). Holo-Twi told me that Equestria was in great danger and that it would soon need my help, blah blah blah, classic prophecy predictions, stuff to do with destiny, and all that good stuff that’s not really important right now.

…maybe.

She said that there was a force lurking in Equestria that I was familiar with, so I was chosen to help take care of it. The star on top of the mirror started to shine again, this time with a purple light. A beam shot from it down to the platform, and the mirror turned into a dimensional portal. Before I went through the now-activated portal, Holo-Twi gave me a few things that I would need when I came here. She took my bat that always I have by my bed and infused a green stone into the hilt - I later found out that this was a Changeling Stone, a rare artifact that was full of Changeling magic - allowing me to turn it into anything I can imagine. Holo-Twi also gave me a necklace with a cobalt blue stone attached to it, which allowed me to use magic just like a unicorn.

You can use magic, and you have a weapon that uses Changeling magic?!

Yes, but we’ll get to that later.

After Holo-Twi gave me these essential trinkets, she said I was ready. Before I left, she let me write a little note to my family explaining where I was and for them to not worry about me. After that, I stood in front of the portal, wondering what was waiting for me on the other side - and stepped through. My question was soon answered, but not in the way I thought I would get it. Either something must have happened when I went through the portal, or it just hates me for some reason, because when I stepped out, I had been dropped above what I could only assume were the clouds.

After reaching terminal velocity and introducing my face to the ground of Equis, all I had to show from it was a massive headache and a newfound hatred for portals. After pulling my head out of the ground, I spotted a satchel containing a handful of bits, food, some supplies, a black cloak, and an outdated map hanging on a tree branch nearby. Although it was old, the map allowed me to roughly pinpoint where I was in Equis. The portal had dropped me in the mountain range near the Fields of Forever, over in Ponyland. So I put on the cloak and began my six-month journey. While I could’ve made it here in maybe three months, I decided to take the scenic route since I wanted to work on building myself from the ground up.

As I traveled, I met many ponies and creatures along the way, some very hospitable to a being like me, while some looked down on me the best they could, although it’s kinda hard to look down on someone when you’re about a foot or more shorter than the guy you’re mad at. There was even a cult of Mobians and some ponies that wanted to outright kill me, even going as far as to put a bounty over my head. Luckily, my training came in clutch quite a few times over the months.

You had a bounty on your head?! And why did you have a cult on your flank? Wait, how much did they put on you?

Rainbow Dash!

Dash, what is wrong with you?! Why would ya ask somethin' like that?!

PFFFFFT!! HAHAHAHA!!! Oh man, I did not see that one coming. Look, Applejack, it’s fine. I’m perfectly fine with her asking me that. I mean really, what’s stopping our resident daredevil here?

Me and ma hooves, that’s what.

Sheesh, remind me to never piss you off. Anyway, those morons went nuts - I topped out over 100,000 bits the last time I checked.

100,000?!

You're kidding, right?

Nope. Last I checked was three months ago, so it’s probably gone up in the time I’ve been gone.

Hey, careful there, kid. This group only has room for two giant egos - I don’t think we can handle another.

… you know what? You got me there. Equis probably couldn’t do it either.

So, why did you have that big a bounty on your head? Like, what did you do to get that anyway?

I think they said something along the lines of me just merely existing.

About three weeks ago, I decided to double my training regime, just in case I might need the extra strength if something came up. And it's a good thing I did if what happened earlier was anything to go by.

When I reached right around Chicacolt, I noticed some odd-looking clouds above the city. Even stranger though, they were giving me a major sense of deja vú. They had a dark purple hue to them, and I know for a fact that clouds don’t look like that. I stayed for a few days and spied on some of the cloud control pegasi from a distance, hoping to find out more about these familiar-looking clouds. Then about a week ago, the clouds started to move away from the city. As it moved, I thought it looked larger than it did before, but then it started to grow bigger and bigger at an alarming rate. Soon, hot pink lightning started flashing throughout the cloud cover. Then I realized why they were so familiar - I had seen these same clouds in a game I played back home. If these were anything like the original, I knew that whatever was in that cloud’s path would be in danger.

As I followed it, pink lightning started to strike the ground, and wherever it struck, those towers from earlier would pop up. Knowing how dangerous these things were, I destroyed them before things could escalate any further. While following, I noticed that it had gotten progressively smaller, shrinking slightly every time it created a tower. Once it reached Canterlot, it put on a burst of speed, making a beeline for Ponyville. I had to cross through the Everfree, but luckily I managed. Once I arrived at the outskirts of the town, I saw that it was under attack by those Storm Creatures, and decided to join the party.

“And the rest is history. So that’s the story of what I’ve been up to for the past few months,” Real finishes. “Now if there are any questions, just -“

“How many friends did you make out there?!”

“What kind of training did you go through?”

“How are you able to use magic?!”

“Did you make any animal friends? If, you don’t mind me asking…”

“What else can your bat turn into?! A sword?! A cannon?!”

“Woah, woah, woah, hey take it easy guys!” Real exclaims, overwhelmed by the number of questions bombarding him. “I was barely able to process the first question - one at a time, please!”

“Oh, sorry about our little outburst, darling,” Rarity apologizes, giggling sheepishly. “We all got a little overexcited and didn’t take into account that you could only answer so many questions at once!”

“It’s all good, Rarity,” Real smiles, rolling his eyes. “I’d be asking questions a million miles an hour if I were in your shoes - er, hooves. Fluttershy, I made quite a few friends along the way, and surprisingly, I did make some animal friends too. But that’s another story for another time."

He turns to Tionic and pulls his bat out. “Now, as for my training? Just a regimen I remembered from my world, and whatever I could find in the area.”

He then grabs hold of the other end of his bat and pulls. The bat makes a loud *SNAP* as it splits in two, making everyone jump at the sound. The spilt parts of the bat morph into smaller versions of itself. “I’m also able to split it into two, so I taught myself how to dual wield.”

“Nice,” Tionic smiles, nodding. “Self taught and trained. Impressive, kid.”

“Thanks,” Real chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. He then faces Twilight. “As for the reason I’m able to use magic, Twilight, is because of this.”

He pulls the collar of his shirt back and grabs onto the golden chain hanging around his neck. No one notices him shiver, as goes as quickly it happens. Pulling the chain up reveals an oval, cobalt blue gem encased inside that shimmers a bright blue hue. With the way the light reflected of the gem, it looks as if the cosmos themselves were trapped inside. It was encased in gold, adorned by a diamond on top, with two smaller emeralds of the purest green on the sides. Swirls are etched into the gold, surrounding the bottom emeralds and wrapping all the way around to meet the other side.

“Oh, my!” Rarity gushes, her eyes sparking the instant she heard the chain of the necklace clink together. “That necklace is divine! It compliments your eyes so well!”

“Thank you, I guess?” Real says, unsure about how he should take the compliment. He shakes it off. “This little blue boy here is what lets me to use magic, though only to some extent. I’m able to use some basic spells, like short-range teleportation, levitation, fire spells, and mana bolts. I never took the time to look for a spell book while I was out and about, since I concentrating on my body rather than my magic.”

Twilight stares at him, her eyes sparkling. “Can you show us? What you can do, I mean?” Excited by the fact that a non-Equisian being can use Equestrian magic, she wants to know everything so she can take notes for future reference.

“Maybe later Twilight,” Real says, shaking his head. “I’m not sure I should be showing off when the fate of Equestria, if not Equis, is at stake.”

The light in her eyes dulls, and her ears fall flat against her head.

“Hey, I didn’t say no!” Real chuckles, putting a hand on her shoulder. “When all of this is over, I’ll gladly show you what I can do.”

She then remembers what happened earlier, and sinks into her seat sheepishly. “Right, I forgot about that. Sorry, I just got a little exci-”

“Twilight!” A voice calls from the hallway. “Twilight, where you at?!”

“In the map room, Spike!” She exclaims, sitting upright. Claws clicking on the crystal floor echo through the hallway, and a moment later, the double doors open to reveal a lanky, but toned purple dragon with green spikes and an even lighter green stomach walks in.

“Hey, there Spike! What’s going on?”

“You’ve got a letter from the princesses,” The dragon says, and he smacks his chest. His cheeks bulge, and he lets out a belch as green flames spew from his mouth.

“Wait, princesses as in plural?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow as she watches a letter materialize from Spike’s flames. Grabbing it with her magic, she can see what her #1 assistant/son was talking about. Instead of the usual red ribbon with a red wax seal with Celestia’s Cutie Mark adorning it, a blue ribbon holds the letter closed, and a combination of Celestia’s and Luna’s Cutie Mark is stamped into the blue wax. Her eyes widen in surprise, as she’s never seen this kind of letter before, not even during times of crisis.

"Well, this is new," She mutters, eyeing the ribbon again before breaking the seal and opening the letter.

Princess Twilight,