1. A land of opportunity?
Adrian has had a pretty sad life so far.
He had an ok childhood, but got bullied at school which didn’t help his social development. He later on went to pursue a career in music after his eyes were opened to the wonderful world of music. To have the ability to get all of his frustrations, pain and sorrow out through song was all he wanted.
His dreams of becoming a giant star in the music biz didn't pan out though. He used to have a band where he played drums and sang backup in, but earlier today, his bandmates left the group to focus on their professional careers, leaving Adrian with nothing.
We have to focus on what’s realistic. Dreams only go so far nowadays. Sorry Adrian.
A big sigh escaped Adrian's mouth as he remembered what his former bandmate and friend had said. He didn’t want to believe it, but… it was true.
Dreams don’t get you anywhere. It's hopeless.
As he laid on top of his bed, he looked around him and saw just dark walls flooded with posters of bands he loved and images of him with his friends over the years. His eyes caught an image of his former band all sitting around a table, sharing a meal.
“Ah...” Was the only sound he could make as he felt his throat close up and tears welling up in his eyes.
It was a picture of his birthday party. Not even 2 months ago, he celebrated his 24th with all of his bandmates and their friends. He remembered the tasty chocolate cake with extra frosting, just how he liked it. The atmosphere, the laughs, the final goodbye. Everything was perfect.
Of course, it was all over now. A single lonely tear dropped down his cheek.
The remnant of a happy feeling left inside him slowly disappeared as he knew that he would probably never have that same connection with anyone in the future. He had known them since he was 17 years old. Grew as a musician with them. Made several albums and EP’s with them. Saw them, one by one, find love, get married and move into a good looking apartment. He was very jealous, of course, but he knew that it was an immature reaction. He valued his friends, respected them, and felt happy when the pieces of their life started falling together.
“I want to be mad. I want to blame them for this, but there’s no point. They did what was best. It is me who is blind. I should have graduated from college and had a stable job on the side, but I just HAD to drop out and focus on music. Where did that get me? Oh yeah. FUCKING NOWHERE!”
Adrian shouted to no one in particular.
He just needed to get it out. The regrets lingering in his brain like tattoos he could never remove. So many choices. So many opportunities missed. He was broke, lonely, without a band. Nobody knew who he was outside of that band. He had made countless songs alone, had multiple solo projects in so many different styles and genres to try and capture an audience, but nothing. Hundreds of songs that would never be heard. Stories and words he wrote down whispering on the wind, but nobody’s there to catch them.
Finally feeling the emotional exhaustion hitting with full force. He shut his eyes and hoped for a better tomorrow. Something he knew would probably never come.
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“Focus, Luna. We need to get this spell to work.” Celestia said in an uncharacteristically determined voice to her sister. “It could lead us to a new scientific breakthrough.”
“Since when did you care for such things, sister?” responded the Princess of the moon, herself. Still focusing on getting that spell right and keeping the flow of magic intact, but feeling a bit suspicious that her sister might have gotten a little influenced by a certain purple pony. “I haven’t seen you so determined since you tried to beat Pinkie Pie in that cake eating competition.”
“Don’t even say it…” Grumbled Celestia. “Well… To explain. I found some of Starswirl’s old notes. One of them, containing a spell that might be able to confirm the possibility of other universes parallel to ours. And so I thought. Well. Why not go try it out, you know, for old times sake. It is pretty boring being a princess all the time. We both know we need a little bit of excitement, Luna.” Celestia explained while still trying to hold the flow of magic intact.
“You really need to take a break from your precious student, sister. You’re starting to sound like her.” Luna had to scowl after such a blatant twilightism.
A sudden grunt from Celestia Indicated that something was wrong. The flow of magic became unstable. Sparks flew from Celestia’s horn. Luna tried all she could to hold the magical flow intact, but to no avail. A bright light filled Celestia’s private study. A big shockwave of magic threw the two sisters to the edge of the room. Silence fell.
As they recovered, they were shocked to find somepony unconscious on the floor. Right where the magical mishap happened, was a rather tall unicorn stallion with a long mane and tail. For a second, Celestia began to wonder if they had accidentally summoned a random citizen of Equestria into her study. The look on Luna’s face told her otherwise.
“Did we just…?” Said Celestia in a quiet but panicked voice.
Luna didn’t answer. Her eyes transfixed on the unknown stallion. Her mind filled with questions.
________________________________________________________________________________
Adrian’s eyes slowly opened. He let out a yawn as his mind scrambled to wake up fully. But when he looked around him, he saw that he was in a room he didn’t recognise. Something was wrong. He felt… off. It was like his body had changed in some weird way, but that was impossible.
“What’s going on?” He thought to himself as his eyes started drifting down towards his… hooves? He shook his head like a tornado and looked down again. Still. Hooves.
“Oooo-K. Well… I-I see I’m… still dreaming… I hope…”
His mind slowly started to realize that this wasn't a dream, but what else was it then. “Maybe, I've been summoned into another world. Hehehe. Like that is even…”
He couldn't believe it. Slowly approaching were two tall, regal looking… Alicorns? Adrian immediately thought they looked very familiar.
The taller of the two spoke up in a calm, but nervous voice. Her mane flowing like a calm river.
“I-I see that our little mistake has caused you to appear in front of us. Would you mind, my little pony, telling us who you are?” She spoke.
Adrian’s eyes went wide in shock. He knew who they were. He knew where he was. “Wait, did she call me a pony?”
“I-I-I c-can.” His voice shook with nervousness after realizing who was standing in front of him. It was THE Princess Celestia. and even better. Her sister, Princess Luna, was right next to her.
Adrian tried standing up, but realized too late that his body wasn't the same as he was used to. He immediately stumbled backwards, letting out a little yelp as he felt himself falling. He expected to fall straight onto his back, but no. Suddenly, he was floating.
“Thou shalt know that ponies don’t usually stand on their hind legs.” Luna spoke up. Her tone, more serious.
“... so this is what magic feels like.” Said the former human entranced by the magic surrounding him. Though, in less than a second, he was snapped back to reality by the sight of two alicorn princesses awaiting a reply. And so he tried his best to explain while fighting the growing nervousness inside him.
“M-my name is Adrian. I am a musician. That's… all there really is to know about me.” He said in a somber tone of voice “To be honest, princesses. I’m not from… here. I-it’s hard to explain.”
“Try and put it the best way you can.” Said the older sister. Her curiosity getting the better of her. Luna lifting an eyebrow at the mention of their titles.
“The best way I can put it is I come from another world? A world where creatures stand on 2 legs and have arms and fingers.” Adrian started to explain. “It’s a harsh world. A lot of bad stuff happens all the time, but if you ignore all the bad, you’ll find that there are some really nice things there. Like, for example, music. Music is so expressive and so important in the lives of the people of the world. It can give you joy, make you feel sadness, make you explode with rage. It's such a beautiful thing.” Adrian couldn't stop himself from talking about the one thing he had left. Music. It would always be with him.
“But that does not explain thy knowledge of our titles as princesses of this land.” Luna chimed in. Celestia herself, not realizing he had called them Princesses, was surprised at that fact and grew even more curious as to how he knew.
“Shit” Adrian thought to himself. He didn't know if it was a good idea to reveal that fact or not.
“Umm… W-well. O-ok. I'll explain. But before that. How am I supposed to get back home?” He asked, both genuinely curious as to if he was ever going back or not, and also to stall to think of an answer that would satisfy the two sisters.
“Adrian… I don't think we'll be able to get you back home.” Celestia said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “We’re sorry, but the spell wasn't meant to summon anypony, let alone change them in such a way that you have. It was a spell made to search for other universes parallel to ours.” She finished. A look of regret reflected in both Celestia and Luna’s eyes.
Adrian shrugged and gave a reply they did not expect to hear.
“Oh… O-ok then.”
A look of surprise flashed in the sisters' eyes, but he continued.
“To explain how I know who you are. In my universe, there used to be a show called My little pony, where there were 6 main ponies fighting villains and giving advice about friendship. I believe you two to be the same pony princesses as you were there. Princess Celestia, who raises and lowers the sun and Princess Luna, who raises and lowers the moon. You are characters made up by humans as entertainment for a younger generation.” He explained with a cringing sensation washing over him as he noticed that the sisters hadn’t moved at all during that short explanation.
Celestia's eyes pierced Adrian’s. She opened her mouth signaling that she was about to say something when Luna chimed in with a question.
“Are there any more princesses in Equestria besides me and my sister?” She asked with a curious look in her eyes. She started wondering if this stallion was lying, but she knew deep inside he wasn't. She could feel it. Something was off about him. The way he was sitting genuinely seemed like someone in a pony costume trying to get used to hooves and being on all four. She could feel the honesty pouring out.
“Yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle. The Princess of Magic… oh wait. Friendship, sorry. There is also Princess Cadance or Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, right? The Princess of the Crystal Empire.” He replied. Panic slowly seeped into his head as he could already imagine himself being interrogated for months and months for his suspicious knowledge of Equestria.
Luna thought to herself. “If, by chance, he is not lying and he’s not a threat, I think this would be a great opportunity to experience that excitement that Tia was talking about.” She looked over to her sister and saw in her eyes that she still needed to be sure before coming to a conclusion as to what to do about this stallion.
With a slow nod and an unsure expression, Celestia then asked. “Is it wrong to assume that this… show… showed you only the most important part of the daily happenings of Equestria?”
“Kind of. I would like to believe so. It mostly focused on the adventures of the elements of harmony.” Adrian responded, giving up on trying to lie. He knew it probably wouldn't get him very far.
Luna then turned to her sister. “If it's too much to ask sister…” She started, almost smiling at the idea in her head. “Would there be an issue if I were to have him under my hoof for the time being. To make sure he’s not… you know… a threat.” Adrian winced at the use of that word.
“I can assure you two with a hand… hoof to my heart that I will never in my life hurt anyone here. All I ask is for you to trust me. I won't ask for much other than that.”
Celestia, like her sister, brought her hoof up to her mouth and started thinking. She was still a bit unsure, but she couldn't feel any hostility in this poor confused stallion. She started thinking about the whole situation, if everything he said was true, they had just done something really bad. Stripped the life away from an innocent being and brought them into Equestria. Even though he knew of this world and some of its history, it would still be incredibly difficult to start life anew in an unfamiliar world.
Celestia finally spoke up. “Before I answer,” she turned her head to meet Adrian. “Are you sure you’re ok with us bringing you here? Leaving behind the life you had seems like a really hard thing to just accept.”
He looked straight into her eyes. “Even if I were to go back, there would be nothing left for me there. Sure, it’ll take a while to get used to the change, but… If I can live a fulfilling and happy life here, I would ask for nothing more. If anything, I should thank you for the new chance at life I've been given by you two.” With a somber smile, he lowered his head in thanks to the two sisters.
“Raise your head. I thank you for your appreciation of our accident. I will still feel a little guilty for what happened, but as long as you are ok with it, I can rest a bit easier.” Said the Princess of the sun. Turning her gaze towards Luna, she let out a slight chuckle and continued. “And yes Luna. If you want, you can supervise him going forward. I suspect he might need a little bit of help with the basics of being a pony.”
“Thank you, sister. I will make sure he becomes the best pony he can be.” Luna said with a smile and a little excitement in her voice. She was now very interested in learning about this newly transformed stallion.
Celestia smiled at her sister and turned to face Adrian once again. “Is there any request you have for us at this present moment?”
Adrian had to think for a second. He smiled and then let out a small chuckle before finally responding.
“Could you call me Harmony from now on. Harmony Bop.”
Author's Note
Hello, Dear reader. If anyone is wondering, yes, this is my first ever attempt at a fanfic/story. Any critique, tips or feedback you have is greatly appreciated.
This is the intro to the story of Harmony bop. There are a lot of ways his story could go, but the general gist is he is a musician, so there will be a lot of music stuff here.
I really hope you all enjoy my little fanfic and i wish you all a good day or night.
