Ragnarokby ThunderbirdChaptersChapter 1: Set in motionChapter 2: Getting to know youChapter 3: DeliberationPrologue: in the beginningChapter 1: Set in motion'This place sucks' I can't help but think to myself as I sit on a park bench listening to my music. 'Good people getting screwed over, bad people having everything they touch turn to gold, and the rest of us bored out of our skulls.' I was in one of my depressed moods. Wishing I could ditch this dump we all call home and find someplace better: like Equestria. Yes, I'm a brony and proud of it. No one's given me any flak about it so I have no reason to be ashamed of it. I was always a romantic person at heart and MLP:FiM just fueled the fire. So I'm sitting there listening to my beloved walkman and dreaming of a better place full of ponies. "Spike! What made all this mess!?" Twilight Sparkle had been frantically looking for information on a strange object she found, and as such, tore up the library that also served as her home to find books on the subject. "You did remember?" Twilight chuckled sheepishly "Oh right. I'll take care of it then. In the meantime, could you gather the girls and bring them all here? I've got something to show you all." "Sure thing Twilight. I'll bet it's something out of this world." Twilight chuckled at Spike's choice of words as he made a mad dash out the door. "You might say that." A few minutes later, the library was ship shape and Spike returned with five mares who were Twilight's first and closest friends. "Hey Twilight. What's the super duper amazing thing you've got to show us huh? Huh?" "Knowin' you Sugarcube, it's probably somethin' that needs a whole lot lot of explanation." "I hear that AJ." "Um, nothing bad I hope." "Come now Fluttershy, I'm sure Spike wouldn't be so excited if it was something bad" Twilight waited for everyone to settle down before speaking. "Thanks for all coming girls." "Hey, it's not like we'd just leave you hanging right?" "Of course not." "So Twilight, what is it you want to show us?" Spike inquired. "So glad you asked. You know how it's popular belief that the princesses created the world and all the first living creatures?" "Yeah." "Well. I found proof! Well, not the princesses themselves, but their ancestors." Everypony but Rainbow gave reactions of shock and suprise. "Wait a minute Twilight, you've lived with Celestia as her student since you were a filly. You could have gotten proof at any time straight from the horse's mouth." Pinkie pulled a drumset out of nowhere and did the rimshot. No one even batted an eyelash at that. "True Rainbow. But I was so excited to be learning from the princess that I never thought to ask." Twilight grasped a dusty, ancient looking tome from a nearby table with her magic and held it up for all to see. The title read Life, The Universe, and Everything: A Reference Guide To The Whole Of Creation "I found this on the top corner shelf of the library while Spike and I were doing inventory. It was written by one of Equestria's first scholars: Deep thought. It tells how the first alicorns used their magical power to make Equestria and then moved on to make other worlds. So many, in fact, that they had to make alternate realities to keep from overcrowding. This proves Sands Oftime's multiverse theory! Isn't it wonderful!?" Everypony stared at her blankly. Twilight coughed akwardly. "So yer sayin' that Celestia's ancestors, right after makin' Equestria, plum got up and left?" Twilght nods. "Then how do we have Celestia and Luna if they all pulled up stakes?" "Actually Applejack, not all of them did leave. They decided that Celestia and Luna's parents, Cosmos and Gaia, would stay behind to watch over the ponies and other creatures of Equestria. A few centuries after having the princesses, Cosmos and Gaia died from a mysterious illness. The only sign of it was the lines of purple liquid trailing from their mouths." Everypony looked in grim surprise. "Oh my, that's simply dreadful!" Fluttershy had tears in her eyes. "I can't imagine the grief the princesses must have been going through at such a young age. It must have been awful." "I agree. But, the princesses moved on and so should we. Not only does the book have information on many worlds and realities, it also has a spell inside that lets you travel to them!" Everypony was blown back by that statement. "WHOA. SERIOUSLY!?" "Absolutely Rainbow. I want to try it out and bring you all with me. Obviously, since we all have our own lives here in Equestria, we would only be there for about a day before I brought us back." "Oh, um Twilight, where exactly is 'there'?" "Well, Fluttershy, after reading about all the worlds catalogued in the book, I think we should start with the one that seems the mildest to me: Earth." She turned the book to the Earth section so they could all see it. "It's sun and moon move on their own and the dominant species is a race called 'humans'." The page showed a sketch of a man and woman standing side by side dressed in plain clothes. "Well, what do you think?" "Oh, I don't know Twilight. Humans look kind of scary." "This is a big thing yer askin' of us Sugarcube." "Tell you what, I'll go on ahead and tell you what Earth is like when I come back and then you'll all be able to see for yourselves?" "Ah still don't know." "Come on Applejack. Don't be such a worry worryson. If something does go wrong, Twilight can handle it right?" "Ah suppose so." "Well, here goes." Twilight's horn became bathed in violet light as she cast the spell, her brow furrowed in concentraction. Then there was a bright flash and she was gone. I started to feel better as I started walking home listening to Billy Joel. Usually, I'm more cheerful but I get jaded when I'm bored and I didn't have anything to do. That's my only complaint about weekends: You don't have to do anything but you don't have anything to do. As I listened to to the music, I let my mind wander to my two current obsessions: My Little Pony and Team Fortress. I found a crossover fic of the two and the mesh amazingly well. Anywho, I decided to take the long way around the perimeter of the park before heading home. "Are you sure he's ready Klocwurk?" "Have I ever been wrong before?" "I suppose not." "Have some faith in the boy Nox. He'll rise to the occasion. They always do." "You're right, of course." "Relax man. You always get so stressed out when one of your guardians begin their journey. It's not healthy. Anyway, our niece's protege just left so she should meet him riiiiiiiiiight aboooooooooouuuuuuuut... NOW!" Once I reached the most secluded part of the park, There was a blinding flash of light. I tripped on a log as I tried to back away. Great. Now I'm flash blind AND my ass hurts. I open my eyes to see what caused the offending flash and my mind went blank at what I saw. Or, more appropriately, who I saw. Standing in front of me, in the flesh, clear as day, was Twilight Sparkle. I couldn't believe my eyes. My favorite mane 6 pony was real and standing right in front of me. I got on my knees and reached forward tentatively. "T...T...Twilight?" She seemed shocked that I knew her name. Probably as a reflex, she ignited her magic. I jumped forward and grabbed her horn "Wait! It felt like I was being pulled through gelatin and had all the blood in my veins replaced with pure, undiluted adrenaline! The last thing I saw before I passed out from sensory overload was the interior of the ponyville library and the last thing I heard was the "stranger in a strange land" part of We Didn't Start The Fire. Chapter 2: Getting to know youWhen I awoke, I felt amazingly good for someone who got zapped with a magic spell. In fact, I felt like I could arm wrestle a bear and win. It was as if a previously unknown floodgate had been opened and I was in the middle of the wave!...Uh anyway, I opened my eyes and discovered I was in Twilight's guest bed (it's kinda small) in the upper level of the library. The sun was starting to dip lower on the horizon. 'I imagine Celestia's getting ready for bed right now. Funny, I didn't think I'd take being transported to another world quite so well. I guess I'm too excited about being in Equestria to freak out.' I noticed there was a cupcake on the bedside table. A note by it read: "Hope this makes you feel better after passing out on the floor. I know cupcakes always make me feel better." "Aw thanks Pinkie" I took off the wrapper and took a bite. It was the best cupcake I ever had in my entire life! Seriously, this thing blew all Earth pastries out of the water! If JESUS took baking lessons, it wouldn't even come close to a sugarcube corner cupcake!...But that's beside the point. "Twilight and the others are probably downstairs wondering what to make of me. I'd better make a good first impression. If I'm gonna start a new life here, starting on the right foot would be a big leap forward." After finishing off the cupcake (I think I got a glimpse of Nirvana for a brief second), I took a few deep breaths to harden my resolve and went to the door. "I wonder where my walkman is." Suddenly, I could hear the conversation downstairs as if I was already down there. "Well I don't trust it. I say we get rid of it!" Typical Rainbow. Thinking all the world's problems can be solved by force. "Rainbow Dash! That poor creature is probably scared out of it's wits because it's so far from home. The last thing we want to do is startle it." Wow. Fluttershy really took Rainbow's "be more assertive" advice to heart. "Fluttershy's right. If it knows we won't hurt it, it'll be far more likely to talk to us and answer our questions. Like how it knew my name." 'The voice of reason as always Twilight. Well, waiting's not gonna make this any less akward,' I opened the door and started down the stairs wondering why I could only start hearing them after I wondered where my walkman was. Although, considering people on Earth are probably watching this right now, it was most likely for plot convenience. 'I wonder anyone I know is watching this right now. No wait, it's monday on Earth. They probably don't know anything about it yet.' But I'm straying from the point. Anyway, I sat on the bottom step to look as non-threatening as possible. "And what about that yellow light it started giving off? It looked and felt a lot like a magical aura." 'Wait, what!? I can do magic now!?' "But the book said humans can't do magic." At this point, I decided to speak up. "Well I don't know what book you mean, but yeah that's generally true Twilight. In fact, most humans don't even believe magic exists. And, for the record, I'm a he." Everyone jumped at the new voice joining the conversation. Twilight seemed shocked I was out of bed, Rainbow looked ready to beat me senseless if I so much as breathed too loud. Applejack eyed me suspiciously ,the worry showing in her face. Rarity looked like she was about to have a series of elaborate heart attacks followed by a stroke, the drama queen as always. Fluttershy scuffed the ground with her hoof not sure what to do, Pinkie looked like she was fighting the urge to glomp me. "Well um, hello I'm..." 'I can't tell them my human name. I don't plan on staying human for very long. I just have to figure out how to do that. Well I have magic now apparantley so I guess all I have to do is look in the right book.' "...Roadie." Next thing I knew, Rainbow had me pinned to the wall about three feet off the floor. "Alright pal, spill. How do you know Twilight huh!?" She knocked the wind out of me so it took me a few seconds to answer. "Not just her. All of you. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, Owlowicious, and you Rainbow Dash." She shoved me harder. "Okay, in retrospect, that was kinda creepy wasn't it?" "How do you know us!?" "Put me down and I'll be more than happy to tell you." She dropped me for my lip. The landing was strangely soft. "Huh, thought the floor would be harder." Spike looked surprised. "It Is. You moved a cushion under you with magic." "Whoa seriously!?" I looked down and, sure enough, I was sitting on a throw pillow that wasn't there before. "That. Is. So. AWESOME!" I was just about to geek out when Rainbow almost literally glared daggers at me. "Oh right. Well, you see um...oh boy, how do I explain this? Uh, well...um..." Fluttershy placed a surprisingly soft reassuring hoof on my shoulder. I guess she saw me more as one of her animal friends scared %@#$less than anything else. "It's okay. Take your time." That made me feel a lot better. Then again what do you expect from someone from who can charm the birds down from the trees? I took a few deep breaths and started again. "All right. You see, in my world, people are able to watch the six of you and your adventures in one of our forms of fiction called TV. At least, I thought it was fiction." Suffice it to say, they all gave me looks of shock and disbelief. That was going to get old. I could tell. Twilight broke the silence. "Wwwwwwhat?" "No really! I can prove it. Ask me anything." Pinkie approached me. I got the strangest feeling she already knew all this and was just obfuscating ignorance for her friends' sake. "Okie dokie. Um...what are my bosse's names?" "Carrot Cake and Cup Cake and their foals are Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake." She gasped. It sounded convincing but I couldn't shake the feeling she was faking it for some reason. "He's right! What's my pet?" "A toothless gator named Gummy." "What's my absolute favoritest thing in the whole wide world to do!?" "PAAAAAAARTAAAAAAAY!" Then, to my suprise, she did the Regular Show thing with me. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" We both burst out laughing. It was the funniest thing I'd experienced all day. Besides Pinkie, everyone seemed a little uncomfortable about something. "What?" "No offense darling, but you have a rather sinister laugh." "I know. I LOVE IT!" My high pitched Joker-esque laugh sounded out for a little longer until I got it all out of my system. I was trying to catch my breath so I didn't notice the akward silence for a while. When I finally did, I started to feel really uncomfortable. Applejack spoke up about after a minute. "So, how long have you hi-uman folk been able to see us?" "Um, about 2 years I think. Starting with when Twilight first came to Ponyville because of Nightmare Moon. In fact, I'm starting to think that my reality, assuming of course I'm in a different universe..." Twilight confirmed it. "You are." "...Is somehow able to form weak connections with other planes of existence and we humans can see them but we think it's just a story." As I looked around, I noticed there wasn't as much prevalence of hearts and the color pink as there was in the show. Damn executive meddling! "With some slight differences apparantley." I could feel the fascination radiating from Twilight at that point. "This is amazing! I've never heard of a world wide self-sustaining scrying spell before! What other magic does your world have!?" "Well on Earth, the plants, animals, and weather all take care of themselves just like the Everfree forest. I just thought that's how the world works like everyone else. But... what if the entire earth is teeming with wild magical energy just waiting for us to learn how to harness?" They all seemed kind of freaked out at the idea of an Everfree world. Rarity fainted then got right back up. Sheesh, and I thought I was dramatic. Then she seemed to have a thought and spoke to me. "Wait Roadie, you said this is all thought to be a show on your world correct?" "Yeah." "Is it a popular show?" Rarity wants to know if she's famous. I should've figured. "Oh yeah! It's the biggest cultural phenomenon since the birth of rock and roll." You're free to think I was exaggerating but I believed it. "It makes a lot of people rethink the way they look at shows thought to be aimed specifically at little girls." Rainbow looked offended at that last statement. "What do you mean 'aimed at little girls'?" "Oh um, well on Earth, ponies are generally thought to be 'girly'. But you prove that wrong. Sometimes, TV executives interfere with our view of a world and it becomes distorted and inaccurate. That's probably where the misconception stems from. But you've disproven that so well that your teen and adult fans greatly outnumber your child fans. Once this is shown over there, there's gonna be a lot of heated discussion over whether or not having a human in Equestria is a good idea. Remember, they think it's fiction....Say Twilight, any ideas on why I'm able to do magic now?" She recovered from my monologue almost immediatley to answer. I guess she's grown acustomed to Pinkie. "Yes actually. From what I saw when we teleported and what you've told us about Earth, I've devloped a theory: I think that humans have magic but for some reason forgot how to harness it." 'Technology and superstition probably had something to do with it.' "Touching my horn while I was casting such a powerful spell may have awakened the dormant magic inside you." "COOL!...I guess this means I can't go back to Earth." Not that I was complaining. "What do ya mean Sugarcube?" "We humans pride ourselves on our curiosity. But, a lot of the time, we go overboard to quench our thirst for knowledge. If they saw real magic, they'd capture me and study me in a cage the rest of my life. I'd much rather stay here in Equestria if Celestia and Luna will allow it." Everyone gave me looks of shock and sympathy. Twilight looked mortified. She must have felt awful for accidentally exiling me from Earth. I walked up to her (almost hitting my head in the process. To clarify, ponies come up to about the chest.) and gave her a hug. I could feel the stress and guilt leave her as she hugged me back. After we pulled apart, I could tell she was exhausted along with me and everyone else. She yawned. "Let's think more on this tomorrow. I can tell we're all tired. I'll send a letter to the Princess in the morning. For now, I think we should sleep on it." "Okie dokie. Bye Twilight, bye Roadie. I promise to throw you a huge welcome party." "Not until I give the okay alright Pinkie?" "Okay Twilight." She hopped out into the night while everypony else said their goodbyes and left. Which left Twilight, Spike, Owlowicious, and myself in the library. "Well, this has been a weird day. I'm gonna turn in." "Good idea Spike. Please watch the library Owlowicious." "Hoo." The three of us headed upstairs. Spike was asleep before his head hit the pillow. "The guest bed's a little small. Sorry." "Don't worry about it. I'll figure out a way to fix that." "What do you mean?" "I'll tell you tomorrow. You've got enough on your mind right now. Goodnight Twilight." "Goodnight Roadie." My last thought before drifting to sleep was 'I'll look up shapeshifting spells after breakfast'. Chapter 3: DeliberationNext morning, I saw out the window that the sun was barely peeking above the horizon. Figuring nopony was awake yet, I opened the window, stuck out my head, and yelled out: "GOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING EQUESTRIA!!!!!!!" About a thousand birds flew up from the forest trees in surprise. I got a kick out of that. 'Hope I didn't wake anyone else.' I checked and Twilight and Spike were still asleep. Good thing too, or I might have become Brony a' flambe for prematurely waking a sleeping dragon. Quietly, I went downstairs and found my way to the kitchen. I was looking for breakfast for a few minutes when I heard a knock on the front door. My Holy Shit Quotient went up 10%. 'Way to blow your own cover genius!' I discreetly looked out the window and my heart settled back into my chest upon seeing it was Applejack. I went into the main library and opened the door to let her in. "Hi Applejack. What brings you to this neck of the woods this early in the morning?" "Ah think you know exactly why Ah'm here Roadie." She wasn't mad per se. She was a bit more like how a strict teacher would be if you came in late. "Oh, you mean the whole 'Good morning Equestria' thing earlier?" "Right." "I mean really Roadie, being that loud this early in the morning is simply rude." "Um, also I don't think everypony's ready to see you just yet. Sorry." Rarity and Fluttershy walked (cantered?) in just after Applejack. "Sorry about that. I guess I was just glad to see it wasn't all just a dream." Rainbow flew in through the window next rubbing sleep out of her eye and looking annoyed. "Yeah well don't make a habit of it." "I'm really sorry Rainbow. The last thing I want to do is upset any of you. How about I make it up to you by making you all breakfast? I'm not exactly a five star chef but I can make pancakes no problem." "PANCAKE PARTY!" Pinkie rocketed through the door and gave me a flying tackle hug that knocked me on my back and back a few feet. "I'll take that as a yes. All in favor?" "Sure. Whatever." "Thank you darling. You're such a gentlecolt." "Ah'll help ya make 'em." "OOH OOH, me too me too. Oh I know, let's make everyone their favorite pancakes just for them." "Oh thank you. You're very nice." Pinkie finally got off me. I got up and headed for the kitchen. "Someone might as well wake Twilight. I'd hate for her to be left out." Pinkie raised her hoof eagerly. "OOH, I'll go get her." She took off in midair up the stairs leaving a Pinkie shaped cloud of dust. I got excited at that. 'OOH, I think I can do that now too.' "Come on partner, let's get started." I playfully saluted. "10-4 AJ." We entered the kitchen and got out everything we needed. Pinkie came in a while later after waking Twilight and Spike. After some initial akwardness, the three of us got into a good groove. Applejack mixed the batter, I manned the stove, and Pinkie made sure each pancake got ludicrous amonts of butter and syrup. Suddenly, I had an idea. After excusing myself for a brief moment, I went out into the main room which now had a table in the middle, most likely set by Rarity and Fluttershy, with cushions around it to sit on. Ponies don't have chairs. Everyone else was already seated with Twilight at at the end still with some bed head. "Morning Twilight." "{Yawn} Good morning Roadie. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting such a generous gesture from someone I just met. And for that matter, exiled from his home." I was crushed by the meloncholy she started giving off. 'Man, I must be becoming an empath. I usually don't even feel my own emotions this strongly. Much less someone else's.' I quickly went over to her and gave her the biggest, sincerest hug I could muster. "It's alright. You didn't mean to. Besides, I like it better here anyway." "Really?" "Absotively posolutely. Although, if you still feel bad about it, why don't you make it up to me by teaching me how to use my magic?" "Teach you?" "Yeah. It'll make great practice for when you get your own faithful student." The embarrassed blush she gave off could've wrapped up winter in minutes. "My own student? You think I'd be up to it?" "Are you kidding? You're totally teacher material. In fact, I already have a couple of ideas of who you could take on as your apprentice." I was thinking Dinky Doo, Sweetie Belle, or possibly Ruby Pinch. "Well alright. I'll try." "Great! How do you actually access magic to do spells?" "Oh, that's very simple. You just have to think of what you want to do and how you want to do it and concentrate on that thought. Emotion can help you focus and make the spell more potent. That's why most unicorns can't do much with their magic outside their field of expertise: they don't have a passion for it." 'That actually makes a lot of sense.' "Great! Thanks Twilight." I headed back to the kitchen and found eight plates stacked high with pancakes. Truly a glorious sight. "All done Sugarcube." "What do you think huh huh?" "Awesome! You two just take seats at the table. I'll take it all out." "Ya sure?" "Totally. Don't sweat it." After they left the kitchen, I clapped my hands, rubbed them together, and took a few prepatory deep breaths. "Alright. Here goes nothing." I pictured solid air lifting up the plates and gave that image my undivided attention. Immedeatley, my hands started glowing yellow and the plates were levitating and glowing the same color. "OOOOOOHHH that is awesome!" The resulting geek out almost made me lose my concentration but I recovered it thankfully. "Alright, let's see if I can think and walk at the same time." I kept part of my mind focused on keeping the plates up (which wasn't very hard since that part of my mind was also super excited about having magic powers. Honestly, I bet I barely would have had to think about it.) and walked out the door with a flourish with the plates floating around me and began serving them out. "Okay let's see: Walnut and nutmeg for Fluttershy, candy corn and bubblegum for Pinkie, almond mint for Rarity, every berry known to pony kind for Rainbow, apple cinnamon for Applejack naturally, Lemon for Twilight, emerald for Spike, and plain old blueberry for me." I sat down and was about to eat when I noticed a distinct lack of silverware. 'Aw great, now what?' Rarity must have noticed my dilema because she said in a concerned voice: "Roadie, whatever's the matter?" "I'm not completely sure how to eat these without utensils. Those are tools humans use to eat messier foods." Pinkie looked up from her stack, which she was already working on, her face completely covered in syrup. "Why?" I chuckled. "That's why. Anyway, Rarity, is it considered rude to use magic at the table?" "Of course not. There's no reason it would be." "Phew, good. Thanks Rarity." "No problem at all darling." She picked up the first pancake off her stack with her magic and a small part of it came off the edge in a perfect triangle before she ate it. 'OOH, some kind of severing spell. I'll look into that later.' I levitated one of mine, rolled it into a tube shape, and took a bite off the end. Once again, Equestrian pastry proves itself far superior to any Earth confection. Twilight finally decided to act on the surprise and amazement that had been eating at her the last minute or so. 'Yep. Definately an empath now.' "Incredible. You've only been doing magic for less than a day and you're already levitating things more experienced unicorn foals can't." "Probably just has something to do with brain power and maturity. By human standards, I'm in my first year of adulthood." "That is most likely it. I'll include it in my next letter to the princess. She or her sister, Princess Luna, might be able to shed light on the subject." '{Gulp} Oh boy the princesses. That's the biggest obstacle of my new life in Equestria. Luna'll probably be cool with me staying, I think. She can sympathize with feeling out of place. But Celestia? I don't know what to expect from her. I don't really know much about her. I mean, sure we've all seen her sense of humor, but how would she react to something like this?' "Uh, maybe. If anyone knows, it's them." "Hey Roadie, how much exactly do you know about Ponyville?" "Not much I'm afraid Spike. The show centered around all of you and sometimes, the cutie mark crusaders. So the only other ponies I know about are ones you or they have had direct contact with. So I don't even know everyone in town." Pinkie emerged from her rapidly shrinking stack of pancakes with her face squeaky clean. 'How does she do that? Can I do stuff like that now too? Well I do know that people are watching, and I think she knows too, so maybe if I break the fourth wall enough times...' "OOOOOH! I can tell you about everypony in Ponyville! Who'd you like to know about first?" My mind went into full geek-out mode. I was being offered knowledge that had eluded myself and fellow bronies for over 2 years: the names and personalities of the background ponies we all love. "Well um, can you tell me about a cream colored earth pony mare with pink and blue hair and three candies as her cutie mark and the green unicorn mare with a harp cutie mark she's often seen with?" "That's Bonbon and Lyra. Lyra moved here a little before Twilight and she and Bonbon have really hit it off as friends. But I think there's more to it than they're letting on." 'I KNEW IT!' "What about a pinkish-purple mare with a grapes and strawberry cutie mark?" "Oh, Berry Punch owns the soda shop in town. She can make any drink in Equestria. Juice, shakes, smoothies, tea, hot chocolate, you name it. Sometimes she lets her daughter Ruby Pinch help too." "Cool." 'That's way better than the alcoholic we all thought she was.' So far, fanon is mostly right. Awesome! But before I could ask more, Twilight interjected. Something else was eating at her. Man, this mare wants to know everything. Kinda like how I get when I find something I really like. "Excuse me Roadie, I think I need to ask you something." "Fire away." "What are you going to do now?" "What do you mean?" "Equestria's never seen anything like you. Other ponies will panic if they see you. They'll think you're some kind of monster." Ah, on to the heavy stuff. "I've already thought of that Twilight. My new magic prevents me from going back to Earth but it will also cement Equestria as my new home." "How?" "Do you have any spellbooks here?" "Of course. What kind of student of Princess Celestia would I be if I didn't brush up on spells and practice them every so often?" She almost lterally glowed with pride at that statemet. "Good. Like I said earlier, I'd like you to teach me how to use this magic. Starting with shape shifting. If I become a pony, everything will be fine. No running, no screaming, no being banished and imprisoned in the place where I was banished to." I got various degrees of surprise in response. "Oh my, don't you think that's a little extreme?" "It's the only way I can stay here Shy. I've seen how the ponies here react to the unknown. They don't handle it very well. They'll never trust me as long as I'm bipedal and 98% hair free." They didn't like it, but they all knew I was right. I was really getting sick of making Twilight feel guilty at this point. 'Damn it! That's three times in one day. How do I live with myself? I have to show her I don't blame her. In fact, she did me an enormous favor. I don't know how I'll ever repay her.' "In that case, I'd better hold off telling the princesses about you until then." "I'm sorry about that. I bet you tell Celestia everything." "I'd like to but I don't want to bother her with anything trivial." "Twilight, Celestia would never consider anything you have to say trivial. I may not know much about her, but I know that much for certain." "You think so?" "She hung out and ate donuts with you after the gala. Surely that's proof enough." I got chuckles all around for that one. "Twilight, she's been your personal teacher since you were a little kid. I doubt she'd just blow you off like you seem to think she would. She may be a goddess and one of the rulers of the land but she's still a pony." "That's easy to forget. Even though she's been trying to tell me that for years." It wasn't hard to imagine the oh-so-subtle shenanigans Celestia might have pulled to try and show young Twilight she's only equine...Yes I say shenanigans. (Sunglasses) Deal with it. "Why don't you try being less formal in your next letter to her? Tell her what's been happening here lately, ask how Luna is, try to convince her to disown Blueblood." The laughter that followed was glorious. I hadn't laughed so hard in all my life. My amusement was enhanced by everyone else's and it was the most wonderful feeling I'd ever felt. Empathy's awesome! "I think I'll do that right now. Spike?" He went upstairs and came back with a quill and parchment a while later "Ready when you are Twilight." "Dear Princess Celestia, I apologize for sending this letter so early in the day but I doubt that would bother you of all ponies. A new friend has taught me that regardless of somepony's status or position in life, they're still ponies who need friendship just like you and me. Basically, don't treat anypony better or worse than yourself. Also, I wanted to ask how your sister, Princess Luna, is. My friends and I haven't seen or heard from her since the wedding and we would like to know how well she's adjusting. And also, I would like to know how you are. Any big important decisions you've made? Is Philomena doing well? Has Blueblood given you any grief over anything? Your faithful student..." "And friend." "...And friend, Twilight Sparkle" I inspired a friendship report. COOL! It was all I could do to stop from squeeing. 'Hi I'm Roadie. I'm an 18 year old male and I squee. Hi Roadie.' After Spike sent the letter, Twilight turned to face me. She was excited and a little anxious. "Well, shall we begin your tutelage?" I looked around at the faces of all the ponies I'd come to love even before I truly met them. 'Well, this is it. Welcome to the beginning of your new life in a perfect world.' I looked to where I thought the fourth wall probably was at the time. "Class is in session." Prologue: in the beginningFor an indeterminate amount of time, there existed only the alicorns. Majestic, awesome beings of immeasurable power. After a time, they became weary of the nothingness that only creatures of their caliber could truly perceive and learned how to create. Their first attempts were met with disconcerting results but they eventually perfected it. They first created a world populated by creatures crafted in their own image whom they dubbed "ponies". After many centuries and many more creations, they wished to create more worlds with different forms of life. After deciding which ones would stay behind to watch over their first world, they set off into eternity to fill the gaping void. Some similar to the first, others radically different. Some became fascinated by specific forms of life like the plants those of the sea. Others concentrated on the wheather and land. While others devoted themselves to the ideas and concepts made by their creations like love and laughter. Their fascination soon made many of them become what they loved. One of them was named Equinox Equinox is the alicorn god of justice. The jet black coat, golden mane and tail, and brass scales on his flank all show, in different ways, his passion to do right by all living things. In each world and reality, he chooses a guardian to defend and uphold the ideals he stands for: balance, nobility, and courage. Oftentimes, he has aid from his brother Klocwurk, the alicorn god of time, to find those best suited to take the responsibility. And one such chosen is about to face his destiny.
Chapter 1: Set in motion'This place sucks' I can't help but think to myself as I sit on a park bench listening to my music. 'Good people getting screwed over, bad people having everything they touch turn to gold, and the rest of us bored out of our skulls.' I was in one of my depressed moods. Wishing I could ditch this dump we all call home and find someplace better: like Equestria. Yes, I'm a brony and proud of it. No one's given me any flak about it so I have no reason to be ashamed of it. I was always a romantic person at heart and MLP:FiM just fueled the fire. So I'm sitting there listening to my beloved walkman and dreaming of a better place full of ponies. "Spike! What made all this mess!?" Twilight Sparkle had been frantically looking for information on a strange object she found, and as such, tore up the library that also served as her home to find books on the subject. "You did remember?" Twilight chuckled sheepishly "Oh right. I'll take care of it then. In the meantime, could you gather the girls and bring them all here? I've got something to show you all." "Sure thing Twilight. I'll bet it's something out of this world." Twilight chuckled at Spike's choice of words as he made a mad dash out the door. "You might say that." A few minutes later, the library was ship shape and Spike returned with five mares who were Twilight's first and closest friends. "Hey Twilight. What's the super duper amazing thing you've got to show us huh? Huh?" "Knowin' you Sugarcube, it's probably somethin' that needs a whole lot lot of explanation." "I hear that AJ." "Um, nothing bad I hope." "Come now Fluttershy, I'm sure Spike wouldn't be so excited if it was something bad" Twilight waited for everyone to settle down before speaking. "Thanks for all coming girls." "Hey, it's not like we'd just leave you hanging right?" "Of course not." "So Twilight, what is it you want to show us?" Spike inquired. "So glad you asked. You know how it's popular belief that the princesses created the world and all the first living creatures?" "Yeah." "Well. I found proof! Well, not the princesses themselves, but their ancestors." Everypony but Rainbow gave reactions of shock and suprise. "Wait a minute Twilight, you've lived with Celestia as her student since you were a filly. You could have gotten proof at any time straight from the horse's mouth." Pinkie pulled a drumset out of nowhere and did the rimshot. No one even batted an eyelash at that. "True Rainbow. But I was so excited to be learning from the princess that I never thought to ask." Twilight grasped a dusty, ancient looking tome from a nearby table with her magic and held it up for all to see. The title read Life, The Universe, and Everything: A Reference Guide To The Whole Of Creation "I found this on the top corner shelf of the library while Spike and I were doing inventory. It was written by one of Equestria's first scholars: Deep thought. It tells how the first alicorns used their magical power to make Equestria and then moved on to make other worlds. So many, in fact, that they had to make alternate realities to keep from overcrowding. This proves Sands Oftime's multiverse theory! Isn't it wonderful!?" Everypony stared at her blankly. Twilight coughed akwardly. "So yer sayin' that Celestia's ancestors, right after makin' Equestria, plum got up and left?" Twilght nods. "Then how do we have Celestia and Luna if they all pulled up stakes?" "Actually Applejack, not all of them did leave. They decided that Celestia and Luna's parents, Cosmos and Gaia, would stay behind to watch over the ponies and other creatures of Equestria. A few centuries after having the princesses, Cosmos and Gaia died from a mysterious illness. The only sign of it was the lines of purple liquid trailing from their mouths." Everypony looked in grim surprise. "Oh my, that's simply dreadful!" Fluttershy had tears in her eyes. "I can't imagine the grief the princesses must have been going through at such a young age. It must have been awful." "I agree. But, the princesses moved on and so should we. Not only does the book have information on many worlds and realities, it also has a spell inside that lets you travel to them!" Everypony was blown back by that statement. "WHOA. SERIOUSLY!?" "Absolutely Rainbow. I want to try it out and bring you all with me. Obviously, since we all have our own lives here in Equestria, we would only be there for about a day before I brought us back." "Oh, um Twilight, where exactly is 'there'?" "Well, Fluttershy, after reading about all the worlds catalogued in the book, I think we should start with the one that seems the mildest to me: Earth." She turned the book to the Earth section so they could all see it. "It's sun and moon move on their own and the dominant species is a race called 'humans'." The page showed a sketch of a man and woman standing side by side dressed in plain clothes. "Well, what do you think?" "Oh, I don't know Twilight. Humans look kind of scary." "This is a big thing yer askin' of us Sugarcube." "Tell you what, I'll go on ahead and tell you what Earth is like when I come back and then you'll all be able to see for yourselves?" "Ah still don't know." "Come on Applejack. Don't be such a worry worryson. If something does go wrong, Twilight can handle it right?" "Ah suppose so." "Well, here goes." Twilight's horn became bathed in violet light as she cast the spell, her brow furrowed in concentraction. Then there was a bright flash and she was gone. I started to feel better as I started walking home listening to Billy Joel. Usually, I'm more cheerful but I get jaded when I'm bored and I didn't have anything to do. That's my only complaint about weekends: You don't have to do anything but you don't have anything to do. As I listened to to the music, I let my mind wander to my two current obsessions: My Little Pony and Team Fortress. I found a crossover fic of the two and the mesh amazingly well. Anywho, I decided to take the long way around the perimeter of the park before heading home. "Are you sure he's ready Klocwurk?" "Have I ever been wrong before?" "I suppose not." "Have some faith in the boy Nox. He'll rise to the occasion. They always do." "You're right, of course." "Relax man. You always get so stressed out when one of your guardians begin their journey. It's not healthy. Anyway, our niece's protege just left so she should meet him riiiiiiiiiight aboooooooooouuuuuuuut... NOW!" Once I reached the most secluded part of the park, There was a blinding flash of light. I tripped on a log as I tried to back away. Great. Now I'm flash blind AND my ass hurts. I open my eyes to see what caused the offending flash and my mind went blank at what I saw. Or, more appropriately, who I saw. Standing in front of me, in the flesh, clear as day, was Twilight Sparkle. I couldn't believe my eyes. My favorite mane 6 pony was real and standing right in front of me. I got on my knees and reached forward tentatively. "T...T...Twilight?" She seemed shocked that I knew her name. Probably as a reflex, she ignited her magic. I jumped forward and grabbed her horn "Wait! It felt like I was being pulled through gelatin and had all the blood in my veins replaced with pure, undiluted adrenaline! The last thing I saw before I passed out from sensory overload was the interior of the ponyville library and the last thing I heard was the "stranger in a strange land" part of We Didn't Start The Fire.
Chapter 2: Getting to know youWhen I awoke, I felt amazingly good for someone who got zapped with a magic spell. In fact, I felt like I could arm wrestle a bear and win. It was as if a previously unknown floodgate had been opened and I was in the middle of the wave!...Uh anyway, I opened my eyes and discovered I was in Twilight's guest bed (it's kinda small) in the upper level of the library. The sun was starting to dip lower on the horizon. 'I imagine Celestia's getting ready for bed right now. Funny, I didn't think I'd take being transported to another world quite so well. I guess I'm too excited about being in Equestria to freak out.' I noticed there was a cupcake on the bedside table. A note by it read: "Hope this makes you feel better after passing out on the floor. I know cupcakes always make me feel better." "Aw thanks Pinkie" I took off the wrapper and took a bite. It was the best cupcake I ever had in my entire life! Seriously, this thing blew all Earth pastries out of the water! If JESUS took baking lessons, it wouldn't even come close to a sugarcube corner cupcake!...But that's beside the point. "Twilight and the others are probably downstairs wondering what to make of me. I'd better make a good first impression. If I'm gonna start a new life here, starting on the right foot would be a big leap forward." After finishing off the cupcake (I think I got a glimpse of Nirvana for a brief second), I took a few deep breaths to harden my resolve and went to the door. "I wonder where my walkman is." Suddenly, I could hear the conversation downstairs as if I was already down there. "Well I don't trust it. I say we get rid of it!" Typical Rainbow. Thinking all the world's problems can be solved by force. "Rainbow Dash! That poor creature is probably scared out of it's wits because it's so far from home. The last thing we want to do is startle it." Wow. Fluttershy really took Rainbow's "be more assertive" advice to heart. "Fluttershy's right. If it knows we won't hurt it, it'll be far more likely to talk to us and answer our questions. Like how it knew my name." 'The voice of reason as always Twilight. Well, waiting's not gonna make this any less akward,' I opened the door and started down the stairs wondering why I could only start hearing them after I wondered where my walkman was. Although, considering people on Earth are probably watching this right now, it was most likely for plot convenience. 'I wonder anyone I know is watching this right now. No wait, it's monday on Earth. They probably don't know anything about it yet.' But I'm straying from the point. Anyway, I sat on the bottom step to look as non-threatening as possible. "And what about that yellow light it started giving off? It looked and felt a lot like a magical aura." 'Wait, what!? I can do magic now!?' "But the book said humans can't do magic." At this point, I decided to speak up. "Well I don't know what book you mean, but yeah that's generally true Twilight. In fact, most humans don't even believe magic exists. And, for the record, I'm a he." Everyone jumped at the new voice joining the conversation. Twilight seemed shocked I was out of bed, Rainbow looked ready to beat me senseless if I so much as breathed too loud. Applejack eyed me suspiciously ,the worry showing in her face. Rarity looked like she was about to have a series of elaborate heart attacks followed by a stroke, the drama queen as always. Fluttershy scuffed the ground with her hoof not sure what to do, Pinkie looked like she was fighting the urge to glomp me. "Well um, hello I'm..." 'I can't tell them my human name. I don't plan on staying human for very long. I just have to figure out how to do that. Well I have magic now apparantley so I guess all I have to do is look in the right book.' "...Roadie." Next thing I knew, Rainbow had me pinned to the wall about three feet off the floor. "Alright pal, spill. How do you know Twilight huh!?" She knocked the wind out of me so it took me a few seconds to answer. "Not just her. All of you. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, Owlowicious, and you Rainbow Dash." She shoved me harder. "Okay, in retrospect, that was kinda creepy wasn't it?" "How do you know us!?" "Put me down and I'll be more than happy to tell you." She dropped me for my lip. The landing was strangely soft. "Huh, thought the floor would be harder." Spike looked surprised. "It Is. You moved a cushion under you with magic." "Whoa seriously!?" I looked down and, sure enough, I was sitting on a throw pillow that wasn't there before. "That. Is. So. AWESOME!" I was just about to geek out when Rainbow almost literally glared daggers at me. "Oh right. Well, you see um...oh boy, how do I explain this? Uh, well...um..." Fluttershy placed a surprisingly soft reassuring hoof on my shoulder. I guess she saw me more as one of her animal friends scared %@#$less than anything else. "It's okay. Take your time." That made me feel a lot better. Then again what do you expect from someone from who can charm the birds down from the trees? I took a few deep breaths and started again. "All right. You see, in my world, people are able to watch the six of you and your adventures in one of our forms of fiction called TV. At least, I thought it was fiction." Suffice it to say, they all gave me looks of shock and disbelief. That was going to get old. I could tell. Twilight broke the silence. "Wwwwwwhat?" "No really! I can prove it. Ask me anything." Pinkie approached me. I got the strangest feeling she already knew all this and was just obfuscating ignorance for her friends' sake. "Okie dokie. Um...what are my bosse's names?" "Carrot Cake and Cup Cake and their foals are Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake." She gasped. It sounded convincing but I couldn't shake the feeling she was faking it for some reason. "He's right! What's my pet?" "A toothless gator named Gummy." "What's my absolute favoritest thing in the whole wide world to do!?" "PAAAAAAARTAAAAAAAY!" Then, to my suprise, she did the Regular Show thing with me. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" We both burst out laughing. It was the funniest thing I'd experienced all day. Besides Pinkie, everyone seemed a little uncomfortable about something. "What?" "No offense darling, but you have a rather sinister laugh." "I know. I LOVE IT!" My high pitched Joker-esque laugh sounded out for a little longer until I got it all out of my system. I was trying to catch my breath so I didn't notice the akward silence for a while. When I finally did, I started to feel really uncomfortable. Applejack spoke up about after a minute. "So, how long have you hi-uman folk been able to see us?" "Um, about 2 years I think. Starting with when Twilight first came to Ponyville because of Nightmare Moon. In fact, I'm starting to think that my reality, assuming of course I'm in a different universe..." Twilight confirmed it. "You are." "...Is somehow able to form weak connections with other planes of existence and we humans can see them but we think it's just a story." As I looked around, I noticed there wasn't as much prevalence of hearts and the color pink as there was in the show. Damn executive meddling! "With some slight differences apparantley." I could feel the fascination radiating from Twilight at that point. "This is amazing! I've never heard of a world wide self-sustaining scrying spell before! What other magic does your world have!?" "Well on Earth, the plants, animals, and weather all take care of themselves just like the Everfree forest. I just thought that's how the world works like everyone else. But... what if the entire earth is teeming with wild magical energy just waiting for us to learn how to harness?" They all seemed kind of freaked out at the idea of an Everfree world. Rarity fainted then got right back up. Sheesh, and I thought I was dramatic. Then she seemed to have a thought and spoke to me. "Wait Roadie, you said this is all thought to be a show on your world correct?" "Yeah." "Is it a popular show?" Rarity wants to know if she's famous. I should've figured. "Oh yeah! It's the biggest cultural phenomenon since the birth of rock and roll." You're free to think I was exaggerating but I believed it. "It makes a lot of people rethink the way they look at shows thought to be aimed specifically at little girls." Rainbow looked offended at that last statement. "What do you mean 'aimed at little girls'?" "Oh um, well on Earth, ponies are generally thought to be 'girly'. But you prove that wrong. Sometimes, TV executives interfere with our view of a world and it becomes distorted and inaccurate. That's probably where the misconception stems from. But you've disproven that so well that your teen and adult fans greatly outnumber your child fans. Once this is shown over there, there's gonna be a lot of heated discussion over whether or not having a human in Equestria is a good idea. Remember, they think it's fiction....Say Twilight, any ideas on why I'm able to do magic now?" She recovered from my monologue almost immediatley to answer. I guess she's grown acustomed to Pinkie. "Yes actually. From what I saw when we teleported and what you've told us about Earth, I've devloped a theory: I think that humans have magic but for some reason forgot how to harness it." 'Technology and superstition probably had something to do with it.' "Touching my horn while I was casting such a powerful spell may have awakened the dormant magic inside you." "COOL!...I guess this means I can't go back to Earth." Not that I was complaining. "What do ya mean Sugarcube?" "We humans pride ourselves on our curiosity. But, a lot of the time, we go overboard to quench our thirst for knowledge. If they saw real magic, they'd capture me and study me in a cage the rest of my life. I'd much rather stay here in Equestria if Celestia and Luna will allow it." Everyone gave me looks of shock and sympathy. Twilight looked mortified. She must have felt awful for accidentally exiling me from Earth. I walked up to her (almost hitting my head in the process. To clarify, ponies come up to about the chest.) and gave her a hug. I could feel the stress and guilt leave her as she hugged me back. After we pulled apart, I could tell she was exhausted along with me and everyone else. She yawned. "Let's think more on this tomorrow. I can tell we're all tired. I'll send a letter to the Princess in the morning. For now, I think we should sleep on it." "Okie dokie. Bye Twilight, bye Roadie. I promise to throw you a huge welcome party." "Not until I give the okay alright Pinkie?" "Okay Twilight." She hopped out into the night while everypony else said their goodbyes and left. Which left Twilight, Spike, Owlowicious, and myself in the library. "Well, this has been a weird day. I'm gonna turn in." "Good idea Spike. Please watch the library Owlowicious." "Hoo." The three of us headed upstairs. Spike was asleep before his head hit the pillow. "The guest bed's a little small. Sorry." "Don't worry about it. I'll figure out a way to fix that." "What do you mean?" "I'll tell you tomorrow. You've got enough on your mind right now. Goodnight Twilight." "Goodnight Roadie." My last thought before drifting to sleep was 'I'll look up shapeshifting spells after breakfast'.
Chapter 3: DeliberationNext morning, I saw out the window that the sun was barely peeking above the horizon. Figuring nopony was awake yet, I opened the window, stuck out my head, and yelled out: "GOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING EQUESTRIA!!!!!!!" About a thousand birds flew up from the forest trees in surprise. I got a kick out of that. 'Hope I didn't wake anyone else.' I checked and Twilight and Spike were still asleep. Good thing too, or I might have become Brony a' flambe for prematurely waking a sleeping dragon. Quietly, I went downstairs and found my way to the kitchen. I was looking for breakfast for a few minutes when I heard a knock on the front door. My Holy Shit Quotient went up 10%. 'Way to blow your own cover genius!' I discreetly looked out the window and my heart settled back into my chest upon seeing it was Applejack. I went into the main library and opened the door to let her in. "Hi Applejack. What brings you to this neck of the woods this early in the morning?" "Ah think you know exactly why Ah'm here Roadie." She wasn't mad per se. She was a bit more like how a strict teacher would be if you came in late. "Oh, you mean the whole 'Good morning Equestria' thing earlier?" "Right." "I mean really Roadie, being that loud this early in the morning is simply rude." "Um, also I don't think everypony's ready to see you just yet. Sorry." Rarity and Fluttershy walked (cantered?) in just after Applejack. "Sorry about that. I guess I was just glad to see it wasn't all just a dream." Rainbow flew in through the window next rubbing sleep out of her eye and looking annoyed. "Yeah well don't make a habit of it." "I'm really sorry Rainbow. The last thing I want to do is upset any of you. How about I make it up to you by making you all breakfast? I'm not exactly a five star chef but I can make pancakes no problem." "PANCAKE PARTY!" Pinkie rocketed through the door and gave me a flying tackle hug that knocked me on my back and back a few feet. "I'll take that as a yes. All in favor?" "Sure. Whatever." "Thank you darling. You're such a gentlecolt." "Ah'll help ya make 'em." "OOH OOH, me too me too. Oh I know, let's make everyone their favorite pancakes just for them." "Oh thank you. You're very nice." Pinkie finally got off me. I got up and headed for the kitchen. "Someone might as well wake Twilight. I'd hate for her to be left out." Pinkie raised her hoof eagerly. "OOH, I'll go get her." She took off in midair up the stairs leaving a Pinkie shaped cloud of dust. I got excited at that. 'OOH, I think I can do that now too.' "Come on partner, let's get started." I playfully saluted. "10-4 AJ." We entered the kitchen and got out everything we needed. Pinkie came in a while later after waking Twilight and Spike. After some initial akwardness, the three of us got into a good groove. Applejack mixed the batter, I manned the stove, and Pinkie made sure each pancake got ludicrous amonts of butter and syrup. Suddenly, I had an idea. After excusing myself for a brief moment, I went out into the main room which now had a table in the middle, most likely set by Rarity and Fluttershy, with cushions around it to sit on. Ponies don't have chairs. Everyone else was already seated with Twilight at at the end still with some bed head. "Morning Twilight." "{Yawn} Good morning Roadie. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting such a generous gesture from someone I just met. And for that matter, exiled from his home." I was crushed by the meloncholy she started giving off. 'Man, I must be becoming an empath. I usually don't even feel my own emotions this strongly. Much less someone else's.' I quickly went over to her and gave her the biggest, sincerest hug I could muster. "It's alright. You didn't mean to. Besides, I like it better here anyway." "Really?" "Absotively posolutely. Although, if you still feel bad about it, why don't you make it up to me by teaching me how to use my magic?" "Teach you?" "Yeah. It'll make great practice for when you get your own faithful student." The embarrassed blush she gave off could've wrapped up winter in minutes. "My own student? You think I'd be up to it?" "Are you kidding? You're totally teacher material. In fact, I already have a couple of ideas of who you could take on as your apprentice." I was thinking Dinky Doo, Sweetie Belle, or possibly Ruby Pinch. "Well alright. I'll try." "Great! How do you actually access magic to do spells?" "Oh, that's very simple. You just have to think of what you want to do and how you want to do it and concentrate on that thought. Emotion can help you focus and make the spell more potent. That's why most unicorns can't do much with their magic outside their field of expertise: they don't have a passion for it." 'That actually makes a lot of sense.' "Great! Thanks Twilight." I headed back to the kitchen and found eight plates stacked high with pancakes. Truly a glorious sight. "All done Sugarcube." "What do you think huh huh?" "Awesome! You two just take seats at the table. I'll take it all out." "Ya sure?" "Totally. Don't sweat it." After they left the kitchen, I clapped my hands, rubbed them together, and took a few prepatory deep breaths. "Alright. Here goes nothing." I pictured solid air lifting up the plates and gave that image my undivided attention. Immedeatley, my hands started glowing yellow and the plates were levitating and glowing the same color. "OOOOOOHHH that is awesome!" The resulting geek out almost made me lose my concentration but I recovered it thankfully. "Alright, let's see if I can think and walk at the same time." I kept part of my mind focused on keeping the plates up (which wasn't very hard since that part of my mind was also super excited about having magic powers. Honestly, I bet I barely would have had to think about it.) and walked out the door with a flourish with the plates floating around me and began serving them out. "Okay let's see: Walnut and nutmeg for Fluttershy, candy corn and bubblegum for Pinkie, almond mint for Rarity, every berry known to pony kind for Rainbow, apple cinnamon for Applejack naturally, Lemon for Twilight, emerald for Spike, and plain old blueberry for me." I sat down and was about to eat when I noticed a distinct lack of silverware. 'Aw great, now what?' Rarity must have noticed my dilema because she said in a concerned voice: "Roadie, whatever's the matter?" "I'm not completely sure how to eat these without utensils. Those are tools humans use to eat messier foods." Pinkie looked up from her stack, which she was already working on, her face completely covered in syrup. "Why?" I chuckled. "That's why. Anyway, Rarity, is it considered rude to use magic at the table?" "Of course not. There's no reason it would be." "Phew, good. Thanks Rarity." "No problem at all darling." She picked up the first pancake off her stack with her magic and a small part of it came off the edge in a perfect triangle before she ate it. 'OOH, some kind of severing spell. I'll look into that later.' I levitated one of mine, rolled it into a tube shape, and took a bite off the end. Once again, Equestrian pastry proves itself far superior to any Earth confection. Twilight finally decided to act on the surprise and amazement that had been eating at her the last minute or so. 'Yep. Definately an empath now.' "Incredible. You've only been doing magic for less than a day and you're already levitating things more experienced unicorn foals can't." "Probably just has something to do with brain power and maturity. By human standards, I'm in my first year of adulthood." "That is most likely it. I'll include it in my next letter to the princess. She or her sister, Princess Luna, might be able to shed light on the subject." '{Gulp} Oh boy the princesses. That's the biggest obstacle of my new life in Equestria. Luna'll probably be cool with me staying, I think. She can sympathize with feeling out of place. But Celestia? I don't know what to expect from her. I don't really know much about her. I mean, sure we've all seen her sense of humor, but how would she react to something like this?' "Uh, maybe. If anyone knows, it's them." "Hey Roadie, how much exactly do you know about Ponyville?" "Not much I'm afraid Spike. The show centered around all of you and sometimes, the cutie mark crusaders. So the only other ponies I know about are ones you or they have had direct contact with. So I don't even know everyone in town." Pinkie emerged from her rapidly shrinking stack of pancakes with her face squeaky clean. 'How does she do that? Can I do stuff like that now too? Well I do know that people are watching, and I think she knows too, so maybe if I break the fourth wall enough times...' "OOOOOH! I can tell you about everypony in Ponyville! Who'd you like to know about first?" My mind went into full geek-out mode. I was being offered knowledge that had eluded myself and fellow bronies for over 2 years: the names and personalities of the background ponies we all love. "Well um, can you tell me about a cream colored earth pony mare with pink and blue hair and three candies as her cutie mark and the green unicorn mare with a harp cutie mark she's often seen with?" "That's Bonbon and Lyra. Lyra moved here a little before Twilight and she and Bonbon have really hit it off as friends. But I think there's more to it than they're letting on." 'I KNEW IT!' "What about a pinkish-purple mare with a grapes and strawberry cutie mark?" "Oh, Berry Punch owns the soda shop in town. She can make any drink in Equestria. Juice, shakes, smoothies, tea, hot chocolate, you name it. Sometimes she lets her daughter Ruby Pinch help too." "Cool." 'That's way better than the alcoholic we all thought she was.' So far, fanon is mostly right. Awesome! But before I could ask more, Twilight interjected. Something else was eating at her. Man, this mare wants to know everything. Kinda like how I get when I find something I really like. "Excuse me Roadie, I think I need to ask you something." "Fire away." "What are you going to do now?" "What do you mean?" "Equestria's never seen anything like you. Other ponies will panic if they see you. They'll think you're some kind of monster." Ah, on to the heavy stuff. "I've already thought of that Twilight. My new magic prevents me from going back to Earth but it will also cement Equestria as my new home." "How?" "Do you have any spellbooks here?" "Of course. What kind of student of Princess Celestia would I be if I didn't brush up on spells and practice them every so often?" She almost lterally glowed with pride at that statemet. "Good. Like I said earlier, I'd like you to teach me how to use this magic. Starting with shape shifting. If I become a pony, everything will be fine. No running, no screaming, no being banished and imprisoned in the place where I was banished to." I got various degrees of surprise in response. "Oh my, don't you think that's a little extreme?" "It's the only way I can stay here Shy. I've seen how the ponies here react to the unknown. They don't handle it very well. They'll never trust me as long as I'm bipedal and 98% hair free." They didn't like it, but they all knew I was right. I was really getting sick of making Twilight feel guilty at this point. 'Damn it! That's three times in one day. How do I live with myself? I have to show her I don't blame her. In fact, she did me an enormous favor. I don't know how I'll ever repay her.' "In that case, I'd better hold off telling the princesses about you until then." "I'm sorry about that. I bet you tell Celestia everything." "I'd like to but I don't want to bother her with anything trivial." "Twilight, Celestia would never consider anything you have to say trivial. I may not know much about her, but I know that much for certain." "You think so?" "She hung out and ate donuts with you after the gala. Surely that's proof enough." I got chuckles all around for that one. "Twilight, she's been your personal teacher since you were a little kid. I doubt she'd just blow you off like you seem to think she would. She may be a goddess and one of the rulers of the land but she's still a pony." "That's easy to forget. Even though she's been trying to tell me that for years." It wasn't hard to imagine the oh-so-subtle shenanigans Celestia might have pulled to try and show young Twilight she's only equine...Yes I say shenanigans. (Sunglasses) Deal with it. "Why don't you try being less formal in your next letter to her? Tell her what's been happening here lately, ask how Luna is, try to convince her to disown Blueblood." The laughter that followed was glorious. I hadn't laughed so hard in all my life. My amusement was enhanced by everyone else's and it was the most wonderful feeling I'd ever felt. Empathy's awesome! "I think I'll do that right now. Spike?" He went upstairs and came back with a quill and parchment a while later "Ready when you are Twilight." "Dear Princess Celestia, I apologize for sending this letter so early in the day but I doubt that would bother you of all ponies. A new friend has taught me that regardless of somepony's status or position in life, they're still ponies who need friendship just like you and me. Basically, don't treat anypony better or worse than yourself. Also, I wanted to ask how your sister, Princess Luna, is. My friends and I haven't seen or heard from her since the wedding and we would like to know how well she's adjusting. And also, I would like to know how you are. Any big important decisions you've made? Is Philomena doing well? Has Blueblood given you any grief over anything? Your faithful student..." "And friend." "...And friend, Twilight Sparkle" I inspired a friendship report. COOL! It was all I could do to stop from squeeing. 'Hi I'm Roadie. I'm an 18 year old male and I squee. Hi Roadie.' After Spike sent the letter, Twilight turned to face me. She was excited and a little anxious. "Well, shall we begin your tutelage?" I looked around at the faces of all the ponies I'd come to love even before I truly met them. 'Well, this is it. Welcome to the beginning of your new life in a perfect world.' I looked to where I thought the fourth wall probably was at the time. "Class is in session."
Prologue: in the beginningFor an indeterminate amount of time, there existed only the alicorns. Majestic, awesome beings of immeasurable power. After a time, they became weary of the nothingness that only creatures of their caliber could truly perceive and learned how to create. Their first attempts were met with disconcerting results but they eventually perfected it. They first created a world populated by creatures crafted in their own image whom they dubbed "ponies". After many centuries and many more creations, they wished to create more worlds with different forms of life. After deciding which ones would stay behind to watch over their first world, they set off into eternity to fill the gaping void. Some similar to the first, others radically different. Some became fascinated by specific forms of life like the plants those of the sea. Others concentrated on the wheather and land. While others devoted themselves to the ideas and concepts made by their creations like love and laughter. Their fascination soon made many of them become what they loved. One of them was named Equinox Equinox is the alicorn god of justice. The jet black coat, golden mane and tail, and brass scales on his flank all show, in different ways, his passion to do right by all living things. In each world and reality, he chooses a guardian to defend and uphold the ideals he stands for: balance, nobility, and courage. Oftentimes, he has aid from his brother Klocwurk, the alicorn god of time, to find those best suited to take the responsibility. And one such chosen is about to face his destiny.
