Ragnarok

Next 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."