A Story of Freytara

That particular chase ended abruptly when a certain purple unicorn got an idea and stopped me with magic. More like tripped up, but as long as it worked for them, I guess. That’s also how I sorta got paraded about Ponyville while handcuffed. Did I mention they have handcuffs here? You would think they would have something other than handcuffs, since, well, ponies. Speaking of which,

“I think I can break these cheap cuffs.”

“You can’t break those cuffs.”

I tried again for the umpteenth time to wrench freedom from the cuffs, but as usual, that came with nothing but a wasted effort and some stretched metal. Bah.

They walked me through the streets of Ponyville, and I expected to be gawked at, but other than a few raised eyebrows, they just went on with their day. Strange. I was led to the train station, where the group boarded a train.

...That is what you do at train stops.

I was told that Celestia requested my presence and that Twilight and her friends should bring me there. Bah, this is just going to be formalities, I think. In chains.

On second thought, this was going to be interesting. Oh well.

Our group (plus little-old-me) sat down and waited for the train to depart. We traded tense looks with each other. Annoyance, untrusting, and just plain frowns all around. Except for Pinkie Pie. She regarded me with a wave. I guess this is what happens when I keep freaking out.

With a lurch and a train whistle, the train began moving. Soon enough, the silence was broken by the train moving through the countryside. Pinkie Pie was now staring out the window, looking out to the countryside. She began to hum, a melody spun in the air.

My throat started to itch, but not in a coughing itch sense, which was weird. But then, Pinkie’s humming turned to full-blown music started to rise, along with the ponies around me breaking into the song. Rainbow Dash opened with,

“What I love most is the speed
as we race 'cross the plains, it's all that I need
We're so fast, that it's like we can fly,
as we ride on our train, you and I.”

I was already confused, but then Applejack joined in,

“What I love most is the field
see the plains that I love, it's almost unreal.
Here's the world in the blink of an eye
that we watch on our train, you and I.”

To my utter confusion, all the ponies joined in for the chorus.

“Here's our train going down the track
The world to our front, our homes to our back
On and on 'neath the blue, blue sky
Just our train carrying you and I.”

Twilight then sang, adding to the song,

“What I love most is the way
I can learn new things on the trip every day
All the sights I can see if I try
Watching out from our train, you and I.”

Everypony looked at me expectantly. What did they want me to-- no way. No way.

I gave them all a look.

The music continued to slow down, and the itch grew more severe. I just said plainly,

“I don’t sing. Especially not when there’s creepy music already playing coming from nowhere.”

With that, the music died completely, and the itch subsided. Huh.

Applejack looked at me like I was insane (not far from the truth, probably) and said,

“How come y’all didn’t want to join in on the song?”

I looked at her like she was insane, and replied,

“Because it’s freaky. Stuff like that just doesn’t happen.”

Thus began a glorious moment of awkward silence, unrivaled in duration and severity before or since. It would be a good record to keep, but nobody would want to be known as the guy who managed to sustain the longest awkward silence in history.

Well, at least I hope not... yeah somebody will want the title just for the sake of having a title. Or something.

The train ride progressed, as did the silence. Ponies occasionally looked thoughtfully at me or each other, trying to think of what the other thought of this singing development. They probably thought me of some social deviant. Let them think what they will.

“I just don’t feel like singing when I’m tied up like this.”

They all stared at me. Oh man, did I say that out loud? Twilight rubbed the back of her head and faked a laugh. I then feel my cuffs coming off. I checked up on my sore wrists, and I grimaced as I saw the chafed skin. I also noticed that the chain links on the cuff were stretched wide. Fluttershy seemed concerned, but I waved her off with an “I’m fine.” She still seemed concerned, her eyebrows furrowed in empathy. She seemed slightly annoyed but saddened at the same time because I refused to have her look at me. Is there even a word for that?

It’ll wait. She noticed I was staring at her. Must avoid eye contact... must avoid eye contact... Gah, I saw her looking at me.

“Ty, are you okay? You seem nervous.”

I regarded Fluttershy with a fake smile and said truthfully, “No, of course not. I’m still in a state of shock.”

Fluttershy said, “Oh. Hopefully, you’ll get better soon. It’s not good to be constantly baffled by the world around you.”

I automatically answered, “That’s extremely insightful of you, Fluttershy. I guess I’ll just roll with the punches now.”

Another awkward silence followed, broken by Twilight, who asked,

“So how well do you adapt to change?”

I regarded Twilight with a sour look. I said,

“Well enough for changes of a mild nature. Changes of this magnitude tend to make anyone jumpy.”

A hoof poked me in the side, and I jumped out of my chair. I looked to a laughing Rainbow Dash and gave her an evil eye. I poked her in the belly, and my finger sunk in a little. It was then my turn to laugh as Rainbow Dash squirmed. I said to her in a teasing voice,

“You know, you’re pretty soft.”

Rainbow Dash squirmed some more and buried her face in her hooves. Sitting back down, I rested my head against the seat. The silence regained control of the train car as Rainbow Dash finally settled down with a quiet, “Not soft. Just poofy.”

The train whistle finally sounded, signaling our arrival at the Canterlot train station. At last.

Soon enough, I was being herded through the city called Canterlot.

...Heh. Herded.

It seemed nice enough, but I was likely being ignored by the populace as they pointed their collective nose in the air. One might wonder how they saw ahead of them if they had their eyes closed.

Nevermind. I just saw a guy walk into a pole. Halfwit.

Nevertheless, I saw that this city was indeed a marvelous thing. Cobbled streets ran this way and that, and while I was no architect, I could see that they had painstakingly built these structures to their aesthetic limits. I mean, what other reason would you have to build these fragile-looking structures on the side of a mountain?

I mean, this also indicated to me that these ponies know nothing but peace and tranquility. There was no need for fortified structures other than the castle, so there was none. Still, how long would a nation be at peace until it became a good idea to build on a side of a mountain? Still, it could simply be attributed to it being a very cartoon world. I could attribute a lot of the anomalies in this environment to just saying, Oh, it’s just a cartoon world. Stop questioning it. Anomalies like the ponies being able to use their hooves like a giant thumb, or the fact that the pegasi did not follow standard aviation rules. I mean, how?!

Anyways, the trip concluded with the group and me walking up to the castle gate. Pretty cool place, even if it was a bit flashy.

We passed the guards without any difficulty and were walking down the marble halls to... somewhere, I suppose. I guess I should’ve been listening to the ponies discussing pleasantries with each other, but I was too deep within my own thoughts.

Thoughts like, Am I really doing this or is this just insanity and What am I to do popped up, as did Am I expected to be some hero and What does little old me have to do with anything in all this? Ahem. We were there.

There meaning the throne room, of course. I saw Princess Celestia and Luna in their thrones, and...

Discord, hovering above and reclining on a pink cloud?

“Okay. This just got weird.”

I just said that out loud again, didn’t I?

Discord giggled to himself in that John De Lancie voice, and the Princesses just sat there with slight smiles on their faces. I know that’s supposed to be comforting, but that unshakable facade is really creepy.

I shivered slightly. We approached the throne, and Celestia addressed me.

“Greetings, Ty. How has your time here been so far?”

I bluntly answered, “Eh. Still weird being displaced to a place once thought fictional.”

The ponies gave me weird looks, but Discord and the Princesses gave me knowing looks. Oh, man, the implications.

Celestia spoke again, with that regal freaking voice of hers, “Do you know why you’re here, Ty?”

They knew something. I folded my arms, and said, “Something tells me that you’re about to tell me that very thing.”

Celestia sighed and turned upwards to a reclining Discord. He sighed, then said,

“Ty, I know you humans are nothing short of magnificent. Do you know why I say that?”

I didn’t say anything, but he continued.

“I say that because while I’ve been playing catch up on the events of not only this world, but the surrounding worlds, I’ve noticed something about the human race while I was gone.”

Discord lowered the cloud, and he jumped off.

“While humanity had little more than sticks, stones, and bricks the last time I gazed on your world before I was set in stone, I was in for quite a surprise when I saw your little world again when I reformed.”

He walked closer, almost going eye-to-eye with me.

“You had changed so much. Humanity had done nothing short of conquering their world. Nothing on that planet escaped the gaze or influence of you humans. The mastery of which you so very thoroughly asserted your control over the various sciences and philosophies are almost, as some of you would say, god-tier.”

Discord then motioned to the castle.

“We haven’t even widespread use of the internal combustion engines and yet you humans are actively seeking out how to do teleportation without magic.”

Twilight gasped from somewhere behind me, yet Discord continued.

“I then turned my attention to the continent called Freytara. Nice place, filled with Griffons, Horses, Diamond Dogs, Dragons, Ponies, and the like. So I thought, ‘Why should there be so many countries over there? Why can’t they have unity? And Celestia said...”

Discord gestured to Celestia with both hands, and Celestia said,

“Because the various races are all too untrusting and the various empires already existing can’t really expand without everyone else ganging up on them and restoring the status quo.”

Discord then snapped his fingers and said, “So I asked her, ‘What if we bring in someone whose race has a heritage of conquest and unity?’, but then she says...”

Celestia again sighs, and then says, “Because that’s too risky, and not any one human could do the task.”

Discord snickers, then say, “Then I showed her all the humans in history who almost single-handedly conquered and even others who united vast territories. Alexander, Gaius Julius, and Napoleon all share a common trait that all humans can take advantage of.”

Discord then leaned over, right up to my face, and almost whispered,

“That trait is that you’re humans. It’s almost your collective special talent to be exemplary at efforts you put your minds and your hearts and your efforts to. Plus, you’re so wonderfully chaotic when you want to be. I’ve never seen anything so self-conflicting or hypocritical at times. Mind me, you’re one of the milder humans.”

I blinked, and Discord backed off. So I ask, “What do you want from me, then?”

Celestia stated, “We want you to unite Freytara under a single banner.”