A Long Journey Home

Chapters

Entries 1-17
Entries 18-33
Entries 34-51
Entries 52-66
Entries 67-74
Entries 75-83
Entries 84-99
Entries 100-117
Entries 118-132
Entries 133-140
Entries 141-152
Entries 153-170
Entries 171-182

Entries 1-17

Phone clock: 8:47 PM, November 30
I’ve been travelling for about four hours now. The sun set about two hours ago, but the moon is already high in the sky. I don’t know where I am, or why I’m here. I know how I got here, though. Just walking home from school, like a normal day, when I fell. I just fell. Landed hard, and looked up just in time to see an undulating ribbon of sparkling purple… stuff disappear in a small blink above me. I landed in what appeared to be a forest. Everything’s weird, though, myself included. It’s almost like the world’s been cartoon-ified – everything is made up of just a few colors and is devoid of depth, yet is always facing me. The trees are small; I have to duck to avoid snapping off the lower branches with my face. I’ve been affected by this, too – I look two-dimensional, but no matter how I try, I can’t see the “flat” part of me. My form has been much slimmed down, and my arms and face are completely devoid of hair and stubble. The only things that I have with me are the clothes I was wearing (shorts with a belt, sandals, a polo shirt and a hoodie), the stuff in my pockets (my phone, iPod, and wallet), and my backpack and it’s contents. My phone is about 80% charged and my iPod is nearly full, but my computer’s near dead. Playing Minecraft off the battery will have that effect. No reception on my phone (completely gone, not just no bars…), and my computer isn’t picking up any Internet signals.

Phone Clock: 11:36 PM, November 30
The sun rose again about an hour ago, after only being down for about four hours. Days, seasons, and even years here must pass quickly. I saw a glow in the distance just before the dawn and aimed for that, but I’ve probably gotten way off track since the sun has risen, with no way to orient myself. I hope I can find someone, or something, soon, to tell me where I am. I’m scared. And pretty damn hungry, too.

Phone Clock: 12:13 AM, December 1
I think I’m being followed.

Phone Clock: 1:54 AM, December 1
That Rockstar I had this morning (Well, yesterday morning) is starting to wear off. I’m very tired; I need sleep soon. Almost certain I’m being followed.

Phone clock: 4:27 AM, December 1
Something just woke me up. It’s the middle of the night, the featureless moon is out. I felt something poking me, and I got about a half second of eye contact with giant, teal eyes on a flat, gray face before a short, hooded figure booked it into the bushes. I chased after it, but couldn’t find anything. I see the glow in the distance again, now, it seems I didn’t get too far off track. It’s much closer. Scratched an arrow in the dirt so I’ll know where to go when I wake up. Going back to sleep.

Phone Clock: 4:15 PM, December 1
I’ve been asleep almost 12 hours since I got woken up earlier. It’s the middle of the day. I don’t know what the hell is going on with the time. Freakin’ STARVING. There are some berries and a strange blue plant nearby, but I dare not touch either. Going to continue on in the direction of the arrow.

Phone Clock: 6:32 PM, December 1
The sun went down a few minutes ago. The glow is very close now.

Phone Clock: 7:48 PM, December 1
Found the source of the glow. It’s a city. Out of the forest, but still probably an hour’s walk away, judging from the size in the distance.

Phone Clock: 8:02 PM, December 1
I can sum up my feelings in one word: ohgodwhat. I’m at the city. The tallest buildings are only about twice as tall as myself; doors are waist-high and windows are maybe the length of an arm. It seems to be abandoned, but I can here voices and shuffling about inside the buildings. It’s like they – whatever they are – are hiding from me. I’m about to pass out with hunger. All the signs are impossible to read, the writing seems to be gibberish. I’m sitting on the steps to what appears to be a bakery, but no one will open the door.

iPod (Phone has died) Clock: 3:22 AM, December 6
Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap. I’m in some sort of jail cell. I was chained to the wall, but I was able to snap the thin rope restraints easily. The door is being held in place by the same undulating, sparkling energy, only this time it’s orange. I broke the door down earlier, but it quickly slammed back to its original position, becoming covered in the energy (I’m just gonna call this wavy, sparkly stuff energy). I tried to break it down again, and got it open with a good, hard, kick, but hurt my ankle quite badly in the process, and the door quickly slammed shut again. There were a handful of apples in the corner, which I happily devoured, but they were hardly filling. Still hungry.

iPod Clock: 3:45 AM, December 7
I finally met my captors. He (I think it was a he, it had a male voice) was about waist high to me, four-legged, and strongly resembled a cartoon horse. His skin, or fur, I’m not really sure what it was, was a light tan color, and his hair was dark brown. He had a horn protruding from his… forehead? that was covered in the same orange energy holding up the door. Like everything else, he was completely flat, but no matter how I looked at him he always faced me. He wanted to know where I was from and why I was here – I explained as best I could, but what I was able to say didn’t seem to satisfy him. Hey, at least he spoke English. After he was done questioning me, he asked if there was anything he could do for me, since I “seemed to be in a sorry state.” I asked for some more apples, and where I was. He said “Manehattan.” I am thoroughly confused. When I asked for further explanation, all he could give me was “Equestria.” That didn’t help. He said everypony (specifically, everypony) was one of three races – Unicorn (horn + magic), Pegasus (wings), or Earth Pony (normal horse), with himself being a Unicorn – lead by two Alicorn princesses (wings + horn & magic), one of night (Luna) and one of day (Celestia). I think I fell into a little girl’s TV show. Seriously. WTF. He won’t let me out.

iPod Clock: 7:45 AM, December 7
He came back a little while ago, more apples and another history lesson. Apparently, the princess of the night went crazy and tried to kill everypony by making it nighttime forever, and her sister (the day one) sent her to the moon.

For a millennia.

I’m beginning to doubt his stories, but hell, apparently I’m in “Manehattan” in “Equestria” or some shit so what do I know. I can’t imagine I’m dreaming, it’s been way too long and been way too real. Anyway, sister came back, went apeshit again, and six ponies from a place called Ponyville (Seriously? What the hell.) banded together and beat her up with something called the “Elements of Harmony.” Apparently it’s all ok now, and everypony’s chill again. I asked him if I could go to “Ponyville” to see this, but he denied it. He said I’d be getting a royal visit soon. I imagine I look and smell like crap, since I’ve been wearing the same clothes for a week now.

iPod Clock: 8:00 AM, December 7
Apparently I did smell like crap. Unicorn guy let me out, told me to wash up. Brought me to a lake outside the city. Which, for the record, is populated entirely with these ponies. Most of them ran away at the sight of me. It hurt a little, on the inside, but I can't blame them. From what Lock-n-Key told me (the unicorn prison guy – what a dopey name), I’m the first of my kind ever to visit Equestria. I’d imagine that’s the only reason I’m getting a visit from these princesses.

Day, date unknown. Possibly a week since last entry. iPod died. Goodbye sense of time.
Because of the difference in time, I tend to be awake for about two full days at a time here, then sleep for another. This has put a damper on the princesses’ arrival – apparently they showed up twice on days I was sleeping, but didn’t want to wake me.
I got a decent wash in that lake again; I swear I’ve never felt cleaner (must just be getting so much dirt off). Supposedly the Princesses are coming in a little while. I want to go home, but I admit, this place is interesting. I’m allowed to go outside now, but not without Lock-n-Key escorting me. He tried to magic me, to prevent me from moving too freely, but I broke the spell apparently. It seems the magic is somewhat reliant on the physical strength of the pony casting it, but also has its own innate power.
I noticed a tattoo on his hips earlier, but didn’t bother asking about it. When I went outside, however, I noticed most of the ponies had something similar, and asked him about it. “It’s called a Cutie Mark,” he’d said, “tells what a pony’s special talent is.” I didn’t bother asking how that worked, I’m sure I wouldn’t understand. Another thing I’d noticed was the complete lack of Pegasi, aside from one gray pony that flew into a wall (speaking of colors, a pony’s coloration seems quite random). Upon questioning, Lock-n-Key told me they mostly keep to their cloud home. Sounds interesting.
The ponies still look at me in fear. It hurts, but I understand.

New Entry (screw date and time if I can't tell)
The princesses are here. There’s one hell of a party outside, but Lock-n-Key says I can’t go out, that I’d scare the little ponies. I could see a little out of the window of my cell, but the view was mostly blocked by a horde of many-colored legs. I got a glimpse of what I think were the princesses, though – two ponies that were nearly twice the height of the crowd, one pure white and the other royal blue.

Later
The princesses were very polite. They were the two ponies I’d seen earlier. The white one was Celestia, princess of day, and the blue Luna, princess of night. Now, I was a furry back home, but DAMN. The princesses are by far the most attractive things I’ve ever seen. I mentioned it to Lock-n-Key after my discussion with them (which was held outside of town, instead of my tiny cell). He said something about each of them containing the essence of the day or night, a thing of pure beauty. I agree. I’ve also been ordered free, and to go to Ponyville. I’m not going to argue with either Princess, as I’ll explain later.
… why would I need to even write down any of this? What human will ever read it? Meh, maybe I’m trying to hold on to sanity, and maybe, someday, my chicken-scrawl writings will be in Equestrian history books. Heh.
The princesses were very polite but relaxed and almost casual with me, asking me of my world’s history and explaining more of theirs. After explaining about the events leading up to the moment, the blue one, Luna, asked if she could try to restrain me, since Lock-n-Key could not. I agreed to try it.
I have never felt such power. I could not move, my body and mind were not my own. It was a terrifying experience. Apparently Luna sensed this, and released me, but not before she had found some… interesting thoughts. The blue Alicorn blushed and apologized, and none more was spoken of it. I have a righteous fear of Celestia, now, since according to her sister, Celestia is many times more powerful than her. At the conclusion of the interview, I was both enlightened and confused, and sent along my way.

Entries 18-33

Entry #19
I’ve never seen so freaking many apples. God damn there’s a lot of them.

Entry #20
I met three young ponies. Apparently I’d stumbled upon someone’s farm, and after having eaten my fill of apples (they were kind of small, as with everything else in this world), I took a nap under one of the trees. I woke up to three young ponies (a white unicorn, yellow earth pony, and an orange Pegasus) apparently trying to figure out what I was. “Cutie Mark Crusader Monster Identifiers!” That’s what I woke up to. Monster. I get it, I’m different. I’m like nothing they’ve ever seen before. That doesn’t make me a monster. As I stood up they screamed and ran. I’ve never felt so awful. If I can’t go home, at least I want to make a new one.

Entry #21
I’ve reached Ponyville. Its size is nothing in comparison to Manehattan; I’m as tall or taller than almost every building. The streets are empty, like when I first walked through Manehattan. I’m not surprised, but it still kind of bites. Oh, someone’s trying to get my attention.

Entry #22
Earth ponies kick hard. Big red one kicked me in the knee. I’ll probably be limping for the next few days, if not a week. Apparently one of those little ponies from earlier ran home and told her brother on me. I’m not exactly hard to find, I suppose. I went down when he kicked me, found myself face to face with my attacker. Punched him in the face. There was a loud snap and he booked it. The little yellow pony had been watching – I’d never seen such terror on anyone’s face. It’s pretty clear my own strength far exceeds the normal pony. I hope that red one will be ok; I didn’t mean to hit him that hard.

Entry #23
I finally met the pony Celestia sent me to see here – a purple unicorn named “Twilight Sparkle.” I’ve given up on finding a source of masculinity here, aside from that one red pony. Didn’t meet her in the way I intended to, though. She tried to hold me down with magic – apparently someone told her about the monster on the loose. Her magic, a purple aura, the same color as the stuff that brought me here. Her magic was strong – nowhere near the princess’ strength, but far exceeding Lock-n-Key’s. I think I understand why, though. There was no pressure on my mind. Both Lock-n-Key and Twilight Sparkle only used magic to restrain me physically, while Luna both held me down and violated my mind. She’s bringing me back to her house, a large tree. It’s the only place big enough to hold me, but she had to magic the door bigger.

Entry #24
These damned earth ponies. There was an orange one waiting in Twilight Sparkle’s tree. Kicked me in the nuts. Passed out from the pain after a couple moments. I was down for a while. I think it was a couple days pony-time. I’m not sure if I’m gonna work quite the same from now on. Apparently the orange one, a pony named Applejack, was the yellow one’s older sister and the red one’s younger sister. Evidently I broke his jaw – upon “Applejack” revealing this, Twilight immediately stopped paying attention to me and bolted to his house. Relationships seem to be normal, at least. I just wish she hadn’t left me alone with Applejack – I ended up basically hugging her to my body to keep her from building up enough force to kick me again.

Entry #25
Twilight brought all her friends over. After fixing Big Mac’s (the red one) jaw, she went and called them all over. There’s a pretty white unicorn (“Rarity”) with purple hair and an incredibly angry expression, a pink earth pony that hasn’t stopped moving since she got here (“Pinkie Pie”), a yellow Pegasi with pink hair that’s been hiding behind someone else the whole time (“Fluttershy”), and a blue Pegasi with a brilliant rainbow mane who’s been stuck next to Applejack the whole time (“Rainbow Dash”). Apparently Fluttershy is some kind of animal expert that they brought in to inspect me. She never got around to it though; she was too terrified of me. None of this is helping make me feel any better. They mostly hid behind Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

Entry #26
Twilight Sparkle is the one that brought me here. I almost killed her when I heard, I think. Tried to hit her about has hard as I’d hit the red one, but she managed to nearly stop my fist with magic. Nearly. I can’t imagine the slight, female pony’s body is anywhere near as durable as the larger male pony I’d hit earlier, and even the softened, slow blow knocked her off her feet. After she got back up, she apologized. At the moment I’d wanted to hear none of it, but then she explained something else – it was an accident, and it hurt her too. She’d been trying to teleport someone else (apparently she can teleport, and anyone touching her would go with her, but she can’t teleport others), an owl. Apparently that owl was gone to my world, and she had no idea how to get him back. I tried to explain the differences between losing a pet and losing a child (like my parents have…), but I can understand somewhat her feelings. I’ve lost pets before.

Entry #27
Twilight sent me to visit the red pony today. He’s a bit sore, but his pride’s hurt more than anything. It seems like magic is pretty nifty stuff, even if I didn’t want to encounter it. Apparently this pony’s full name is “Big Macintosh,” but everyone calls him Big Mac. He was awful sorry for kicking first and asking questions later, but if something upset his little sister. Speaking of whom, I met her too. Cute little thing. Her face continually showed an expression somewhere between hate and terror. Big Mac was able to coerce her into introducing herself – her name is Applebloom. I think it’s going to take a while to repair my relationship with her, and likely her friends, too.

Entry #28
Twilight gave me a brief history of her encounters with Nightmare Moon (Apparently Luna used to be a little crazy) and Discord (the physical embodiment of chaos – sounds kinda like Q from TNG), and how she and her friends used something called the “Elements of Harmony” to take the evil out of Nightmare Moon (and subsequently turn her back into Luna) and to encase Discord in stone. It sounded pretty badass to me, until she told me it was basically a rainbow cannon. Kinda a let down. Aside from these events, apparently Equestrian history has been relatively peaceful – the last “murder” was before the millennia of Nightmare Moon being trapped. Twilight’s account was more personal and emphatic than what I’d gotten from Lock-n-Key back in Manehattan, but covered the same stuff pretty much. It’s late now, and she’s going to bed. She made me promise to tell her about my people’s history tomorrow. I can’t imagine this going well, humanity compared to this near-utopian society.

Entry #29
I was right. Twilight’s been crying for hours after hearing how awful human history and current human society is. I don't think I’ve ever sat and thought about it so much until now. Humans kind of suck.

Entry #30
I slept through a day and a half, pony time. While I was asleep, Twilight seems to have recovered form the shock of humanity, and her assistant came home. Now this guy I can identify with – he’s just a baby, apparently, but he has the maturity of about a 14-year-old guy (even if about the intelligence of a 10 year old). He’s got a massive crush on Rarity; she’s practically all he can talk about. I say good for him, but… I’m not sure. According to Twilight, different species of ponies can have children (or foals, as seems to be the proper term), typically taking after the father, but I doubt a pony and a dragon can have a normal relationship. Especially considering my discussion with Twilight earlier – Spike (the dragon) will be big one day, too big to be her assistant. And hence, far too big to maintain a normal relationship with a pony.

Entry #31
I need somewhere else to stay. As is, I’ve basically been curling up in the main entryway of Twilight’s house to sleep, which is problematic seeing I’m there for about two days at a time. The only suggestion so far has been a barn – except Applejack owns the barn. I don’t think she’ll let me stay there. I’ve terrified her sister and I broke her brother’s jaw. She’s the one that kicked me in the nuts (and tried to do so a second time). This will be a problem…

Entry #32
She tried to kick me again. Wasn’t ready for it. Thankfully, Twilight caught her with magic before anything connected. Seeing that has cemented one thought: I am definitely physically stronger than any pony. I might be able to use this to my advantage somewhere.

Entry #33
I was right. Twilight managed to convince Applejack to let me stay in the barn, on one condition – I work for her. Apparently, to pick apples, the ponies kick the trees. For some reason, this causes all the apples to drop of the trees. According to Applejack, this is very hard work for a pony. She had me try it – I kicked a tree in half. Terror on her face. It’s cool to be so strong, but… I don’t want to scare people so badly. She had me try again, a lot softer. The apples fell easily, kicking maybe half as hard. It’s not that tough, but there are a lot of trees. At least I’ll be able to help somewhere.

Entries 34-51

Entry #34 (heh heh, 34)
Even if she doesn’t like me very much, Applejack finds me helpful. I’m alright with this. Big Macintosh is turning out to be a cool guy – he’s explained some of the more common workings of Ponyville, especially Twilight and her friends. Twilight was sent to learn about friendship; apparently she’d basically been a reclusive bookworm in “Canterlot,” the Equestrian capital city (she’d been studying under Celestia herself). The way he talks about Twilight… he’s animated, happy. If they aren’t together there’s certainly something between them. Pinkie Pie, he says, works at a local bakery, and lives on its second floor. Rainbow Dash lives in a floating home in the “cloud-burbs” of a floating city made of solidified clouds called “Cloudsdale,” while the other Pegasus, Fluttershy, lives just outside of Ponyville in a small cottage surrounded by the animals she cares for. Applejack lives on the farm (Sweet Apple Orchard) with her sister, brother, and grandmother (no mention of parents…), and Rarity lives in her fashion store in the town. I may have to check that out later, as the vast majority of ponies are walking around… uh, naked, I guess, or with just a simple accessory like a hat or a bow.

Entry #35
I’ve been here weeks now, probably nearly two months. I don’t think my sleep patterns will ever normalize with the time difference here, but that’s ok – I work nearly two full days at a time, pony-time, which Applejack likes (even if my full day of sleeping miffs her a little), and apparently we’ve cleared the apple orchard in record time with my help. I’ve gotten time off (“Until ya fall asleep again”), so I think I’ll go visit the bakery and maybe the fashion store today.

Entry #36
Maybe I’ll skip the bakery – I got caught by Twilight half way to the town, she told me I should probably avoid it today, and try to make friends with Fluttershy. This should be interesting.

Entry #37
Fluttershy is like a freaking crazy cat lady, but instead of cats… it’s… everything. Falcons, tortoises, squirrels, chickens (I saw that gray Pegasus that flew into a wall back in Manehattan. She was in the chicken coop.), rabbits… I think there were a flamingo and a bear chilling in the back yard. I’m about as tall as the house, so I’m guessing I’m going to have to coax her out of it.

Entry #38
She wouldn’t come out, but I did manage to get acknowledgement when I explained where I was staying if she ever wanted to come say hello. I think I’ll head over to Rarity’s shop.

Entry #39
“Carousel Boutique.” Heh. Clever name.

Entry #40
Why in the HELL do they need saddles?

Entry #41
Rarity is incredibly kind, only her and Twilight have shown any so far in Ponyville. She’s primarily a dressmaker, and has made dresses for anyone from her friends to Equestrian superstars. She’s also incredibly proficient at finding… diamonds, which appear to be found in multiple colors, pre-cut, in the ground. Upon seeing my shoddy state (I’m still wearing a thread-bare, trashed polo and some near-dead shorts), she immediately took my measurements (white magic) and asked if I would be the subject of her most ambitious fashion project yet. Glancing around her shop… I asked her to keep in mind I’m male, and told her to have a go at it. As I crawled back out the door (She’d insisted I come in, however poorly I fit in the door), I noticed a small white unicorn peeking out of a back room. It was the one with Applebloom in the orchard those weeks ago.

Entry #42
I have discovered the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
No, I’m kidding. I just miss books. I can’t believe that neither Twilight nor myself had noticed this – though the ponies speak the same language as I do, our written languages are immensely different. While my language has a character set that we combine to form words, the ponies written language is more like an eastern language. One symbol represents a meaning or a word, and can be combined for entirely different meanings. And it’s all horse stuff, too – symbols are horseshoes and riding crops (there’s a lot of references to humanity for me supposedly being the first), carrots and branding irons. The language is very complex, but Twilight has agreed to try and teach me.

Entry #43
Applejack woke me up a few minutes ago, in the middle of the night – the first time any of the ponies have purposefully woken me up. Apparently it’s “Winter Wrap-Up day.” So my earlier theory was correct… not only days pass faster, but also seasons, and presumably years. Why do we need to “wrap up” winter, though?

Entry #44
Good God. They change seasons manually (as with the weather, apparently. I’ve woken up to a wet Ponyville before but never actually seen it raining).

Entry #45
And they sing about it. Catchy tune. There’s three “teams” of ponies – weather team (entirely Pegasi – no magic is allowed so no one else can do it), animal team (in charge of waking animals from hibernation and repairing their nests), and plant team (clear crop fields of snow and plant new seeds for food). There’s been some serious organizational disasters in the past, it seems, so Twilight is actually a sort of leader; she’s orchestrating the entire thing. I’ve already found out I can’t move or touch clouds like Pegasi, and I’m too big and not dexterous enough to work on the animal team, so I’ll put up an application for the plant team.

Entry #46
That was a tiring day, but for the first time, I feel like the ponies looked at me without fear. Sure it’s probably just because I was useful as hell, but it still felt nice to be looked at as a credit to the community than as an overgrown beast.
Got accepted to the animal team. The snow-clearing rigs were all set up for ponies and are too small, but with a little help (and a little magic…) Twilight helped me convert a normal push-cart into a more human-appropriate shovel. Since I’m bigger, I kind of damaged the dirt, so a couple ponies followed me with plows to re-till the dirt, but I cleared more snow in less time than any other single pony. The seeds were too small for me to properly plant, so Applejack is sending me to work with the ice splitters, a small group cutting up the ice on the surface of the lakes to make it easier to remove.

Entry #47
The lakes are just as cold here as they would be back home. Fell through earlier, helping the ice splitters. I discovered a couple things through this – though I’m slimmer I’m apparently not lighter, and Spike breathes fire. Fire that… sends things to Celestia. I hope she wasn’t doing anything important when that boot appeared in her face. It would seem that Spike, who lives with Twilight, sends her “letters about friendship” directly to Celestia, as opposed to using the “mailmare,” that gray Pegasus from earlier.

Entry #48
Warmed up again back at the barn. Mayor Mare congratulated the town for another year of wrapping up winter “on time,” and even gave me a special shout out. That didn’t exactly go over well, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.

Entry #49
Well, Rarity finished my suit. It’s surprisingly… not feminine based on what I’d seen from her other works, and is really similar to what I’d been wearing. A plain bright pink t-shirt, some tan shorts, and even a hoodie and some underwear. The shirt is made out of a bizarre lightweight material that seems to defy physics (Rarity said she’d sewn it out of hair from Pinkie Pie’s mane, which both reminded me that I still hadn’t visited the bakery and brought up concerns for the pink one’s sanity), being incredibly light and breathable, but only from one side. The hoodie was heavy and warm, and the underwear was… fitting. The shorts are made of a similar material to the shirt, but are a bit heavier and have large, flat areas on the sides – I guess towards the “flank” area. Rarity told me to come back to her if I ever found out my “special talent,” and to bring the shorts along too.

Entry #50
Apples, carrots, celery stalks… haven’t had much to eat aside from fruits and vegetables while I’ve been here. While the apples and carrots are delicious, and the celery has been tastier than any I’ve had before, I need something less healthy. I’m going to the bakery to get something tasty.

Entry #51
Everything here is so perfect. That was by far the most delicious cupcake I’ve ever had. And the biggest, too. Perfectly swirled frosting, not too sweet, and oh so delicious. Pinkie Pie said she made it specifically for me, and had been waiting for me to come and pick it up. Pinkie is really nice, too, and very hyper. I think she’s about 20% sugar by volume. She seems a little disconnected from reality, but also seems to control the laws of physics. She was behind the counter getting the cupcake for me, I thanked her, turned to go, and she was standing in front of the door. Twilight can teleport, but she’s a unicorn. I don’t know how she did this, but it explains my shirt being so light and fluffy. I look forward to returning.

Entries 52-66

Entry #52
I met up with Rainbow Dash on the way home from – home. I used that word without thinking. Is Applejack’s barn – no, is Ponyville, in Equestria, really my home now? I don’t know. Maybe. It’s getting closer to feeling that way, though, at least in the sense of “this is where I live, and where I would choose to live.” I mean, there’s no war, hardly any fighting beyond simple bickering, no real prejudices, and no crime… it really is a utopian society. Citizens love their rulers, the two princesses, and even though they hold absolute power over the world, there doesn’t seem to be any real need for that absolute power. Aside from moving the world manually. Which is pretty frikken sweet.
Anyway, I met up with Rainbow Dash on the way back to AJ’s barn. Rainbow Dash is a pretty competitive pony, very spunky and energetic, but not in the same sense (nor to the same degree) as Pinkie. My curiosity got the better of me, and I asked her about her and AJ – to which she openly admitted that they were together. Upon a little further questioning, Rainbow told me that homosexual relationships are actually more common than heterosexual relationships, with the population being about 80% female and all. There’s even homosexual reproduction, since all ponies have some magic inside of them, whether they’re unicorns or not, and two female ponies can have a baby. I honestly think that’s really cool. So much different from my world… and so much better.

Entry #53
Rainbow convinced me to try and meet Fluttershy again. Yeah. That’s going brilliantly. I’m sitting on a stump outside her house; Rainbow’s inside trying to get her to come out. The conversation went a little like this:
Rainbow: *knocks on door* Hey, Fluttershy. Can I come in?
Fluttershy: *opens the door* Hi Rainbow, come on i- EEP *slams door*
Unsurprising.

Entry #54
Rainbow Dash told me to pretend to fall asleep. I have a feeling I know what she’s got planned, but I doubt it will work.

Entry #55
It didn’t. Fluttershy is a smart pony, and Rainbow doesn’t seem to think through ideas very well. I suppose I’ll try coaxing Fluttershy out.

Entry #56
Wow, that actually worked. Fluttershy agreed to come out if she’d get to examine me. Poked and prodded me in all sorts of weird manners. I tried to explain as much as I could about human biology, which it turns out… I don’t know very much about. Doesn’t matter too much. Fluttershy lit up like a kid in a candy store examining me, I mean I know she’s got a thing with animals, but she was so happy. Soaking up every word I said about human physiology and anatomy. It felt great, having someone so truly enthralled and appreciative of me, for one of the first times since I got here. Well… I’ve been awake for a while. Twilight said she wanted to show me something when I woke up, something I’d need to be good and awake for. I s’pose I’ll go to sleep.

Entry #57
Oh, wow, Twilight’s going to try and teach me magic. She says that even though I’m clearly not a unicorn, the keratin in my fingernails should provide enough of a conductor to access it. She says that the basic idea is to focus on something I love very much, then bring to mind the action I want to take place, like levitating a rock or turning a page or something.

Entry #58
I’m finding it difficult to concentrate on something I love enough to get magic to work.

Entry #59
It’s been about a week since my last entry. Getting kind of annoyed that I can’t use magic, since Twilight seemed confident I would be able to. But I just can’t concentrate on something I love enough.
…
Twilight tells me I can concentrate on someone (well, she said somepony), not just something. Her magic is purple, like knowledge, Celestia’s is white like the sun, and Luna’s is blue like the night; but there are also pony couples where the unicorn’s magic is the color of the other pony’s fur. I think I have an idea now.

Entry #60
Royal blue. My magic aura is royal blue. The color of a night sky. Hell, with the little white sparkles in it, it looks like a night sky full of twinkling stars.
I haven’t gotten anything to move, but I did at least get my hands to glow and to connect to the rock. I feel like Luke and Yoda in that scene on Dagoba, but Twilight doesn’t speak in reverse-grammar. Night is breaking now (I’ve come to calling it both day-break and night-break since the nights are so often bright enough to continue working by), so she’s going home. Magic drains you, so I’m going to sleep, too.

Entry #61
Been about two weeks since my last entry. More magic class today. The apples have been off the trees for a while, so I’ve not had any work for the past few weeks, and been able to work on magic full time. I’m still working on basic movement and levitation spells, but I can quite easily concentrate enough to lift a decent sized rock and move it about. Magic in itself has gotten easier, I don’t know if it’s been Twilight’s rigorous training and patient teaching or if I’m just getting better on focusing on one thing with so few distractions. Twilight’s been telling me there’s all sorts of magic besides moving things and teleportation, like spells for combustion and extinguishing, even for walking on clouds and growing facial hair. I’m liking the combustion and walking on clouds bit, maybe I’ll work on that next. Fire’s always fun, and I may be able to visit Cloudsdale, the Pegasus city, if I can get the “walking on clouds” spell to work.

Entry #62
I should learn how to do extinguishing spells, too. Also, trees are just as flammable as they were back home.

Entry #63
Those teal eyes… I finally met the pony from the woods way back when I first got here. And technically she’s not a pony, she’s a Zebra. She speaks only in rhyme and riddles and is a little sarcastic, but she’s very smart in the ways of the Everfree Forest, considering she lives there. Her name is Zecora.
Oh, I’ve forgotten to mention the Everfree Forest before. Apparently it's the one place in Equestria that’s different, and functions like my world did – automatically. Animals care for themselves, weather and seasons change on their own, and there’s a lot of things out there that would kill a pony in a heartbeat if it so pleased them to do so. Apparently the Everfree sprawls all across Equestria, in between cities and towns, so most of the inter-city travel is done by Pegasus mailponies who don’t have to go through the forest. Apparently that’s where I landed, and if the other ponies are to be believed, it’s a miracle I wasn’t killed, turned to stone, or infected by some awful rash. I’m taking this all with a grain of salt, though, because Fluttershy lives right on the edge of the damn thing, and she’s the most fearful pony of them all.
Anyway, apparently Zecora found me and tried to figure out what I was, but couldn’t. She went back to her hut to do some research, but didn’t find anything, and by the time she was back for me, I was gone. She used to be an outsider too, she said, always shunned and feared in Ponyville until an incident with a “curse” a while back that cleared things up. Who knows, maybe something similar will happen to me.

Entry #64
Two things happened today. While I was working on the farm, Applebloom and her friends came to me. They’re nice little fillies, just over-excitable and nervous. The three haven’t discovered their special talents yet; haven’t found their cutie marks. Her friends’ names are Sweetie Bell (a clumsy white unicorn with a pastel pink and purple mane – she’s Rarity’s little sister) and Scootaloo (a hyperactive orange Pegasus with a sort of violet/maroon mane; says she’s Cheerilee’s sister – Cheerilee is an earth pony…?). Oh, speaking of earth, I’m there. According to Twilight, Equestria is on Earth. I’m hella confused. Anyway, the three fillies call themselves the “Cutie Mark Crusaders” since they are a bit impatient in finding their talents. They even preformed a song for me, too. Scootaloo cannot sing. At all. Like, worse than I can sing. And I can’t sing. But it was cute, with a catchy tune. After they finished, they apologized for assuming I was a “monster” when they first found me in the apple orchard. I thanked them for that, accepting their apology. I thought that was very nice of them.
Secondly, something I can’t believe I missed earlier. I went to Rarity’s shop just to say hi and see how she was doing (actually, the little fillies were at her shop, preparing for a sleepover). She was sewing. With a sewing machine. Sewing machine. As in electricity. Rarity said because it would normally be a simple mechanical process run by electricity, a series of movement spells can operate it. But I have an idea. How did I miss this? I mean, at the bakery – how were they running the ovens? Fire? Fire couldn’t be that delicate; there’s no way fire baked the cupcake Pinkie made for me. There must be some form of electricity, or some way to charge things. What I wouldn’t give to know what time it was, or to hear “Prayer of the Refugee” one more time. I need to find Twilight.

Entry #65
Twilight said she’d need to have a better idea of the inner workings to power my iPod, but if I knew how it worked, I might be able to do it once I get better at magic. Ah well, it was worth a shot.

Entry #66
66 entries. I’ve been here for months. I’ve started calling Applejack’s barn my “home.” I have friends, and nicknames for the ponies. Twi, AJ, RD, Pinkie… well you can’t really shorten Rarity or Fluttershy. I have work, and schooling. I have time off to practice magic and play around. Hell, I’ve even got my own little private pond I can wash off in every morning. The ponies aside from Twi and her friends still give me funny looks now and then in town, but they don’t fear me anymore. This place is finally becoming where I belong.

Entries 67-74

Entry #67
I managed to get my iPod running for a few moments, just enough to turn on, get to the lock screen, and die. That was a hell of a task – I had to concentrate on spinning the hard drive, moving energy through the circuits, and activating the screen. What broke my concentration was what the screen said.

April 26.

It’s my birthday.

I turned 17 in Equestria. In Ponyville. In a world inhabited by multi-colored ponies, who can fly, work magic, and have a history, a life, an entire society on Earth, that humanity never knew, or never will know, existed. Or maybe humans did, or do, or something, there is an interesting amount of evidence for humanity… perhaps humanity collapsed and when the ponies developed or appeared here they found remnants of our society. But then why the hell is everything 2-D?

Entry #68
Well then. That was a lot of fun. Day after my birthday now, but somehow Pinkie Pie found out that yesterday was my birthday, and ended up throwing me a surprise party. Games, dancing, bobbing for apples (at which AJ excelled), a big hug from everypony at the end. Heh, everypony. Used that without thinking. Gotta say, Pinkie knows how to throw a party. Then again I don’t have much to compare it against, I never really went to parties, but still, I had a wonderful time. But how did they know…? I guess I’ll ask Twi.

Entry #69
She’s been reading this. Every time I sleep, she reads what I’ve written for the past day. I’m a bit upset she didn’t ask, but not too upset because I would have said yes anyway. I’m a little bit concerned since she’s been writing letters to the Princess, likely with me included, but she denied including anything potentially embarrassing. Ah well. I’m a little mad, but I don’t particularly care.

Entry #70
Two shiny new faces entered the world this week – the Cakes’ twins. A young Pegasus colt named Pound Cake and a little filly unicorn named Pumpkin Cake. Which is a little odd, considering both parents are Earth Ponies. I’ll ask Twi later. They’re adorable, though.

Entry #71
Well that was a little awkward. I basically just got “the talk” from Twi. Shoulda seen that coming, though. Walked up and asked, “Where do foals come from?” Yeah. Brilliant, right? Anyway, they basically work like humans – normal reproduction between a male and female pony, of any of the three (well, technically four) races. Yes there’s the magic bit for homosexual couples, but Twi said most often it’s just normal. She also said that the Cakes having a unicorn and a Pegasus is unusual, but not impossible. If there’s any blood in the parents’ veins from another race, it’s possible for them to have a baby of that race. Pretty cool.

Entry #72
Ohboyherewego.jpg. Got roped into babysitting Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo for one of their “Cutie Mark Crusaders Sleepover, YAY!” things. AJ had agreed to it previously, but she, Granny Smith, and Big Mac got called away on a business trip. Applejack said it’d be a good way to strengthen my relationship with them, and frankly, I have to agree. They’ll be over in a little while, they’re staying over in the barn tonight.

Entry #73
Well that was an interesting night, filled with shrieking fillies and laughter. They’re great kids, they really are. Very excitable. Sweetie can sing beautifully, Scootaloo is a pro with her scooter, and Applebloom can build things. Really damn well. They’re in bed now… I s’pose I’ll go to sleep too. Those little fillies wore me out.

Entry #74
Just woke up to some sort of roar. The fillies aren’t in bed. There’s a note, and the barn door is open.
…
Oh, shit. They went into the Everfree, looking to find… more humans, friends for me. This is bad. I’m gonna go find them.

Entries 75-83

Entry #75
Those… stupid, adorable, well-intentioned little fools. It’s been more than a month since that last entry. Why? Because Nurse Redheart has been filtering poison out of my blood. ALL OF MY BLOOD. Seriously. All of it was in some sort of machine near my hospital bed. ALL OF IT. I’m still covered in cuts and bruises that haven’t healed from my fight with that thing.
So here’s what went down.
After I heard the roar and dropped my notebook, I ran to the forest, following three sets of miniature hoofprints that could have been no one but the Crusaders. Got to a point where there appeared to have been some sort of scuffle, and the three sets of hoofprints were replaced by what appeared to be very large feline pawprints. Large as in bigger than my footprint. There was a trail of blood, too. Not a lot, thank goodness, but it looked like someone had gotten cut pretty badly. Ran in the direction of the pawprints until I found a cave – inside this cave I found the fillies, all of them in bad shape. Scootaloo was holding up the best, though. Brave little filly. Had a look of raw hatred and determination on her face, even though one of her wings was broken. Applebloom was behind her, very cut up, holding one of her legs funny. She was trying to comfort Sweetie Belle, who was sobbing in a corner. But what held my attention wasn’t the trio in the back of the cave – it was the thing between them and myself. It looked like a lion, sort of. But it had wings. And a freakin’ SCORPION TAIL. I got mad. I liked those little ponies, seeing them so battered and scared enraged me. So what did I do? I improvised. And attacked (what I later learned to be a “Manticore”) with my bare hands. Long story short, I killed it. I beat it to death. And may or may not have set it on fire, I’m not exactly sure. Not without more than my fair share of cuts and puncture wounds from it’s teeth and claws. As it lay dying, I walked over to the fillies. The looks on their faces nearly killed me – they were horrified. Terrified of what I’d done to that creature. Then something stabbed me in the back. Something many times more painful than any of the bites and scratches I’d received so far. I remember falling to the ground, and rolling in such a way that I saw the Manticore’s tail hit the ground. The last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital was blood. Lots of blood – mostly my own and the Manticore’s.
Apparently, Applebloom ran back to the town and got Twilight and Fluttershy to come save me, but I was gone by the time they got there. I pressed for answers, but Nurse Redheart is telling them I need some sleep. I guess I could use it.

Entry #76
Got some shocking news earlier.
According to Nurse Redheart, I was clinically dead when I was brought to the hospital, and stayed that way for about 8 minutes. Magic, how does it work.

Entry #77
I’ve also been informed of something rather embarrassing. I owe my life to Princess Luna. She’s the only reason I was dead for 8 minutes and not forever. She’s been keeping mental tabs on me. A sort of Livestream style feed, flowing my every waking thought and unconscious dream from my mind to hers. When the feed cut off, it grabbed her attention, and… almost like a DVR, she figured out what had happened and where I was. She teleported to me and brought me to the hospital in Ponyville, where I’ve been for nearly six weeks. This… my dreams, since I’ve gotten here… oh, Celestia, this is bad…

Entry #78
Luna visited today. She was so glad to see me awake and alive – just ran to me and gave me a hug. She was the single softest thing I’ve ever felt. Like, getting a hug from her is what I’d imagine getting a hug from a cloud would feel like. So… warm, inviting… happy. Not at all what I expected in a hug from the Princess of the Night. Celestia, maybe, but… Luna just exuded this aura of warmth and happiness. I didn’t want her to let go. But she did, leaving me feeling more alive.
She promptly fixed that by informing me she knew about the dreams and thoughts I had, and had noticed my magic was the same color as her coat.

I would have turned red if my blood was actually in my body.

I must have made one hell of a funny face, because she blushed and burst out laughing.

She reassured me I had nothing to be embarrassed about, but still. That’s awkward. I’m trying to not think about such things… but, you know… guy says “Don’t think about elephants,” and all you can think about is elephants. Still glad my blood is out of my body. Nurse Redheart says it should be fully purified soon.

Entry #79
It just occurred to me how badly I must have been poisoned if it’s taken almost two months of continuous filtering to get it all out. I am very, very lucky that it wasn’t more than 8 minutes…

Entry #80
Blood is back in my body. Stood up, walked about a bit. Nurse Redheart wants to keep me a couple more days, but I’ll be very glad to get out of this room. I’ve been here almost a month while conscious. I need to go out and do something.

Entry #81
Nurse Redheart let me out today, to go for a walk. Along the way I met a mint-colored Unicorn and her “marefriend,” a tan earth pony with blue and pink hair. Apparently she was about to ask me what being human was like, having hands and wearing clothes and such like things, before I had the run-in with the Manticore. She had this scary, ecstatic grin on her face the whole time I was talking to her – she had me twirl a stick through my fingers, sit on a bench, try (and fail) a handstand… very curious girl. Very kind. A little creepy, but kind.

Entry #82
I met up with the CMC a short while ago. According to them, Nurse Redheart wouldn’t let them in to see me in case I got upset. They feel awful about what happened, but… Sweetie Belle had Twi teach her a spell to show her memories to others. She showed me her memories of the night it happened, what I did. Her eyes had been glues to me in terror the entire time. What I did was brutal – I did set it on fire, by setting my hands on fire then hitting it more. Which was kind of cool, if I may say so myself. But… I… there was a point at which I clearly didn’t need to keep hitting it. Yet I did. Some sort of death-twitch is the only reason I was stabbed. The Manticore was long since incapacitated when I fell. When the memory ended, Sweetie looked up at me, terrified – her eyes, face… struggling not to cry. Applebloom and Scootaloo were equally terrified of me, but hid it better. Applebloom wasn’t on the verge of tears, and Scootaloo even managed to squeak out a mangled “Thank you.” So much for that night fixing our relationship.

Entry #83
Word must have gotten out – walking around town, I see the ponies looking at me with a mix of fear, fascination, and respect. I… I want to fit in. But… I don’t know if I can now. Those little fillies saw something that doesn’t exist in their world, and at so young an age. They saw a killing. A murder. The death of one intelligent being at the hands of another. I just… I do not belong here. I need to be done. This will probably be my last entry. I guess this is sort of a suicide note – but the only one I need to say anything important to already knows, with the whole stream of consciousness thing and all. So, uh… yeah. I will miss every last one of you. I know you’re reading this Twilight. No hard feelings to any of you, to the CMC, the Princesses, anyone. I just don’t belong here. I apologize to the ponies that have to clean up my body, but… I don’t know a better way of getting out. This is me, signing out.

Entries 84-99

Entry #84
Oh sweet Celestia I am so confused right now. I just… I don’t even… I am in no condition to write this now. I’ll come back to this later.

Entry #85
I… am still in no condition to write this.

Entry #86
As you can see, I haven’t killed myself. I… I was at the top of the library, going to jump. I did jump. Only I didn’t land. Right as I was about to hit the ground, a hole opened up beneath me. Remember what happens in Portal? Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out. I went through the skin-colored magic gate and shot out into… well, Canterlot. Vertical motion became horizontal in a split second, and I was cannoned across a polished marble floor, sliding on my face and chest up to a quartet of royal blue hooves. By the time I recovered from the shock of being… not dead, I realized tears were landing on the marble next to my head. I rolled over and looked up into the sobbing face of Princess Luna. Her expression read one thing: “Why?” I had just picked myself up off the floor to try and explain myself when she tackled me, into an incredibly tight hug. Again, I felt that incredibly soft coat. The force of her tackling me knocked me back, though, onto something almost as soft and welcoming as Luna herself – her bed. Between emotions, apologies, and magic, one thing led to another, and… well. That happened. I’ll spare the details, but it was simply mind blowing. Afterward, I had questioned her about her magic, which used to be royal blue, like a night sky. It was now the color of my skin. She explained that Alicorns, despite being immortal, fall in love only once in their lifetime. She said she’d fallen for me – for one not of this world, one like herself. Being removed from society for so long had made her a legend, an outcast, an outsider, just like me. She said that after she got back, even after that Nightmare Night, she’d never truly felt at home here – just like me. I had to agree. No matter how much I’ve tried to convince myself, I don’t belong and I know it. She knows I love her, she’s seen it in my magic, in my thoughts and dreams (which she admitted to influencing to some extent). She wants to help me, to be a bridge back to pony society with her, as she makes her way back herself.

She wants me to marry her.

Entry #87
It’s worth noting that I didn’t jump holding my improvised diary/notebook. I had to go back to Ponyville to get that, to find this, seeing as my bumbling about in Equestria is clearly far from over. When I arrived, I found a distraught Twilight dictating a letter to Spike about my apparent attempted suicide. That took some time to clear up, and also to explain what had happened between Luna and myself. Twilight took that in an… interesting manner. She looked like she couldn’t decide whether to be happy for me, disgusted with me, or just plain shocked that I was even alive.

Entry #88
I’ve been talking with Luna more, about maybe getting married. She says I could be a sort of emissary between Canterlot and Ponyville, to get a different perspective on it than Celestia gets from her weekly letters from Twilight. I see no reason why we shouldn’t get married, either – we’re both very much in love (our magic auras are proof of that), and Celestia thinks it’s a fine idea. Something about the concept scares me, though. Maybe it’s kind of like in Lord of the Rings… Luna is an immortal. I’m not. At some point I’m going to grow old and die, and Luna is going to have to keep living on without me. I know she’s going to live without me at some time or another, because either I say no and we aren’t together or I grow old and die. I want to marry her, I really do…

So why shouldn’t I? I really cannot think of a legitimate reason not to, and neither can Twilight or either princess. It would be damn near the final step in solidifying Equestria as my home. But the concept of marriage… Maybe it’s because I’m only 17, and Luna is… more than 50 times my age, but… I don’t know. I need a little time to think.

Entry #89
I’m going to do it. I will.

Entry #90
I went to Carousel Boutique again today. I asked Rarity to make me a tuxedo. I’m going to need one. Rarity was confused at first, seeing as I haven’t told her yet – only myself, the Princesses, and Twilight know (and possibly Spike), but a bag full of bits answered any questions she may have had.

Entry #91
I met a pony named Roseluck today. She runs the jewelry store. Red mane with light red highlights, tan-ish yellow fur. I put all of my bits on the table and asked her how much it would buy.

Judging by her shocked expression, I have… well, had… kind of a lot of cash. AJ paid me fairly and regularly, and gave me a hefty bonus for saving her little sister. My spending amounted to sweets now and then, since AJ fed me and gave me a place to say and Rarity had clothed me.

I ended up purchasing a tiara. A simple, yet elegant gold headpiece with a setting for a gem. I need to go back to Rarity’s.

Entry #92
With her help, I picked out a large, but not gaudy, blue diamond and brought it back for Miss Roseluck to set. Rarity said she could do it herself with magic, but I would feel better if some of the other ponies had a hand in this, besides just the ones I know directly. Miss Roseluck thought it was a beautiful diamond, and agreed to set to work on it. She probably took more bits from me than the job cost, considering the simplicity of the tiara itself and the commonness of diamonds, but considering I was both not buying much and about to marry into the royal family, I thought nothing of it.

Entry #93
That Pinkie Pie, any excuse for a party… Luna wanted to see where I’d been living for the past months, and when we walked into the barn… SURPRISE! Luna damn near had a heart attack, but I’ve grown used to it. It was a brilliant party, just like any other Pinkie Pie Party, only a bit more spruced up by Twilight and Rarity, creating a whole “magic” theme and all. I also formally proposed to Luna today (I had to explain several times the human tradition of the man proposing and all, it appeared to be a much more mutual thing in Equestria), to which she gladly accepted, donning the golden tiara with the brilliant blue diamond and teleporting her original jewelry back to Canterlot. Canterlot… that’s going to be my home from now on. I’ll have an actual bed (and the most beautiful pony to share it with) as opposed to hay bales and dirt, a wardrobe (though I’ll likely keep to the shirt and shorts Rarity made me)… it will definitely be a more complicated lifestyle, but I’ll be glad I’m sharing it with somepony.

Entry #94
Well the cat is out of the bag now – once Pinkie Pie knew what was going on, everypony knew what was going on. Everywhere I walk I get messages and greetings of congratulations, ponies complimenting my fiancée and me. It’s going to be a massive ordeal – then again, the wedding of the princess of the night would be a huge deal. Celestia, I feel like Pinkie Pie. So much excitement and anticipation coursing through me, and plenty of nerves, too. The ceremony is set to be a week from today. Rarity has finished my tux, but is refusing to let me into the shop – I’m guessing she’s working on Luna’s wedding gown as well. I look forward to seeing it.

Entry #95
Luna… she’s almost all I can think about, partially because she’s all I have to think about – Luna took over teaching me magic after that day she saved me. Something changed when we were together, my ability to use magic went way up. She’s been teaching me transfiguration and creation magic (like turning rocks into clothing or generating said rocks from nothing), and she said she might teach me teleportation if I get the handle of magic well enough. She also said she might teach my how to raise the moon and stars one day. That would be pretty awesome.

Luna’s been showing concern over me wanting to spend my life with someone who tried to create eternal night. I’ve explained several times that I wouldn’t have minded that, but still… she’s concerned that Nightmare Moon might surface again, but I don’t think she will. My confidence seemed to boost hers, so that’s good.

Entry #96
Today’s the day. Woke up this morning, surrounded by Twilight and her friends. I may be the first groom in history without a group of his best guy friends with him the day of his marriage. All their smiling faces, absolutely giddy with excitement. I’m still sleeping in AJ’s barn, I decided that the night of the wedding should be the first official night Luna and I spend together, plus there’s the whole “don’t see the bride until the ceremony” thing. I also decided to take the train to Canterlot, seeing as you can only teleport to places you can picture perfectly, and the only time I’ve ever been to Canterlot was in Luna’s personal chambers, and teleporting directly there would be suboptimal today. It’s a relaxing ride, probably the only relaxation I’ll get all day. Rarity’s tuxedo fits like a glove, but like the other clothing she made for me, it doesn’t really feel like I’m wearing something so close fitting.

Entry #97
Canterlot Castle’s main hall. It's a grand facility – massive stained glass windows (many of which depicting Twilight’s stories of success over Discord and Nightmare Moon), huge marble columns, an enormous golden statue of an Alicorn. It really is beautiful place. I certainly won’t mind spending time here. The ceremony is scheduled to take place in about an hour.

Entry #98
I’ve just been told that Celestia herself is going to be marrying us. Presiding over the marriage of your sister must be kind of weird, but it also makes some sort of sense.

Entry #99
Show time.

Entries 100-117

Entry #100
The ceremony was beautiful. Celestia held the sun behind a stained glass window that painted the entire great hall with a plethora of colors. Twilight and her friends were all in the front row, bedecked in their Gala gowns. There were hundreds of ponies in the crowd, many of whom I recognized from Ponyville, others clearly from different parts of Equestria, all come to see Princess Luna’s marriage. It was terrifying. I’ve never felt such a burden, like I was going to be responsible for keeping Luna safe. Right, me, who could be crushed, burned, poisoned, or simply blinked out of existence by Luna. Sure thing. I’ll totally be the one in control in this relationship.

Luna looked absolutely gorgeous. Rarity absolutely nailed the dress – it was a simple, white wedding gown, with lace and frills, but not an excessive amount. The thing that set it apart from a normal wedding gown was the streaks of royal blue running down the length of the dress. The blue perfectly matched the princess’ eyes, and small (contrary to Rarity’s typical “bigger is better” mantra) diamonds glittered like stars. It looked almost as though Luna was wearing a night sky. I really can’t do it justice in words.

The vows were interesting. They were very similar to the stereotypical vows humans would make, except lacking the “Till death do us part.” At the end, after the presenting of the rings (well, the ring for me and the tiara for Luna), Celestia had me clasp my hands around Luna’s horn, and she performed some sort of spell. According to Luna, normally two ponies would put their hooves together, or two unicorns would cross horns, something to act as a conductor for magic. The spell felt weird, though, and Celestia looked seriously drained after preforming it, even if she lost none of her regality. I didn’t ask at the time, but I’ll talk to her later. There’s a wedding banquet to attend, and I can hear Vinyl Scratch and Octavia kicking off the music – an interesting mix of Dubstep and Classical. It sounds great.

Entry #101
Oh damn! The Cakes are catering! Twi told me she’d cover the food, but I never imagined she’d get Sugarcube Corner to cater the royal wedding. This is going to be so delicious.

Entry #102
It’s my wedding day. I can’t not know my anniversary. I’ve got to get my iPod.

Entry #103
I teleported it to me from Ponyville, heh. My magic is getting better. The date reads December 12, 2012. I’ve been here for over a year now. I turned 17. I lost my virginity. I got married. All in Equestria. I have friends and family here now. This world is so much better than mine – Celestia passively mentioned me going back a couple of times, but… I never could. Not anymore. This is where I belong.

Entry #104
I got to talk to Celestia today, about the spell she preformed at the end of the wedding.
She made me immortal.
Like an elf, I can never die of old age. I… well, I won’t be dying on Luna now, so that’s good, but now… immortality is as much of a curse as it is a blessing. I get to spend eternity with Luna and Celestia, but having normal friends is going to be difficult. And being raised to immortality has immediately raised my status in Pony culture. I just skipped everypony and became third in line for the Royal Succession, should anything happen (Celestia forbid it, but should anything happen) to either of the Royal Sisters, I would take over in the diarchy of Equestria. Just… wow.

Entry #105
Today is my first official visit to Ponyville as a royal emissary. I’ve been told to act normally, which I can do just fine. The difficult part will be the other ponies. I’m technically royalty now, it’s gonna be hard to get them to treat me like a normal citizen.

Entry #106
Everything is going better than expected – most of the ponies are treating me normally, like before I married Luna. Meaning they look at me with fear from that incident with the Manticore. I take a certain comfort in being treated normally, like I’m one of them, even if I’m kind of an outcast still.

Entry #107
It feels good to work on Applejack’s farm again. I was helping Big Mac with the Apple bucking for quite a while. It was really nice to do some manual labor with another guy. Big Mac’s doing fine, as are Applejack and Applebloom. Applebloom is still going on almost daily adventures with her friends, all of whom still lack their Cutie Marks. I met a young stallion today, named Pipsqueak. Adorable little bugger. Absolutely adores Luna, too. His parents died in an accident a few years ago, very shortly after he was born, and he’s been living with his aunt and uncle for almost all of his life. He says he’s from Trottingham, which I suppose is kind of like England in Equestria, judging from his accent.

Entry #108
Day one report: All goes well in Ponyville. I’m scheduled to visit Manehattan next week, and Cloudsdale the week after that. Luna’s raising the moon right now – it really is something to see that happen. Its similar to the way Celestia raises the sun, on the Summer Sun Celebration, where she flies up and does this… sort of graceful twirl in the air, where her hair wraps around her body and makes her appear to blend with the night sky. Then… the moon begins to peek over the horizon, and the silvery light catches her mane in the most beautiful manner, the moonbeams reflecting in the stars in her hair as she gently floats back to the ground. Every night I watch her do this… it is pure beauty.

Entry #109
Today I go to Cloudsdale. I’ve been in Equestria for more than a year, but I never did get around to actually going there. I’m very excited – doubly so because I’m not using a “walk on clouds” spell. Luna gave me wings! Big, beautiful, full-feathered wings just like hers. Flapping is hard work, so I’ve cast a walk on clouds spell myself in case I need to take a break. But I can fly! And oh Celestia is it fun! I’ve fallen a few times and hurt myself, but I am starting to get the hang of it.

Entry #110
Cloudsdale is a city on my scale – the buildings here are massive structures made of hardened clouds, with a distinctly Roman architecture. The city stretches on for miles in all directions, all a web of interconnected clouds. It almost reminds me of the cloud they find Laputa in in Castle in the Sky. All the weather is manufactured here, too. That concept still sounds silly to me, “manufacturing” weather. There’s a whole massive factory that produces sleet, mist, clouds, rainbows, and everything in between. There’s a massive pool of rainbow colored liquid in a vat on the floor over there. Dash says it’s a rainbow in its purest state. She says it tastes good.

Entry #111
RAINBOW DASH IS A LIAR!!!! SPICY! WHY THE HELL ARE RAINBOWS SPICY? If I ever go back, I’m going to let Skittles know that their product tastes nothing like rainbows.

Entry #112
Well that was certainly an interesting encounter. With a spicy rainbow. Yeesh. I can hear a faint beat and what sounds like an angry piano melody coming from deep within the factory. All the rainbow pours out of tubes in the ceiling… the music I can hear echoing from them is positively chilling. Catchy, but chilling.

Entry #113
Final report? All goes well in Cloudsdale. The Pegasi aren’t quite as openly friendly as the Earth Ponies, but nopony I ever spoke seemed upset or frustrated at all. The Weather Factory keeps pumping out clouds, and all the citizens are content with their positions. The Cloudosseum is absolutely staggering – it’s almost identical to the Colosseum of ancient Rome, but made entirely out of clouds, like the rest of the city. Absolutely fascinating.

Entry #114
I think I’ll take a slight detour to Ponyville on my way home. I mean, I can fly. So why not? Maybe visit that Pipsqueak kid again.

Entry #115
That little guy really is cute. I really wish I could spend more time with him.

Entry #116
Luna… When I got back from Cloudsdale, she told me something… being in the royal family and all, she’s supposed to have a child, and she really thinks it would be great if we had one. I can’t say I agree at this point, having a child at only 17, but… hell, if it makes her happy, I’ll be happy too. Something with the magic, there. Emotions are shared between us, so the "Happy wife, happy life" phrase applies literally here. I really can’t think of anything I’d rather do than make her happy. However, there’s a slight… biological barrier with that. I think.

Entry #117
Halo… heh, never figured I would go more than a year without playing video games. But I don’t miss them at all, surprisingly. I can imagine why, though – I’ve had work and life, family, schooling. I’ve learned to read the language of the ponies, their history. It’s amazing, really. The wars? Short or non-existent. Long ago the three races of ponies lived in a tense peace that was eventually shattered by a massive snowstorm fueled by hatred and distrust. The thing that interests me though, is that even though there’s no wars and from what I’ve heard, no other countries but Equestria (A global nation, its fantastic), but there’s still an official Equestrian military force. Mostly Pegasi, the military seems to be more of an armed police force than an actual war-making group. They still seem unnecessary – I never saw a nation happier with their leader than in Equestria.

Entries 118-132

Entry #118
Visiting Manehattan for the first time since I left, all the way back when I got here. Maybe I can see how Lock-n-Key is doing.

Entry #119
I have a vague recollection of 119 being something from human popular culture or something, but I can’t remember what. Anyway, Manehattan is nice. It feels sort of like downtown near where I used to live, since it's a major city center but there aren’t any truly massive buildings. There are “skyscrapers,” of sorts, but they’re pony scale skyscrapers – the buildings are still decently sized, but nowhere near the scale of things in the human world. Like in Cloudsdale, the ponies here aren’t actively friendly, but never reject or avoid conversation. I must admit, I… sampled the bakery’s goods. As per everything, the bagel (and the cookies…) was delicious. Sugarcube Corner is on a totally different tier, though. I did visit the jail again, to say hello to Lock-n-Key. He got a promotion in the months I’d been gone – he’s not just a jailer anymore, but the leader of local law enforcement. He said he attended my wedding, and I feel really bad that I didn’t see him. He’s got his own wife now, who’s pregnant with a son. Good for him. I’m glad the average pony has a completely normal life – that’s good. My life is anything but normal, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Entry #120
I’ve been studying under Luna and Celestia more, to get better at using magic. I’ve actually learned the wings spell now, which, though difficult to perform and maintain, is a lot of fun. I’ve also learned teleportation spells and transformation spells, which are fun to do as well. Teleporting isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but if I do teleport constantly it does become draining. Transforming spells are a ton of fun to do to other ponies, especially when they aren’t expecting it. I wish I could convey the expression on my Royal Guards’ faces when I turned them into bears and back one day. Oh, that was priceless. Celestia tells me I should take magic more seriously, but she does seem to be holding back a smirk if I do something silly. I must say, I never really expected to be this competent with magic. It’s terribly convenient and terribly fun, but it’s also very dangerous. Celestia has told me stories of ponies that have passed out and even died from trying to perform too many or too complicated spells without resting, and of ponies who have accidentally unleashed more magic than they intended. For being the loving, benevolent ruler she is, Celestia is definitely capable of being scary.

Entry #121
I now know why my Guards looked so scared when I turned them into bears. I woke up this morning, looked around, and instead of seeing normal, peach-colored me and normal, night-sky colored Luna, I saw a massive, brown-haired bear and another lying next to me. Celestia is gonna get it for this…

Entry #122
Today’s the Summer Sun Celebration. I think this will be the perfect time to get revenge on Celestia.

Entry #123
I’d never really paid attention to it, but how Celestia looks when she’s raising the sun is almost as pretty as Luna raising the moon.

At any rate, I think I started a saying in Equestria today. “By Celestia’s Beard!” Oh lord the crowd’s reaction was hilarious. When Celestia rises up with the raising of the sun, her body appears temporarily completely shadowed against the bright, flaming orb behind her. At that moment, I cast a spell. A growth spell. A facial hair growth spell. When she came back down, the crowd just kind of stared for a minute then burst out laughing. Even the normally expressionless Royal Guards cracked a smile and chuckled. But that… that pink, green, and blue beard… oh wow, that was one of the greatest moments of my life. Of course Celestia knew immediately that it was me, but the normally white Alicorn princess was too embarrassed to properly retaliate. I am so screwed later, I know it, but that was worth it.

Entry #124
Ohgodi’msofluffy
Celestia thought a good way to get back at me would be taking what I did to her and putting it to extreme levels: covering my entire body with long, fluffy hair. All it did was make me look absurd and make me very happy. Luna’s been rubbing herself all over me; I feel like a frikken teddy bear. Except, like, an evil teddy bear that builds up static electricity then electrocutes anypony who touches me. Maybe that’s what Celestia was getting at. At any rate, this was kind of a weak retaliation. I think I’ll get rid of the fluff now.

Entry #125
Ok, this was a good retaliation. I can’t magic my fluffiness away. I tried to take it off and it just doubled the fluff (at which Luna collapsed in a fit of laughter, wheezing “The fuzz has been doubled”). I think it’s time to visit a hair stylist. To Rarity’s!

Entry #126
CELESTIA
Anything magic that touches my hair just doubles the length of it all. I look like friggin It from the Adams Family. I basically have to cut all the hair off with scissors and a razor. This will be obnoxious as hell…

Entry #127
Well then. Now that my skin is exposed again… I think I’ll stop messing with Celestia. Four days of fluffiness was good enough for me. Yeesh.

Entry #128
I visited Ponyville again today. Though I do live in Canterlot, I love spending time with Twilight and her friends in Ponyville. Two other ponies showed up while I was there, a couple of “Salesponies nonpareil.” Both tan with red and white manes, they identified themselves as Flim and Flam, but I never figured out which one was which. They were operating the closest thing to Steampunk I’ve ever seen in real life. Some massive machine they were calling the “Super Speedy Cider Squeezey 6000,” an outrageous contraption that produced cider at blistering speeds. They sang and danced and made cider, and got into a pretty heated debate with the Apple family on whether or not quality was better than quantity when it came to cider. The Apple Family’s cider was definitely better, even though the Flim Flam brothers managed to produce more of it in the same timespan. Eventually they left when they realized they’d messed up pretty badly. Pipsqueak still followed me around all day, peppering me with questions about how Luna was doing. And honestly, Luna’s been asking me how he’s been doing as well. So, I talked to his aunt and uncle. They said I could bring him on a trip to Canterlot for a few days. This should be a fun time.

Entry #129
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see Luna’s face light up like that again. When I walked in the door, and Pip (I’ve taken to calling him Pip instead of Pipsqueak. He’s small but there’s no need to remind him of that every few seconds) wound around my legs… I’ve never truly seen somepony make a :D face until now. Ear to ear beaming. She really does have a beautiful smile. They’ve been doing arts and crafts and eating candy for the last couple hours, a continuous stream of laughter coming from the other room. She’s normally happy, but this is different – Luna’s really happy. Oh, sun’s going down. Pip’s in for a show.

Entry #130
Haha, I was right. Pip’s jaw has been on the floor for the past ten minutes. He was clearly just as fascinated by the sight I get to watch every night. We put him to bed shortly afterward. Such a peaceful, happy expression on his face. Luna’s been shooting me little, sort of… begging glances, better put the journal down for a minute.

Entry #131
Easy as A, B, C… but… Luna likes Pip, a lot. And so do I. But… adopting him would be a huge step. I know we can’t have a child normally, but I’m still not sure if I’m ready to take on being a father. I mean, Pinkie could barely handle the Cake twins for a few hours (then again, they were newborns and neither are Earth Ponies…). When I was in the human world, a couple of my friends accidentally started families very young, and the strain of being a dad kind of wrecked their lives. I suppose the fact that he won’t be my biological son… that makes no sense. The only logical reason it could be any less unpleasant is the fact that Pip is more like a little boy, perhaps roughly equivalent to a first- or second-grade age human, than a newborn, so he won’t make as much noise as often. I think. At any rate, like I’ve said several times, what makes Luna happy makes me happy.

Entry #132
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand… times like this I remember that I’m married to somepony who could blink me out of existence on a whim. Luna made the decision for me. At first she tried to plead with me (Luna has the world’s most effective set of puppy-dog eyes), but despite her adorable face, I had been holding firm on waiting a little longer. In a few days, it will all be finalized, the papers will go through, and Pip will officially be my son.

Entries 133-140

Entry #133
I went to Cloudsdale again, practicing my Wings spell. So much fun. When I was in the human world, I always dreamed of flying and being able to do little feats of magic. Now that I’m here, with help from Luna and Twilight, I can finally live out those dreams. I think I finally may be able to go to Rarity and get those shorts finished.

Entry #134
And… my shorts now have a cutie mark. It’s similar to Twilight’s, but still different. It’s a dark blue, five-point star over an upside-down, white five-point star, with a pair of dark blue wings surrounding it. It symbolizes both my skill in magic and the fact that I’m a member of the royal family. However, because I stand on two legs, my cutie mark is oriented to point up (towards my torso) when I stand, so I guess it’s sideways in a sense. Still, I’m one of them now. I’m one of the ponies, in spirit and mind if not in form. I love them, and they love me. The community is just fantastic. No one is outcast, no one is shunned, and everypony is accepted and loved by everypony else.

Entry #135
I had an opportunity to witness something wonderful today. While walking out of Rarity’s store, I noticed what looked to be an improvised half-pipe built off in a field. Upon closer examination, I discovered it was and improvised half-pipe, with a little orange Pegasus blitzing around doing tricks on what appeared to be a modified BMX bike. It was Scootaloo, of course, with her friends watching on in awe. During one particularly fancy trick (I couldn’t count how many times the bike spun underneath her), I thought I noticed a flash of white light, but I wasn’t sure because of how fast Scootaloo was moving. When she landed, my suspicions were confirmed – much to the excitement of Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and herself, Scootaloo bore an image on her flank now. A bike helmet and an accompanying “BPX” (Bicycle Ponycross) unit. It fits her really well. She may not be the strongest flyer, but her wings have been maturing, and she can fly short distances now, which she uses to her advantage with the bike. Just those few extra moments of laughing in gravity’s face has shown me tricks far beyond what any human could ever accomplish. The looks of sheer joy on their three faces were quickly replaced with looks of sorrow at the realization that the “Cutie Mark Crusaders” no longer existed – but Scootaloo quickly promised never to leave the group until all three had their marks. It was a really touching moment, seeing her come of age but refuse to leave her friends like that.

Entry #136
Holy shit! Not ten minutes after, Sweetie Belle started singing about Scootaloo’s cutie mark and BAM! Hers appeared too! Sweetie’s mark, a single eighth note with white wings and a halo can’t represent anything besides her angelic singing voice. That filly, whether or not she’d wanted to accept it earlier, can sing, and can sing really freaking well. Her voice is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. She didn’t notice it at first, but Applebloom pointed it out to her, and once again the three shared that look of pure joy at their friend’s accomplishment. There was a thin wisp of sadness in Applebloom’s eyes, behind the elated façade, but neither of her friends noticed it, and it disappeared with a second round of reassurances from her friends that they won’t stop crusading until all three had their marks. These fillies are going to be friends forever, it’s easy to see that.

Entry #137
Three cutie marks within an hour, in one town… what a truly amazing day. Rarity and Pinkie Pie are organizing a party in honor of Sweetie Belle getting her mark, and Rainbow Dash is in on it too do something special for Scootaloo. I… I wonder where Scootaloo’s parents are. I asked Rarity and Rainbow Dash about them, but they both kind of dodged the question. I can tell when a question is making ponies uncomfortable, but I also know a pony who can't lie. I’m going to talk to Applejack.

Entry #138
Applejack told made me promise not to tell anypony, that it’s been a secret between the six of them and the two parents involved, but Scootaloo actually is Rainbow Dash’s sister, the illegitimate offspring of Mrs. Dash and an unknown Pegasus. She said Scootaloo was put up for adoption almost immediately after birth (according to her, in fact, Mrs. Dash left the hospital after her birth without even seeing her baby), and was taken in by Miss Cheerilee. Cheerilee, while a relatively young pony, has raised Scootaloo as her little sister. Not even she knows that Scootaloo is RD’s half-sister. Rainbow Dash is planning on telling her tonight, at the party. This conversation got me curious, and I started asking about the other ponies parents. Pinkie’s mom and dad are still at their rock farm (I would question, but if the remainder of the Pie family is as eccentric as Pinkie, no explanation is needed), Twilight’s parents are in Canterlot, and Rarity’s folks live in town. Rainbow’s dad lives in Cloudsdale, but Mrs. Dash hasn’t been seen since Scootaloo’s birth, and AJ said she didn’t know about Fluttershy’s parents. Her own parents though… her own parents died in “an accident.” That’s all she would say. I wanted to ask, but it just wouldn’t have been right. Maybe I’ll ask Twilight later. I need to head back to Canterlot, see if Luna’s up for attending the party.

Entry #139
I met a nice couple on my way to the castle (wards prevent using teleportation spells to enter Canterlot, though one can teleport out, so I simply teleport to the gate and walk or fly in from there). A rather British Unicorn stallion named Fancy Pants, and a slender white unicorn with pink hair who introduced herself as Fleur. Despite obviously being a trophy wife, the pair seemed very happy. Fancy Pants was incredibly polite, and, though Fleur said very little besides introducing herself, they were clearly ponies of high society. They also said they knew Rarity, and had an interesting encounter with her that left the three of them good friends, and good friends with the other ponies too. They invited me to see the Wonderbolts Races with them this weekend. I think I’ll take them up on that, it sounds like a lot of fun.

Entry #140
Well… that was an… interesting, amazing, shocking evening. Luna said she’d come to the party on the condition I left my journal at home – I do suppose I carry it everywhere – so I’ve got a lot to write about.
The party started like a normal party, ponies were dancing, there was music, everypony wanted to talk to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. All their friends from school were there, even two angry little ponies named Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showed up long enough to give their congratulations. Scootaloo did a performance on her bike, and Sweetie Belle sang a song for the crowd. Pinkie Pie was up to her usual antics, screwing with physics and startling everypony. Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo off to the side to privately congratulate her and to tell her the truth. Scootaloo took it hard, finding out about her mother like that. But any sadness and anger she felt was immediately overwhelmed with a sense of joy and pride at being the half-sister of someone as awesome as Rainbow Dash. The pair spent the rest of the night rushing around and playing together. Scootaloo taught Dash a few tricks on the bike, and Dash gave Scoots some instructions for training her wings. After a while the pair calmed down and Rainbow Dash called Miss Cheerilee over. I can only assume what it was about, because at the end of the night, Scootaloo gave Miss Cheerilee an extra long hug and walked off with Dash. I know Dash has a bit of an ego and isn’t exactly the definition of responsible, but those two finally being together as sisters will be good for the both of them.
Rarity gave her sister a ball. Celestia knows I haven’t got a clue what the significance was, but Sweetie Belle tried to refuse it and broke down crying when she finally accepted it. I guess it meant a lot to Rarity, maybe something her family has passed down as a sort of joke or something for when the youngest member gets their mark. Hay, it doesn’t have to mean anything to me and I don’t have to understand it. It meant a hell of a lot to Sweetie Belle, especially as a gift from Rarity (their relationship is… strained, at times), and that’s what’s important.
But that’s not even the half of it.
I met the parents tonight.
The party was winding down, most of the ponies had left. In fact, the only ones left were Luna, Pip, Twilight, and myself. I glanced at the sky, to look at the moon (Luna had preformed the ceremony at the party), and noticed a dark cloud moving in irregular patterns. While I was watching the cloud, Celestia appeared out of nowhere, right next to Luna, and whispered something to her. I didn’t think it was possible for a pony of such dark fur to turn white. Like, Celestia-white. I looked back up at the dark cloud. It wasn’t a dark cloud anymore. It was a glowing white sphere of light, just barely fringed by shadow. It looked almost like a reverse lunar eclipse. Then the shadow diverged, leaving the white light alone. The light slowly shifted into the shape of a pony, a tall, female Alicorn with the purest white coat and a mane of fire that glowed with the sun’s brilliance. A cute mark very similar to Celestia’s marked her flank. My eyes were drawn from the radiance above to the dark shadow taking shape next to her. Out of the darkness, which seemed like a void, absorbing all the light around it, flew a large, dark grey Alicorn with dragon-like wings and weighty-looking armor. The only time I’ve ever been more afraid was that first day I met Luna and she invaded my mind – and even that might not adequately display my terror at the sight of these two massive ponies. So, I did what I thought I could – I put myself between Luna & Pip and the new arrivals and ignited my fists, while preparing some defensive measures. Looking at the two Alicorns, I knew there wasn’t anything I could do to stop them from taking what they wanted, but I had to try. Unsurprisingly, my fists extinguished and I felt the defensive wards liquefy under the might of the two Alicorns. I prepared myself for the end, flashing a mental “I love you” to Luna… and the Alicorns started laughing. I remember glancing at Celestia with what must have been the most utterly terrified expression on my face, and saw her kneeling, and Luna following suit behind me. I looked back to the Alicorn above me and noticed the similarities. I also recall noticing one was missing. I remember hearing a soft sigh and some giggling behind me, and seeing Luna and Celestia giving the white Alicorn mare a tight hug. I looked back to the stallion, and he was right up in my face, and suddenly all the light was gone. I then proceeded to get what I expect would be the “girlfriend’s angry dad” talk, except ten thousand times as scary because, well, Luna is my wife, not just my girlfriend, and her dad is god. That was a terrifying experience, one I’d be rather keen not to repeat. The light returned, and a jovial smile appeared on his face. I remember thinking “How can he just smile like nothing happened?” before Luna went off on him for scaring me so badly. It was kind of odd to see that, her father just taking some of the worst Royal Canterlot Vocal Abuse I’ve ever seen. Pip was frantically looking between Luna and me; trying to decide which parent he should be acting like. I guess he ended up looking more like me – he was completely terrified. After a long conversation, both Luna and my color returned as we realized her parents weren’t mad, they were just stopping by to meet me. Her mother, who introduced herself as Solara, and her father, named Night Wish, were both very nice, once they’d gotten past the scare-the-hell-out-of-you stage. In any event, I wish they would have informed us they were coming before just showing up like that. They gave Luna and I their blessings, and returned to the heavens. I know blessings are normally just wishes of good luck, but these came straight from the top. That’s gotta do something.

Entries 141-152

Entry #141
I’m still in awe that I married not just into the Royal Family but also into the holy family. My in-laws are the creators of this plane of existence. I’m just so concerned and curious about what exactly it did… if it did anything, heh. The more I think about it, the more I’ll worry, and I’ll stop sleeping. I sleep so little as it is… partially because I still am on human time. It’s like the worst case of jet-lag ever.

Entry #142
Normally two or three bodies occupy my bed when I wake up. Typically Luna and myself, occasionally Pip as well. There were four this morning. Wards prevent teleportation into Canterlot. Wards cannot, apparently, prevent Pinkie Pie. When I woke up, instead of rolling over and seeing my wife, I rolled over and got a face full of pink fluff. I jumped a mile, and the yelp I let out caused the Royal Guards on the morning watch to rush into the room. I was still scrambling to get upright by the time the guards had her pinned to the ground. Those guys are quick. To my surprise, though, Pinkie didn’t struggle at all, she just began to sing. Something about a “singing telegram” and her pet alligator’s birthday. It’s tomorrow. And, hell, it’s Pinkie Pie, so I figure I’ll go. After I told her I could, she slipped out from under the Royal Guards like a lubed piglet, and proceeded to walk out the window. I don’t know how the hell she does it and I’m not really sure I want to know. In any event, what do you buy the alligator that has everything except teeth?

Entry #143
Except teeth… heh, a big pair of gag dentures should brighten both Pinkie’s and Gummy’s day. Luna’s been feeling a little under the weather so she won’t be attending. Which is unfortunate, since Pinkie Pie’s parties are bound to be exciting in one way or another. The party is tomorrow, though, so there’s plenty of time for me to bring Pip to the races this afternoon.

Entry #144
The raceway is amazing. Canterlot is on a sort of cliff-mountain thing, so there’s a few places where there’s city, city, city, suddenly no city anymore. The raceway is built in one of these places. There’s a large set of stands, kind of like half a stadium, on one side of the track. The track is made of clouds, too, so I’m guessing it can be rearranged and reassembled in various configurations for different kinds of racing. Today, it’s just a simple oval, with four competitors. A blue Pegasus stallion named Soarin’, a yellow mare named Spitfire, a white mare with hair extremely similar to Pinkie’s, and another stallion. It seemed to be like a tournament of sorts, a few laps and the winner got a certain number of points, second got a few less, etc. The track was changed between each race, to give each racer a little advantage with what they excelled at. Soarin’ was mind-bogglingly fast in the straights, but the white mare had everypony in the turns. Pip was really into it the whole time, sitting on my head and cheering Spitfire in every race. Where we were sitting offered an interesting tradeoff of proximity to the track and racers for an outstanding view of the entire track at any time, and in any arrangement. Fancy Pants seemed quite proud of the seats he’d gotten, and he, Fleur, and, interestingly, Rarity, were all enjoying themselves as thoroughly as Pip and I were, which was nice. I’m glad that a good old fashioned race is still entertainment enough for the “high class” types. Though Rarity may just have been there to hang out with Fancy Pants. She seems attracted to him, but then again, she seems attracted to everypony, and I know that, however she tries to hide it, she does have a soft spot for Spike.

Entry #145
It occurred to me, on the way back from the races, that I haven’t gotten a haircut since the fluff incident. I wonder if anypony in Canterlot will do that for me…? At any rate, I can always go to Rarity’s. She’s obsessed with my body. In a totally non-sexual way. My proportions and structure are so different than that of a pony, so she’s really into trying to design clothes and hats and hairstyles. I need to go to Ponyville anyway, for that party of Pinkie’s. I’ll just get it cut then.

Entry #146
I should probably get my hair cut before I go to the party – I have a feeling that the party will go well into the night. To Carousel Boutique!

Entry #147
Well, that was interesting. For one, Rarity actually magically lengthened parts of my hair, and for two, my hair probably looks better than it ever has before. It may also have been the longest haircut I’ve ever gotten. That unicorn just couldn’t decide what she wanted to do with my hair, and basically ended up trying out everything she’d thought up before settling on a simple, but long, cut. I didn’t think it was possible, but my hair hurts. It looks very nice, though. If she doesn’t go crazy again, I’ll definitely come back when I need another haircut.

Entry #148
Oh man what a party. Apple bobbing, dancing, surprises all over the place. Gummy decided to occupy the apple bobbing bucket/barrel thing, and appeared, much to the shock of Twilight, latched to her face. She seemed really freaked out by it, and, frankly, I guess she had every right to be, even if the little gator is harmless. There was a spring-loaded apple, too, that was attached to the bottom of the tank. I felt bad for the first pony to find that – Fluttershy decided to be brave and try her hoof at apple bobbing, and ended up fully submerged in the tank. Pinkie is a little… forceful when she dances, too. She’s not afraid to knock somepony out of the way if she needs a larger space to “shake her hoove thang.” Rarity got planted in a wall and I got planted firmly on my ass when she rushed to the floor when what sounded like a parody of “California Girls” came on the phonograph. Given the interesting and varied levels of technology, I really shouldn't be surprised, but the thing is fascinating. I should probably ask Twi about AJ’s parents while I’m here…

Entry #149
After the party – or swarei… suaray… soiree? However it’s spelled. I hate French. That’s how Rarity put it, though, which doesn’t really surprise me. But… French? They have human spoken languages, but no human written languages. That’s… interesting. Anyway, I asked Twilight about AJ’s parents. The smile she had on her face disappeared instantly. She said they lived in Baltimare, and had kicked her out of their house as a sort of forced… well, abstinence. Like with Scootaloo, the truth about Applebloom’s parents was also kept from her. AJ is Applebloom’s mother. She was raised as a sister, and it’s been so long that even AJ sort of believes it now. The father is long out of the picture, and Twilight said she guessed that was part of the reason AJ had fallen for Rainbow after she came to Ponyville. Said that RD filled some sort of softer relationship. Makes enough sense, I guess. From what I heard some nights at AJ’s barn, the “forced abstinence” plan didn’t really work very well… heh. Though from what Twilight has told me, the relationship with Rainbow is a lot healthier and more stable than that with the previous stallion. Well that mystery is solved now. I’ll not bring it up to AJ, but I think she’ll be getting a big hug next time I see her.

Entry #150
Glad to wake up with the expected number of ponies this morning. Luna’s feeling better now, so I think we’ll spend the day just out and about in Canterlot. Go shopping, maybe see a concert if one happens to be in town, eat out, just have a good time with the citizens.

Entry #151
Oh wow… well, I totally forgot I never finished learning the Equestrian written language. Luna, thankfully, knew a knowledge spell and taught it to me in a moment, but it was awkward when I picked up the menu at the restaurant and couldn’t read a word of it. Even after I could read it, I still didn’t understand half the stuff on the menu – “Hay Bacon Strips” “Applejack Daniels” “Orange Daisykraut Butterstrauss.” I saw something with the word “sandwich” in it and decided to go with that. I know I’ve been here for so long, but I’ve mostly eaten fruit, vegetables and baked goods (there’s a fantastic bread maker in the Grand Market) Luna ordered a salad of some sort and Pip got what looked to be a veggie cheeseburger and some fries. When the waiter brought my plate, I admit, I was skeptical of what appeared to be a couple flowers in between two slices of bread. It was really tasty, though, sweet, and shockingly filling. Pip hungrily devoured his burger thing, and, unsurprisingly, Luna made a wonderfully elegant affair of consuming her salad. I’ll definitely be returning here – though Equestria’s fruit is absolutely fantastic, it would be nice to branch out a bit. Plus, Ponyworst sounds freakin’ delicious.

Entry #152
It’s fun to just walk around the Grand Market in Canterlot, there’s tons of stalls and little wagons selling everything from pots to hats to children’s toys. I also enjoy walking and writing, since I can hold my notebook and write with magic, it’s kind of like texting while walking except I can look where I’m going. I find it relaxing. I saw this little enchanted Pegasus toy, being sold from a stand by a light blue Unicorn mare. The toy kind of fluttered around and walked about – it seemed like a pet, almost. The mare in the stall said it could be charged using magic, because the toy has some sort of magic battery in it. It was on the expensive side, but I thought the thing was pretty cool, and I figured Pip would like it.

Entries 153-170

Entry #153
Well, I decided to try to leave the notebook on the table for a week, but this news is too good not to write down immediately, so I’ll try that after this. But yeah – a certain gray mailmare delivered a message today: Rainbow Dash and Applejack are getting married. It would seem, from the letter (which practically glowed with excitement), that another couple in Ponyville was getting married, and they hadn’t been together as long as RD and AJ, and Dash took it as a challenge. Seems a bit rash to me, but they’ve been together for ages and had kind of been planning on getting married soon anyway, so Twilight writes. The actual wedding is a ways off, but that’s ok. I have more scheduled visits around Equestria anyway, starting with Las Pegasus. It’ll be nice to visit another Pegasi city – the only one I’ve been to is Cloudsdale.

Entry #154
Wow, Las Pegasus is a long ways away. It would normally be several days by train. Thank Celestia for teleportation. Las Pegasus is an enormous city, and actually extends from the clouds to the ground. Unlike Cloudsdale, which consists of a sort of random clump of clouds that the Pegasi keep in one general area, the cloud layer of Las Pegasus is actually anchored in several places to the desert floor, so Unicorns using a cloud-walking spell can easily walk on up. It’s really amazing, even if the Earth Pony/Unicorn part of the city is perpetually in shade. That’s cool (literally and figuratively), because it’s toasty up on top, in the bright desert sun. It’s fantastically designed, something clean out of a storybook. There’s some casino looking buildings, but I didn’t bother with any of them. The city official was kind, if slightly intimidating – he was a large, green Pegasus named Steel Wing, about the size of Big Macintosh, but with wings. His cutie mark was five stars arranged in a pentagon – which means exactly what I thought it did. He was a general in the Equestrian Air Corps when he was younger. As I said, though, he was very kind, and said everything was going wonderful except for one young unicorn filly, who had a strange sickness that nopony had ever seen before. We’re en route to the hospital now.

Entry #155
I… just… every healing spell I know, everything I ever remember reading in biology, exploring his thoughts and body with magic, nothing… this colt is still sick, mumbling something about a one-winged Pegasus. Hell, I called Luna here because I couldn’t fix it, and neither could she. It’s some sort of skin disease, I think, it’s created dark blotches near the base of his wings and on the left side of his face. It appears to be spread by contact, as the poor foal’s mother has it badly on her arms and chest. I recognized her, though – the gray mailmare with yellow eyes who I’d seen in random places around Equestira. I requested Steel Wing to quarantine the pair (a concept I had to explain thoroughly), and he complied readily. Magic containment for the pair. I feel awful doing this, but until we know how the disease works, we can’t take any chances. Such a horrible situation, only shortly after such good news, about Dash and AJ… I just hope it’s not fatal. Maybe Zecora knows something.

Entry #156
Zecora had an idea of what it was, seeming aghast and coming up with some interesting rhymes for the word “stigma.” I don’t think I’ve heard “enigma” used properly in a sentence before. She said she knew what it was, and that it was fatal and there was no known cure. She told me it was a thing of great evil, that only the darkest of spirits can cause it. Maybe something did escape from Tartarus last week before Twilight closed the door. That’s the only way… nothing else could do this – Discord’s been locked in stone again, and Nightmare Moon is long gone.

Entry #157
I’m going to visit Tartarus tomorrow, but tonight I figured I’d check out some of the time spells that Twilight told me about. They’re dangerous, but incredibly powerful. Maybe one can help me cure this disease, something, I don’t know…

Entry #158
I made my visit to Tartarus today. Cerberus was surprisingly good at speaking English, and confirmed that one demon was indeed missing since the incident where he wandered away in search of three balls that rolled past. I thanked him for his time, and left before he decided I should be a chew toy.

Entry #159
Oh. Freaking. Shit. I went back to Las Pegasus today, to check on the mother and foal… somepony fucked up, hard. The quarantine must have gone down, somehow, maybe the charge cycle was neglected or something, I don’t know. Anyway… the entire city is dead. Every single foal, mare, stallion, Pegasus, and unicorn is dead. Steel Wing even. I found him sitting in his room, dead, almost peaceful. There are bodies in the streets, decaying. It’s like that scene in Nausicaa when they go to the Pegite capital and just everything is dead. Wait – I hear a faint hum and crying. Magic. Magic from a unicorn. Magic from a living unicorn.

Entry #160
Oh, oh Celestia… I walked into a building to find a white unicorn mare who had a lavender mane with a white streak in it, holding a dead, blue unicorn stallion. I recognized them instantly. They were Twilight’s parents. Mrs. Sparkle was sobbing, holding her husband, trying to seal herself off with a magic bubble, a sort of quarantine in reverse. She’d neglected the fact that her husband had carried the disease, sealing her fate, but she didn’t care. I could tell. The skin lesions were all over her legs, chest, and face, and were huge and very dark, like the ones on the dead bodies. She was going to die soon, that was certain. I tried to cast a spell to ease her pain, but she managed to focus long enough to tell me to save the other cities and towns. That last bit of magic took her strength, though, and I watched her die in front of me. I couldn’t do anything. All these ponies… I… I want to give them a proper burial, but I have not the time or the energy to give them individual graves. I can at least wipe this city off the map, as a sort of mass cremation… I hope nopony got out to spread this further.

Entry #161
Didn’t have the energy to write for three days after obliterating the remains of Las Pegasus and teleporting back to Canterlot. I did manage to convey to Celestia the gravity of the situation before I passed out, which she, thankfully, is trying her best to handle. I’m going to go back to the archives to view the time spells again. There must be something there. Probably something on this one-winged Pegasus demon, too.

Entry #162
“Be no more.” It’s a simple enough spell, but it’s absurdly powerful. It erases all effects on the timestream that a demon has had after it escapes from Tartarus. Completely erases. This spell will be perfect, except for two things. For one, the user has to be making eye contact with the target, and for two… it kills the user. Or, in extreme cases, a third party can take the death for the user. It’s exactly what I need, though… I don’t know why I feel such a conviction to save these ponies, but I do. I will gladly give my life for them. I mean, I tried once a while ago, with the Manticore… except this time quick action and luck won’t save me.
I found information on the Pegasus. He’s capable of taking the form of any of the three races, but when he becomes a Pegasus, he only has one wing. His presence spreads disease and death, and nothing but sorrow follows him. So the book says. Needless to say, this is very bad. Long, silver mane in all forms and, though male, incredibly feminine in appearance.

Entry #163
With a hearty meal I got most of my energy back, so I’ll be travelling around Equestria to warn the ponies and get some preparations up. Ponyville, Cloudsdale… tell everypony to watch for the infected and beware of a one-winged Pegasus.

Entry #164
I’ve never had to use magic in self-defense against a pony before… Celestia, Twilight went frikken postal on me. Even though I’ve long ago moved out of the tree, and even out of Ponyville, Luna set up a system that delivers a copy of my journal to Twilight automatically each night. Which means Twilight got the news of her parents’ death from an automated messaging system. I knew Luna read the journal, but I thought Twilight’s knowledge of my adventures were limited to what I told her when I made visits to Ponyville, ever since the attempted suicide. But yeah, I walked into the library to get her up to speed on the issue with the demon, but before I could get a word out she started strangling me with magic. I was able to escape surprisingly easily (from what Celestia has told me, Twilight is probably the third most competent magic user in Equestria, behind herself and Luna, and maybe one of the most competent magic users who has ever lived), even in her distraught and unfocused state. But damn it that was scary. After she lost control of her magic, she made a half-hearted attempt to charge at me, which instead of ending in my impalement, ended in her collapsing, sobbing, into my arms. I’ve never been good at comforting, but I guess it just kind of felt right to let her cry it out for a while. I don’t know how long I sat there, but I can tell you, I felt awful. I feel responsible for the deaths, for the deaths of everypony in Las Pegasus. I should have stayed and made sure they ran the quarantine properly…

Entry #165
After Twilight had her incredibly justified outburst, I brought her to the town hall to talk with Mayor Mare on how best to fortify the town against the threat. Magic barriers run by the unicorns, drawing everypony to the town center until the demon is back in Tartarus…

Entry #167
Cloudsdale’s preparations complete.

Entry #168
Fillydelphia, Manehattan, Baltimare readied. Time to head out west, Dodge Junction. I trust Celestia and Luna can keep Canterlot safe.

Entry #169
Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit.
Dodge Junction looks exactly like Las Pegasus. Fucking everypony is dead. I’ll remove this, then go to Canterlot.

Entry #170
Not here too… something just flew out of my balcony.

Entries 171-182

Entry #171
I have got to stop almost getting myself killed for these ponies.

Entry #172
It’s been five months since the night of the attack. I’m barely able to write with magic; I couldn’t lift my arm to write manually even if I wanted to. I guess I have some catching up to do.

Entry #173
So… looking back at entries… after I saw the demon leave my room. After that, I… it’s a bit fuzzy, but friends are helping me remember what happened. I remember teleporting into the tower (teleport within and out of Canterlot, but not into the city), and I remember the Royal Guards… what was left of them, anyway. The two that weren’t dead were dying quickly, bleeding out from what looked like sword wounds. Luna and Pip were huddled together on the bed, covered in blood, and, thankfully, I recall thinking, it wasn’t theirs. Both had been infected with the stigma, though. Pip’s normally patchy coat was almost completely covered in the lesions and Luna’s coat was mottled and black. At that moment, I remember feeling more pure hatred than I ever had before, and immediately dashing out the window in pursuit of the demon. I know it sounds cliché, seeing my wife and son dying and going berserk, but… I never imagined it would be such a true thing.

Entry #174
Twilight tells me I met the demon in Ponyville, only moments behind, but it had already killed most of the citizens. I remember seeing Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s mangled corpses pasted on a wall, and a hulking, headless red mass that couldn’t have been anypony but Big Mac. Pinkie Pie’s deflated form was draped over Fluttershy’s body, a last ditch effort to save her that only got both of them killed. There was a commotion in the town square, I remember Twilight fighting the demon. Considering this creature had murdered entire cities full of ponies and nearly killed Luna, I remember her holding her ground shockingly well. I remember she was losing, though – her horn was cracked and she was covered in cuts and lesions. I remember… I remember starting to perform an incendiary spell, to distract the demon, get him away from her… when it broke her defenses and jammed a magic katana through the top of her skull. Magic takes a moment to prepare, just a split second, but that was all it took. That moment of forced inaction and one of Equestria’s finest was gone.

Entry #175
Hate. All I remember is hate. After it killed Twilight, I remember nothing but hate. Something changed. It was terrifying. The only thing I could liken it to is the stories Luna told me of what she felt when she was Nightmare Moon, the evil that took over her soul in her hate. Perhaps it even was the same evil. I don’t know. But it wanted everything to die – I wanted everything to die. And so I tried. I used that spell, that last, ultimate spell – Be No More.

Entry #176
It worked, in the simplest of terms. Everything that was supposed to happen happened, except for one part, obviously. I’m not dead. The demon is back in Tartarus, the populations of Las Pegasus, Dodge Junction, Canterlot, and Ponyville are all back to their living states. The key being the populations – Las Pegasus and Dodge still need to be rebuilt, since the demon didn’t destroy the cities, I did. I suppose I’ll have to oversee construction and aid the rebuilding process since I’m responsible. Anyway, the populations – all are living again and cleansed of the disease, even the Royal Guards and that first mailmare and her foal are back. Twilight, RD, Big Mac, everypony is alive again. All except one. There’s a local superhero of sorts, called Mare Do Well, who’s kind of like Batman it seems. The one pony who didn’t come back was a lone unicorn in a Mare Do Well costume. Twilight told me they kept her masked for the sake of respect. I do remember something, after the spell, after I slipped into blackness; I remember somepony saying something to me. Something along the lines of, “The something-and-something Mare Do Well owes this world more than you. She thanks you for your effort but cannot let you make this sacrifice.” Twilight teared up a bit when I told her that, so I’m guessing that clued her in to who it was. At any rate, while I was asleep – well, comatose – I still felt hate. These burning, awful nightmares and dreams that just… seethed would be a good word for it, just seethed hate. I’ve never been happier to wake up.

Entry #177
Dash and AJ got married a couple months ago. Twilight wanted them to wait until I woke up to get married, but after three months of me being comatose, she was forced to agree with Dash that I might not wake up. She apologized profusely for letting that happen, but I understand. Five months. I mean, damn, I would have thought I wasn’t going to wake up. That’s not the only thing that’s changed, with relationships – Twilight and Big Mac are dating, as are, shockingly, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Twilight said she and Big Mac took dying as a lesson that life can be unfortunately short and that they should live it, and that since they already had feelings for each other, it just took a traumatic event for them to realize it. Fluttershy was just so touched by Pinkie trying to save her that she didn’t know any way to express thanks aside from love.

Oh yeah, and I’m a pony now.

Entry #178
Nurse Redheart tells me that the main reason for this is that my human body got wrecked after I used the erasing spell. She said that, while it wasn’t beyond repair from magic, she, Luna, and anypony else that could have helped just didn’t know enough about my human body. Which, the more I think about it, makes perfect sense. The most obvious changes are physical. My skin, well, now my “coat” is a soft, vibrant blue, as are my eyes. I’ve got a shaggy brown and tan mane and a matching fluffy tail. The star-and-wings cutie mark that adorned my shorts is now actually my cutie mark. Though I’m not a unicorn, or an Alicorn for that matter, I can still use magic to the same extent that I could before. Twilight is amazed by this, thinking perhaps magic can be opened up to the other races than just unicorns. I’m a Pegasus, actually; apparently Luna had some say in my new body (which may explain some other things… I’ll just say the phrase “hung like a horse” comes to mind), and knew how much I loved flying. I am a very large Pegasus, though, only slightly shorter than Luna, so even though I look like them, I still tower over most ponies. I feel somewhat like a foal, though, even with my matured body. Walking on four limbs and maintaining coordination between them is a lot more difficult than walking on two legs. The fact that I’ve been in a coma for five months and am very, very weak probably has something to do with it, but being barely able to walk is kind of embarrassing. I can, thank Celestia, use my wings just like I did with the spell, a sort of rolling motion with my shoulders that rotates and flaps my wings at the same time. Like with walking, though, I can barely fly. There are mental changes too. My mind feels more free, faster, and more creative. My imagination is more colorful, new concepts come easier to me, thoughts are clearer… Maybe this was the blessing of Night Wish and Solara gave us… something that keeps Luna and I from getting killed. Looking at my track record here, that will be quite welcome.

Entry #179
Luna has been by my side since I woke up. In fact, she’s been feeding me energy to help write these journal entries. When I asked her why she couldn’t just heal me, she said it was because the darkness that made me hateful was the same thing that turned her into Nightmare Moon, at least by Nurse Redheart’s diagnosis, and just giving me an instantaneous hit of vitality could easily trigger it again. Luna said that as much as she’s helping me with energy to write this, she’s also been sapping energy from me to keep the evil from taking hold again. Pip has been with me, too, which has been incredibly helpful. He’s incredibly energetic and happy all the time, but can calm down just fine and help me get rest. Nurse Redheart said she’s willing to let me leave the Ponyville hospital (this little town is bigger than it seems), provided Luna keeps using the draining spells and that she be constantly prepared to fight me. It’s… it’s almost like the beginning again, being feared, yet somehow different. The ponies here don’t look at me in fear like they used to, but there’s a sort of… passive fear, I guess, that I can sense in their minds, a fear of what I might become. I just hope this goes away eventually…

Entry #180
It’s been another month or so… back living in Canterlot, life is mostly back to normal. I’m still a little weak, from the draining spells, but Redheart and Luna have let me up to about 90% of what I would have on my own. The evil is still there, but I think it’s going away. I get angry faster and I can feel it when I’m angry, a sort of burning sensation deep within my chest. And… thinking on it… it’s something I haven’t felt since I left the human world. When I first got here, I felt fear, but not hate. Right up until the demon, I’d never felt hate, or even that much anger. Even with the Manticore, I didn’t hate the creature, I just didn’t want any harm to come to the fillies; I was mad at what it did. I don’t like it.

I’m mostly used to my Pony body now – stairs still trip me up (literally) every now and then, but most of the time I fly up them anyway. My wings are stronger now, I can stay idly floating for quite some time. One thing that surprises me is how slowly I need to flap my wings to fly; perhaps a better way to say it is how not-fast my wings need to be going. Another thing is that my wings seem to display my emotions. They flare out involuntarily when I get angry or excited… it’s kind of embarrassing sometimes, but I suppose it does add to the intimidation factor if I’m yelling at somepony.

Entry #181
… I’m back to full strength now; I’ve been weaned off the draining spells. The hate is still there. I still get angry easier than I used to, and I yell a lot more than I want to. I think, though… I think this journal might have something to do with it. As I’ve been here longer and longer I’ve let go of my humanity more and more, and with it went my bad feelings. Nopony here hates anything or anypony else. Heck, most of the time nopony is even angry at another pony. I knew that, as a human, I bloody well didn’t belong here. As a pony, even though I still stick out like a sore thumb, it’s a lot easier for me to fit in. I’ll try to stop making journal entries now… this may actually be the last, unless something significant happens. Which, given all the wonderful, amazing, random inhabitants of Equestria, is more likely than it ever would have been in the human world.

Entry #182
I’m not sure how long it’s been since that last entry. A month, maybe two. Stopping with the journal definitely helped the hate in my chest decrease, but I can still feel it. But, like I said, something significant has happened. Something very significant. Something worthy of picking this thing up one last time. One thing I overlooked with my transformation was that the biological barrier I mentioned prior to this, the barrier from Luna getting pregnant… well, that barrier went away with my old body. After my, well, I guess transformation is the best word for it, neither Luna nor I were really thinking about pregnancy, since… I suppose it’s best to be frank. After I became a pony, the sex got a lot better, for both of us, and since we never really worried about pregnancy before, we didn’t think of it now. But you know what? I’m happy. I’m beyond happy. My perpetually flared wings and Pinkie-Pie-Smile are evidence enough of that. Family makes a house a home. I know I’ve said it a bunch before, but I am home now. It’s been a long journey, but I am home.