Rise

A story by somedude726

RISE

Chapter 4: The Calm Before The Storm

After a long four hours of waiting, the train had finally arrived in Canterlot, sure enough by evening. The six friends ran to the castle as soon as they were let off their car, in a hurry to see the princess. On the ride, Twilight had realized, she forgot to send a letter to Princess Celestia saying she was coming, but that didn't matter now. A far bigger importance is on the table here. They didn't get too much information from Jason before running off to Canterlot, but how his world was in such a bad state of weather, earthquakes, and none of his 'electricity', it almost seemed as if anypony could figure out what that meant. The weather wasn't controlled, but it must be controlled with all things considered, and whoever's doing it is making it terrible for the inhabitants of his world. And then, Jason ends up here. That, Twilight nor her friends could figure out why yet, but they had a pretty good idea of who's doing these things... an old friend, you might say.

***

Pony showers are shit.

Like DAMN, these things are tiny. I decided, if I was unconscious for so long, then went and had dinner with a horse, I needed to take a shower. The place where I make all of life's decisions. So I went back to the barn place. Got lost a few times, and it took me about a half an hour to find my way, but here I am. I think they should be in Canterwhatever by now-- it already has been like four hours. After eating, Lyra decided to show me around town a bit. I have to say, Ponyville is a really nice place actually! Lyra had shown me all the major restaurants in Ponyville, even this one near the outer part of town where the griffons eat. I thought it'd be best to just go with the flow and not freak out over hearing that there's griffons here, found that might be a good idea. Apparently, that's the only place in town that sells meat. I don't remember what it's called, but I'm definitely keeping the joint in mind.

I'd like to say I was only taking this shower for those life's decisions, but.. I smelled. Bad. Maybe because I had dinner with a horse. That lettuce sandwich was badass, though. It was filling, somehow. They like, took the bread, put some lettuce on it, then some sorta ranch dressing, and some goddamn croutons. It was great. I like pony food. I'm still not eating hay though. No matter how many times I tried to deny it, Lyra kept offering me some of her hay fries that I didn't even see her order. Suspicious. It probably came with the daisy sandwich though. Maybe I should try some of those flower sandwiches, no one ever said I couldn't. Did they?

Wait, right, I'm supposed to be taking a shower.

This shower sucks. Almost no water pressure, it's freakin' tiny, and from what I can see from the towel, I don't think it'll be able to fit me. Wait.. aw, crap. I just remembered I don't have any more pairs of clothes. I'm gonna need to wear the same pair. Ew. I'm gonna smell again. I guess I can say this shower was for life's decisions, then.

So.

I'm in a world where the superior race is ponies. Don't know shit about them, other than a little that Lyra told me. Apparently those cutie marks I tried to ask about are these.. well, they're tattoos, but they're natural. When you find your special talent, whether that's music, writing, baking or whatever, a picture representing it just kinda.. pops up on your ass. So that's a thing. I should probably find a library or something around, so I can know a little bit more, maybe read up on history or something. Heh, me wanting to read history. Yeah that isn't gonna happen, I can feel it already.

Apparently the six ponies that found me are the 'Elements of Harmony', or some shit. Twilight is the element of magic, Orangey is the element of honesty, the one that was breaking the laws of physics is the element of laughter, the rainbow one  was the element of loyalty, that white one with the curly mane is the element of generosity, and the yellow pony that was hiding behind her is the element of kindness. Something like that. I don't goddamn know. But, these elements, or ponies, or horses, or... ponies that hold the elements, or whatever the fuck they are, are freaking heroes! They saved this Equestria from some ass who tried to make it night forever, some guy who really likes crystals, and.. I don't even know what the hell this other thing was. Whatever he was, he sounded really badass. In the snap of a finger or whatever, he could make a chocolate milk of glass. And the clouds would rain chocolate rain. While I'd like to never see rain again, that sounded like a true sight. Too bad he ruined everyone's lives or something for a bit, though.

This is a really interesting place, I gotta say. Lyra was saying that Ponyville has some sort of crisis on a day-to-day basis, but, I still think I can kind of roll with it. The fact that there's no people around is gonna bother me, but, really, I haven't seen a human face in so long.. huh. And now I'm wondering if there's anyone else here. Why did I get sent here? Am I special or something? Maybe I'm not the only one here. Eh, that's probably just wishful thinking. But, I wonder if I'll get to be sent back. Honestly though, I don't know if I'd want to, I mean I don't want to abandon all my friends and family, but... I think I can live better here. Not sure if they'll be giving jobs to aliens here, but if I could find a way to make some money, I'd be better off living here. I don't think I want to go back to Earth, er, my Earth at least, with how it is nowadays. I'll still look for a way, I guess, but well who knows how long I'll be here-- maybe I should work on getting a job and a place.

Wait.. huh, I'm still in the shower.

Well I should probably get out of the shower now considering I've been here for like twenty minutes, I finally realized. Maybe see if Orangey has any books. Why do I feel the need to read? Why did I just rhyme?

***

The Elements now sat in the gardens of the castle. After asking to see the Princess, guards have told them to wait here, and when she is ready, she would come to see the six friends. They have been waiting for about fifteen minutes, now. She usually would not take this long, if they remembered correctly. They were nervous to no end, they knew something was wrong. What confirmed this for them?

The fact that Discord's statue was missing.

All of them searched high and low all around the gardens, but it was not found. It was gone. There was no reason to move it. With the bipedal creature here, supposedly from a different world, and Celestia being late, they could only draw one single conclusion.

Discord had found a way to escape, and the Princess may be in trouble.

"Girls.. come here, we're going in!" Twilight yelled out, at the realization of this. Everypony galloped over, and sat next to Twilight. Closing her eyes, Twilight concentrated her energy into a spell. Having to use almost all of her power, she had managed to teleport her and the other Elements into the throne room, although she was specifically told to not do that by the guards. She didn't care for that. She wouldn't have any of it. Twilight needed to see if her mentor was okay.

And was she?

Possibly.

But there was something off. To the surprise of the ponies, sitting on the throne was Princess Celestia, but her coat and mane had turned a dull grey, and she seemed a bit agitated at the sight of the six.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded to them, through gritted teeth.

"P-Princess, are you okay!? We think Disco--" Twilight started to speak, before getting cut off.

"Enough! I am well. Discord is fine," Celestia said, making it clear she didn't want them around for much longer.

"Oh, and another thing, Twilight?" she continued, squinting her eyes. "Don't call me Princess anymore. I'd rather you used my more recent title..."

"Queen. Queen Celestia." she finished, with a mischevious smile. Oh no. Twilight knew what was going on. Discord got here first. The princess wasn't going to be of any help, it seemed. Or queen...

***

"So basically, what you're saying is, you kick the shit out of the trees and the apples just happen to fall in the baskets."

"Eeeyup."

"That's.. that's not right! That's not right at all! What is this black magic!?"

"We're earth ponies, remember?"

"B-but that still doesn't make any sense!"

This place is weird goddammit. Right now, I was in the living room with Big Macintosh, and he was telling me about their apple orchard and how they do things around here. Apparently, they turn around, kick the trees with their hind legs, and the apples fall out and right into the baskets. The fuck is that about. I will never understand these things.

Knock knock knock.

And suddenly someone knocked at the door.

"Ah'll get it." Big Mac got up and walked over to the door. Whoever was at it was knocking repeatedly, seemingly in a hurry.

"Big Mac! Where's the human!?" someone at the door started asking as soon as Big Mac opened the door. From where I was, I couldn't see who was at the door, but it sounded like a young guy. Maybe like ten human years. Huh, guess I'll get to see a kid pony. Filly or something. It sounded male, though. Does filly mean girl?

Big Mac stepped away from the door to let the pony at the door in. Except.. um.. it wasn't a pony. Wasn't a pony at all.

"Hey! Jason! Hi, I'm Spike, I need to show you something quickly!"

"Oh my fucking god, you're a lizard thing. A talking one."

"Uhh, actually, I'm a dragon. And I am indeed talking."

"That is badass. Okay, little guy, except I don't know if that's correct, but anyone try to tell you you're not badass? Come get me."

So a dragon just casually walked in to the place, saying his name was Spike. Little guy was holding a scroll of some sort. He was small, no bigger than like, a dog or something. Honestly he looked like something you could keep as a pet. Shit, that'd be awesome, a dragon pet.

"Haha, thanks. I have been told different many times though, since I live around ponies. But anyway. I have something for you." he responded, giving me the scroll. So I unwrapped it, and tried to read it. But nope, can't read pony. Shit.

"Yo. I can't read pony. Mind uh... reading it for me?" I asked him, scratching my head. He nodded, and took the scroll back and read it out loud for me, no questions asked. This guy.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle, I have recieved.. yada yada yada.. okay, here's the important part. I believe there is a problem here, too. I have found out that there is a Human here on our land. You may have already met him, but from what I have seen, his name is Jason. He is truly from another world, and his is going through chaos. It is a highly advanced one, but yet its inhabitants are going through times where they are having trouble surviving. I believe I know the reason for this. Discord's statue is missing from the garden. I think I have reason to believe he might be responsible. I'd like to find, and possibly help the Human. If we can find Discord, and get him to fix what he has done, that would be for the best. But he may find us first. You need to gather the elements, and be ready to use them at any time. // Okay, alright, it stops here for a bit, Jas. Then it goes back a bit after, here. // Oh dear. Twilight, Discord is in the castle. I believe he is coming for me. If he comes to me, who knows what he may do. If he corrupts me like he did to you, then.. // alright, the letter stops here. I just got this now. Something's up, Jason. I think we need to see if they're okay." Spike read the letter to me.

Most of this didn't make much sense to me but.. I knew it was bad.

"Well fuck everything."