//------------------------------// // Life in the Castle // Story: It All Started With A Big Bang // by Cipher800 //------------------------------// After the fiasco with Flurry Heart and the Crystal Empire, we were back... at home, I suppose. But, I must confess, I did not go dormant right away after the universe was reborn. Yes, as I said before, I was hurled into the event horizon. I must have spent one hundred thousand years in the primordial universe before falling asleep. I didn't age or need to sleep or eat, just exist. For a plan that was days in the making, I blew it, and yes, it was extremely boring. At first, I went mad, but after a few millennia, I got bored with that, too and went sane and a bit tired of it, so I fell into a state hyper-hibernation until I woke up right here in Ponyland. Admittedly, the village has a way of keeping me entertained. Hey, if you were in the situation I wound up in, or at least something similar to it, then even the most mundane of things can keep you going. I wish this was another fit of delusions of mine, but this is not such a delusion, it was all too real, I can feel it. Currently, I am walking down one of the hallways in Twilight's castle, going into my room. It was virtually cavernous, and has some basic furniture made for me. "Out of all the possible planets I could have landed onto, I went into this!" I roared into the sky, or the ceiling, to be more specific before looking out the window with my hands behind my back. "Keep it together, Bowser, you've come this far and it could've still been worse than your situation. At least I wasn't being cornered by thousands of tarantulas on a train..." "Yeah, those things are creepy..." a perky voice said. I jumped up in shock and immediately turned grabbed the perpetrator to see that see that super-coffee drinking pink pony from when I first woke up in the hospital. "I'm guessing that you are feeling down, lately?" Pinkie said in her usual cheerful tone, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there a giant fire-breathing turtle in the room. "How the heck did you know that?" I asked in confusion. "Eh, just a hunch." Pinkie said as I dropped her. She casually just got up and hopped out of the room in her usual happy dance. I swear she drinks inhuman amounts of coffee to be this hyper. But, then again, how does she do it? There's got to be some explanation, scientific, magical, I'll believe any of it. "Hopefully, some fresh air would help with this..." I whispered to myself as I got out the door to go to the balcony, only to find that Pinkie character again. "But, how? It's like you know my every move!" I stammered in confusion. "I decided to follow you, and I've got my sister, Maud, visiting. Twilight thought you might need a little help, and bam, here we are." Pinkie said casually. "Help? What do mean by help me? I'm friggin' Bowser, I need no help with my emotions." I said proudly, crossing my arms in pride, only for the pink pony to laugh. "Oh, silly Bowsie. Everypony needs help." "Ugh! That again? I'm not a pony, and there's clearly non-pony inhabitants here." I say plainly. It's just plain confusing. The inhabitants of this world I seen so far, even that weird lizard, said the pony effix instead of body in everybody. Its just anypony this and somepony there. Now I'm starting to think the ones who made the language in this universe were racist. "I know just the adventure you need. Rarity has opened her shop in Canterlot and is on her way to the Manehattanite division. Me and her are gonna met my sister, Maud, and Twilight suggested that you should come along in the ride." she said, either totally not paying attention or not caring in the matter. I snorted and let smoke come out from my nostrils at that response, making a good cartoon impression. "Oh, come on, we'll have a blast!" she said, grabbing my arm with her hoof. I don't know how they do such a thing without hands. Soon enough, I was stuffed into the Friendship Express, again, and we set off for Manehattan. Hopefully, this trip will be nice and peaceful, just like the last one was. "We're going to Manehattan, we're going to Manehattan, we're going to Manehattan...!" I was wrong. That annoying pink horse has little self control and was literally bouncing all over the place as I sat on my seat, teeth gridding and hands on my ears as I was trying to get that song out of my head. Heck, even the others are just as annoyed with her as I am. Fortunately, she stopped when she came into contact with Rarity, who was nonplussed with the situation and... filed her hooves with her magic? Okay, the magic part I get but this I don't. "Yes, yes, Manehattan, the height of sophistication, elegance, culture... Since my boutique in Canterlot has been doing so nicely, it only makes sense for me to open one there as well." Rarity said, barely unfazed with the pink nuisance. "We're almost there! Why doesn't your face look like this?! Eee... " Pinkie squealed. She was not lying when she was excited about seeing her sister. I mean, who wouldn't be excited to see a relative in a long time. I saw everyone die before me, and yes, I cried at that moment. Yes, I normally don't cry, but that was another story. My depression was one of the key things that drove me into madness billions of years ago. "Oh, Pinkie, dear, this is just a business trip for me. I need to scour the city for the most perfect location for my new shop. And while it's lovely how excited you are, there's absolutely no chance of me getting swept into the–" her calm demeanor vanished when she saw the city. "energy, the beauty, the majesty of the greatest city in all of Equestria!" I looked at the window to see this Manehattan city that she was excited about. Bah, it looked like nothing more than a cheap ripoff of New York City to me. "So this is Manehattan. Why am I not amused?" I say sarcastially before that white unicorn went up to me. "You simply don't get it. The sheer beauty of this city is absolutely divine!" she said in an excited manner. It didn't take any longer before we were at the station. Of course, she'd be the first one to open it. "This city's simply a-ma-zing! It's just... everything, ever!" she almost squealed in sheer excitement at what I can only describe as just another big city full of typical riff-raff. I'm quite surprised, to be honest. Usually, everybody that I come into contact with panics and runs away from me while screaming in fear. All I see is ponies just, going on about their business. "And it's about to get everything ever-er!" Pinkie said in excitement. "And how is that gonna get any better?" I ask with a shallow grunt. "Because guess who I see!" Pinkie said before pointing at a grey earth pony with a purple mane. "M-A-U-D! You know what that spells?" She said, going down the stairs and SOMEHOW arranging her body to form the letters she was saying before landing next to the pony she pointed at. "Anyone would know that spells "Maud", now, can we-" my sentence was interrupted by the pink pony, who squealed in excitement at being with her sister and fired a cannon full of... confetti? Whatever happened, it caused a big scene that attracted some attention, and the pink pony once again tried to grab me, but I was prepared and simply stepped to the side as she pulled the unicorn and whoever she is into a big hug before releasing it, this Maud character's face still retaining its signature deadpan face, and surprisingly unnerved at the recent ruckus. I sure hope that I can get through this with my sanity intact.