//------------------------------// // Man of the High Castle // Story: It All Started With A Big Bang // by Cipher800 //------------------------------// While we were at it, Pinkie gave me a few stops along the way to Ponyville. I had my thoughts about the three ponies from earlier. Their resemblance to Mario, Luigi, and Peach, while not obvious, gave me shivers, and not because of them. If they were reborn, then others would be as well. Now that would be scary, but they likely won't remember. But, back to the topic. She decided to go an alternate route, past two cities known as "Fillydelphia" and "Baltimare". What is it with this world and really bad horse puns of names of cities from Earth. Luckily, these visits were usually going out to eat once and such. And fortunately, it was clearly obvious that it wasn't a date, since some of her friends came in. Sure, I kinda made them nervous, but everything went swimmingly. Well, as swimmingly as it can get when a yellow and green monster's out and dining with them. Not long after, I saw the peak of Mount Canter in all its glory. We once again went through that cool tunnel, and sooner than later, we were back at Ponyville. As we went out of the Friendship Express, I stretched my arms wide. Unlike what the other cities have, Ponyville has been attacked by monsters constantly, and the town even got face to face with the occasional powerful thousand-year threat. No wonder they aren't fazed by me, but seriously, my interest wasn't in it. As I walked out of the station, I saw the Friendship Castle out in the distance. Home sweet home, for now. The crystalline interior was rather bizarre compared to the other castles I encountered, but virtually all of them dwarfed it in size. As the sound of my feet on the floor echoed through the halls, I heard someone else's pitter-patter. I turned around to see the white unicorn from earlier carrying a familiar purple lizard on her back. "Wait, since when does he glow?" I muttered as my eyes took notice on Spike's condition. His skin was glowing and he was scratching all over. Finally, some action. Despite the looks of things, she must be pretty fast and, admittedly, caught me off-guard. I decided to follow her, since this looked pretty interesting. In the room she arrived in, Twilight and the white and blue alicorns from before were just having some unique get-together of sorts. Why do I get the weird feeling I'm related to them? "I don't know! Nngh! All of a sudden, my scales just started glowing and... burning!" the lizard said as he kept on sracthing himself. Was this some kind of magical mosquito that did this? Now that'll be something I'd not want to be around. "Alright, lay it on me. What's all the ruckus?" I asked. "Oh, that. Little is known about dragon culture, but this is a phenomenon we've seen before. It is the call of the Dragon Lord." the blue princess said. Dragon Lord? That should be my title! "Dragons glow whenever the Dragon Lord has need of them in the Dragon Lands." the white alicorn said. Huh, that's quite interesting. I knew I should've practiced summoning spells more. "Lemme guess, ya have to answer his call?" I asked. Both elder alicorns nodded. "B-B-But the Dragon Lands are full of... dragons! And they're ghastly creatures! Oh, oh, not you, of course, Spikey-wikey. But remember that rotten Garble?" Rarity said. Who's that guy? For a second there, I saw Spike gulp. "How could I forget? He would have burnt us to a crisp if you weren't there. If I have to go to the Dragon Lands, would you two come with me?" he said in a fearful tone. This caught Twilight's attention. "Ooh! Oh my goodness, I'd love to! We are sadly lacking any information on dragon culture and customs. I could research them – maybe even write an article! This could be my chance to make a great contribution to the knowledge of Equestria!" Books, that's all she thinks about. But then again, I haven't known very much of this land since I first arrived. "And be there for Spike, heh, of course." "Well, somebody has to run the fort. Being out in the world with a pink pony at your side, can tire you out." I said. This is not my fight, I'm 13.7 billion years old and fell from the sky, so of course that guy wasn't aware of me, right? "Very well, be careful. The Dragon Lands are particularly dangerous for ponies. It would be wise to be discreet." the white alicorn said. "Ooh! I'm sure I still have the dragon costume we used the last time we snuck into the Dragon Lands!" Rarity replied. "But before we go, we might need something a little more practical." Twilight added. After they all left, I waved goodbye to them before walking in. Guess I'm the Man of the High Castle now. Kind of ironic that the term is from a book from Brooklyn. If that did happen, the Mushroom Kingdom would have a lot more humans than just the Mario Bros, Wario Bros, Peach, and Orange Peach. There's also Rosalina, but she doesn't count. If you are interested in alternate history, you should read it. I then turned to see Starlight. "So, what do you want to do? Perhaps a few games to pass the time?" I ask her. While they were gone, me and her had to do something. She nodded. So, we went into the library, beside the fireplace, and guess what? It had a board for checkers. We played a few rounds here and there, I won some rounds, and she won other rounds. For once, I've felt some bit of moving on. But what about those other ponies? Surely, one of them saw me, but they didn't seem to know. What does that even mean? Meanwhile, in Canterlot... Celestia and Luna were wondering about the strange dragon/turtle creature, who called himself Bowser. They clearly knew he fell from the sky, but they felt as if he was related to them. This creature is just getting more and more mysterious by the minute.