//------------------------------// // Music Festivals And Forgotten Memories. // Story: Twin Blades // by Craigulus Twinblade //------------------------------// "Umm. Excuse me, Mr.Twinblade? We need to get off the train. I mean, if that's okay with you...." Fluttershy had gently shoved her hoof into Craig's arm so that she could wake him up as peacefully as possible. It didn't seem to be working though, as the train conductor began to get annoyed. "Okay, look here fella! Unless you want to go all the way to Fillydelphia, I suggest you get off this train right now!" The disgruntled conductor growled. Craigulus slowly left his seat and stumbled his way off the train. Sleeping on a bumpy train ride was never an easy task and his nightmares didn't help either. Upon opening the doors he was bombarded by the flashing of cameras. Dazed and confused, he shielded his eyes with his arm. Twilight began to guide him through the crowd of ponies. "What in the name of Celestia is happening here?" the human yawned. Twilight gave a slight giggle. "Well, there are two things happening here in Ponyville this week." Twilight began. Craigulus's interest levels began to rise. "What is happening that's so special?" He questioned the purple alicorn. "First off, the Equestrian music festival is happening this week and Ponyville has been chosen to host the event! It's one of the loudest, most radical events of the year! So that's why we have all this riff-raff. Also, Vinyl Scratch is playing in her own hometown with her biggest hits!" Twilight went on. Rainbow Dash overheard the conversation and landed next to Craigulus. "Rumor has it, Vinyl has a new hit single to premier at the festival!" The rainbow haired pegasus grew excited. Craigulus got a little excited from this hype. He didn't even know if Equestrian music would appeal to him, but he wanted to go to the festival! "We should go there!" The warrior became enthusiastic. "We definitely should! The citizens of the host city get free admission on the night when local artists play so why not?" Pinkie Pie's party withdrawal was getting serious! Before Craigulus even realized it, they had gotten to the front door of Twilight's library. They opened the door and dashed inside quickly as not to let anyone in with them. But as they sat down on the couches and chairs, they noticed two ponies by the name of Lyra and Bon-Bon had sneaked in behind them! "OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! A REAL HUMAN! Please let me interview you!!!" Screamed the conspiracy theory crazed Lyra, whom had been known her whole life as the one pony whom thought humans actually existed. Bon-Bon rolled her eyes "Please don't mind her. She has been waiting for this moment her entire life. You wouldn't believe how much bragging she has been doing lately about how she was the only one who truly believed in humans before your arrival." Craigulus now understood what the 'second thing' was about Ponyville this week. It was that he was here! In a split second, Craig's ego grew five sizes that day. "Sure! Just grab a quill and paper and we'll begi-" Before he knew it, Lyra the unicorn was sitting right in front of our hero as she used her magic to use the quill and paper. Beginning to speak, she began writing as well. "What is the name of the world humans live on?" She began the question and answer session. "Earth! I come from one of it's one hundred and ninety six countries, called Canada!" Craigulus answered with pride. "Is it true that you guys don't use magic at all?" Lyra raised one eyebrow. "Well, yes! We rely solely on technology to allow us to do some of the things we can't normally do with our natural abilities. One of those would be flying." The human explained. "Is it true that you have multiple beliefs where you come from? In Equestria, there is only one belief called 'Galaxianism' where every sentient race has their own god to worship. For example, if you are a pony or cervid of any type you worship Galaxia. If you are a griffon, you worship Griffthor! Sure we have our fair share of cults like the 'cult of the draconequus' where Discord is worshipped, but that one is slowly dying since Discord is now into the Galaxian teachings of friendship. And, well...." "Well, what?" Craig tilted his head after a small pause. "There is also the God King cult. I can't believe ponies actually dabble in that sick, disturbing stuff!" Lyra was clearly disgusted. "Hmmmm, sounds like the equivalent of a satanist cult to me." Craigulus thought out loud. "Interesting." Lyra replied. Craigulus straightened himself up in his seat and continued being interviewed. "We have tons of different things we call 'religions' back where I come from. There is Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and so many more. I just so happen to be a christian! Although I do like the way you have organized yours over the centurys. Back where I come from, some people kill each other over their beliefs. The way you've set it up is genius though, because when the gods live together, there is no reason for the believers to hate on one another." Craigulus explained. The room was in shock. Everyone's jaw had dropped so hard you probably could have heard some sort of sound effect from it. "Y-you guys kill each other over your beliefs?!" Lyra stuttered. Before things got a little more strange, Craigulus continued the subject of humanity. "It is an extremely sad reality, but it's true. Throughout human history we have taught ourselves that when we want something such as land, food, gold, or simply to convert people, we go to war over it. It really sucks being human sometimes. At least you Equestrian folk aren't driven to war by greed most of the time." Craigulus bowed his head in shame. Twilight placed her hoof on the human's shoulders. "It's all okay. Not every species is capable of peace-making!" Twilight gave him a reassuring smile. Suddenly, a knock came from the door. Craigulus had taken the honor of seeing who it was. Upon opening the door, a certain white coloured, blue-maned, purple sunglasses wearing unicorn mare barged in and shut the door behind her to avoid letting any riff-raff follow her in. VINYL SCRATCH!?!?!?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!?! Everyone shouted in unison. "Yep, that's right! Ponyville's very own DJ Pon3 is in the house! Radical, isn't it!" The musician introduced herself rather casually. Applejack unleashed her inner fan girl. "Howdy there, Ms. Scratch! What brings ya here? I love yer music so much!" She shook her hoof frantically. "Well, I heard the human was here. I took the liberty of just walking in here to ask him if he wanted to play in my show! It would really draw the crowd and really, who wouldn't want to see a human perform? Apparently he knows a dance move called 'the shuffle' or something crazy like that! I really want to see if he can help me with my new song today so i can perform it properly tomorrow!" The DJ pony ecstatically explained. Craigulus couldn't turn this offer down. There was only one problem though, he didn't know any of the songs! How could he possibly do the performance when he doesn't know any lyrics? "Vinyl, I don't know any of the-" "Lyrics? That's okay! I can hook you up back at my crib! Let's rock!" The unicorn and the human nearly walked out the door before Twilight stopped them. "Umm, Wouldn't you two like to just teleport to the place instead? It'll save you the hassle of fighting the crowds." Twilight offered. The duo nodded and in a flash they were in DJ Pon3's basement recording studio. It was a sick set up! Alot of the technology looked similar to what Craig saw back home. Sitting by the laptops preparing the sounds for the show were two zebras. "We're back!!!!" Vinyl Scratch signaled. "Yo wassup, Vinyl?" The zebra with the gold chains and sunglasses greeted her with a dash of swag. "Not much, Zanye West. Aside from bringing the human here who has agreed to perform for us! YYYYEEEEEEEEEAAAA!!!!!" The DJ pony shouted in excitement. The zebra with the cigar in his mouth and a 'Manehattan Nets' hat, known as 'Jay Zebra' looked at the human and nodded his head and smirked. "Wassup, man? The name's Jay Zebra. You can just call me Jay-Z." The rapper greeted the new kid. Craigulus put his chill factor on. "My name is Craigulus Twinblade! Nice to meet a successful musician such as you!" Craigulus introduced himself, failing to be chill in every way possible. Vinyl Scratch approached the laptop and handed Craig some huge headphones. "Here, just keep listening to the set playlist repeatedly until you've memorized the lyrics. It shouldn't be too hard right?" Craigulus heard the first song which was set to be the opening song. To his surprise he had heard this song back on earth! Some of the lyrics had just been modified and that was the same for the rest of the songs too! Forty-five minutes of listening later, he had memorized all the songs. It was an easier task than he thought. Seeing as all of the songs were just modified versions of songs from earth. Craigulus jumped to the conclusion that some things that were made on earth were somehow copied in Equestria! That would explain some of the city names being puns. "Okay, I can do this." Craigulus took a deep breath, getting butterflies in his stomach. Vinyl Scratch got a huge smile on her face, completely hyped about Craig's decision. "What's your stage name?" she wondered. Craigulus never thought of that before, what is his stage name? He had a long pause. "Well, what is it? Don't be shy about it!" DJ Pon3 teased. "My stage name is 'Berzerker'. I just made that one up so forgive me if it sounds lame." Craigulus made himself smaller. "IT'S AWESOME!!!! You should go home and rest for the day though, because the concert is tomorrow!" Craigulus and Vinyl bumped fist and hoof as Craigulus left. As he fought the crowds outside, he noticed that he had his blades on the back of him that whole time! That reminded him about the meditation the princesses told him to do. He swore to himself that after he got through the crowds, he would sit down and meditate on the thoughts in those swords! Twilight was writing a letter to the princess concerning the recent decisions Craigulus had made. It didn't seem right that he would just go with Vinyl Scratch to do a concert other than train. So far, the next hero of Equestria didn't seem all that committed to training. The whole table shook as the door slammed open and shut again. Twilight had been strartled. "Craigulus!?!? Could you please knock before you enter?!" Twilight was clearly annoyed. "What would you rather? A quick entrance to keep out this crowd, or a polite and slow entry where hordes of ponies have the chance to invade this library?" Craigulus asked with his arms crossed. Twilight didn't know what to say. "I, ummmm....." "Exactly. Anyway, i'm going to the guest room so I can meditate. Please tell Spike that i'm in there so i'm not interrupted?" Craigulus began walking up the stairs. "Okay then!" She began writing more of the letter, Walking up the steps, Craigulus unsheathed his blades and began to speak to Sir Canter. "Sir Canter? Could you please tell me about your knowledge of the way a human uses magic? I just remembered how strange it was that you knew how to teach me that energy beam attack." Craigulus began. "Well, It's a long story so here we go! Back in the days when I still had a body, I knew a unicorn by the name of Starswirl the Bearded. You must have heard of him, a lot of his spells are still used to this day. A colt of many secrets is what the ponies of that time describe him as, and they had a right to describe him as such!" At this point, the human sat on the bed in the guest room. "It is common knowledge that he only had one apprentice, and that is me! What people don't know, is that he actually had a secret apprentice that only I know about! An in your face, fedora-wearing, long haired human with an accent he called 'Australian'. He would play mind games with his opponents, getting under their skin. The tactic actually worked in most cases. I watched as Starswirl the Bearded would teach him how to use magic. He was like a brother to me." Craigulus's mind began to race again. Another human in Equestria before him? That was surprising. "So I guess he died a long time ago right?" Craigulus searched for confirmation. Sir Canter paused for a second. "Yea, he went down with a manticore in the battle against Discord shortly before my mortal body was destroyed by the princesses own magic beam." Sir Canter explained. Craigulus had even more questions. "What happened to Starswirl?" "Well, apparently he failed princess Celestia's lessons because he couldn't get past his personality flaws. You see, he was extremely racist. He hated everything that wasn't of the equine race, so he failed in his quest of becoming an alicorn. He commited suicide shortly after and ascended to Haven. To think, if he just put aside his hatred and fully understood the magic of friendship things would have been so different." Canter ranted. "Wait a second, how do you know about the way Starswirl died?" Craigulus grew curious. "My soul was in the blades when it happened, and he had them at the moment. When the ponies found him, they gave the blades to the princesses. That is when they propped up the blades on the altar. My whole existence in these blades has been miserable since I was told by Galaxia herself that I had to wait for you to use these blades, and that I could go to Haven when you finally killed the God King. That was originally my destiny and you know what? I think it still is. Why else would she keep me in these things for so long?" Canter concluded. Craigulus thought about any other possible logic holes in his explanation. "What was Starswirl's destiny?" he wondered. "It was simply to forge the twin blades and to train Jebediah and I. And before you ask, yes that was the human's name. Jeb's destiny was to help me defeat the God King but I guess since he died, it was pointless for me to live on in my mortal body." Everything seemed to fit so well, so Craigulus stopped the questions and began meditating. It seemed to go on forever until he finally found a memory. The memory appeared to be from the perspective of Starswirl the Bearded who seemed to be having an angry moment inside his log house. He slammed his hoof on the table. "DAMMIT ALL CELESTIA!!!!! Why in the hoof would you do this!?!?! Why would you give him permission to leave? It doesn't make any damned sense! First you tell me I've failed your test, now you let him go to Cervidas!!!! My apprentice Sir Canter is dead and this is how you treat me!?!?! I'VE HAD ENOUGH! I'LL BE SURE TO TELL YOUR MOTHER IN HAVEN HOW YOU HAVE DISGRACED ME AND THIS COUNTRY OF EQUESTRIA!!!!! Starswirl used his magic to place a blade against his throat. "Goodbye, fair Equestria." Those were his last words as he slit his throat open. Blood gushed out of his throat in large quantities as he fell to the floor and that was where the memory ended. The blades were clearly on him, as Craigulus saw a mirror in his house that showed a reflection. The current hero of Equestria threw up in his mouth a little as he saw the death of the old unicorn. He began to think about the pony Starswirl had been yelling about. Who was he and why was the old wizard so enraged about him leaving? It couldn't have been Jebediah, he was killed in the battle earlier! Placing the thought in the back of his head. He meditated a little more and after fifteen minutes of concentration, he saw another memory begin. It was from the perspective of a much younger Starswirl. It was night time and he was staring at his reflection in the waters of a still river. Levitating a lamp at his side, he began to cry. "Why? Why did they kill my parents? Griffon bastards! How dare they attack Equestria! One day I will avenge my parents!" The unicorn stopped for a moment. His face went from rage, then to sorrow. "But, I'm so weak. I'm failing magic school and I've been stuck in the eighth grade for two years now. I'll never be strong enough, especially with those blasted Ziggers beating me up!" Starswirl began to cry even more. Craigulus was shocked at how unbelievably racist this unicorn was! He used the freaking 'Z' word for goodness sake! Craigulus began to guess that this unicorn had been growing up in a time where basic huma-, or.....pony rights Craigulus guessed, had not been thought of yet. Suddenly, a massive noise knocked the young unicorn down and he looked off into the distance. It appeared that an explosion had went off, so Starswirl was going to check it out! The scene changed and it appeared that the explosion was from a small asteroid. A crater was surrounding it and as Starswirl approached the asteroid, he saw two small alicorn foals slowly crawling out of the asteroids. One of them was a dark blue colour with a sparkling dark blue mane. That one had a crescent moon as it's cutie mark. The other one had a sun as its cutie mark. It was coloured white with a flowing pink mane. "Oh my, this is odd!" Starswirl lifted his eyebrow. The white one began to speak. "I'm Cewestia! Awe you Stawswirl?" Celestia spoke for the first time. Starswirl was dumbfounded. "Y-yes, why do you ask little one?" he asked with an awkward smile. "Momma said that me and Woona should be taken care of by you!" the baby alicorn smiled in a cute way. Starswirl could not believe this. Beginning to grow dizzy, he heard a voice in his head and it sounded so crystal clear. "Starswirl, their name shall be Celestia and Luna. They shall lead Equestria into a golden age and they will teach you how to become more powerful than you could ever imagine!" The blue unicorn in the starry cape and wizard hat looked all around him, confused. "Who said that? Who is it!?!?!" "I am the one they call Galaxia! Ruler of the universe! I command you this night to master the ways of magic within your life. If you do this and create two magical blades, you will be granted a home as a hero in Haven. The rest will be revealed to you in good time. Farewell, Starswirl the Bearded." Galaxia concluded. Starswirl let the two alicorns climb onto his back with a smile. He stood up and began walking home while speaking to himself. "So, I am destined for greatness! Thank you Galaxia, thank you so much." The memory ended. Craigulus opened his eyes, sheathed his blades, and fell back on his bed. The first thing that came to his head was the fact of how awesome Equestrian history was so far! The way this whole buildup toward his arrival worked was just so interesting. Destiny seemed to be a huge thing to the heroes of history so far. The second thing that came to his head was how strange the first memory was. Who was the pony who left for Cervidas and why was he so important to Starswirl the Bearded? The obvious choice would be Jeb, but he died in the battle! Unless...... "Sir Canter? Are you sure that Jeb died?" "Of course I am!" Sir Canter's voice sounded irritated. "That Manticore clawed him open! I saw it with my own eyes!" Sir Canter did sound honest enough, so the hero believed the fallen general. Looking out the window, he found that the sun had just set on the town of Ponyville. Astonished at how long a meditation session lasted, he left the room and marched downstairs to find the bearers of harmony, minus Rainbow Dash and Applejack, drinking tea and conversing. "Why is it always tea?" Craigulus wondered in his head. A certain yellow pegasus began to speak. "Good evening, sleepyhead." Fluttershy began. "Would you like some?" She raised a full cup to Craigulus. "Sure, and by the way, I was meditating that entire time!" Craigulus corrected the shy pegasus. Twilight liked to hear that news. She had been instructed to keep an eye on him so the princesses had eyes in Ponyville as well as Canterlot. The fate of the world does rest in his hands, and it would be a huge shame if he failed. Rainbow Dash entered the room with Applejack in tow. "Hey Craigulus! We made these hockey sticks for you! How do you like them?" Rainbow Dash pulled a wagon-full of them in with her. The human examined the sticks and to his surprise, they were really smooth and well made. Some of them were taller than others and the blades of the sticks were sometimes misshapen but aside from that, they were great! "Good work you two! We're getting one step closer to hockey in Equestria! When's the winter coming anyway? We need an ice surface!" Craigulus enthusiastically bumped their hooves. "The weather ponies are instructed to bring the first snowfall at the beginning of next month." Applejack answered Craigulus's question. "Good, Good....." Rarity sipped her tea and put it down on the saucer. "Well, it is getting rather late and we should all be going to bed. I met up with Vinyl Scratch today and she told me to tell Craigulus that sleep is always the best thing you can get before a performance and I think that goes for the fans attending the concert as well. Good night everypony!" the purple-maned unicorn concluded elegantly. The group of friends said their goodbyes and left. Craigulus Twinblade, Spike, and Twilight were left. "I think we should go to bed too!" requested a smiling Spike the Dragon. They all agreed and left for bed. Craigulus would just have to sleep on the memories the blades had shown him. It was no use to let them bother him tonight anyway. Taking the scabbards off his back, he placed them on the floor next to the bed. He needed to get all the sleep he could and he wasn't going to be woken up by a nightmare, or at least he would try not to be. Laying down in his bed, he blew the candle out and drifted to sleep.