Arc Two: The Elements of Harmony
Magic.
In our world, magic is fantasy. It’s an excuse used to explain what is unexplainable and beyond the limits of our current reality. As the saying goes, sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
In the pony world, magic is commonplace. Need a book but don’t have a ladder? Ask a friendly unicorn to pass it along. Salt on the table too far away? No problem. If he’s feeling particularly fancy, the unicorn can even swap it with the nearby pepper and make it seem like it was in your reach to begin with!
So in a world where magic is everywhere, what does it mean to be the Element of Magic?
After the beginning of term speech, I’d like to say I reacted appropriately to the situation I’d brought upon myself.
By which I mean that the instant we were allowed to leave I was running back to the orphanage, locking myself up in a vacant room without greeting anypony and starting to think.
‘Twilight Sparkle is the main protagonist of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and is known throughout Equestria as both Princess Celestia’s protege and the Element of Magic.’
… Is what I wanted to think.
The main problem with that line of thought was that not only had none of that happened yet, but it also wasn’t going to happen because I had somehow permanently changed the timeline of events shown in the show.
… Probably.
The source of my uncertainty was the issue that came with time travel, of any kind. Because I knew the events of a possible future, I had tried my best to stick to everything I knew about the MLP: FiM canon up to the latest season I’d seen, so as to not make that future knowledge useless…
But considering the fact that an entirely new pony that also happened to be Celestia’s personal student had suddenly appeared as if from thin air, in my mind it had become obvious that somewhere along the way, I’d done goofed.
There was no point in trying to preserve the timeline anymore.
So it was that in a vacant room inside of ‘Celestia’s Orphanage for Ponies in Need’ the human-turned-pony known as Lost Hope made a decision that would change the rest of pony history forever.
It was time to make a change.
During the weekend that would follow, I analyzed the results of my decision and what I would have to do because of it.
The main problem that came with ditching the show’s original storyline was that certain events were still likely going to happen, regardless of whatever changes I had already made.
First, Nightmare Moon was going to come back. That had a thousand year old prophecy backing it, I wasn’t lucky enough for it not to happen.
Second, Celestia was going to try to get the Elements of Harmony ready in time to fight Nightmare Moon. While I knew very little about what Celestia had done to achieve it, the fact that the five ponies that came about to represent the other Elements happened to live in Ponyville, which also occurred to be the place that the Summer Sun celebration that Celestia’s student had to organize exactly 1000 years after Luna’s banishment couldn’t be a coincidence.
Third, Nightmare Moon would only be defeated by six ponies using the Elements of Harmony to purify the evil from Luna. If she could be forced to surrender, surely Celestia would have done it 1000 years ago when she had the Elements at her disposal to threaten Nightmare Moon with?
Fourth, at some point if Equestria was still standing after Nightmare Moon, Discord would come back. The simple fact I was here, thanks to ‘Discord.Inc’, already showed that despite his current stony disposition, his powers were obviously returning.
Finally, I didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to avoid a Changeling invasion even if I managed to warn the ponies before it happened.
After assessing everything I thought was practically guaranteed to happen, I decided to plan out my next course of action.
1: Identify the Element of Magic.
2: Befriend them, to the point were they’d warn you if they suddenly had to leave for Ponyville.
3: Go to Ponyville.
4: ???
5: Profit.
Throughout my life I have had my share of bad ideas, bad plans and bad projects. So let’s just say that this one would break all sorts of records…
Subject 1: Twilight Sparkle
Even after making friends in Ponyville, Twilight was never the most social of ponies. You could tell because she worked in a library and generally only interacted on screen with the mane six. In fact, if you consider her reaction to Pinkie Pie’s welcome party in the first episode, one could probably make an argument for anti-social.
So imagine my surprise when I learned that Twilight Sparkle had friends in CSGU.
I began my recon mission that very Monday, right after History. It was difficult to concentrate with the occasional wad of paper hitting my head from the very back of the classroom, but I managed to make it through the class while taking notes of the most important details the professor said.
While I would usually write down everything back in human school, it was very difficult to do so in CSGU because most teachers expected a literally magical writing speed and wouldn’t slow down their dictation just for me. They did repeat something when I asked them to do so, but it led to some groans coming from the jocks in the back and glares to be thrown at me from the brainier folk who didn’t want to be delayed because of the grounder.
I had recently learned that ponies actually had slang! While it wasn’t commonly used simply because ponies generally liked each other and made friends easily, ‘insults’ for each of the pony phenotypes did actually exist: ‘grounders’ for earth ponies, ‘flumpers’ for pegasi and ‘kretins’ for unicorns.
I suppose I should have been insulted, but honestly compared to actual insults thrown around in high school this, was almost pitifully tame. Still, gotta applaud them on the creativity I suppose.
Twilight wasn’t hard to find when you weren’t actively trying to avoid her. During most break periods she rushed off to the library, usually looking for information on whatever the teacher had mentioned would be the topic of the next class.
What was much, much more surprising was the fact she wasn’t alone.
Walking next to her was another unicorn filly that was practically a recolor of Twilight in terms of looks, to the point where it was almost creepy. Her skin was a very pale yellow, while her mane was mostly red with a purple stripe in the middle were Twilight’s pink stripe was. I couldn’t see her eyes from behind, but I would later learn they were exactly the same as Twilight’s.
It was while I was *cough* analysing *cough* this new filly that it occurred to me that Twilight had gotten her cutie mark, most likely meaning that Spike had been hatched after her magic went crazy. No idea about the personal student business though, considering Sunset Shimmer seemingly popped out of thin air. The other filly’s cutie mark was a crescent moon with small sparkles around it, very similar to Twilight’s own sparkles.
You could almost say they were sisters, but Twilight had only mentioned her brother back in our public school…
They didn’t talk much while heading to the library, but it was obvious that they were going together and not just happening to move in the same direction.
Along the way to the library, they even met up with three other fillies and had a brief talk before moving on. I think one of them was in my class, Lemon something.
Regardless, it was obvious that while not exactly a social accolite, Twilight had friends before moving to Ponyville… despite the fact that in the show she said she hadn’t had any friends in Canterlot?
More timeline discrepancies?
Once they arrived at the library, they greeted the suspiciously friendly and probably evil librarian. She smiled and pointed them over to an empty table. The way she did it implied to me that it wasn’t the first time they’d visited.
I had learned my lesson though. This time, instead of trying to sneak by or ignore the librarian, I would instead politely ask-
“What do you want?” she said in a suddenly irritated voice that left no doubt that she had not only already made her first impression of me, but also wasn’t going to change it regardless of what I did.
Celestia dammit
“Just needed to do some homework ma’am!” I said quickly, knowing that even if she apparently didn’t like me if I quickly got out of her mane surely-
“I don’t believe you.”
Huh?
“This is the library of the most prominent magical institution in Equestria. Why would an Earth pony such as yourself be required to come here to do homework?” She said ‘homework’ in a mocking imitation of my voice.
“But this is an assignment for History-”
“Magical History belongs to unicorns. There is no need for you or any other earth pony to learn it, as it does not concern-”
“Ms. Bookends, wait!” Hearing a concerned voice intervene, both of us turned to see Twilight and her friend from before standing next to the librarian’s desk.
“Excuse me, but Hope here was going to help me on my assignment on Starswirl’s 200 spells. That’s why he needed to come in.” As she finished her lie, Twilight shot me a look to go along.
“Y-yeah! Twilight knew that she and her friend were gonna have trouble looking up all 200 spells, so I decided to lend her a helping hoof!” I smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head with my left hoof.
She briefly frowned at that, then her eyes widened and she smirked at Twilight.
“But Miss Sparkle, your friend Moon Dancer is already here helping you. Why would you require his assistance?”
Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise, then she shot a look at Moon Dancer and then one at me. I subtly moved my hoof in a circle.
go on…
“Ah… Well, you see Ms. Bookends, I already know Hope from before, and he has exactly the skills required for him to help us with this project!” Twilight brightly finished, apparently very happy with her quick thinking.
The librarian didn’t seem so convinced though.
“If that is the case, then pray tell, why haven’t I seen the two of you together before? And what skills could an earth pony like him possibly have to help you on a magical project?” She sneered at that last part, as if the very idea was ludicrous.
“I met Hope back in my old school, which I was still attending until this year. We studied Magical Theory together, and he’s very good at it!” It looked like Twilight was getting incensed at the old unicorn’s insinuations and had decided to defend me. I’ll admit to being slightly touched.
While it looked like the unicorn mare wanted to argue the matter further, when she looked at the clock hanging on the wall in front of her desk, all of the fight seemed to drop out of her and she just sighed deeply.
“Very well, I can see that there is no way I can convince you Twilight, but I urge you to be careful. While you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, you also have to remember that covers are the key to it getting sold in the first place.”
After that misguided attempt at advice and a last glare sent my way, Ms. Bookends went back to whatever work she was doing.
We quickly sat down in the table the fillies had been using, with Twilight staring at me like I was crazy and Moon Dancer staring at Twilight in exactly the same manner.
I decided to break the awkward silence.
“Thanks Twilight, you really saved me there. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t stepped in,” I told her softly, making sure to keep my voice down before I got kicked out of the library for lightly sneezing. Again.
“Hope, what were you thinking!?” She almost shouted this aloud, then seemed to remember we weren’t in the best place for that, toning it down. “You know that most Canterlot unicorns don’t like earth ponies, you’ve even complained to me about it before, so why did you come here on your own? Why didn’t you bring a friend or two to back you up in case something like that happened?”
I couldn’t exactly answer that one without being either very pitiful or very awkward.
“Uh… Well… You see...”
Luckily, Moon Dancer came to my rescue… sort of.
“Twilight… I don’t think he has any friends here…” she said silently while looking down at the book she had gotten off a library shelf while Twilight interrogated me.
It was obvious from the get-go that she wasn’t the most… social of ponies.
After hearing that, Twilight’s eyes widened and she turned her head back to me.
I nodded sadly.
“I see… Well, I guess I can introduce you to my friends then?” she offered, prompting a hopeful smile.
“Sure!” I said with enthusiasm, mentally high-fiving myself for another well-executed performance.
“Well then… I suppose I should start off with Moon Dancer here!” Twilight exclaimed, having quickly forgotten we were in a library. It was then that suddenly, defying all logic, about 11 unicorn heads of varying ages appeared out of nowhere around our tables and collectively lifted a hoof to their lips.
“Shhh!” They shhhd in unison.
“Oh… Sorry,” Twilight said in a passable ‘Fluttershy’ imitation.
“Maybe we should take this somewhere else…?” I suggested, hoping that getting out of the library might help preserve some of my rapidly decaying sanity.
It was then of course, that the bell signalling the end of recess rang.
Oh my Dende's name it's been forever since I've uploaded on this site!
And it wasn't even due to lack of time either, as I said on my last Author's Note, I've been on vacation! The main difficulty with getting this chapter out however came from a classic case of Writer's Block and then having to plan out the course for this arc.
But it's finally out and we can get this show on the road! 
As a side-note, to those who are following this story, I'd recommend you also follow my blog. I'll be trying my best to post updates in-between uploads over there, in order to ensure that there isn't another huge hiatus with basically no news from me.
Thanks for reading! 
Stats
Page generated in 0.015 seconds
Total duration
929 users online
1,223,550 hits today, 1,892,089 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
ITS ALIVE!!!
I really want to see him butcher all the racists and say something like *you'll be waiting for me in your bed as I slaughter your family downstairs* but I'm just really edgy and like pony murder
8481385
Shouldn't the main character be more interested in rune magic, as a possible way to spellcast without a horn?
Hmm He is quite boned....
Tribist unicorn plot holes!
Earth Pony power!
Progress! Awesome. Also lots of vitriol in the comments. Meh. Still a good story.
8724175
This is the internet, caustic comments are like weeds here.
I'm just hoping he can learn to use ruins.
Rune magic. A VERY useful skill if he can just figure out how to charge them. If he had a gem that could charge the rune for him that only needed a unicorn to fill with it with magic he would be good. At least for a while.
Zesty.
Just found this story, its great... keep writing it!
8725371
Maybe find a way to do some sort of passive charging? I don't want to get in too deep to speculative magitech territory but there could be a way to have that happen.
Something considered too much of a hassle or considered weak by unicorns to have really been developed or even possibly actively discouraged by unicorn academics?
After all he does have magic even if it is Earth pony magic and I think it is safe to say magic exists outside of ponies bodies themselves as well.
8754343
I would theorize that the fact that the runes even do anything to keep the spell bound to an object is BECAUSE they act as a passive charger. The spell discharges faster than the runes can take in power, so it does not last for too long, but it would otherwise run out immediately.
If he can create a new rune-set, or even just notice some sort of inefficiency with them (perhaps the meanings aren't quite right, or there has to be the right intent, etc), perhaps he can create self-charging enchanted objects. It'd still probably be OP, so if he does it'll likely be after a crapload of effort on each one he wants. :(
1: Identify the Element of Magic.
2:Befriendthem, to the point were they’d warn you if they suddenly had to leave for Ponyville.
3: Go to Ponyville.
4: ???
5: Profit.
The triple question mark, then profit, killed me. But not literally. XD
Rasicm is technically not allowed in CSGU right? So Hope can report the librarian fir blatant racism, right?
9082177
Nah, any staff between him and Celestia would just sweep it under the rug probably
KAREM!!
He says he "done goofed".
No, what happened is he "done got used".
Obviously by Discord.
There's only one point where enough of a change happen from his coming here and early enough that this could be the outcome.
I like the fun little touch that because he only was able to get up to season two in his world what he sees as further inconsistencies we just know as cannon from later in the show.