//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Announcement // Story: The Best Man // by Alaborn //------------------------------// The Best Man By Alaborn Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein. Chapter 1: The Announcement Friday, October 25, 2019 Merrillville, Indiana Evan Sedmak hated it when an early morning telephone call woke him up. He checked the time. 6:30 AM. Most days, he would already be up at this hour. Being the manager of a health club, it came with the business. But on the days he actually got to sleep in, he dreaded the early morning call. Normally, it meant something went wrong. He looked at the number first. It wasn't work, thankfully. He then saw the name, that of his little brother, Jason. He picked up the phone. “What's up, bro?” “Hey, Evan. Hope I didn't wake you.” “It's okay. I always have time for my favorite brother.” “Only brother,” Jason noted. “I have some news I wanted to share with you.” “Yeah?” “Rose and I have set a date. June 27. The first Saturday of next summer.” “That's great news! And about time, let me say.” “I know. There were always... issues that got in the way,” Jason said. “But they're gone now, and we can finally make it official.” “Where's the wedding?” “Rose's home town. We're still working on the details. But I wanted to tell you now. And you're the first person I've told. You know what that means, right?” “Jason, it's too early to think,” Evan said. “It means I want you to be my best man, Evan. You've always been there with advice when I needed it, and I don't know how I would have survived college without your help.” “No need to justify it. Of course I'll be your best man.” “That's great!” “Can't wait. Guess I'll have to work on a speech.” Evan paused. He remembered that today was Friday. His brother always worked in rural areas, so he was never reachable except on weekends. “Wait, do they have you working somewhere with cell phone service today?” “Actually, I'm at the airport,” Jason said. “I'm going to Colorado for a vacation. I'm going to... meet up with some old friends.” “Hey, if you want to go to Colorado to sample the local herb, I'm not going to tell Mom and Dad. But you better call them next and tell them the good news.” “Of course. I want to make sure to tell everyone before anything else comes up.” “All right. Have fun on your trip.” “Bye.” “Bye.” Evan hung up the phone, and was asleep before he could wonder what the “anything else” was. Two days later, Evan found himself confined to his office. After two solid hours of work, he finally stuffed one last envelope. The pile of paperwork that built on his desk during the week was now mostly tamed. From communication with members, bills, and orders to suppliers, far too much still required physical mail. He gathered up the mail to take it to the mailbox, where it would go out the next morning. When Evan stepped out of his office and onto the floor of the health club, he sensed something was wrong. The normal noise of people exercising was not present. Even during the deadest of times, he could normally hear a treadmill or exercise bike in use, and it definitely shouldn't be this quiet on a Sunday. There were several people on the floor, but none of them were exercising. They were all staring at the television, which currently was showing an aerial view of a football stadium, except that at its center, there was a glowing silver... stargate, for lack of a better word. “What is this?” he asked. “Aliens,” one of the guests replied. He looked at the chyron on the bottom of the screen. “Alien race visits Boulder” “Strange phenomenon first spotted at Folsom Field at 10:34 AM local time” “Two alien 'Equestrians' emerged from portal at 1:00 PM local time” “Celestia: 'We seek to build bridges of friendship, harmony, and understanding between our worlds” The television switched to show a recording of the latter event. The aliens resembled unicorns with wings. One was white and taller than the other, who was colored a very unnatural violet; the white one possessed a commanding presence. Both glowed with a silver energy like that of the portal. The recording replayed the larger equine's brief speech. Strangely, it was in perfect English. She struck Evan as wise and powerful, despite looking like something from that cartoon he knew his little brother watched (and, being a saintly big brother, pretended he didn't know). She then said that her devoted student, Twilight Sparkle, would stay in our world to speak on behalf of her people. The larger equine, Celestia, then departed, stepping into the portal and disappearing. The smaller equine stepped away from the portal, and as its silvery glow faded, she transformed, taking the form of a human woman wearing a formal ball gown. “That was the scene at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado earlier today,” the newscaster announced. “Few details were revealed by the remaining visitor, the one called Twilight Sparkle, as she departed, accompanied only by a number of other figures that emerged from the portal after her. She promised answers at a scheduled press conference. We go there now, live.” The camera switched to showing what looked like any hotel conference room. There was a stage set up, on which was a table with seats and microphones for eight, but only this same equine turned woman was there, wearing that same ball gown, one that called to mind images of Cinderella. “Hello?” she spoke into the microphone. Then she cleared her throat and began her speech. “Good afternoon, people of Earth. My name is Twilight Sparkle, one of the princesses of Equestria, and on behalf of all the ponies and peoples of Equestria, we bid you welcome. We hope that the bonds of friendship and harmony that already connect our worlds will grow and flourish with the introduction of formal relations. “Some of you may know me from a recently concluded television program, which, though not a completely accurate representation of our world, contains the core message that friendship is magic. Princess Celestia speaks of the existence of this television program as evidence that friendship and harmony are forces powerful enough to bridge universes. We will not be discussing this television program here; it is a subject matter best left to the philosophers. “In truth, our worlds have been linked for years, and a few brave volunteers have formed the foundation of a bridge between our worlds. I will now be joined by several humans who have lived in Equestria for the last several years. Together, we will answer your questions. A press release will also be provided to each of you, and more information about our actions can be found at AmericanEquestrianSociety.com.” Evan didn't notice the mail fall from his hands as he stared, watching his own brother take the stage. Once he recovered his senses, Evan Sedmak knew he wouldn't be getting any more work done that day. He went home, turned on the television, and pulled out his tablet. The news about first contact with ponies was on every channel, with the newscasters struggling to make sense of what was, frankly, unbelievable. Trying to wrap their heads around the idea of alternate dimensions, portals, and magic was obviously taxing them. Yet the evidence was incontrovertible. One of the clips that kept getting replayed was video from when Twilight Sparkle took several of the journalists from the press conference through a portal she created. There was a flash of light, and then they appeared in front of a giant crystal castle, with Twilight Sparkle back in her normal winged unicorn form and all of the humans turned into ponies. If any of the journalists were skeptical before, they became believers once they saw their own hooves. Evan called up the Web page mentioned in the press conference. It turned out to be a simple affair, mostly text with a long list of links, and even that page took forever to load. The section talking about how the portals worked was filled with a lot of words that could best be summarized as “It's magic; try not to think too hard about it”. Each of the participants had their own profile, along with links to videos. He followed one of them under his brother's name; it led to a YouTube clip that already had twelve million views. Evan shook his head in disbelief as he heard his brother's voice coming out of the royal blue unicorn on the screen. He was narrating a tour of an open-air marketplace, which could have been the local farmers' market, except populated by ponies. Many of them were wearing harnesses, suggesting they pulled these carts just like horses. Many of the carts held just one crop, while others had a variety of goods. One of the latter ponies gave him a big smile as he approached, and they chatted for a while. Evan's eyes widened as he heard something on the video. He rewound it and replayed it to make sure. That pony's name was Rose. Evan had tried calling his brother right after seeing the announcement. Not surprisingly, his call went straight to voice mail. It wasn't until 1:30 that next morning that his phone rang. Seeing his brother's name, he immediately picked up. “Jason?” “Hey, Evan,” he said. “I, uh, guess you saw it?” “I saw the press conference. I watched all your videos. That's real? All of it?” “It's real. That's been my life for the last six years. Um... sorry for lying to you like that.” “I can see why you did it. So, just wanted to make sure, the woman you introduced to the family, the one you're marrying, is actually a pony?” “Yes. She's a wonderful woman, no matter what world she's in.” “Are people, I mean ponies, whatever, okay with that?” Evan asked. “It's kind of a complicated question, given the number of sapient species in Equestria, but it's generally accepted. I think it helps that the magic of the portal turns people into ponies; any species that walks on two legs is considered strange.” “From what I've seen online, we're still trying to figure out what to make of it, but it's not stopping us from talking about it. And I thought the last presidential election had people talking!” “I'm glad you're accepting of it,” Jason said. “Well, Mom and Dad always taught us to be tolerant... guess we're going to push the limits of that understanding.” “I'll need to talk to them next, tell them what they'll have to expect for the wedding.” “Expect?” Evan said. Then he figured it out. “You mean that to be your best man, I'm going to turn into a pony too.” “You got it.” “Anything for you, little brother. Talk to you later.” “Bye.” Evan hung up the phone and took another look at the television. It was showing one of the clips of Equestria, not one of the ones he had seen. He looked again at the cute ponies and swore. “The things I do for family.”