//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 (Meet the Ponies) // Story: Moving Day // by Timothy48 //------------------------------// Chapter 9 It didn’t take long before Twilight returned with Lyra in tow. While she had been gone, Blueblood had taken the opportunity to take a peek through the telescope at the human’s home. As nothing had changed in the time it had taken for Twilight to return with Lyra, Blueblood calmly turned his attention to the two mares. “Thank you for coming so quickly, Ms. Heartstrings.” Lyra waved a hoof and chuckled, “Like I would miss this once in a lifetime opportunity, Your Grace!” Blueblood gave a return smile and said, “Be that as it may, I wasn’t sure if you were still readily available, seeing as how we all but dragged you out of bed so early in the morning.” Lyra just smiled, and replied, “Like I said, Your Grace, I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” Blueblood simply smiled at the younger mare’s enthusiasm. “Right, well, now that we’re all here, I think it is time that we get the next phase of our plan rolling. Our guest,” he inclined his head towards the distant house, “has informed us that it is willing to talk, and before you ask, it can at least understand written Equish, so it is probably safe to assume that it can also speak it. Naturally this makes our jobs a little easier, but still, we are dealing with an unknown alien who is understandably confused and frightened, so we’ll need to be cautious as you know, but it never hurts to be reminded. Now, Ms. Heartstrings,” said Blueblood as he turned his full attention to her, “seeing as how you are our resident expert on all things human, how would you recommend we approach this first proper meeting? Lyra quietly surveyed the human’s house as she thoughtfully rubbed her chin with a hoof. Different scenarios and outcomes raced through her mind as she pondered their next move. “I think we should calmly approach the place where the human was last spotted, stop a short distance from the home and attempt to talk to it. If we can show it that we mean no harm and calm it down, then everything else should fall into place more easily.” Blueblood and Twilight nodded in reply, with Blueblood saying, “Simple, but sometimes the best plans usually are. Alright then, I’ll go inform Lieutenant Palisade of our plans and have him and his ponies get ready in case things go south; you two make whatever preparations you need to before I get back. I want this over and done with before noon if possible.” With that, Blueblood turned and trotted off to find Palisade. Lyra and Twilight, meanwhile, simply waited for his return, both mares as ready as they felt they could be for the coming encounter. ~oOo~ Allen watched from his vantage point as the white unicorn spoke with its lavender counterpart for a few moments before the lavender one trotted off, returning a few minutes later with another unicorn, this one colored a mint green with white highlights in its mane. Raising his binoculars, Allen watched as the three had a short conversation. Probably trying to figure out who gets to come and talk with me. After a couple minutes, the big white unicorn trotted off to do who knew what, leaving the other two behind to stare at Allen’s home. It took a bit longer for the white one to return, but when it did, all three of them had one last short discussion before giving each other a nod, and as one, they turned and trotted down the driveway towards his house. Allen could see, looking through his binoculars, that both the white and lavender ponies had determined and serious expressions on their faces, while the mint colored one, judging by her poor attempts to keep a spring in her step and a smile on her face, seemed more excited than anything else. I’m not sure if I should feel relieved by that one’s expression, or worried. In any case, it did not take long before the three ponies had crossed over into Allen’s side yard and were standing a few yards away from his deck. Licking his suddenly dry lips, Allen rose from his sitting position by the sliding glass door and slowly pulled the blinds to one side, at least enough so that the ponies could see him standing by the door. Reaching for the lock with a trembling hand, Allen unlocked the door and carefully pulled it ajar enough that he could both hear and speak to the three unicorns outside. Well, here goes nothing, thought Allen as he took a deep breath, and offered up a silent prayer before calling out, “What do you want?” at the three. Their reactions were instantaneous, the mint colored unicorn’s face lit up with a million watt smile, while the lavender one seemed shocked, if her open mouth and wide eyes were any indication at least. However, it was the white one that had the most interesting reaction, in that apart from one of its eyebrows raising ever so slightly in response to Allen’s question, it barely reacted at all. Aside from their reactions, nothing else happened for several awkward seconds. Allen saw the white unicorn look at its compatriots, and upon seeing that they were currently unable to form any kind of coherent response, uttered a tired sounding sigh before straightening up, looking Allen in the eye and saying, “I am Prince Blueblood, Grand Duke of Canterlot, direct descendant of Princess Platinum, ruler of Unicornia, and nephew of Princesses Celestia and Luna. I and my fellows here, come before you to hopefully resolve the current stand-off without any further issues. Would you be willing to speak with us at this time?” It–no, he-asked in an imperial and borderline haughty manner. Allen blinked. His entire train of thought had suddenly derailed and exploded into a million fiery pieces and as a result, he just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. All he could say in reply was, “Uhh...” ~oOo~ “Uhh...” was the human’s only reply, and Blueblood fought with every fiber of his being to not facehoof at the current lack of progress. What with his supposed ‘human expert’ having a sudden nerdgasm at the sight of the human, the princess’ ‘prized pupil’ suddenly locking up next to him in shock at finally confronting the human face to face, and the human itself unable to give a proper reply to a simple introduction made, Blueblood felt very, very tired. Nevertheless, Blueblood reined in the urge, and instead, he lifted his head high and said confidently, “I know that you are probably extremely overwhelmed at this point. You are tired, stressed, and concerned for your continued welfare. I realize that our actions over the last day have not helped matters, and I wish to apologize personally for them. We ourselves have been dealing with a national emergency for the past few days, and we had reason to believe that your sudden appearance was linked to the cause of said national emergency. However, regardless of our thoughts and assumptions, our handling of the situation could have been better than it was, and I both ask for your forgiveness and your cooperation in sorting this mess out in a quick and easy manner.” For several tense moments, the human said nothing, simply staring at Blueblood as if the prince had suddenly grown another head and had burst out into song and dance. Finally, however, the human gave its head a shake, cleared its throat nervously and replied saying, “Uh, I...accept your apology...uh...Your Highness...um...and...” the human trailed off, unsure of how to proceed. However, enough had been said for Blueblood to see an opening in the conversation, and he took it. Putting on an easy and comforting smile, he extended a hoof towards the human. “On behalf of the Equestrian government and people, I thank you for your generous willingness to forgive us, and it is our hope that we can put this misunderstanding behind us and move forward towards a friendlier relationship.” The human glanced around nervously for a moment, before nodding once and, slowly and hesitantly, stepping out of the safety of the doorway and onto the edge of the porch to shake Blueblood’s hoof. Blueblood felt a sense of elation at seeing the human leave his home, and come out into the morning sunlight. Even though it took much longer than under normal circumstances for the human to shake his hoof, Blueblood never let his smile fade nor his relaxed posture change as the human’s hand clasped around the end of his hoof and gave it a single, firm shake before withdrawing. With that out of the way, Blueblood cleared his throat. “Well, with that out of the way, I think introductions are in order. You already know my name, “he said, pointing at himself with a hoof. Then turning to his right, he pointed a hoof at the two mares besides him. “This mare here is Princess Celestia’s personal student, and the Element of Magic: Ms. Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight had finally managed to recover enough to give a small, forced-looking smile and wave with her hoof. Pointing to the other mare in the group, Blueblood said, “And this is Ms. Lyra Heartstrings. She’s currently a student at Canterlot University, where she is working on obtaining her doctorate in Mythology and Archaeology; her main area of expertise is the study of humans.” Turning his attention back to the human, Blueblood extended his hoof as if in invitation and asked, “So, now that you know our names, may I ask for yours?” The human shifted slightly, as if uncomfortable, and after a few moments of nervous indecision, he said, “My name is Allen Ross, it’s...uh...nice to meet you?” A sudden *squee* from Blueblood’s right caused him to look over and see Lyra’s smile had somehow gotten larger, and for a moment he thought he could see little stars in her eyes from how happy and excited she was. In fact, she seemed so excited that Blueblood was suddenly worried that she might try and pounce the hum-Allen and ruin their chances of defusing the situation. Thinking quickly, Blueblood trotted over, and laying a hoof on her withers, he gave her a gentle shake to get her attention. Luckily, that seemed to have done the trick of knocking Lyra out of her euphoric state. She looked around in confusion for a moment before her eyes met his and he gave her a “you need to calm down before you do something we all regret”  look, that she returned with a sheepish smile. Taking a deep breath, managed to compose herself enough that she didn’t look like she was going to try and jump Allen in an overly eager frenzy. Giving a sheepish chuckle, Lyra said, “Sorry, got a little excited there, Your Grace,” and turning her attention to Allen, she gave a little bow of her head. “Sorry about that, Mr. Ross, it’s just that I have always been fascinated by your species and now that I finally get to meet one of you face to face, well… I guess I got a little excited, hehe.” “Uh, okay?” replied Allen, an unsure look on his face. He still hadn’t left the relative safety of the deck, nor had he made any move to invite the ponies to come up and join him, so they were forced to crane their necks back to look up at him. Needless to say, it was starting to get uncomfortable. However, Blueblood did not want to antagonize the human further by making a misstep at this point in the proceedings, and so he just dealt with the discomfort. Twilight, by this time, had recovered from her shock at finally coming face to face with a creature that was only supposed to be considered a myth. Even though she had already ‘talked’ with the human before now, that was at a distance and impersonal. Now, however, she was standing a mere few strides away from him! The combination of stress caused by the events of the past few days, the lack of sleep and then finally actually coming face to face and hearing the human talk for the first time all combined to overwhelm her senses. Plastering a hasty smile on her face, she thrust her hoof forward awkwardly and said, in as friendly a tone as possible, “Hello! I’m Twilight Sparkle, as His Grace, Prince Blueblood mentioned earlier. Welcome to Equestria!” When Allen didn’t immediately shake her hoof, she began to wonder if she had somehow insulted him, and her mind quickly began imagining up terrible scenarios in which the human went on a rampage and she was blamed for the destruction and Celestia would be disappointed in her and send her back to Magic Kindergarten and- “Uh, nice to meet you too, I guess,” said Allen, as he carefully took her hoof in his large hand and gave it a shake before letting go, like he did with Blueblood. Twilight felt her brain screech to a halt at the sudden, soft feeling of Allen’s hand around her hoof, the terrible thoughts coursing through her mind quickly dissipating as fog before the morning sun. When he let go of her hoof, Twilight felt a little of the tension in her body leave her. Taking a deep breath to help calm herself further, she felt her smile assume a more natural and relaxed state. Allen, noticing that the ponies appeared to be relaxing as time went on, also felt himself relaxing in response. However, he still did not invite them any closer to him than they already were. In fact, once he had shaken Twilight and Blueblood’s hooves, he quickly backed away from the edge of the deck and the ponies. The ponies took notice of this, but made no comment at Allen’s behavior; after all, progress was still progress, even if it was slow. Nevertheless, they still had a job to finish, that being making proper first contact, calming tensions, and setting boundaries and rules for future contact. The first two steps had already been completed, now it was time for the third. Clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention, Blueblood said, “Mr. Ross, it is a relief to see that you do not appear to hold any ill will towards us for yesterday’s circus, and I want to make perfectly clear to you that we are civilized ponies and as such we have no intention of causing you harm.” He paused a moment to let Allen digest his words, and when he saw Allen nod in response, he continued, “As such, I think it best that we end our meeting here quickly, so that I can make the necessary arrangements to see to it that you are not overly bothered and to allow you some time to get your bearings. I am sure that you are under some considerable stress at the moment.” Allen gave a soft snort, and for the first time since he arrived in Equestria, he felt a small, wry smile form of his face. “Understatement of the century, I think.” Blueblood gave a humorous chuckle at Allen’s witty reply. “I can only imagine.” His smile, however, quickly disappeared, replaced with a more serious businesslike expression. “And we ponies haven’t helped matters either, I’m afraid. I hope that your friend wasn’t injured because of us? If they were we can offer medical aid, no charge.” Allen blinked in confusion at what friend Blueblood would be referring to, before quickly realizing who he was talking about... and when he realized that, he also remembered that he hadn’t fed Reuben, or anyone else, since yesterday morning due to all the ‘excitement’. Wincing at the thought of his careless neglect – even if he did have an excuse, he still felt it was a weak one – Allen replied, “No, Reuben is alright, though he’ll probably be pretty skittish around you guys for a while till he realizes you're not going to hurt him. Speaking of Reuben, I’m afraid that because of yesterdays events, I wasn’t able to properly tend to my animals, so no offence but I hope we can wrap this up quickly so I can go take care of them. I’ve already messed up once before this week, any more and they’ll probably think I’m not feeding them on purpose!” he finished with a humourless chuckle. Blueblood gave a small commiserating smile in return at the thought of circumstances making you look bad. However, he quickly pushed that thought from his mind and said, “No offence taken, Mr. Ross, we wouldn’t want to keep you from your responsibilities any longer than necessary. Though, if there is anything that we can help you with, to show our good intentions, please feel free to let us know. We’ll keep a couple of guards close by in case you need to relay a message to us.” “Thanks, Your Highness, and I appreciate your willingness to help me out. If what you say is true, regarding your willingness to help me out, then I do have an urgent need that needs to be taken care of soon,” said Allen. “And what is that?” asked Blueblood. Allen answered Blueblood’s question with one of his own, “Do you guys have electricity by any chance?” Blueblood gave a single nod in reply. Allen felt a smile form on his face at the knowledge that he wasn’t stuck in the dark ages. “Oh man, that’s a huge relief to hear. Any chance you guys would be able to hook me up to the grid quickly?” “I’m...not sure,” was Blueblood’s uncertain reply, “I’m not familiar with that portion of Equestria’s infrastructure well enough off the top of my head to say for certain without having to consult additional resources. Sorry.” Allen felt a stab of disappointment, but a thoughtful hum from Twilight gave him a spark of sudden hope. “If I remember correctly, Ponyville was added to the national electrical grid a couple of years ago when they completed that hydro-electric dam just west of town. Though most of the town is not connected yet, though that’s mainly due to ponies not having a need for electricity in their homes yet. I know for a fact that the hospital, town hall, and many of the local businesses are all on the grid, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to run electricity out to you. In fact, depending on what priority it gets, you might have power in just a couple days!” Allen blinked for a moment, stunned at Twilight’s announcement and pleased smile, and then turned to Blueblood. “Do you think you could do that for me?” Blueblood closed his eyes in thought for a few moments. “Mr. Ross, I believe that we can make that happen, and I shall personally see to it that it gets done, you have my word on that. After all, I feel that it is the least we can do considering what you’ve been put through these past few days.” Allen gave a thankful nod in reply. However, his expression quickly shifted to a more serious one as he asked, “That reminds me, do you guys happen to know how I got here?” he swept his right hand out to emphasize his point. The ponies’ ears fell flat against their heads, all three suddenly uncomfortable, and Allen felt a cold weight form in the pit of his stomach at their reaction. Why do I get the feeling that I’m not going to like what they have to say? Blueblood looked as though he was going to say something, when Twilight suddenly took a step forward, a sorrowful expression darkening her face. “Mr. Ross,” she began, her voice soft, “several days ago, an old and powerful enemy of our nation managed to break loose from the prison that he had been trapped in for the past thousand years. His name was Discord. My friends and I fought against him to prevent him from destroying Equestria and turning it into a land of chaos and disharmony. We narrowly managed to defeat him and return him to his stone prison using the Elements of Harmony, however before we defeated him, I fear that he might have done something that caused you to end up here in Equestria. Why he did this I don’t know, and while I don’t know if we can send you home, I promise you that we will do everything we can to fix this!” Her sudden and forceful declaration, punctuated with a hoofstomp, caused Allen to take a step back in surprise, just because of the sheer amount of determination and presence that had suddenly blossomed as her speech went. Inwardly, Allen felt touched by her words, though more questions had been raised than answers given. Who was this Discord? Why did he do what he did? Why was it him that got pulled here and not somebody else? And most importantly of all, was it even possible to send him back home? Oh this is heavy. “Do… do you think you guys will be able to send me home soon?” he asked, equal parts hesitant and hopeful. Both Twilight and Lyra looked at each other. Their uncertain looks told Allen everything he needed to know, even before their words confirmed his worst fears. “I’m...not sure we can, Mr. Ross,” said Lyra, a sad look on her face, “this kind of magic isn’t something just anypony can do. We’re not even sure how Discord did what he did in the first place, so the odds are pretty low.” When she saw Allen’s shoulders slump and his head hang down in dejection, she hastened to add, “But that doesn’t mean we won’t do everything we can to get you home!” Sadly, her attempt at buoying Allen’s spirits didn’t seem to help much. He gave a sad and tired sigh. “Thanks, Ms. Heartstrings, for trying to cheer me up, but if what you say is true, then the odds are pretty much impossible at this point... but I appreciate the thought all the same.” An uncomfortable silence descended upon the group at that point, broken only by the quiet sounds of the wind and the distant calls of birds. Finally, after several moments, Blueblood broke the silence. “Mr. Ross, while things might seem...difficult now, it won’t last forever; eventually, they will get better.” “Thank you, Your Highness,” replied Allen despondently. Seeing that his attempt at cheering up Allen hadn’t worked either, Blueblood decided that it was time for the three of them to depart and give Allen some time to digest this new information. Turning to regard the two mares with him for a moment, he gave a nod towards the distant property line to indicate that it was time to leave. Both Lyra and Twilight gave a wordless nod, and after saying their goodbyes to Allen, they turned to leave. When Blueblood didn’t immediately follow, Twilight turned and gave him a questioning look. Blueblood simply waved a hoof, indicating that he would be along shortly. Twilight gave a return nod and continued on. When both mares had gotten out of hearing range, Blueblood turned back to Allen and said, “It is about time for me to go, Mr. Ross, but before I do, I’d like to clarify something with you.” Allen gave him a curious and slightly concerned look. “You’re not in trouble if that is what you are thinking,” replied Blueblood quickly, “I just wanted to help you avoid any future faux pas.” Now Allen was really confused. What did he do wrong? Blueblood chuckled softly at Allen’s expression. “Don’t worry, it’s a common mistake, even in our world. I noticed earlier that you referred to me as ‘Your Highness’.” “Is that not right?” asked Allen. Blueblood shook his head. “Not anymore it isn’t. For various historical and political reasons, only three ponies in Equestria can be called ‘Your Highness’. Those three are of course Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence, and to call anyone else by that title is considered bad manners. It can lead to...issues, shall we say.” “But, I thought you were a prince?” Blueblood nodded. “Yes I am, but it is an honorary title that has been passed down in my family since before the founding of Equestria. Of course, back then, it carried more weight, but things change. In any case, the proper way to address me would be ‘Your Grace’, as I am the Duke of Canterlot officially, and therefore, I am addressed as such.” Allen shook his head, still confused, even with the explanation. Seeing that Allen hadn’t quite grasped the concept, Blueblood simply said, “I know it is a bit confusing for somebody who isn’t from Equestria, but the ‘why’ of the matter isn’t what is important. All you need to remember is that only the three princesses are to be referred to as ‘Your Highness’, and no one else.” Rubbing the back of his neck, Allen replied, “Alright, if you say so, 'Your Grace’. I still don’t understand it, but whatever.” Blueblood chuckled. “Yes, yes, I know. It is a strange concept that only Equestria seems to have adopted, but it is what it is, and as such I felt it necessary to educate you a little on this strange custom of ours, least you accidentally offend somepony and make things more difficult for yourself.” “Are there really people out there who would get offended over something like that?” asked Allen skeptically. “Oh yes, there are,” replied Blueblood gravely, his previously amused expression gone. “While I doubt any of the princesses would be overly offended by your actions – they tend to be very forgiving, at least Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence are. Princess Luna on the other hoof is a bit… out of touch, shall we say, with modern customs.” Seeing Allen’s questioning look, Blueblood quickly said, “ let’s just say it’s a long story and leave it at that.” “Alright, if you say so.” “Anyways, as I was saying before we got sidetracked there: while the princesses are very forgiving of unintentional faux pas, there are some nobles who are rather… enthusiastic about protecting the honor of our princesses, and will go to great lengths to see to it that those who they feel have insulted the princesses are punished, with or without the crown's permission,” finished Blueblood, his face taking on an unhappy look. Allen felt a distinctly uneasy feeling in his gut at Blueblood’s explanation and asked hesitantly, “You wouldn’t happen to be one of those nobles, would you?” Blueblood gave a vigorous shake of his head, a strand of his well-groomed mane escaping in the process. “Absolutely not! I can assure you Mr. Ross, that I am an honorable pony, and would never do such things as theydo.” Allen let loose a sigh of relief at Blueblood’s declaration. “I’m glad to hear that. Sorry if you felt that I was lumping you in with them, whoever they are.” “No offense taken, Mr. Ross,” replied Blueblood with a smile, however, his smile slipped slightly when he continued saying, “regardless, I do recommend that you acquaint yourself with Equestrian culture and history as quickly as possible, so as to lessen your chances of making powerful enemies while here.” “I’ll keep that in mind.” Blueblood gave a single nod. “See that you do, and if you want, I can recommend several excellent books on both subjects that will be very helpful to you. In any case, unless there is anything else that you require at present, I believe I should be going now, reports to write and meetings to attend, you understand.” “Right, I wouldn’t want to keep you,” came Allen’s reply. “Well seeing as there is nothing else, I shall be off then,” said Blueblood as he turned to leave. However, as a thought suddenly struck him he stopped mid-turn and turned back to Allen. “Oh, I just remembered, I was meaning to ask you if it would be alright for Ms. Sparkle, and Ms. Heartstrings to come back at a later time to interview you and learn more about yourself and your people, and if so when would be a good time?” Allen shrugged. “Not like I’ve got any place to be, so I guess tomorrow would be fine.” “Excellent, I’ll let them know that you’re willing to have them back then. In any case, do take care Mr. Ross, and until next time,” said Blueblood as he finally turned to leave. “Same to you too, Your Grace,” replied Allen as Blueblood trotted away. Allen watched Blueblood as he trotted back up his driveway towards the road for a few minutes before shaking his head and turning to go back inside to get ready to start his morning chores for the day. As he reached for the door handle, he noticed that his hand was shaking slightly. He clenched it into a fist and waited for the shaking to stop. When he felt that the tremors were gone, he took a deep breath and opened the door stepping inside. Turning around to shut the door, he managed to spot Blueblood speaking with several ponies in golden armor; he couldn’t see either Twilight or Lyra, and figured that they had already left. Shutting the door, he stayed there for several minutes, letting his mind work over the information that he had gained from this meeting. On one hand, he felt confident that he didn’t have to worry about being attacked and carted off to some lab somewhere. On the other hand, he felt as though he’d found himself suddenly dropped into the middle of an ocean with nothing but a life jacket to keep his head above water. So many unknowns waited for him beyond that property line, and although he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, Allen found himself secretly terrified by the thought that he was truly and utterly alone in a world that he knew nothing about, with little chance of getting back to where he belonged. Turning away from the door, Allen grabbed the dirty dishes that he’d left on the table and went to put them in the sink. As he laid them down, his eyes glanced over to a collection of empty beer bottles sitting on the counter, and a thought struck him. Looking at the clock on the wall nearby, Allen saw that it was a little after nine in the morning, and staring at the clock as it ticked the seconds away, he came to a decision. Squaring his shoulders, he walked over to the fridge, yanked the door open, grabbed the nearest beer bottle and popped the top open. Fuck it. If there was ever anyone in the world who needed a beer, it’s this guy.