//------------------------------// // Prologue - An Ordinary Morning // Story: Further Tales From Day Court // by Blade Star //------------------------------// I came to slowly. I’d long since stopped using an alarm clock, finding it much simpler to be woken up by the morning sunlight streaming onto my face through the bedroom window. The golden light was enough to prompt me to open my eyes and begin to stir. Of course, the first thing I did was put up a hand to shield my eyes from the early morning glare. But after letting my eyes adjust for a moment, I soon came to my senses. With a yawn and a stretch, I took a moment to look about me. The master bedroom of my house was quite large, about the same size as my old house, although I must confess that the bed is much softer than I’m used to. And trust me, when you get to my age, it’s nice to have the soft support for your back. Sitting up, I leaned against the headboard of the bed and took a look at the clock that sat on top of the book on my bedside table. It had just gone six o’clock. I was actually a little surprised, normally sunrise was a little earlier. Had my employer slept in for once? Turning to my left, I looked over at the sleeping form of my wife. She was getting on for middle age now, but she was just as beautiful as the day I married her. Right now though, Margaret was still sleeping peacefully. Well, snoring peacefully at least, but I don’t dare tell her that. She’d get up in another hour or so. Her job had a much shorter commute, being only a ten minute walk to the schoolhouse in the town. I on the other hand, had to catch a train and then take a cab to my job, and I still needed to be there at nine AM sharp. Carefully pulling back the bed sheets, I did my best to get up without disturbing her. Putting on my slippers, I walked over to the en suite and quickly did my teeth, washed my face and had a shave. With that done, I threw on my dressing gown and went downstairs for breakfast. My house was what you might expect for someone living in my tax bracket. The kitchen had recently been done up my wife’s request; for the third time in five years. Honestly, why do they need to do that? A kitchen is a kitchen; as long as it isn’t on fire and everything works, why do you need to mess with it? Anyway, I quickly made myself some scrambled eggs on toast, some porridge and a cup of tea to get me going. This is one of the main reasons I get up so early actually. I’d much rather have a decent home cooked breakfast than spend money on a bowl of cereal and a coffee on the train. Next to me, curled up in his basket, still sleeping, was a large Alsatian. This was Charlie; I’d taken him in a couple of years ago, and he’d lived with us ever since. As I was just polishing off my meal, there was a knock at the front door, prompting him to wake up and wag his tail excitedly. There was only one person that it could be this early. Setting down the utensils, I got up and headed to the front door, with Charlie following at my heels. Taking off the deadbolt and opening it up I came face to face with the first hint that I wasn’t in Kansas any more. “Morning, Derpy,” I said brightly. “Busy morning?” Now, odd names aside, what was more unusual, at least to most people, was that I was talking to a four foot tall grey pegasus with a blonde mane and tail. Not exactly a common sight is it? Well, actually, when you find yourself in Equestria, pegasi, to use the plural, are actually some of the less unusual creatures you’ll come across. Let me explain. Due to circumstances beyond my control, never mind my understanding, me, my wife and my two children found ourselves somehow transported to Equestria; a far cry from dear old Blighty. It’s actually the same world as found in some kid's TV show called. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. A show my twenty year old son was a fan of; and yes, you read that right. I’ve never understood how he got into it, he just did while he was in university. And to think I just worried about him smoking a bit of wacky baccy. Anyway, my son; Bones as I call him these days, helped us find our way out of the Everfree Forest; a rather dangerous spot of woodlands. From there, we were introduced to the locals, and after it became clear that we were stuck here, we all began to settle down into new lives. Let’s be honest, it could have been a lot worse. At least we were all able to stay together, although along the way, at one point or another, my son and my daughter, Lizzie, have both been turned into ponies. Bones is a unicorn and Lizzie a pegasus; me and the wife are still good old homo sapiens sapiens though. We’d been in Equestria for the better part of five years now, living in a house kindly built for us by Equestria’s rulers. My wife, as I said, worked in the local school, and I was employed by the government, advising on legal matters. Oh, and my dog? Yeah, he’s actually a disguised changeling (sort of a bug pony) that I agreed to take in and look after, so don’t think anything in my new life is normal. Anyway, enough backstory, let’s get back to Derpy. The pegasus had a small parcel held deftly in her teeth. When you don’t have fingers, your mouth is your best bet for holding things. Of course, it did leave her ability to speak somewhat reduced. Taking the package from her, she replied to my greeting. “Morning, Roger,” she said brightly. Derpy is definitely a morning pony. I suppose you have to be if you’re going to be delivering mail. “No, not too bad; this is the only parcel I have on my route this morning. I think this might be that catalogue from Canterlot Boutique that Margaret ordered.” Taking a look at the package, and taking a moment to translate the Equestrian writing (it’s a weird mix of English characters, with a sort of Cyrillic twist thrown in), I saw that it was indeed addressed to my wife. “Ah good,” I replied with a smile. “She’s been waiting on this for a week. Anything else for me?” This time, Derpy passed me a few letters with her wing. They’re remarkably like hands actually. I took a quick look through, but there was nothing that couldn’t wait till I got home this evening. “Tar much,” I said, setting them on a nearby table. “You want a slice of toast for the road?” Derpy shook her head. “No thanks, I’m good,” she replied. “See you tomorrow.” “See you tomorrow, Derpy,” I said with a wave. As the pegasus took off, her saddlebags still full of mail to deliver, she nearly collided mid air with another early morning flyer that was passing by. Luckily, she was able to jink out of the way, calling out sorry as she flew on. It’s not her fault really, ever since her accident (this was before my time) she’s had some trouble with her sight and been a touch clumsy. Still, I can say that she’s never lost anything I’ve ever trusted her with, and she’s braved some pretty bad conditions to ensure her deliveries get through. You do sadly though get the odd jackass who has a go at her, or makes fun of her because of her eyes. I find threatening to break every bone in their body very slowly gets them to be a lot more understanding and considerate. The poor girl can’t help the way she is, and she’s doing a good job. Anyway, moving on. After breakfast, I headed upstairs to get dressed. I found that Margaret had woken up and like me, was just coming to. “Morning, darling,” I said as I walked back in and went over to the wardrobe. I have a couple of suits for work that had been ironed over the weekend and took a moment to choose between black and light grey. “Hey,” my wife said tiredly. “What time is it?” I glanced at the clock. “Just gone half six,” I said. “I’ll be off in another ten minutes. Want me to get you anything while I’m up in Canterlot?” We live in a town called Ponyville, Canterlot is Equestria’s capitol city. In addition to being where I work, there’s more than a few good shops there. “No, I’m good,” she replied as I tried on different ties. “Anything major on the books today?” My job, you see, is working as the legal advisor to the country’s two ruling princesses; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Celestia looks after matters in the day, and Luna takes over at night. In fact, it was Celestia whose magic was responsible for actually raising the sun this morning. That one took more than a little getting used to. Essentially, every weekday, Celestia holds court, where anypony can come and petition her. When the situation involves the law, or if she has to oversee a court case, I step in to provide advice and counsel. It’s certainly a step up from my old job as a solicitor in the magistrate's court. “All quiet, really,” I said. “What with Tia’s niece being almost ready to pop, she and Luna might well be heading up to the Crystal Empire before long to meet the new bundle of joy.” My wife smiled. “It must be exciting for Cadence and Shining Armor,” she added. “And a royal baby is always good for the masses.” I smiled at that. “Well, it can’t be any worse than the royal wedding they went through.” Long story, for another time. “What time do you think you’ll be back tonight?” I paused to think as I selected a suit and walked into the en suite to change. “Shouldn’t be much later than seven,” I said, raising my voice a little to be heard through the door. “What’s dinner tonight?” “I was thinking we might treat ourselves and go out to that lovely bistro again down on Stirrup street. You sure you won’t be too tired?” “No, sounds nice,” I replied as I did up my belt and tucked in my shirt. With the basics done, I stepped back out into the bedroom. My suit jacket was hanging off the end of the bed, while my briefcase was sitting on the floor nearby. I’d been going over a couple of files in bed last night. “Right, I’d best be off. Oh, by the way. Derpy dropped off that catalogue you ordered the other week.” “Oh great. Well, then, I’ll see you when you get back. Kiss?” Smiling, I walked round to her side of the bed and bent down to kiss her. “I’ll see you tonight,” I said. And with that, I was out the door. By now the sun was well and truly up, which meant Celestia herself had been up for some time. Honestly, I don’t know how that mare does it. She gets up when it’s still dark, raises the sun, and then does a full day of work, before lowering the sun in the evening and passing things off to her sister. And she still doesn’t look a day over thirty despite being over a thousand years old. I suppose that comes with the territory of being immortal though. Once upon a time, that was an odd sentence. Walking down the short garden path, I opened the little picket fence gate and started on my way to the station. My house is pretty close to the centre of town. Town Hall is a mere five minutes walk as is the home of Equestria’s fourth princess; Twilight Sparkle. The Princess of Friendship can be a little...odd, at times. My son gets on with her a treat. In fact, personally, before it became clear he was interested in his marefriend, I thought that he might be sweet on her. Her large crystalline tree shaped castle dominates Ponyville’s skyline and serves as both her home, a library to replace the old one which was destroyed in a rather nasty business some time ago, and as a headquarters for her friends, who collectively serve as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Again, that’s something we can get into later. I hadn’t actually seen Twilight in a few days, not since she first took on her new student. You see, Twilight used to be Celestia’s personal student, who was sent to Ponyville to study friendship, and also thwart an attempt by a then crazed Luna to usurp the throne. Back then though, she was just a unicorn. Only after several years of learning about friendship was she given the opportunity to become an alicorn like Celestia and be crowned as a princess. But anyway, her new student, she was something of a sore point for me. Her name was Starlight Glimmer, she was a unicorn, and if you ask me they ought to have locked her up and thrown away the key. The mare was certifiably nuts and belonged in Bedlam. Ponies you see have these things called cutie marks; symbols that appear on their hind quarters that show what their special talent is. Don’t ask me to explain the ins and outs, all I know is that it’s magic and that one’s special talent is tied to your very identity. Starlight had set up this village out in the middle of nowhere and started something of a cult based around complete equality, which call for the removal of cutie marks. She didn’t practice what she preached however and kept her own mark and resultant magical power. In human terms, she took these ponies very souls and locked them up in a vault. When Twilight and her friends found her, they intervened and helped restore everypony’s cutie mark. Starlight however, escaped. She only returned several months later, having stolen a time travel spell. She tried to stop Twilight and her friends ever meeting, which resulted in several timelines where all sorts of disasters took place. Eventually, Twilight managed to talk her down and bring her in. But rather than give any sort of punishment, she took her on as a student, overrode my decision and pardoned her. Now, I’m all for reforming criminals, but when you do something like that, there needs to be a few consequences. But neither Twilight nor Celestia would budge on the matter. And since Equestria is an absolutist diarchy, there was sod all I could do about it. So, each morning, I have to go past and see that nut job still free and unpunished. The only thing I can do is keep an eye out. But I’ve been keeping back the mother of all I told you so’s for Twilight when her little pupil goes axe crazy again. Anyway, having passed the castle tree thing, I soon found myself at Ponyville’s train station. The train had just pulled into the station. I have to say, as a bloke, it was a hideous thing to look at. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to see steam power again, but it was pink and covered in love hearts. At least I didn’t have to look at it when I actually boarded the Friendship Express, and yes, that is what it’s called. What’s wrong with Mallard, Flying Scotsman or Golden Arrow? The trip was free at least. Given my position as a senior government minister, I have a rail warrant that let’s me ride the line for free as long as it’s for work purposes. I’m certainly glad for that since, just like back home, season passes are expensive as hell. Heading inside, passing the guard, or conductor as their American-esque ponies insist on calling him, I sat down on one of the futons. Being quadrupeds, ponies don’t exactly have a need for raised seats, so I have to sit Indian style most of the time. Although you can stretch yourself out and lie down too, which is nice. The train blew its whistle and we were soon pulling out of the station. Next stop; Canterlot.