//------------------------------// // A New Perspective // Story: A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake // by The Dimension Traveler //------------------------------// A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake Chapter 19: A New Perspective Twilight and Tom were at Ponyville Station waiting for Cadence’s arrival. Twilight had been looking forward to this for two weeks. It was finally a chance for her and Cadence to catch up when the fate of Equestria didn’t hang in the balance. What better low stress way to spend the day than visiting the traveling Star Swirl the Bearded museum? Just so long as she kept Cadence and Chrysalis apart, nothing could go wrong! The others had been there earlier to say goodbye to Fluttershy as she went off to study the Breezies. Rainbow Dash had ordered her team to take the weekend off to relax, so Fluttershy had taken the golden opportunity. Now it was just Tom and Twilight, as the others all had things they needed to do. Although, there was one notable absence…Tom thought it strange that Discord hadn’t showed up to wish Fluttershy well on her journey. Tom put those thoughts from his mind as Cadence’s train pulled up to the station. Soon, Cadence disembarked with a Crystal Pony guard and a Pegasus guard. Cadence grew a huge smile upon seeing the pair. “Your Highness,” Cadence bowed to Twilight, getting a raised eyebrow from both, but they were willing to play along. “Your Highness,” Twilight greeted in return “Your Majesty,” Tom was barely able to keep the teasing tone out of his voice. Both turned to him, “What? Cadence is technically Empress of the Crystal Empire, thus making the correct form of address ‘Majesty’.” Tom hadn’t read all those Shakespearian plays for nothing. “Huh, I hadn’t actually thought of that,” Cadence admitted. “Tom, you can’t explain the joke, you’ll only ruin it,” Ah, there was Discord. “I’m surprised you weren’t here earlier when Fluttershy left,” Twilight voiced Tom’s thoughts. “Don’t tell anyone this, but I just can’t stand goodbyes. I know she’ll only be gone for two days, but it already feels like a lifetime,” Discord sighed melodramatically, “Er, would you mind it too terribly if I spent the day in your company?” “We did have plans with Cadence, but I don’t mind you tagging along. What say the two of you?” Tom asked. “So long as you behave yourself around the artifacts,” Twilight agreed somewhat reluctantly. “If you both are OK with it, I don’t see why I shouldn’t be,” Cadence put in and Discord seemed overjoyed. “Oh, thank you, I’ll mind my manners! I’ll even share with you a few things I know about the sour old coot and his merry band!” Discord promised as they began heading to the museum. “Star Swirl had friends? I thought the whole reason he couldn’t complete his final spell was because he didn’t have friends. His journals don’t make mention of them either,” Twilight noted. “Well, I suppose ‘friend’ might be a strong word for someone who could barely stand social interaction…much like how a certain Unicorn used to be,” Discord teased, “But ultimately he never completed that spell because he was never meant to become an Alicorn. Wasn’t made of the right stuff for Alicornhood, if I had to guess. Although, standards do seem to be shifting, what with two Alicorns being made within a couple decades of each other.” “Discord…” Twilight didn’t sound impressed. “It is not a slight against either of you, merely me noting how odd it is for two unrelated Ponies to Ascend in such close proximity to each other. Sunbutt and Moonbutt were made Alicorns out of necessity and sisters besides,” Discord remarked. “Necessary?” Tom asked curiously. “Yes, to move the sun and moon. I certainly wasn’t going to keep doing it forever and the Unicorns could barely muster enough power to do it at all,” Discord noted. “You used to move the sun and moon? I thought you were the one who made them still in the sky to begin with!” Twilight exclaimed. “Don’t blame me if you don’t get any sleep tonight,” Discord warned, “I did not cause the sun, moon, and Equuis itself to stop their heavenly dance. As you may have noticed, my thing is Chaos. What could be worse than completely rendering something inert and killing all life on the planet besides? No, it was not I who did it.” “Then who did?” Cadence was almost afraid to ask. “When Ponies were still banging rocks together in caves, a great and terrible being obsessed with Order came into our star system. I do not know if it stopped the sun and moon out of boredom, some malicious intent, or if it even had a motive outside of imposing Order on all it came across,” Discord regaled them. “But couldn’t you have stopped it?” Twilight asked. Discord couldn’t help but chuckle at her naiveté, “I may seem all powerful to mortal comprehension, but as much as I hate to admit it, I am but a small fish in a very big pond. After that being left our star system, I only dared to exert my power to move the sun and moon to prevent Equuis from becoming a dead world. Some millennia later, the Tree of Harmony and I came to an agreement. I won’t bore you with the exact details, but we agreed to work together to hide Equuis from most of Creation,” Discord reveled, “It was those millennia of hiding and suppressing myself that lead to my stint as ruler of Equuis. I had gone quite stir crazy, not that that is much of an excuse.” “Then what were those vines of yours supposed to do?” Tom asked. “Oh, if you think they were going to kill the Tree, you are very much mistaken. They would have only weakened its foothold in the mortal realm, that crystalline eyesore it uses,” Discord replied. “Wait, back up, there are things more powerful than you, Discord?” Twilight asked in alarm. “Yes, things from far-flung worlds and lurking in the depths of the inky void, many beings make me look like a small child. I am only as old as Equuis, after all, which isn’t all that old in the grand scheme of things. Come to it, if one of you Alicorns fully gave yourselves over to that which you represent, you’d at least match my power,” Discord said nonchalantly. “What?!” The three exclaimed. “Oh yes. Though your mortal minds are still intact, all four of you, plus Tom, are wreathed in the trappings of goddesshood. It is possible to teach you how to keep your mortal minds while embracing that from which you draw power, but I’m afraid I don’t know how. The Tree and I are Spirits. Greater Spirits, but Spirits nonetheless and have always been as we are from the moment we were created,” Discord said apologetically. “So let me get this straight. You and the Tree are working together to protect Equuis and Alicorns are able to use power matching yours at the cost of their minds. There are also beings of untold power lurking beyond the stars. Am I missing anything?” Twilight questioned. “No, that is a rather succinct summary. If I do say so myself, the Tree and I have done quite a decent job thus far. The only slipup was that incident with the Nightmare,” Discord patted himself on the back. “I almost don’t want to know, but how was the Nightmare related to keeping Equuis safe from otherworldly threats?” Twilight inquired. “The Nightmare was an offspring of a Being Tom would know as Nyarlathotep. Of course, I don’t know if it still uses that name. It has been over a thousand years since I’ve had any sort of contact with the ‘outside world’ as it were,” Discord ignored Tom’s look of absolute horror. “THEY’RE REAL?!” He finally screeched. Twilight and Cadence looked at him in concern. “Quite real, although most of that circle of Beings are quite content to mind their own business. On the whole they find mortals dreadfully boring, especially when they could be terrorizing each other,” Discord assured him. “Suddenly that training sounds like a wonderful idea,” Tom said, bareing a more than passing resemblance to Twilight when she had panicked over not having a lesson done in time. “As I said, I can’t help you. You’d need to find a friendly god or goddess to train you. I’m persona non grata with most of them and good luck getting the Tree to help you. If you’re lucky, it might be some time this century even if it does agree to help.” Discord said with a sigh. “Come on, everyone; let’s go threaten to chop down a Tree until it agrees to help us right now!” Tom shouted, followed by a hysterical giggling. Discord snapped his claws and cold water poured onto the panicked Human. The shock caused Twilight’s illusion to flicker for a second. “Feeling better?” Discord asked dryly. “I’m fine! I’m fine,” Tom was breathing deeply and heavily, but the mania had left his eyes. “Good, even if the Tree did call out to some of her buddies, you still need to be taught, blerg, manners. Some of them do stand on formality and there’s a hierarchy to these things,” Discord seemed repulsed by the very idea of manners, but he was willing to put up with them for friends. “There’s a hierarchy? Does that mean there’s someone in charge we can speak with?” Twilight asked hopefully. “Tom, feel free to field that question,” Discord said. “What? Why?” Tom asked in confusion. “I’m not allowed to incite a Religion or any kind of cult. One of my agreements with the Tree. Can you imagine how messy it would’ve gotten if the old me had worshippers?” Discord asked rhetorically and all three could imagine it wouldn’t have been pretty. “Well…I believe that there is one God,” Tom started. “I can neither confirm nor deny,” Discord quickly stated. Tom rolled his eyes. “He is referenced multiple times as the ‘God of Gods’ in scripture I had thought it was meant to be taken literally, but I didn’t realize how literally before coming to Equestria. I don’t know if it’s actually possible to speak to Him ourselves, like face to face. He usually only appears directly to His Prophets. I do know He answers prayer, though often in subtle ways you don’t expect,” Tom explained. “Well, what’s his name? Maybe we can ask for an audience?” Twilight questioned. “He doesn’t really have a name in Scripture. An ancient culture called Him Jehovah, and that’s technically the name He chose for us to refer to Him as, but it’s generally considered more proper to refer to Him as God, Heavenly Father, or The Lord High God. Oh, if you do decide to address Him, it is proper to do so in the name of Jesus Christ. God has three aspects: God the Father, God the Son aka Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Ghost. So you entreaty the Father in the name of the Son,” Tom explained. “That’s interesting. Strange, but interesting,” Twilight remarked. “How do you think I felt when I found out I was inhabiting the body of a goddess?” Tom deadpanned. “Fair point,” Twilight acceded. “Don’t think I don’t realize why you put me up to this, Discord,” Tom groused. “You give me too much credit. You and I both know Twilight wouldn’t rest until she had answers to her question and as I said, I can’t talk Religion. I can only speak of truths already known and observable facts in this matter,” Discord looked like he was about to say something else, but cut himself off. “Maybe you should be the one to pray, Tom, as you’re already a devotee?” Cadence suggested. “Oh, I’d love to hear an actual prayer from a real Religion!” Twilight exclaimed. “I- fine, but not in public. Most people already think Twilight’s crazy enough,” Tom sighed. “Let’s head back to the library then. No one should be there,” Twilight noted. “And then we can play some nice, relaxing, mundane board games,” Tom was looking forward to something that would distract him from what he had learned. The group returned to the library and it was indeed empty. “Close your eyes and bow your heads,” Tom instructed quietly. Once they had done so he began. “Dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for providing for us and keeping us safe. We know all our trials are meant to bring us closer to you and are thankful for them. Please bless us that in our times of need, we will know the course of action you wish for us to take. We ask that you help our endeavors succeed, that we may have a portion of thy strength to see us through this current problem. Let us be filled with thy spirit, for we know all things are possible in you. In the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.” Tom was filled with a feeling of serenity he had every time he prayed. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it. Twilight and Cadence hesitantly echoed the amen, but Discord repeated the word solidly. Tom looked at Discord in surprise. “What? Just because I can’t talk about Religion doesn’t mean I don’t have my own thoughts on the matter and can’t be respectful of other’s views,” Discord pretended to be offended. “I would’ve thought you hated organized anything, never mind Religion,” Tom observed. “In all things there must be opposites. Just because I am an Avatar of Chaos doesn’t mean it’s impossible for me to appreciate a little Order. Why do you think I keep my body mostly the same and not appear as whatever takes my fancy?” Discord defended himself. “That is something I hadn’t considered,” Tom admitted. “So what now?” Cadence asked. “Right now we play board games. In the long term, we continue with our plan to convince the Tree to reach out to her friends. If that plan needs to be amended or thrown away entirely, we’ll know somehow,” Tom replied. “You sound confident,” Cadence noted. “I am confident,” Tom said with a nod. “I’d love to learn more about your Religion. A whole new mode of thinking and devotion to one Supreme Being! It’s fascinating just thinking about it,” Twilight gushed. “I’m not sure I’d be the best teacher. I don’t have all the scriptures memorized-” “There’s a spell that can help,” Twilight interrupted and Tom glared at her, “Sorry.” “Even if we had all the scriptures, I’ve had several, ah, heated arguments with my Sunday School teachers over my personal interpretation of scripture. I don’t think I’m worthy to teach anyone something so important,” Tom confessed. “Well, let’s read your scriptures together and I can decide for myself if I agree with your interpretation,” Twilight said reasonably. “Isn’t that how these things are supposed to work in the first place?” Discord asked as if he didn’t already know. “I suppose you’re right. But I insist on board games first. After Discord spent the day blowing my mind, and not in a good way, I need something frivolous to focus on,” Tom stated. So they spent the rest of the day before Cadence had to leave playing board games.