//------------------------------// // Chapter eleven- Truth and Holidays // Story: The Gate: A Strange New World // by Ranger-Redstar //------------------------------// As I got off the bus first, I was glad to be back safe at home and be able to traverse back to Equestria. I turned and was greeted by the Major who looked rather annoyed “Mel good to see you’re in one piece” I could only assume he saw the attempted assassination live on national television “Yeah, so am I and as you can see no pony was hurt.” When I said that the girls and Celestia began to exit the bus and stand by me. “Major good to see you” Celestia bowed. “Your highness, I’m glad you’re all safe and I hope that your trip was eventful but now let’s get you back home” The Major waved his hand, and the Gate began to open again. I looked back at the major who’s face just seemed off “Mel, I need to talk to you in my office privately, something has come up that demands your attention” he turned and walked to his office trailer I looked back at the girls who seemed concerned. “Don’t worry it’s probably nothing” I said uncertainly. Celestia stepped forward towards me. “Does it have something to do with that Lauren Faust person?” I remembered back when they watched the show for the first time in the hotel room. “It’s possible but it’s something that the major and I can handle.” I bowed, turned and walked towards the trailer. As I walked in and closed the door behind me, I turned and saw Lauren sitting at the table as the major stood off to the side from her. “Ms. Faust this is Ambassador Mel, Mel, I take it you know Ms. Faust.” I pulled out a chair and sat down as well. “Yes, I know her.” Lauren looked a bit confused as to why she was brought here. “So, why am I here sir?” she said as she looked at the major The major then turned to me. “Do you wanna tell, or should I?” “I’ll do it” I said as I made eye contact with her. “It’s seems the world of My Little Pony and Equestria that you created for Television is real and it exists on the other side of the Gate.” She looked dumbfounded and even more confused. “Excuse me?” “Equestria, the world of ponies that you created lies just beyond that Gate there” I pointed my hand towards the door. “Wait so what you’re telling me is that thee Equestria I came up with exists beyond that big stone structure?” “Yes, I have been there, and I will say it is a wonderful place.” Again, she looked at me still dumbfounded. “That’s not possible” she looked at the major and then back to me. “Is it?” “I assure you Ms. Faust that its possible, I don’t know how but it is” Lauren held her head in her hands trying to process this new information. “So, everything that I made up is over there?” “Yes indeed, Ponyville, Cloudsdale, Canterlot and of course the characters that you put a lot of thought into exists, I mean did you even see what was going on, on national television.” “I’ve been rather busy working on my latest show that I haven’t had time to see the news, but for some reason my characters were trending on Twitter, and I had no idea why?” The major went to one of the tv’s on the wall and turned it on “Perhaps you would like to see for yourself.” The screen flickered and the scene being shown was the President talking and then Celestia came out to address the nation. Soon Twilight, Fluttershy and then Applejack came out as well. Lauren was transfixed to the television as the meeting went on. When Celestia was back on the stand you could see me approach the would-be assassin as he shot me, and I shot back as a panic ensued. The major then turned the tv off. “So, you see Ms. Faust a lot of our information from beyond the gate has been brought to us by Mel here. He was the first to visit there and has been gathering intel about their world. That information has been a closely guarded secret and then he tells me that all of his research exists as a cartoon show made by you, that’s a weird coincidence.” “I don’t know what to tell you I’ve had these ideas in my head ever since I was a little girl” “Perhaps were being too hard on her sir, I mean there’s no way either of us could have known.” I looked back at Lauren. “When did your show premier anyway?” “I believe on October 10th” “Hm what was the first episode about?” “Well Twilight goes to Ponyville to make new friends and Nightmare Moon returns and she finds the Elements of Harmony and defeats her.” I could not believe what she had just told me because I was there when it happened. “That’s also an odd coincidence, because I was there with Twilight and I helped her with the summer sun celebration preparations, and I was there when she and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon.” Lauren was taken back by my story. “Wait so what you’re saying is that everything that you are experiencing right now beyond the gate is also happening in the show” The Major said. “I guess I would agree, but their seasons are off, either that or time moves differently in their world.” “Hm you’ll have to look into that, in the meantime continue with you research, Ms. Faust you're free to go now.” Lauren definitely was in a state of sorts as she stood up. I figure that maybe seeing proof of them in real life would help. “Hey, would you like to meet Celestia?” She was shocked again and just nodded her head. I went to the door, moved the blinds and looked out and saw Celestia standing in the gateway probably waiting for me. I opened the door as Lauren followed me out and we both walked over to the gate. Celestia was transfixed on Lauren and so was she, gazing back at her. They stared at each other like they knew one another and yet they didn’t. “Ahem, uh Celestia this is Lauren Faust, Lauren this is…well you know who she is.” Lauren nodded as she stared at Celestia. She then reached her hand out and cupped Celestia’s cheek. Celestia remained motionless by Lauren. “It’s like I’ve know you my whole life and yet I feel as if I haven’t.” Celestia’s eyes went wide and began to tear up. “I feel the same way, for some reason” Celestia said. Twilight leaned in towards me. “What's going on?” “I’m not sure, anywho I do believe it’s time to get back beyond the gate your highness.” My comment broke Celestia out of her trance as she looked back at us. She then nodded and walked towards the gate with the girls following close behind. “Is there a chance I might visit Equestria?” Lauren said. “Maybe, just not right now” The Major then escorted Lauren out of the enclosure. Lauren and Celestia’s encounter definitely aroused my curiosity. Was there some inter dimensional energy/shift happening when they got close. Perhaps when I go back, I’ll have a more in-depth chat with her about it. The Major then came back to speak to me. “Mel, keep doing what you’re doing and if you find anything else about those two let me know.” “Yes sir” I Quickly followed behind the girls as we all passed through the gate. When we emerged from the other side a lot on the ponies from Ponyville were waiting for us. “Yay Mel’s back” Pinkie yelled as she jumped into the air and hugged me. She latched on tight and squeezed me, I felt like my eyes were gonna pop out of my skull. “Good to see you to Pinkie” I said as I pulled her off of me and set her down on the ground. I wiped the wrinkles out of my suit and then addressed the other ponies. “It’s good to have you back Mel, I trust you trip with the girls went as planned” Rarity said. “Yes, there was a minor hiccup, but we persevered.” “Oh, what kind of hiccup, was it a dangerous one with explosions and fighting and action!” Rainbow said. “I’m sorry but what happened is between us and the Princess Rainbow.” “Aw fine” she said disappointedly. “However, I did manage to get you guys souvenirs.” When I said that their eyes grew wide with excitement. I handed them their gifts and they all accepted them gleefully. “Thank you, Mel,” they all said. Just then Luna stepped forward to talk with her sister. “It is good to see you return dear sister how was the human summit?” Celestia looked at me and I looked at her and shook my head ever so slightly. “It was different than what I’m use too but was eventful nonetheless, once we get back, I’ll go into more detail.” “Perhaps we should get some rest. We all had a long trip as it were” I said. “Okay but were gonna talk about what happened over there, no secrets shall be kept from me” Pinkie uttered to me. “Well, I better mosey on back home, Applebloom probably gonna chew my ears off about the other side.” “I’d better get back too, Angel’s probably angry that I’ve been gone for so long and all the other critters miss me.” All the ponies went off back home as Twilight and I were left alone. “Shall we” I said. Twilight nodded as we both head back to Golden Oak Library. “Hey Mel” she said as I turned to face her. “I forgot to say thank you by the way.” “Thank you for?” “For taking care of us and protecting Celestia of course, I know that must have been really hard for you to undertake and I know it’s been rough with everything going on over there and us, I hope that your people can see us as friends someday.” “But we are friends, but I get what you mean, The Gate is still relatively new to a lot of people, so I think it’s going to take some time before people start accepting it.” “Thanks, it’s good to have a close friend, even if you aren’t a pony.” We both walked up to the door and we both entered to find Spike passed out on the floor with a pile of comic books by his side. “Looks like a certain dragon tried to stay awake for my return but couldn't keep his eyes open, I’m gonna put him to bed, I’ll see tomorrow Mel” she said as she levitated a sleepy spike to his bed. I nodded and closed the door and began walking back to my place. I soon made my way back to my place where Sargent Haynes and his men were waiting. “Ambassador how was your trip?” Haynes said. “It went well, aside from the failed assassination attempt.” Haynes and his men were shocked. “Someone tried to kill you?” one soldier said. “Well, they were aiming at Celestia, but I managed to take the bullet, I’ll show you my bruise once I get inside.” “I commend your bravery sir” Haynes said as he saluted me. “Oh, something came up while you were away, a schoolteacher pony came by to ask if you could donate some time and visit the children tomorrow morning.” I often wondered when I would get the opportunity to make friends with the fillies at some point “Sure, I can manage that” I mean I was still in my senior year of high school when I became ambassador so waking up early was not something new to me? now that I mentioned it did the government ever have me graduate early in order to uptake this position or not Either way, I figured i'd get some rest for tomorrow. =====================================**========================================== The next morning, I woke up early, got dressed and made my way over the Ponyville Schoolhouse. I walked down the path and soon saw in the distance a red building with a bell housed at the top. As I walked closer, I could see the pony teacher standing in front of the door. “Hello Ambassador welcome I’m Ms. Cheerilee and I’m so glad you could take some time out off of your busy day to spend some time on the kids.” “It’s no problem I take it the little fillies wanna know more about me and the other side.” “Oh, absolutely they’ve been asking me if the human is gonna stop by and low and behold here you are, now let me introduce you to the class real quick.” Cheerilee opened the door and went inside to address her students. “Now class we have a very special guest today, please be polite to the Ambassador from beyond the gate!” the door opened and I ducked my head into the classroom and saw all the fillies at their desks. “Good morning everypony” I said. “Good morning ambassador” all the students said in unison. “Here, have a seat” Cheerilee said as she pulled out a stool. I looked and the stool was rather small. So, I decided to just sit on the floor. “Now does anypony have any questions for the Ambassador?” Some of the fillies raised their hands. “Yes Snails?” “Yeah, I was wondering if they have more of the auto-ma-whatsits over there.” “Um yes we have a lot of automobiles from big to small to fit certain needs.” “Alright yes Scootaloo?” “I heard they also have flying machines over there that can go really fast.” “Indeed, we have commercial planes for carrying people across the country very quickly as well as jet fighters that can even break the sound barrier” “Wow” “Alright who else, yes diamond” “As an ambassador do you make a lot of money?” “I think my government pays me well considering the job I was given; I don’t consider myself a millionaire by any means.” “Wonderful, if you don’t mind me asking Mr. Ambassador how would you compare your world to ours?” “Oof well Equestria is a wonderful place where everypony is nice and kind and have their own lives to live, my world, there’s not enough kindness and a lot of mean people who have their own opinions about the way the world should run but we also have other countries that we live with and sometimes we fight.” “oh, I see well I’m glad you’re here to make peace now class say thank you to the Ambassador.” “Thank you, Ambassador,” they students said in unison again “You welcome everypony, now if you’ll excuse me” I said as I headed out the door. I walked down the path back home when Sargent Haynes and his men were waiting for me. “How’d it go?” He said. “It went well.” “Excellent on that note I just got word from your *ahem* dragon friend that Celestia would like to see you.” “You mean spike, yeah he’s kinda like an instant messenger.” “Hop in sir and we’ll be on our way.” I wiped my suit as I climbed into the back of the Humvee and we took off up the mountain side. As we drove along the winding road, I looked out the window and saw Ponyville as well as the many rivers leading away from it. It made me feel calm and I had no idea why, perhaps this world has some sort kind of aura that makes you feel good. We soon found ourselves back in Canterlot after a lengthy ride up the Mountains. I walked up the steps towards the castle doors with the guards standing by. “Ambassador” they both said as they opened the doors for me and began escorting me to Celestia’s throne room. “Celestia is expecting me” I said. “Yes, right this way sir” one old guard said. I followed behind the two closely as they led me to the Royal Throne room. We soon came to the double doors I knew all too well as they opened them revealing the shiny stone throne room where Celestia and Luna sat in. They let me enter as they closed the doors behind me. I walked towards Celestia and Luna and stopped before them and bowed “Your Highness’s” “There’s no need to bow to us Mel” Celestia said. I looked confused as Luna stepped forward. “Celestia has told me about her time beyond the gate.” I looked at Celestia and could only assume that she told Luna about the assassination attempt. “Yes, well I… did what I had to do” I said nonchalantly. “Indeed, and it is something that has never happened to Celestia nor I, yet you were willing to sacrifice yourself for my sister and that is also something that neither of us have seen before.” “Yes, that is why I called you here to commend your bravery and to give you a gift for your actions” Celestia said. Celestia rang a small bell and in walked two guards’ ponies pushing a cart with what appeared to be a large rock on top of it closer to me. As it got closer it got more shiny and less rocky. I stared at it wondering if this was silver or platinum. “May I ask what this is?” “To our knowledge and what we know, is that it is a strange ore that can negate unicorn or even alicorn magic. It is quite dense as our miners have had a hard time breaking it apart with their tools” “When we do mine for resources this ore, on very rare occasions can be found. We personally don’t have a particular use for it since we know its properties but considering its rarity, we figured giving this to you as a thank you for saving my life” Celestia said. I looked at the ore on the cart and humbly accepted their gift. “Well, thank you your highness” I said. I walked up to the ore and touched it. it was rather cold but felt like a mangled metal in its current state. I put both hands underneath it and tried to lift it not knowing how much it weighed and to my surprise it was very light. It probably weighed no more that 16 pounds. A lot of ideas went through my head on what to do with it, but I set it back down on the cart. “Is there’s anything else we can do for you Mel?” Celestia asked. “I can’t really think of anything, oh I will be taking some time off to go see my family.” “Splendid when was the last you saw of them?” Luna asked. “I believe right before I found and entered to gate.” “My that is quite a long time and I believe you deserve to take some time off; I wish you luck Mel.” “Thank you again your highness’s.” “Ambassador before you leave” Luna stepped forward closer to me. “When you go back do you think you could bring back some more of those video games, they are quite fun.” “It would seem that my sister is quite fond of those virtual games that you gave her, she spends a lot of her nights playing them.” I chuckled at the thought. “I’ll see what I can do.” That made Luna all the more happy. “Before you go Ambassador my sister also told me of a female human that somehow knows about our world?” “Oh, you mean Lauren Faust.” When I said that Luna made the same face that Celestia did when I first mentioned it “I feel as if that name reminds me of somepony” “Maybe she reminds you of your mom?” “Interesting that you mention that; me and my sister have no recollection of what our mother looked like yet when I saw her, I felt something deep and meaningful” Celestia said “Well, she did create a show that centers around this world so maybe there’s a connection?” “Indeed, we shall have to conduct some research in the meantime, I bid thee farewell Ambassador” Luna said. “Farewell” I said as I walked to the door along with my ore. As I got closer to the door the two guard’s ponies picked it up for me and helped carry it out with me “I must say it is quite an honor to receive such a gift from the Royals” one said. “I’ll say you could make a lot of different things with this, like uh spear or a nice set of armor” the female guard said. “Maybe so I’ll probably make like some tools with it or something” I said. “Hm, that’s a smart idea, the tools we make with our steel is no match for this ore but if one makes a tool out of it that could be ingenious.” “Yeah, I suppose you could, but it wouldn’t be nearly as cool.” We made our way to the outside of the castle were Haynes and his men were waiting for us. I then loaded the ore into the back of the Humvee. “What is that Ambassador?” Hayne said. “A gift from the princess’s” “Yeah, but what is it?” one of the soldiers said. “It’s some kind of ore that’s very rare.” “Oh, so it must be valuable.” “Yeah, I do have a few ideas and if there’s anything left, I’ll be sure to give it to the major for testing.” “Alright let’s get you back then.” We all got into the Humvee and drove on down back to Ponyville “Where to Ambassador?” Haynes said. “Sweet Apple Acres, I’d like to pick up a pie to bring with me to Thanksgiving with my family.” “Alright then” We made our way back to Ponyville as we passed the gate and headed on down to Applejacks place. Haynes pulled right on up to her house as I got out and knocked on the door. A few seconds went by when Applebloom opened the door. “Oh, howdy Mel what brings ya hear?” “I was hoping to pick up an apple pie.” “Really well you’ve come to the right place, come on in, I’ll let Aj know you’re here.” Applebloom led me inside the house as she went upstairs. Truth be told I had never been inside Aj’s house until now. It felt very country and homey with all the old-style furniture and cooking utensils. A short time later Applejack came down to greet me. “Howdy Mel I heard you’s was looking for an apple pie?” “Yes ma’am” “Well, I just so happen to have one still warm in the oven for ya” Applejack went to the small oven and opened it to reveal the fresh pie. The aroma alone was enough to make my mouth water. She gently pulled it out and set it on the table. “Thanks Aj I hope my folks will like it” “What’s the occasion if you don’t mind me asking?” “It’s Thanksgiving and I wanted to bring something for everypony…I mean everyone.” “Huh sounds interesting is it a special kind of holiday?” “You could say that it’s an old tradition from way back when settlers came to American and befriended the local natives and had a great feast to celebrate. Now we celebrate with our family members and eat a lot food.” “Sounds like a wholesome holiday.” “I like to think so, thanks for the pie Aj.” “Anytime sugarcube” I left Sweet Apple Acres and got into the Humvee. “To the gate please” I said. We then drove towards the gate on the way I then began writing down things I plan on making with the ore that I was given by Celestia. In no time at all we slowly passed on through and back to the other side. The Military made gate on the other side slowly opened as we pulled into the guarded facility. Haynes and his men got out along with me. The Major came out to see what was going on. “Mel good to see you, your back so soon.” “Yeah, I was hoping to spend Thanksgiving with my folks” as I held the pie in my hands. “Hm, I see very well Haynes will escort you there and will be there with you on standby.” “Thank you Major also when I get back, I need some smelting equipment, belt grinders and these items.” The Major took the list and looked it over. “Seems like common tools what do you plan on doing with these.” “Perhaps when I get back, I’ll explain.” “Very well enjoy your time Mel” he said as she saluted me. “I will” I said as I got back into the Humvee and headed out to my family’s house.