//------------------------------//
// The Part Where the Two Main Characters Meet 
// Story: We Don't Have Time for a Slow Burn Romance! 
// by RunicTreetops 
//------------------------------//

You lean your back against the building behind you while doing your best to take up as little space as possible. The streets of Canterlot are so crowded, you may as well be drowning in a sea of multicolored ponies. In front of you, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fly a fair distance above the crowd. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Starlight Glimmer and Rarity are squeezed in just as tightly as everypony else. Of course, there is only one event that could cause this sort of crowd to appear in Canterlot: The Princess Procession.

To be honest, you still don't really understand the purpose of this event. When you asked Twilight about it, she told some story about an ancient Equestrian tradition that reinforced the public's trust in the nation's leaders or something. There was a whole lot of detail and not a whole lot of actually helpful context, so you just chalked it up to "pony weirdness."

And pony weirdness is an apt way of describing the event itself, too. For all intents and purposes, the Princess Procession is a parade of peculiar proportions. Ponies from seemingly every government branch in Canterlot march in formation. There are Royal Guard units, members of the EEA, plenty of elites that you saw back at the Grand Galloping Gala, a Wonderbolt here and there, and pretty much everypony in-between. It isn't just a normal march, either. They all go through a specific set of motions, each unique to the group performing them. Some look dance-like, while others are more rigid. The Wonderbolts perform many flips and twirls, the pencil pushers of the legislative committee do a sort of synchronized walk... frankly, if you didn't know any better, you'd think this was a circus performance. 

Yet, the stars of the show should be obvious by the name of the event. Equestria's princesses each have their own part to play in the parade. You peer over the sea of ponies in front of you just as Twilight slowly goes by. It's a good thing you're so tall, otherwise you would have no hope of seeing her. She forces a smile at the crowd as she focuses on her movements. She leaps into the air, stops, falls, lands on all fours, then does it again. She steps right, she steps left. She does a... standing backflip? Wow, even from here you can see that she's working up quite the sweat. Yet, despite the fact that her movements are clearly extremely methodical, they don't exactly look graceful. You would assume that she's doing something wrong, if not for the fact that not too far behind her, you can see Princess Luna going through the exact same motions.

You're gonna be honest here: They look absolutely ridiculous.

You chuckle to yourself. Equestrian traditions are weird. As you watch Twilight and Luna head down the road, your friends begin to move with much of the crowd in an attempt to follow them. Meanwhile, you hang back, purposefully pressing yourself against the wall as best you can. Sure enough, the sea of ponies slowly begins to disperse. Most follow the procession, but at least a few go in every other direction as well. You breathe a sigh of relief. You aren't the best with crowds.

Besides, you know the parade's route. It still has a long way to go before it reaches its conclusion. Though, you should still definitely be keeping an eye on it. You do have a part to play when it comes to that conclusion, after all.

...Now that you think about it, where's Moondancer?

Right, Moondancer. After your date last month went as well as it did, you made sure to keep in touch. You might live far apart, but that doesn't mean you can't keep in contact via some good old letters, right? You exchange mail pretty much daily, discussing whatever you might think of. You learn more about each other seemingly every day, and it only makes your bond all the stronger. Heck, you've even picked up a few books on basic magical theory. You're still far from being able to have an in-depth conversation about it with your marefriend, but you have to start somewhere, right?

However, today was supposed to be different. After all, Moondancer lives here. Twilight, who frankly supports your new relationship a bit too much, even made sure that you two would get to spend some time together by assigning you the same role in the Princess Procession. You'll need to be at that grand finale together if you want to get your job done properly. It isn't exactly a complicated job (especially compared to what poor Twilight is doing), but it's an important one nonetheless.

And yet, Moondancer is nowhere to be seen.

You pull a folded-up letter out of your pocket. ...Yeah, this is where you're supposed to meet up. The end of the procession is technically on the other side of Canterlot, but this was just a convenient spot considering how close it is to her house. Besides, so long as you avoid the procession's route, you can also avoid the parade and the crowd pretty easily and head straight to the end if you need to. At least, you would if Moondancer were here. Which she isn't.

"Hmm."

You mumble to no one in particular as you think. Moondancer isn't the type to just forget about this, and while she may get nervous easily in social situations, she also isn't the type to leave you hanging on purpose. You feel a tightness begin to form in your chest. Maybe you're just jumping to conclusions, but you can't deny that this seems strange. After a few moments of silent contemplation, you nod to yourself and begin to walk across the now-empty street. 

Hopefully she just forgot to set her alarm or something.





You sigh as you knock on the familiar wooden door. You've arrived at Moondancer's house, having no clue where else she might have gone. You wait a few moments, but there is no response. With a tilt of your head, you knock again. Once more, there is no response. You lean to the side to peer through her window. The curtains are closed, but you can tell that the lights are off. Hm. Maybe she isn't home after all? Just for the heck of it, you decide to try the door handle before departing. However, you almost stumble forward as the door actually opens. She wouldn't normally just leave her house unlocked like that, especially if she isn't home.

"Moonie? It's Anon. Are you in here?"

You receive no response. After standing awkwardly in the doorway for a few seconds, you take a deep breath.

"I know you're a bit embarrassed about your house, but I'm coming in anyway. I hope you don't mind!"

You cautiously enter the quiet abode. Sure enough, the lights are all turned off. More than that, the living room is a mess. Granted, you knew she was already a bit disorganized, but even you can see the problem here. A nearby shelf, which had seemingly been mounted on the wall next to the door, has fallen halfway off of said wall, tilting at a downwards angle and dumping the numerous books it was holding up onto the floor below. Said books litter the entire living room, and when combined with the hundreds of books she already had all over the place, the whole house looks like it had been the victim of a terrible natural disaster. You stare silently at the mess. If your marefriend is home, she probably isn't going to like you gawking at what she is almost certainly embarrassed by. 

You take a few steps into the house, prepared to begin a proper search for the missing mare. However, after only a few seconds, something peculiar catches your attention. Among the dozens of books littering the floor, one in particular grabs your eye. The book lies open on the carpet, its binding a deep blue color. However, what made you look at it is the faint glow coming off of the exposed pages. When you kneel down to take a closer look at it, you realize that the visible pages themselves cannot actually be read. The paper contained within the book is producing the glow, covering up whatever text might have actually been transcribed on them.

That's... odd.

Without thinking, you reach out to touch the book. This proves to be a mistake, as the instant your fingers make contact with the paper, you feel an intense pulling sensation. It's as if the book itself is tugging on your arm, and to your shock, your hand passes right through the pages. You try to fight the book, doing your best to plant your feet into the carpet below you and back up, but all that does is make it feel like your arm is about to get ripped right out of its socket. After a few more moments of struggling, your leg slips. All at once, your entire body gets pulled to the floor and towards the pages of the book. Then...

You're falling.

You're surrounded on all sides by an endless void of white and yellow magic. The magic shoots past you as you continue to fall farther and farther. You look up, but you can see nothing above you. You look down, and the only thing to greet you is an endless void of magic. You open your mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. Tears fill your eyes as you continue to fall. Questions race through your mind about where you are, how you got there, and what you're going to do next. However, before any of those questions can be answered, your vision goes dark.

And just like that, you lose consciousness.





Your eyes gently flitter open, only to be met with sunlight pouring through a nearby window. You shut your eyes tight once more to shield them from the sun. You realize that you're lying on your stomach, and you awkwardly pull yourself to your knees. You look around, taking in the sight of your apartment around you. The cold, white walls seem uninviting as the morning sun fills the space. You glance at the digital clock sitting next to your mattress. 7:45 AM. Neat.

...

...Wait.

7:45?

...

YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE!

You rush to your feet, throw open the nearby closet, and quickly get dressed in your usual school uniform. Now a whirlwind of activity, you put your nice shoes on and book it out of the apartment, a piece of fresh toast held gently in your mouth all the while. You race down the street, your bag loosely hanging from your back as you slowly make your way past the seemingly always-in-bloom cherry blossoms. Finally, on the horizon, you see it. You might make it on time after all!

A few minutes later you slow to a stop, doing your best to catch your breath as you reach the gate. With a smile on your face, you look up at the magnificent building in front of you.

Your name is Anon, and starting today, you're going to be a second year at Ponetsu High School!

...

...

...

You blink.

...

You blink again.

...

...Huh?

Apartment?

Cherry blossoms?

High school?

You look down at yourself. Sure enough, you seem to be dressed in a traditional school uniform for Japanese high school boys. It looks a bit odd on you considering you're a grown man and have also never been anywhere near Japan, but that's what it is all right. If it wasn't for the fact that you've read so much manga and watched so much anime in your time, you probably would have no idea what's going on right now.

Actually, scratch that. You STILL have no idea what's going on right now.

You look around. Plenty of students are filing into the school. All of them are ponies, and they're dressed in ponified versions of what you can identify as school uniforms. The stallions look sharp, and the mares even have little dresses that don't really cover anything whatsoever (not that there was anything to cover to begin with). Some say hello to you as they pass by, but most don't pay any attention to you. You start getting flashbacks to your high school years.

Ugh, you feel a headache coming on.

The bell at the school begins to ring, and the students around you hurry into the school building. You look at them with confusion before turning around. However, to your surprise, there isn't a landscape behind you. Instead, it's like a blurry approximation of a town that's not quite there, almost like you're looking through a foggy window. This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Turning back to the school, you sigh. You really don't want to do this, but without any other obvious courses of action to take, you slowly make your way into the Japanese-style high school.

Upon entering the school, you look around at the students filing into all of their classrooms. The school has multiple floors, and if your weeb knowledge has taught you anything, it's that the grades are separated by floor. If that knowledge has taught you anything else, it's that if you're meant to be attending this school for whatever reason, you're probably a second year. It's ALWAYS a second year.

Well, considering nopony seems to be objecting at the sight of the grown human man walking through the halls... screw it! You find the closest staircase and ascend to the second floor. Sure enough, you're pretty much immediately greeted by classroom 2-A. Because being in any lettered class other than A would be too much work, wouldn't it?

You slide the door open and step inside. It appears that class has already started. The room of ponies all look at you with fear in their eyes just as the stallion standing next to the chalkboard sees you enter.

"Ah, Mr. Anon. Late on your first day, huh?"

"..."

"So, it's gonna be like that, eh? I don't take kindly to troublemakers, I'll have you know."

"..."

The stallion lets out an aggravated sigh before turning to the class.

"Well class, as you know, Mr. Anon here is a transfer student. He'll be joining you from this day onward." The teacher turns to look at you. "Introduce yourself and take your seat, class has already started."

You turn to the class of high-school-age ponies. This is the most ridiculous scenario you've ever been in, and frankly, you're already fed up with it. You hold a single hand in the air for an unenthusiastic greeting.

"Yo."

The teacher looks at you with fury.

"What kind of a greeting is that?!"

All right, screw this. 

Without another word, you turn right around and step out of the class. The teacher begins to yell at you, but you ignore him completely. It's been many years since you graduated high school and you are not doing it again. However, now that you're standing alone in the quiet hallway, you finally have a chance to ponder a few things. How did you get here? Where is here? Why did you get dressed like this, and why are these ponies acting like they know you?

While these thoughts fill your mind, the bell conveniently rings once again. You look up, only to notice that the sunlight coming through a nearby window is suddenly a deep orange color. That would indicate that it's the afternoon, but wasn't it morning just a few seconds ago? Sure enough, students pour out of the many classrooms nearby, happily chatting amongst themselves as though the day is over. They pay you no mind as they go about their business. You can do nothing but stand there in complete disbelief at the utter ridiculousness of the events transpiring around you. This is a dream, right? It has to be. What else could possibly be going on here?

Your thoughts are interrupted by something bumping into you from behind. You turn around, and you're immediately greeted by a short unicorn mare looking up at you nervously. Her mane is tied up messily, her large glasses are barely hanging onto her face, and her horn gently glows as she carries a large stack of papers in front of her. Said papers are piled so high, she couldn't see where she was going and ran right into you.

"O-oh! Sorry senpai, I need to get these worksheets to Mr. Norooka right away!" The mare blushes and looks away from you before trying to get around you. However, you quickly move to prevent her from doing so. "S-senpai?"

"...Moonie?"

"Huh?! 'M-Moonie?!'"

The mare blushes even deeper, and in her efforts to hide her growing embarrassment, she drops the stack of papers. You finally get a good look at her in her entirety. She's dressed in a school uniform, but there can be no mistake. 

This student is Moondancer.

"What are you doing, Moonie? Where are we? What's going on?"

"What are you talking about, senpai? I just said I was trying to get these documents to Mr. Norooka! And what do you mean, 'where are we?' We're at school. You know, Ponetsu High School? Where else would we be?"

"Umm, in Canterlot? Doing our job at the Princess Procession?"

"Princess Procession? Senpai, what are you talking about?"

"You know, the big parade thing where the princesses do that whole... whatever it is they do?"

"...Not ringing a bell."

"And why do you keep calling me 'senpai?'"

"B-because you're my senpai, of course!"

She looks away from you in embarrassment once more. You roll your eyes. You're tired of this charade. Without warning, you bend over and pick Moondancer up, effortlessly lifting her into the air to look her in the eyes.

"Moondancer. We are both fully grown adults. We haven't gone to high school in years. Neither of us are Japanese. I'm not even a pony. So, I'll ask again. Where are we?!"

Moondancer stares at you for a couple of seconds with confusion on her face. However, all at once, her eyes seem to shine. She blinks, then she blinks again. After that, she shakes her head violently. When she looks back at you once more, there is a renewed clarity to her expression.

"...Oh no."

"Moonie?"

"H-hi, Nonny."

"What's going on?"

"Uhhhhhh, ehehe, about that..."

You narrow your eyes at Moondancer. The events that transpired before you woke up in that apartment are now much clearer in your mind.

"Moondancer?"

"Y-yes, Nonny?"

"Are we in an enchanted manga?"

"...Maybe?"

Moondancer gives you an extremely forced, guilty looking smile.

"Why do you even have one of those?"

"It was an experimental copy, all right?! The enchanted comic store didn't know what to do with it, and I made sure to get my hooves on it. It's a collector's item, for Celestia's sake!"

"And why did you open it during the procession?!"

"I didn't! I was trying to get my book about the procession off of my shelf so I could review what we're supposed to do, but the book got stuck and I pulled too hard and the shelf fell! Then the manga landed at my hooves and... here I was!"

You stare at her for a moment in disbelief. You briefly consider saying something a bit rude, but you quickly brush that thought aside. This was clearly an accident, after all. She probably feels incredibly guilty as-is. No need to make her feel worse about it.

"Ugh, this sucks. Isn't the whole point of these enchanted comics that we have to live through the story of the main cast?"

"That's typically how it works, yes. It's a very niche hobby, and usually reserved for only the biggest of comic superfans."

"And what manga are we in that we have to live through?"

Moondancer blushes even harder and looks away for a third time. You simply stare at her while she does so. After a few moments of awkward silence, she squeaks out an answer.

"Poni Can't Communicate?"

"...That manga about the two high schoolers that's infamous for how insanely long it takes for the lead couple's relationship to go anywhere?"

"That's the one."

"..." You stare at Moondancer for a moment before sighing. "Good thing we're smarter than them, right?"

"What do you mmmmmm?!"

Moondancer is cut off by you suddenly pressing your lips against hers. She's a bit too shocked to respond properly, and you pull away just as quickly as you started it.

"There. Storyline resolved. Can we go home now?"

You weren't speaking to Moondancer so much as you were speaking to the world around you. Unfortunately, it doesn't respond.

"...It's not that simple." She has to force her words out through her embarrassment.

"Then what do we have to do?"

"We have to go through all of the major story beats before the manga considers itself completed."

"W-wait. The whole story?"

"That's typically the case, yes."

"But we don't have TIME for a slow burn romance! The Princess Procession is going on as we speak, and if we aren't there when it comes to an end, we are going to be in so much trouble!"

"I-I know!"

"So what do we do?!"

Moondancer looks at you for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, she closes her eyes. Over the course of the next few moments, she takes deep breaths. As her breathing steadies and she begins to calm down, you find yourself doing the same.

"We'll just have to speedrun this romance."

"Like, get through the manga as quickly as possible?"

"That's the only thing I can think of."

"..." You look at her for a moment. She gives you a look of focus and understanding. After taking one more deep breath, you nod at her. "All right. This seems really, really stupid, but I guess we don't have a choice."

"Right. Now then, let's head to the roof."

"The roof? Why?"

"So we can share a boxed lunch I made for you."

"Wow. How... cliché."

"This manga is nothing but clichés. Hopefully that'll make our job easier." Without hesitation, Moondancer turns around and heads for a nearby staircase. "Now come on, we've got no time to lose!"

"C-coming!"

The two of you begin to ascend the stairs, your minds racing as you do so. It's a lot to take in, and the pressure of your strict time limit isn't doing you any favors. Indeed, your relationship could very well rely on whether or not you make it to the end of the procession in time. Meanwhile, as you fiddle with your Japanese high school uniform and make your way up the staircase, you've never felt more uncomfortable.

This is going to be really dumb, isn't it?