//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: A Chance to Change 
// Story: The New World 
// by jt45fan 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 7: A Chance to Change


It had been three months since the battle in my own mind. Three months since I defeated the equivalent to a god of chaos, in a one on one duel. Three months since I entered the land that I had, for a year, wished to go to. Three months since the worst day of my life.
In the final showdown in my head, my girlfriend risked her life to distract Discord, and she paid the price. She lost all memory of being human, and through that, all memory of her relationship with me. We tried to get her to remember, but we couldn’t. Not even Princess Celestia herself, with all of her divine magic, could unlock the memories. I began to get more and more withdrawn, at times not even leaving Rainbow’s house. I stopped talking, missing meals, and the like. Until the day she walked into my room.
“Hey, I want to talk.” said Rainbow Dash as she entered to room. I was sitting on my bed, moping as usual. When I didn’t respond she got mad and said “I’m talking to you.”
“No offence, but I don’t want to talk to you.” I responded, trying to get her out of my room to continue my moping. All it did was piss her off.
“You’re going to listen to me, you live here, in my house.” she ordered me. I turned to face her, seeing a frustrated face looking at me. “I was just going to tell you that that student newspaper from Ponyville Elementary just published an article about us.”
“What was that?” I asked her. If I heard her correctly, she mentioned the Foal Free Press, which I remembered correctly was not a tabloid for most of its history.
“In the school paper for the elementary school here, there is a new gossip column, and today it has an article about us.” She said as she held up the paper. On the cover it was a picture of me and Rainbow Dash on one of my increasingly rare trips outside. The headline was “Rainbow Dash’s new Special Somepony?”In the article were several rather blatant references that we were sleeping together. Then I saw the author, one “Gabby Gums.” I couldn’t believe they did that. When I caught those fillies, I would- Wait is this supposed to be part of the episode Ponyville Confidential?
“When did this happen?” I asked her, wondering if I could change the future.
“The article came out today.” She responded to me.
“No, I mean when did this get picked up by the newsstand?” I clarified for her.
“About two weeks ago, why?” she asked. “Do you have future knowledge now?”
“Sort of.” I said. “Remember when I explained how in my world, you’re part of a TV show?” she nodded in accordance that she did. “This is an episode that already aired.”
“So you know who Gabby Gums is?” she asked expectantly.
“Yes, but I can’t tell you. It could cause a paradox, and that’s not good for anypony.” I explained to her. “But there is something that will happen that I will be able to at least contain the fallout.”
“What will happen?” she asked with some urgency.
“I can’t tell you. All I need to do is talk to the princesses.” I said to her.
“I can’t get you an audience, but Twilight might.” She said. I got up and sprinted out of the room, not noticing her looking at my red sweatshirt, which lying on the floor.

Before I flew over to the library, I stopped a Fluttershy’s cottage first. I knocked on the door and waited for her to open it. She did and exclaimed “Oh, John! What are you doing here?” she asked me. “Are you looking for Mo?”
“Yes, and I’m in a hurry.” I responded to her.
“He left for Rarity’s about a half hour ago.” She told me. I then took off towards Carousel Boutique.

As I landed there I entered and asked the proprietor “Is Mo here yet?”
“He is, darling.” she responded to my inquiry, not looking up from the red fabric she was working with. I then went upstairs to meet up with him.
“Hey, Mo!” I yelled up the stairs.
He and Shamus both poked their heads around the wall before Mo asked “What do you want?”
“It’s a long story and I’d rather explain this once, so come with me to the library and I’ll explain there.” I told him. “Shamus, you can come too, if you want.”
“Why not?” Shamus said as he and Mo bean to walk down the stairs.
Before we left though, I decided to drop a hint to Rarity. After the other two had left I told Rarity. “If you’re looking for you’re missing diary, look in Sweetie Belle’s room.” and left before she could say anything else.

As we entered the library, I called for Twilight. But who came to greet me caused my heart to skip a beat. Ever since the hospital discharged her, Diana, aka Book Worm, and more importantly my, well technically, now ex-girlfriend, was staying with Twilight Sparkle at Ponyville Library. I hadn’t seen her since the scene in the hospital, which was now almost a month ago.
“Hey Silver, Wormhole. How are you guys?” she asked, using our cover ids we established in order to let the population think we were regular ponies. She didn’t remember our real names. “Oh Blueblade, sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“It’s fine.” I said to her, attempting to not try to get her to remember. Celestia said that anymore attempts could do serious damage to her, and just because she couldn’t remember me doesn’t mean I still don’t have feelings for her. “Can you go get Twilight for us? It’s sort of an emergency.”
“Sure.” she responded as she left the room to get Twilight from upstairs.
Just as she left the room Shamus leaned in and asked me “Dude, you alright?”
“I’m fine.” I said as I tried to brush it off.
“You sure?” then asked Mo.
Before I had a chance to respond, Twilight came down the stairs. “What’s going on?” she asked as she approached us.
“We,” I motioned to the three of us, “need to have an audience with the princesses. It’s a risk to national security.”
“What’s going on!” she asked, clearly worried.
“Ironically I can’t tell you, because it would create a paradox. You, a time-traveler, of all ponies, should understand.” I told her.
“Does this have something to do with the TV show?” she asked, referencing the fact that she was in our world a TV character.
“Yes, and that’s all I can tell you.” was my response.
She accepted it and said “I’ll let them know. Spike!” she called her assistant over.
“Yes.” he said as he arrived.
“Take their letter and send it to the Princess.” She ordered.
He nodded in approval and put pen to paper, indicating he was ready. “Dear Princess. This is John. I need to speak to you and your sister immediately.  It is a matter of national security.” He then sent the letter to Canterlot. After only fifteen minutes we received a response: “Dear John. Please come tomorrow to Canterlot Castle. We want to know what you have to say. Celestia.”
“Well looks like I know what we’re doing tomorrow.” I said to my friends as I read the letter.

I went back to Rainbow’s house that night, ready to go to Canterlot the next day. I walked up the front step and into the living room of the house. “Rainbow, I’m home!” I called into the house. She sat up from the couch and turned around to look at me.
“Hey, your back late.” she said to me. “I heard that you’re heading off to Canterlot tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I got an audience with them tomorrow.” I responded to her.
“You know it gets chilly in Canterlot. So I got you a gift.” She said as she grabbed something on the couch next to her. She threw it at me and I caught it. I unwrapped the bundle she tossed, revealing my old sweatshirt. “I had it re-tailored for a pony. It’s a good thing you stopped by Rarity’s today, she got a good idea of your measurements.”
“Thanks.” I said to her, rather awkwardly. I did not expect the gift, which made it even sweeter, but also much more confusing. “Why did you do this for me?” I asked her.
“Because you’re a friend,” she responded, “And that’s what friends do. So do you want to watch some TV?”
“Sure.” I responded as I hopped over the back of the couch, landing next to Rainbow Dash on the couch. “So, what’s on?” I asked her.
“There is a Hoofball game on. It’s the Canterlot Redflanks and the Manehatten Giants.” she said.
“Sounds good.” I said as I sat next to her. She slid closer to me, but I thought nothing of it. The game was a blowout, the Giants won by over thirty points. But that’s what’s to expect when one team is the world champs and the other is, well, shit. It was a good performance of the Giants’ offense though. I was so engrossed in the game that I didn’t notice Rainbow still scooting across the couch occasionally, closer to me. By then end of the 42-10 blowout she was sitting right next to me, her head resting on my chest, dozing off. When I saw it, it took me a moment to realize what was going on. Before I panicked I decided to try a calmer approach. “Rainbow?” I said to get her attention.
“Mm.” she responded without opening her eyes.
“What are you doing?” I asked her, still calmly.
“Napping.” was her response, which she once again said without opening her eyes.
“Do you know where you’re napping?” I asked her.
“Yes.” she said to me, as she opened her eyes, and she rolled to look at me. “Why?”
I looked at her lying on my lap. And the before I could get mad, my mind started running rather quickly. You know, she looks rather cute right now.’ said a little voice inside my head. The voice wasn’t wrong, her mane was messed up and her magenta eyes looked huge and adorable. But then another voice pipe in. But remember you have a marefriend already.’ Also true.
The first voice then came back,‘But she doesn’t remember you.’
‘But it’s morally wrong’
‘But you’ve all but broken up officially. Hell, the only reason you haven’t is because it would physically hurt her if you did.’
‘You still have feelings for her.’
‘But she doesn’t for you’
‘Shut up, I’m going to make my own goddamn decision in this.’ I then thought, stopping the two voices in my head, at least for the time being.
“Hey you were saying something?” said Rainbow Dash, still resting her head on my chest.
‘It’s decision time’ I thought for a brief moment before I came to a conclusion. “It was nothing, go back to sleep.” I said to her. As she rolled back over I thought ‘I’m going to hell for this.

The knocking on the door woke the both of us up. I had fallen asleep the previous night on the couch, Rainbow still sleeping on my chest. Whoever was knocking on the door was disturbing a wonderful moment for me. Wait. Oh shit! I nudged Rainbow in the flank to wake her up and hissed “Follow my lead.” We both sat up as I hollered “Come in!”
The door opened showing Mo and Fluttershy in the doorway. “Come on! Shamus is waiting on the ground.” said Mo as he walked in. Oh double shit, I’m going to Canterlot today. Ok, don’t panic.
“Let me grab some stuff before we head off.” I said to him.
“It’s a good thing you said ‘we’, Twilight wants all of us to go except for Diana. Rarity is even bringing Sweetie Belle along.” he returned. Two things went through my head at the same time after that. The first was that’s how she got pictures of Celestia eating cake. The second was that this wasn’t going to end well between me and the others. They still thought that I was waiting for Diana to get better, so finding our otherwise would shock them. That was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.
“Then let me grab some stuff too.” said Rainbow as she left to go to her room to get some stuff. I watched her leave, and I think Mo saw something in me that he hadn’t seen since Diana got hurt.
He got a rather sly look on his face, causing me to say “Don’t say anything. I haven’t said anything about you and Fluttershy.”
“You know about that?” he then asked me, confused about when I figured it out.
“I figured it out in my own head.” I said, rather truthfully. “Don’t worry, it’s fine. To be fair, she is extremely kind.”
“Oh, ha, ha, fucking ha.” was his rather biting response.
By that time Rainbow walked back into the room and asked us “What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing really.” I responded. I grabbed my sweatshirt off the floor and said “I’m ready to go.”
We walked out on the front step and Mo said “The others will meet us at the train station.” before we took off and flew to the train station.
We waited for the others for a few minutes before they showed up. “Everypony ready to go?” I asked the gathered ponies, fighting back the urge to strangle Sweetie Belle about the article from yesterday. After everypony agreed that they were ready, we boarded the train to the city.  
The train ride was rather uneventful, other than Applejack grumbling about missing a day of work. That all changed though when we entered Canterlot. The great capital was already covered in the protective spell that would cover it in the days leading up to the wedding. I took into note that they had probably already been threatened by Queen Chrysalis, so they would have at least a basic understanding of what is happening.
At the train station there was a phalanx of heavily armored ponies to meet us there. The pony who I assumed was the commander of the troops stepped forward. “Sirs and madams, I have been ordered by Princess Celestia to escort you to the castle.” He then ordered his men to do an about face and to march. It took almost two hours to reach the palace, by which time the sun was high in the sky. The city was beautiful. The only big city I had spent time in was Buffalo, and that paled in comparison to Canterlot. If Buffalo was good, then Canterlot was Rome at its peak. Despite what looked like the threat of imminent attack, the city still bustled with activity.
After another fifteen minutes passed in Canterlot Palace as we walked to the throne room, the guards standing alert at every guard post. My thoughts boiled in my mind as I approached the throne room. I had a plan, but it was going to be rather difficult to pull off.
When we entered the room the first thing I heard, and even noticed was the great booming voice of Princess Luna, ordering troops about, almost making preparations for a siege. “LIEUTENANT RIPPER, START GATHERING SUPPLIES IN CASE WE NEED TO LAST FOR SEVERAL WEEKS IN THE WALLS.” Behind her was a long table, with Celestia and several other ponies planning something. The heavy oaken door behind us slammed shut, with resounding boom alerting everypony in the room to our presence. The great ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE was directed at us. “COME IN, WE HAVE BEEN AWAITING YOUR ARRIVAL.”
After recovering the sonic blast from her voice, I responded “I would love to, my lady.” being as polite as possible to the second god to speak to me in the last month. The Princess of the Night and the rest of us walked up to the table Celestia was sitting at which as I neared it took the shape of a war planning table, as I saw the medals on the ponies talking to Celestia, most likely her high command and military advisors.
The map on the table showed several figures of ponies on the eastern edge of Equestria, a rather mountainous region labeled Saddlevoy, facing off with an even larger number of griffons. “Good day, to all of you.” said Celestia as she looked up from the planning map. “I called you here on such short notice because you said you know something. Now what do you know?” she then demanded of us.
“I know who made the threat against Canterlot.” was my response to the princess.
Her advisors were in shock, one cried out, “We have spent days trying to do that, and we still haven’t told the public about it. How do you know who did it?”
I directed my words at the princess and said “It has to do with my origin, so if you would have then leave.”
“That is acceptable. Men leave us to talk in private.” Celestia ordered. The generals left, most of them grumbling about being ordered to leave. “Now tell me what you know.”
“I know a threat was made against Canterlot recently, and I know who did it. The only problem is I can’t tell you who did, or stop it from occurring.” I responded to them.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T TELL US, COMMONER! WE ARE THE LEADERS OF EQUESTRIA, WE DEMAND YOU TELL US!” shouted Luna.
“Unfortunately, I can’t, because that would put Equestria in even greater danger.” I told the all-powerful being before me. “If I told you, it would cause a paradox, and that could destroy Equestria. No what I plan to do is stop the attack when it happens, and to do that I need some authority. So I came to ask you if I could join the Royal Guard, as the second in command, not the commander. I want my friends to be placed in it, Mo as my aide-de-camp and the others in as you see fit. That is all I ask.”
The sun god looked at me and said “I have two questions. The first is how you know about this. The second is do you think you could help with this?” she asked as she motioned to the map of Equestria. “The Griffon Kingdom is moving troops to the border, and with the threat to Canterlot, I can’t spare troops from here to even out the numbers. I know you come from a warlike world, so maybe you have some experience.”
“The answer to the first question is that you’re principality, and more exactly the live of the Elements of Harmony, is the main focus of a TV show where I’m from. The episode in which the threat is resolved was aired by the time I left. And as for the second I’ll see what I can do.” I responded to her.