I looked at my watch once again. It read 2:36 p.m. All of us had filed into the library and were getting situated. There was, however, one notable absence to this little get together.
“Hey Twilight, do you know where Spike is?”
“I had him go to Canterlot today to get a couple of books that I wanted to take a look at. He won’t be back until tomorrow.”
“I thought you said something about him helping out or something like that.”
“He was helping by telling the others about this meeting as well as getting information about the party.”
“Speaking of that, I didn’t see him at the party. Did you send him off before that?”
“No. He stayed for the beginning of the party, but left after a bit to get those books for me. He really takes his role as my number one assistant seriously.”
“That he does,” I said a little flatly.
“Enough chit chat,” interrupted Rainbow Dash, “I want to know what it is that the Princess wanted you to talk to us about.”
There were nods around the room that seconded what she said.
“I know, Dash, I know. Why doesn’t everyone have a seat? This is probably going to take a while.”
Rainbow Dash snorted at my words and slowly came down to the ground where she took a seat next to Fluttershy. All six of them were now seated right across from me with nothing blocking their way from looking at me. It was a little intimidating and uncomfortable. The only thing keeping me going was my promise with Celestia. It was helping in what little way I thought it could.
“Well?” asked Rainbow Dash; getting a little impatient with me.
“Alright. Where do I begin? Hmm… I think I’ll have to start with the visit from Princess Celestia. Basically, she appeared here last night. It seemed she was a bit curious of me as well. Apparently, I was the first human she had seen in quite a long time.”
“Princess Celestia has seen humans before?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, she has. It’s apparently been a long time since then, however. We got into a discussion about that for a bit, but she told me to keep the particulars a secret. We then started talking about the magic I was able to use.”
“You can use magic?” asked Rarity.
“Humans normally can’t use magic. Apparently they never could. I’m an exception. However, my ability to use magic was given to me by somebody else.”
”Why do you keep saying it like that?”
“What do you mean Dash?”
“Why do you keep saying somebody? That’s not how we say it.”
“I’m, uh, assuming that you mean how I say somebody and you guys say somepony. Well that’s how humans say it. Let’s keep on track, okay?”
“Hmph! Fine.”
“Anyway, I was saying that I can’t use magic normally. Well, the reason I can now is that because somebody gave me that ability.”
“Somepony gave you that ability?” parroted Rainbow Dash.
I turned and headed for the door.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go find a parrot. It will be asking the same questions and I know that it has a reason it can’t help itself.”
“Hey!!!”
“Calm down Rainbow Dash. And you stop taunting her Seth.”
“Fine,” we both grunted at the same time. I then walked back to where I was standing and continued on.
“Yes, to answer your question, somebody gave me the ability to use magic. Apparently you all know him. He goes by the name Discord.”
“DISCORD!?!” all of them except Fluttershy yelled.
“Yes Discord. No, he’s not free. No, I don’t know how he got there. He was just there when I woke up. He’s the one who sent me here and gave me magic.”
I held my hand out and made it glow.
“Apparently, my magic is of the chaos variety, and not the normal kind. That’s how I’m able to use magic.”
“Are you sure he’s still encased in stone?” asked Twilight.
“I’m sure that if he wasn’t, then the princess would have been more hands on for this. Or I guess I should say hooves on or something like that or whatever. That kind of brings me to my next point. As soon as she realized it was chaos magic, she started to get more agitated about it. At that point, she kind of read my mind about what’s going on.”
“Wait a sec, the Princess went and read yer mind?”
“Yeah, apparently she can read your mind with her magic if she’s concentrating on you. I didn’t know that. After that happened, she teleported the both of us to the castle so she could interrogate me in a safer place. I asked her to, of course.”
“You asked her to interrogate you?” Twilight asked with some skepticism.
“It was a bit complicated, but I’ll get to that. Anyways, she began to see me more as a threat as I explained things in a bad manner. That led to me having to convince her that I wasn’t a threat. That, in turn, leads me to the first thing that she asked me to tell you today. It’s the same thing that helped her, uh, not to think of me as bad.”
“Good, because I don’t think I can take more of this stuff that you’re saying,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, yeah I know. Anyway, the first thing that the princess wanted me to tell you is how I know what I know. In order to convince her that I wasn’t a threat, I had to reveal some information that I knew about her which, in turn, was, uh, information about everyone here.”
“What in tarnation is that supposed to mean?”
“Basically, the tunnel thing and the dream thing I told you about was mostly a lie. That’s not how I knew, or not knew I mean, it’s not how I learned about you. I know about you because, well, you’re all a cartoon back home.”
All of them looked at me confused. I’m not sure they knew what cartoons were.
“Umm, you’re all kind of drawings on paper… eh heh.”
“What?” Rainbow Dash asked first.
“Yooooou’re all drawings on paper that get animated and placed on television. It’s kind of like a movie. You’ve seen a movie, right? You remember the thing you watched when you had to move the water up to Clousdale?”
“I know what a movie is!” shouted Rainbow Dash.
“Wait, how did you know about that movie? You weren’t there for that. That was months ago,” said Twilight.
“Basically, cartoons are a sub division of television programs. Television programs are like movies only shorter and are aimed at many types of viewers. Cartoons are a form of that. Television programs can have action, adventure, comedy, romance, suspense, drama, comedy, horror, and a slew of other things. It’s sort of like a play in a theater, only it comes into a screen in your house so you don’t have to go anywhere to see it. Instead, it comes to you.”
“So, what you’re telling us is that we are a television program back where you’re from?” asked Twilight.
“Yeah, it’s called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”
“Yeah right! Like we’re supposed to believe that!” yelled Rainbow Dash.
I was expecting that. It was pretty much the only thing I think I was expecting during this.
“Chew on this. Season one, episode one: The Mare in the Moon. The opening scene is Twilight here reading a book about the mare in the moon. It was a story about how Celestia banished Luna to the moon one thousand years ago. In it, it mentioned the elements of harmony. She also found out that Nightmare Moon was supposed to be released on the longest day of the thousandth year. Basically, at the summer sun celebration. She had Spike write a letter to the princess to warn her, but the princess sent her a letter back saying ‘don’t worry about it, just make some friends.’
“Twilight and Spike then come to Ponyville to oversee the preparations. The first pony they see is Pinkie Pie here. She lets out a big gasp and runs off. Twilight then gets exasperated and wants to hurry things up so she can read up on Nightmare Moon some more. First thing she does is head out to Sweet Apple Acres. She meets Applejack there who is, of course, bucking apples. You two meet, followed by some introductions of the entire Apple family, and a taste test of the food you were preparing for the event.
“After eating way too much, she then heads into town and has a talk with Rainbow Dash after she crashed into her and the mud, not to mention soaking her and tornadoing her dry. That was kind of funny by the way. After using some nice psychology on her, Twilight got Rainbow Dash to clear out the clouds from the sky.
“Next, Twilight and Spike headed out to town hall and ran into Rarity who was in charge of decorations. Of course, once she got a look at Twilight’s frazzled mane courtesy of Rainbow Dash, she set her sights on Twilight and took her back to her boutique to fix her up. A quick montage of looks later and she was trying to squeeze Twilight into this white ensemble, which, I might add, did look rather impressive. At least the way I remember it anyway.”
“Of course it was impressive. I made it after all.”
“But of course. Twilight then went on to tell her that she was from Canterlot, and then before she could elaborate Rarity went on about how she loved Canterlot. Then, when her back was turned to get something, I forget what, Twilight headed out.
“After that, Spike and Twilight went and had a talk with Fluttershy who was practicing with her bird friends. They all flew away when Twilight made herself known and Fluttershy became her usual shy self. As they were about to leave, however, she noticed Spike. She then tackled Twilight out of the way, which was a bit out of the norm for her I might add, and had a nice and very long conversation with Spike as Twilight carried him back into town. Spike basically told Fluttershy his entire life story during the trip back, but it was clipped to show him saying that as she arrived back at the library.
“After closing the door on Fluttershy, Twilight comments to Spike about how she needs to convince the princess to change her mind about Nightmare Moon and how she doesn’t need to have any more ponies getting in her way to do that. Of course, that’s when the lights come on and reveal a surprise Pinkie Pie welcome to Ponyville party. Pinkie then explains to Twilight why she gasped earlier and why she’s throwing her a party. Twilight, however, isn’t all that interested at the time and then ends up drinking some hot sauce concoction. She then races upstairs and there is a quick shot of Pinkie eating a hot sauce covered cupcake.”
“What? It’s delicious!”
“I’m sure you think so, Pinkie. It then cuts to Twilight trying to get some sleep and Spike comes in to tell her that she’s missing the party. Twilight then comments on how all the ponies in the town are crazy. Spike then comments on how she should lighten up and have some fun and leaves her alone. She then talks to herself about how she just wanted to learn about the elements of harmony and how all the friend making was getting in the way of it. She then quotes the prophecy of Nightmare Moon and hopes that the princess was right about her worrying. Spike then comes in and tells her that the festival is about to begin.
“It then cuts to the town hall again where all the ponies in Ponyville have gathered to wait for Princess Celestia. During the introduction by the mayor, Twilight looked to the moon and noticed that the outline of Nightmare Moon on it disappearing. The mayor then finished her introduction, but the princess doesn’t show up. Instead, Nightmare Moon shows up and gives some speech. No one knows who she is except for Twilight who explains it to everyone else. Then, finally, Nightmare Moon goes on to tell everyone that she is going to make it night forever.”
I stop and take a few deep breaths and let that sink in. No one in the room says a thing. Utter shock adorned their faces.
“Should I keep going with episode two where you all took a journey into the Everfree Forest to get the elements of harmony and stopped Nightmare Moon and Twilight learned the importance of friendship? Perhaps you should hear episode three where you all tried to get Twilight to take one of you to the gala and she couldn’t decide between all of you? Then, there was episode four where it was Applebuck season and Applejack here refused to get any help until it was almost too late. Episode five was where Gilda the griffon came to town and showed her true self to everybody right after Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash pulled some pranks. Episode six was when Trixie came to town and showed off her magic, but then Twilight had to save the town when an ursa minor attacked. Episode seven was where a dragon started covering the sky with smoke and you all had to convince it to leave. I liked that episode. It really showed off Fluttershy’s determination to protect her friends and overcome her fear of dragons.”
“Alright! Enough already! We get it!” yelled Rainbow Dash.
“I could go on with this, but you get the idea. There are currently two seasons with twenty six episodes each season. The first one covered the time between what I said all the way to the end of the Grand Galloping Gala. Season two started from the escape of Discord and went on until just about the time when you had Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom at Cadence’s wedding. That finale was about a week or two ago.”
“The wedding was three weeks ago,” supplemented Twilight.
“Well, it’s good to know the time-frame. Anyway, that’s how I know about all of you. Millions of people know about you guys. They know because they watch you guys every Saturday morning and then watch reruns on the internet or iTunes or Netflix; one of those ways. The shows’ demographic is supposed to be towards little girls, but it has a cult following amongst men for some reason that even I can’t explain despite the fact that I’m one of them.”
Rainbow Dash snickered a bit.
“So, you’re telling me that you watch a show for little girls?”
“Watch it, Dash.”
“Or what? You’re watching something that’s meant for foals!”
For a second, I thought of a certain bodybuilder telling me that I was a little girly man.
“Saying that means you’re laughing at the fact that you are just awesome enough for foals.”
She stopped laughing and glared at me.
“Hey! I’m the most awesome pony in Equestria!”
“Wonderbolts. Princesses,” I said as I lifted one hand for each.
“So,” interrupted Twilight, “you’re telling us that all these people are watching us all the time?”
“Not all the time, but yes. Of course, many of us in the brony community believe that Pinkie has some awareness of this.”
They turned to Pinkie.
“You actually knew about this?” asked Twilight.
“I plead the fifth!” she yelled.
That was a good enough answer for me.
“What does that even mean?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“What’s ah brony?” asked Applejack.
“Umm, it means bro’s who like ponies. Bronies.”
About that time, I noticed Fluttershy whose eyes reminded me of Celestia’s after she had gone strolling through my brain. I missed what retort was said next as I kept my gaze on her. She was not taking this well. I doubt I would either.
“Nobody blow on Fluttershy. I think she’ll faint.”
Their gazes redirected to Fluttershy. Whatever they were asking me was forgotten as they all tried to calm her down. I honestly wouldn’t know how to take it either. I pretty much have the same mentality as she does. The only difference between us is that I have actually taken the time to think about these kinds of scenarios. It isn’t really much though. I honestly doubt thinking about it would really help.
After some coaxing from her friends, Fluttershy finally came back to the present. She still didn’t look too great, though. Perhaps it’s time to move the recap forward.
“Let’s go ahead and move on to the next part. Celestia still didn’t really think too much of my story and thought that I was just spying on her. At that point, I offered her a chance to use a spell she had mentioned earlier on me. A scrying spell she said it was.”
“A scrying spell? I’ve never heard-“
“And that’s a good thing Twilight,” I interrupted. “After seeing Celestia use it, I want to make sure that you never use it ever.”
“What do you mean by that?” she retorted.
“What I mean is that she hadn’t used it before on a human and she pretty much knows my entire life story since there wasn’t a filter on it.”
“Well ain’t that a good thing since it’ll give her a reason tah trust ya?”
“There is a saying that we have back where I am from. What has been seen, cannot be unseen.”
“What the hay is that supposed to mean?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“I’ll use an example. Rarity, do you remember Prince Blueblood from the gala?”
“Ugh, I wish I didn’t. He was absolutely dreadful. He was the most atrocious pony I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”
“Exactly. If you had the option, you would never have even approached him. Unfortunately, what has been seen, cannot be unseen. It’s more commonly used for when you see really gross things or when you desperately want to forget something that happened to you, but you can’t. Celestia knows that phrase first hand now. After seeing what was inside my head, she actually threw up.”
Hearing that tidbit drew shock from everyone present.
“Yeah, it was quite the surprise for me too. I mean I’ve seen things that I wish I hadn’t, but I didn’t think it was that bad.”
I then looked at Twilight in particular.
“I also hope that reinforces the fact that I told you not to try scrying spells.”
“The Princess went into your mind and what she saw made her throw up?” asked Rainbow Dash with a hint of apprehension.
“Once again, I repeat, what has been seen-“
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. What in the wide world of Equestria could you have seen that made her do that?”
“There are a few things that I could mention, but I don’t feel like elaborating on it. If she reacted that way, why would I want to make you know about it? Besides, it’s my past and I don’t really want to talk about it that much anyway.”
She looked like she was about to continue arguing, but for some reason she hesitated. I decided to move along again.
“Anyway, after a bit, she finally snapped out of whatever it was she saw and we continued to talk. Having seen what essentially is my entire life’s story, she came to the conclusion that I wasn’t a threat anymore. So that’s good. She then brought up what is essentially her other point. That brings me to you, Twilight.”
“Me? What did the Princess want me to know?”
“Well, I don’t really know how to say this, but, well, in addition to becoming my teacher in magic, she, uh, kinda wants me to… well, she wants me to be your student in…friendship.”
“What?” she asked in a very confused voice.
“Apparently I’m your student in the magic of friendship as well.”
I brought my hand to my forehead and shielded my eyes. I honestly didn’t want to see any of the reactions that any of them were having to this.
“Look,” I continued without actually looking at them, “Celestia thinks that I should be your student in the magic of friendship. She says it’s because I don’t have any friends, but I say-“
“You don’t have any friends!?!” I heard Pinkie yell.
“Of course I do,” I said as I looked at her.
I instantly regretted it. She had the biggest set of sad puppy dog eyes I had ever seen. On top of that, staring at me to her left and right were the others with their own sad looks in their eyes. It was like staring into the eyes of sadness itself. The only way you couldn’t feel something looking into those eyes was if you had no soul.
“I honestly have no idea what I can say to those looks. Just looking at you guys makes me feel like I’ve done something horrible.”
I didn’t even see what happened next. I did feel it though. One second I could see and the next I felt something hugging my face; blinding me at the same time. Thankfully, I could still breathe. I then felt another five sensations of something hugging me all over; one on each leg, one on each arm, and one hugging my torso.
I honestly wasn’t sure what to feel at the moment. Yes, I do like hugs. This, however, felt a lot like that failed intervention I once was subjected to. It was enough that it made me feel really confused. In the end, I just stood there waiting for something to happen.
“Don’t you worry, Seth,” Pinkie said, “As long as you’re here you’ll be our friend. Right girls?”
“Of course.”
“He sure will.”
“Indeed deary.”
“That sounds nice.”
“He’ll be my best student ever.”
“Won’t I be your first student ever?”
Everyone chuckled at that. She followed that up quickly.
“That also makes you my worst student ever. What will I do with you?”
Again, everyone chuckled.
“Well, maybe we can figure out this magic I have. Like I said, Celestia told me it wasn’t normal magic. It was chaos magic. I honestly think it came from that coin.”
“What coin are you talking about?” asked one of them; I couldn’t tell which.
“It’s in my right pocket.”
“I’ll get it.”
There was a quick jostle in my pocket and then everyone let out a yelp. It was followed by the weight on my right arm disappearing.
“MY EYES!!!”
It was loud enough that I assumed that it was Pinkie who yelled it.
“Who grabbed the coin?” I asked.
“It was me.”
“I have a Pinkie on my face. I can’t see anything either.”
“It’s me, Rarity.”
“Did you use your magic to take it out?”
“Of course I did. I’m not reaching into your pants for it. That would be quite rude.”
“It reacts to magic. Don’t use your magic on it. Also, Pinkie, hug time is over. Please return to the floor now.”
I used my free hand to scoop her off of my face and place her on the ground. Now that I could see I noticed everyone was still trying to blink their eyes clear. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the coin. It was oddly glowing. It wasn’t any strange colors, but it just seemed to radiate in an unnatural fashion. I only noticed it for a few seconds before the glow disappeared and it returned to, well normal was a stretch, but it was the best description I could use for it. I looked it over and there was another change to it.
“Hey Twilight, can you see yet?”
“Not quite, but everything is now just a blobby blur.”
“Well, the coin changed appearances again. It now has Rarity’s cutie mark on it.”
“That coin has my cutie mark on it?”
“Yes it does. It also has Twilight’s on there too.”
I looked at the coin closely. In the outer circle, Twilight’s cutie mark was engraved into it. I was honestly impressed even though I had already seen hers on there before, but the excellent detail on it to match Twilight’s cutie mark precisely was still awe inspiring.
Now it was joined by a small, broken, and curved line to another symbol. This time, it was Rarity’s cutie mark. Not only were all three gems there, they were in the proper alignment and even faceted properly as well. The only difference was the fact that they were all colored gold. Other than that one difference, it was a flawless recreation.
However, the other symbols were still the same. The other four on the outside ring and the three symbols on the inside ring were exactly the same as when I originally got the coin from Discord.
“Alright, everyone off the human, please,” I stated in a more exasperated tone.
One by one everyone climbed off of me and stood or sat on the floor nearby; all of them still trying to see once more. In a bit of an odd impulse, I placed the coin on the tip of Twilight’s nose.
“What are you doing?” she asked me.
“Making sure you know where the coin is,” I said dryly.
She reached up and grabbed the coin off of her nose.
“My vision isn’t gone, it’s just blurred.”
A few more moments and it looked like her vision cleared up as she examined it in her hoof.
“You’re right, Seth. This looks exactly like Rarity’s cutie mark.”
“It’s some pretty exquisite detail isn’t it?”
“Oh, oh, oh, I want to see it! I want to see it!”
“Let Twilight finish looking first and then you can, Pinkie,” I said sounding like a parent figure.
“It’s alright. I’m curious about it, but it’s not like it’s going to change again in the next few seconds. Here you go Pinkie.”
“Thanks a lot, Twilight!” Pinkie said as she grabbed the coin.
Instantly, my world went white.