//------------------------------// // Mike: Have You Ever Seen the Rain? // Story: Fastest Fall in Equestria // by Parchment_Scroll //------------------------------// Mike: Once you get past the whole pastel-colored magical talking ponies thing, Equestria's still a pretty weird place, it turns out. Fastest Fall in Equestria Have You Ever Seen the Rain? It took a few minutes to convince Twilight that I really wasn't her friend Rainbow Dash, and surprisingly little time after that to convince her I meant no harm. Fluttershy, for her part, did a good job treating my concussion, the worst effects of which were fading rapidly, but was almost impossible to engage in conversation. "Okay, Mike," Twilight said. "Don't worry. We'll figure this out and get you back in your world and Rainbow Dash back here in no time. Now you just take it easy. I'm going to see what I can dig up on dimensional travel." She grinned. "Good thing I live in a library, huh?" After a few minutes of failed attempts at getting anything comprehensible from Fluttershy, I sighed and looked around. Unsurprisingly, there was a book on the end table beside me. Curious, I glanced at the cover. "Historie of Equestria," I read aloud. Oh, well, I thought, if I'm going to be here for any length of time, it couldn't hurt to learn something about the place. I nudged it over with a hoof, and spent a moment trying to figure out how to open it before Fluttershy poked her head between me and the book, lifting the cover open with her lips. "There you are," she said. "Unless, that, um... did you want to figure it out yourself, because I can put it back if you... eep!" As I looked over towards her, she shrank back further, finally darting behind the end table. "Thank you very much," I said softly, then turned back to the book. Before I could start reading it, however, Twilight returned. "Well, if I ever doubted your story," she said, "that pretty much clinches it." "What's that?" "Rainbow Dash. Reading a book." She grinned. "Oh, that's one of my favorites! You know, if it wasn't for that book, I probably would never have met my friends." Her horn glowed, and the pages turned over to the first chapter. "I reread this part so often I have it memorized." I glanced down at the illustrated tome, and began to read while Twilight recited the passage from memory: "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land..." * * * * * "...and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since." Twilight sighed. "Of course," she said, "the story doesn't end there." "Well duh, silly," an exuberant voice chimed out from my other side. I turned quickly to find another pony face-to-face with me, apparently having been reading over my shoulder the entire time. This pony was pink. Incredibly, vibrantly pink. Her giant blue eyes sparkled with mirth, and her mane was a disaster that made my usual bed-head look downright tame by comparison. "It's history, and history doesn't end! It just keeps going and going, with new exciting things every day!" Twilight grinned. "Pinkie Pie," she said, "I didn't know you were interested in history." What a fitting name, I thought, while Pinkie Pie bounced off of the bed I was laying on and hopped around it to the same side Twilight and Fluttershy were on. "Of course I am, Twilight! So many great things happened in the past, every single day! And that means so very, very many reasons to celebrate!" Fluttershy poked her head out from behind the end table. "Pinkie Pie once tried to get the Mayor to declare every day a holiday," she said with a grin, "and had a big stack of research to back it up. Didn't you, Pinkie Pie?" Pinkie Pie nodded, grinning. "Uh-huh! She even kept a couple of them, too! Like Founder's Day, and Popcorn Plaza Day, and..." She trailed off, staring at me. "Wait a minute," she said, eyeing me suspiciously. "You're not Rainbow Dash!" I was too startled to respond. Fortunately, Twilight was ready. "No, Pinkie Pie. We're still trying to figure out what happened, but Mike here and Rainbow Dash somehow switched places." Pinkie Pie turned around to face her friend. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" she asked. "Do you have any idea how much prep time I've wasted here?" She galloped towards the door, then screeched to a halt -- literally, her hooves squealed like tires. Slowly, she stalked back over to me. "And you..." "Me?" I looked over at Twilight and Fluttershy for help, but they didn't move. "I'll see you later," she said coldly, before stalking out. "And that," said Twilight, "is Pinkie Pie." "No offense," I said, "but she kind of creeps me out." "Be glad she wasn't the first pony you met when you got here," she said. "Oh, I think if she was the first pony I met in Ponyville, I'd have been too scared to meet anypony else," Fluttershy put in. Twilight chuckled. "Well, she was the first pony I met, and believe me, if I hadn't been on official business, I probably would have just gotten right back on that sky carriage and headed back to Canterlot." I tilted my head, curious. "Why?" I asked. "What did she do?" "She just jumped in the air, gasped, and ran off without a word." Twilight laughed. "I found out later she ran off to set up my 'Welcome to Ponyville' party." "So you're from Canterlot," I said. "I have to say, the name sort of conjures up mental images for me. I suppose it's a big magical castle sort of place?" Twilight smiled. "It is," she replied. "It's beautiful." "So why did you move here?" "Well," she said, "it all started with that story about the royal pony sisters," she said. "I decided to look up the Elements of Harmony, and..." * * * * * "Wow," I said as Twilight finished her story. "So the current princesses are the same royal pony sisters from that story?" Twilight nodded. "Where are the Elements of Harmony now?" I said. "Princess Celestia took them back to Canterlot to put them in a safe place in case they're ever needed again," Twilight said. "Anyway, after the celebration, she gave me a new assignment." She held her head up proudly. "I'm studying the Magic of Friendship here in Ponyville with the friends I made on that adventure. I send her regular reports on what I've learned, and, well, in between that, I run the Books and Branches Library." I grinned. "Must be nice, living in a library," I said. Before Twilight could answer, the door flew open, revealing someone she'd mentioned in her tale, but that I'd yet to meet: her dragon assistant, Spike. "Hey, Twilight, have you seen Rainbow Dash? It's raining cats and dogs out there, and the Mayor's been looking all over f--" He stopped. "Oh, there you are, Rainbow Dash," he said. "Why haven't you done anything about this storm?"