//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Impossible Meeting // Story: Time to go // by MasterHunter55 //------------------------------// Time to go. Chapter 3 The impossible meeting It was almost time to go, so he finished up his typing. It was done, another story. Yet this one was something he was actually passionate about, this one was about an adventure he had with the ponies of Ponyville, the story didn't lead itself this time, he molded it carefully with his fingertips, giving it life. He had worked hard for the past hours, and he was tired. He might as well have written a novel just now in one night. He had done it before, but it was half the size, and didn't have such an intricate plot. Or at least, that's what he thought of it. He marveled at the amount of book he had just written. He was surprised at himself for doing so well, when he looked at the clock. “2:00 AM! I've been at this for seven hours!?” Hunter exclaimed before the time he was yelling at, had actually set in. “Oh crap,” thought Hunter “That was loud” Luckily his mother had been in the deepest sleep since 11:00, because her work was particularly harsh today. His mother was a nice woman, really repetitive when it came to telling Hunter what to do, but he thought of that as just normal parenting. She was a CNA at a local hospital, and she had some good work hours, but her higher up seemed really irresponsible, and chose favorites for the good positions. Hunter finally realized this, and knew he was safe. If she was this out of it, he thought that he might as well clear his head. He scooped up his Ipod from it's charger clock, and plugged his headphones in. He walked, although unnecessary, stealthily through his bedroom door to his front door, and went outside. Once again it was a beautiful night. There were clouds in the sky, but they seemed to avoid blocking the moon, leaving the full moon to shine it's blue radiance over everything in sight. This gave the world he saw everyday an ethereal quality and he loved it. He loved things that were out of the ordinary, or even if they were ordinary, he loved seeing things when it seemed that they weren't supposed to be seen. As if the world wanted everyone to sleep so that it's true beauty could shine forth, without a single creature to behold it. He stepped off his porch and towards the street lamp at the corner of his road. He reached the lamp and it turned off, seemingly of it's own accord. “Spooky” Hunter said aloud. It didn't matter what he said, there was nobody around to hear him. He lived in a farm town on the west coast. He could walk around for hours, and not see a single car pass by. So that's what he did. Once again he went on a walk, but this time he had no destination, only the journey at hand. And so he began his journey, but whether fortunate or not, he had no idea what the end of his journey would bring. ><>< She was on her way. Twilight had already been on the train for a good hour, and was getting impatient, and tired, but she knew that she needed to talk to the princess. It was urgent. There were only a couple other ponies in the train car, she didn't know their reasons, but they seemed just as tired and thrown off. “Oh, I wish I had brought one of my books with me. Oh well, the least I can do is study my flash cards.” Twilight said as she pulled her suitcase from underneath the pile of luggage that had been stacked above her head. Careful to make sure nopony else was disturbed. She opened her suitcase to find her quills, and paper on the far left, and her flashcards filling a majority of the right. She took them out one by one and started reading, rereading, and testing herself. Suddenly a very tired train attendant passed by and nudged her suitcase with his foreleg. Twilight never had much grip on the case as she was using her magic to look at the cards, and before she could react, cards were sent all over the car. “Oh no! I'm so sorry miss...” The train attendant started. "Twilight Sparkle, and it's quite alright, I forgive you.” She said as she magically gathered all the cards, and stacked them neatly back into the case. “I'm sorry I just...*Yawn*... I'm just so tired, the train has never run this late before.” The sleepy attendant explained. “What do you mean? Doesn't the train always run?” Twilight asked “Oh heavens no, we don't have enough employees for such late rides. Princess Luna herself went into the dreams of the conductor, and here we are!” The attendant told her between yawns. “Luna got the train running this late just for tonight?” Twilight asked, just now realizing that it must be important whatever it is if she got the whole train crew up just for her. Then she thought about how lucky the other ponies on the train must be to have caught a ride without so much as a posted schedule. “Yep, but it's not like it hasn't paid for itself, just look at all the ponies who really needed a ride so early in the morning.” The attendant explained. Beaming it seemed, although tired, from the amount of business they were able to collect. “Well, I'll let you get back to your business, uh, Twilight.” The attendant continued, and then started off towards the front of the train. “Right, thanks, have a good morning.” Twilight said, as she buried herself in studying her flash cards. Before she knew it the conductor had come over the loudspeaker and yelled, “We've arrived at Canterlot! Please enjoy your stay!” This surprised a good number of ponies, who had until then been napping or dozing. Twilight however was still concentrating on her flash cards, until a nice blue pony came over and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey missy, you might want to get off the train before it takes you back to where you started.” The pony said, effectively breaking Twilight's concentration. “Oh, uh, right. Thanks a lot.” Twilight said, as her magic placed the cards, stacked neatly, back into her suitcase and shut it, while another spell grabbed the suitcase with all her personal belongings. “No problem miss.” The Blue colt said politely before exiting the train. As she got off the train, she only then just realized how early it was. The moon was high in the sky, and was blasting it's radiance over the landscape. A few clouds were left in the sky, but the pegasi on station never liked to block the moon. Twilight enjoyed the sight of the moon lit Canterlot as she walked the streets. Of course she had seen Canterlot before, but now she was seeing it in the dark, under the moonlight, and it was, majestic, as if it had an ethereal quality, and it made her ponder. As she trotted along, wondering what Luna could possibly have in store, she noticed that the blue colt who had brought her back to reality was following her. Well okay, not really following her, but he seemed to be going in the same direction for a long time. Then she noticed that a couple more of the train passengers were behind her, and they all seemed to be going the same way. This put her a little on edge, but it wasn't unheard of for ponies to have official business with the princesses. It was still really early though. So without her knowledge, all the passengers of the train slowly made their way to the castle along side her. ><>< “Well it isn't like I didn't know there wasn't anything to see around here.” Hunter said quietly to himself as he wandered the empty town. In this town, if a shop wasn't open 24/7, it was closed by 8:00 PM. This gave the town a very relaxed feeling. This also meant that you could wander the streets without running into anybody. Which is exactly what Hunter wanted. He eventually reached some train tracks. The tracks went through the town, and so he decided it wouldn't hurt if he followed them. As he walked the tracks he thought about the friendships he had acquired. Many of his friends were close, despite the amount of contact he had made with them. He of course had even closer friends, who he had known and interacted with since 2nd grade. Unfortunately he didn't feel that they were the ones to tell his secret to. He loved them as friends do, but he felt that if he shared with them this delicate secret that they would only joke about it, throw it around like a joke ball and then use it against him when they felt threatened. He had already told a couple of people about his affiliation with ponies, but they were Bronies themselves. He had told one of his favorite cousins. But she lived far away and he didn't talk to her much. This was one thing that he would never tell his best friends. No matter how much he knew they respected him, they just weren't the type to know. Only in this one respect was it fortunate that he had moved away, time away from friends was good to do what you want, but he still felt lonely as ever. Hunter heard a train in the far off distance. His first thought was that he should get off the tracks, but for some reason he felt he shouldn't. He didn't want to kill himself. Did he? He really wasn't sure, but until he was, he decided to stay on the tracks. Something wanted him there, so he stayed. His life was altogether not that bad, sure he had regrets, and loss in his life, but nothing worth ending his life over. He knew that life had only begun, and it wasn't worth ending. As he laid down on the tracks in between the steel bars, he didn't know just how right he was. His life had only just begun. ><>< Twilight reached the doors of the castle, showed the royal guards her letter from the princess, and gained entry. When she looked back to see if the blue colt was still behind her, she was surprised to find that not only was he there, but the whole car of passengers had come to the castle! Each pony presented, in turn, their own letters from Princess Luna, and gained entrance. Twilight stood with her mouth slightly ajar for a good while, before the blue colt once again revived her senses. “C'mon then missy you wouldn't want to miss it. Close yer yapper too, you don't look like a fly catcher to me.” The blue colt said, chuckling. Twilight immediately clamped her jaw shut, before she followed after the colt. “Miss what? What's going on here, why are all these ponies here, I got a letter that the princess wanted me to come alone for urgent business. Why would she invite all these other ponies?” Twilight said, sorely confused. “You'll see in just a second Twilight, don't you worry.” The blue colt responded. “How did you kno...” but before she could finish asking how the strange colt could have known who she was, the door to the main chamber swung wide open and there was princess Luna, standing in all her brilliance with the light of her moon shining through a window above, to settle upon her starry mane. “Twilight! We're so happy you could come!” Luna said in her royal canterlot voice. “Oh sorry, welcome everyone, welcome.” Luna said quietly, ushering everyone into the chamber. “What's going on here, why did you invite all these ponies when you wanted me to come alone? Is that why you summoned a whole train just to get me? What's go...” And so Luna stuck her hoof on Twilight's mouth “Quiet now little one, all will be explained soon.” Luna said hushed. Then Luna began walking to the center of the room. The ponies from the train all seemed to know what to do, and they walked to preset positions, as if they had all been rehearsing for this play, and the show was about to start. Twilight was more than a little put off, but she shrugged it off, and sat down, remembering that, in the past, the princesses were always a little mysterious in their intentions. As the ponies settled, Luna began to speak. “As you know Twilight we are the rulers of the night, we are of the moon, and we are the keeper of dreams. It is our duty to enter the dreams of ponies, and assure them in what scares them the most.” Luna started. “What you do not know is this. Not only do we enter the dreams of ponies to save them from fear, but from themselves, sometimes a pony will show signs of great sadness, and it is our duty to give them reasons to go on.” “Alright, but what does any of this have to do with me?” Twilight asked confused, “Do you need me to comfort somepony?” “Not somepony,” Luna said “Some body. A human to be exact, he is alone in his world, and you are the only one that can save him. It is within my power to enter dreams, but I can also enter into the dreams of humans as well. Most times I see dark, scary images, and so I do not go there often. Yet when I went this time I saw only an air of thoughtfulness and longing. This human desperately needs rescuing and we must being before it is too late.” Twilight was more confused than ever. Human's existed? She had heard about such stories from Lyra, but she thought they were just tales, made up as an interesting story for somepony to sell their books, or for parents to scare their little ones with scary stories. “What do you mean? How can I help a human, I didn't even know they truly existed until just now?' Twilight asked her, exasperated. It seemed as the night went on, she got more and more confused, and she needed some straight answers. “Oh they exist all right.” Luna said proudly. “This one in particular knows about our world, he is connected to us with his destiny just as you and your friends are. He must be saved, for he would make a great friend, not only to you, but to the rest of Equestria.” Twilight sat there taking it in. Humans existed. Their dreams were viewed by Princess Luna. Humans somehow knew Equestria existed. She had found a Human that she wanted to live in Equestria. Humans in Equestria? How would that work? From what Lyra told her, Humans were sometimes savage, or straight up mean, but Princess Luna said this one was different. Maybe he was nice? “How am I supposed to get to a human being, much less bring him back?” Twilight asked. “Do not think it impossible,” Luna stated. “For all the ponies in this room excluding you and me are, were, humans.” Twilight let loose a little gasp. How was this possible. These ponies seemed like regular ponies to her. They were from all walks of life, a unicorn here, a pegasus there, and a couple of earth ponies. Some were farmers, and some were city folk. “I was a human,” Spoke up the blue colt “My name was George, now people just call me Blue, and I had an average human life. I grew up in a farm family and we didn't have much, but we had enough for basic luxuries. I had a computer and I started watching your show, and your friend's adventures. I thought that a world like that would be nice. My father was a drunkard who beat up my mom. She left him eventually, leaving me to be his punching bag. After a few nights of him coming home and giving me bruises, I thought it would be better just to end it all. One night however I was visited by a unicorn, and they took me back with them to Equestria. I've lived here ever since, and never did I regret it.” A grayish unicorn who seemed to give off a purple hue, was the next to step forward. He had a purple, and pink, short mane and what looked to be a magnifying class with a color pallet as his cutie mark. “I used to be a human too, I made videos, and talked about your show, I loved the show, and I loved making videos. I too thought that living in ponyville would be the greatest adventure, and before I knew it, a unicorn had shown up at my door and I was whisked away!” Then Ditsy Doo stood up, "Hiya Twi!" She said underneath crooked eyes, and a gigantic grin. She was followed shortly by a brown Colt with an hourglass on his flank. The Colt seemed to know Ditsy well and told Twilight their story. "I was once a human too, just as Ditsy was, I had a great fondness of the show, and when I showed it to my little sister with down syndrome, she fell in love with it too. I thought how wonderful it would be if we could live in this world. That way my sister wouldn't be such a burden on my family. Soon afterwards, a unicorn appeared to us and took us here. Now Ditsy doesn't have down syndrome, but she sure kept her personality, and we lead wonderful lives here in Equestria." Twilight was astounded. Not only did humans exist, but there was quite a few living in Equestria among the ponies. She had never even thought it possible until now, but it had happened many times before. Not only that, but inter dimensional travel was possible! She had read a book on traveling between dimensions and time, but had never seen any spells in it. "Wait a minute, we have a show?" Twilight asked. What was that supposed to mean. At this a couple of the ponies laughed and chuckled. "Yes Twilight, the humans in their world have found a way to capture your adventures and distribute them as a television show. Don't worry however, your show is very popular." Luna said, trying to make Twilight understand. That seemed strange to her, they had a show? Was that like a book? Maybe it was like one of Rainbow Dash's pegasus viewers. How much of her life, and the lives of her friends had been captured? How much of their personal lives did they watch? She disregarded these questions for now. as she understood what had to be done. She had to go to wherever it was this human lived, and had to save him. “What do I need to do?” Twilight said determined. “Sit right there, the ritual will begin soon.” Luna said as the ponies around her seemed to glow with an supernatural radiance. Even the pegasi and earth ponies began glowing like they were unicorns casting a spell. Soon the room was illuminated with the color of a dozen different ponies. Twilight had never seen anything like it, other than when she and her friends used the elements of harmony, and it was never as brilliant as this. Every pony suddenly, as bright as if they were their own star, glowed till it seemed as though the light was going to burst. Then in unison, they shot that light at the princess. Luna stood up on her hind legs, gathered the immense energy, and before Twilight knew what was happening, shot it at the determined unicorn. Twilight had never felt anything like it. The castle had disappeared just as quickly as the flash of light had hit her, she was instantly swarmed by emotion and feelings. One in particular seemed to overpower the rest. An emotion that one might have if they were calling for help, she imagined someone stuck underneath a crushing weight unable to escape the terrible scrutiny, begging for someone to take the load. It was terrible, never had she felt such despair, such worry. It made her cry. She wanted to help this person, she wanted to lift the load off of them, make their burden lighter in anyway possible. She realized through her tears, that she was standing in a white nothing. She didn't know what was happening, but she knew that whoever was feeling these emotions needed her help, and she wasn't going to stop until she found them. She wiped her eyes and soon saw something strange in the distance. It looked like train tracks, but they seemed frightfully unfamiliar, as if all the soft texture of the world had been taken out of them, leaving nothing but a cold hard existence. She ran towards them. Maybe the human Luna had been talking about was there, the one that needed help. As soon as she got to the train tracks however, the whiteness disappeared and she fell, as if she had just fallen into a hole. She rubbed her chin where she had landed on a very rough, what looked like a train tracks and sat up. Except these tracks were very different. It was really detailed. It was nothing like anything she had seen before, just like everything around her. The world she found herself in was dark, but not without light. Streetlamps shined yellow light down lazily upon faraway roads, but she seemed to be in one place that didn't really seem important enough to anypony to light up. She thought that the ground she was sitting on in particular was a little bumby and misshapen on her rump, but seemed softer for some reason. “Well this isn't exactly what I imagined for my first time.” Hunter said. Twilight blushed as the ground below her privates moved and breathed. She immediately screamed. It was time to go, and so she jumped 15 feet into the air.