Yelling at someone you barely know tends to have consequences.
I made it to Rainbow Dash’s house using these very colorful and large butterfly wings Twilight gave me with that spell she conjured up. When I got there, Ashley was having fun with this colorful pony named Rainbow Dash, and was flying around with her wings. For some reason, I just got really angry when I saw that.
I felt really bad afterwards, but it went along the lines of “Why did you go off on your own?!” and something like, “I can’t believe you are enjoying this! Don’t you know that you also have a mother that is probably wondering where her daughter is in the middle of a world ending crisis!?”
And she was crying. Rainbow Dash started to puff up and get angry with me, before wondering how the hell I had butterfly wings, but then something happened.
A bright pink flash of light was cascaded over the whole region, enveloping us in its bright light. Everyone on the cloud in front of my was dead silent, and I turned my body in mid-air to see what just happened.
A town was floating on a rock, encased in a pink bubble. To top it all off it was a familiar town.
It was my town.
I whispered to myself, “What in Celestia’s name...?” and a brief flash of realization hit me. It’s starting. My world is starting to transfer over into Equestria.
Rainbow Dash looked at the town in awe and slight terror. “W-What is that?” She asked.
I reply back, “A chunk of planet Earth.”
She blinks at the town, then back at me. “Earth? You mean the ground?”
I shake my head. “No, like I said, planet Earth. It’s where I come from. The end has come, Ashley-”
Ashley yells at me in anger, “This is all your fault, you ass!”
I place my hooves down on the cloud, hoping that Twilight used that cloud walking spell, and sure enough, she did. I stood on the cloud in front of Ashley, with Rainbow staring at the floating city from another world. I say directly at Ashley, “I had nothing to do with this, it’s Dark Light’s fault. I need to stop him, and I need you to go home, to find your mother.”
She flaps her wings in anger. “I can’t just go back now, you... besides, there’s a pink bubble over the entire town, and my mom’s in... there...”
She flaps her wings harder, and starts to take off at a remarkable speed towards the floating city. I call her name, to try and stop her, but she ignores it and continues to fly towards it. I shake my head in frustration.
Rainbow Dash looks towards me, and says, “Who is Dark Light? Is he the one who’s done this? And those black clouds, too?”
I look at the ground far below me. “Yeah, he is. He wants to crush your world and bring mine to yours.”
She gets slightly irritated. “Your world? Who in the hay are you supposed to be then? An alien? You’re a pony though, look at you!”
My head begins to ache. I shake it to get rid of the pain, but it doesn’t go away. It’s still there, and I soon start to hear a faint white noise in the back of my head. I say towards Rainbow, “I can’t really explain that. I need to get going, do you, ah... know where I can find a pony that has seen more of the forest?”
She facehoofs, and says, “Well, the only two ponies I know that go to the forest often are Zecora and Fluttershy, but Zecora actually lives in the forest. Your best bet is Fluttershy, but she is... well not the most social pony. Her name pretty much explains her whole personality.”
I sigh, and look down at the ground below once more. “And where is her house, then?”
“Tree, actually. She lives in a tree. It’s just outside of town, next to the Everfree forest. You can see it from up here, actually.” She points towards a tree with a dirt path leading to and from the town, in a small clearing surrounded by other trees. I nod at her, and nosedive off the cloud towards the house.
Really shouldn’t have done that.
When I was getting closer, I lost control of the wings on my back. I should have noticed when I started to sink slightly in the cloud that the spell was wearing off, but I didn’t notice. The wings on my back began to fall away, and I was thirty feet off the ground when it happened. I fell into a rather painful series of thorn bushes, and fell unconscious from the massive amount of pain.
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…
I had a dream.
The dream was rather blurry, but it was a dream nonetheless.
I was young. I was with my dad, but was it my dad? It was a unicorn pony, similar to the way I look but much more... macho, I guess. He had blue eyes, though. They weren’t mine, they were my mothers eyes I took from the gene pool those two made.
We were at the celebration for Celestia to be visiting town. What was it for again? I can’t remember it well... and then it happened, that part where I got lost from my dad. I was lost in the crowd of ponies, and I couldn’t see where I was going.
Something happened. Everyone was gasping and screaming, and a pony... with blue armor that was as dark at the night, with wings and a horn at the same time. I was terrified, she was laughing about eternal night, and I was grabbed by a random pony. Who ever they were, they dragged me out of the crowd, and I could see my dad looking for me, yelling out for me in the terror.
“Mystery!”
That voice... it sounded like my real dad’s voice... but my dad was dead, it couldn’t be...
“Um... miss?”
I couldn’t take the sight, I was trying to scream out for my dad, but either I couldn’t or my voice fell on deaf ears. No one heard me, and the grip on my was tighter when I yelled out. I looked at my captor, or rather her hooves. Was it a her? I can’t tell, but it felt like it. I could see the scene slowly shrink away, and we were outside.
“U-uhm, are you awake...?”
Outside was just dark. It was night, or maybe it was day? It was still all too blurry for me to make out, but one thing stood out from a corner near the building where the scene happened. It was a dark purple pony, with a blackened horn on its head and a deep red stare. The monster terrified me, and when I yelped, he looked directly at me. My surroundings were fading to white, and the hooves that had me were morphing... into hands. My hooves were switching as well, into these five digit creations, and I was out of it. I couldn’t move any more. It was like something was taken...
I woke up after a soft slap in the face by an irritated looking little bunny. I blinked from the sudden light in my eyes, and looked at the bunny with a hint of anger before it faded. I was in a blanket on a long and soft couch. The walls of the room were made of cut wood, and the floor was carpeted by a large round rug. I barely noticed the yellow pegasus next to me who was being so quiet until she muttered, “Er, hello...”
I looked at her with confusion. Where was I? Where was my dad? Who was...
I think back at the dream I had, which I just then realised that it was indeed a dream. That never happened... but it felt so real, even the blurriness was somewhat realistic. I realised from the blurriness that it was because I was crying. The entire dream, I was crying. Why?
I was so lost in my thoughts that the bunny gave me a quick slap again to bring me back into reality. The yellow pony eeped softly, making my heart jump from the timid behaviour. I look at the bunny once more, and look at it with a bit of scorn. He just rolls his eyes, and hops off the arm of the couch.
The yellow pegasus finally speaks in a louder tone, but not by a whole lot. “Excuse me, but... who are you? You fell into those nasty thorn bushes outside...”
That’s right, I fell out of the sky when that spell wore off. I can remember the horrific amounts of pain from the fall. It’s gone now, and when I look at myself I am covered in bandages and my clothes seem to be missing, my coat and hat. I take a around to find that they are hanging in tatters on a rack in the far end of the room, near the door. I sigh. That coat and hat were my favourite.
I forgot again about the yellow pony, and I look back at her, who is looking at the floor, glancing back up at me. I finally say, “I’m Mystery Glass... who’re you?”
She stops looking at the floor and looks back at me. “Oh! Uhm, i’m... Fluttershy.”
My mind wanders back to the cloud with the rainbow pegasus. I was supposed to look for a Fluttershy, wasn’t I? But for what? I can’t remember...
“You-you hit your head really hard, miss. Are you okay?” Fluttershy says.
I raise a hoof to my head, realising that it’s just covered in bandages all over the place. My horn was sticking out of it all, feeling untouched by and harm. I say, “Yeah... I feel fine now. Did you help me when I fell?”
She nods slowly, and glances at nothing in particular, then back at me. “Uhm, do you want a dandelion sandwich? I was making a few before you fell out of the sky...”
I nod before thinking. Last I had a meal was when I was with... who? Argh... my head was killing me, I couldn’t think about the past, at least not yet. Fluttershy headed towards an open kitchen, and takes two bread slices with flowers filled in it with blades of grass. She holds it on a plate, in her mouth, and walks over to me. I actually manage to, without much thought, pick up the sandwich with magic. It floated in front of my face, making me a bit uneasy. Should I be eating grass and flowers? I knew I was a pony, they are herbivores, but this was just an insult to culinary arts.
I took a bite out of it, not even caring that I was just eating grass and flowers, with a bit of wheat in there to top (and bottom) it off. I just ate it, grinding up the plants in my mouth with all these molars that make up my teeth. Worst off, I just didn’t seem to care. Like it was just fine and dandy to eat grass. Normal.
God, what’s going on with me?
Fluttershy made what could have passed as a smile, but it was an unsure smile. Yeah, this pony was real shy, alright. She said after I manage to actually eat the whole thing, “How did you fall out of the sky?”
I swallow the last of the grass and a few petals and look at her. “I... uh, had wings for a bit before it wore off. It was a spell... what...” I began to start to piece together my broken mind, and started to remember the whole reason I was here in the first place. “Oh, Fluttershy, do you have at least a basic idea of the Everfree forest?”
She blinks at me, and shivers a bit from the mention of the forest. “U-uh, well, actually...”
I say, a bit impatient, “Well? Speak up, this is a bit important. I need to find someone, someone really dangerous, and I need to know if you saw a shady looking pony going to and from the forest. I’m just asking.”
She breathes a little faster, and says, “I-I don’t... Zecora might know, she’s the one who- EEP!”
The whole tree shook violently, and Fluttershy zips under a nearby table, placing her hooves over her head and getting as small as possible under it. I get up instantly, and look at the front door, the window at the top of it was pitch black, I couldn’t see outside. I was a bit woozy from the wounds that are slowly healing, but I manage to keep myself standing.
A thick black fog starts to flow slowly through the window, and flow out onto the floor. Fluttershy makes a quiet sound of terror and I back up slightly from the blackness that started to flow out onto the floor. It started to rise, and take shape. They took the shapes of featureless ponies, with no mane, no tail, nothing too incriminating. They just had ears and bright white eyes, which turned yellow when they looked at me.
I stood stock still, observing them slowly move towards me, and Fluttershy. They tilted their heads at me, with those glowing yellow eyes, and then one of them decided enough was enough, and its eyes turned red. It jumped at me, and I couldn’t move. There was only a flash of light.
I closed my eyes from the intense amount of white light, and I could hear a high pitched, screeching sound come from in front of me. I open my eyes, and my horn was vibrating severely. It was glowing yellow, shooting out white beams of light all over the place. Oh, Celestia, what’s going on?
The red eyed dark pony was nowhere to be seen, and the other one looked at me with red eyes, but they showed not hate, but fear. A black smoke began to collect at the spot where the dark pony was, but it didn’t form a terrible abomination, no, it began to turn a bright white, forming another whole body. The remaining black smoke pony retreated back outside, returning into the smoke form, and screeching loudly. The whole tree shook once more, and it began to swirl around the tree.
The white light began to fade, revealing features. A short, but styled light brown mane, a horn, and blue eyes. The coat of the pony was a yellowish white, and a tail formed in the back, the same color and style as the mane. It was a stallion, from the shape. Finally, a cutie mark showed up on his backside, which formed in a pastel art style, a brown flannel deerstalker cap and an old styled smoking pipe, which emitted bubbles from the smoke release.
The pony grunted in pain as he tumbled onto his stomach, and look up with blurred eyes at Fluttershy, who was near screaming terrified, and then at me. He looked at me for the longest time, and I looked back. He looked exceedingly familiar...
The black swirling cloud outside was screeching again, and a deep, menacing voice boomed out:
“NO!”
The cloud of black zoomed in once more, grabbing hold of the familiar stallion. His eyes grew terrified, and he look at me with the most caring eyes I have ever seen. I looked back at him, tears forming in my eyes.
I know this pony...
The smoke enveloping him began to snake up his whole body, and before it covered his head, he looked me, his eyes filled with tears. He said only one thing.
“Mystery... my daughter...”
And the cloud covered his head, dragging him outside with the swirling cloud at the speed of light, smashing the door open. My heart was torn at the scene, and I jumped to go to grab him before it was out, but too late. The swirling cloud of black was leaving, and heading back towards the Everfree forest.
I was laying there, with my right forehoof out in front of me, the rest facing the other way as I laid there on the floor, staring out the door my dad just left through. He was my dad, I just know it... my... oh my...
My head hit the floor, my face filling with tears as they also streamed down my face. My dad... alive... but he... no...
Fluttershy came out of her hiding spot, and sat down beside me, patting my back and saying comforting words. I just kept weeping. This was all too much. I lift my right forehoof and smash it against the floorboards in anger.
I need answers, I need to talk to my mom, if she even is my mom. I understand the whole situation now, the dreams, the choosing, my unexplained dad's death, my mother dealing with magic... something about me wasn’t right.
I need to find my mom, and not only that...
I’m going to kill that son of a bitch Dark Light.
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I was pacing around the room in frustration after a few hours. Fluttershy was watching me walk back and forth for a while before she gave up and went towards what I assume was her bedroom.
I pieced together the information I collected from the dreams, and from what happened in reality. From what I can presume, the dreams were not dreams at all, but memories. Deep inside my brain, they were there from the start. In truth, I needed someone to confirm my suspicions. I need to see these princesses, whoever they are.
I can’t get up to my floating town from here, I don’t have wings. Nor do I think that I could even get a second helping of that wing spell, that would just end in disaster once again. I already know that, from where the Cloud go after they try to attack, to the Everfree forest, which I suspected for a while.
Fluttershy came back into the main room after a moment, and said, “Are you going to be okay...?”
I shake my head. “I wasn’t okay to begin with.” and then my eyes flashed in realization. “Wait, Fluttershy, do you know where I can find someone that... well is a princess? This is a lead I need to take.”
Fluttershy glances around cautiously, like the Cloud could be back at any minute, then says, “I only know four princesses. There’s Twilight, Cadence, Luna, and Celestia.”
Celestia? I’ve noticed that I began to start to say that instead of God, so this could be the most important one. “Where can I find Celestia, then?”
Fluttershy blinks quickly. “Oh, well, she’s usually up in Canterlot, with Luna. She’s really busy though, all the time.”
I look out the window, up at the mountains in the far distance. A huge castle with a town at the bottom of it sits on a platform at the near top. “This is end of the world scenario, Fluttershy. She has to listen. Good to meet you.”
And I open the door, but then I glance at my tattered clothes on the rack. Oh, right. That’s a minor problem. I don’t need them, but...
Fluttershy notices i’m looking at my swiss cheese coat and hat and says, “You could take that to my friend Rarity’s boutique. She could fix them for you, if you want...”
I use magic to levitate the coat and hat onto my back, and look back at Fluttershy. “Thanks, i’ll head over there. I thank you again for helping me, when I fell back there.”
Fluttershy nods with a smile, and I nod back. I head out the door, and follow the path back to town.
So, along the walk back, I looked back at the memory that just happened very recently. That pony... was apparently my dad. But he was a pony. He called me Mystery, the pony name I took on when I got here. Did he get trapped here? No, that can’t be right. That wouldn’t make any sense. He would have never recognised me as this.
I need to find my mom, at least I know that she’s human. I’ve never felt so unsure of who I am ever like this before. I walked on, looking down at my hooves as they walked in a perfect pattern. I never would have guessed I could adapt to this way of life so fast. Ugh... I think back at my childhood. I was a nice kid, at least that’s what my mom told me. My dad... he was killed by a criminal.. right? It was six years. Six years... I can’t even remember anything before that. Not anymore...
Before I knew it, I was walking through the plaza of town. I look around at the shops and houses. Back to the plan. I need to get to Canterlot, but it looks so far away. I could never get there before things got worse. The floating pink piece of land was floating dangerously close above the town, forming a slight tint of pink on everything.
Suddenly, I see a flash of gold come from the sky as I looked up. It was heading towards the town. The closer it got, the more I could make out. It had gold borders and stylised decoration, but the main body was marble white. It was being pulled by two large stallion pegasi, wearing golden armor, sort of like the ancient roman armor, with the fur that lined the back of the helmet. Hah, that’s kinda silly, actually. It’s supposed to be a war horse mane, at least from what I heard.
It was getting closer, and then I realised it was going to land. I moved out of the way to let the beautiful carriage take land, and then it circled the plaza once. It, surprisingly, stopped near me. One of the burly pegasi looked at me with an intimidating stare, and I shrink back slightly. He says, “Are you the mare Mystery Glass?”
I look up at him and nod. He motions to the carriage he and his friend were pulling with his head and says, “The princesses want to see you. It’s an honor to meet them. Get in, we’ll take you to the castle.”
I blink away my confusion and hop into the red velvet seat. It was really comfortable, until the two pegasi nodded at each other and started to take off. I almost fell out when the took off. They were going pretty fast, and we almost hit the bottom of the floating island that was my town. The castle was coming up close, as we got nearer to the castle. I only just realised that I dropped my coat and hat back down in the town. What the hay, that won’t sit well with me. We can’t just turn around and go back for it though. I hope thieves are a rarity here.
When we got close, I started to consume the detail and overall beauty of the castle and the town below it. It was all bright and colorful, and the color white was frequent. We were flying up to a tower in the castle, and it has a telescope sitting out on an open balcony. Before I knew it, I was pushed off by some unknown force, probably one of those stallions, and I fell right onto the balcony. It didn’t hurt, but it was rather rude.
I get up, and look around. It was quite the open space, with a few luxurious furniture laying here and there. I looked over the balcony at the scene below, and wow, was it a view to remember. I could see the majority of the whole town below, and even the entirety of Ponyville in the far distance, along with the big pink bubble.
“You got here fast.”
I yelp in surprise, and turn around to see a tall, but very beautiful pony. She, along with Twilight, also has wings and a horn, but her horn was... well, I guess longer? I hope that’s not innuendo around here. This could get awkward.
I look up at her in awe. Her hair was long, and flowing. It had a few different stripes of color in it, pink, blue, green, and a brighter shade of blue. Her coat was white, but if you looked closely it would have a very subtle shade of pink in it. She wore these weird forms of jewelry, with golden boots and an amulet with amethyst in the center, along with a crown on her head to top it off.
She looks down on me, and speaks in a sort of motherly tone, “You must be Mystery Glass, correct?”
I just nod slowly, my mouth agape a bit. This was like meeting a celebrity, but I barely even knew much about her. She smiles at me, and turns around, motioning for me to follow. I follow behind her, but not too close. She makes me feel a bit uneasy, but in a good way.
We walk inside of the tower, which seems to be a huge library. Books fill the shelves all over the place, and ladders to climb up and collect the hard to reach ones. The entire room looked like it was made of blue tinted marble. The tall and beautiful lady looks down at me again and says, “Do you know who I am, then?”
I look up at her, a name appearing in my head instantly. “Princess Celestia.”
She nods, and says, “Correct. I knew that you would come look for me, so I sent out my fasted carriage to go and collect you. I hope I wasn’t an inconvenience?”
I shake my head, quick to reply. “N-no, of course not! In fact, I was just planning to go here myself!”
She frowns for a moment, but then says, “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Mystery Glass. I’m here to help you. In fact, i’m also going to help piece together your family again.”
“Excuse me?” I say, and then I hear a familiar voice call out from a table near a large, oval shaped window near the corner.
It was my mom. She’s still human, too.
She was a sort of elderly woman, but not old enough to not be able to run for a good while. She was fourty five, with brown, slightly grayed hair and eyes. She was wearing her usual weird pieces of clothing, the robes and that colorful turban on her head. She never took off that turban, not even once, for every single time I visited her.
She looks at me with a sad look in her eyes, then says, “Nolan... or really, Mystery.”
I walk up to her, and try to say something, but she interrupts me. “Save your thoughts for later, dear. I have something important to tell you.”
I close my mouth, and sit down on my haunches, listening closely. Celestia stands further back, watching the scene go down. My mom says to me, “Mystery... do you know my name?”
I open my mouth to answer. Of course I know her name! It’s... its... what? What’s her name? How could I not know my own mothers name?
She sighs. “Of course... I never told you. You see, dear, I’m not supposed to look like this. This is just a way to hide us, from that evil pony, Dark Light. I’m sure you had heard of him?
I stay silent, nodding, and she continues. “In truth, the father that you had on Earth, wasn’t your father at all. Just a fake that I made up to make you believe that you really had a life there.”
I blink. I can’t be sure what I was supposed to feel, but I let her continue. “Your name isn’t Nolan. It never was. Your real name is Mystery Glass... and mine is really Magic Orb. Fitting name, for my line of work, huh?” She chuckles to herself, and I just sit there listening to what she is saying, not even thinking, just absorbing her information.
She continues once again. “In any case, your real father is called Private E. Glass. The E. stands for Eye, in case you were wondering. I kept my maiden name when we married. We still loved each other for ages, and then we had you.”
I could feel a headache coming on, but I don’t show it. I let her keep talking. “You were the most perfect baby in the whole world... and we raised you well. But then...” She began to look towards the window, and I could hear a quiet sob from her. “Then that terrible pony showed up, and took your father away. I never saw him again...”
She wipes away a few tears from her eyes, then looks back at me. “I guess I should tell you then...” and she began to untie the multi colored turban on her head. As it fell, I began to see what she hid under there.
It was a horn. She had a horn on her head.
Her body began to blur, and morph into a whole new shape. Her fur was cream colored, so was her horn. Her mane was a deep dark brown, and her eyes grew large, and emerald green, like mine. Her hair began to style itself into looped bangs, and her mane was curled up into a bun at the back. Then a mark formed on her backside, which was again pastel styled, but it was a crystal ball.
She looked at me, and said. “Mystery... you're not really supposed to be human. You were born as a pony. Look at yourself. This is the real you. “
I raise my forehooves up to my face, the headache pounding in my head. Me? I was born like this, a long time ago? This is the real me? I stare at the hooves like they were not there a second ago, and fall onto my back. My mom gets up from her chair and looks down at me, and Celestia walks up from behind her. Celestia says, “It’s true, Mystery. You were never a man called Nolan. You are Mystery Glass.”
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