The morning air was brisk. Not quite cold, but my nose was a bit chilly. The grass was covered in morning dew. I looked up, the moon was getting low in the sky. Which was odd because it seemed like here the moon behaved like the sun. They rise and set on a cycle.
As I walked through the quiet town, I heard not a peep from anyone, err, what was the word they use? Anypony?
My thoughts are racing, and my heart rate still hadn't completely come back down from that dream…
This is real then isn't it? This crazy world that I've been dropped in, isn't a figment of my imagination... Woah…
"How will I get back?" I ask myself
"What if you can't?" I reply
"No, there has to be a way!"
"But you can't think of one!"
"Be quiet! Who asked you? Err me?"
"Well how did you get here?"
"Through that pool back in the cave."
"Can't you try that?"
"If I could even remember the way back."
"We can go now."
"It's too dark."
"What are you scared?"
"We might get lost."
"So?"
"What would the ponies think?"
"That I took off without their knowledge, took advantage of their hospitality?"
"Yeah, so... You just met these ponies."
"And they took me in without question."
"Maybe you should do something to repay their kindness..."
"Like what?"
I find myself at a little cafe, it's empty of course but there is a bench outside. I decide to sit down and think things over.
"So, what if... I can't get back? What will my parents think? That I ran off? Why would I up and do that? They are probably worried sick about me." I wonder to myself
I sit up in the bench and look up at the moon. It's really pretty, the clouds weren't quite covering it and it was giving off that subtle glow that it did, even back on E...Earth.
I choke up a bit. "What about my friends? What are they gonna think?"
"What about all that hard work you put into running? Was that all for nothing?"
"I guess so..."
Then I hear someone, er, pony behind me.
"Do you talk to yourself often?"
I turn around on my bench to see a peppermint green unicorn staring at me.
"Only on days when I get thrown out of my life and into a new one without warning or reasoning." I reply
"I suppose that's a good a reason as any!" She says with a smile.
She comes over to the bench I'm sitting on and plops down next to me.
"The names Lyra! Lyra Heartstrings!"
"You can call me Ben, Ben Short. Nice to meet ya."
"How long have you been?" She asks
"Been what?" I ask, walking right into it.
"Ben Short?" She says, and starts laughing hysterically.
"Ohhhhh Kay! I see how it is!" I say as I start cracking up as well.
"I shoulda seen that one! That's the oldest one in the book!" I continue
After the jokes effect wears off and we regain our bearings, I notice something.
"Do you always sit like that?" I ask.
"Sit like what?" She replies.
"Well... Like a person, like me?" I ask
She looks me up and down, the way I'm sitting. Then back at herself, then back to me.
"Huh!" She says, "I didn't even notice until you pointed it out, but we do sit kinda similar! Well, I don't know about you, but I've always sat like this. Even though nopony else does."
"Really?" I question, "How does everypony else sit?"
"Oh, something like this."
She repositions herself to a proper sitting position.
"I've never thought this way was very comfortable," she says as she places herself back into her laid back position. "The ponies always used to think I was weird because of it."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, when I was littler the foals in my class would tease me for it. I got over it though. I let them think what they wanted, and eventually they realized it was just a part of me, and learned to let it go." She said.
Wow, I was a little shaken.
"I'm glad you realized that at a young age." I say to her.
It's her turn to question, "What's your reasoning?"
"Well you see, when I was young, I was loud. Not a troublemaker. I wouldn't shout, holler, or cause a ruckus. I was just loud. I laughed a little too much, it was easy for me to get a little carried away when I would talk. The teachers usually snapped at me for talking out of turn, or interrupting class when my friends told a funny joke."
She continues to listen to my tale with 100% interest.
"Well, the children you see, they would take after the teachers, and tell me to be quiet, and not talk so much. While the teachers were trying to keep order in the class, the kids just figured they were telling me to be quiet for the fun of it. We were too young to really know the difference. Long story short, I locked up. I did what they told me. I shut my mouth, sometimes, you could be talking to me directly and wouldn't get a response out of me. It was like talking to a wall."
"So what did you do?" She asks.
"It took me years to break out of that shell again. It wasn't until high school whenever I truly felt comfortable being myself again. It wasn't until then that I realized that it didn't matter what everyone else thought, as long as you liked who you were. And the others saw that. They respected that I could be myself. Before I knew it, I had a friend at every corner. Cliques disappeared, and I them all as people, rather than social groups."
She wraps a hoof around my shoulder, smiles, and says, "Hey. You're alright. How's about I have my sister, Bon Bon, open up shop and we have some coffee? On me!
I don't typically drink coffee, but I also don't typically wake up at five in the morning.
"Sure!" I say.
Lyra hops down off the bench and walks back into the cafe. Over the next few minutes I hear bits of clanging and clatter from inside the cafe.
Pretty soon the door opens permanently, now it had a sign on it that read "Open."
Out of the door came a very sleepy looking, tan mare.
"Lyra? *yaaaaahhnn* Why did you decide to open up shop so ear- oh?" She says as she notices me.
"Hi there!" I say, "You must be Bon Bon."
She nods her head, still in disbelief that an alien creature is outside her front door talking.
I laugh, "Well, my name is Ben. It's nice to meet you."
Slowly she recovers from the combination of morning syndrome and humanitus.
I continue, "So Lyra tells me you two run this little cafe, the thought never occurred to me until now, but what types of foods do you make here?"
Up to this point my Equestrian diet has been nothing but pancakes and sweets from the Corner. The real question was what kind of foods do ponies' diets consist of. If my suspicions are correct... They are vegan, and that ain't gonna fly for an omnivore such as myself. Why not? One word... Bacon…
She replies, "Oh well I mostly make bits of candy, but since we compete with Sugarcube Corner we decided to broaden the selection and open up a full fledged cafe rather than a candy shop. Our menu includes things like Hay Fries, many types of sandwiches, we have daffodil, hay, wheat, dandelions, tomatoes, lettuce, black and green olives, and even a few types of pepper! For breakfast, we make pancakes, eggs, waffles, toast and other things. Of course I also mentioned I do make all sorts of desserts, mostly small and chocolate related."
So none of that, save for one, surprised me. Ponies are vegan after all. Though one thing did surprise me, they eat eggs. That's odd.
Lyra comes out of the cafe levitating two cups with magic. I, being awestruck by magic, stare a little. She catches me marveling at the use of magic.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" She questions.
"Your magic! It's amazing!" I say.
"Do humans not have magic?"
"I wish! It's so awesome."
"None at all?"
"None"
"That's weird, I've never heard of a creature that didn't have a little bit of magic."
"We'll there's a first time for everything."
She floats me my cup and I reach out a hand to grab it. As I take ahold of the cup, I notice that the cup has a handle on it. Why in the world does a cup have a handle on it if everyone has hooves?
I take the cup in my hand and take a sip. It's delicious, I look left and see Lyra staring at my, hands?
"What. Are. Those. Things?" She asks.
"Uh... My hands?"
"Hands? Those are SO COOL! I didn't even notice those before!"
"What? Haven't you seen Spike? Twilights dragon? He has-"
"Spike has CLAWS," she cut me off, "not HANDS."
She continues, "I always wondered what those little things off the side were for!"
"What the handles?"
"The HANDles!? Oh my Celestia it has a name!"
"Uhhhh...?"
"I'm so sorry! I got a little carried away!"
Then there was a flash of light in the distance, the sun rose up from the depths. As the sun flew higher, the sky shifted from black to blue within 15 seconds. Quite impressive to say the least.
"Isn't it amazing?" She asks.
"The sun rise? It was impressive. Though, I much preferred the moonrise."
"Really?" She asks
"Well yeah! Have you ever taken the time to look at how the night sky basically paints itself into place! I was awestruck when I saw it last night!"
"You, Mr. Short, are quite the interesting creature."
As we finished our coffee, I was feeling much more awake. She took the cup from my hand and took it into the cafe, then rejoined me on the bench.
"Well, Ms. Heartstrings, I think I better be going. I need to be headed to the library."
"Don't go yet! I haven't even played you a song! It's customary that I play new customers a song!"
"Really? That's weird don't you thin-"
"Nonsense!" She says pulling out a Lyre.
As she begins to play, the music fills the air around us. It's like the entire world around us amplified the noise. It was beautiful.
The music lulled me and I was in a trance listening to it. What black-magic, devilry is this?
For what felt like an hour, I was sitting on that bench listening to that pony play that freaking harp. I enjoyed every minute of it.
Finally, the music subsided, and the trance broke.
"Lyra? What. Was. That... "
"Was what?"
"That music? I've never experienced anything like it!"
"Why that's a very nice complime-"
"No! I mean yes! But I mean... It seemed to come from everywhere! It put me in a lull, I was stuck there. It felt like I couldn't move!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Well it's just that, oh nevermind."
"Anyway, I really need to be going." I get up from the bench.
"Thank you for the coffee!" I say waving behind me.
"You're very welcome! Come back anytime Shorty!" She says waving a hoof.
I shoot her a sarcastic look, like "Really?"
She returns it with a teasing face.
I roll my eyes and keep walking.
That, my dear bronies, is how Lyra became my best friend.
As I was walking through town, I saw the little village waking up. The marketplace was still mostly empty, with a few vendors taking stock and inventory. Fluttershy was there, with what looked like a large bag of carrots.
"Morning Fluttershy!" I say
"Oh, uh, good morning Ben..." She says, "I was just getting a bag of carrots for Angel bunny. He gets a little grumpy if he doesn't get his morning carrots."
"Oh I see," I say, "why this early?" Then it occurred to me to actually look at my watch. 9:13 A.M.
"Actually, it doesn't seem to be as early as I thought."
"Oh! That reminds me, Rarity was looking for you... She looked... Worried..."
Worried? Why would she be worried?
"Alright, I will keep an eye out for her."
I continue on my way to the library. The sun now high in the sky. It was warm, there was a cool breeze coming from the west. It was a perfect day. I began to think of home.
I was sad. What if I can't get back? I wonder if I ever will…
The library came into view. That tree house is really impressive. How does a tree even grow like that? I walked up to the door, I noticed a little candle on the door was rather close to the leaves dangling above it... How is that safe?
I knock on the door. No answer... Hmm. Is she still asleep?
I knock again. Then again. Hmm... Must not be here.. *CRASH*
What in the?
I open the door and am immediately gunned down by half a dozen textbooks. As I lay in my pile of textbooks in a daze. I take note of how you should never be the first person to open a door in Equestria. This is the second time I've been knocked on the ground by opening a door.
"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" Twilight says as she gathers up all the books from off of me with her magic.
I struggle to get up and pick up a book off the ground.
"What in the world were you doing with so many books?" I ask
"I was studying! Hitting the books!"
"Twilight you shouldn't hit the books, you should really read them." I joke
Then out of the bushes, "HEY! THAT'S WHAT I SAID!" Shouted Pinkie, and then she disappeared back into the bushes.
I stoop down and pick up a magazine. I glance at it, then back up at Twilight.
"So what kind of studying do ponies do- what?"
She looks guilty, she's staring at the magazine in my hand.
I glance down at the magazine I'm holding in my hand. What. In. The. WHAT?
"Oh my God... Twilight, I KNOW this is NOT the kind of magazine I think it is."
Her face flushes red, and she hides her face behind her wing.
The magazine, once I got a good look at it, was covered in Stallions. Stallions everywhere. I'm not a gambling man, but I would bet money this is a male model magazine. I imagine "studying" involved flipping through a couple of pages.
"I.. I, I was just using that for a segment of-" she starts.
I hold up a hand, "I don't wanna know. Can we go inside please?"
She laughs nervously, "eh hehe... Yes."
She quickly rips the magazine from my hands and leads me inside. Once again inside the treehouse, which is much bigger in the inside than the outside. The books, are all over the floor.
"Twilight, you know the books go on the shelves right?" I ask.
"Yes, I was doing a little mid-study rearranging." She said.
"Then what's that?" I say pointing to the giant book fort, a freaking book fort, across the room.
The fort was huge! It was ceiling high. It had a drawbridge and everything. I think somepony had too much time on their hands, er hooves.
"Oh that? That's the HQ!"
"The HQ?" I ask.
"HQ stands for headquart-"
I start laughing, "I know what HQ means, I mean why is it there?"
"Oh! That's where I like to read! I know, it's rather childish isn't it?" She says.
I smile, "Oh no, no, it's kind of cute actually."
Her cheeks go rosy, "Oh why, um.. Thank you.. Hehehe, nopony has ever said that to me before!"
"Said what?"
"That I was cute."
"Oh, uh, well yeah! I mean, that's not what I meant but yeah! Of course you're cu- uh, I mean..."
She grows even more red. Oh great, now it looks like I'm flirting with a pony. Good luck digging yourself out of this one. Good job Shorts, Good job.
"Uh, bu, di- ummm, anyway, about that book you were telling me about last night! The one about Nightmare something or other?"
She snaps out of it, "Oh! You mean the one about Nightmare Moon?"
"That's the one!"
"Oh I've got it right here!" She pulls up a book out of the rubble.
"That's not right," she continues, "Here it is! No..."
This process continues for fifteen minutes!
"Twilight! This is why books don't belong on the floor!" I say digging through the piles of books.
"WAIT! I found it! For real this time!" She shouts triumphantly emerging from the pile on the other side of the room.
She trots over to me, sitting waist deep in books. She levitates me up and out of the flood of
books, sits me down in her book fort, and closes the drawbridge.
It's dark inside the fort. I can't see my own hands in front of me.
"Um Twilight? Why is it so dark?"
Suddenly a candle lights in front of me, and not even a foot away is Twilight giving me a creepy smile. A REALLY creepy smile.
"And now! We are all alone!" The smile widens, oh God, I've been locked in with a maniac!
"So now that I've got you right where I want you! You know what's gonna happen?!"
Oh God what did I do to deserve this!
"Uh.... Don't hurt me..." Is all I can squeak out.
"I'm gonna read you this book!" She says, face returning to normal and sitting down.
Oh thank The Lord, I think to myself, heart rate returning to normal.
"The Legend of Nightmare Moon." She begins, opening the book by candle light.
"Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria."
I about laugh, do all their historical documents sound like storybooks?
"There were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her alicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn, the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies!"
There was magic filling the air, Twilight's horn was glowing, the images from the book were floating through the air. There were images of happy ponies, playing and having a grand old time.
"But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished, and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger alicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn."
The scene that was playing out in front of me darkened, the once happy ponies that were at play began to shake. The image of the younger sister became dark. The change in tone was bizarre almost scary.
"The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young ones heart transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness! Nightmare Moon!"
There was a flash of lightning, the ponies scattered away from the transformed alicorn. The younger sister was no longer the same one from the previous pages, she was armored, her hooves struck the ground with bone-shattering force, and became the nightmare.
"She vowed she would shroud the land in eternal night! Reluctantly, the eldest sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom, the Elements of Harmony! Using the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon."
"Hold up, hold up! Permanently? Did she kill somepony? Why permanently? Only the worst of criminals on Earth get locked up permanently. And from what I know, aren't these two close to immortal? That seems rather harsh!" I protest
"I'm getting to that part!" She continues
"The elder sister took on responsibility for both the sun, and moon. Harmony has been maintained for generations!"
Twilight closes that book, but quickly pulls out another.
"Nightmare Moon: Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about nighttime eternal!"
"What is that? A reference book?" I ask.
"Precisely!" She states, matter-of-factly.
Then, placing that book down and replaces it with yet another book. This one looked slightly newer.
"On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars aided in her escape. She vowed once again to bring nighttime eternal. A young unicorn, aided by her five new friends, set off on a quest to find the long-lost Elements of Harmony."
Then the images returned to the air. I saw images of ponies that looked fairly familiar!
"Hey! Isn't that!" I say.
"SHH- it's all part of the story!"
"What the ponies did not know, is that each of them represented a different part of the Elements of Harmony. The young unicorn, embarked into the darkness of the Everfree Forest, not knowing of the dangers that lurked around the corner."
The image changed and showed the six friends walking through a dark forest.
"Nightmare Moon, unbeknownst to the ponies, was setting traps all along the way. The young ponies found themselves on a ledge overlooking the valley. What they didn't know, is that the ground beneath them was crumbling due to Nightmare Moons magic. The ground soon gave way, the two pegasi managed to fly and catch two of their friends, but left the other two struggling to hold on. The young unicorn almost fell off the edge, into the valley below, but with a swift motion, the honest Earth Pony caught her."
The image tore in two, on one side I saw the pegasi delivering their friends to safety, while the other showed the two that were left to fight for their lives on the edge of the valley below.
"The honest Earth Pony told her newest friend that she had to trust her no matter what, and that she had to let go. The young unicorn let go."
The image reattached and showed the pegasi moving fast to save their other friends.
"The young unicorn let out a quick shriek before she was caught and returned to safety, and were able to continue their journey. Unfortunately, the dangers were far from over, Nightmare Moon, using her dark magic stirred the anger of the creature known as the Manticore."
The image shifted, I saw a dark cloud vanish into the silhouette of a sleeping beast. The beast then stirred to life. It had the body of a lion, wings of a bat, and tail like a scorpions. It looked truly menacing. The six ponies began to do battle with the beast.
"As the six new friends were battling, the smallest of them, a small pegasus, was the only one to show the creature any kindness. She, being the kindest of them all, tamed the wrath of the beast. Allowing them to continue on their quest."
I saw a little yellow pony, petting the manticore. It was kind of cute actually. All thoughts of making the ponies it's midnight snack, gone.
"The six of them continued on their epic adventure. They soon came upon a dark corner of the forest. The shapes of the trees looked more and more ominous with every corner. Every sound came from all around them, even the young ponies own hoof steps sounded terrifying. The darkness seemed to be closing in."
The image floating through the air became very gloomy, and creepy. The trees were moving and the ponies were trembling at their, knees? Hooves? Do hooves have knees? Save for one. God Bless it Pinkie.
"Then, just when it seemed that fear would consume them, the most energetic of them all burst into brilliant song. As she sang, the spirits of the young ponies were lifted, and they began to laugh away their fears, together, as friends."
"The group continued to move towards their ultimate goal, unhindered by Nightmare Moons attempts to thwart them. They soon came upon a raging river, ruled by a giant blue serpent. The serpent was distraught, his once brilliant appearance was now tarnished. Someone had swiped him of the beautiful hair that once covered his lip. In one gracious act of generosity, the most beautiful of the group stepped up and sacrificed the hair from her own tail to restore that of the serpents, and he was happy once again. He calmed the waters and allowed the ponies to cross."
"Finally, the ponies, almost having arrived at their destination. Came across one last obstacle. The bridge leading to the ancient Castle of the Royal Sisters had fallen due to its age. The most ambitious of the ponies, rushed down to repair the broken bridge. When she pulled the bridge back into its proper place on the opposite side of the chasm, she was approached by a strange group of ponies. They offered her the chance of a lifetime. A shot at all of her wildest dreams! They simply asked of her, that the bridge not be secured. She knew what she could get if she went with them, but remained loyal to her friends. The strangers vanished, and she finished securing the bridge, where her friends joined her."
"The path to the ancient castle was now open. The six ponies stepped inside the ancient ruins. The Elements were all arranged on a pedestal, waiting for their arrival. Nightmare Moon, however had one more trick up her hoof. She swiped the Elements right from under the six ponies, snatching up the young, studious unicorn with them!"
The image grew dark, a tornado appeared! It sucked up the Elements and took Twilight with them. Then vanished into thin air, leaving the rest of the ponies to wonder what had happened. Then, the scene changed, we were in what looked like a different part of the castle.
"As the young unicorn reappeared, she saw the Nightmare in full form, she was standing over the Elements, about to rid the world of them once and for all. The young unicorn then did something very brave. She stood up to the monster that was before her, and gave full charge. Nightmare Moon did the same, but the young unicorn was clever, instead of attacking Nightmare Moon outright, she used the charge as a diversion and teleported herself to the Elements. She harnessed the powers of the Elements, but they rejected her. Or so it seemed. The Nightmare then realized her mistake, then returned to finish what she started. With one mighty blow, the Elements of Harmony were shattered. Broken to pieces by the hoof of Nightmare Moon."
The image went dark as the image of Twilight being cast away from the Elements, and landing among her new friends.
"It was in that moment, the young unicorn realized that the Elements of Harmony weren't just magical objects, that the Elements lived inside of them. In all of us! In everypony, and everything!
The Element of Kindness, known as Fluttershy. The Element of Honesty, known as Applejack. The Element of Laughter, Pinkamena Diane Pie. The Element of Generosity, known as Rarity. The Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash. Then the young unicorn realized what the mysterious 6th Element was. The Final Element of Harmony, The Element of Magic, known as Twilight Sparkle."
"Together, the new Elements of Harmony used their newly discovered power to defeat Nightmare Moon."
"What happened this time?" I ask, "Did you send her back to the moon?"
Twilight ignored me and kept reading.
"As the great magic subsided, the sun rose in the distance. The eldest of the royal sisters appeared to the six Elements. The seven of them, together, found themselves once again, face to face with the Nightmare. Though, not quite the same as before. Before them lay the youngest of the royal sisters. Her heart restored to the goodness it once had."
"The eldest sister only asked two things of the youngest. For an apology, and the gift of her friendship. The youngest sister accepted her offer of friendship, and Harmony was once again restored in the magical land of Equestria."
The book was closed, and the light returned to the room.
"So that's it?" I asked
"What?" Twilight asked
"That's how it ends? With the pony who had been locked away on the moon for 1000 years had to apologize? If it were me I would've demanded the same from her!" I protested
"Well yes but-" she starts.
"But nothing, all may have ended well, but something about it just doesn't seem right." I say.
"The way I heard it, it sounds like if you ponies brought it upon yourselves." I continue.
"What do you mean?" She questions.
"The night was just fine, I mean, even yesterday and today I was getting weird looks because I prefer the moonrise over the sunrise. It's like the majority of you are scared of the night! Think about it! It wouldn't have happened if you ponies just went and played hide and seek during the night or something."
"Well I suppose you're right... We did bring it upon ourselves." She said guiltily.
"And who paid the consequences of your actions? You? Or her?" I say quietly.
"Sh- she did..." Tears forming in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Twilight, don't cry. It was thousands of years ago. Times change, it's over. Don't make the mistakes of the past." I say with a smile.
Then we hear a loud banging on the door. I shift my way through the books to open the door up.
It's Rarity.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" She demands of me.
"What? I've been... Uh... Around." I respond brilliantly.
"I have been worried sick about you! You left without telling me you were even going! I had no idea where you were, I thought you just ran off!" She said
She's kind of acting like my... My.. Mother…
"I- I, I'm sorry..." I say quietly, "I left you a note, I thought you would be fine if, if.."
She sees I'm hurt and quiets down a bit, "Oh it's ok, I was just a little worried is all... And did you mean this bit of gibberish?" She asks holding up the note in question.
"Yeah! That's the one! What's wrong with it? It isn't gibberish, can't you read plain English?" I ask
"Eng-what?" She questions.
Wait a minute... I grab one of the many books laying around me open it up.
"Oh, no..." I say, suspicions confirmed.
I look at Twilight, "You mean to tell me, we speak the same language, but have different alphabets?!"
"It would appear so..." She says looking at the note she took from Rarity.