//------------------------------//
// Telling of the Stories 
// Story: Differences 
// by The Dashie 
//------------------------------//

	"Bro...ny...con? I don't understand. Is this some sort of ritual for normal humans, Doctor?"
"Well, actually, I don't know. The only time I've every heard of the term brony was when...Oh. Oh, yes! I remember now! Bronies! Oh how could I have been so stupid, or course!"
"Doctor, what's wrong? What are bronies?"
He looked at me, smiling, then he raised his arms high and shouted, "Them! Oh, one sect of the human race I have heard of, but never got the time to explore, and here they are now. One of you tell me, are all of you here, or is this a meeting of the higher bronies, or what?"
One of the humans in the crowd spoke up. "Only a few of us. The rest are out across the..."
"I'm sorry. I can't hear you. Can you please come here to tell me?"
Sure enough, the same human came running, no, sprinting down to where the Doctor was to answer the question that was asked of him. "I was saying that only a few of us are here. The rest are spread across the U.S. No, the world even. What you have here is a small sample of what we are as a community."
"And exactly how many are in your community?"
"I have no idea, sir. I'd say about a quarter million, maybe even more."
"A quarter million? Fantastic! And you said how many are here?"
"I'd say about a thousand or two."
"Wow. That's amazing. A thousand bronies all crammed in one place to celebrate the thing they love most."
I had lost all hope of trying to keep up, but this seemed like a good time to catch up. "What exactly do they celebrate, Doctor?"
"Well, you guys, of course. I've also heard some rumors that I got caught up in that mix, which reminds me."
He went back inside the TARDIS for something. Probably to get the other ponies, but I took this opportunity to continue my assault on this human who had obviously been Twilight.
"Twilight, how did you follow us here? Is it your sole intent purpose to make all my work fall to nothing?"
"Woah, woah. Hold on, Spike. I'm not Twilight. I just voice-act for her."
"What? Voice-act? How can you not be Twilight and have her voice? Urgh! Stop trying to confuse me! I won't fall for your princess magic, or whatever you're using. I'm ending this...now." I got ready to blow the hottest fireball I could muster, when I heard the other humans scream in unison, "No!" I was confused as to why they wanted me to stop. 
"Why should I stop? She is our enemy! You may not know it, but she is an alicorn who has become corrupted by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. She was, is, and probably always will be a pony that only uses those around her to get what suits her. She used her friendships to lead up to her becoming an alicorn. She used to be a unicorn. For those who don't know, unicorns are ponies that..."
"Yes, Spike we all know what unicorns are," said a voice that sounded a lot like Rainbow Dash.
"Ok, first Twilight, now Rainbow Dash. How many ponies were able to sneak on the damn TARDIS? Lemme guess; Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy got on there too? Which of you is it? There are only five of you here, one of you sounds like me, one is Twilight, one is Rainbow Dash, so it's either you with the yellow hair or you with the orange hair." The one with yellow hair spoke up.
"I'm not Fluttershy, but I do do her voice."
"Ok so you're Pinkie Pie, right orange?" More of their insipid magic pursued as the next thing that happened made my blood run cold.
"No, that's me again, silly. I do both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Wait, wouldn't that mean that I have two ponies inside me? That would make me loco in the coco." The bronies started laughing at this but all I could do was just stand there in shock. Fluttershy...AND Pinkie Pie? Together in one body? What did that TARDIS do to them? First, the ponies that had tried to stop me had crept onto the TARDIS, then they became humans like the Doctor, but somewhere in the process, they fused together? My mind was just running at this point. Whatever happened either as a result of the TARDIS's powers or because of Twilight's magic, it wasn't very pretty.
"How can you humans laugh at this? This combination of ponies is wrong! I don't know what you know about them, but in Equestria, they were two separate ponies. Not some conglomerate of ponies in one single human body. I swear, you humans think everything is normal, when it's really freaky." They laughed at this too. "That wasn't meant to be funny!"
"Calm down, Spike. It's BroNYcon. Have a good time.Enjoy your fans. We know we do."
"Look, Twilight, I'm not going to fall for your lies and...fans? You ponies have been here all of 2 minutes and you already have fans?"
"Spike, we aren't ponies. We are regular humans that use voices that sound like the ponies from Equestria in a television show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. We are not the ponies you know; we are just humans that can make voices like the ponies back in your home."
"How can I trust you? Even if you aren't Twilight, which you are, how exactly would I have proof that you aren't who you say you aren't? There is no way of knowing if you are telling the truth."
"Quiz me on things only Twilight would know."
"You could play dumb."
"Notice that I am using human vocabulary instead of pony vocabulary."
"You could have caught on quick, as usual."
"Trust me anyway?"
"Ok, now you're just getting desperate, Twilight. I won't believe you no matter what test I can put you through." The human I had thought was Twilight really started to try to conceive some way of proving herself. It seemed like forever, when I heard a loud shout from one of the bronies in the crowd. He ran up to Twilight, whispering something in her ear, only to smile and giggle a little bit, and after saying a quick and quiet "Thanks", she looked at me and asked me to do something Twilight would never think of.
"Test our personalities."
"What?"
"Just as I said. Test our personalities. If I am Twilight, and I have a certain spot where I am ticklish, then you should be able to tickle me there and get a laugh out of me. Sound like a fair deal."
"Hmmph...fine. But I'm sure you're gonna burst out laughing." Twilight had one spot where she could not resist laughing when I tickled her there; her forehead, where her horn used to be. I climbed up on the table in front of her and tickled the best I could to make her laugh, but it seemed like she wasn't even phased by my attempts to make her laugh.
"My forehead? Twilight Sparkle is ticklish on her forehead? Lauren, if you are seeing this or if you can hear me, I think that this information is canon, whether we like it or not." Laughter and applause followed her comment, as I am guessing Twilight being ticklish on her forehead was comical.
"Ok, so you're clean. The others could still be the ponies from Ponyville."
"Well then, test them too." I went on to do so. Pinkie Pie couldn't resist laughing at me talking in a Trottingham accent, so I did so. The woman didn't laugh, so she was clean. Rarity would faint at the sight of rare gems, such as the rare dragon's eye, and I so happened to have one because I had packed for the trip; I didn't know if humans had any gems, so I thought I would pack some in one of the TARDIS's many rooms.
"I'll be right back."
"Ok. We'll be here."
I ran in to get one, but as I came in, the Doctor, as well as the other ponies and Discord, looked at me with...disappointment.
"What's wrong? Why is everypony giving me the stink eye?"
"Because you're making us Equestrian folk look bad," Lyra said.
"Yeah, Spike. I know we don't know much about them, but at least give them a chance to explain themselves."
"Equality used to be my specialty, so I know when it is not being given. Spike, if we want them to be on our side instead of the princesses' side, then we need to make them like us, and the more they like us, the less likely they are to turn on us. From what I've heard and seen, these women voice act for a show called "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." The show describes yours, as well as everypony's, adventures in Equestria. The fact that they sound identical to the ponies they voice-act for is something even I can't explain, but they are not the ponies from Equestria. They are just normal humans." This took a long time to accept, but I couldn't argue with Discord. If he trusts them, then I can too. I wanted as many people to help our cause as possible, so I decided to give these women a proper apology, but I also included a gift. I went to my gem room, grabbed five of my best gems, and brought them out to each of the women at the table.
"I want to apologize to you ladies. I have had a hard time trusting the ponies that each of you represent, so I ask that you please excuse my actions. None of my actions are based on what you have done, but what those of Equestria have done. I hope these gems can suffice for the grief and trouble I have given you." They all looked at me with happy faces, like those of mothers who look into the face of their newborn fillies.
"Spike, we forgive you. We don't know what you have been through, but we would like to know. We want you to feel comfortable around us. What can we do to make you most comfortable?"
I was touched. The human who I had most disrespected had offered herself to make me, the offender, more comfortable. I couldn't hold back my tears and the urge to ran to her and hug her. The resounding "Awww." from the bronies was expected, but I didn't care. I just needed a hug.
"There, there, Spike. It's all ok now. You're safe here. We are your friends here. Nothing can hurt you." I let go of the woman's shirt and wiped my face.
"May I ask what your names are? I feel compelled to call you by your real names."
"Well, I'm Tara, and that's Andrea, and that's Cathy, and that's Tabitha, and that's Ashleigh."
"Hello."
"So Spike, what's wrong? You said that the ponies we represented we acting up. What are they doing?"
"Well, actually, it's a longer story than just, "They're being mean."
"We have time." A human with things that looked like earmuffs came out and told her that the panel was over and that they didn't have time. She answered him with, "Spike is here on the stage, and he's about to tell us his story. I think that the rules of the panel don't apply here." The bronies went into an uproar, as if to agree that my story is more important than rules set by those who run the "panel", whatever that is. Again, I was touched by their desire to break any form of rule to listen to what I had to say. "Go ahead, Spike. What's got you in a tizzy?"
"It actually started from my early dragonhood. Back when I just been hatched. I heard that you use your voices on a show called My Little Pony. Have you made a part of her hatching me?"
"Yes."
"And did you also make a part about her treating me like her little doll?"
"We haven't."
"Well, that's when life was good. Life was simple. Playing with Twilight was my only duty. After she got home from school, there I was to play with her. Celestia didn't mind me being there in her castle. Most dragons are released after they are hatched, but Twilight wanted to keep me. Whether it was out of love or childish possessionsisms, I still don't know, but Twilight took me to be her playmate after her schooling. I had it easy. Got fed the best gems, got to relax for as long as Twilight wasn't at school; life was great. That is, until I learned to breathe fire. One little belch and fire came out. Twilight didn't know what to do, so what did she do? She went to Celestia. Celestia told Twilight that she wanted to take her to the next level of her studies, and once Twilight finished school, Celestia did just that. She assigned Twilight a new part of the castle; one that was closer to her. From this new study, Twilight would do research on things that Celestia asked her to do research, which where I came in. Celestia had studied my fire breath and had concluded that she could make a telepathic link between the fire, and whatever it burned, and her. She then told Twilight to write her letters of whatever she studied and learned. That is when my burdens started. Every minute of every hour of everyday, Twilight was sending letters to Celestia. 'Dear Princess Celestia' this and 'Dear Princess Celestia' that. Day in and day out that was all I wrote. Even if it was a simple hello, I had to write it out because she was always too lazy to, and after she had finished telling me what to write, she made me send her damned letter, no matter how important it was."
I started to cry at that point, because of all the memories that were coming back.
"The ponies around me only looked at me like I was a joke; like I wasn't important. I had been the one who saved Rarity from the diamond dogs. I had been the one who had sent Twilight's thousands of letters to Celestia. I had been the one who did all of Twilight's shit, and what do I get? Nothing! Not even a thank you!" One of the humans with earmuffs came up to me and told me that even though I was mad, that I should keep my "language" PG. "I don't know what that means! How do I make the way I talk PG? What does PG mean anyway?"
"It basically means keep you language appropriate for children."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I did not mean to offend. I'm just...so mad and frustrated and..." I couldn't talk anymore, as the grief had gotten to me, and I fell to my knees and started to bawl. I couldn't see what was going on around me, and as I had later learned, all the bronies came close to the stage, so as to show comforting intentions towards me. It wasn't until Tara had touched my shoulder that I had stopped crying. When she did, I looked up at her to see a smile on her face.
"Spike, your story was touching and for that we wish to help you. Let's go have a little talk with those mean old ponies that are bullying you." The bronies gave a second outcry; not only of agreement, but one of war. Tara had made it sound childish, but I knew what she meant.
Revenge was going to be mine. And it was going to be sweet.