Chapter 11
Charles got back to Rarity with two cups of punch in his hands, one for himself and the other for Rarity. “Here you go Rarity.”
Rarity floated her cup out of Charles’s hand. “Thank you dear, and I must say that was quite an entertaining performance you just gave.”
Charles smiled at Rarity. “I’m glad you liked it.” Then the other members of the guard, minus Shadow Fang and Black Cloud, approached, along with the other girls. Fluttershy was with stunner, Carbon had made his way back with Charles to rejoin his date Octavia, and Fuse came along as well with his date Vinyle Scratch.
Lightning Thrash was approaching with Rainbow Dash on one side and another mare Charles hadn’t met on the other. “Charles, nice performance there.”
“I’ll say, that was awesome.” Rainbow said.
“Thank you, and who is this other mare your with captain?”
“No need for titles here Charles remember, we’re off the clock, this mare is Derpy Hooves.” Derpy was a grey coated Pegasus with a blonde mane and tale with bubbles for a cutie mark and yellow eyes that seemed somewhat askew.
“It’s nice to meet you Charles.” Derpy said as she extended a hoof.
Charles took her hoof and shook in greeting. “It’s nice to meet you too. Rainbow Dash, aren’t you and storm chaser an item, I would have thought since I saw you two together my first day.”
Storm Chaser and Rainbow Dash looked at each other with confusion, then back at Charles and let out a laugh. “HA HA HA, yeah right, we’re just good friends.” Rainbow informed.
Storm Chaser continued. “We know each other from flight camp, we got to be good friends there but that’s as far as it went, she’s like a sister to me.”
Charles then gave a confused look at them. Fluttershy saw this and informed. “Um….Charles, flight camp is a camp where young pegasai go for learning the basics of flight. Me and Rainbow Dash met there too and became friends.”
“Oh, I see, thanks for clearing that up Fluttershy.” Charles said to Fluttershy with a smile. “So I guess Shadow fang and Black Cloud aren’t here are they?” He then asked noticing their absence.
Pinkie bounced forward to answer. “Nope, Shadow Fang is a bit of a sour puss and Black cloud is a little too shy to come, I tried to invite them both, but they just didn’t want to come.”
“I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’m actually glad Shadow Fang didn’t show up.” Rarity said.
Fuse agreed. “Yeah, that stallion can really bring down a party if he wants to.”
Twilight then spoke up. “So Charles, since we have this opportunity, I’m wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing a bit more about yourself with us.” She asked with a smile.
“Yeah, you haven’t really told us a whole lot about yerself other than how yer parents betrayed ya and ya had ta live and take care of yerself. I don’t suppose there’s more to it is there.” Applejack asked.
Charles was silent for a moment, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to say anything else about himself. Charles then felt a gloved hoof on his arm. “Charles.” Rarity spoke to him. Charles looked her in the eyes. “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”
“Yeah, we all know it must be hard for you to talk about stuff from your past.” Rainbow said.
Charles closed his eyes and shook his head. “No, I want to share, like I told Twilight before, I think you all were right when you said that I need to let the past go, the best way to do that is to try and just let it out. But you all pretty much already know how my life was, just doing what I could to survive.”
Pinkie then spoke up. “What about before all that stuff happed, you know, before your parents turned you into a science experiment.” Charles looked at Pinkie. “We all already know about all that stuff remember, you shouted it at Twilight at that welcome to Ponyville party I threw for you?”
Fluttershy then added her voice. “Surely you must have had some good times before that dreadful event.”
Charles began. “That’s just it though, I don’t really have any really happy memories from before then. My parents were there to take care of me sure, but it’s like that was it, they were just there to make sure I got what I needed to live. They sent me to school, they fed me and clothed me, but that was it, we never even celebrated my birthday. Because of that, I don’t even know when my birthday is.”
Pinkie then spoke up with disbelief in her voice. “you don’t even know when your birthday is?”
Applejack then came in. “Hold up, if you don’t know when your birthday is, then how in tarnation do ya know how old ya were when that bad stuff happened to ya?”
Charles answered. “Well, it was really more of a guess as to how old I was then, I’m probably wrong about that, so I don’t know how old I really am.”
Pinkie spoke up again, still with disbelief in her voice. “I can’t believe you don’t know when your birthday is. Every pony knows when their birthday is, how am I supposed to throw you a birthday party if we don’t know when your birthday is?”
Charles actually managed to get a smile back on his face from Pinkies wondering. “I don’t know Pinkie, but it’s not a big deal for me. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“Are you KIDDING, birthday parties are one of my most favorite parties to throw, we just have to find some way to fix this, maybe we can just celebrate the day you first came to Equestria. That will work.”
Before anything else could be said, there was a bright white flash near the group and a tall creature that looked like a mash up of different animals put together appeared. “HELLO MY LITTLE PONIES!” The creature announced.
This surprised Charles. “HOLY CRAP!” He dropped his drink, summoned his armor and staff, and flew at the creature, ramming his shoulder into it. Charles managed to knock the creature on its back and had his staff pointing right at its head. “I don’t know who or what you are, but if you harm one hair on these ponies head, you’ll be in for a world of hurt pal!” Charles then raised his staff above his head to strike. The creature snapped its eagle claw and sent Charles flying backward into the wall with a scowl. Charles crashed into the wall and landed on the floor on one knee.
The ponies watched in fear when Charles made his first move, they were too shocked to say anything. Charles got back up, jumped in the air with his staff raised again for another strike. The creature held up his eagle claw and lion paw in fists ready to fight. Fluttershy cried out. “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIT!” She put herself in between the two. Charles stopped in mid-air.
“Fluttershy move, you’re in the way!” Charles called.
Twilight then interjected. “Charles NO, he’s not a threat!”
Charles looked at the ponies confused. Lightning Thrash then stepped forward. “At ease Charles, he’s not a threat, we are in no danger here.”
Charles came back down to the ground. The creature then glared at Charles as he spoke. “Just what is the big idea attacking me out of the blue like that? What have I done to deserve that?”
Fluttershy turned her attention to the creature. “I’m terribly sorry for that Discord, I guess you must have just surprised him. He doesn’t know you.”
The creature continued with his displeased look. “And just who or what is HE?”
Charles turned to Twilight. “Twilight what is going on, who is that?”
Rarity took Charles’s hand and led him over to Discord, while Fluttershy led Discord over to Charles. Rarity spoke first. “Charles, this is Discord, he’s a friend…..sort of.” She said with a bit of hesitation.
Fluttershy then spoke to Discord. “Discord, this is Charles, he’s a new friend of ours.”
Charles and Discord then said together still wearing displeased looks. “And just what is he?” They both then looked at each other, Charles had to crane his neck up as this creature identified as Discord was so tall and slender.
Before anyone could answer, Pinkie gave a joyful shout as she leapt toward Discord. “DISCORD!”
Discord saw the hyperactive pink pony flying at him and smiled big as he opened his arms to catch the pony. “PINKIE PIE!” Discord caught Pinkie in mid-air and the two shared a hug.
“OH, I missed you buddy, where have you been, what was it like, OH OH, did you bring it, did you did you did you?” Pinkie said with excitement. Dscord put Pinkie down and gave a mock pout.
“I swear Pinkie, it’s like you only like me for those things.” He said as he stuck his goat nose in the air with his yellow eyes with red pupils closed. During this whole scene, the ponies present merely looked on.
Pinkie spoke again. “Oh Discord, you know that’s not true.”
Discord looked at her with one open eye. A smile crept across his face. “Fine, here you go.” He snapped his lion paw and a pink cloud appeared before Pinkie. Without wasting another second, Pinkie started eating it to Charles’s disbelief.
Then Discord turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, my dear friend, how good to see you again after so long.”
Fluttershy then fluttered up to Discord and they embraced each other in a light hug. “It’s good to see you too Discord, welcome back.”
Charles was starting to get annoyed being left in the dark like this. “OK, will SOMEPONY please tell me what’s going on here, WHO IS THIS GUY?!” He exclaimed as he flared out his wings and pointing his free hand at Discord.
Discord released Fluttershy from their hug and his sour expression returned. “Fluttershy dear, who is this ruffian who thought it amusing to ambush me like that.”
Applejack had enough and decided to step in. “ALL RIGHT, THAT’S ENOUGH, Charles, Discord, come over here.” She said as she stood between them. They both reluctantly made their way over to her. “Charles, this here is Discord, he’s a draconaquis and the god of chaos. Discord, this here is Charles, he’s new to Equestria and a good friend of ours.”
Twilight then stepped in to continue. “Charles, Discord is a friend of ours.”
Charles looked at Twilight. “So, he’s not a threat then?”
Discord interjected. “I should say not, I wouldn’t dream of hurting my closest friends. I USED to be evil and was bent on plunging all of Equestria in eternal chaos until Fluttershy and her friends here showed me the light and reformed me.” He said as a golden halo appeared above his head and his bat wing and Pegasus wing became like angel wings in a flash.
Charles then took on a straight face. “Oh, oops, um, sorry about tackling you earlier then, you kind of surprised me when you showed up how you did, I’m really sorry.” Charles said, then dismissed his armor and staff.
Discord dismissed his halo and his wings went back to their mismatched form. “Well, I suppose I can forgive you, but what exactly are you, being a god, I know about every species on this planet, but I’ve never seen anything like you before, the closest thing I can think of would be a monkey.”
Fluttershy then informed Discord. “Charles is a human, he came here from another world.”
Discord took on a look of curiousity. “You don’t say, another world huh, most interesting.” Discord then summoned a magnifying glass and looked at Charles closely with it with one eye open.
Charles backed up a little. “Well then, it’s…..very nice to meet you Discord, sorry again for attacking you.”
Discord dismissed the magnifying glass and smiled at Charles. “No problem my fine human, any friend of Fluttershy’s is a friend of mine. So what is this party for anyway, I’m guessing Pinkie put it together?”
The group turned to Pinkie who was more than halfway through the pink cloud. Charles just had to ask. “OK, what is that thing Pinkie is eating, it looks like a cloud, but it’s pink, and how is she eating it?”
Discord informed. “It’s one of my favorite things, a cotton candy cloud filled with chocolate milk.”
Charles looked at him with confusion. “A cotton candy cloud filled with chocolate milk? Ok then, that is the weirdest thing I have ever heard of since being here.”
Discord’s smile grew slightly bigger. “Oh you should try it sometime, it’s absolutely delicious.”
By this time, Pinkie had completely finished with the cloud now and was free to talk. “Discord, this party is to celebrate Charles saving Rarity from a bunch of diamond dogs that pony napped her and took her to their underground tunnels to use her ability to find gems for themselves.”
“Really, you saved Rarity from a pack of diamond dogs?” Discord asked.
Rarity stepped forward and took hold of Charles's hand with her hoof. “Oh indeed, you should have seen him, he was so heroic and brave, he took down a giant diamond dog to save me. It was so brave of him to do it.”
Charles gave a sheepish smile as he used his free hand to rub the back of his head. Discord then looked curiously at Charles. “A giant diamond dog you say, interesting, how did a diamond dog get so big?”
Charles answered. “It was wearing this gold medallion with a pearl at the center, it let off a glow before the dog grew to a massive size.”
“Curious, I wonder where a pack of diamond dogs got their filthy paws on something so powerful as a medallion for size increase? Very peculiar. Well anyway, all is settled and the lovely miss rarity is safe, that is all that matters. Well done my new friend, put her there.” Discord said as he extended his lion paw to Charles for a shake.
What Charles didn’t notice that Twilight did was Discord had a small round metal device on one of his fingers. This worried Twilight and she called out to try and stop the shake. “Charles wait!”
Too late, Charles grasped Discord’s paw and a jolt of electricity surged through his body, causing him to spasm involuntarily at the shock for a moment. Discord released his grasp and Charles fell to the floor. He got back up quickly and looked at Discord angrily as discord gave a smiling pout and revealed his hand buzzer on his paw. The only ponies who weren’t laughing at this point at Discord’s prank were Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy. Every pony else was laughing hystericaly at the joke Discord pulled. The ponies not laughing looked on worried as they were afraid this would upset him given his past.
They were right, Charles clutched his head with his hands as he tried to block out the laughter on his knees. Rarity tried to approach him to talk to him, she said his name softly. “Charles, are you all right?” She asked with concern.
“No….not again…..it can’t happen again.” Charles said silently to himself. “Make it stop make it stop make it stop.” The girls, Rainbow and Pinkie excluded, looked on in worry.
Twilight approached to try and talk to Charles. “Charles, it’s ok, it was just a joke.”
“no….please make it stop, I can’t take the laughing.” Charles closed his eyes and wrapped his wings around himself.
Applejack had enough. “THAT’SENOUGH, ALL A YA’LL SHUT YER YAPS NOW!!” Applejack’s shout worked as all the ponies laughing stopped. “Ya’ll should be ashamed a yerselves, look at him!” Applejack said as she pointed to Charles in his current position with his hands over his ears, his eyes closed and his wings wrapped around him. “Ya’ll should know better than ta laugh at some poor feller whos been through so much pain.” Dash and Pinkie really felt guilty now. Discord just had a straight face.
Rarity put a hoof to Charles to try and get his attention. “Charles, look at me.”
Charles looked up with a start, he moved his hands away from his ears slightly and looked at Rarity. He then looked around to see the mane six staring at him with worried expressions. “I….what….” He unwrapped himself from his wings, placed one hand down and the other on his forehead. “I’m sorry, I….I just couldn’t take the laughing, I was laughed at a lot.”
Fluttershy came forward. “It’s alright Charles, you have nothing to apologize for.”
Rainbow then spoke up. “Yeah, sorry for laughing at you.”
Pinkie apologized as well. “Me too, I’m super-duper sorry if I hurt your feelings Charles.”
Fluttershy then looked at Discord. “Discord, don’t you have something to say as well?”
Discord crossed his arms and stuck his nose up. “Well it’s hardly my fault he can’t take a joke.” Fluttershy gave him a stern look. Discord caved in and sighed, his arms slumped to the side as he hung his head with an annoyed expression. “Fine, Charles, I’m sorry for pranking you.”
Charles glared at Discord as he stood up. He didn’t say anything. “Rarity, would you care to go to another part of the party so we can chat alone? I would very much like to learn more about you yourself.” He said as he looked at Rarity.
“Oh, um, of course, come along then.” Rarity said with hesitation. They walked off, leaving the others to their own. The rest of the party went on without any incidents since then. Charles just did his best to avoid discord.
***
The party came to an end and the ponies all left for their homes. Charles offered to walk Rarity home which she gladly accepted. It was starting to get chilly out as the moon rose to its position in the sky and the stars decorated it. “Charles, are you feeling any better?” Rarity asked.
“A little, I just don’t like being laughed at. That’s one of the many things I had to put up with on earth, and it was always unpleasant.”
“I can only imagine, but it was just a prank that Discord pulled on you, he didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. That’s just how he is.”
Charles said nothing. He looked up at the sky and had to stop in his tracks for a moment.
Rarity stopped with him and looked at the sky with him. “Beautiful night isn’t it?”
“Are you kidding, the sky back on earth wasn’t anywhere near as pretty as this.” He said as he gazed at the numerous stars decorating the clear sky.
“Weren’t you able to see the stars back on earth?”
“Sort of, because of all the numerous cities, the light from them made it nearly impossible to see the stars, only the brightest of stars could be seen, and there wasn’t that many of them. Here, It’s like I can see all the stars in space, it’s incredible.” A wind blew past that made Rarity shiver. Charles noticed this. “Come on, let’s get you home where it’s warm.”
They arrived at Rarity’s boutique. “So Charles, other than that little incident with Discord, did you have a good time at the party?”
“I did actually, thank you for being my date, it was the first one I’ve ever had.”
Rarity smiled. “I’m glad you liked it, maybe….sometime we could do this again later?”
“I think I’d like that Rarity, thank you.” Rarity then got up on her hind legs and gave Charles a quick peck on the cheek, then returned to all fours.
“Good night Charles, have a wonderful sleep.” She said as she entered her house.
Charles stood there for a moment in shock, his first kiss from a beautiful girl, or in this case, mare. But he didn’t care, it was his first kiss. Charles just made his way back to Twilight’s place with a smile on his face.
Upon entering, Twilight greeted him. “Hey Charles, you feeling any better, I’m really sorry about what happened with Discord, he just likes to pull pranks like that. I hope you’re not too upset about it.”
“Huh, oh no, I’m ok.” He said as he was brought out of his thoughts. He was still pondering the peck Rarity gave him.
Twilight noticed his expression. “Charles, are you sure your ok, you look like you have something on your mind.”
“Rarity kissed me on the cheek, it was the first time I’ve ever been kissed. It was……wonderful.” He said with a smile.
Twilight gave a smile back. “That’s great news Charles, I’m going to head off to bed now, do you need anything before I go?”
“No, I’m fine thanks, good night Twilight.” Charles headed for his room. Twilight then did the same.
***
Charles found himself floating through a sunny sky with clouds everywhere, he wasn’t even flapping his wings. “What……what’s going on here?” He was rising straight up. He rose through a big white cloud, upon coming out the top, he was greeted with a strange sight. There was a large roman style temple with gold pillars. Charles found himself uncontrollably floating towards it. It was a very open temple too, upon entering, there was a solid looking gold floor with a depiction of the sun surrounded by the different phases of the moon. Charles found himself being gently settled upon the floor. He looked around once he was settled. “Hello! Is anyone….or pony here?!” He called out.
Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash before his eyes. Charles had to shield himself from it. Once the light faded, Charles could look again, this time, he was greeted with two new creatures before him, both were alicorns, and both were very tall, possibly taller than Celestia was. One had a black coat, Stars and nebulas could be seen through its mane and tail, they both swayed in an invisible wind, but the stars and nebulas did not move with the mane and tail. Its eyes were pure white, and it wore a golden crown atop its head.
The other had a pure white coat with a golden sparkling mane and tail that also moved on its own. It also had pure white eyes and wore a golden tiara atop its head.
The black coated alicorn stepped forward and spoke in a voice that was gentle but firm, like a caring fathers voice. “Charles, we are sorry for dragging you here, but there is an urgent matter that we need to discuss.”
The other spoke with a gentle voice like a caring mother. “Equestira will be in great peril in the future.”
Charles stood there stunned at the two creatures before him. After a moment, he finally found his voice. “Hold on, excuse me, but who are you two? And what is this place? Whoever you are, would you please explain to me what is going on, and how do you know my name?”
The male alicorn spoke. “Our apologies, it has been far too long since we have conversed with others. My name is Solaris.”
The other introduced herself. “My name is Cosma, we are the former King and Queen of Equestria, and you are in the realm of the eternal heard.”
“Eternal heard, wait so like, is this the place where ponies go when they die? Does that mean I’m DEAD?! HOW DID I DIE?”
Cosma chuckled at his reaction. “Calm yourself human, you are not dead, while this realm is the home for all ponies when their time on Equis is over, yours is not.” This is when Charles noticed that when they spoke, their mouths didn’t move.
Solaris than spoke. “We merely needed to bring you here so we may speak with you.”
Charles then realized something else. He put both his hands up and waved them in front of him. “Wait wait wait, back up a second here, did you say the former king and queen of Equestria? Sooo….does that mean that…..you two are…..”
Solaris answered. “Yes, we are the father and mother of the current rulers of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, our daughters.”
Charles was stunned to hear this. “Their parents? I…..I don’t believe this.”
Cosma then spoke up. “We realize this is a lot for you to take in, but we really need to speak with you.”
“Wait, how did you know my name?” Charles asked.
Solaris answered. “We have been watching you since you first arrived here. We are well aware of what you have done, and your capabilities as a warrior. We have seen you risk your own life twice now to save some pony.”
“And because of the unusual circumstances that brought you here, you are our only hope to help protect our daughters and their home.” Cosma informed.
“But how am I its only hope, isn’t there something in Equestria with magical capabilities that can help fight off any threats?”
Cosma explained. “There is something Equestria has, but I’m afraid it will not be enough.”
“What is this power?”
Solaris explained. “There are six magical artifacts known as the elements of harmony, they are powerful items that can harness the positive energies within one’s self to fight off dark magic and corruption. The positive energies are ones that make up a powerful friendship and focus those energies into a powerful beam. One must be very in tune with one of these elements in order to use them to their full power.”
Cosma continued. “Currently, these elements rest with Twilight Sparkle, she and her five friends are the wielders of the elements of harmony. The six elements are as follows. Honesty, wielded by Applejack, laughter, wielded by Pinkie Pie, loyalty, welded by Rainbow Dash, kindness, welded by Fluttershy, generosity, wielded by Rarity, and finally, magic, wielded by Twilight Sparkle herself. While these elements are powerful, as we said, they will not be enough. They are only good for purifying one who has been corrupted by dark magic or turning a creature of pure evil to stone.”
Solaris continued. “This will not be enough to stop the threat we have foreseen. There is another power that our daughters do not know about, the elements of life. It is the power to control the very elements of nature, earth, fire, wind, water, and lightning.”
“You, Charles, are the only one who may very well have the courage and strength to wield this power.”
“Why can’t you tell Luna and Celestia about this, why tell me?”
Cosma explained. “Because we are forbidden from interfering directly with the course of things in Equestria, we are unable to speak with our daughters.”
Solaris continued. “That is why you are here, you are not originally from this world, your arrival was most fortuitous. Because of you being from another world, we are capable of speaking with you like this. You can pass on this message to our daughters, we are sorry for putting such a burden on you, but you must understand that we care deeply for our daughters and want to make sure they have everything they will need to protect themselves and their kingdom.”
“We will understand if you refuse our request, we cannot force you to do this, we will be eternally grateful to you if you choose to help. Will you aid us and our daughters in their time of need? You do not need to go after the elements of life right away, the threat is still far off. You can continue to live in Ponyville and work on your own magical skills so you can strengthen them to be stronger.”
Charles couldn’t believe all that was being put on him, the former king and Queen of Equestria , the parents of Celestia and Luna, were standing before him, begging him for his help to find these elements of life and protect Equestria. He looked donw in thought, he remembered all he had been through since coming to Equestria. It had been a short time, but in that time, he had already met ponies who had nothing but his wellbeing in mind. He also remembered what he did after he had a talk with princess Celestia and princess Luna. Charles came to a decision.
He looked up at the two with a smile. “Where can I find the elements of life?”