//------------------------------// // Best morning ever! // Story: Equestrian human // by Vinyl Destination //------------------------------// So here I am in the most confusing of situations and one most could only imagine and couldn’t hope to understand the full force of. It’s been a little over a week now and I’m still having trouble wrapping my mind around it. I’ve been pulled into a world by some unknown force, a world that shouldn’t exist. I’ve been switched out of my normal body to fit the new world (don’t really understand how that happened either) and by dumb chance that new body happened to be female (Although it creeps me out on many levels I don’t think I look too bad) I’m living in a town inhabited by pastel colored ponies and am even living with one. On that note Bon-Bon wasn’t bad, she’s rough around the edges but is just a sweetheart when you get to know her. Her candy is even sweeter and she can make tons of other good food too. Let me tell you, this mare knows how to cook! I never thought that I would like things like vegetable soup so much! I never thought I would like grass or flower or even hay based food at all but she made it work. Also she has a spare room but mostly used it to store things, she offered to clean it out for me so I could sleep there instead of… sharing a bed. I don’t like the idea of us sleeping together for some reason. There is like some sort of nagging feeling in the back of my head. Currently, though, I’m in the soon to be my room writing on a desk that was there by candle light. It was night outside and a lamp had not made it into the room yet. I had decided early on to take notes of thing I’ve learned and pieces and clues I’ve collected on how I even got to this world. I traced and retraced my steps over and over again but got next to nothing. I was walking through the woods and made it home and then fell asleep, but that didn’t seem right somehow. I was missing something “What else happened then?” I looked outside staring at the dark jeweled sky hoping for some sort of inspiration and then it hit me “Of course! The sun!” I exclaimed excitedly. Well it wasn’t the sun exactly it was that strange golden item that was shaped like a sun but this was progress- or at least I hope it is. “What was that, Lyra?” Bon-Bon called up from downstairs “Did you say something?” “Nothing Bon-Bon.” I hated not being able to tell them things especially Bon-Bon since I’m living with her. However if I did they would probably think I was crazy. Firstly because no one in this world believed that humans were real (except for kids but no one takes them quite as seriously as adults) they thought I was strange enough for believing such a thing. Anyone would be thought crazy if they went around telling others that they were a creature of myth. So I’m keeping quiet about that detail and anything related to it till I can prove it once and for all… This might be a bit harder than I originally thought. I began drawing the design of that strange emblem I found before all the craziness happened. I figured out a few days earlier how to use magic to write and draw, it was very useful. I need to learn a few actual spells eventually, it would be cool. I drew several of them and labeled them simply as “Sun thingy” I’m not too good at names. “‘Sun thingy’ huh?” I heard suddenly from behind me. In surprise I dropped the quill- well okay it was more like it was launched across the room but the concept was the same. I turned around to see Bon-Bon looking at my work. It was only a few sheets and nothing really big in size or importance. I hadn’t gotten much progress in the investigation department. “Bon-Bon, please don’t sneak up on me like that!” “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” Bon-Bon apologized with a little smirk on her face that told me she wasn’t entirely sorry. “I just came to tell you that dinner is ready.” My growling stomach reminded me of my need for food. I decided that the whole mystery universe jumping problem could wait till after I finished dinner. I wouldn’t be able to solve anything on an empty stomach after all. Let me say this one last thing about Bon-Bon’s cooking, by the time I get back to my own world she’ll have just made a vegetarian out of me. Until I came here I would never have thought I would like vegetables so much. (I also never thought I would ever be seen eating flowers and grass but that’s a different matter) the strange part of the pony diet here in Equestria is that they do eat meat but only one kind: eggs. I know strange, right? Ponies eating eggs, amazing but strange. Getting back to the topic of Bon-Bon’s currently made dinner; she made the best veggie soup I had ever tasted. “What did you do to this, Bon-Bon? I’ve never tasted a soup like this before.” I said before eating another spoon full. I really wanted to know this secret; I’m not the world’s best cook but this I had to know. “Not much,” Bon-Bon answered modestly “I just seasoned it a little.” “This is grade A.” I commented and I noticed a slight blush from my complimenting her cooking. She must be so shy and modest to act this way and not just admit she’s a great cook. “That means a lot coming from someone with your upbringing.” I stopped eating, curious about what she meant by that. “Living in Canterlot you must have had some pretty good food.” Oh yeah, they all think I’m from Canterlot. To lie to creatures, whether or not they were cartoon ponies or actual people, always made feel awful. She’d taken me in and gave me a home when she could easily just let me wonder aimlessly. She had every reason to after the Nightmare Moon crisis. By this time we had stopped eating and were just talking but none of us really noticed or cared too much. “Well the food there was definitely fancy looking and complicated.” I commented thinking back to the several pastry stores I had passed when I first wandered Canterlot. “But the taste wasn’t really the same. You can dress something up and make it look good but that doesn’t mean it always is.” I said all of this while trying not to make direct eye contact. I didn’t to risk having her find out it was a lie. Hopefully I’ll never have to make up an entire backstory for myself. “Well I’m glad you like it.” She said and went back to the food. “One of these days I’m going to do something to pay you back for all this.” “You don’t need to do that, Lyra.” “But I want to, you’ve gone out of your way to make me at home and help me.” I insisted. Bon-Bon thought about it while tapping a hoof on her chin in thought “Well, Vinyl Scratch said she’d help me with the supplies being delivered to my shop, but then said today that something came up in Canterlot so she might be gone for a few days. It should be here by tomorrow, you could help me with that if you want.” It was a start but I’ll take, not exactly a good exchange for giving me a place to live and feeding me. She said that her shop has been suffering money problems lately so maybe if I could find a way to make some income for myself it would help her. I’m not sure what I would qualify for or even how I would go about getting a job. I still don’t fully understand Equestrian society. I’ll start with this good deed and worry about that later. We enjoyed the rest of our meal talking about this and that. Bon-Bon told me about some funny experiences she’s had at work. Like one time this pony named Berry Punch came into her shop with Colgate (apparently Berry practically forced her to come) Berry wasn’t in her complete mind at the time and became convinced that she could break a record for the world’s biggest bubble gum bubble. I wasn’t aware there was such a thing. Berry bought so much gum that she could barely chew and blew a huge bubble it popped and- as fate would have it- Colgate got a face full of chewed gum. Bon-Bon laughed at the memory “It was stuck everywhere! Her blue face was completely pink and so was her toothpaste mane.” She snorted. I snorted from trying to keep a straight face long enough to listen to the story “It was stuck into her coat and everything! Oh, but that wasn’t the best part,” I covered my mouth with my hooves, a huge grin forming on my face and feeling like I would explode “She started to panic, running around the room like a mad mare.” Bon-Bon and I laughed. I could only imagine Colgate freaking out with gum stuck to her face. We continued like this the rest of the night. I don’t ever remember having a friend any bit like Bon-Bon; if I were stuck in another universe I’m glad it’s this one. Things are more peaceful here (more often than not) and there are ponies willing to give you a place to stay and rest your head. Speaking of which, when it got too deep into the night we went to bed. Still the same bed, it still bothered me every now and then when a touch of nervousness crept in or when my mind fell into the gutter until I had to fish it back out. I pretty much got over that little detail after a while, the couch was too uncomfortable to sleep on and their wasn’t a second bed yet so I really had no choice. The only issue I still have is, when I sleep, I end up turning Bon-Bon into a my hug pillow. I always wake up holding her close to me. I’ve tried a few things to fix it but nothing ever really works. I tried sleeping with a pillow already in my forelegs so I wouldn’t turn to Bon-Bon, needless to say it didn’t work. I lay down in the bed in complete darkness, save for the clear night sky shining through the window, and next to one of my best friends since I’ve arrived here. It seemed appropriate to call her my best friend despite the little time I’ve known her. After everything she’s done it’d be clear to the most oblivious person in the world that she’s a good friend. I just lay there for what felt like hours with thoughts running through my head. So many questions and no answers! I appeared here by what I’d assume is some kind of magic, but no idea why I’m here. I assumed it would be a short lived trip and yet I’m here days after the “Nightmare Moon Incident” so what hasn’t been done? Am I here one accident? Just some sort of freak mistake? Or am I here on some mission that even I don’t know about? Did I physically take part in me coming here or did something drag me here? Honestly some of these sound a little cliché and maybe even unrealistic but this world’s idea of “Unrealistic” differs greatly than my world’s idea of the word. I need answers and I need to go home! “Lyra?” a groggy, half-awake voice called out interrupting my thoughts. “Yeah, Bon-Bon?” “Is something wrong? You’ve been tossing and turning, it’s shaking the bed.” “Sorry,” I apologized “I just can’t turn my brain off right now.” “Want to talk about it? Maybe get it off your chest?” It was a nice offer and all but I wasn’t sure if I could, or at least, not in the way I wanted. She didn’t believe in humans and to her a mare that still believes in them is strange enough, if I started saying I was one of them she might think I’m crazy. “No thanks, I can get over it.” “Is it about your home?” I fell quiet, my tired mind was stunned “We don’t live too far from Canterlot, you could visit them anytime.” I felt home sick and my heart had fallen into my stomach. “…yeah you’re right,” the thought occurred to me that I might never go home. Then for the first time since I’m glad it was dark and she was too sleepy to really pay attention “goodnight Bon-Bon.” I said in the best way I could to keep my voice from betraying me. I thought I felt a tear come. (*~#) I woke up like I would any morning, it was another peaceful and bright summer morning outside and I could feel Celestia’s sun shining through the window. Except there was one difference today. Bon-Bon was awake and I was holding on to her again. Why is this different? Because up until this point she didn’t know I did that, I always woke up first. I quickly let go and made sure I was careful not to fall off. “Uh… sorry.” I said quickly and hopped off the bed and quickly walked out before anything could be said. It was another bright and shining day out and nice summer weather was a wonderful change from fall weather in my world… my world, I wonder if they know I’m missing. What could all of them be doing? Maybe I could try to break the fourth wall and get someone’s attention. That last thought put a smile on my sour thoughts. I will find a way back eventually, and until then I should just enjoy what time I have here. The morning sun shone through the windows of the kitchen. I ate a simple bowel of cereal as a waited for Bon-bon. A mane like hers doesn’t just happen I guess. There hasn’t been a cloud out in a while and by a while I mean several days. Even in the human world a completely cloudless day several days in a row is odd but in a world where weather is manual I can’t apply normal logic without looking strange. There hadn’t been anything in the paper about any change in weather and I’ve heard several say that the weather factory might have had a sort of incident and we could be having a drought. Least it hasn’t been getting too hot, fur and hot weather was uncomfortable. After we got ready to leave and Bon-Bon was finished with her things we headed out for being early in the day it was surprisingly warm, maybe we are having a drought. The walk was peaceful and quiet but the silence got heavy fast. We filled it up with conversation, it was mostly random things. We talked about funny things and things we’ve been doing, things of that nature. Bon-Bon had some really funny stories; you wouldn’t believe the crazy things that walk through the door of her store. Next to Sugar Cube corner her store was one of the popular places to hang out in town. Ironically Sugar Cube corner is her biggest rival in the business and also her only constant source of income. I guess it’s a friendly rivalry. Bon-Bon is willing to handle orders for some of their own treats and they pay generously for the supplies. I’m pretty sure if Bon-Bon was there instead of Rarity, Bon-Bon would have been Generosity. I think Vinyl could easily be Laughter. Speaking of which, I wonder how Vinyl is doing in Canterlot. I was there for maybe a few hours and realized fairly quickly that it had a major population of snobs, with the exception of ponies like Grandpa Tapes. We finally made it to the candy store and Bon-Bon told me to head towards the back of the store. “We need to check inventory first.” She said “After that there will be two bulls with a large cart of items that I ordered, let me know when they come. If they haven’t shown up already they should be coming soon. I’ll check up on things here.” She said opening the register looking at the money and back at a list she had set on the counter. I hadn’t realized how much effort went into a simple sounding store like a candy shop. I went through a door behind the counter while Bon-Bon counted the money in the register. There was a hallway that led to three different rooms, I flipped on the lights in the hall and saw a sign over the door of each room. The one at the end of the hall was labeled “storage” not wasting anytime I moved over there and turned on the light. I could see all the boxes and jars stacked on top of each other that were previously hidden in the near darkness. I didn’t know what I expected honestly, the boxes were stacked as high as the ceiling in some places. I pulled out a list of things that were supposed to be here (it was not a short list) It had containers listed as well as things like wrappers and ingredients for making candy. Beside each item was listed a number of how many there were supposed to be and what was being ordered. It took me hours to get a good amount of the list finished and it was barely even half of the list. My magic felt like it was getting weaker as I continued picking up and moving things so I could look at the contents. I’ll be honest I thought magic was just that, magic, but it’s not. I mean, yes its magic but like doing something with your actual body it’ll get tired after a while. It didn’t feel exactly the same though; it wasn’t that same sort of tired you’d get from physical work. My head felt like it was getting a little lighter after a while and I could feel beads of sweat forming on my head. I could feel the beginnings of a headache too. “Bon-Bon deals with all this work on a daily basis?” I wondered out loud to myself. I heard a knocking coming from the room next to me. I peeked out the window in the room I was in and saw two bulls strapped to a large wagon carrying a large amount of items stored in barrels. I’m going to have to carry all that in aren’t I? I trudged out of the room and opened the back door to be greeted by them. “Delivery for Bon-Bon?” one asked in a tough and gruff voice. I was mildly surprised that they spoke but, then again, cows and bulls aren’t too different from ponies. I’m guessing all creatures similar to ponies have that same amount of sentience. “That’s right.” I confirmed “We have six barrels of sugar and four barrels of apples.” I was shocked about how little in variation there was but didn’t comment on it. I levitated the list in front of me and checked. It was at the very bottom of the list. “That seems right to me. Thank you.” I smiled after I double checked. “You don’t look like a Bon-Bon.” Said the other in a rather comical more nasally voice. “Oh, I’m not,” I answered matter of-factly “I’m a friend of hers, my names Lyra.” “Well enough of the pleasantries,” The first one spoke up getting us back on track. He pulled a paper clipped to a pad out of the cart and I carefully pulled it out of his mouth with my magic and signed it off. They were nice enough to carry them inside for me it was so much quicker having them help. What’s more is that those were the last few things on my list. I came around the front of the store and saw various ponies of age gender and color all gathered around, coming and going and generally going about their business. I wasn’t sure how long I had been in the back but I had been there for a while. I walked over to Bon-Bon how was finishing up with Snips and Snails. When she turned to face me she looked a little surprised “You’re finished already?” she asked with some noticeable shock. I raised an eyebrow at the question “Yeah,” I answered slowly “It was tiring but those two bulls came at the right moment, that was exhausting how do you do this every day?” I have newfound respect for Mom and Pop stores. Her shop has, from what I gather, no notability to speak of unlike Sugar Cube Corner and is certainly not a franchise. “I usually don’t open this early and thought I could take advantage of the extra help, but it takes me longer to go through everything. You sure you checked everything?” “Yep.” I grinned “It’s all right here.” I said handing over the list. Her expression went from doubtful to surprised and then finally pleased. “I think it would have taken longer if I didn’t use magic.” “I’m impressed, thank you for the help.” She said with a smile. “That’s it?” I wondered “Huh?” “I figured you needed more help. Is this really all you needed help with?” “It is, believe it or not. I only make more candy when I’m out of stock and even then it’s only after or before work hours. I can handle this, thank you for your help.” Well… I don’t really have a position to argue with her and she seems pleased… ah, what the heck I guess that’s enough. “Alrighty then.” I smiled innocently and walked out the front door. It was a very nice day out anyways. I walked through town looking for more things to occupy my time. I saw Twilight walk by me and then I got the greatest idea ever! If I have nothing to do and I’m trying to find a way home then why don’t I look up anything that might give me clues? To the library! I mentally exclaimed. I dashed past her but she didn’t seem to notice much. It looked like she was thinking about something really hard. Spike was riding on her back, maybe he had something to do with it? I looked up into the sky and saw several Pegasi filling the sky with dark clouds. There weren’t very many to worry about right now though. I came closing in on the library tree house… thing, not after too long. As I entered the place with some form of name that escaped me at the moment, I saw Fluttershy and a bunch of her animal friends cleaning the place up. It was like something out of snow white almost and something about it struck me as odd, was something happening that I wasn’t aware of? Fluttershy noticed me “Oh, hello, I’m sorry but I was thinking of surprising Twilight, sorry if this is bothering you.” She apologized out of the blue while trying to hid behind her mane. “No need to apologize.” I said comforting “It’s no problem I’ll just come back later” As I closed the door I could only think of two things. 1) What just happened? 2) Am I missing something? My thoughts were interrupted by my growling stomach and another thought entered my head “I’m hungry.” I said to myself. I remembered seeing a restaurant not very far from here and the more I thought of it the more I realized I never had normal pony food. I only ever had the food the Bon-Bon made, I wonder how the other side lives. Heh, I really did sound like I came from Canterlot that time. I walked down the street directly in front of the tree, house… thing. I tried several stores and different restaurants but too rich for my blood. I get something of an allowance from Bon-Bon, when she needs me to run out and get something for her she’ll give me the money for it and say’s I can keep what’s left. It adds up after a while but I really can only afford the cheap stuff. I was curious what things like grass, hay and flowers tasted like even before I became a pony. I know some of you probably think it’s weird but seriously I’ve seen some major Vegans eating things like grass before. I thought eating only vegetables was weird enough but I really have no room to talk on that point anymore. Does grass taste like lettuce? Do flowers? They have smell so maybe different flowers have different tastes? Growing up I was never much of a picky eater, not much of one now either and I was curious. If I’m going to be here a while I should try everything I can. As I continued to wonder the town I came across several good looking places, most looked too rich for my blood but still. The sky seemed to fill up with more clouds as I walked; it was still nothing to worry about. Although a few looked dark and heavy. I eventually came across a modest looking place. Lots of ponies sat around giant purple mushroom with haystacks as seats. “Sweet! Mushroom tables, this place just gets better each time I take a step outside!” That random outburst of speaking my thoughts got me plenty of stares from passing ponies. I let out a nervous grin and felt my cheeks get hot from embarrassment. I walked past the crowd of eyes trying my best to pretend I didn’t just yell my own thoughts for everyone to here. I let out a sigh of relief when they all stopped looking or walked away. “Ah, Leo you have got to stop talking to yourself.” I told myself then stopped dead in my tracks as I realized I did it again “Starting now.” I said out loud for (hopefully) the last time. I noticed Twilight and Spike sitting at one of the awesome mushroom tables. She was talking to Spike and seemed wore out. I couldn’t make out what was being said but she started picking petals off a flower with her magic. Then I noticed something else less important to the show but important enough for me. My best friend in this colorful, strange world “Bon-Bon!” I called out as I ran over to her. She was sitting at one of the tables talking to a pink earth pony with a yellow mane and had two cherries as a Cutie mark. “I thought you still had work.” I said “I do I’m just taking a break. I left for some lunch and ran into someone I knew.” The pink stranger waved at me with a friendly grin “Hi, I’m Cherry Berry. Maybe you’ve seen this amazing hot air balloon flying around.” I took a moment to think about it. Every now and then I have seen this big purple balloon fly around it usually has a bunch of different ponies in it. But their always was the same pink pilot with this awesome hat and goggles. “Oh yeah I remember that… wait is that yours?!” I exclaimed with surprise. I barely recognized her without the flight stuff. “Yep, flight is a growing form of travel that’s becoming quite popular. I think it’ll make trains really work for their money. Not everypony can be lucky enough to have wings, myself included of course.” She seemed really proud talking about her balloon. It must be hard to fly a balloon. She must have really worked hard at flying it, especially when her talent clearly involves cherries and not flight. “So you’re Lyra then, huh?” she said with an odd smirk. What was that about? “Bon-Bon’s been talking about me?” “Mm-hm, from the way she talks about you the two of you must be close.” There was an odd tone about all of this that I just wasn’t getting I’m sure. “You bet we’re close! She’s one of my best friends.” I smiled, I looked over and Bon-Bon was smiling too. Cherry frowned a bit. “That’s all?” “What else is there?” I asked genuinely curious. “Yes, I’m confused too.” Bon-Bon said with the same level of curiousness. Cherry shook her head slightly as if trying to shake off whatever was running in her head “Never mind, So Bon-Bon told me about some drawings of yours.” Bon-Bon looked as if she remembered something important “Oh yeah!” She pulled out a piece of paper from a bag that was sitting next to her. It was my drawing of the Big Sun-Thingy. “When I saw this I thought it looked familiar. When I showed it to Cherry thinking that she might know, she said it looked a lot like a Cutie Mark.” “Princess Celestia’s to be exact.” Cherry added. Celestia has something to do with this whole thing? Why? How? Is there some sort of special reason or something? Also, how does a cartoon character wield such power?!? “This is just speculation of course and the only way to find out for sure would be to show the item to them.” Cherry continued to say. They asked me questions about it, where I saw it, how I came across it and why I’m interested. I of course couldn’t just tell them the truth and expect them to believe me so I told a bunch of half-truths. I told them I found in the Everfree while Nightmare Moon was out and about and that it just seemed out of place in the dark forest. Also that I honestly haven’t a single clue as to where it would be now. I turned to Cherry “How in this world do you have or would have knowledge on artifacts?” “I used to be an Adventurer but then I injured my knees.” Tragic, strange and oddly funny. All of a sudden a loud boom rang out from above and rain poured down on our heads. We ran inside the restaurant drench when we got inside. Bon-Bon and Cherry looked funny all wet. Bon-Bon had a scowl on her face as her wet mane that was usually puffy and full of life cling to her head and drip. I’m sure I looked no better my mane almost completely covered my eyes. We weren’t too far away from the door but it rained hard. Well when you have a long dry spell you need a lot of rain to make up for it. “I thought the forecast was no rain.” Bon-Bon growled I smiled despite myself “Well the town needed water bad.” She said nothing in response but just grumbled and growled some more. I looked out the window and saw Twilight completely dry apparently yelling at Rainbow Dash through a hole in the clouds. I couldn’t make out what they were saying but the Rainbow Pegasus relented and filled in the hole and quickly got soaked. I snickered a little at the scene before me and Spike did too. I saw Rarity walk over to her with and umbrella so she must be alright. I did something I never had a chance to try before. I spread my hooves and planted them firmly on the hardwood floor. “Lyra what are- no don’t!” I shook myself as hard as I could and I felt the water just spraying off me, this is much more effective than a towel! It didn’t take more than a few seconds and when I finished I looked back over at Bon-Bon to see what she wanted and she was even wet than before… and angrier “Oh…sorry.” I said with a weak smile. I noticed that she had something brown and slightly discolored hanging from her mouth. My ruined drawing, well I don’t even have written evidence now. Not that it matters, I mean how will I even be able to get an audience with royalty? Cherry walked over to me and smoothed down my mane that was wildly sticking up now. “Um… Lyra why don’t you just go to the restroom and fix all of this up.” She suggested. Taking her advice I awkwardly left them and headed for the clearly marked doors but not before I heard one last exchange “She isn’t the brightest bulb, but she has heart in the right place.” That hurts my pride a little, I’m sure Cherry thought I couldn’t hear her but that still stung a little. I walked through the door and heard several startled voices… and all of them deep. “What the-” “Why is she in here?” “Did we go in the wrong room?” My head shot up and my eyes widened I was surrounded Stallions and Colts. Crap, I forgot I was a girl! I bolted out of the room and slammed the door shut leaning against it breathing heavily and my cheeks burning. I’ve gone into the Men’s restroom before. But this was the first time I ever felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there and I felt awkward like never before. I completely forgot my gender. I had flashbacks to my second day of being in this world and I needed to use the bathroom back at the home I was staying at with Bon-Bon. I never used a bathroom like that before and now I have to go into a public bathroom to a gender I’ve only been for a week? Oh Celestia-or whatever god-like being they pray to- give me strength. I peeked over at the sign next door clearly marked for females then at the door itself. A door has never looked so menacing before. I looked at the crowd of ponies that were minding their own business but it felt like every eye was on me. I slowly opened the door and looked inside, as suspected their indeed were ponies of the female persuasion in there. I took one look back at everyone else and walked inside. (#!~#) I went through with it and managed to fix my mane, it wasn’t too bad at least. The rain had stopped and Bon-Bon had to return to the store. I managed to sit down and have lunch while I was at the restaurant. On the off chance you come across a magical and mysterious item from the cartoon despite the fact it doesn’t seem the least bit possible, come to this place and order a daisy sandwich. It may seem weird at first to eat a sandwich whose contents are grass and flowers but if you get over that bit it’s great. I do miss meat at times and after having eggs as the only source of good protein (as strange as it seems for ponies eating eggs) it just doesn’t cut it after a while. The bright side is that you learn so many different ways to have a creative vegetarian meal. I decided that I had spent enough time messing around and decided to head back to the library and see if Twilight was back. However when I got there not only was Twilight in front of the library but she was surrounded by other ponies. As I got closer I heard Twilight talking to Pinkie Pie in an angry, scolding voice. “At least the other ponies TRIED to be subtle about the ticket.” Now THAT sounded interesting, she was being harassed by other ponies about some ticket. This was starting to sound like an episode was in progress, was their? I could totally break the fourth wall if I wanted at this point. Other ponies started to gather around them attracted by the scene that was happening. One spoke up “What ticket? What Gala?” Gala? Isn’t that sort of like a big party thing for the sweet and elite or at least those with good connections? What Gala is this whole thing about anyways? Pinkie smiled ignorantly and told everpony around “Didn’t you know? Twilight has an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!” The chatter grew instantly and others got excited. Clearly this was huge and it involved the main cast so it also has to be important in some way. Still, I have no idea what the big Alliteration party was about. Some ponies within ear shot of me talked excitedly “The Grand Gala! The biggest celebration in Equestria for anypony whose anypony! I could even meet the Princess.” That sounds promising actually. Change of plans, I must get the ticket, go to this Gala, talk to the Princess and get this crazy thing sorted out. Lots of ponies were already trying to get Twilights favor with different promises ranging from pathetic to amazing. I pushed my way through trying to get to her “Twilight! Twilight! Ms. Sparkle!” I yelled trying to get her attention. “I’ll give you free carrots!” “You can have things from my store for free!” “I have an amazing dress that’ll be perfect for you!” Shit, this is tough competition! Think of something! Think of something! “Oh, Oh! Free music lesson! I could teach you how to play!” it was worth a shot, I didn’t have anything else. Everything was borrowed from Bon-Bon. Everyone (including myself was yelling over each other for her. The all of a sudden with a scream Twilight jumped over our heads and ran. Without much thought I along with everyone else chased her. She bolted down the street past Sugarcube Corner and around a house I followed after her but she wasn’t there when I came around. My head swung all over the place frantically trying to find her. I hear her voice behind me along with several voices calling out to her. I turned around I almost made myself dizzy and ran after her. She ran so fast down the main street it was hard to keep an eye on her it didn’t help that the stampede of ponies was kicking up some serious dust. We barely managed to tail her for several streets as she made confusing twists and turns, she fell out of my sight for a second and vanished again. I heard what sounded like Carrot Top yelling and saw her behind us pointing at Twilight who managed to disguise herself. The chase continued for so long I lost track of time. We crossed the park pass multiple streets and through the occasional store until she got stuck in an alley, Just when I thought I could finally get her attention she did something I didn’t expect and vanished, just a quick poof and she was gone. The few that managed to keep up the chase till this point muttered to themselves in confusion. I looked around seeing if she teleported close by but no such luck. “Ugh, I can’t believe this!” a familiar voice called out in irritation. “Bon-Bon! I didn’t think I’d see you caught in all this.” “Of course, if I could get into the Gala I could make a good impression on the nobles and whole new life could start for me. I might just be able to get a home in Canterlot and even open a shop there. Why would you want to go to the Gala?” “I just want to meet Canterlot royalty, it would be awesome!” In the purest sense that was my goal but more specifically was to meet Princess Celestia. I noticed Derpy was here too. I honestly didn’t expect her to be in on this. She seemed pretty happy with her life, what would someone like her want from all this craziness? We asked her about it and, as it turned out, she just really wanted to go “A once in a lifetime experience” she says, that going only once would be a full life. They invite about a year in advance, according to Bon-Bon and Derpy, because it’s such a huge event. So much for that huge plan anyways. Nopony is getting their fantasy fulfilled this time. I lowered my head in disappointment and let loose a heavy sigh “Well it doesn’t really matter now, right?” They grudgingly agreed. We spent most of the day going about our business taking care of what needed to be done. I helped Bon-Bon out some more at her shop. Visited Derpy and Carrot Top, I stayed there for a while. I even had some fun with Colgate when the dentistry building closed down. Nothing really exciting happened after the incident earlier that day. Bon-Bon had yet again outdone herself on the cooking when dinner came around. I sat in my still unfinished room drawing and sketching different ideas of what I should do from here, I was back to square one, sure I had a valuable clue now but that means nothing if I can’t get close to the princess. Eventually came morning and as I was cleaning myself up to get ready for another day I hear a knock at the door. “Could you get that Lyra?” Bon-Bon called from downstairs in the kitchen. “Alright!” I finished brushing my hair in my familiar fashion and headed down. As I opened the door Derpy was there in her uniform “Hey what’s up?” “A message from Canterlot.” Derpy said handing over a rather thick envelope. Who do I know from Canterlot anyways? Yeah, there was Vinyl’s grandpa but he didn’t know where I live. Curiosity getting a hold of me I held the envelope with my magic and tore it open. There was a letter written to me and Bon-Bon. Hey Lyra and Bon-Bon, Things are going great up here. I’m staying with a friend of mine while I’m here and I should be back by tomorrow. Some awesome stuff down here if you get over the infestation of snobs. The downtown area is my favorite, there is so much nightlife there and it reminds me of Manehatten. Anyways the point is I got some awesome gifts for you Bon-Bon, Derpy and Colgate and I couldn’t wait. Go nuts! The Queen of Clubs, Vinyl Scratch That is a bit of a boastful title. I looked back into the envelope and pulled out four golden tickets, my eyes widened with surprise and excitement as it read the ticket “Grand Galloping Gala Tickets!” I screamed. “WHAT?!?” Bon-Bon screamed from the other side of the house and ran faster than I’ve ever seen before to look at them herself. “That’s enough for all of us to go!” “Oh, dear Celestia this is wonderful!” Derpy screamed with as much joy as the rest of us. We were jumping up and down screaming fangirl screams of joy! I’ve never done that before, BUT WHO CARES?!? WE GOT TICKETS! “Can you girls say best morning ever?” Bon-Bon smiled. I took a deep breath “BEST MORNING EVER!!!”