//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Introductions // Story: Past, Present, and Future // by Bpkyle777 //------------------------------// Ugh, Why is does this place have to be so large?! “Are we there yet?” I asked nopony in particular. “No,” Twilight sighed. “You’ve asked that six times already.” We were walking down one of a bagillion corridors, headed toward Celestia’s study. Shortly after dessert had been served, a guard told us that the Element Bearers had arrived, and Tia had the guard send them there. “But we’ve been walking for like thirty minutes now!” I whined. “It’s only been four minutes since we left the dining room, Zack,” Tia said. I sighed. “Maybe it wouldn’t seem so bad if thou hadn’t eaten like a starved swine,” Luna snickered. I raised my eyebrow at her. “Did you just call me a pig?” Luna rolled her eyes. “Nooo, We called thou a fish,” she said sarcastically. “Cool,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to be a fish.” Luna glared at me. “That was sarcasm.” “No, it wasn’t. I really do want to be a fish.” “No, I was being sarcastic.” “What?” I feigned amazement. “Since when have you been able to grasp the concept of sarcasm?” Before Luna could retort, Tia cut in. “Would you two stop bickering? Your giving me a ‘Knight’ headache.” “Oh, you still get those?” I asked. “A what?” Twilight asked. “It’s a type of painful headache that only these two can cause,” Tia explained, glaring daggers back at us. “Oh, I get it,” Twilight said. “ ‘Knight’ as in ‘Sapphire Knight’, and ‘Knight’ as in ‘Princess of the Night’.” Wow. Sharp as a tack, that one. “This is probably the first one I’ve had in over a thousand years,” Tia complained. “Glad we could help!” I said. Luna and I started laughing. After a couple more minutes of walking, I began to recognize the halls near the study. Idea! I leaned over to Luna and whispered something to her. She immediately smirked and nodded. As we approached the study’s door, I glowed a soft midnight blue. Twilight was the first to walk in, followed closely by Tia and Luna, with me in the back. I looked around the room. It was circular, about twenty feet in diameter, and there were bookshelves scattered along the walls. A circular table sat in the center of the room with multiple pillows surrounding it, the majority of which were taken by five very famous mares talking amongst themselves. It didn’t look all that different from 3000 years ago, actually, minus some extra books here or there. Applejack was the first to notice us. “Well howdy, Twi. Princesses.” Oh my God, I love that accent! She, along with the other mares, bowed to Tia and Luna. “How many times do I have to tell you girls, you do not need to bow every time you see us,” Tia said. “I’m glad you could all make it.” Everypony rose. “Well, it’s not like we would turn down a summons from the Princess,” Rarity pointed out. “We are thankful, nonetheless,” Tia said. “Not to sound rude or anything,” Rainbow said, “but what was so urgent that we had to drop everything and come down here?” That did sound rude. “Uh, t-that did sound a little rude, Dash,” Fluttershy said. More like whispered. “Besides, isn’t it obvious why we’re here?” Pinkie asked. Everypony gave her confused looks. “We’re obviously here to meet the new stallion that came to Ponyville!” “What new stallion?” Applejack asked. “You mean that ‘Blast’ dude I met near the market?” Dash asked. “Oh, sorry girls,” Twilight said. “This is-” She motioned her hoof toward where I was standing, and immediately stopped, shocked. “W-where’d he go? He was right behind us.” Twilight and Tia were both searching behind them, looking right past me. I tried my hardest to hold back a snicker, Luna doing the same. “Maybe he went to the little colt’s room?” Dash offered. Twilight went to the door to check the hallway. Pinkie walked up next to me. I could swear she just glanced right at me. “Hmmm, where could he have gone?” Pinkie pondered out loud. As Twilight walked back in the room, Pinkie stood up on her hind legs and leaned one foreleg on my back, the other on her chin. My eyes went wide, along with everypony else’s in the room. “Pinkie, how are you-” Twilight started. Pinkie giggled, cutting her off, and hopped onto my back. “Oof.” She’s heavier than she looks. Everypony gasped, as I realized my ‘oof’ broke the spell and made me shimmer back into existence. “How’d you know where I was?” I asked Pinkie. “Don’t tell me you have a Pinkie Sense for invisible ponies?” “Yep!” she exclaimed. I facehoofed. “How’d you do that?” Twilight asked. I looked back at her. “Basic invisibility, Twi. It’s not that complicated, really.” “Yeah, but who casted it?” “What, do you not believe I could do it myself?” I said. Luna snickered. “You’re not a unicorn, remember?” Tia deadpanned. “Well if you recall the event from earlier, I’m not entirely convinced of that,” I retorted. “Ahem.” Everypony looked toward Rarity. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but… who are you?” “Oh, my apologies, my lady,” I said in my thickest Canterlot accent. Rarity blushed. “I go by many names. Blast Shield, Sapphire Knight, Zachary Hutchens, Starswirl the Bearded, but you may call me Blast.” “WAIT,” Twilight exclaimed, “YOU WERE STARSWIRL THE BEARDED?!” “Nah,” I said in my normal voice. “That old geezer wished he was as cool and talented as me.” “We recall him addressing thou as ‘a pathetic waste of time’,” Luna said. Tia laughed at me. “Hey! That was before he got to know me!” I said. “According to Twilight, he credited me as being one of the best at transfiguration magic!” “Magic?” AJ said. “But ain’t ya a Pegasus? How can ya do magic?” “And Starswirl the Bearded died over 3000 years ago,” Rarity said. “How were you two acquainted?” “Some very good questions,” I beamed. “That is precisely why we invited you all here, to get all of the questions out of the way.” Pinkie gasped. “Oh my gosh! I still haven’t thrown you a party for being new in Ponyville!” Pinkie said, strangely still on my back. “Uh, would you mind getting off me?” I asked. “Oh, sorry,” Pinkie said sheepishly. She got off me and walked back to her spot at the table. “Anyways, when you came to Ponyville this morning, my Pinkie Sense told me that there was a new pony in town, but I looked everywhere and couldn’t find you, so I asked Rarity and she said she hadn’t seen anypo-” Pinkie was cut off by an orange hoof in her mouth. That looks unsanitary. “You can let her talk,” I told Applejack. “I want to hear what she has to say.” “Ya sure about that?” She asked, Pinkie still mumbling around her hoof. “Pinkie can get a little… excitable sometimes.” I nodded. “Alright. I warned ya.” She removed her hoof from the pink pony’s mouth. “-plejack, but she said that she was too busy at her apple stand to notice anypony new, although when I asked Fluttershy, she said that she bumped into somepony she didn’t recognize in the market, so I went to the market and found Dashie heading home from the library, so I asked her if she saw anypony new and she said that she did and had just dropped him off at the library so I rushed over to the library and saw Twilight packing for a trip to Canterlot, I could tell because she was using her emergency suitcase that’s already filled with supplies in case of a travel emergency-” So that’s how she packed so fast! “-so I decided not to bother her, because the last time I interrupted her when she was in one of those moods, I was yelled at and teleported back to Sugarcube Corner, so I left to look everywhere else, but still couldn’t find you, so I decided to risk asking Twilight, but by the time I got back to the Library, she was gone and had left Spike in charge, and when I asked him about a new pony in town, he said you had left with Twilight to see the Princess and I got upset because you were gone before I could meet you and become your bestest friend, but then I thought ‘Hey Pinkie, he’ll probably come back with Twilight and then you could throw him a party,’ and then I got all happy again and went back to Sugarcube Corner to plan your party, but a couple hours later, Spike told me that the Princess wanted all of us to come down here to Canterlot to meet you, so I got the rest of my friends and we hopped on the train that came down here and I was soooo anxious the whole ride because I would get to meet the new pony that came to Ponyville and possibly throw him a ‘I’m sorry I missed you and couldn’t throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party’ party and-” She abruptly stopped to gasp for air and panted for a bit. “Sorry…” she said between breaths. “Somepony usually… stops me before I… run out of breath.” Well that blows my ‘infinite lungs’ theory for Pinkie out of the water. “It’s alright. It still made sense.” Everypony looked at me in amazement, including the pink mare herself. “It did?” Twilight asked. “Well, yeah. Did you not follow along?” “Sugarcube, none of us have ever been able to follow one of Pinkie’s ramblin’s,” Applejack stated. “Huh,” I said. “Well, simply put, she knew I was in town, but couldn’t find me. When she heard she would meet me here, she got really excited.” Pinkie cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t that what I just said?” “Yes, yes it was, but some ponies weren’t able to keep up,” I said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. “Zack, none of us were able to keep up,” Tia said. Huh. I thought that at least Tia could understand Pinkie. “So, how did you?” Twilight asked me. “Practice.” … “Just… practice?” Dash asked. “Yep.” I always loved Pinkie’s rants. But I can’t tell them I had watched Pinkie rant dozens of times on TV right now. That would be a little weird. “Say, where’s Spike?” I asked, trying to change the subject. “Right here,” Spike said, walking in through the doorway. “I had to use the restroom. What’d I miss?” “Oh, not much. I was just about to get started,” I said. “Hold on a moment, darling,” Rarity said. “We have yet to introduce ourselves. I’m-” “Rarity,” I interrupted, “Element of Generosity, a very beautiful and stylized mare, and owner of the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique.” Everypony just stared at me. “I actually know who all of you are.” I walked up to Dash. “Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, the fastest and ‘most awesomest’ flier in Equestria-” She puffed out her chest at that. “-and captain of the Ponyville weather team.” “Applejack,” I said as I turned to her, “Element of Honesty, toughest mare this side o’ Canterlot, and proprietor of the Equestria-renown ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ alongside your big brother, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith.” “Pinkie Pie!” She had a grin that rivaled the one I used earlier in the throne room. “Element of Laughter, the impossible propitious peppy pink pony that eludes science at every turn, who works for the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner.” I slowly walked up to Fluttershy. She shied away and hid behind her hair. D’awww. “Fluttershy,” I said softly, “Element of Kindness, the timid mare with the biggest heart in Equestria, comparable only to the Princess of the Sun herself, who takes care of many wonderful animals just outside Ponyville.” I turned to Spike who was sitting on Twilight’s back. “Spike, temp-‘Element of Loyalty’-” He suddenly looked panicked and looked at Dash, who raised her eyebrow at him. “-the kind and responsible baby dragon of Ponyville, and Equestria’s number one assistant to…” I shifted my gaze to Twilight, who only stood in shock through the whole thing. “Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, the most talented, powerful, and adorkable Unicorn of her time,” she came out of her stupor and blushed a bit at my compliment, “who could possibly even surpass Starswirl one day-” Tia shifted a bit at my glance. Which she will, soon. “-and librarian of Ponyville’s Golden Oaks Public Library.” “But,” I continued, “I am getting way ahead of myself. Maybe I should start from the beginning.” I looked around the room for confirmation, but everypony was silent. “Your farm’s Equestria-renown?” Pinkie asked AJ.