//------------------------------// // Chapter II: A Staircase... // Story: Rising Sun // by Jet Howitzer //------------------------------// (Some changes to the plot round out this revision, along with some changes in grammar and description. Enjoy.) The familiar, and suddenly pleasant, sensation of gravity is one of the first things that you notice as consciousness begins to leech its way back into your body. With agonizing slowness feelings of warmth, and softness, begin making their way into your brain, nearly overloading its barely functioning state. As your mind gets up to speed, and you can start keeping a train of thought, you crack open your eyes in an attempt to gather more information about where you are. The first thing that you notice through your now open eyes are twin pools of soft lavender light staring back into your eyes. The pupils of these eyes quickly dilate as they realize that your eyes are open, and a soft gasp reaches your ears as the eyes quickly pull away from you. With a bit of distance now between you and the lavender eyes, you can see that they were in the head of a unicorn of nearly the same color. She had a concerned look on her face as she pulled back. With the unicorn’s head out of the way you could see that behind her, and around you, were five other ponies. Each one was looking at you, and all of them had looks of concern plastered on their faces. The unicorn was the first to speak. “Oh my, you’re awake.” All but one of the other ponies simply nodded. The one that didn’t nod simply looked at the lavender unicorn with a look of mocking disbelief. “Wow, Twi. You’re as observant as Sherhoof holmes.” The lavender unicorn, who you assume is the one that the cyan one was talking to, shot the cyan pony a quick look, and the cyan pony just shook her head before she looked back at you. During this brief exchange you took the time to look at the other ponies in the room, and you could see that there was a light yellow pony with long flowing locks of hair running down her face, and along her back as well. As your gaze passed over her she moved back a tiny amount, and her hair seemed to cover her face just a bit more than it had previously. To the right of the yellow pony was a bright pink pony, who had a massive grin on her face. Her hair was incredibly poofy. However, it didn’t look like it was styled at all, simply staying poofy like that of its own accord. Next to the pink pony was a pure white unicorn, with an elaborately curled purple mane. You could just make out some makeup around her eyes. Your gaze quickly moved back to the lavender unicorn, and she turned to look at you just as you began looking at her. Her concern was still present, but there was also a small measure of irritation present, likely caused by the cyan pony. You took the time to look at the cyan pony, and the first thing you noticed was the rainbow colored mane on her head. It was unkempt, but it still flowed down her back neatly, with a bit of it hanging in her face. The second, and most interesting, thing you noticed about the cyan pony was the wings on her back. They were neatly folded at her side, but they looked far too small to be of any real use. The final pony you noted in the room was an orange pony, with a cowboy hat atop her head. Her blonde mane was tied back in a pony tail, and for some reason you found that to be oddly ironic. As you concluded your observations of the room you tried to move yourself into a more upright position, so that you could try and get a look at more of the room. “We don’t need your snarky comments, Dash. I’m pretty sure that we all noticed that he’s awake, it was simply an immediate response. You’ve had your share of obvious observations too.” The orange pony said this as she looked at the cyan pegasus, and when she finished she turned her gaze back onto you. With all of them looking at you once again you felt just the tiniest bit awkward. “Hi, everyone. Would one of you explain where I am, exactly? And, for that matter, who all of you are?” Your voice comes out a bit scratchy, and your throat hurts just a bit as you speak. “Oh, right. Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my home. You’re in my bed, currently, inside the Ponyville library.” She motions a hoof towards the orange pony and then she continues. “This is Applejack, the most honest, and hardest working, pony you’ll ever meet.” The orange pony, who you now know is Applejack, gives you a warm smile as she tilts her hat towards you. “This is Rainbow Dash,” Twilight says as she motions towards the cyan pegasus, “the self-proclaimed fastest flier in all of Equestria.” “Honestly, Twi, it’s not self-proclaimed. It’s true. Nopony else can pull off a rainboom.” The cyan pegasus’ voice makes it clear that she’s irritated at being described that way, but Twilight just continues the introductions. “This is Rarity, the leading fashion designer of Ponyville.” The white unicorn gives a smile as she nods at you. “She’s the proprietor of the Carousel Boutique here in Ponyville.” The lavender unicorn then points to the pink pony who she then introduces. “This is Pinkie Pie, the most interesting pony in Ponyville. And the friendliest too.” “Hi, my name’s Pinkie. I can’t wait to spend some time with you, I’m sure that we’ll be the bestest of friends ever!” You struggle to keep up with her rate of speaking, but even so, most of what she says simply flies over your head. You just smile back at her, and that seems to be enough to make the pink pony happy. “This is Fluttershy,” Twilight says as she points a hoof to the light yellow pegasus. “She’s really good with animals, and she’s also a lot braver than you might think.” The yellow mare seems to shrink under your observation, and you soon lose sight of her face behind her pink mane. “Now, you’re in my bed because you fell off of a table, and knocked yourself out. We would’ve taken you to the local clinic, but without a name we didn’t think that it was a good idea. Too many potential questions.” “I just want to say, before you think I routinely fall off of tables, it was an accident. I expected to appear on the floor, not on top of some piece of furniture.” “Well, to be fair, we were told to expect you to appear in the main room of the library, not my personal study. Now, do you have a name, or was Celestia correct in saying that you didn’t know?” You wrack your mind in an attempt to find any clues about your past, but the only thing you can find is a distant memory of the moon. You try for a few more moments before you shake your head. “I’ve got nothing. At least, nothing that could be a name.” You sink back into the bed, having developed a small headache as you searched your mind. You were about to let out a small groan when a deep rumble sounded from your belly, alerting you, and the other ponies present, that you were quite hungry. The audible clue brought your hunger to the forefront of your mind and you suddenly felt the intensity of your hunger. “Would it be possible to get something to eat? I’m a bit hungry, in case that wasn’t clear.” “Sure, I’ll go get something started. Would anypony else like something?” She receives a quick nod from Applejack, and Fluttershy mumbles something too quietly for you to hear. “I’m actually feeling a bit hungry as well, Twilight. Perhaps the three of us could come down and help you to prepare?” Twilight smiles and nods, and then the four of them exit the room, leaving behind the pink and cyan mares, both of whom were looking at you. The pink mare with a look of wonder on her face, and the cyan pegasus with a face that betrays nothing. You attempt to sit up once again, the last traces of the headache slowly ebbing, letting your thoughts run free once again. Before you can say anything to that effect, though, the pink mare jumps in. “So you don’t remember your name? That’s really sad! I guess we’ll have to make one up for you! Maybe something silly, or something more serious? I know! We can have a part of your welcome to Ponyville party be a name suggestion party! A welcome-to-Ponyville-help-give-me-a-name party! It’ll be great! I’ll go start planning, and making out invitations!” You stared at the mare, wide eyed, and dumbstruck, as she proceeded to bolt from the room. You looked away from where she had been standing, and you looked to the cyan pegasus. She struggled for a moment to contain her laughter, and then she couldn’t hold it in any longer, and she began laughing. You tried to sit up for a moment, before you groaned. “I don’t see what’s so funny Rainbow Dash. I only understood a few of words out of what she just said and I don’t see what they have to do with each other.” “You should see your face!” She rolls about roaring with laughter and you feel your temper begin to rise. You manage to push through the wave of pain that erupts in your head as you sit up, but the effort leaves you unable to speak. The pegasus on the floor looks at you for a moment, and her laughter quickly dies. “Hey, are you okay? You don’t look that good. Hay, you look worse than I do after I mess up a trick.” You stay upright, despite the discomfort, and soon enough it passes. “I don’t think I’m okay, but I think I’m improving.” “And so you know, I wasn’t laughing at you, I was laughing at Pinkie. She must’ve thought you could follow how fast she talks. And before you ask, no she doesn’t live on sugar. That’s how she always acts.” You just nod, and a silence falls upon the room, broken only by the faint sounds coming from downstairs. The sound of hoofbeats coming up the stairs sounds out, and you look towards the door as Twilight enters, a smile on her face. “Pinkie was saying something about a party. I take it that has to do with you?” You nod before you begin responding. “Yeah. Or, at least, I think it has to do with me.” Rainbow steps in to illuminate Twilight on the situation. “Pinkie decided that our nameless stallion here needed to be welcomed to Ponyville. So, she’s throwing him a party. And she’s also going to try and find a name for him. Which may be a problem given how Pinkie’s mind works.” You move towards the edge of the bed, and then you dangle your hooves over the edge. “Are you sure you should be up and about so soon?” Twilight’s voice breaks in on your concentration, and as you fall from the bed you find yourself unable to properly support your weight. Both mares approach, but you wave a hoof at them, unwilling to accept their help in something so simple. After a moment you manage to get to your hooves, and then another minute is spent as you seek a decent balance to your weight. “Rainbow, once he’s ready, help him downstairs. We’re almost ready preparing some food.” The cyan pegasus nods at the unicorn, and then Twilight departs. You take a small, hesitant, step forward, and, to your immense satisfaction, you manage to start making progress. It turns out that the body your in already knows how to walk, and you just need to let it take control until you get the hang of it. Rainbow gave you a smile as you began making your way towards the door. Luckily Twilight had left it open, so you simply walked through, emerging onto a small balcony overlooking the main room of the library. It was a fairly impressive room, offering up an incredibly large selection of books. However, you paled as you saw that there was a staircase leading from the balcony down to the main floor of the library. The cyan pegasus soon joined you on the balcony, and she casually trotted down the stairs, hardly even pausing to look at you. With a deep breath, you began your harrowing trip down the stairs, nearly falling on your face half a dozen times during your trip. Thankfully the end of the stairs arrived, and you allowed a smile to grace your face. You spotted Rainbow Dash go through a doorway to a different room, so you made your way over there, hoping for the best that it was the kitchen. Luckily, it was the kitchen, and so you watched for a moment as the five mares all worked together to get everything ready. Twilight began levitating a large assortment of utensils and dishes over to the table, where Applejack and Rarity both lay them in their appropriate locations. Fluttershy was putting some final touches on a salad, and Rainbow Dash was balancing a larger bowl of fruit atop her head. After a moment, the pale yellow pegasus finished with the salads, and so she began carrying them to the table. Before she could make it all the way to the table, though, she found all the salads floating off of her head and wings, carried by the magic of Twilight and Rarity. You faintly made out a thank you coming from the pegasus, and soon afterwards all the mares had taken their seats, leaving a space for you between Twilight and Rainbow Dash. You gladly took your seat, eager for something to fill the emptiness inside your body. (Things will likely proceed in a slightly different fashion from here, but not too much.)