//------------------------------// // Giving the Rundown // Story: Cause, Effect, and Consequences // by Coltsguy //------------------------------// I laughed for what seemed like a good amount of time before I felt the heat of the ponies’ stares upon me. My laughing simmered down quickly and then died altogether as I looked up at all the ponies looking back at me. I could tell that this would be pretty awkward. At least until I noticed Pinkie Pie also getting her chuckles under control as well. Those made me feel better. “Though the circumstances are not what I was expecting, I happily welcome you back to Equestria Seth,” said Celestia; trying to get things back under control. “Thanks, though I get the feeling that you guys weren’t quite ready for me to come back yet.” “Indeed we were not. I hope that you do not think that you are unwelcome here.” “No, not really, no,” I said a little nervously. “Simply put,” Celestia said in an almost half-hearted tone, “we were originally to have Discord ascertain the situation back on Earth and then consult with us as to whether or not we should bring you back here.” “I simply thought that the best way to do that was to ask him. He seemed to jump at the opportunity to come here.” “It’s true,” I added haphazardly. Celestia quickly gave me a stern gaze. “Sorry,” I said; knowing that I wasn’t helping anyone out. “Though his methods were not what we asked of him, Discord still did make sure to ask you if you wanted to come back, correct?” “Yeah, he did. Things were complicated and I felt like coming here would be worth the trip.” “Would thou care to elaborate?” asked Luna. “Maaaaybe later,” I said evasively. “Right now, I‘d rather do some catching up with everyone.” “Who all does this fella know ‘round here?” asked Applejack. My heart pretty much sank when I heard those words. I’m pretty sure Celestia saw that and took the initiative. “My sister and I to name a few. I do believe that he should catch up with us, but in the meantime it is getting late so we should prepare a room for him while he is here.” She then turned to the others. “Thank you all for your help with this matter today. You are all free to stay the night here in the castle as I have already prepared rooms for you and you may return home tomorrow. For now, we would like to talk with Seth in private if you would not mind too terribly.” I was watching the group of six and I could tell that a few of them were uneasy at hearing this. Twilight especially seemed like she wanted to voice an opinion on the matter, but held her tongue. Cadence and Shining Armor walked over to them as they left the room. I couldn’t hear what they were saying as they left. “Please wait Discord," stated Luna. "We would like you to stay to discuss another matter.” “Oh, you’re no fun,” Discord said in a huff. “Our idea of fun has always been different from yours. However, this is important.” As soon as the doors to the throne room closed, both Celestia and Luna walked down from their thrones and up to where Discord and I were standing. “I am afraid there is something I must tell you,” Celestia began. “Unfortunately, none of the girls, nor anypony else for that matter, seem to be capable of remembering you other than those of us in this room. Even discussing you can only seem to bring a brief spark of memory of you that fades away soon afterwards. I am unsure of how to make them remember.” Despite having thought about that exact situation, it still hit me hard. “What about that memory spell?” I asked. “I’ve seen Twilight use it before.” “We have tried using that spell,” Luna replied. “However, it seems to work only temporarily. Not only that, the effects lessen each time we tried to use it. Twilight seems to be the least affected and we believe that it is because she is an alicorn. Even so, there does not seem to be much difference.” “You know,” I replied, “this is one of those things where you think about this happening, but can’t believe it when it does. This is just the kind of thing Pinkie Pie was worried about when Rainbow Dash went off to the Wonderbolts academy in that episode of the same name. I think had the same name anyway. Still, how could this have happened?” “We are unsure,” Celestia answered. “It happened more swiftly with others than those you made a connection with. I believe, as does my sister, that the more time you spent with somepony, the longer it took to fade away.” “All that tells me is one of the factors of degradation. It’s not really why or how.” “We understand this,” Celestia countered. “However, with your appearance here perhaps we have a most fortuitous opportunity to possibly determine the answers to these questions.” “Um, I’m not quite sure I follow you.” “UGH!!! This is getting boring!” yelled out Discord. “Why am I here again? You could just as easily tell him these things without me here becoming increasingly bored by the second!” “Seth’s return here is your responsibility now, Discord,” Celestia answered. “As such, as long as he is here, he will remain as your responsibility. That means if he does end up getting in trouble despite himself, you will be held accountable.” “You make it sound like I’m going to get into trouble on purpose somehow.” “Do I need to remind you of the explosion you caused outside of Ponyville?” Celestia explained. “Better yet, perhaps I should mention the transformation of all of the citizens of Ponyville instead?” “Point made,” I said dejectedly. “I am glad to hear that. Now, I must prepare to end the day and let the night begin. Instruct the guard outside to show you to a room that will be provided for your use during your stay. We will discuss your arrangements in Equestria in more detail tomorrow once we have had the time to properly assess this matter.” Celestia then placed her hoof on my shoulder and smiled. “Again, despite the circumstances, I am glad to see you once more.” I placed my hand over her hoof. “Like I said, I’m glad to be back.” Once she removed her hoof, I looked around for anything that I might have dropped and then proceeded to exit the throne room. Outside, I was about to inform the guards about what the princesses told me. However, waiting outside for me was actually Shining Armor and Cadence. “Um… Hi there,” I said; unfortunately not finding the words to address them like I should have. “I’m not sure why the princesses trust you so much,” Shining Armor began while staring sternly into my eyes, “but I certainly don’t like it. They’re giving you quite a bit of leeway and though I don't like it I won’t press the issue. Just don’t think I won’t be keeping my eye on you while you’re here.” I half expected Cadence to interrupt him or something to happen, but nothing did happen. “Well,” I responded, “that’s your prerogative I suppose.” He simply snorted at my response and continued on. “Anyways, the princesses probably have stated that they want to give you a room for the night. Am I right?” “Uh, yeah, that’s right.” “I’ll go ahead and show you the way there,” he said as he turned around. “I don’t want you losing your way after all.” Oh please, that was a lame cover if he was trying to do so. I doubt it, but I simply nodded and followed him without question. It was about then that I noticed that Discord hadn’t come with me, but had stayed in the throne room. I could swear he’s somehow just messing with me. Still, Princess Cadence also went with us so this was the first time I had actually spent any time around her. It took me a few minutes before I managed to say anything to her. “So, you’re Princess Cadence? I’ve heard a bit about you. How are things going for you?” Damn that was kinda lame. “I’m having a nice time seeing Twilight again,” she said with a nice, but subdued tone. “I didn’t get to see her that often before her transformation and it’s nice to get to see my new sister more even if it is whenever something pressing comes up in order to make it happen.” “That’s cool,” I replied. “It must be a little odd seeing her like this I bet.” “It’s no less different than when it happened to me.” “Yeah, Celestia told me-” “Princess Celestia,” Shining Armor interrupted. “Uh, yeah. Anyway, she told me that it’s not very often that new alicorns are created. Just you and Twilight in this generation.” “Indeed it is. Becoming an alicorn isn’t an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.” “Very true,” I responded. She then gave me a quizzical look. “What would you know of the process? The princesses said that you are not from Equestria.” “We exchanged information a few times and it came up. I am sworn to secrecy not to tell any ponies how to do it if it makes you feel better.” “How do we know if you will keep your word?” asked Shining Armor. “Oh come on. It’s been a year since she told me and I haven’t said anything about it until now,” I stated defensively. “We only have your word that you haven’t. Who is to say that you have kept it?” he said with his voice full of suspicion. I wanted to respond to him with something, anything really. However, nothing came. Instead, I sighed and slumped my shoulders as we walked. “You know, you really know how to suck the fun out of the room. One would think it’s your special talent.” I managed to draw a quick chuckle from Cadence and another glare from Shining Armor. Any joy I may have had from that was short lived, however, as we came to a large spiral staircase. You remember that room that Rarity got in season two? Yeah, apparently I got that room this time around. Holy crap what the hell was up with this design? You basically had a tower with a staircase on the outside of the thing. This was a tower, in a castle, on a mountainside! I not only had to climb the thing, which sucked because I was out of shape and all, but I had to worry that at any moment a strong gust of wind could come along and blow me right off of the thing! If it wasn’t for the fact that there was a slight wall on the side I’m not sure that I would have even gone up the damn thing. Still, climb it I did. Despite the horrible climb, the view I got was worth the effort. I’ll be the first to admit that scenery isn’t really an interesting thing for me to look at. I’ve watched a sunrise. I’ve watched a sunset. I’ve seen nature and only when I see something new will I take any interest. Even then, my interest fades after a few minutes almost all the time. It actually kind of sucks if I had to be honest. Now wasn’t one of those times. I actually caught a brilliant view of the sunset in between these two mountains and down where I’m pretty sure Ponyville was. I only say that because I think that was what my brain was dredging up. Anyway, the sunset here was definitely quicker than the ones back home. It took about thirty seconds from when it touched the horizon for it to completely disappear. I’m not sure if the words breath taking were the correct choice, but still it was quite the sight to behold. “Have you never seen a sunset before?” asked Cadence. “Not one like that, no.” “Well, hurry up and get to the top. We still have things we need to do before we retire for the night,” added Shining Armor. “Yeah, don’t get your panties in a bunch.” “My what?” I facepalmed. “Nevermind. Specieal reference. Let’s just get there.” A few minutes later and we were at the top of the tower. The room at the top looked just as nice as it did on the show. A large bed, some dressers and a few end tables were scattered around the room. It was a bit odd, however, to see a shag carpet covering a portion of the tiled floor. It just seemed so out of place. Honestly, I think I was too focused on it for my own good. “We are terribly sorry that you had already missed out on dinner before you had arrived,” said Cadence. “Oh it’s no trouble. I was about, I don’t know, maybe five hours ahead or so. I had already eaten so it doesn’t matter. Besides, I’m not sure that you would have had any options for me to eat. Pony diets aren’t mostly human friendly. We’re omnivores after all.” “I understand. I’m willing to bet that Princess Celestia will have something appropriate for you at breakfast tomorrow. Until then, you rest up. I have a feeling that it will be quite the interesting day for you and all of us by proxy,” she said with a grin. Cadence turned to leave and Shining followed suit. As they reached the door, Shining Armor stopped while Cadence went on. He then turned his head to me. “Remember, I’ve still got my eye on you,” he said slightly menacingly. He then turned, closed the door behind him, and left me alone to think about my situation. In those few retrospective moments, I wasn’t really proud of how much thought I had put into this. Basically, my pockets were full of stuff and I had a camera around my neck. I was glad nothing had been damaged either; at least as far as I could tell. Still, I looked like some moronic tourist. Really, I was carrying around a teddy bear for goodness’ sake! And for that matter, why had nobody mentioned Oatmeal at all? A grown man carrying around a teddy bear would make for a pretty weird image. Then again maybe that was what Pinkie was laughing at. Who really knows? As I took a look at my watch, I realized that I now had the same problem as last time. I had no real way to know when it was exactly. Sure, at least I knew how long it had been since Discord had appeared in front of me. My watch read 1:47 a.m., which meant almost a couple of hours since then. Another question that made me think about was when would my family find my note. They may care about me a great deal, but I really wonder when they might notice that I wasn’t around. They barely ever see me unless they’re taking the stairs up to the first floor. That’s pretty much it, unless they have something for me to do. Hell, they could think I was in my room the whole time on my Xbox or Playstation and would never even realize for days that I wasn’t there thanks to the fact that they knew I wasn’t in line for another interview any time soon. I shook my head to get rid of that train of thought. I had decided to move on and take a step forward towards a different path. I couldn’t look back so much all at once if I wanted to change things for myself. I walked over to one of the end tables, placed my stuffed animal down, and emptied my pockets out. I also took my camera off and placed it there with everything else. Everything I owned in Equestria was now on this one table. It was kind of a small thing, but it made me think of what I really wanted to hold onto. I kind of wish that I had taken my wallet with me. Sure, almost nothing in there was useful, but it still had a picture of me with my family. It would have been worth it just for that. Sighing deeply, I took off my hat and placed it next to my things. I then decided to turn slightly and walk all of two steps over to the bed. Rolling down the sheets, I then kicked off my shoes, not even bothering to undo the velcro, and simply slumped into bed. I was going to strip down to my underwear like I always did, but something told me that with Discord in the vicinity it wasn’t really the best idea. Heck, I didn’t even bother with taking off my glasses. I simply rolled over and pulled the covers over myself. I then kicked them off because I could tell already that I was going to get really hot under them. “This is a really stupid problem to have. If I take off my clothes and go to sleep, I risk Discord pranking me by teleporting me into Luna’s bed or something and having her discover me in the morning. If I don’t, I’m going to be stuck just laying in this bed and possibly risk getting a cold from being up this high. Also, if I decide to pull up the covers, I’m going to sweat profusely and then I’m going to stink pretty badly around the ponies even if I take a shower in the morning. I bet that they’ll understand a bit, but that’s still not making the best impression for them. Why is even the simplest thing giving me a hard time here?” In the end, I just decided to leave my feet under the sheets and try to sleep that way. It wasn’t a great way to do it, but it was the only way I could feel reasonably comfortable with given the circumstances. Per usual, it took me quite a while to make my brain wind down; perhaps an hour or so. Eventually, I did fall asleep on my first new day in Equestria.