5:34 PM
Castle Canterlot,
Canterlot, Equestria
“Princess Celestia, what will you do about our economy?”
“Princess Celestia, what do you think about out diplomacy with the Griffons?”
The subject of these questions barely managed to make it through the front door of Castle Canterlot with the mob of concerned subjects and ministers at her hooves. She shut the door and slumped against it in exhaustion as a servant brought her a warm towel to wipe her perspiring brow. In these desperate times, her job was extremely difficult. She was constantly hounded over and over again by concerned citizens. Even the guards that were at her side wherever she traveled could barely hold them back. As a matter of fact, she was so bogged down by citizens, she had told Luna she would be back by 5:00 and was now 24 minutes late. Finally regaining her breath, she dismissed the servant and trotted into the dining room for a snack after a very long and tiring day.
Upon entering the dining room, she saw Luna sitting alone at the end of the large, rectangular table. She was eating her breakfast, even though it was almost dusk.
“I’m sorry I’m late Luna,” Celestia apologized “these mobs of citizens everywhere are very hard to shake off.” She then noticed her sister’s unhappy appearance. “Is everything alright Luna?” Celestia asked.
“Yes. I just decided to get up a bit earlier today” was Luna’s shy reply. Celestia sensed everything was not truly alright. Ever since her… explosive return from the moon, Luna seemed rather detached and disconnected from everyday life.
“You know, maybe you should find your own Faithful Student,” Celestia suggested. “You would probably be a bit less lonely.”
“Tia!” Luna snapped, her voice rising. “We talked about this before!” She was silent for a minute, and then spoke in her usual quiet tone. “But I feel you may be right. Maybe a Faithful Student is just what I need” If you looked at Celestia, you could never tell how happy she was feeling to know that Luna was finally turning around.
“Come on Sister,” Celestia said. “Let’s go upstairs. Perhaps we can find somepony for you.” Luna smiled.
“Can I at least eat my breakfast first?” Luna asked. Celestia laughed
“Why yes, of course. Would you like me to wait outside until you are finished?”
“Well, I really don’t see any need for that.” The two royal sisters made light-hearted chat as Luna ate. When Luna finished her food, she rose from the table. “Let’s go.” She said enthusiastically. The royal duo left the dining room and walked up the grand staircase.
“So Luna,” Celestia began as they climbed the spiraling staircase to Luna’s bedroom. “What sort of student do you want? Light hearted? A devoted studier like my Twilight?”
“Well,” Luna replied. “I really haven’t given it much thought to be honest, but now that you have me thinking about it, I sort of want somepony who is a diligent scholar, but one who would never run out of gripping stories to tell. Somepony who would never bore me, and who would always keep me interested. Somepony who wouldn’t be just a student, but a friend to me.”
“Hmm…” Celestia pondered “If you give me a day or two, I could probably find somepony who meets your requirements.”
“Honestly Tia, I believe I am old enough to choose who gets to be my student. You don’t have to do everything for me anymore!” The conversation was interrupted by a very loud “THUMP” coming from somewhere upstairs.
“Luna,” Celestia said. “I think it came from your room.” The sisters’ calm walk evolved into a quick gallop. In a matter of moments, they reached Luna’s bedroom. Luna put her ear to the door. There was the sound of the balcony door closing, as if somepony went out on the balcony. Luna cautiously opened the door. Her room was full of boxes that were not there when she left it about an hour-and-a-half ago. Some were made of a canvas-like material, while others were some kind of metal. There was a particularly shiny one near the center of the room. It was left open revealing some kind of device inside, although it was hard to see from the doorway. Celestia entered the room after her. “What in Equestria is all of this?” Celestia asked.
“More importantly,” Luna responded. “How did it get here and why is it in my room?” As if to answer their questions, the balcony door opened. A tall figure walked in, its exact shape obscured by the blinding sunlight. It seemed to be muttering something.
“If only I knew what happened. If only I knew where I am and how I got in this bizarre situation.” It walked over to the case and closed it. Suddenly, it stood up, as if it realized it was being observed, and looked directly at the sisters, seeming to be equally astounded to see them as they were to see him. The sisters got a better view of the creature. It was a bipedal being, wearing a grey jacket over a white dress shirt and tie. It had hands in the place of hooves and was dripping with a clear liquid, most likely water. It had no fur, only hair on the top of its head and more sparsely placed along the portion of its limbs that the two alicorns were able to observe. For about a minute, there was no sound. The creature finally broke the silence, clearing its throat. It spoke in a medium pitched male voice.
“Talking unicorns?” it said. “Well that’s, ah, certainly different.”
Three Minutes Earlier
Time: Unknown
Location: Unknown
When Edward came to, the first thing he realized is that he was not dead. Hadn’t he just fallen 10,000 feet to his death? And yet he was in an unfamiliar place, seemingly unharmed. He was still covered in precipitation and felt rather cold. He stood up and looked around the room. The room clearly had a night time theme. The carpets, curtains and even the stones that made up the walls and floor were painted a rich deep blue. A bed sat in the corner with indigo covers. The covers were rumpled as if they had been slept in recently. Many things in the room, like the covers, carpet, curtains, had a white crescent moon embroidered on them. Most of the hardwood furniture had moon designs painted on or carved into them. The ceiling had a beautiful mosaic of the night sky, with stars and constellations, and of course, a crescent moon. Edward’s gaze brought him to a set of open doors leading out to a balcony. Instinctively, he ran to close them, but then he realized that it was not cold outside. He decided to step outside onto the balcony.
His eyes squinted shut as they were suddenly assailed by bright light. What a wonderful feeling! To finally be able to stand outside without being constantly assaulted by rain. It’s so bizarre! Edward thought as he stepped into the warm sunlight. The air had a faint sweet smell to it. He gazed around. He appeared to be in some kind of castle that overlooked a great valley. He laughed softly in happiness Remember now, Edward never had a chance to experience this sort of thing; he had known nothing but cold rain for all his life.
Edward wished he was able to stand out in that sun forever, but there were other matters that needed his attention. He opened the balcony door and stepped back inside. “I need to know what happened,” He muttered as he gazed down at the deep blue carpet. “I need to know where I am and how I got in this bizarre situation” He noticed that the case that contained his science experiment was wide open. He walked over to it and gently closed the lid . Somehow, he got the feeling he was not alone. He looked up.
He was right. Two creatures stood in the now open doorway. Both equine in nature, both had horns on their foreheads, both had wings, both even had the same bewildered expression as he. One was tall and white with a long multicolored mane and tail that floated in the air, as if from an unseen, unfelt breeze. The other was slightly shorter, was a dark blue color, and had a dark blue mane and tail that twinkled, as if it contained thousands of stars, floating in the same manner as the white one’s. Both had a different symbol on their flanks, about where a branding mark would be on a normal horse. One symbol was a moon on a dark background for the blue one, the other was a stylized sun for the white one. Edward decided to break the silence. He cleared his throat. “Unicorns,” he said, as if to himself. “Well that’s, ah, certainly different.” Edward you’re an idiot, he thought to himself. You are visited by oddly colored unicorns with inexplicable floating manes and that’s the best you come up with? Really? The blue one, a female, spoke. Not neighed. Spoke. REAL WORDS!
“Who are you, what are you, and why are you in my room!” she inquired in an extremely loud voice, one that demanded undivided attention, and one that was so loud that Edward had to wait a few seconds before his hearing returned to optimal function. She was probably someone very important. She also did not sound pleased at all to see Edward in her room. First and foremost though, Edward was shocked. They TALKED!
“Well, first of all,” Edward said, shaking his head to clear the ringing from his ears “I have to say I love the décor. It is very nice.”
“Answer the question!” The unicorn spoke again, in the same loud voice. She was obviously not amused at Edward’s meager attempt at small talk.
“I was getting to that part!” Edward said, annoyed (and temporarily deafened) at the blue one’s impatience. “Now, I realize you must have heard this excuse countless times, but I honestly have no idea. One minute I was falling 10,000 feet to my death in the freezing cold rain, and now I wake up in this beautifully decorated room with that… sun, I guess,” He gestured outside to the sun, although he didn’t remember what it was called, “shining on my face.” The white one spoke for the first time.
“You mean,” she tensed uncertainly, as if the notion she was about to suggest was ridiculous. “You have never heard of the sun?”
“Yes,” Edward affirmed. “Yes, where I come from, we have no sun. Not anymore.” The two creatures looked shocked. “There was a time when the sun shone everywhere,” Edward continued. “But now, it always rains. It’s always cold. It is not so nice of a place anymore.” He finished with sadness in his voice. The white one turned to the blue one. Although they tried to be quiet, Edward could hear every word.
“Luna,” the white one said. “He has plenty of stories to tell. And he seems eager to learn. You could teach him so much.”
“I know Tia,” The blue one, Luna, responded. “But he is so different. For lack of a better term he is an alien.” This last bit annoyed Edward quite a bit. He spoke up
“You know,” Edward blurted out. “I really do not like being referred to as an alien. You are as much aliens to me as I am to you, so can we drop the tag and get along?”
“You better watch your tone” Luna forcefully. “You have no idea of what my sister and I are capable of.”
“Luna, be a little understanding,” Tia cautioned. “He is clearly not going to do any harm. He seems very smart. Can you try to get along with him?” Luna looked rather displeased. It was clear that Luna really didn’t want to accept Edward for… well, Edward had no clue as to what she was considering him for. So he decided to play it safe.
“You’re right,” Edward agreed. He shuffled his feet nervously “I do have no idea, don’t I. Perhaps we could exchange names. I have no doubt we will need to use them later on. I’ll start. My name is Edward Lawton, resident of the United North American Confederacy, which is the worldwide leader in the development of precipitation prevention devices.”
“I am Princess Celestia,” Tia, or as Edward had just learned, Celestia, declared. “I along with my sister Luna, are rulers of the country Equestria.”
Monarchy? Edward thought. These people, ponies, whatever, are really behind the times. Democracy is the new thing. It might be a good idea not to mention the fact for the time being or it might cost me my head. And what is this Equestria place? I’ve never heard of a country by that name before. “Ah…well met. Should I bow, or, uh, bestow some other formality?”
“Bowing or kneeling is appropriate.” Celestia said. Edward did so right away.
“Forgive me for disrespecting you two earlier,” Edward sincerely apologized as he rose from the floor. “As Princess Luna so rightly observed, I had no idea who I was speaking with.”
“Apology accepted.” Luna replied, but she sounded as if she only half meant it.
Celestia nudged Luna. “Luna,” Celestia said. “Is there something you want to ask Edward?”
“Oh, please,” Luna replied indignantly, “I’m not a little filly anymore. Stop treating me like I still am!” She turned to Edward. “Mr. Lawton, ah, Edward,” Luna began, taking a deep breath. “Recently I had to undergo a certain… shall we say, tragedy. As of late, ponies have been avoiding me and I have been very lonely. My sister has suggested that I choose a student that I can educate, and in the process, perhaps that would make me feel better. Even though you come from another place, my sister and I feel you have great potential. I wish for you to be my Faithful Student and companion.”
Edward scratched the back of his neck. He certainly wasn’t expecting this. He pondered for a moment. For one, it looked like he wasn’t getting back to Earth anytime soon. And for another, he did want to experience as much of this strange new place as he could.
“Well, I am always one for learning,” Edward said. “What kind of subjects would you be teaching me? Literature? Mathematics? Science? History?”
“No, no, not any of that boring stuff,” Luna responded. “That is taught to grade school fillies, and I am sure you know much of those. History might be an exception due to the fact you probably know nothing of Equestria.” Edward was slightly offended, for he thought those subjects rather fun to learn about. He had to admit this mystery subject was starting to pique his interest. “No,” Luna continued. “I shall teach you about magic. You do not have magic on your world, do you?”
“Magic, huh?” Edward said with a skeptical tone in his voice. Magic, ponies, sunshine, unicorns, this is starting to sound like one of Rob’s ridiculous girly fantasies. Either I died during or because of the fall, and this is some kind of strange heaven, or I survived the fall and I am in one seriously screwed up coma. “You mean like sawing people in half and putting them back together or pulling rabbits out of hats?” he remarked snidely.
“No, none of those cheap conjuring tricks” Luna said. She did not seem to be as irked by Edwards sarcasm as she would have been before. She gestured to her bed. “Watch.” she ordered. Luna’s horn began to glow a deep blue. So did the covers on her bed. Then, before Edward’s eyes, the rumpled covers began to move. They smoothed out all their wrinkles, and were laid out flat and evenly on the bed, seemingly independently. Impossible, it’s like telekinesis. Must be some sort of energy. I bet there are other thing they can do with this. The possibilities could be… endless. At that point, Edward realized the great opportunity he had been granted. All the things he would be able to learn. He could do anything with this sort of knowledge. Anything man could think of. His mind made up, he looked at Luna and extended his hand
“Congratulations Princess,” he said, smiling as he shook Luna’s hoof. “You got yourself a new student.
Minutes later, Edward, Celestia, and Luna arrived in the Diplomatic Wing.
“Edward, this room will be yours.” Celestia said as she opened a door to one of the rooms. Edward peered inside. The room had stone walls, as always, but the floor was made of wooden floorboards with a red rug. A decently sized bed with a red bedspread was in the corner. There was a desk in another corner with many drawers. A large window looked out upon the Equestrian Valley. The walls had several bookshelves stocked with books, along with some still-life paintings on them.
“Wow,” Edward said. “It’s perfect. Thank you both.”
“If you are to become my student,” Luna began. “Then you must live like a student of mine would. Our servants are at your command.” Edward blushed slightly, embarrassed that so much effort was placed on his comfort. Then, a thought crossed his mind.
“Hey, mind if I ask a question?” He inquired. The princesses nodded. “I noticed you weren’t as surprised to see a creature like me.” He sat on the bed. “Tell me, am I the first human you’ve seen here?” Celestia answered him first.
“You are astute, for you are not.” She continued. “The first human appeared about 38 years ago.”
Before the Great Deluge! Edward thought. I wonder if they know what Earth was like before.
“Her name was Lauren Faust,” Edward had heard that name before, but she couldn’t remember where. “She was a producer back on Earth. She had a device with her, that could record events and play them back after they happened, like memories, except others could see them as well.”
“That’s what we call a video camera,” Edward explained. “It can capture moving images and can be used to project them on to a screen for mass viewing.”
“I see,” Celestia said. She then resumed her story. “She had recorded many things by the time we were able to send her back, including… my sister’s tragedy” Luna suddenly became very interested in the rug she was standing on. Edward noticed this, but said nothing.
“Thank you for explaining this to me.” He said, smiling a bit. At this point, Luna had resumed her usual posture.
“If there’s anything you need,” she informed. “Let us know.” The two regal figures exited the room, leaving Edward to his thoughts.
I need to sleep on this. So much has happened, and my mind and body haven’t fully caught up yet. He climbed into the bed, which was rather comfy, and his mind drifted into the realms of dreamless sleep.