//------------------------------// // 4. Face the Royalty // Story: Face the Unexpected // by Hakuno //------------------------------// Daniel watched amazed when Spike blew the letter with his green fire. And while the paper seemed to burn, it didn’t generate ashes, but instead it transformed into a grayish green mist that quickly left the library through the nearest window. The dragon then looked at him with an awkward smile. He still didn’t feel comfortable being in the same room as Spike, but watching Twilight speak to him and hug him somehow was a reassuring sight. “Don’t worry Daniel” Twilight smiled at him. “Princess Celestia always answers really fast. In fact, her letter should be getting here...” She looked at Spike, who suddenly put a face as if he was going to throw up and almost instantly burped the same green fire from before, but this time, the magical flame compressed in the air and transformed into another letter. “Right now!” The alicorn used her magic to levitate the letter and open it in front of her. After a few seconds of quick reading, Twilight put the letter aside and looked at Daniel with a smirk. “Well, it seems that we’re going to Canterlot” “Canterlot?” For some reason, that name sounded really familiar to Daniel. “It’s the capital of Equestria” Twilight closed again the letter and put it in a carefully placed stack of letters near her desk. “There’s where Princess Celestia and Luna live.” “Yaay I got to see the horse castle” Daniel deadpanned. Twilight rolled her eyes while walking to another room. “You know, some ponies may feel offended if you keep calling us horses” She heard the human following her, but she still looked back to make sure he was listening. “And before you say it, no, we are not horses, we are ponies.” “Well, in my world ponies are a lot bigger than you all” Twilight came to a sudden halt making Daniel trip and almost fall. “Hey be more careful!” She turned to face him with the biggest ear to ear smile he had seen in the alicorn yet. “In your world are ponies?! Why you didn’t tell me that before?” “Because they don’t talk” Twilight’s smile slowly faded and her expression turned to a confused one. “In my world only humans are able to talk, there are no magic whatsoever and pegasi and unicorns are just mythological creatures” He then looked at Spike who was coming from Twilight’s room with saddlebags and then turned again to meet the princess’ gaze. “Dragons, griffons, minotaurs and -I dare to guess- the rest of sapient creatures in this world are just myths or legends in my world.” An awkward silence filled the room. Twilight didn’t know what to think, Daniel didn’t sound angry or sad, and she knew that he was just providing information, but for some reason she couldn’t help but feel a pinch of guilt. “Then how do you manage the weather?” Spike asked putting down the saddlebags. “We don’t” Daniel answered quickly trying not to look at the dragon’s direction. “Mother nature is the most powerful force in my world. Unlike you magical ponies, we can’t change the clouds position or the temperature at will. And every single attempt to do it just leads to catastrophes” He took a deep breath, his gaze mixed with concern and fear. “In fact, mankind already changed a lot of mother nature’s original design that she’s taking revenge at us and making hurricanes and earthquakes that we just can’t face. Every day thousands of humans die because of her wrath, and even though we tried to make amends with her, she just won’t listen.” Daniel then put the most serious face he could and looked directly in Twilight’s eyes. “My world is being destroyed by that heartless bitch while I’m locked in this colorful world unable to help my brothers and sisters.” Twilight was shocked and had her jaw dropped, Daniel didn’t notice immediately but she had tears forming in her eyes. “I-I...” She opened her mouth several times but couldn’t say any word. And then, the human started to laugh. “Haha you should see the look in your face!” Daniel had his eyes closed and tears forming in his eyes while embracing his stomach. “Oh haha... oh... uh-oh.” He then noticed that the princess was frowning and grinding her teeth. “H-hey, it was a joke...” He then was interrupted by a stern glance from Twilight. “Don’t ever joke with things like that again!” She levitated her saddlebags and put them on her back. Then she started to walk away through the stairs. “Come on, we need to take the train before it gets dark.” Daniel moved his bow to allow him to move his arms more freely. “Hey I’m sorry” He said following the purple mare. “If it makes you feel better, Mother Nature does exist, but it’s just how we call the natural phenomena that we humans can barely predict, but never control.” But the alicorn princess didn’t slow her pace and kept looking forwards. Daniel wondered why he was feeling guilty, that was the softest joke he had ever made, he even was the kind of person that found funny to scare children in halloween with the most elaborated script to make them believe he turned into a monster. And that was not only a magical talking pony, but a princess, a member of the royalty and for what he could see, also an erudite of her own world. Yet there she was, angrily sobbing like a little girl that was scolded for fighting with her big sibling. And there he was, feeling guilty for the first time in his life because of a harmless joke he made. “Hey at least-“ “How can you do that?” “I beg your pardon?” Twilight was still walking without making eye contact with him. “How can you joke with life? Saying that thousands of humans d-die everyday...” Daniel only stared at her. ‘So she’s not angry because of the joke itself?’ “I mean... ponies die everyday too, but we don’t joke about it.” Daniel fell silent for a few seconds before answering. “I’m sorry, most humans –including me- like to make what we call ‘dark jokes’. I don’t know about anyone else, but I make them because it’s easier to face the reality that way, even if I have to joke with my own situations.” Finally Twilight looked up to him, her face showing that she still was angry, but also with curiosity in her eyes. “When my dad died I made a joke in his funeral about how at least my mom would be able to sleep well without him snoring every night” He chuckled a little. “Of course my mom grounded me for a month.” They were finally at the train station waiting for the train’s arrival. “It’s not that I wasn’t sad, but joking about it made me feel better. It made me get over it so I could go on with my life. He wouldn’t have liked me to depress myself.” And there was silence again. The train arrived, they went to their seats and didn’t talk in all the way to Canterlot. ~~~~~~~~ It was a relief when the train finally stopped at Canterlot’s station, Daniel was getting tired of all the eyes upon him. He knew that he was a weird sight in that world, but these damn ponies sure didn’t know the first thing about subtlety. “What’s up with the shiny costumes? Are they some kind of Spartan army or something?” Daniel was intrigued how almost all the ponies with golden armor looked like a clone of the next one. If it wasn’t for a few differences such as the color of the eyes, they could perfectly have been copy pasted one to side of the other. “This is the royal guard” Twilight said walking to Daniel’s side. “But it’s strange, there are too many just in the train station” Daniel shrugged, though he was impressed of how these ponies were so well trained that they didn’t even seem to look at him. “My best guess it’s because one of their princesses is back in town” He said watching how some pegasi with the same costumes were flying above them. “My second guess it’s because this Princess Cel-whatshername thinks I’m some kind of threat, and I don’t blame her” Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn’t. She was more concerned by the fact that the human was taking this all nonchalantly than the princess may actually feel threatened. But then again, the princess herself asked her to take the human to the castle, maybe she was just being cautious. Both human and pony entered the huge building and made their way to the throne room. Daniel was truly amazed, this castle was actually one of a fantasy. Its size was impressive, he felt as an ant in a big house. The doors of the throne room glowed with the characteristic sight of unicorn magic and slowly opened to the inside, obviously waiting for them to enter. The moment Twilight gave one step inside the room, there was a chorus of trumpets being played by equally uniformed ponies except for one who had a slightly different design in his armor. “Her highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle!” He said with a hoof pointing at the purple alicorn’s direction, who still hadn’t get used to that. “Please leave us” A voice echoed through the room, the guards knew that it wasn’t a petition, it was an order, and they obeyed leaving the room as fast as they could without looking like they were escaping. Daniel found that display a bit entertaining. “Please come here” He knew that the voice was talking to him, and as the guards he knew that it was an order. So he started to walk forward along with Twilight. At first he thought that the throne was empty, but as he got nearer to it, he started to see something moving. And then, he finally saw her. He thought that the ‘ruler of Equestria’ would be the same size of the other ponies, but the equine sitting in the throne was in fact bigger, maybe twice the height of Twilight. Her fur was white and her monstrous horn made her look a lot bigger than she really was. Her mane was flowing in the air, as a flag in a windy day. But what caught more his attention was the look in her eyes. That gaze. In all his years playing poker and watching professionals on the TV, he had never seen a more unreadable face than the princess’. Even if she was smiling, it was impossible for him to detect any feeling, as if she was a machine. “So you are the human Princess Twilight told me in her letter” Daniel didn’t notice earlier for the echo, but her voice was really soft and warm, as the voice only a mother could make to her children. He nodded, but for some reason he knew that the white alicorn wasn’t trying to confirm it, she was just thinking out loud. ‘Odd’ “That’s right princess, he-“ “I literally popped into existence in this world out of nowhere” He said, trying to sound as polite as he could and at the same time not wanting to waste any more time. “We came here today seeking your advice with the hope that you might have a clue of how to return me home” The solar princess smiled a little more to the human. “May I ask your name?” “Oh yeah, my name is Daniel Cero, pleas- it’s an honor to meet you, her highness” He bowed at her. The first time he bowed to Twilight was to apologize, this time he just felt the need to do it. Maybe because the princess, even if she still wasn’t as big as the average pony in his world –not counting the horn, of course-, somehow inspired respect. Celestia nodded and tried to look at Twilight and Daniel at the same time. “My pleasure” She said with a reassuring serenity. “Though I’m afraid I cannot help you. This is the first time I see something like you. And the circumstances of your situation are equally outside my knowledge” “So what do you recommend us to do?” Twilight said preoccupied, this was the first time that her former mentor seemed to really have no idea of what was going on. “I suppose he is staying with you at the library” Twilight nodded. “Then, the only way I see how he can return to his world is to run an extensive study. If we can figure out the magic that brought him here, we should be able to revert the pattern” Daniel frowned. He was tired. He had been more than two days in that insane world not being able to eat meat or change his clothes, and he didn’t know which one made him angrier. “You know what?” He said and the two princesses looked at him almost as if they forgot that he was there. “Forget it, there’s no possible way anyone can discover why I’m here. I just happen to be here...” He turned around. “I... I must accept my crappy destiny” Twilight wanted to put her hoof on his shoulder, but that required her to fly, and the movement of her wings only would make the whole thing worse. “Hey you can’t give up just like that. I... We will find a way to-“ “And what if we don’t?” He interrupted her and looked at her eyes. “I’ll be imprisoned in the library for the rest of my life believing that there’s still hope! Is that what you want?!” Twilight stepped backwards and glare at him with sadness, not even trying to hold her tears. “Well, I don’t want that... I have to accept it...” He turned around again and started to walk to the huge doors of the throne room. “Or it will drive me crazy” “D-Daniel...” The purple princess tried to stop him, but Daniel was already running to the exit. She tried to go after him, but felt a hoof in her shoulder. It was Celestia who only shook her head. “B-But princess... He...” “He needs to be alone for a while” Celestia said with a worried face. “But don’t worry, if he leaves the castle grounds a group of guards will follow him to make sure that he doesn’t hurt himself” Twilight looked down, tears flowing through her cheeks and uniting in her chin just to fall drop by drop. ~~~~~~~~ Somehow Daniel ended in some kind of balcony at the top of the castle. He could see the city below, the houses were a lot different from those in Ponyville, but they still had a weird shape. A gentle breeze made its way through his short hair and made him look up. It was getting dark, the sky had the red and yellow colors of the sunset and he could already see some stars. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Daniel almost jumped and looked at his back, there was another alicorn. This one was dark blue, and though she was smaller than Celestia, her mane flowed the same way but it was the color of the night sky and it actually looked like it had stars shimmering. “My sister loves to play with the colors of the dusk” Daniel narrowed his eyes and turned to look at the sky again. “Princess Luna I suppose? What are you doing here?” He knew that he was tempting his luck by addressing that way to one ruler of the land he was in, but he wasn’t in the mood to bow to small horses anymore. “The same thing you are doing” She walked to his side looking at the beautiful sight. “Enjoying the view” Daniel looked at her, and as Celestia, she had an unreadable face, but her smile seemed to be warmer and her gaze was melancholic. “It is of my knowledge that you are from another world,” She noticed that the human tensed his muscles, but didn’t look at him. “I can’t know what you’re going through, and I can’t help you solve your problem. But I want you to know that if you need anything, you can count on me” “Why?” It was the first thing that came to his mind. “Aren’t you a ruler here? Don’t you have royal duties to perform? Why on earth would you want to waste your time with a stranger of this world?” Luna then finally looked at him with a small smile. “Because not a long time ago I was also a stranger” She turned again to see the sky. “Even though I was born and grew up in this world, I spent a thousand years imprisoned in the moon” For a moment she held her breath and gently let it out. “When I finally came back, everything I once knew didn’t exist anymore. The land, the sky, even my sister –though not physically- changed. Some ponies are still afraid of me” For the longest time Daniel stared at the princess. That was more information than he could process at the moment. He looked back at the sky, the colors of the sun already faded and the stars growing brighter every second. “Why me?” He asked more to himself than to the princess. “What did I do to deserve this punishment?” “Don’t look at it as a punishment” Luna turned again to face the human who did the same thing. “If, and only if you can’t ever go back to your world, I suggest looking at the bright side” “And that’d be...” “Now you have a few friends in the royalty” She smiled at him slyly. “Though I don’t promise anything, you might be able to brag about it” Daniel laughed. For the first time since he came to this world, he was actually smiling without forcing it. It didn’t last long though, and he soon was able to breathe normally. He saw that the princess was smiling as well, without restrictions. ‘Are all the ponies this friendly?’ “Thank you for this conversation princess, it really helped me” She leaned her head a little. “Please, call me Luna”