//------------------------------// // An Unnexpected Arrival // Story: Your Wings Were Made For Angels // by Still Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 3: An unexpected arrival “Love and tolerance.” “Stop saying that! Do you realise how gay it sounds?” “Nope. Love and tolerance.” “What does that even mean anyways?” “It’s a brony saying, it insinuates that no matter how much stick we get from the haters, we will still show them the love and tolerance all bronies should show and expect...” “Well I still think it sounds gay.” “Love and tolerance.” Jak was in another argument about ponies with his friend. It was friendly banter, but interesting none the less. You see, Jak was a brony, and his friend, a hater. And Jak could see the message behind the situation; they were opposite, but still good friends. It reminded him, as pretty much everything did, of My Little Pony. He often wondered how a show intended for young girls appealed so much to people of his age group and gender. Lauren Faust was God, that was the simplest and most justified conclusion he could come to. There were twenty minutes of lunch left before they would have to trudge over to English and deal with an hour of torture at the hands of one middle-aged woman who had very much seen better days, all whilst under the constant threat of homework. Usually, Jak didn’t mind English; he was quite a creative writer, though he didn’t like to show off his work, and would never admit he was in the process of writing a pony fan fiction. First of all, his other friend, Chris would think he was trying to ‘convert’ him again, Which was far from the lone pony-boy's intention, yet still wsn't entirely fabrication. And his other similarly - named friend, Jack wouldn’t even know what a 'brony' was! The intellectual head of year would merely pass the title on as something to not even consider finding a place with his love of Facebook and Formula 1. The four friends would hang around together every day. When one of them wasn’t in school, for whatever reason, it never felt the same. However, Jak didn’t believe his other friends felt the same way, but then again, he had never asked. Sometimes things could get quite confusing, having two ‘Jacks’ in the group. Legally, (If one were to apply such a word) Jak’s name, like his buddy, was spelled ‘Jack’, but since playing the phenomenal Jak and Daxter series, he realised how much better the name Jack looked without a ‘c’, and took it upon the liberty of himself to change it. Without need for explanation, this character trait did not do wonders for his already rather 'intriguing' demeanor. Sleep, go to school, bum around on the internet, maybe attempt some failed fan art and then go to bed. ...And repeat. Many people would go insane with boredom leading a life such as this. But Jak loved it. He had fallen into a routine of wake, school, YouTube, sleep, repeat. When he thought about how insignificant his life was, it often reminded him of ‘My Little Dashie’. He hoped that one day he would find a box containing a little cartoon pony, but he knew that was a dream. Dreams don’t come true. They just never do. The familiar routine he was trapped in was all he knew; if something happened or changed, he would find himself lost. He had no clue what he would do once he started college, and god forbid when he started work. But one thing he had learned in his pointless life was that planning ahead only leads to disappointment. “Live for the moment and face your challenges head on”. Jak laughed at his attitude in his throat whilst he waited for his mother to pick him up from school. When he thought about his life that way, it really seemed more than it was. Never the less, he was happy. It was a Friday. Everyone loved it, but for Jak it was more so. He could do what he did everyday, but cut out the school part. That was another thing he had learned in life; “don’t wait on miracles, they would never happen and you will get distracted from reality. No matter how much nicer the dream world looked than the real one”. This was one of the reasons he loved My Little Pony so much. It was paradise. There was no hate and true friendship was much easier to come by. If he were prime minister… Thought Jak, off again on one of his thought diversions about how he would make the world a better place… he would make the world a lot more like Equestria. The brony way was very simple; give everyone a chance, because if you look close enough, you may see one or two poppies on a ravaged battlefield. “Love and tolerance.” That would be his campaign title. And everyone would love him and value his opinion. No. just another fabrication, another dream that would never come true. A wild flash appeared over an English field, causing the pylons to buzz madly and electrical surges occurred for miles around. The white alicorn mare burst through the boundary of her universe and into this one. Her search for The Rife had officially begun. “What is this world?” She asked herself, hoping for an answer. She received nothing but thoughts about what a bad pony she was for abandoning her friends. Alas, it was the right thing to do. It’s just sometimes the right thing isn’t always the good thing to do. She had never visited this world before and it was certainly different. The clouds and the sun moved by… themselves! But who was she to question a place where she didn’t belong? Jak was very observant. Though the flash was bright and the explosion was loud, he was the only one in the car to see it; his mum wasn’t paying much attention. He was in disbelief when he saw the large winged horse come flying out of it. Had he finally lost it? He frequently talked to himself when he was alone – ‘the first signs of insanity’ as many would say– maybe he was becoming crazy… unless… no... that would be ridiculous. In his routine internet journey, he tried to shake the image from his mind. But he couldn’t. He never just ‘saw’ things. Imagined things, yes! One astounding imagination this human had; often left alone for hours on end, amusing himself with epic and funny scenarios once all the electronic devices had been exhausted. Things were always there. They always existed. The very idea of princess Celestia in his world was ludicrous. Fantastic, but ludicrous. The thought stayed with him as he fell into a dreamless sleep and awoke five minutes before his alarm was due to go off. Jak loved that. That was another lesson he learned; “Be thankful for the little things” that way when something good happens, it will feel spectacular. Jak had forgotten by now about the incident on the Friday afternoon by the time Monday came back around, all far too quickly. As he started on his paper round that fell a few years ago quite nicely into his routine, though at times it felt like a hindrance, things seemed different. He couldn’t pinpoint why, they just did. The air felt ominous, like something not necessarily bad, but still something… unexpected was about to happen. He liked to think of himself as quite ‘as one with the universe’. He laughed at this point. It was true though, he always said that if he were to join a religion, it would be Buddhism. That was of course, before he became a brony, which he treated as a religion. But no amount of universal tuning could prepare anyone for walking around a corner to find yourself face to face with an enormous white horse with an impossibly long flowing mane. Before he reacted involuntarily, Jak took in just enough of the creature to realise it was princess Celestia. He flew backwards through the air, sending the newspaper he held flying and by some miracle, not scattering the pages all down the street. “Whoa!” He shouted as he stumbled backwards, but was caught by some unknown force that returned him to his feet. He stood there and stared at Celestia. None of them said a word as they both couldn’t find the ones to say. Of course, princess Celestia was the first to speak. She began to explain herself. “Greetings, my name is princess Celestia…” “…………………………....princess Celestia… Yes, I know…” Jak finished her sentenced for her. Receiving a confused and shocked look from the white pony. She was still a pony, despite being much bigger than most earth horses. “You seem to know who I am.” Celestia asked, looking at Jak’s eyes which were darting from Celestia’s horn to her wings, to her shoes, to her ‘necklace’ and then back to her horn. He didn’t dare look at her eyes. For he knew if he did, he would not be able to break the contact. Celestia cleared her throat loudly. “Look at me.” She ordered in a non-agressive, yet still somewhat shap tone. “I kind of am…” replied Jak, slightly in awe. After a few more laps of the princess’ body, he raised his eyes to meet hers. She smiled as she knew she had him now. She looked around to make sure nopony, or in this case nobody was around before coming up straight with Jak. “I need you…” She started. “Equestria is in trouble and I need you to help me…” Jak stared right through Celestia. Was he hallucinating? Was he crazy? Might he be dreaming? He eliminated the first and last possibilities. He would never do hallucinogens and he certainly didn’t have time for dreams. He was crazy. He had finally snapped and he showed this through how he reacted. “Okay, princess! I’ll help you out!” He said happily. Too happily. “Oh, thank you! You don’t know how much-“ “Yeah, I gotta finish my papers and then I’ll go and ride a magic Carpet around the world! Then I’ll be free to help you.” Jak interrupted the princess mid sentence. “Excuse me!?”Said the princess, astonished. “Yeah, maybe later I’ll show you around my uncle’s farm; there’s some stallions there you might be interested in.” Jak continued on in a bored – sounding tone. He was talking to a cartoon horse after all, and he had to keep telling himself this, to distract him from the possibility of what was really happening. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but this is important! You have to listen!” Pleaded the princess. “Please... help me!” Jak picked up his newspaper and went to pass Celestia before a large wing blocked his path. It was real. He was physically being halted by a large wing of a fictional character from a children’s T.V programme. He didn’t recoil, though. Rather he simply stepped back to hear what the alicorn had to say. “I can tell this is confusing for you.” Started Celestia. “But I have to tell you what is going on.” Jak cast his gaze thoughtfully at the ground, then to the roll of dead tree he held loosely in his hand. “If you are real. And you’re really here. I only have one question.” “Go on…” Celestia insisted. “I don’t know if you can answer it, but here it is… How?” Asked Jak. “How?” Celestia echoed. “Yes. You say you’re from Equestria. Just how is that even possible? I mean, you exist in this universe, but as a fictional character in a children’s T.V programme.” “T.V programme?” Celestia asked. T.V didn’t exist in Equestria. Neither did electricity. Everything was controlled and powered by magic. “Think of it as like moving pictures behind a piece of glass.” Despite the situation, Jak couldn’t hide a smirk at what he was saying. It was as if he had gone back in time and was explaining television to a Tudor. “That’s not important, though. What is important, is how can you even exist. You were created by people in my universe!” Celestia smiled. “Hm… No, I… I don’t know how that is possible… but…” “Buuuut?” Asked Jak, leaning towards the princess slightly. “If my universe was created through the hearts and minds of the pon- uh, ‘people’, is it? In your universe, maybe the love and care shown by the people was enough to create another universe parallel to your own…” Celestia’s eyes widened as she realised why this ‘breaking of the fourth wall’ was possible. “That’s why we can access your universe! Ours was created in your universe and therefore holds a unique connection with yours as it’s neighbour! It all makes sense now!” Celestia said with glee. Jak smiled, realising that somewhere out there, everything the show had depicted had really happened! All the adventures, all the friendship... all the magic. It was all real! But why was the princess here again? “Uh… with all due respect, your majesty,” He didn’t know why he was acting so calm and composed around this magic, mythical, talking pony when he had finally realised everything was real, but maybe he really was special… “I forgot what you’re here for.” “I’ve been observing you for two days-“ “You have!?” Interrupted Jak, astonished that his usual observant nature was destroyed by this creature. When he was met by an icy stare, he quickly apologised before allowing the princess to continue. “Yes. And I’ve seen that you have seen what has happened in Equestria. How is this?” “What, you mean ‘have I been observing YOU’?” “Yes. The ‘moving pictures’ you speak of were moving on some sort of device. There were lots of buttons on it too. They looked like letters. Is this a… ‘T.V’?” Jak laughed. “No, no! That’s a ‘laptop’!” “There were pictures of my subjects – Twilight Sparkle and her friends on it. How can you see us?” Celestia asked. “Well, that’s just it. You exist in my universe as we created yours. Ever since you’ve existed, our universe has helped to dictate what happens in your universe.” Jak had watched a few episodes of My Little Pony over the weekend. And Celestia had watched him, intregued beyond belief. “Oh…” Said Celestia, sounding a little disheartened. “What’s wrong, princess?” Asked Jak. “So you’re saying that everything in our universe has been a lie?” She replied. “Of course not!” Jak answered, feeling sorry for how the princess must feel right now. “Free will exists in your universe, I suppose... it’s just maybe by a huge coincidence, the produce- uh, people who make the show got lucky about some things...” Celestia grew contemplative. “Hm, hm..." She chuckled - lacking a particular sense of humour. "I suppose so. But I shouldn't imagine it would be my place to pass judgement on this world... Now, back to the reason as to why I am here…” She affirmed, refreshing her mind and trying to begin again with the strange creature she was conversing with. “Mum!?” Called Jak from the open doorway to his small home. A mumble was heard from one room down the corridor. It took about twelve seconds to amble from one end of his house to the other, so clearly audible communication wasn’t a huge issue. “Can I bring my talking alicorn sun goddess inside please?” “Yeah. Go on, whatever…” Came a weak reply. Jak’s mother simply thought her son was being strange – this was normal – she shoed the weird request from her consciousness and tried to go back to sleep. She was awakened instantly when she heard the sound of clopping on the wooden floorboards. She practically leapt out of her bed like a spring and threw on her pink dressing gown. She tore open the sliding door to see an enormous horse with a mane that seemed to flow like water. She went to scream before Jak jammed a hand over her mouth. “I know what this looks like. I can explain everything, but you can’t scream!” Saying this, Jak now knew how Twilight felt when she was introducing princess Luna to Pinkie on Nightmare Night. He removed his hand from around his mother’s mouth. And waited for a reaction. “What is this!?” She asked, half angry and half scared. “Her name is princess Celestia. She’s from a different universe that is pretty much the ‘My Little Pony world’.” A blank face forced Jak to explain further. “I am going to go with her to Equestria. She says she needs my help saving her world.” “What do you mean you’re going with her?” asked his mother, who had calmed down enough to respond, but not take in any information. “Apparently, her world, no, her entire universe is in disarray because of some sort of monster.” Jak explained briefly. “And why do you need Jak?” Demanded his overprotective mother accusingly. Directly addressing the huge white winged horse, who until this point was turned away from the conversation. Jak’s mum wasn’t expecting the animal to be able to talk, but neither was she expecting to see a huge horse with wings and now, it seems, a horn. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. As Jak here already mentioned, my name is princess Celestia.” Said the alicorn in an incredibly friendly manner, raising a hoof towards Jak’s mum, who backed away at the gesture. Celestia lowered her hoof and made an obvious face of disappointment to show the other female she meant no harm. “I have been observing your son for a couple of days and I must say I was impressed at how frequently he showed all of the Elements of Harmony in such a short time.” “Elements of Harmony?” Jak’s mum asked, not having a clue what was going on and beginning to think she was dreaming. “Yes. Honesty, kindness, generosity, definitely laughter,” Celestia said with a smile, “Even loyalty.” “How loyalty?” Asked Jak, trying to recall the events of the weekend. “You were with that machine of yours with the moving pictures most of the time you were awake. That shows true loyalty…” Celestia beamed. Jak turned away, embarrassed. “What’s going on?” Jak’s mother asked, her eyes moving from Celestia to Jak like she was watching an energetic tennis match. “My world is threatened, and may have already been destroyed by a legendary being named Kerous. Now, your son, I believe, playes the role of the savior in the prophesy, uh, The... Rife?" The female human's expression didn't falter much further than a slow, dissmisive blink. "Because of this child's ability to easily channel the elements of harmony, I need him to help me defeat this monster and return harmony to my land.” “Why can’t someone else do it?” Asked Jak’s mother, sounding slightly desperate. Before Celestia could reply, Jak too had a question. “What do you mean your world has already been destroyed?” “My universe, by now has probably ceased to exist, but we can travel back in time during the process of crossing over universes.” “Just like that?” Asked Jak. “Just like that.” Celestia responded. “Surely… you’re not going… with her?” Asked a worried sounding mother. “I was planning on it…” Jak replied. “But you can’t just… leave.” His mother responded, becoming emotional. “I don’t see why not…” Replied Jak blankly. “What do you mean ‘I don’t see why not’?” pleaded his mother. However, Jak couldn’t care less. He had lost massive amounts of respect for his mother after she kept crawling back to that evil whom she called a ‘boyfriend’ who had caused their family to fall apart. Jak understood the forces of friendship and love way better than most people. These things are the most basic, but two of the most powerful forces of magic throughout both of their universes. But Jak seriously lacked them in his life. “I kinda feel like I need to announce this.” Jak stated, turning to Celestia. “What do you mean?” She replied, not knowing what else to say to resolve the situation. “Today’s Monday… I have assembly today…” “So that’s it?” Jak’s mother said, returning the focus to herself. “You’re just going to go?” She finished angrily, trying to install guilt in Jak. “Um… Yes.” Jak replied definitively. “Shall we go, princess?” Princess Celestia said nothing, as nothing could be said. When Jak declared something opinionative, he was not easily deterred. She struggled once again through the small entrance, it seemed as though entering the domain was much less necessary than intended. Jak went to leave too, but turned as he was half outside, half inside his home that had been his prison for the last two years of his life that he knew he would never see again. Or at least, not for a very long while. “Oh, yeah… Thanks for… you know, the life…” He said, turning towards his mother who he was barely related to past blood. He was met by cold remarks. “Fine. Go. See if I care.” His mother said trying hard to replace the anguish with a dismissal of care. Jak saw straight through her barriers. It was a skill he had developed that came in useful when trying to see weather one was serious or not. “Good. The feeling’s mutual then.” He declared with the solemness his mother failed to pull off. And with that, turned and walked out, shutting the door carefully behind him, and joining Celestia in the middle of the road under the pink sky, illuminated by the early Earth sun. “Right, everyone. Settle down…” Came the drone of possibly the most boring and dull person in the country as the din of the Monday – morning assembly hall fell to a silenced attention. “As you know, your exams are coming up this month. So be sure to revise and I wish you the best of luck in the upcoming weeks.” Pathetic. Jak could make a motivational speech to his friends and acquaintances on the spot a hundred times better than that poor attempt. But what could be expected from a grey man who was so devoted to his work that every other thing that came out of his mouth was about some exam or another test. Sometimes Jak wondered weather this dull man actually wanted to live for life, in that he pushed towards achievements and goals, rather, he only lived because he had to. Ponies would be a good edition to his life, as they would be to anyone, but especially him. Though he may be blinded by the bright colours and happy sounds. Before the hushed whispers could rise again, the headmistress who you got the impression of being everyone’s bitch when she was younger and was now returning the favour to the world spoke up. “Right. Listen. As you are aware, the school is undergoing maintenance to have a new boiler fitted. Now, there will be builders wandering around and making noise, but please don’t let that distract you from your studies.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Now, I have a presentation planned, but the sound isn’t working so-“ “Sorry to interrupt your riveting lecture, Miss, but I believe I have a far more impressive presentation…” Everyone turned their attention to the voice that was coming from backstage, and there were gasps of amazement, fear and confusion as an enormous white pony with a massive horn and equally gigantic wings, raised proudly, emerged from centre left. Being ridden bareback by Jak, who couldn’t stop grinning at how awesome this felt. The teacher positioned at the sides of the room didn’t have a clue what to do, but when Jak spoke, they could do nothing but listen. “Everyone!” he called the whole of the year to attention. “This is princess Celestia.” Whispers from everyone in the room, except for three, caused a loud, inaudible sea of ‘husshh husshh’ sounds. “Listen.” Jak said sternly from atop his steed. “Some of you may know about her. She is the princess in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Now, she says that her world is in trouble and she needs me to help out.” Like Jak’s and his mothers first reactions, the two hundred-odd students thought this was some sort of set up, a joke or some sort of weird dream. But is couldn’t have been. None of the people in the entire room dreamed about school. Well, perhaps the dull ‘exam-man’ did. That is, if he dreamed at all. “I know what you’re thinking.” Said Jak, noticing some or the lost faces in the audience. “I had the exact same thoughts when I first saw her too!” He chuckled lightly. By now, everyone had stopped asking unanswerable questions amongst themselves and were all listening avidly to what Jak had to say. “I uh… probably won’t be seeing you again.” He said to no one in particular. “I just wanted to say goodbye to you all, so the few of you that actually care will know what happened.” This line was spoken towards the group of popular girls sat together at the back of the hall. One of Jak’s pet peeves was vein people. These girls would spend hours on their appearance by plastering on layers of makeup and fake tan that made them look ill. How could they believe that made them look even half attractive? And you could bet that once Jak was gone, they would be furiously texting one another about menial things. Maybe even in the same day. Now, once again, if they had ponies in their lives, they may have a better understanding of the world of relationships; that it wasn’t skin deep and it wasn’t about money and other mortal things. “Guys…” Jak bespoke to his three friends, who, despite being in two different form groups were still sat quite close to each other. “Thank you. These past few years have been the best of my life and I owe it all to you.” He looked back up and around the room to indicate that what he was about to say would be addressed to the entire year. “My Little Pony delivers some wonderful messages. Now, some of you may object to taking life lessons from a children’s show, but these are some true lessons that could better the world in so many ways. And to those who care, I urge you to watch the show. Give it a chance. That also happens to be a lesson in one of the recent episodes.” Jak continued, half smiling with satisfaction. “I will remember all of you. And I hope you will do the same.” He turned slightly pink at this point. Ever so slightly shocked at how immodest he was being. “I’ll leave you with one last message: "Never stop dreaming." "Never stop believing in yourself. No matter what it is, taking an exam, telling someone you love them, or simply trying something new, never just give up. Because dreams do come true. And any time in your lives you are feeling sad, alone or frightened. Remember the lessons in that wonderful programme and think about all the good stuff your life still has in store for you. Thank you for the best years of my life. You have given me friendship. And that is more valuable than any sum of money or material possession.” Jak finished with a content smile as he dismounted princess Celestia and said quietly “I’m ready.” And with that, the princesses’ large horn glowed bright and Jak stepped closer and put an arm around her neck as he felt lightened by the magical connection they were sharing. Looking back at his friends one last time, he managed a large sweeping wave farewell before the duo on stage erupted into a cacophony of white and gold sparks, filling the dull hall with colour and light. And as the last of the sparks blinked themselves out and fell to the stunned crowd below, the explosion still softly reverberating around the dim walls, the attention of everyone returned to the empty stage. Both Jak and Celestia were gone. Leaving nothing behind except a powerful lesson that would stay with the young ones for the rest of their lives and several more bronies and pegasisters in the world which desperately needed it.