My feet landed softly on the grass. I smiled as the opportunity to finally build something in a proper building area. I quickly surveyed the space that I could build in. My grin widened as the half-circle was wide enough to fit at least twenty feet worth of building materials. While it was smaller than I wanted, it was still large enough to make and store a car or plane. I looked behind me toward the archway that had a path that went further into the maze. I saw my six colorful lost puppies walking through the gate. Their eyes trailed the hedge for a familiar face.
Twilight saw me and trotted ahead of the group. I watched her approach with a smile on my face. When she spotted it she gave me a small-but-unsure smile, one which I didn’t mind seeing. I turned to face the edge, which was actually at my feet, and leaned over to observe the town below me. I admired the marble architecture from afar and made careful observations. From my view I could see the hedge maze was actually on an upper level of the palace so there was a drop between it and the streets below.
“So what now?” asked the purple unicorn from behind me.
I turned to face her with a dumb smile on my face and replied, “I’m going to build a plane.”
She gave me an incredulous look. “Using, what exactly?” She asked me with an unsure expression.
My grin widened and I told her, “With my spawn menu, of course! I’ll just create the materials I need.”
She gave me a confused look. “You talked about that before. But you didn’t really go into detail.” She took a steadying breath and spoke more courageously, “Can you explain it to me; before you start building that is?”
I nodded my head. “Sure. Basically I’m able to open a menu of building materials I can spawn. I pick from the list and make them appear. To be honest, I don’t know how it works. Just that it does.” I explained.
She sighed disapprovingly, then frowned and replied, “Well I’d like to know more about how it works. But if you don’t know, then there’s no point in asking.” A silent moment drifted by before she then perked up. “Hey, you don’t mind if we research it together do you?” She asked with hope in her eyes.
I contemplated the offer for a brief moment. “I’d like to know more about it too, but I’m not sure I want ponies to know how to spawn stuff like this. I mean we just discussed the diplomats’ belief that I’ll be pressured into supporting the country I’ll stay in. But if I give anyone access to my stuff it’ll force me in an uncomfortable position. I hope you understand.” I said reminding her of our limited time scale.
“Oh right....” She trailed off bashfully. “I’ll leave you alone.” She suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable and started scratching her right leg with her hoof. I felt concerned until she spoke up again. “I should have known interacting with me will look like that.” She said not meeting my gaze. “But can we still be friends?”
I gave her a blank gaze for a few seconds before nodding. “Yes. Being friends shouldn’t be a problem. But I guess I need to learn some professionalism,” I hopefully reassured her.
She smiled back and happily exclaimed, “Thanks Blake. I’ll leave you to it then.”
She promptly turned and trotted away back to her friends. I watched her go before stepping away from the edge and looking back to the horizon. I looked on the ground and opened my spawn menu. Years of swiftly navigating it were put to use as I went through the list to find a flat surface. I opened the Builders’ prop list and selected metal_plate1 which was just a flat surface that I could easily place down gates on. I replaced the Toolgun in my hand with a large blue two handed device known as the Physics Gun. Picking up the object I made it face flat toward me, then tilted it to lay at a forty-five degree angle toward me.
The Physics Gun disappeared from my hands and swapped back to the Toolgun. But before I could continue, reality checked back into my mind. “How did I use that?” I said referring to the Physics Gun.
“The physics gun doesn’t have a trigger. How the hell did I activate it?” I thought suspiciously.
I pushed the thought out of my mind and lifted my Toolgun to point it at the metal plate. I quickly placed down a thruster with the default settings of “Force Multiplyer 1” “Force Minimum 0” and “Force Maximum 1.” I couldn’t seem to change the numbers to as powerful as possible. This actually was slightly upsetting since I need that to force the plane I planned on building forward. I instead selected a Numpad input and froze as I discovered my second problem. I looked at the input that it gave me “Enter.” I tried to change it to “Delete” to test out my abilities, but nothing happened.
“How the fuck do I change a Numpad?” I thought incredulously. “Better yet, how do I activate one without a keyboard?” I said out loud; blissfully unaware of the confused faces behind me at the archway.
Sighing in defeat, I placed down the Numpad input of “Enter.” I was now staring at a small metal square with an input and a thruster with confusion. My builders’ tunnel vision set in after I switched to Advanced Wire Tool and tried to hook up a thruster to an input of “Enter” to see if they worked. I was able to hook up the thruster’s “A” to the input. But it left me with the problem of activating the Numpad input. This unsurprisingly looked like a Numeric/directional Keypad or the calculator like item on your keyboard. I looked at the arrangement of numbers with interest. Out of curiosity I tried to press the “Enter” key and nothing happened. In fact, it didn’t even press like a button; rather it was so solid they didn’t even move.
I cursed inwardly and looked back into the Spawn Menu and clicked the “Wire” tab. I searched the Wire Menu for “Keyboard” hoping to find something that might somehow magically work. I scrolled through and found two keyboards. One was for vehicle control, and the other was for “Keyboard Interaction.” I placed both of them on the metal board. I then worked on a theory that maybe I can change the numbers in the menu using one of these keyboards. Opening up the Spawn Menu again brought me back to the Thruster settings. I selected the numbers and moved my hand to click on the Keyboard.
I was ecstatic when the number increased by eight when I hit the “8” button. I then reset all the numbers so they’d be at their maximum (10,000). I then went to the Numpad inputs and switched them to “Delete” and continued working on getting them to turn the Thruster on. Switching to my Advanced Wiring Tool, I pointed the barrel of the Toolgun at the Thruster. A flat hologram of an “A” light up in my view and I pulled the trigger; activating the output to receive a new signal. I dipped my hand down to have the barrel pointing toward the Numpad Input of “Delete” and pulled the trigger.
It was finally hooked up. I nervously hit the “delete” key on the Wire Keyboards’ numpad and smiled in euphoric glee as I heard a sound of escaping steam that signified the activation of the thruster… Then, jumped out of the way in shock as orange flames spouted from the small thruster device. Coming to my senses I scrambled back to the small metal plate and slammed down on the keyboard with my fist in the general area of the “delete” key on the Numpad. In an instant, the sound stopped and the flames disappeared.
A loud chorus of voices shouted, “Blake!”
“Oh hey, they all remembered my name.” I thought humorously.
I spun around as my builders tunnel vision ended and my mind returned to the world around me. A world owned by ponies, and not playing the game Garry’s Mod, but living it instead. I watched them approach as I stood on my feet. I was still unsure if the flame would have harmed me or not, but I wasn’t going to chance it. But my mind focused on the six mares that were rushing to my side. Waving to them I yelled, “Heya girls!” to show I was ok.
Twilight was first to voice her concern. “Are you ok?” She asked with a worried expression that was followed up by the butter-yellow Pegasus.
“You’re not hurt are you?” she questioned apprehensively. I paused for a moment to process her emotion, while Twilight was ignorant of it, she continued on.
“It didn’t burn you did it?” she continued, examining my face since it was the only exposed skin on my body. Her head tilted from side to side to survey the damage.
I looked back to her. “No. I’m fine.” I tried to reassure her with a smile. “I was just too in the zone in what I was doing to realize I forgot to turn off that fire and sound.”
“Well don’t do it again!” sternly stated the yellow Pegasus. Seemingly oblivious of my statement of being able to remove the risks entirely. “I don’t have anything to heal you up with me! I can’t imagine the kind of pain you’d be in, and-and I-.” Her voice broke slightly. “I wouldn’t b-be able to do a-anything…” She finished sorrowfully.
I gave her a sympathetic smile, subconsciously tilting my head to the left. I sat down on both of my knees to get as close to eye level with her as possible. She noticed me crouching down to her level and she lifted her head to meet my gaze. Her friends looked at me with quizzical expressions.
“Hey-.” I quietly said to the yellow Pegasus as searched for her name. Her eyes were filled with worry, trying to read my posture. I blushed slightly as a few awkward seconds passed by and I gave up. “Sorry I forgot your name. What was it again?” I asked apologetically.
She hid behind her mane and replied nervously, “Oh! Uhm… Fluttershy.”
“Oh okay, the name is ironic because she seems shy. Actually the names I've seen so far seem to have something to do with the pony they belong to.” I thought to myself. “Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy.” I repeated attempting to remember the name forever.
I gave her a soft smile. “Thank you. Sorry about that. I’m not the best with names. And talking about it is totally killing the mood yeah?” I told her summoning up my humor. “But I’m sorry I worried you so much. I’ll be careful next time ok?” I reassured her. “By the way you don’t need to worry about a little burn. I’m not immune to fire but I can heal myself up pretty quickly if I do get hurt.”
Her smile returned hesitantly and she nodded her head. “Okay. I trust you.” She said with a heartwarming smile. Then her smile turned into a soft but stern look. “But I don’t want you building alone. Have somepony around so they can help you if you’re hurt.”
I sighed. “Yes, mother,” I replied in mock sadness; dipping my head and giving an insincere frown.
That seemed to satisfy her, and she beamed triumphantly. “Good!” Her eyes were closed while her teeth were showing through the crack of her smile. I responded by giving her a smile of my own.
Someone cleared their throat behind me and I twirled around to meet their gaze. I found myself looking into the eyes of Twilight Sparkle. She was flanked on both sides by the other four ponies. Everyone was giving her their full attention. The hoof that was over her mouth moved to the ground and she began to speak.
“We have about fifteen minutes before the meeting starts. I think we should head to the castle ballroom in about five minutes. So we should probably clean up here.” She said looking back over to the floating metal board.
I looked down at my hands and summoned up my Toolgun, then rifled through the Spawn Menu to select the proper tool for my task. With the “Remover Tool” selected I pointed the Toolgun at the floating plate. Somehow I switched it to the secondary fire and I pulled the trigger. The resulting explosion of sparks caught me slightly by surprise. But all six of my companions announced their surprise through shouts and pony expletives.
Twilight was first to recover. “Blake?” but I was busy contemplating Applejack’s expletive.
I looked at Applejack in surprise when everyone finished their sounds of shock. She met my gaze to find my eyebrows were furrowed and an incredulous smile was on my face. I mouthed the word ‘what?’ and my brows unfurrowed, but my smile remained. She looked back in confusion before she gasped in realization.
“Oh, pardon my language partner.” She said with a small blush.
“No, it’s fine, just. I’ve never heard a pony swear before.” I said bewildered. “Well congratulations on being the first!” I announced with a smile.
“She what!?” exclaimed Rarity. I turned to see her shocked expression. “Applejack! That’s, that’s, just… Uncouth! And in front of a guest!”
I was metaphorically pulled away from the conversation by Twilight. “Blake?” She asked again. I looked back to Twilight. “What did you do with that square?” She asked curiously.
“I removed it using the Remover Tool.” I responded.
She gave me a suspicious look. “Wait, removed it?” She asked skeptically. “What do you mean by that?” She said with curiosity. “Do you mean you’ve removed it from reality? Or sent it to another dimension?”
I gave her an uncertain look. “Oh I removed it from the universe entirely. I created that matter so then I deleted it.” I said to her slightly doubting myself.
“I never really considered what the Remover Tool does. Maybe it does put an item back in storage? But wouldn’t that mean that I can retrieve it? No I must be destroying it forever. But does that mean that whenever I spawn a prop, I’m actually creating matter?” I thought scholarly.
I refocused myself on Twilight to see her with a dumbfounded expression. “Wait you mean…” She remained quiet for a small amount of time. “How then? I don’t believe you. How can you destroy matter?” She shook her head. “No, it’s not possible. Even magic can’t do that. Even to make matter with magic requires enough magical energy to create a solid structure. Even then to dispel it you have to return the construct to magic.” She put her hoof to her forehead and looked to the ground for a moment. “Wait, you’re just joking. Right? No way that’s possible.” A disturbingly wide smile adorned her face.
At this moment I was silent for a while to think through my options. Twilight continued to smile at me with that unnerving smile as a tuft of hair propped up on her head. I took this quiet moment to consider whether or not I wanted to continue this conversation. She looked like she was on the brink of mental collapse. Another thing I noticed was that the conversation between Applejack and Rarity ended suddenly.
I heard the subtle flapping of wings close to my head. “Hey,” whispered Rainbow Dash. “She gets like this sometimes. Just agree with her and she won’t go crazy.” She said gingerly.
And with that, my inner troll activated. “Hey it’s been over five minutes or so. I think we should head to the ballroom.” I said with a shit eating grin.
Twilight’s ears flattened. “Oh. Right.” Her voice was quiet and she was blushing. “Yes, we need to get going. We’ve got a schedule to keep!” She then looked at me with hopeful eyes. “Will you tell me more about it later?” She asked.
I smiled at her. “Of course, but you have to promise me that you won’t freak out. Like don’t be surprised if I tell you up is down and down is up. Or that the world is actually inside out. Because we’d have to accept that in both our worlds, some things are just different.” I spoke diplomatically.
She gave me a peculiar look of indifference and replied,, “You’re right Blake. I need to accept that you may be able to do things anypony else can’t.”
I looked over to the group of her friends who upon observation they gave me approving smiles. I took it as a hint that I said something right, which I’m completely fine with. I then turned back to the purple unicorn in my presence.
“So,” I started. “We going?”
She lifted her head up. “Yes.”
She turned toward the hedge gateway and began trotting at a swift pace. The other five kept pace with us as we came up on the gateway. But she didn’t get very far before one of my other escorts grabbed our attention.
“Uh guys.” Said the rainbow haired pony.
The all six of us looked back while continuing to move forward only to discover our rainbow haired friend had stopped midflight. She was facing away from us looking out toward the horizon. Curiously I followed her gaze toward the brightly lit horizon. What awaited my eyes both confused and impressed me. In the distance were approximately forty airships of different patterns and styles. I looked on admiringly until I noticed two of them looked like they had three rows of gunports on each side. Those looked highly militaristic and caught my attention instantly.
They did however have a gold and black color scheme to them that made them seem more social. As I looked on I began to notice that each airship had a twin that looked just like it. However the twined airships were keeping a distance from the mountainside while the ships that looked more prestigious seemed to move closer to Canterlot. Each ship had gunports, even the ones that looked like they were more for show. As I watched the spectacle unfold I began to realize something.
“Oh my god they’re here for me.” I spoke out loud.
Twilight who remained silent until now added some crucial information to the event. “Those aren’t regular ships. They’re royal airships. Each of those ships are completely dedicated to the royal families of Earth’s rulers.” She said. “And I recognize some of these ships. Griffins, Minotaurs…wait I think Horses as well. Look at the banners!” She said emphasizing the long flowing fabrics of different colors that flanked the bows of each ship.
From my vantage point I could see at least eight different types of flags. I began to slightly panic as I realized there would probably be a lot of people in each ship. And in that sea of people are the guys I’m going to meet very soon. Not only that, but there were a lot of them. I wanted to disappear. I was terrible in crowds and I even asked Blueblood to get me a mask for it. I’d look ridiculous with it on and I’d look ridiculous in front of all those people.
“Well my future looks bleak.” I said responding to my internal monolog.
Twilight looked to me with a curious glare. “What do you mean?” the others looked to me as well.
I tried to explain away my outburst. “Well they brought their good ships. And based on your reaction that doesn’t seem normal. So they’ve got something special for me, you know?” I responded.
She rubbed her little pony chin and hummed inquisitively. “You may be right. But we won’t know until we get there. So we shouldn’t keep them waiting.” Twilight made an about face and started trotting off.
Out of outright fear of meeting so many important people I quickly stalled for time. “Wait.” I said; which halted the group. “I’m going to do something real quick. Twilight can you stay with me for a little while? We’re going to be a little late, but it’s necessary.” I told her.
Twilight looked surprised, and her friends looked even more worried. “What!? Blake you can’t be serious! We need to be on time and to do that we need to go now!” She said anxiously.
The white one spoke up. “What could you possibly need that would warrant being late? I mean being late says more about a pony than their appearance! Surely you know that correct?” She asked disbelievingly.
“Oh thanks, that’s especially what I needed to hear while I deal with my fears.” I thought sarcastically. “Wait hold on. Rarity sounds like she might be so much better at dealing with these situations that Twilight, I think I should do the proactive thing and ask for her help.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be there. And we can let them wait for a little while. They’ll need to be settled in right? Besides I’m not ready. I need some things to prepare myself.” I said truthfully.
She gave me a pleading look. “Blake we need to go, now.” She said semi demandingly.
Applejack gave me an unsure look. “What the hay do ya’ll need? Can’t see you need much else than yer presence.”
I bit my lip. My shame of my fear of crowds was getting in the way of me for asking help. I didn’t want to be judged, but I also don’t want to be embarrassed in front of all those people. I quickly thought out my options, and came to the conclusion that admittance here is not only the right thing, but adult thing to do.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, well… I’m afraid of public speaking.” I admitted. I judged their gazes for a moment to get an assessment of their reaction. They all looked rather confused.
“The hay?” asked the rainbow maned Pegasus.
“Is that all?” added Applejack reassuringly. “Partner all of us have had those moments. It ain’t hard, just a little scary is all.” She explained.
Pinkie who was relatively silent till now spoke up. “Yeah! I mean even I had trouble talking to my first group of strangers who later became my friends!” she offered helpfully.
“Wait wait wait.” Interrupted Twilight, whom had her hoof on her head like she was deep in thought. “I thought you said you’ve been in situations like this before? You know talking with people who were in power and you’ve been doing it for years.” She asked suspiciously.
I thought quickly. “The only way to get power is to prove you’re trustworthy by spending time in each world with the Admins and other community members. It’s a lot like going to a new town and helping people out. If you’re good at it and things end up better because of your actions then Admins will start seeking you out for assistance or advice. You usually make friends with half the world’s staff before they ask you to join them.” I responded. “So very rarely do you deal with people you don’t know unless you’ve just arrived. And when you’re in a group of people who are in power, chances are you’re there because a friend invited you.”
Twilight rubbed her temples with a hoof. “Ok…So how many people have you ever dealt with at once?” She asked.
“Well we never actually met unless the world itself was in danger. And even if it was it would only take a single Admin to fix it. Now that I think about it, the only time a meeting would be called is when the world has already been destroyed and we’d have to rebuild. We go off of what we remember and some of us even get to create new life forms in the world. Different plant life and such.” I continued to lie conveniently. “And most of the time we only have thirty people working on it and even then we don’t talk to each other unless we’re interfering with another’s restoration.” I finished.
“Wow I’m really bullshitting the whole ‘from another world’ thing. Well it makes sense in a way, Admins reset the world to default…oh wait yeah we have ‘Admin Clean Up’ in utility menu! Oh wow I totally saved myself on that one. Of course admins can reset the world back to what it originally was…oh wait, what if I do that here? Will it reset all damage done? Or will it start the universe completely over?” I thought to myself. Not realizing I spaced out entirely.
“Blake!” Twilight’s shout brought me back from my thoughts.
I looked up to her displeased expression. “Sorry was thinking.” I said bashfully.
She lifted her eyebrow and gave me a questioning gaze. “About what?” She asked curiously. She shook her head back and forth. “Never mind that! We need to get moving. Just conquer your fears on the way there ok? I don’t like being late, and it’s not good for you to be late either!” She turned and started walking. I figured I couldn’t argue anymore so I continued the walk with her.
We all fell in line and I speed walked to a position next to Twilight as I’m the ‘guest’ of this trip. As we continued walking I was left to my thoughts as my companions began to talk amongst themselves. Twilight reserved herself for leading the group around the castle. I began reflecting on how to make my introductions and what to say. I first began plotting a lie. This is something I’ve been doing for the past few days as I try to fit in. Even that lie began to crumble a few hours before when I started admitting things.
Twilight looked back at me. “So what were you thinking about?” She asked curiously.
My response sounded unsure. “Just…” I paused. “How would you talk to a group of people that you don’t know? If I say the wrong thing, give the wrong impression; I could ruin the good thing I have here. Hell even if I’m just ignorant of their culture I can accidentally insult them and that would be worse right?” I voiced my worries.
Twilight looked like she was about to say something before Pinkie Pie interrupted her. “Weeell-.” She said in an upbeat tone. “I used to be afraid of strangers too! So I imagined that everypony was just a friend I haven’t made yet!” She told me optimistically.
I smiled at her and nodded my head. “Yeah, that’ll work. I just need to remember how fun it was getting to know all the previous admins. Hell, I talked to a group of my friends, just being funny too!” I said ecstatically. “Yeah, the time when Aaron first spoke to me. The time I got admin for the first time. That time when I argued with the owner of a server and he gave in, knowing he broke his own rules.” I started talking without mind of my company. I quickly realized this and changed the tone of my monologue. “The time I fought…” I stopped moving, which brought us to a halt. “A friend.” I finished.
As expected, no one commented on it. I looked back to see the expressions of mild concern on each of their faces. I looked back to Twilight and noticed she had very sad eyes. “Blake?” She asked.
I waved her off. “Yeah it was a long time ago. It’s not something I’m torn up about. He threatened the lives of millions, so it wasn’t hard to make the decision to fight him. I eventually had to put him down… you know… kill him,” I admitted quietly.
“WHAT?!” they shouted in unison. I wasn’t prepared by the torrent of questions they threw my way.
Twilight interjected, “Girls, stop!” All their questioning ceased as their attention immediately shifted to her. Throwing a serious look in my direction she continued, “Why–” she seemed to struggle continuing, “–would you kill your friend?”
I sighed. I didn’t know I’d have to explain this. I instantly knew I made a mistake, and had to quickly make up a lie. “Okay, my friend, the guy I killed…at the time, he wasn’t the man I knew. My friend wouldn’t put the lives of millions in danger for his own goals. My friend wouldn’t-” I looked away, trying to think of something to say, but it gave the added effect of a pause. “My friend wouldn’t betray me like that,” I affirmed, silently praying how fluid that sounded from my previous pause. “Anyway, I forgave him a long time ago. And I’d rather not talk about how it happened. I don’t want to remember him as an enemy I had to fight.” I then smiled sincerely. “I’m ok with just remembering the time we had as good friends.” I finished.
That seemed to calm them down a little. Twilight resumed walking us through the doors into the marble hallways of the castle. I followed quietly, and my companions took from my example as they were just as silent. I felt like trying to cheer them up, but I figured keeping them quiet will help me concentrate on a way to make up more lies. I actually felt bad about that decision, but it was for the best for me to keep my stories straight.
“Ok, I’m a being from another world that has the power to create and destroy. Well, I haven’t clarified that. But they think I’m a chaotic being that has the ability to use harmonic magic, whatever that is. All I understand is that it’s dependent on personality. I think. Oh right, anyway, should I threaten them? No, that won’t go well. Celestia told me to clarify that I won’t act in favor of any faction. Which I reinforced with my little speech earlier. But what more?” I thought to myself.
Moments of pondering later I came to the conclusion that the best way to approach this is diplomatically. Not taking risks by being excitable and hyper. And nothing that will say I’m building superweapons in Celestia’s back yard.
“Okay, so now that I’ve clarified a more diplomatic approach, how should I-oh right.” I looked down at my outfit just to notice how unprofessional I was dressed. My raggedy Rebel outfit made me look homeless. “Okay, new plan.” I accidentally said out loud.
“What?” Said Twilight as she continued to walk us down multiple hallways. Our companions had started up their conversation a few minutes ago. But now they hushed themselves to listen to me talk. It almost felt empowering if it wasn’t to judge my sanity.
“Oh, sorry. I was thinking out loud.” I told her.
“But what do you mean by new plan?” She inquired suspiciously.
Again I sighed out of anxiety and worry. “Honestly?” I said monotone. “I’m ok with the idea of meeting them, and answering their questions. But there’s a matter of their opinion of me when this is over. I want them to look at me and see a leader. Someone they will show respect too and understand their value. I also don’t want to appear weak or helpless, because I’m none of those things. And so far I’ve gone through a lot of ways to act in front of them. None of which accomplish all my goals.” I stated truthfully.
Twilight gave me a sympathetic glance, then Pinkie spoke up. “Act like they’re friends you haven’t made yet!” She exclaimed, bouncing in place. “Then you’ll get on their good side.” She winked once, smiling happily.
My smile met hers. “Yeah I know and thanks for that.” Then my tone changed and my smile faded. “But unfortunately their opinions carry all right weight. If I’m not able to get on everyone’s side in that room, or simply have their respect, both in me and my independence. I’m going to have to assert it by some other means, and without their support… well imagine them thinking I’m an immature teenager with the power to destroy worlds. They’ll try to control me to keep them safe, and I don’t want that.” My fears were laid out in the open now. It felt so weird having them like this.
Twilight nodded her head. “Yeah I see where you’re coming from. So what have you come up with?” She asked, and then she looked momentarily surprised before she gave me an accusatory glare. “And why haven’t you thought of this earlier?” Her tone was aggravated.
I smiled nervously, my hands fidgeting slightly. “Well, I haven’t thought of it earlier because I was assuming it would be with ambassadors. Now I’m not sure what’s waiting ahead, and from your description I can only assume I’m meeting with royalty now.” I assured her. “And as for my approaches, keep in mind I went through all the angles I could think of. The first one was aggression. If I was aggressive, they’d definitely not want to push me into associating with a country, and I’d have my freedom, but unfortunately that means they won’t trust me.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Twilight said in a deadpan tone.
“The next option was being lighthearted and sociable. That would give them the best impression, but it also risks making me look naïve. That comes with its own problems. Another option that I’m thinking of is being diplomatic. I could go in there and state my intention to be independent to them, and ask if they have any concerns that I can address. And while that’s my best choice, it also means I have to keep up that personality every time I talk to them, because if I break from character I may lose my credibility.” I finished.
The sound of someone clearing their voice caught my attention. “If I may interject?” I looked over to the white pony with purple hair. “You may be able to use all of these ideas.” She offered helpfully. “First thing you should know to gain a pony’s respect, is to try leading the conversation. Ponies will listen when somepony important or interesting is talking. When speaking, look around the room at everypony there to involve them in the conversation. Ask for their concerns regarding your stay in Equestria. But most importantly, be social in the beginning, introduce yourself, and keep them from interrupting you as you tell jokes and talk about yourself. Then clarify your position and what you hope to achieve. Then ask for their concerns.” She said proudly, smirking haughtily. “Although you should probably wear nicer clothes for this, but we don’t have the time for that.” She admitted with a crinkled nose.
I remained quiet in some slight awe at the white unicorn. “Huh.” I finally spoke. “Thank you, I’ll definitely think about that.” Her name wouldn’t come to mind, so I politely asked, “Excuse me, what was your name again?”
She held up her head proudly. “Rarity.”
“Rarity.” I repeated. “Well thank you, Rarity. You’ve given me a gift and I won’t forget that.”
“Not a problem dear. Just make it count.” She said encouragingly as she swished her hair.
“I will.” I affirmed. “Thank you.”
Facing forward I pondered this new advice. “Ok, first be friendly and funny, then clarify my hopes for the future. After that, ask for any concerns they may have. Ok that’s good, now what should I joke about?” I looked back down at my outfit. “Well I look homeless, maybe I can make light of that.” I thought momentarily. “Yeah and I can also juggle… heh. Nah. Maybe like all great comedians I should tell them how much I stressed about meeting them.”
Satisfied with my plan for the inevitable confrontation. I opened up my spawn menu and looked through my tools to select the “download” tool that lets me stockpile the mods I want. I let my inner fanboy in as I remembered an amazing mod. In the tool I scrolled down to Star Wars and found a lightsaber pack by Robotboy. I selected it for download, and while I waited I searched for PAC3 a mod that lets you change your appearance. Along the way I found Star Wars blasters and selected them for download as well. The star wars lightsaber mod completed its download by the time I clicked on ‘download’ for PAC3.
Switching to my tool menu I scrolled down from Download to the lightsaber mod I just installed. I selected the tool and began my task of trying to adjust my settings for it. Thankfully the settings were already set to default blue lightsaber at the proper length. I felt the urge to hold a real lightsaber right then and there, but I resisted. Instead I went into the mods lightsaber adjustment and attempted to change the length and width of the lightsaber. I ended up somehow successfully changing the color to green. I decided not to go with Red considering it seemed menacing, and no matter how much I fiddled with width or length I couldn’t get it to change without a keyboard.
I looked up at where we were going and noticed a set of two large double doors in a side room to our right. The doors were flanked by two guards. The closest two to the door were both unicorns with polished golden armor. I at first wondered what the room was for before I realized we made it to our destination.
“Is that where I’m going?” I asked Twilight nervously.
She looked back at me with a smile on her face. “Yes, it is. And we’re a few minutes late so go in immediately.” She said calmly yet assertively.
I grinned at her forcefulness. “What? No kiss goodbye?” I teased.
“Really.” She shot me a flat look, clearly unimpressed with the joke.
We stopped in front of the door and peered at it. “Welp.” I started. “End of the line. And guess what?” I said looking back at them. “I’m ready for it. All because of you guys.” I said honestly. “Well time to go in.” I said taking my first steps toward the door, letting my actions will away my fear.
Twilight however interrupted me. “Blake.” I stopped and looked back at her with a questioning glance. “The guards will open the door for you.” She said with a smile. “And good luck.” Her features showed she wanted the best for me. And I smiled in return.
“Thanks Twilight.” I responded. “Open the door please,” I told the guards.
“And thus the gates of hell…ARE OPE-is that a dragon?!”