//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 // Story: New Beginnings // by Hiver //------------------------------// A drop hit my nose and I crossed my eyes before licking it clean. Chocolate milk. What the hell? Raising my head I peered up at the sky. Not seeing anything but some pinkish clouds. Shaking my head, I continued towards the publishing office. Stupid pegasi could at least put a lid on it if they are going to fly around with their drinks. Drip. What? I had just enough time to look up before the rain started to pour down and I scrambled into cover by the building. It was not meant to rain until this afternoon! ...Wait, that's not.. I licked my nose again. Chocolate Milk. It was raining chocolate milk. I spent a long moment goggling at the brown rain. What the fuck were they smoking in Cloudsdale and where could I get some? Ponies were panicking all around me, running for cover before staring at the strange weather with me. You would think that after the better part of a year on this world that I would be used to everything, but this was new. Say what you want about tornadoes and unplanned weather back on earth, but at least it don't rain chocolate. Feeling sorry for whoever had to clean this up before it started to smell, I started to dodge between covers. I still had a meeting to attend and hopefully find out exactly how many of those things had sold. XXXXXXXXXX My eyes were still wide with shock when I stepped out of the office building a couple hours later. The books had sold out. All five thousand of them. At a price of twelve bits each. Half of which that went into my account thanks to Luna having paid for everything in getting them printed and only the retailers getting a cut. I was fucking rich. I was filthy rich in fact. I had given the go ahead to print out another five thousand books which would take some of the money, but I would have plenty left. What in the world am I going to... A herd of pony sized rats with houseplants riding them, wielding eels rode past, chasing a acorn running for his life, waving a flag with an elephant on it. ...Wat... The sun zipped down behind the horizon, only to be replaced by the moon. I took a step back, blinking in the sudden darkness. What the fuck!? The moon did a little circle dance and then zipped back down, the sun rising again, this time from the north. What. The moon and sun both shot into the sky and were now dancing... was that a tango? Too stunned to do anything but step forward and look up at the spectacle, I tripped over my own feet. The cobblestone street was as soft as a pillow and I hit it face first. It smelled blue. Lifting my head off it I wondered if this was what a stroke felt like before I noticed that all other ponies around had just as much difficulty, looking panicked as they stuck close to the walls or heading inside to hide. It suddenly went dark, the sky turning bright white as the black stars seemed to suck in the light from the ground. Were Luna and Celestia... No. No Luna would not do that. I laid there considering that for a moment as it started to rain chocolate rain from the street up to the clouds. It had happened once... but no. No, I could not see Luna doing that again... and this didn't seem like a battle, more like... ...okay, who the fuck slipped the God-Princesses LSD!? This was way to chaotic for it to be anything else! I briefly considered the idea to try to get to the castle, but I quickly put that out of my mind as the cobblestones turned from soft to balloons and floated into the sky, leaving me laying on the dirt turned soap underneath it. Quickly scrambling out of the way and back into the building, I just about managed to avoid a ice skating octopus. There was no way I would be able to reach the castle. All I could do was find a corner that seemed safe and hope somepony found a way to unfuck the world. The fern at the other side of the room turned into cotton candy and started laughing at me.