//------------------------------// // LiveChat.exe // Story: pony.exe // by Blue Blaze {COMET} //------------------------------// “Rrrgh!” David let out his frustration under grit teeth, feverishly scratching his head as he arched his back, leaning his seat away from the monitor, the screen filled with words. He got up out of his seat, grabbing the white coffee cup off the desk and bringing it with him to the window. The cord of his headset extended due to a new purchase that left a long, looping wire sitting at the foot of the computer case. With some effort he lifted the window and propped it open with the spare block of wood that sat below the window against the wall. “What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. David turned around to his computer, and her window automatically maximized itself. They still didn’t know why it did that. “Ah, writer’s block,” he explained, leaning onto the windowpane and bringing his attention to the outside. “This short story is kicking my butt. I wish my professor wouldn’t assign such an odd subject to write to.” “What is he having you write about?” “Crime fiction.” “Well, that’s not so uncommon.” “I haven’t really touched anything like it before,” David said. “It’s difficult to put a mystery onto a page and make all the characters set up so that everything matches in place and makes sense.” “Why don’t you do some research? Maybe that’ll give you a good idea on how to write it.” “That’s what we’ve been doing all semester. We’ve been going through all the big murder novels, from new to old. I’ve got an idea, and I’m taking several hints from those novels, it’s just…” David struggled to find words. He took a sip from his steaming cup. “Augh, I just can’t do it,” he concluded. “Not right now at least. I’ve been on this for a few hours anyways. I need a break.” “You should at least save your work before you stop,” Twilight pointed out. David for the moment was at odds. His head swiveled back to the computer screen. “How do you know about that?” Twilight cheekily stuck out her tongue with a grin beneath it. “I’ve gotten a bit through those e-books you’ve given me. Here, let me do it for you anyways.” David’s eyes widened. He immediately turned around and practically leaped to his keyboard’s side, staring at the document beneath Twilight’s window. “Did you actually?” “Yep,” Twilight acknowledged with a proud smile. "Saved." He stood up straight and stretched his arms. “That's incredible, Twilight! I can't believe you've gotten so far in so little time! How long has it been since I've given you those books, anyways?” Twilight sunk into her sitting space. “Three days. It's not much, though. I've still barely scratched the surface of what everything has to offer.” “That’s ok. This is a huge step up in the right direction anyways, and a huge step away from not shocking me through the mouse.” "Hey!" Twilight pouted. David had a chuckle to himself and went back to the window, drink in hand. He leaned back out the window, staring down, his eyes losing focus until the growing green grass at ground level became an unidentifiable sea of swaying emerald waves. He held his cup in both hands, rubbing his fingers together beneath without being aware. His grin reset. “Good thing she can’t see my face when I say that. It’s not that I can’t think of what next to write,” he thought. “It’s just that I can’t think about anything else except…” David looked up into the western sunset, the sky ablaze with orange tearing up into the lower atmosphere and beyond, the canopy of trees overlooking the street painting veins of nature with its branches along the horizon. He leaned onto the windowpane with one arm across the wood and the other holding the coffee mug in his hand, the surface of the liquid visibly steaming. The air cooled steadily as the sun made its decent, bringing all the life and sounds of day to a calm. “Tell me more about your world.” “What?” Twilight asked, startled. “Tell me more about where you came from. Equestria. Tell me about that.” “Uh, well,” Twilight started. “Where should I start?” “At the very beginning. Start from there.” he suggested. There was a moment of thinking from Twilight. “Alright,” she said, clearing her throat after. “The land of Equestria, known to our ancestors as Rainbow Valley, was founded around two-thousand, five-hundred and seven years ago. It was dubbed ‘the land of the ponies’, as it was found under a coalition of the three pony races working together. The ponies of the Unicorn, the Pegasus and the Earth all signed a treaty to establish peace and harmony between each other. The founding of Equestria was helped by the presence of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the two Royal Sisters that arrived in Rainbow Valley soon after the ponies found it.” “Jesus, this is going to be heavier than I thought,” David mused. Twilight continued. “The capital of Equestria, Canterlot—” David had to snicker at that, “—was originally located within the Everfree Forest, which was at the time a forest of flourishing nature that had the uncanny ability to produce fruit and vegetables at an accelerated rate. It was also a safe location, as most of the wildlife inside the Everfree was tame and friendly, and the thick forest border kept invaders out for several centuries. Seven hundred years after its founding however, a mischievous spirit named Discord attacked Canterlot.” “This feels like a mixture between a kid’s story and a grand fantasy tale,” David had to note. “With the powers of the Elements of Harmony, the Royal Sisters managed to push back against Discord’s assault and encase him in stone. However, Canterlot was lost, and Discord’s chaotic magic cursed the Everfree Forest to become wild and untamed, removing the ponies’ abilities to keep the nature in check. Dangerous creatures began appearing throughout the wood and Equestrians had to flee from their capital.” The wind rustled David’s short hair. “Yeesh. That’s rough.” “Mm hmm,” Twilight agreed. “The ponies quickly found a place to hold their capital, though. New Canterlot found its place on the side of Big Mountain, which was later renamed to Canter Mountain because of the influence of the capital.” “On… On the side of the mountain?” “Yes, directly on the side. Canterlot’s platform was built straight out from the mountain face, and it took the combined ability of the Earth Ponies’ understanding of construction and materials, the Pegasus Ponies’ smarts and weather control and the Unicorn Ponies’ magic to complete the city. Thus, New Canterlot was found, although as the ages passed ponies forgot about the old Canterlot and simply dubbed New Canterlot as Canterlot.” “Sounds like it can be a silly place at times.” he said, holding back a snicker. Twilight tapped her hoof on her chin. “Perhaps sometimes. I grew up in Canterlot, and I can testify to the dumb shenanigans that the aristocrats get to in the politics of things, but Canterlot holds a special place in my heart.” “I can get behind that,” David commented. “So you were saying that you grew up in Canterlot. Where do you live now?” “I live in a village west from Canterlot called Ponyville. It’s a quiet, quaint place with rolling hills and fields of apple trees that sits at the border of the Everfree.” “Really?” David had to question. “Isn’t that kind of dangerous?” “Well, when it was first established there were two oversights: The fact that the town center was nowhere near Everfree Forest made the threat seem small, but then the border of the town extended to the threshold as time passed, and they also simply forgot about the forest.” “How could they forget something as important as that?” “Well, my friend Applejack originally told me the origins of Ponyville, as it was her grandmother that help found the town. When I asked her grandmother the same question, she just said that they forgot about the forest. She said that it was more important to hold down the bonds that they made around the land that became Ponyville rather than worry about the dangers that the Everfree presented.” “That seems both dumb and smart at the same time.” “The Everfree’s not that dangerous, really,” Twilight vouched. David took a sip of his coffee. “Sure, the odd monster stumbles out of the brush every two months or so, but it’s nothing that the town can’t handle. It becomes evident how powerless the creatures of the Everfree are when they aren’t in their natural element. The chaos magic of the forest normally gives them strength, but once that disappears and their fuel is replaced with standard magicks in the air, they lose much of their ability to combat and cause destruction. If anything, it’s us that creates the most havoc in the town, not Everfree Forest.” “Uh,” David intelligently muttered. “Us?” Twilight laughed nervously at the other end. “Eh, there are a lot of strange things that occur around my friends and I. We’re kind of important for Equestria, and as a result trouble seems to find us in one form or another. We’ve been a few adventures here and there.” David blinked. “What makes you and your friends so important?” “We have the ability to wield the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight replied. “I thought you said that the princesses had them?” “They did, but a thousand and one years ago, Princess Luna was corrupted by something called The Nightmare. Princess Celestia had to use the Elements in order to prevent destruction worse than Discord could have ever conducted, but the loss of harmony between the sisters rendered them both unable to use the Elements. My five friends and I picked up the Elements a thousand years later.” “What are the Elements, anyways? Some kind of super-weapon?” There was silence from Twilight’s end. David curiously turned around and took a look at his monitor, Twilight’s face on the corner of the screen frozen, with eyes wide open and jaw agape. “Twilight?” he asked. “Sorry,” she responded finally with a huff. “I’d just never heard the Elements to be referenced that way. Yes, they do have extraordinary powers, but those powers only combat evil. The Elements can’t touch anything that is good; they only refresh them. They’re w-weapons, I guess, but only to those who want to see them destroy and cause misfortune, which they wouldn’t.” “I guess that makes sense. They wouldn’t be called the Elements of Harmony if they didn’t work for the forces of peace and tranquility.” “Exactly,” Twilight affirmed. “So how did you and your friends get your hands on such power?” “Hooves, David,” Twilight politely corrected. “And we found the Elements during the return of Nightmare Moon, or rather, corrupted Princess Luna. She had come back from being trapped in the moon by Princess Celestia a little bit more than a year and a half ago and my friends, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all went out to stop her. We ended up finding the Elements, figured out how to use them and stopped her from invoking everlasting night.” “Jesus. That sounds nuts.” “You don’t even know the half of it. At the time, we didn’t even know each other, Rainbow Dash thought I was a spy for Nightmare Moon, and I didn’t even want to be in Ponyville. I was researching the legend of the Mare in the Moon at the time, and I tried to warn Princess Celestia, but instead of doing anything about it she relocated me from Canterlot to Ponyville in order to supervise the Summer Sun Celebration, a holiday celebrating Princess Celestia and her power over the sun during the longest day of the year.” “Her power over the sun?! Wait a minute. Is the royal line of Equestria always named Celestia and Luna? I thought Celestia and Luna were the original Queens?” “David, Princess Celestia and Luna are immortal. They’ve been living for longer than anypony can account for, and were even young adults when they helped found Equestria.” David spat out his drink. “What?” “They’re goddesses, David. Princess Celestia has control over the sun and the day and Princess Luna keeps a hold on the moon and the night sky. That’s why we hold the Summer Sun Celebration and the Winter Moon Celebration: It’s to express our gratitude to our rulers for their work and efforts in keeping Equestria whole and at peace.” “What? But that makes no sense! How can someone move the sun and moon?” “They use magic. In fact, the princesses have arcane capabilities only unicorns can dream of. Although, there have been conflicting record on whether or not the princesses still raised the sun and moon before they were crowned, but they don’t want to answer that. That’s also a part of why they were appointed rulers of the land. Their power is matched by no one except for the strongest of spirits.” “What the heck? That’s not even how the sun and moon work! The Earth revolved around the sun, and the moon revolved around the Earth! You can’t control anything about that! They’re too massive and too far away!” David accidentally dumped some of his drink when he tilted his hand too far. “Maybe in your world, David,” Twilight quietly suggested. “But in mine, that’s how things work.” David gave out a sigh. He said nothing, staring at the ground and collecting his thoughts. “Ok. Sorry Twilight. This all seems a little far-fetched to me, but I think I get it. Immortal royalty aside, what happened after you found the Elements? I mean, they sound kind of important to me, so were you and your friends put into big castles or something to be protected?” Twilight let out a snicker. “Oh no, David. We all stayed in Ponyville – well, after I decided to stay in Ponyville instead of going back to Canterlot – and everything just kind of smoothed out from there. I got to stay in the Ponyville Library, and we didn’t even need to use the Elements until next spring.” “Isn’t that kind of dangerous? I mean, you six are imperative to Equestrian security, right? If you suddenly couldn’t use the Elements anymore, wouldn’t that be really bad? Where did you even keep the Elements, anyways?” “Princess Celestia at first kept the Elements in Canter Castle under her protection, and told us she would summon us when they needed to be used, or they could be sent to me via Dragonfire magic if needed in short notice. However, when Discord returned we had a bit of trouble when he stole the Elements from right underneath us. After that the princess decided to let me keep the Elements in the library underneath a copy of the book that I had originally used to pinpoint Nightmare Moon’s return: The Book of Harmony.” David frowned. “That still isn’t very convincing. What if something terrible happened to one of you? Wouldn’t that mean that you can’t use the Elements anymore?” “Nothing too bad ever happened to us, David. There was never a situation where one of us was physically unable to use the Elements. Even when Rainbow Dash had her wings broken she was still able to use her Element if needed. The only condition where we wouldn’t be able to use the Elements is if one of us dropped off the face of the planet.” David straightened his back, eyes widening. His cup was empty. “Oh,” he simply stated. “Yeah, that’s another reason why I need to get home,” Twilight explained with a small sigh. “That’s still a work in progress, though,” David said, turning around and putting his mug onto his desk. He closed the window and sat back in his office seat, swiveling around until he was facing the computer. Leaning to the right, he reached down into an old, low bookcase, pulled out a purple binder, placed it on the glass surface in front of him and began to browse through the pages. “I mean, we have gotten quite a bit of progress done since you shot static at me, but—” “Not this again,” Twilight complained. “Heh,” David chuckled, the corner of his lips pulled up. “But we haven’t found anything along the realm of ‘sending one entity to another dimension’. Well, besides your theories, of course, but we have nothing to test those on, right?” “Right,” Twilight affirmed. She turned her focus away from the camera for a moment to check something to the right, her horn lighting up as she stared intently into the distance. “There’s nothing else besides me to send, if we were to try and send something to a different plane of existence. From what I remember of Night Fire’s studies, we can theorise a location and with enough arcane power sent an item there, but it would be hard to gather data on it because it would need to be able to come back to its original location, which means it needs its own Aura, which means it either needs to be living or—” “Yep, Twilight. Got it right here in my notes,” David stopped her, lifting up the page to the screen. After a delayed moment of realization he put the binder back down on the desk as quietly as possible. “How far have you gotten on those e-books?” "I'm about halfway through the first seven," Twilight said. “Holy smokes, it’s only been three days, Twilight!” She grinned sheepishly. “I know. I’m a bit of a fast reader. And you know, I have a lot of time on my hooves to do things like read, not that I’m complaining, of course.” David’s lower lip pressed against his upper. “Sorry.” “No, it’s fine,” she reassured him. “I know you’re trying your best to keep me comfortable. The music you’ve been playing has been, uh, refreshing, and I really appreciate you keeping me company when you can.” He sighed. “But my music must sound a bit odd to you, doesn’t it?” “Yes, well,” Twilight had to admit. “Some of it seems a bit foreign, yes, but a lot of the ‘electric’ music that I’ve heard is similar to somepony’s works that I know of.” David had to raise an eyebrow at that. “Really?” “Yeah. There’s this famous DJ that lives in Ponyville, Vinyl Scratch, who plays music much like what I’ve heard from you. She’s out of town most of the time, but from the events that she’s played in it’s fairly similar to what I’ve heard.” “But that makes no sense!” David was arguing in his mind. “I thought computers were barely in the Pony world!” “And,” Twilight continued, “She lives with another musician, although not quite as famous. The two of them do complement each other very well, though, and…” David placed his chin in his hands, leaning on his desk with his eyes staring above the monitor, lost from the rest of the evening to Twilight’s elaboration. “Are you sure you’re going to be ok?” David asked. “Yep, I’ll be fine. This’ll be a first, and if it goes well then we can do it again and it’ll be nice to have a few hours to myself once in a while.” “You won’t be lonely?” “I’m sure your music will keep me company just fine,” she reassured him, giving a warm smile at the camera. “Ok,” David finally gave, standing up from his chair and turning his monitor off. “I’m unplugging the mic now. I’ll see you in the morning, Twilight, to turn the computer to sleep.” “Got it. Goodnight, David.” “Goodnight, Twilight,” David finished. He bent down, pulled the plug of his headset out of the jack and slid the equipment off of his head, placing it on the desk before the keyboard. His index finger pulled his glasses off, and he rubbed his eyes, letting out a yawn. A quick check from his phone told him that it was way too late at night to stay awake any longer. He glanced at the window, reminding himself to close the blinds before he got caught by Mr. Sandman. There was a tiny stack of somewhat messy papers laid out to the left of his workspace. David reached and grabbed the sides of the first few, straightening them. As he flipped through the contents, pinching between two pages to separate stuck paper, he reviewed the words on the page. It still befuddled him. That work wasn’t for Twilight, wasn’t for school, but was for his interest, and the conversation that he had from Twilight made him frown as his eyes scanned the pages. His thoughts weren’t relevant anymore. Notes on various thinking and theories were scattered along the lines. Some articles on artificial intelligence and viruses were included in the package. Several of the printed pieces had lines highlighted, phrases circled in red pen and meanderings written on the sideline. He bit his bottom lip. He had figured he was getting nowhere, and that the more he moved forward the more confusing and complex everything seemed. With the pages sorted and straight he put them back in the open purple binder to the right on the desk and the binder back where it belonged. He sat straight up, put his hands on his hips and made one conclusion: She was simply too alive to not be real. “I’m going to have to get a second opinion on this one,” he muttered to himself, lifting his phone and flipping it open, pressing his thumb to the touch screen to send a text.