//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Living with ponies, humans and pony up-ed humans // by Questionable Brony //------------------------------// Claire looked at Celestia with wide eyes, not sure what to think of her situation right now. One part of her said that this had to be some sort of dream, since anything else was impossible from her way of understanding of the workings of the universe. The other part of her told her brain that this was all very real and that she had to deal with this. "I assume you're rather confused. Believe me, when I tell you that you're not the only one." Celestia told the girl, placing herself on a chair, next to the bed. Claire only nodded in response. "Please, you don't need to be nervous." Celestia tried to reassure. "Let's take this slowly, shall we? How about we each introduce ourselves? I am Celestia, principal of the Canterlot High School and I have a little weakness for cakes." To this Claire facepalmed. "The internet stories were all true?" she asked aloud. "Internet stories?" Celestia asked. "N-never mind, ma'am." the girl quickly added. "I-I guess it's my turn." Claire cleared her throat. "Well, my name is Claire Hammond, I'm still a high-schooler, though I'm looking for a job and for what I like? Well....I guess you already found out..." she muttered the last part. "Umm...yes. About that..." Celestia bit her lip, not sure how to bring up this topic. "Never mind." she waved off. "We'll get to that later. How about hobbies, do you have any? I like to play tennis from time to time." The girl titled her head a little, before continuing. "I...um...well, I like to write stuff from time to time and...I...bought a book that's supposed to teach me drawing and stuff...you know, a guide." "I see. I find it quite interesting that you write. What kind of stories have you written?" "You know...stuff..." the girl shrugged and looked away. The principal didn't pry on the subject. "Hm. Okay. The only things I write is reports for the school board." The high school girl didn't reply anything, instead she continued staring off into space. "Ms. Hammond?" the woman tapped the girl on the shoulder who winced a little. "I'm sorry, if I startled you-" "No, no, it's fine. Really." "Alright. I think we better address the elephant in the room." Celestia readjusted herself in her chair. "About those DVDs we found. It means you know something about Sunset's homeworld." "...Yeah. Sunset...this world...your school is, well...it's where the movies of the series take place. Sunset turning into a demon, the sirens and the latest being...did the Friendship Games already happen?" "Let me guess." Celestia had a hard time not to deadpan. "Twilight turning into her own demon form. This world's Twilight from what the girls told me." Claire nodded. "Y-yeah. That. Midnight Sparkle did look awesome, though." Awesome? Celestia thought to herself. Wait a minute, this girl is between sixteen and eighteen and yet she watches what is obviously a cartoon? ... Did I really just describe myself as a cartoon character? Focus, Celestia. I need to help this girl first. "Are you alright? I mean, if I were in your shoes, I would question my sanity right now." "I...dunno. I mean, it feels so real, but..." she trailed off. "At the same time it feels so surreal." Celestia finished for her, putting her hand on the other girl's one. "We'll sort this out, don't worry." Claire looked up to Celestia's face for a few seconds, before looking down at her blankets. There was a moment of silence between the two, until Claire's stomach decided to make itself known. "Pinkie, I know I'm so gonna regret asking this, but why do you have heart medication stocked up in your hair?" Sunset asked. "Oh silly, I know everything about the plan of the ponies to conquer this world with their sheer cuteness. Don't worry, I'm on your side." Pinkie Pie gave Sunset a thumbs up. "I just have some for us, you know in case something like this happens." "...Why do I always have to ask?" Sunset sighed and pushed the button on the remote, continuing the DvD. "Urrgh, I ate too much pie." TV-Twilight complained. "Wow, she looks like she's pregnant." the comment slipped out of Sunset's mouth, causing the others to snicker. "Hmm, there is supposed to be a pegasus pony clearing the clouds." TV-Spike looked into the slightly clouded air. "Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she." As soon as those words left the pony Twilight's mouth, something fast rammed into her, splattering mud over the screen. "Well ah'm glad our Rainbow can't fly." Applejack said with a laugh. "What's that supposed to mean?!" "Oh dear, no!" Rarity exclaimed. "The poor dear's hair!" "Mane." Twilight and Sunset auto-corrected. "My very own patented 'Rainblow Dry!' No, no, don't thank me. You're quite welcome." The result of Rainbow's helping hoof, so to speak, resulted in the crew bursting out laughing, like the TV-Characters. "How about it Twilight?" Sunset asked. "Want a new haircut?" "NO!" Twilight shouted on top of her lungs. "Wow, Dashie is laying on a cloud!" Pinkie Pie pointed at the screen. "I heard it's very comfortable." Sunset informed the others. "Though only pegasi are capable of walking on clouds. Other pony tribes fall straight through." And there go the laws of physics. Twilight suppressed the migraine with pure will power. "The Wonderbolts! They're gonna perform at the celebration tomorrow. And I'm gonna show them my stuff." "THE Wonderbolts?" Twilight asked the pony Rainbow Dash. "Do they mean, the soccer team?" Rarity asked. "Nope. They're an aerial stunt-team, slash military branch in Equestria." the unicorn informed the others. Meanwhile, the Twilight on TV blew a raspberry. "Please, they'd never accept a pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day." "Hey, I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat." Pegasus Rainbow Dash retorted. "Proof it." "Oh, mistake." Pinkie Pie grinned. "Wow, look at her going." Spike leaned up, wagging his tail. He immediately fell of Twilight's lap, when they showed the awe-faces of the other Twilight and Spike. "Haha, they look hilarious." "You're fun to hang around. See ya later, Twilight Sparkle!" TV-Rainbow took off, into the sky. "Anyone else wanting to go to pony land now?" Rainbow said dreamily, looking at her back. "Decorations." Dragon Spike looked at a list. The camera went down some kind of decorated hall. "Hmm, it looks good, but...I don't know, something feels off." Rarity put a hand under her chin. "Maybe it's because it looks like a cartoon?" Fluttershy suggested. "I'm gonna be at the library in no time. Beautiful indeed." Twilight agreed. "Not the decor. HER!" The camera zoomed in towards a white unicorn, with lilac curly mane and tail. She was levitating a bunch of ribbons in front of her face. "No, no, no, oh! Goodness, no." "How are spines? Are they straight?" Sunset stopped the DVD. Slowly but surely everyone turned towards Spike. Rarity also put some more distance between herself and the dog. "What?" the dog asked. "Hey, I'm not into you humans! That's just sick of you guys!" ... "Let's pretend that never happened." Rainbow tried. "I have the feeling we're going to see more of this." Rarity sighed. "Multi-species relationships are fairly common all over my world." Sunset informed the rest. "Although, I've never heard of a dragon-pony relationship. Makes me wonder, how the children would look like." "Too much info there, sugercube." Applejack shook her head. "Just a moment please! I'm in the zone as it is." "She's totally you, Rares." Rainbow commented, throwing a bunch of chips into her mouth. "She looks lovely." Fluttershy whispered, leaning a little closer towards the screen and Rarity for that matter. "Whatever happened to you?!" "Oh, you mean my mane? Well, it is a longer story. I'm just here to check on the decorations and then I'll be out of your hair." "Of my hair? What about your hair?!" What followed was Twilight being tormented by the unicorn Rarity's fashion obsession. The girl's raised an eyebrow at the various clothes. Rarity made some comparisons to actual dresses she once made. They looked really familiar. When the Twilight on TV, told the other Rarity that she was from Canterlot, the white unicorn immediately began swooning over the place. "Canterlot is the capital of Equestria." Sunset explained to the questioning looks of her friends. "It's also a place where the rich and famous ponies live. Bunch of stuck up jerks, really." Twilight on TV in the meantime made a mad dash out of the boutique, levitating the love sick dragon with her. "Well, that happened." Rainbow commented, throwing in some nachos. "That was Rares, alright." "I am certainly NOT like that, Applejack." Rarity huffed. "You totally are." Her oldest friends replied. The sound of birds singing, got their attention back to the TV screen. Twilight and Spike hid inside bushes for whatever reason and watched a pegasus Fluttershy, who was conducting her bird choir. Human Shy's eyes began to sparkle, when she saw this, a goofy smile forming on her face. One of the birds was singing in a too high pitched voice. "Uhmm... excuse me, but your voice is just a teeny, tiny bit too high. Could you please tone it down a bit?" The bird nodded and Fluttershy flew back to her position. "Alright, everyone. Once more. A one, a two, a three-" "Hello!" Twilight shouted, scaring Fluttershy and her birds. The birds flew away in every direction. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare your birds." Fluttershy landed on the ground, nervously swinging her leg back and forth. The others laughed at Twilight's nervous grin. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am here to supervise the preparations of the Summer Sun Celebration. What's yours?" Fluttershy in return mumbled something incomprehensible. "What was that?" More incomprehensible mumbling. A silent "aww" could be heard among the girls. "One more time, please." "Fluttershy!" This time it was the human Fluttershy who paused the DVD. She was all of the sudden surrounded by her friends, who hugged her and promised her that everything would be alright. Pinkie Pie even proceeded to stroke her hair. The doctors allowed Claire to sit in the cafeteria with Principal Celestia. Apparently the damage wasn't that and from the looks of things, she was actually allowed to leave the next morning. This news sit not very well with Claire, because where was she supposed to go? But then, as the doctors left and the two were on their way to the cafeteria, the principal explained some things. "In case you're wondering, I took care of all the paperwork." "Oh! Thank you..." Claire knew she shouldn't have been so surprised, but she still was. "Also, until we have figured this situation out, you're staying with me and my sister. We have a spare room in our house." "Y-you'd do that?" Claire asked. "I mean, I....thanks." The girl realized that there was no alternative solution, other than the orphanage, which in itself would be troublesome enough with all the paperwork that would have to be done. Reaching the cafeteria, Celestia got herself simply a cup of tea and Claire got herself a soda and a sandwich. She realized a little too late that she didn't had her purse with her, but Celestia was so kind to cover for her. The woman led the girl to a nearby table, where they took seats. "Feeling better?" Celestia asked, as the person in front of her took a huge bite out of the sandwich. I did it again, didn't I? "Sorry. Just hungry." Celestia laughed in her melodic voice. "There's nothing to apologize for, Miss Hammond. If you don't mind me asking, I would love to know more about this TV-show. You understand, I hope." "Y-yeah." Claire blushed, swallowing the bread. She finished her sandwiched, before she began. "W-well, as you probably noticed...it's a show for little girls." Her face became 50 shades of red. "But...it kind of went out of hand, when it came out. This is the fourth time someone made a My Little Pony Cartoon, only this time someone put some thoughts and efforts behind it. I don't know how or when it started, but nowadays more than a million people are fans of the show. Most of them male and older than 20." Celestia choked on her tea, hearing that. The high school girl suppress a giggle and opened her soda can. "You're joking, right?" The principal asked, only to receive a smile and a shake of the head. Carefully the older woman placed her cup back on the table. "Aside from the weird fandom, the show is pretty much about teaching kids morals and seeing the characters grow. Most of the time, it's just about the characters slightly crazy, daily life with a few adventure episode every now and again. It's the morals and characters that draw the people to the show." "I'm sorry, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around this. I can understand liking a good story, even a cartoon, but this?" Claire shrugged, expecting an answer like this. She looked around the cafeteria, specifically she looked at the people. "Is something wrong?" Celestia asked. "Just...getting used to the fact that the people's skin are all in different colors. I guess you have no problems with racism." "Racism?" Celestia asked. "Could you please elaborate?" "...Wow. It's when you discriminate someone for their skin color. Like, on my earth our skin only varies from white to dark brown. Technology was faster developed in countries with white skinned people and as a result, slavery and generally looking down at black people was pretty common for a long time. Even nowadays it's still a huge problem." Celestia raised an eyebrow. "This sounds really silly to me." "Uh huh. The next thing she's going to tell me, is there's never been a world wide war." Celestia's big eyes were answer enough.