Kyrie squeaked happy questions that greatly annoyed her brother. He was playing StarCraft II on the big screen of his computer while an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic she hasn't seen before played on the smaller screen.
"Kyrie, I'm the only Protoss player on my team: could you please be quiet?" Aidan whined while he warped in 20 stalkers into the opposing team's expansion area.
"Nope," she said, "I can ask questions, and I have questions. Like, who's that pony that gets shipped with Rainbow Dash? I know you're not--" A bright white light and a low hum interrupted her. There was a great and sudden whoosh of wind, and the siblings found themselves on a dusty dirt road. "--going to answer my questions," Kyrie finished, indignant not to be interrupted, even by magical or supernatural anomalies, like the one they had just lived though.
"Where are we?" Aidan asked, observing the landscape, "Everything looks far too colorful and bright, and when did matter have outlines?"
"I feel shorter, if that were even possible," Kyrie said, moving her hand to fix her glasses. She squeaked when she saw a flash of blue and orange in front of her. "I'm blue! I have hooves!" She shot up and circled around franticly. "I'm a pony! I'm ginger!" Indeed she was a little blue pony with creamy orange hooves and flowing orange mane and tail that had streaks of turquoise. She spun around excitedly to look at her brother, "You're a big green pony!"
Aidan began to smile and looked around. "We are ponies, we are on a dirt road, and if you look over there, you can see what looks like Canterlot, which means, we must be in Equestria." Aidan plopped down on his flank and started to observe his newfound pony body. He was a relatively big pony, with a dark green coat and a dark teal mane. His eyes were a bright blue, not that he could see his own eyes.
Kyrie was extremely jittery and grinned. "I'm ginger, wouldn't the Doctor be jealous?" She shared a joke she knew her brother would enjoy.
"Oh, yes he would." Aidan smirked remembering Doctor Who.
Kyrie bounded up beside him, "Can you lower your head?" Aidan lowered his head and wondered what she wanted to look at. "You, young sir, have a horn on that big noggin of yours," Kyrie said, trying to imitate Rarity.
Aidan stood up, took his right hoof and touched his head, "Oh... my... I'm a unicorn!" Aidan shouted with all of his pent up brony glee. "Come here," Aidan said to his little big sister. "you don't have a horn, but what you do have, is a very special set of wings!" Aidan exclaimed.
Kyrie bounced, "Do you think I can actually fly?" She started to try to move her wings. It was slow at first but she began to flap her wings; she jumped into the air and came down hard right on her rump. Aidan stood there trying to prevent himself from laughing. He gave in and started laughing his head off. She stood up and glared at him.
He stopped laughing and looked around again, "If this is Equestria, then the mane six should be here, hopefully in Ponyville. Maybe Twilight could teach me magic, and Dash could teach you how to fly." He turned his head back to Kyrie and giggled when she fell on her rump again trying to get airborne.
"It's not funny!" she snapped and looked down, rubbing her flank. She twisted around and looked at her cutie mark. "It's adorable!" she squeaked, circling happily. Kyrie's cutie mark was an orange four-leaf clover that was a quill; a line of sparkly ink trailed from the end. Aidan smiled and looked back at his flank... It was blank. Kyrie jumped up to look. "Aidan! You're blank! You've got a bare butt!" She bounced over to check the other side. "You really are. How can you be blank?"
Aidan frowned, "I don't know. My talent is computers, but I guess it makes sense since Equestria does not have much along the lines of computers or the like." Aidan sighed, "I guess I am a blank flank after all."
"Blank flank! Bare butt!" Kyrie taunted, cheekily. "So, we shall go on a quest for your cutie mark." she said decidedly. She started off, trotting happily down the dirt road, occasionally jumping, and trying to fly. "Come on! We're going to Ponyville! Come on Unibro! Cause I'm a Pegasister! You're a Unibro! Come on!" Kyrie said. She tried to fly again, plopping roughly onto her flank.
"Just call me a brony, please," Aidan whined, "Oh! That reminds me, we need to decide what our pony names will be. We can't use our real names here. We don't want to gain too much attention from the local populace, however cool it might be to be surrounded by curious ponies."
"Kloverfield," she spat off quickly. "I'm Kloverfield. What shall you be called?" She tried flying again, falling back to her rump.
"Well," Aidan thought, taking quite a long time as they walked. "I'm a big green unicorn. Cadmium Green is the color of my coat... Call me Cadmium Core," Aidan said feeling accomplished.
"Cadmium Core," Kloverfield repeated, "Cad it is," She nodded. "Now, let's go to Ponyville, or wherever we are close to."
o.O.o
Kloverfield frowned, "I'm seeing so many apple trees. I think we took the wrong direction on that road."
"Apple trees?" Cadmium asked with his pessimistic sarcasm, "I thought they were cherry trees." Cadmium looked around and spotted a big red farmhouse in the distance. "That must be the Apples' farmhouse. Sweet Apple Acres, We are on Sweet Apple Acres," Cadmium concluded. "To tell you the truth, I'm actually a bit nervous about meeting another pony let alone one of the mane six," Cadmium said, feeling unsure of himself.
Kloverfield grinned, "I love Applejack, except we should act like we don't know her. We should try to talk to Twilight Sparkle. She'll probably know why we got zoomed here." She started trotting towards the farmhouse. "Oh, there's a pony," Kloverfield nearly squealed, but stifled it. "It's Big Mac." She looked over her shoulder at Cadmium, "Let's go!"
She trotted tentatively towards the large pony feeling even smaller as she neared the bucking pony that stopped when she got close. "Um, excuse me;" Kloverfield asked nervously, "We're lost. We're looking for Ponyville. Could you help us? Please?" she added at the end.
"Eeyup," Big Mac said in his trademark monotone voice. "Head back on the path y'all just came, and you should trot right into Ponyville," said, shocking them with how much he had already said.
"Ah don't hear no buckin'," a female country voice was heard from behind them. Kloverfield and Cadmium both jumped at the sudden voice. "Ah don't reckon Ah know y'all. Are y'all new in town?" the orange pony asked.
"Um, y-y-yes, w-we are," Cadmium shyly responded.
"Well, Ah'm Applejack an' that there's mah big brother, Big Macintosh," Applejack introduced themselves, "An' y'all ar'?"
"Well," Cadmium started, "I'm Cadmium Core, and this little one is my older sister, Kloverfield," Cadmium introduced themselves.
"HAY! I'M NOT THAT LITTLE!" Kloverfield squeaked.
"Yes you are sis," Cadmium mocked.
"So," Applejack interrupted, "What brings y'all here to Sweet Apple Acres?"
"We were looking for Ponyville, or more specifically, the library," Cadmium stated, "I guess we went the wrong way."
"Now, why would y'all want to go to the library?" Applejack asked.
"We are looking for somepony," Cadmium answered.
"An' who would that be?" Applejack asked.
"We are looking for..." Cadmium didn't finish. "Why do I feel something on my back?" Cadmium asked to nopony in particular as he turned his head to face a red headed filly.
"Why don't you have a cutie mark?" the filly asked looking back at his flank.
"APPLE BLOOM! Get off of him right now!" Applejack yelled at the filly.
"Sorry about that, mister, Ah was just curious." Apple Bloom said, sadly looking at the ground.
"Now, Apple Bloom, don't go asking ponies questions they probably don't want to answer, and don't jump on their backs either. Actually, now that it's been brought up, Ah have never seen a fully-grown stallion without his cutie mark. Why don't ya have your cutie mark? If ya' don't mind me askin'," Applejack asked.
Cadmium stared blank faced at Applejack for a second before replying, "I'd rather not talk about that," trying to sound sad.
"Oh, Ah'm sorry Ah pried into y'alls personal life, Ah didn't realize..."
"It's ok, no harm done." Cadmium said, interrupting her.
Kloverfield rolled her eyes, but she spoke up then. "So, we just head back up this road to get to Ponyville? And the library's easy to find?" she asked.
"Well, Ah could just show y'all," Applejack said cheerfully. "Yer all probably lookin' fer mah friend Twilight, aren't yah?" she asked.
"Yes, we are actually," Kloverfield said with a smile. "We'd really appreciate it."
"Ah'd love to help y'all find yer way ta Ponyville, Ah need ta head ta town anyways," Applejack said as she began trotting to the front gate.
o.O.o
Kloverfield stealthily tried to fly behind the others, but she was still too clumsy for it. She turned giddy though when she saw the background ponies she had seen all over the town before in the TV show.
"Well, Ah'll leave you two here to go 'bout your business," Applejack said when they reached a building. "You can just go on in. If y'all need anything, don't hesitate to ask. Ah have a few errands tah run."
She bid them goodbye, and the siblings trotted into the library. "Hello?" Kloverfield called out.
"Finally! Somepony understands that this is a public library," A mare's voice was heard from upstairs. A violet unicorn trotted down the stairs, "I am Twilight Sparkle, how may I help you?" the mare asked, looking as if she had just stopped reading.
"Ha, just the mare we were looking for," Cadmium said with a forced smile on his face. "I am Cadmium Core and this little one is my older sister, Kloverfield," Cadmium introduced themselves.
"Do you really have to call me 'little one'?" Kloverfield asked. "I am two years older than you."
"Well, I can't call you the 'big one,' you are half my size, sis," Cadmium mocked again.
Kloverfield rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well, Miss Twilight Sparkle, we are in need of some assistance. We're new to Ponyville." She was about to say more until she saw Cad flash her a look.
"We need a bit of help getting started here," Cadmium cut in, trying to come up with a lie. "We've heard about you, being the Princess's student and all, and thought you might be able to help us."
"Oh, why me?" Twilight asked.
"Let's just say, I don't know any magic, and was wondering if you could teach me?" Cadmium asked.
Twilight frowned, "You don't know any magic?"
"No, small town," Cadmium sighed, "I was the only unicorn in our village, small to the point it was unnamed," Cadmium fibbed, so that Twilight would not ask for the name. "I was told by a passerby that you could teach me, but he didn't mention his name, though."
Twilight brightened, "I would love to teach you. Now, the student becomes the master," Twilight squeaked with her cornucopia shaped smile.
"Twilight, is the next Daring Doo book out yet?" a cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow mane flew threw the window; smashing into Kloverfield.
Kloverfield squeaked panicked, falling onto her rump and getting shoved into the bookshelves by the Pegasus's force. "Hay hay hay hay hay!" she squeaked as books fell onto both of them. "Owwww!" she whimpered crawling out from the books.
The pegasus laughed." 'Scuse me," she giggled. "Let me help you." She created a little tornado to suction the books up off the little pony.
Kloverfield scrambled up. "Those books are heavy," she said. "And you're fast," she said admiringly.
"Rainbow, did you really have throw the books onto me?" Twilight asked. Cadmium went over to help Twilight out of the books.
"Why, thank you Cadmium..." Twilight said giving Rainbow Dash a hard glare.
"Just call me Cad," Cadmium corrected her.
Twilight blushed then turned back to Rainbow Dash, "Would you like to explain to Spike why his hard work just went to waste?”
Rainbow smirked, "I just wanted to know if the next Daring Doo book was out."
"Well, it is, but I don't have it yet. It'll be here in about a week," Twilight informed dash.
"A week? That's too long. I'll just take the first one again," she flew up to the D's and pulled it out.
Kloverfield studied the pegasus as she flew, and she looked back at her own wings. She tried to move them like Rainbow Dash was doing, but after barely getting an inch above the ground; she fell back to her rump.
“Hay, did your wings get hurt or something?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Kloverfield shook her head. “No, I’m just too clumsy to fly. Every time I try, I crash.”
"From what I can tell, your not clumsy, Derpy is clumsy, you're just weak," Rainbow looked thoughtful for a second, "I’m gonna teach you," she said determinedly.
Kloverfield looked up at her and nodded. “Would you really?” She gave a cute little smile. “That would be so cool!” She bounced slightly, showing she was excited.
Twilight smiled, "OK, now that you two have teachers, what about this mess?" Twilight hinted, motioning towards the pile of book.
"Can't Spike just do it again, he is your assistant after all," Rainbow shrugged it off.
Twilight frowned and used her magic to put all the books back on the shelf, "They're not organized, but I don't think Spike will be too happy to find out that he has to rearrange them again."
Cadmium stood in amazement, "I think I found myself more then just a good teacher, I found myself an absolutely wonderful teacher."
Twilight turned to him and smiled, "Thanks Cadmium..."
"Cad is just fine," Cadmium corrected her again.
Twilight blushed again and continued, "Thanks, Cad, you just brightened my day."
"Well, I've a book to reread, see you all later," Rainbow said as she started trotting to the door.
Kloverfield nodded. “Nice to meet you. Thanks again.”
“No prob,” Rainbow Dash brushed off as she left.
Kloverfield looked back to her brother and Twilight Sparkle. “I hadn’t expected to get pulled into lessons too. Isn’t she the one who can do a Sonic Rainboom?” she asked, feigning ignorance.
“Yes, she is. You shouldn’t say too much around her. She can get rather prideful,” Twilight warned.
Kloverfield nodded. ”I won’t boost her ego too much. I have quite an ego myself.” She plopped down happily.
Cadmium huffed at his sister as he turned back to Twilight, "We still need a place to stay. Are there any good inns around Ponyville?"
Twilight smiled, eyeing Cadmium. "You and your sister could stay here in the library until you can get a place of your own."
Kloverfield smiled. ”We’d really appreciate it, Twilight Sparkle. Thank you so much.”
“Not a problem,” Twilight assured her. “I’m happy to help out.”
Kloverfield nodded. She looked around. “From what we’ve seen, Ponyville is a very nice place. Very quaint. Although it is certainly a hundred times bigger than our little town,” she added, remembering Cad’s lie.
"How long have you been in Ponyville, Twilight?" Cadmium asked, trying to get to know more about her.
"I've been in Ponyville since the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, so, about fourteen months, so just over a year."
"Oh, cool," Cad said, intrigued. "Didn't something happen? All we heard was that the Summer Sun Celebration was interrupted, something to do with those so called Elements of Harmony?"
"How do you know about the elements?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, the pony I told you about earlier told me about them," Cad fibbed again, reusing the same excuse as before.
"Any news like magic and the Sun Celebration travels around pretty fast,"Kloverfield mentioned.
Twilight looked out the open window, “Oh, my, it's already dark, we really should get to bed.”
“Twilight, where will we sleep?” Cad asked, hoping for a better answer then 'the couch.'
“I have a guest room upstairs you two can share,” Twilight responded.
“That would do fine. Thank you, Twilight,” Cadmium thanked Twilight.
“Don't mention it,” Twilight responded as she led them to their room.
o.O.o
Later that night
Twilight's Point of View
As I sat at my desk, I thought about those two new strange ponies in my guest room. 'Who are they really? Why me and Dash? Why is Cadmium Core so big? And why when I'm around him, I feel happier and stronger?' I looked at my sleeping assistant, 'I need to write to the princess.'
“Spike, wake up,” I shook Spike quietly.
“Twilight, What?” Spike asked, still half asleep.
I levitated a quill and piece of parchment into the room, “I need to write to the princess, can you send the letter when I'm done?”
“Couldn't you have waken me when you were done?” Spike asked, getting out of his bed.
I gave him a sheepish grin then began writing...
Dearest Princess Celestia,
Just recently, I have met two new ponies by the names of Cadmium Core and Kloverfield. Cadmium Core is a large unicorn stallion, and his sister is an extremely small pegasus pony, that can not fly. I am noticing things about them that do not seem normal. I have found that they know a little to much about the elements. What seems the most peculiar, is that Cadmium Core does not know any magic and he does not have a cutie mark. They say they're from an unnamed village, but I highly doubt that. I have offered to teach Cadmium Core magic, and out of coincidence, Rainbow Dash has offered Kloverfield flying lessons.
Another concern, this one frightens me, When I'm around them, I feel as if they know more about me and my friends then they should, not to mention I've only known them for less then a day. Also, when Cadmium Core is around me, I feel slightly light headed.
Awaiting your response,
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle.
I rolled up the letter and stamped my seal onto it; then handed it to Spike and he sent the letter.
“Come on, Spike, we need to get some sleep.”
o.O.o
In the Guest Room
As soon as the siblings were alone, Kloverfield faced Cadmium. “What are you doing?” she asked, clearly irked, “You're lying to them! We need help, and I'm sure they're onto us. We don't act like other ponies. Why not tell her?”
“First off, we needed to find Twilight, that is why I lied to Applejack. Second, we needed a place to stay. We just need to rest. We can't think clearly when we're tired. I will tell her the truth tomorrow. I'm sure she's already sent a letter to the princess by now,” Cadmium responded, defending himself.
“I understand why you lied to Applejack, and I'm OK with that, but why couldn't we tell Twilight? I'm sure she'd be more then happy to help us, and it's easier to be trusted when we tell the truth upfront. How trustworthy are we going to look tomorrow when you go and say 'Oh, good morning Twilight. We lied to you last night. We're actually humans, and have been watching you and your friends on a thing we call TV?'”
“Don't think like that. Over the many Human in Equestria fanfics I've read, there's one thing in common, Twilight should understand. We were trying to protect ourselves. True, this is real, the fanfics were based on the writer's knowledge, but we didn't want to be considered a threat when Rainbow was here. Just let me talk to Twilight, and we should be fine,” Cadmium assured Kloverfield.
Kloverfield plopped onto the bed, “Fine, but remember, I was the one who wanted to tell the truth upfront,” She said, “Something about this seems weird, like everything is fitting together too well.”
“I know, when I was in Twilight's presence, I felt a slight tingling; I can still feel it now. I don't think it was pure coincidence that Rainbow crashed into you. Something's off. When Twilight used her magic to put the books back on the shelves, I felt something like a string pulling at me; it felt like something was draining from me, but as soon as it felt depleted, more 'whateveritwas' replaced it,” Cadmium said, pondering what he had felt.
Kloverfield promptly snorted, “I think you've got a crush on Twilight.”
“Oh, Ha, Ha... Shush. Just get some sleep,” Cadmium said brushing her off, knowing now that he really did like Twilight.
She smirked and curled up in a corner of the bed, pulling a blanket awkwardly around her. “I didn't know you could use hooves like this,” she said, showing that she was somehow holding onto the edge of the blanket in one hoof.
Cadmium smiled, “Well, this is new, just get some sleep, OK?” he yawned as he got into the other side of the bed.