Cause, Effect, and Consequences

by Coltsguy

Meet and Greet; However Short

"Are you sure about this?"

"Spike, if I don't do this I'm going to be nothing but a gibbering mess before I get on stage. I know Celestia is trying to make me get over my issues as a person, but this is an equivalent to shoving a lion cub off of a cliff and waiting for to climb it's way back up."

"That sounds terrible!"

"It is. It so is. And I'm not going to do any such thing. You don't tell the others unless it looks like something bad is going to happen... Or until afterwards when I can deal with the fallout. After all, It's easier to ask for forgiveness then for permission."

"I don't know..."

"I'll throw in a bucket of precious gems for you to eat."

"Deal!"

I shook his hand, and yes I call it a hand even if it ended with claws because that still constitutes a hand in my mind, and snapped my fingers. I felt... well, I really didn't feel any different. I didn't have any feelings of mine change any. Looking around didn't make for any noticeable change. As far as I could tell, I just felt... normal. Not normal, normal because I still had on a tuxedo and because the magic as well.

It would be tested soon enough as the carriage had arrived at the walkway leading to Canterlot Hall... Which really wasn't a hall at all. We actually stopped in front of the short road that led to the front of Canterlot Castle. It was then that I remembered that the hall they were talking about was that ballroom that was an annex of the castle. I knew this and yet I couldn't make the connection between them. It made me wonder about that spell that boosted my memory. I didn't really test it out, but Discord did say that it wasn't infallible. I would probably test it out later.

All of the ponies filed out and Spike and myself hopped down from the front to join them. I was quite surprised to see them all in some sort of dress especially considering that they hadn't gotten onto the carriage wearing anything at all. Them changing didn't really bother me considering that ponies don't traditionally wear clothes anyway. At least I then knew why they had brought the luggage now.

...Or apparently not as they ended up leaving the small amount of luggage they had on the carriage as I was told it would be transported to lodgings in another part of the castle. In retrospect, I guess that was the other reason why everyone else had brought something. It didn't matter much to me since I apparently had long distance teleportation ability. At least that's what Discord told me in one of his rare 'I don't feel like messing too much with you' moments. It just takes more magic the farther away I need to go. Sounds like it should've been pretty obvious doesn't it?

"Alright everypony," Twilight quickly announced to all of us, "let's make sure to have a good time while we're here."

"And none of that Gala stuff you all pulled last time," I added.

"Ya'll didn't have tah remind us ah that, ya know?" replied Applejack with a touch of discomfort.

"Honestly, I was just talking about the singing before you went in."

"Sure ya were sugarcube, sure ya were."

I grumbled for a quarter second before Twilight spoke up again.

"Well, like I was saying, let's all have fun and stick together so we don't have to worry as much about getting stuck in an uncomfortable situation."

A chorus of nods from everyone assembled and we took our short walk to the hall, er, castle and after seeing that it would be the castle I was figuring that it would be the same thing I saw when I left about a week ago. I was a mite surprised at the changes in there. A good deal of the decor was the same. The pristine white walls and the fancy stone tiles were very much the same as before as were the small statues and glass art in the windows. What was nice and unexpected was the undertone of blue that was everywhere. Blue banners, blue tables, blue food for some reason, blue trim on the bannisters, blue and blue and blue all over the place. I loved it.

Also something else that surprised me was the guests in attendance. It was mostly ponies, which was to be expected, and they wore all manner of fancy attire. Mingled into the ponies were several zebras as well as a few minotaurs and griffons. Not groups I was expecting, but I guess I should have. I kind of wanted to give the griffons a cheeseburger and ask what they thought of it, but I never got the opportunity.

"Fillies, gentlecolts, and assorted other guests of importance," a random armored pony bellowed, "I hereby announce the arrival of Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

All eyes immediately darted towards the entrance to see the new Princess of the realm. As all eyes were upon here, our entire group was then being scrutinized by our vicinity to her.

"I also wish to announce our entertainment for the evening; Seth the Human."

Wow that was a dick move. Not the fact that he did it, but the fact that he wouldn't have done it unless Celestia told him to do it. It pretty much got every set of eyes in the room to focus on me. It may not have bothered me at the time since I had disengaged my brain from my panic mode, but it also may have kept me from doing something that I regretted right then. I looked right up at the top of the staircase near the entrance and saw the remaining three princesses looking down at our little group. I narrowed my eyes at Celestia in particular.

"Not cool Celestia! If I could, I would take the sun and slap you upside the head right now!"

Jaws. Dropped. Everywhere. There wasn't a creature in there, with the exception of Celestia and Pinkie's crazy grins, that didn't look at me like I was insane for saying what I had just said. Of course, seeing all those eyes on me didn't work the same as it did before, but they still made me rethink what I said. After a few tense moments, I decided to follow that up.

"Then again, I think that might be a bit excessive so I'll think of something less violent to get you back with instead."

With a quick teleport, I reappeared right in front the trio and using some good ole chaos magic I made my arms stretch out gathered all three of them in a gigantic hug.

"But right now big hug for you three!"

Not a peep came from the alicorns as I gave them a quick, yet tight hug from behind. As I let them go, they all turned to address me.

"Do you think that your display was really necessary?" Celestia asked.

"Especially the violent part? I don't think that was needed," Cadence added.

"Twas most unnecessary if thou were to ask me," Luna finished.

"Well, it was a memorable entrance wasn't it? This may be happening at Celestia's behest in order to work some sort of lesson into my brain, but that doesn't mean that some kind of spectacle has to happen somewhere other than on stage does it?"

The princesses didn't have time to respond to that as the six ponies and one dragon I came with made it up the stairs to us.

"I'm so, so sorry Princess Celestia!" Twilight blurted out. "I didn't know he would do that!"

"It is quite alright. I know he meant what he said only in jest. Though it was quite surprising that he did it considering so many eyes were upon him."

Yeah, I didn't like the way she said that. I doubted that she knew what was going on, but I think she suspected that something was happening. She can be kind of... meh sometimes. If she did know, she didn't call me on it so I didn't mess with my spell. The rest I sort of tuned out since it was just the two groups catching up. What they would need to catch up on in the span of about a week of not seeing each other I have no idea. I could be sexist and say that it's just something that happens because women have entire psuedo-lives in the span of a few days, but I don't really feel that sort of thing might apply here the same as back home.

"Now that the pleasantries are wearing down, I believe that it is almost time for you to begin your performance."

"What?" I blurted out, followed by looking at my watch. "I thought I still had about fifteen minutes before then? I thought that there was this whole fake out plan for Discord and everything to get me here and-"

"What we mean," Luna interrupted, "is that we are giving you the time necessary to prepare yourself before thine performance. You sound very unappreciative."

"Well, it's nice and all, but I don't really need to prepare anything... Well, I do, but for me preparation is a snap. Literally."

"Very well then," Celestia said with a smile. "If you feel that you are ready to begin, then we shall begin early for you."

"Wouldn't that break some kind of decorum to go early?"

"Why, not at all. You may head to the stage and prepare while we shall announce that your performance is ready to begin," Celestia said with a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Fine, fine, fine," I said curtly. I followed by turning invisible. "I'll be on stage if you need me."

With that said, I teleported to the main stage to get everything ready. Heh, I laughed a bit internally at how easily these spells came now. I used to be unable to use more than one spell simultaneously unless it was a chaos powered spell. Now that I knew that all my magic was inherently chaotically powered in the first place I simply added a little energy to each one and bam! Work around is achieved.

Coming out of my musing, I took a good look around the stage. It was a decent sized stage; about the same size as one you would find at a small high school. With the instruments and everything I wanted I would have enough room for about 20 people. A little less than I was going to use, but that wouldn't really hamper me in a significant manner. I used my magic to pull the nearby curtains closed and started to change things to suit my needs. Since the place was empty other than the curtain, and not even any lights up above, those changes mostly consisted of me snapping my fingers and moving things around the way I wanted. It took a few minutes to get the look of things just the way I wanted and to conceal them with illusion spells, but I still had a minute to spare before Celestia began speaking.

"Fillies, gentlecolts, and all other honored guests! We welcome you all here at Canterlot Castle for a special musical exhibition to be performed for both your entertainment and to broaden your knowledge of cultural differences between species. Tonight's performance is by a rare species indeed. A species not seen by many in millennia. However, this fine evening one is willing to give you the experience of his musical culture first-... hand. Now, without any more delay, I present you with tonight's entertainer: Seth the human!"

There was a strong rumbling sound soon afterwards. Applause, obviously, but I was still unused to it. The rumbling too I suppose, wakka wakka. Still, I had a show to perform. I may appreciate this spell I cast on myself, but I knew deep down that I couldn't stay like that. With that in mind, I pulled open the curtain to greet my audience.

It was showtime.

Author's Note:

If anyone has any suggestions to improve Celestia's speech please let me know. It just feels wonky.

Comments

[Lucien Chance]

I feel like she should've had some sort of comeback, but that's just me.