Lessons from Another Dimension

by HolyOrdersOtaku

Prologue: Arrival

Prologue: Arrival

The sound of tea being quietly sipped echoed sweetly throughout the throne room of Canterlot Castle. The night court ended some time ago, and Princess Luna was relaxing after a hard night’s work, waiting for six o’clock to roll around so her elder sister would awaken and raise the sun. She glanced outside through a window and marveled at her own handiwork in the night sky, and even began plotting in her mind what sort of constellations she would design tomorrow night.

And thus, the princess of the night felt content, thinking that not a thing in the whole world could spoil this night. Once the day came and she was in bed she didn’t really care what happened at that point; she would be in bed, after all, and that would be Celestia’s responsibility. Not to say she didn’t truly care at all, but if nothing was too bad she could stay in bed.

But, as she stared out of the window into the sky, she saw a bright light explode from the maze in the royal gardens. She gave it a curious look, thinking it may have been Discord playing around. “Oh goodness,” she said. “Why won’t he just stay asleep at this hour? He better not be causing any trouble.”

“And, pray tell, who are you talking about, little Lulu?” Discord said as he flashed into being behind her. It didn’t faze her; she had grown accustomed to his antics. She did, however, not like when he used her nickname.

She sighed, putting her nickname out of her thoughts. “What are you up to now, Discord?”

“Oh, just investigating that bright light in the maze. I thought it might have been you goofing off, so I came here to check in and see if you were still in the throne room.”

“I’ll have you know I don’t goof off,” she retorted.

“Really? Then what about that whole Nightmare Night fiasco in Ponyville last year? I’d call that goofing off,” Discord smiled his trickster smile as he spoke.

Luna was about to give him another retort when another statement he made stuck in her mind. “Wait. You said that you were investigating that flash, and you thought it was me? It wasn’t you?”

Discord shrugged. “I’m asking you, aren’t I?”

Luna stared out the window again in thought. She looked at the clock; it was ten till five in the morning. “Go wake Celestia and tell her to meet me in the maze. I’m going to go check it out myself.”

“Why should I wake up Little Miss Sunshine from her sleep?” Discord asked.

“Because I asked you to, that’s why.”

Discord smiled. “Only for you, Lulu.” He snapped his fingers and he was gone in a flash.

Luna smiled. “That’ll teach him to never tease me. No pony wakes Celestia an hour early and gets away with it.” She beamed proudly at her own actions and left promptly, flying out the doors and into the gardens. It was at times like this where she was grateful to have wings, being an Alicorn and all that. Walking through this maze would be a real pain in the flank to navigate, and she was certain that the flash had originated from the center.
It didn’t take her long to arrive at her destination, and when she arrived she wasn’t entirely sure and what to make of any of what she saw. It looked as though an explosion had occurred. Some of the dirt and grass on the ground had turned into glass from being super heated, and what wasn’t glassed was burnt black and smoking. In the center of this mayhem was a single male pony, lying unconscious. “Oh, no!” Luna cried as she ran over to check on the stallion. His coat, strangely enough, wasn’t burnt or damaged, and it still held its color of light blue. His mane was a deep purple, and on his flank was a musical instrument; a bass guitar. Luna didn’t recognize him. At first she thought it was one of the night grounds keepers who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she had never seen this stallion before.

A flash of light caught her attention and she Discord materialize. “Sheesh! It’s only five in the morning! It’s not that different from six! That’s the last time I wake her up in an emergency!” He paused. “This is an emergency, right?”

“It would appear so,” Luna replied, motioning with her head at the out cold stallion. “I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him before.”

“Hmm,” Discord said quietly to himself.

The sound of wings flapping came to their ears, and they both looked up to see Celestia gently flying down to meet them. “What’s wrong, Luna?” Celestia asked, concerned.

“Why do you seem so nice now, Celestia? You were a murderous demon when I woke you,” Discord teased.

“Yes, I’d imagine that’s why Luna sent you to wake me, Discord. She knows how I get when I haven’t my full night’s rest,” she turned to face Luna and caught sight of the stallion. “Oh my!” she said, shocked. “Is he okay?”

Luna shook her head. “I haven’t a clue. I haven’t touched him, in case he may be severely injured, but from the looks of it he may be okay.”

“Discord, teleport us to the castle’s infirmary.”

Discord shrugged. “Yes, your brightness!” He snapped his fingers and they were no longer outside, but in the clean, white room of the infirmary. The night staff, preparing to change shifts to the day staff, were all shocked.

“Don’t be alarmed,” Luna said. “We found this stallion. Is he okay?”

A nurse walked over and inspected him. “He seems to be okay, say for the fact the he’s unconscious.”

“That’s good to hear,” Celestia said. “But I want to know who he is, and why he’s unconscious in my gardens.”

Luna gasped. “He’s waking up! He might be able to tell us.”

They looked over at the stallion, whose eyes were slowly opening. His eyes were of a darker shade of purple than his mane, and they held a sense of grogginess to them. He looked around for a moment awkwardly, assessing his surroundings. “I’m…surrounded by horses. In a doctor’s office no less.”

Celestia looked at Luna confused and turned back to the stallion. “Are yo-“

“Holy shit!” the stallion yelled as he jumped to his feet in shock. “It talked! It talked!”

“What do you mean by calling my sister ‘it’?” Luna demanded.

Then the stallion calmed down. “Oh, right! This must be a dream! Right. Talking horses don’t exist. What was I thinking.” Discord laughed. The stallion looked over at him, shocked at first, then back to his calmness. “And I don’t even know what the hell you are. Some kind of demon?”

Discord laughed harder. “No, but good guess. I’m a draconoquis.”

The stallion shrugged. “Eh, tomato-tamahto.”

Celestion cleared her throat. “I’m afraid that this is no dream, my good stallion. This is real. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Stallion?” he asked. Luna nodded and asked the nurse to bring him a mirror. She returned and the stallion got a good look at himself. His eyes went wide, but then he calmed down. “Now, if this wasn’t a dream, I’d feel pain, right? So, do something that would usually hurt a lot. Go ahead!”

Luna shrugged. “Sister, I don’t think he’ll accept his situation until we actually hurt him.”

Celestia sighed. “Just don’t accidentally kill him.” She turned to Discord. “Earmuffs.” She said. Discord nodded, and snapped his fingers. Earmuffs appeared on everypony’s head except for the stallions and Luna’s. “Go ahead.”

Luna nodded.

“I don’t get it? That was cool and all, but you just really confirmed that I’m in a dream. Stuff appearing out of thin air just doesn’t happen,” the Stallion said.

“Forgive me, but…YOU ARE NOT DREAMING YOU IMBECILE!” Luna cried out in the Royal Canterlot Voice.

The stallion flew backwards and hit the wall, his face a comical scene of pain and confusion. “Ouch! My eardrums!” he exclaimed. “That hurt. That means I’m awake! This is real!”

He looked at Celestia, Luna, and Discord in a panicked frenzy. “Where the hell am I? What’s going on!”

“Calm down, sir. You don’t need to have a panic attack,” Luna said.

“Okay, okay," the stallion whispered to himself." Maybe it’s like Planet of the Apes. Maybe this is some odd future. What year is it?”

“1003 AN, just after Hearts and Hooves day,” Celestia said.

“AN? What’s that stand for?”

“After Nightmare. The calendar system was adopted when Nightmare Moon was defeated one thousand and three years ago.”

“That tells me nothing. What about where I am, what’s it called?” he asked.

“Canterlot Castle.”

“No, not that specific. This general place. World, planet, whatever you call it.”

“Equestria,” Luna said.

“Was it ever called Earth?”

The three looked at each other, and Discord smiled. “I haven’t heard that name in quite a while.”

“I’ve never heard of Earth as a world,” Luna replied.

“I have, but it shouldn’t be connected to this world. All portals to other worlds were sealed after we defeated Discord,” Celestia stated.

“That’s because I’m the reason the portals existed,” Discord said happily. “Ah, those were the days.”

“Wait a minute! Wait just a damn minute! You mean this isn’t a future version of my world? I may be in the same time frame, but on a different world altogether?” the stallion asked.

Discord nodded, excited. “Looks that way!”

“Oh, mother of God,” the stallion said before he fainted.

They stared at him as he slept. The nurse shrugged. “He’s healthy physically. He doesn’t have to stay here, your highness.”

“Put him in a spare room, Luna,” Celestia said.

“The only one we have unoccupied is Twilight’s old room,” Luna stated.

“That’ll do for now.” She started to walk away, and then she stopped. “We never caught his name, did we?”

The three stared at him. “I vote on calling his Bass Chord on account of his cutie mark,” Luna said.

Celestia nodded in agreement. “A good temporary name until we know his real one. Take Bass to Twilight’s old room. I don’t see that being a problem.”

Author's Note:

This story is going to happen as though "Equestria Girls" never existed. Don't get me wrong; I loved it. But I've been having this idea float around for over a year now, and Equestria Girls shatters all hope of this story making sense unless I act as though it never happened. Also, I only just started writing this because, while I love to read fan fiction (and I love to write stories in general) I feel odd when I try to write fanfiction. Mainly because I dont have complete power over fanfiction; I have to bend to the rules of a pre-existing universe instead of creating my own, and that intimidates me.

Wish me luck, though. I finally gave in, and I'm gonna give this idea a try.

Comments

[RadioactiveBrony]

Good so far.

[Frankie2]

Well, good luck!