• Published 14th Apr 2012
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PonyFall: Australia - Thunderbug80



Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are transported to Australia by Discord, where they try to find a way home

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Twelve Days: A Reminiscence

Twelve Days: A Reminiscence
May 6, 2013


Time is a funny thing. The events that occurred nearly a year ago taught me that in very real ways. To be sure, anyone who has read my memoirs up to this point must feel as if I had spent months with the Equestrians I had come across. I wouldn’t blame them – a lot can happen in twelve days.

Thinking back on things now, it seems that everything that happened after I helped reunite Pinkie, Angel and Fluttershy with the Cutie Mark Crusaders happened in a blur. Certainly, things got a lot more interesting, but I’m getting ahead of myself. An awful lot happened in the weeks following the arrival of the Crusaders, but a lot happened in those first twelve days as well – things that I wish I had figured out earlier. Things that, perhaps if I had paid more attention to them, might have made a difference and spared us some of our tribulations.

Things that are important to note before going forward with the story.

That first day, April 13th of 2012, will forever be burned into my memory. I had been out camping at Burrinjuck as an early birthday present from my wife, Victoria, who had left the country on business and would be away on my actual birthday – or so I thought.

In hindsight, the pink sky and the chocolate smell should have been a sure sign of Discord, the embodiment of chaos. It would have had I known at the time that Equestria, among other worlds, was a genuine place and that the characters that inhabited it were, in fact, real. My early ignorance can hopefully be forgiven, as I now know that I am not the only one who doubted the stories of those I found.

I also now realize that I never would have believed Pinkie and Fluttershy if Pinkie hadn’t told me their names. It was some kind of unexpected side effect from the chaotic magical explosion that had sent them to Earth – none of the Equestrians could be identified unless they, or the person who found them, spoke their names. Even with Pinkie supplying their names, I still didn’t believe them until the next day when I inadvertently broke a Pinkie Promise and incurred Pinkie’s wrath. I didn’t fully understand that until Discord paid us a visit later and I was unable to properly identify him without Ashton supplying me with his name.

Over the next few days, the girls were supplied with clothing and were helped with getting used to their new bodies and walking. As it turns out, despite being able to walk on two legs as ponies, it becomes a bit more difficult when your entire body is shaped differently. Pinkie, being Pinkie, was able to adapt to her new body fairly quickly. Fluttershy, on the other hand, took a while to get used to it, and even broke down in tears at the sight of her new face. It wasn’t until later, when Sweetie Belle told her she made a ‘very pretty’ human, that she came to accept her new looks.

While we were out getting clothes, I eventually explained to Pinkie and Fluttershy about My Little Pony and how they were considered fictional characters on Earth. They both took the news fairly well, or so I originally thought. I didn’t know at the time just how deep the whole ‘fictional characters are real’ thing went, either. At any rate, Pinkie convinced me to purchase some toys of her friends for her. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that the toys were a coping tool for Pinkie, and that she was falling into a deep depression. I wonder now what would have happened if I had declined to purchase them.

Pinkie’s depression would turn out to be far more important than anyone could imagine, but I was about to receive some outside assistance for coping with Fluttershy’s emotions. F.A.’s decision to directly interfere with events and ensure that Angel was sent to Earth along with the ponies worked out much better than he at first thought it did. He realized later that he had been going about things the wrong way for a very long time. Too much focus on Pinkie’s depression had led to countless failures in his quest, but sending Angel to Earth was one of the things that finally led to Fluttershy gaining her courage and staying with me. With Fluttershy firmly staying put with us, F.A. had indirectly succeeded with Pinkie.

But again, I’m getting ahead of myself. If none of the above makes sense it soon will.

After Angel’s arrival, we all packed up and headed to my home in Sydney. Along the way, Pinkie became addicted to Coca Cola, and Fluttershy addicted to Lady Gaga. Once we arrived I decided to jump online and see if I could find anything out about the other ponies that had been sent to Earth. I certainly didn’t expect to find out anything, but oddly enough, I found John, also known as Fullmetal Pony, and he had found the Cutie Mark Crusaders. This was also about the time that Pinkie began to understand written English.

I wasn’t aware of the connection between the pony fiction website and those who found Equestrians at the time. If I had been, I might have caught some of the conversations that some of the others who had found ponies were having. As it was, I had a lead and I took advantage of it. I contacted my friend Moey, and set things up so that John and the Crusaders could come to Australia.

I truly wish I had understood Moey better back then. If I did, I would have found some other way to get things done without involving him. Then again, there are plenty of things I wish had happened differently. A lot of bad things happened because of misunderstandings but, ah I am once again jumping ahead.

It wasn’t long after finding the Crusaders that I found Princess Celestia herself. I suspected early on that she would be crucial in getting the Equestrians back home, and I couldn’t have been more right. Finding out that she was in the care of DragonLS, an online friend of mine, was uplifting, as Pinkie and Fluttershy had been in an out of depression. The smart thing, though, would have been to realize that Celestia, and those who found her, would be targets. If I could figure out how crucial the princesses were to getting the Equestrians back home so easily, how was it that I didn’t stop to think that other forces would realize that as well?

Shortly after discovering Celestia’s whereabouts, I had my first run-in with Ashton. Looking back on everything, I almost pity him. The fact remains though, that for every useful thing he did for us, he did something equally unfortunate. I am uncertain as to whether I can ever forgive him for the things he has done, but I can at least acknowledge that some effort was put into making things right. Perhaps some of what he did can be blamed on Discord, but I have to wonder at what might have happened if he had never let the Spirit into his home in the first place. Perhaps it wouldn’t even matter.

The meeting with Ashton and Discord put a bit of strain on my relationship with Pinkie and Fluttershy, as I originally tried to hide Discord’s identity from them. Angel, on the other hand, knew who he was almost as soon as I did. The bunny was clever – much more so than any of the others might ever imagine. He also met F.A. before anyone else did, and led me to the note and toy that was left behind as a kind of grim foreshadowing of what was to come.

Every winner deserves her prize.

Even now, those words haunt me. I had guessed early on that they were referring to Pinkie Pie, but I never would have imagined what they truly meant. I guess in the end, F.A.’s words and gesture were proof that he possessed a little bit of humanity after all, but it does little to make up for what happened. I am still of the belief that something else could have been done.

I learned to put more faith in the Equestrians after the meeting with Discord. We had gone to the mall to get Angel some more clothing, and I thought that Angel had become lost. It was Fluttershy who convinced me to trust Pinkie and Angel to return and, sure enough, they did return safe and sound.

The next several days were very hard on us all. Pinkie and Fluttershy both fell back into depression, and I tried everything from parties to video games to try to keep them happy. A phone call with the Cutie Mark Crusaders helped, along with Angel’s determination to be able to speak. Angel’s efforts were, in part, what eventually led Fluttershy to staying with us.

Despite some progress, the girls would still have fits of depression. I thought things were looking up when we found out that Rainbow Dash and Applejack had been found and were safe, but that was before my wife returned home early from her trip to surprise me on my birthday.

Whether it was fate or sheer bad luck, she came home to find Pinkie and I in an unfortunate position. I still don’t blame her for her reaction and it’s still painful to think about. Especially considering that the next time I saw her was in a completely unexpected way. Long story short, I found myself out of a home and low on funds.

I turned to Moey in an effort to get a roof over our heads and hopefully patch things up with my Victoria, but things went sour quickly and we left his house. Perhaps I should have heard him out back then, but in my opinion his actions were inexcusable. I am still not entirely sure how I feel about him, but it is now too late to take anything back.

It is my belief that the hardships I faced in the days to come helped to firmly solidify my friendship with the Equestrians into an unbreakable bond, and were perhaps the final things that led to Fluttershy’s courage and her decision to stay with us. I wonder now if my first encounter with the Princess of the Night might have become my last if it weren’t for Fluttershy. The enormous power surge brought about by the sudden arrival of not one, but two of Equestria’s magic users had been unexpected for all of those involved.

But alas, that is yet to come. For now I will say that, while things didn’t exactly get any easier when John and the Cutie Mark Crusaders arrived, it did mark the beginning of the end of the Equestrians’ journeys on Earth, and offered us a brief moment of respite before the tragedies to come unfolded.