A New Teacher

by Sparky Brony

Chapter 3. The Assignment

I rub my eyes. Hey cool, I'm back to my usual shape. I look down, I'm still in my flight suit. And I'm not thirsty or in pain. This is certainly looking up. I open my eyes. I can feel the movement of the ship. I can smell the salty air. Yes, the last day or so has been some horrible nightmare. I'm sitting on a balcony under the flight deck, in front of me is the port view from the USS Nimitz, the first United States Navy supercarrier. I must have taken a nap and had this horrible dream. I reach into my flight suit. It must be just before time for me to head for a pre-flight briefing. There they are. I pull out my Zippo and light my smoke. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… That hits the spot.

"Why do you insist on those disgusting things?" A very familiar voice pipes up. No. It can't be. I whirl around, I don't see her. I turn back to look out at the ocean. There she is. Lounging on a cloud again. Well, I'm home and safe. I decide to do something about it.

"What's up Moonbutt." I say as I blow smoke in her general direction. Her reaction is comical. Her wings spread as her face scrunches up. I think she's mad. So I decide to continue.

"See, I'm back home, I'm on the Nimitz. In a little bit, I'm going to get in my aircraft, nod at the air boss, and I'm going to be flying. No ponies, no hooves for hands. None of that nonsense." Of course, anyone comes out and sees me talking to a freaking horse with wings and a horn, I don't know what exactly I'll do. But hey, I survived carrier landings at night, what could be worse than that. Unfortunately I'm about to find out.

Luna smirks at me. "This is a very realistic dream, I've waited long enough for you to fall into an actual sleep so I could talk to you."

You've got to be shitting me. "This isn't a dream, this is the Nimitz. I'm home, I'm on my ship." I say out of sheer stubbornness.

Again the smirk. "I assure you, Nicholas, you are dreaming. And I will make you pay for that remark." She huffs, "Moonbutt indeed." She rolls her eyes. I nervously look around. She has to be messing with me… right?

"So, you are telling me I'm dreaming of being on my ship, that I'm not actually here."

"Yes, Nicholas…"

I cut her off, "I prefer to be called Nick, you call me Nick, I'll call you Princess."

She puts a hoof to her chin in contemplation. "If you simply call me Luna, deal."

Well, if I have no choice, I put out my hand to shake, and to my surprise, she actually puts her hoof in mine. We shake and I smile at her. "Okay Luna. But if I'm not actually here, can we go somewhere else, I miss my ship already. If I'm not here for real, I'd rather not be here in my dream."

With a nod from Luna, the world turns white. All of a sudden I'm in a pure white room, with her standing before me. I turn around, a completely featureless room. Wow.

"Alright, Luna. Why am I here, why did you want to talk to me?" I don't know where this confidence came from. I should be in a corner, tucked into a ball and rocking back and forth.

"Well, Nick…" She rolls my name around in her mouth, as though she's tasting the texture of the word. "I saved you for a reason, and I brought you to my world. I want you to teach a very important lesson to somepony that is very special to my family."

I'm confused. "Why me? Luna, why not some pony from your world, why did you have to change me to a pony?" I can contemplate my transformation impassively in my dream, I have a feeling that in the waking world, it won't be as easy.

"What is the matter young man? Do you not like the body I gave you?" Luna looks at me. And in moments I feel my body position change. I'm standing on all fours, and my body feels completely different.

"What did you do to me, Luna? I look down, brown fur with black hooves. I just know that I have fur and hooves."

A giggle from her. "We will have to fix that, won't we, Nick." A full length mirror appears next to me. I glance at it and am captivated. I am obviously male. I move over to the mirror, deep red eyes stare back at me, and my hair, or would it be mane? Well, my mane is, in one word. GORGEOUS! It makes me think of fire. Red and orange in random patterns throughout my mane. I look over, I have a tail, and it continues that pattern. I have flames for hair. I grin and look back at Luna.

"My God, I'm beautiful." I close my eyes and feel my body. Wait a moment, there's more. There are muscles I've never had as a human. I experimentally move them, and in the mirror I see two wings extend slowly. I've got wings!!!!

Luna's voice purrs in my ear. "In Equestria, we don't have fighter airplanes. If you want to fly, you'll have to learn how to use those."

"So, you are telling me I'm a…what's the word… a pegasus?" I had to dredge up the name of the mythical winged horse from my younger education. That was a long time ago.

"Yes, Nick. You are a pegasus pony. And you have beautiful wings." She extends her own wings.

"Wow. And what kind of lesson am I to teach, and whom am I supposed to be teaching?"

"My sister's former student. And newest Princess. Princess Twilight Sparkle."

I roll my eyes. What crazy names do they have here. Fluttershy, Rainbow, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna. What is this, some kind of cartoon to sell little girls toys?

"Something funny?" She asks. Shit, she must have seen my smirk.

I cough, somehow my cigarette has survived everything and just burned my lips. I spit out the offending object and crush it out on the floor. I cough a little more. Hamming it up for the high and mighty Princess in front of me.

"Got any more smokes, I think I forgot to finish that one. It finished without me."

She laughs, "I don't know, it's your dream."

Oh yeah, it is. A new cigarette appears in my mouth, just lit. I pull a drag and politely blow the smoke away from the Princess.

"So, again, what am I supposed to teach this Princess. Uhhh, Luna?"

A new smile from her. "First I need to tell you some rules. First off, there is no divulging that you are on a mission, second of all, you are not allowed to tell anypony whom gave you this assignment. But you are to use your best judgment to accomplish your mission. I've already enchanted you to enforce those. You will find any time you try to divulge that information your tongue, or any other body part involved, will become completely dumb. So, you won't even be able to write it out. Got it?"

I nod.

"Good, now. Your assignment. You are to teach Twilight Sparkle the value of love."

I choke on my cigarette. "You can't be serious. I don't even know her." I spit my smoke out once again on the pristine floor, what happened to the one I dropped earlier? I don't think about it much as I grind the smoldering tobacco out. When I lift my hoof from the floor, all there is a clean, pure white floor. I look up at Luna.

"I'm a fighter pilot. I'm all about speed, I'm all about the conquest. I'm all about moving on. I haven't even had a steady girlfriend."

A big smile from Luna, and apparently she's a bit of an imp. And a scamp, and a miserable excuse for pony kind in general. "I think you will also be learning as you teach my sister's former student." She says to me. Talk about a fish out of water. I've got to not only learn the society I've just been rudely shoved into, but I also have to make a flying unicorn fall in love with me? I've never been interested in any kind of long term relationship. I joined the Navy for one reason, and one reason only. To fly. Flying is my passion. And now I'm stuck with this assignment.

I groan at her. "And what do I get out of doing this?"

Another smile, "You get to live, your body was found about twenty-four hours after I saved you. Well, it looks like your body, a reasonable facsimile. Good enough for you to be identified. Nick, you are dead in your world.

"And if I fail. Are you going to kill me?" This causes her head to jerk back.

"I wouldn't kill any pony for failing an assignment. You simply will fail in that. You will stay in Equestria and live your life here. It's too late for you to go home, you would have died anyway. Would you like to be sent back in time? You would certainly die there."

"No, given the choice, I would say Equestria is an improvement on death."

She chuckles. "You are waking up. Remember what I've told you, Nick. I want you to do your best. One thing I noticed in you is that when you go for something, you give everything you have. And to win Twilight Sparkles heart, you will have to give more than what you have."

Comments

[redspark]

Woooo!! Luna!! She's a great pony XD I'm liking how this is going.

By the way... 15 dislikes?? What?? O_o I'm confused...

[CelebrityMatchbox]

@red spark
there are dislikes because its incredibly rushed, the content is forced, and the character is both incredibly bland and far too accepting of the circumstances despite the authors attempt otherwise

[ThEvErYdErPyBrOnY]

4645584 OMG CAN YOU SIGN MY FACE (lol that was fun)

[Lord_01010000]

Luna: "You are to teach Twilight about Love!"
Nick: "But I've never been in a long-term relationship before!"
Luna: "So you want to go back to your world and die of dehydration then?"
Nick: "..."
Luna "That's what I thought."

[Phoenix Flames]

What is this, some kind of cartoon to sell little girls toys?

Yes, yes it is.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Well that happened....

[Truthseeker]

So because she saved his life she thinks she has the right to demand his subservience and obedience by force and coercion? Hello tyrany, we got rid of you when we kicked out the Brits. I'm going to downvote this for the following reasons:
1. Luna is a tyrant and uses mind control, coersion etc. to force the male character to do what she wants by playing matchmaker.
2. The main male character apparently has no spine despite being in the military. He just accepts the fact that he is essentially a slave to the will of Luna.
3. The writing is rushed and almost nothing is described.
4. Apparently Fluttershy is BETTER than medically trained ponies even though she has no actual medical training.
5. Twilight is a bit of a bitch.

[Sparky Brony]

10026627
Well, I'm sorry that you feel that way.