The Not-So-Whimsical Whim

by az019

A Whimsical World

The stallion stirred in his sleep for a while and slowly awoke. His eyes opened for a couple of seconds before he took in the colorful landscape. Thinking himself to be in a dream, he tried to go back to sleep. After a couple of minutes with no luck, he stretched out his long body, thinking that he had woken up and had to get out of bed. He tried to feel for the edge of his bed, but his hooves only scraped against the soft grass. The sudden realization that he was still in what he believed to be a dream startled him enough to get him to stand up.

The feeling of being on four hooves definitely felt weird and new to him, but he didn't lose his balance. It felt as easy as riding a bike for the first time in years, except that he was positive that he had never walked around on four legs in his life. He looked straight ahead for a couple of seconds, into the everfree forest which, although one of the darker parts of equestria, looked like something straight out of a cartoon. After stretching out for a few seconds, as if to stall for time, he looked behind him. What he had half expected was right in front of him--Ponyville in all its colorful glory, like a cherry on top of whipped cream. His stare remained as plain as it had since he had woken up, but his mind began racing.

"I've been watching way too much My Little Pony, I'm having full-fledged dreams about it now. But wait, if I know this is a dream, why am I not awake by now? Maybe it's not a dream. No, nonononononono don't be ridiculous, dude, this is a fantasy world. So it must be a lucid dream. Then I can do whatever I want, right? No, it's never worked like that for me. So I guess I'll just play along until I wake up," he thought to himself over the course of a couple of seconds."

As if on cue, upon his decision to stick around to see what happens, a cart driven by the royal guard came down from the sky. The stallion noticed Princess Celestia riding in the back, and his mind started working overtime again.

"Princess Celestia wants to talk to me? Of course, she's not going to land in the middle of nowhere to inspect the grass. Oh God... or should I say oh Celestia? Whatever, doesn't matter, oh God this is my first contact with a pony, royalty no less, and I have to prepare myself, hahaha no I don't this is a dream and I don't care."

After the quick reassurement that nothing he did would have any long lasting effect on anypony, he took a deep breath and trotted over to see Celestia's cart, which was just now landing. The princess walked out, finding herself smiling as she gazed at her land. She eventually turned back to the stallion, but was taken slightly aback to find him right in front of her. She didn't expect it because she was so used to everypony bowing in her presence, but she didn't mind it either, especially considering the situation.

She focused on the stallion's face, which was just as nondescript as when he first awoke. Unlike the lack of bowing, this caught her completely off guard. Everypony she'd ever met had some kind of reaction to her splendor. But not this stallion. While she grew slightly nervous, his face remained as solid as those on Mt. Rushmore. Not that the princess knew what that was.

Celestia would be the first one to speak. "Hello, citizen of Equestria," was all she could manage to say calmly.

Even these four words made the stallion's busy mind turn in full circle. Not only because her voice was exactly like the one in the show, but because of how she referred to him. A citizen of Equestria. The stallion assumed that meant that, in his dream, he was just like everypony else. Except that he had absolutely no memories of him ever being in Equestria up until a couple of minutes ago. A fact that only served to confuse him more than he already was. This is a strange dream, he thought. He decided that if he was gonna be here for who knows how long, he might as well know who he was. But first, he wanted to have a little fun. After all, why not?

"Excuse me, but I'm looking for some updog around here and I can't find any. Could you help me find some?"

Glad that the stallion was capable of speech but confused nonetheless, Celestia said the only thing that came to mind.

"What's updog?"

The stallion couldn't help but hold in laughter as he said, while snickering, "Nothing much, how about you?" and promptly burst into laughter for a couple of seconds. After he was finished, he found that his laughter was very much like it was in his world--uncontrolled but short. He looked back at Celestia, but now with a smile on his face.

Celestia once again received the stallion's action with mixed feelings. She was certainly somewhat relieved and happy to see that he was very much capable of humor and laughter, but absolutely perplexed as to why he was laughing, and his non-sequitur answer to her question. Her face still crinkled up like a bag of chips, she continued the conversation.

"Am I missing something?"

"No, no, it's nothing. I mean, it's just a human thing."

Upon realizing that he had just revealed who he really was, his face grew more serious, more so than it had been just before cracking his joke. Celestia, on the other hand, relaxed a bit, knowing that she could go back to the reason why she came here. She saw the stallion's somewhat worried face, and decided to fill him in.

"Don't worry, I know who you really are. I discovered an ancient spell in my archives and, while it took my pupil Twilight and I some time to figure out, I managed to invoke it and here you are. My aforementioned pupil and a group of her friends write letters to me often concerning what they learn about friendship, and while I'm sure they are doing their best, lately it seems like they're all just going off on whatever adventures the winds of fate take them on, and writing whatever they can dig up. I don't have a problem at all with them being happy, but I felt like I could use a new perspective, from an outsider. In essence, that is why you are here."

Questions swirled in the stallion's mind. Questions that all felt important to him, but he had no idea what to start with, so he started from square one.

"So this isn't a dream after all? I'm really in another world?"

"That you are. Well, in a way. You see, my world exists inside of yours. With so many ponies... uh, people from your world believing in this one, it became real."

"You know about my world? How much do you know?" the stallion inquired, with an unintended hint of guilt.

"As much as you do as a human."

Another revalation that got the stallion's brain working overtime. Does this mean she could read his mind? Is she doing it right now?

"I can't read your mind, but this world exists as you imagine it."

"So this really is a dream, then!"

"Once again, not exactly. Unlike a dream which is mostly lost when you wake up, this world exists for as long as you do."

"So if I die, you all do as well?"

"Now, now. There's no need for such morbidity. Technically it's true, but it's more like our world comes to an end alongside yours."

"Alright, I guess. One more thing. After I do what you need me to, do I just go back and forget all this, or stay here, or what?"

"Well, both." The stallion was very much shocked by now, what with all the buildup, all the questions, and now this confusing answer. Celestia read his face and elaborated.

"You will wake up sometime soon, and unfortunately, not remember this. However, you will stay in this world as well, and live a normal pony life. Well, as normal as a pony from another world can be."

The stallion grew a little bit sad. "You make it sound kinda boring."

Celestia couldn't help but chuckle at this point.

"Like I said, other than you, Equestria is exactly as you imagine it. In other words, the normal pony life is full of fun and adventures." Celestia's face went back to a happy smile. The stallion smiled a bit as well, thinking to himself that he might like this deal.

Still smiling, Celestia said, "Alright, let's get down to business. You don't remember your name at all, do you?"

The stallion, who hadn't noticed this before, realized she was right and nodded his head from side to side.

"A strange side effect. I'll let you decide on your name."

The stallion mulled it over a bit, but couldn't come up with anything he particularly preferred. Out of curiosity, and thinking that it might help put him on the right track, he looked back at his flank to see his cutie mark. He was surprised to see that he didn't have one.

"Hey, Celestia, how come I don't have a cutie mark?"

"That's simple. You don't have one in your world, do you?"

"Well, no... but no one else does, either."

"Then just imagine what the equivalent of a cutie mark would be in your world."

More brain food. The stallion thought for a bit, and then asked, "A job?"

"I'm not from your world. You tell me," the princess said, proud of herself for encouraging the stallion to think.

"Maybe it would be more like something I have a talent for. Well, I kinda suppose I want to be a teacher of high school kids, and I think I would be good at it. Even though I'm in high school myself."

"High whaaaa?" said Celestia, with a confused expression that the stallion had well recognized by now.

"High school. It's, uh, school for teenagers who are around 13 to 17 or so years old."

"Hm. I see how this could be confusing for us. Luckily, because of your way of thinking, the ages in Equestria work like they do in your world. Children in your world will be children in ours at the same age, and so on."

"Making me a teenager."

"Right you are," said Celestia, giggling a bit.

"So, will my cutie mark be a school bell, or what?"

"See for yourself."

The stallion looked again at his flank and found a tree with widespread roots and leaves. Somewhat confused, as both ponies found themselves often in this conversation, he asked, "What's this? Is my talent planting trees?"

Celestia examined the newly appeared cutie mark, and came to a conclusion.

"Actually, it's like you said. Teaching ponies, like Cheerilee does. The roots represent giving them a good foundation of knowledge to get them set, and the leaves represent preparing them to open their minds and learn new things."

The stallion was content with how it turned out, and smiled. "So, I've decided. My name here will be Whim. Uh, I mean, if that's okay I guess."

Celestia smiled reassuringly. "Absolutely. It is entirely your decision. If I may ask, what brought you to choose that name?"

"Oh, it's just something I've been thinking about in my world for a while now. Whimsy, I mean. Something I'd like to know a bit more about, you know?"

Not trying to make him feel bad about his new name, but still perplexed, Celestia stared at Whim for a moment, and then asked, as if she was having a hard time believing it, "Whimsy?"

"I mean, it's when, you know, when someone blurts something out but they don't really care that much about it. Not like Pinkie Pie. When she says she'll throw a party, she really will throw a party there and then. Whimsy is like that, but without any intention to follow through."

"That does sound interesting, and you seem to know a lot about it. I think the name fits you fine, Whim." Celestia smiled once again, but Whim was still somewhat unsure.

"You think anypony else will get suspicious?"

"No, I don't," Celestia said earnestly with her heartwarming smile that gave Whim some certainty in this new and strange world.

Celestia continued. "I should be going now. But one last thing. What you do here is entirely up to you, and although I know you're a kind-hearted pony, you probably shouldn't tell anypony else about where you're really from. Not even Twilight knows about what my spell actually did. If anyone asks, I recommend you tell them you're from Manehattan. They may think you're a bit uptight at first, but if I know you well enough, you're sure to shatter that illusion," Celestia said with a wink and an encouraging gesture. "I also wouldn't mind if you could find the time to write me about this whole whimsy business, along with your take on the role of friendship in Equestria. I'm sure I'd find it interesting. You can have Spike deliver it to me anytime!"

Whim gave a big, cheesy grin, glad that somepony else was interested in his thoughts. "Of course, princess. As soon as I can."

The princess gave a nod and a smile, climbed back in her cart, and the royal guard flew off. Whim watched her fly away, still smiling, and then looked towards Ponyville. He gulped down a scared thought and set off, trotting down the dirt path and humming a tune as he went.

Comments

[Inkdrop]

As far as I know, self-inserts are extremely hard to pull off. Even the best writers can make idiots of themselves trying a self-insert. But you, good sir, have done quite well so far. Have a mustache.