Earth Pony

by Basmati

Talking to Bronies

When I got back home, neither of my parents' cars were in the driveway, so I ran straight to the Barn, thinking I could spend an hour or so with Twilight and then go back into the house before my parents arrived. As I walked in, I could see Twilight beaming at me.

"Good afternoon," I said, shutting the door behind me.

Twilight grinned at me. You know, for a pony who, until recently, had no friends, she sure is friendly. She looked so incredibly happy to see me - it was like seeing a little kid on Christmas Day.

"Have a nice day?" she asked.

"I did," I answered, throwing my bag on the floor. "I had a great day. Much better than yesterday."

"I had a feelng you might say that."

I grabbed a bean bag, put it in front of where Twilight was sitting, and sat down facing her. "So what on earth did you do all day?"

Twilight smiled. "Well, firstly, I thought I might as well get a good look at my surroundings. I heard both your parents leave, and then thought was safe enough to leave and walk around your garden for a bit. I then explored your house a bit-"

"Wait. You went into the house? How? We lock the doors. You don't have a key."

Twilight stared at me for a while then uttered one word.

"Magic," she said, pointing to her horn.

"Ah."

She rolled her eyes and carried on. "Opening doors is quite simple stuff. A level two, I'd say. Teleportation, on the other hand - now that's a challenge. It took me a while to get that right. What's even harder is the teleportation of other objects - animate and inanimate - without the transportation of yourself. Most people who can teleport can take other objects that they're holding or standing next to at the time, but not without moving themselves also. It is a skill that not many ponies can actually ach-"

"Twilight. Back to the point."

"Oh yes. So I walked around the house," at which point I made a mental note to check the house for muddy hoofprints, "and found your study. I looked at some of the books there, because I thought I should probably catch up with the local history, which I did - the ancient kings, the Tudors, the Stuarts, the World Wars. I also found out that one of your ancient civilisations is extremely similar to ours."

I was intrigued. "And what would that be?"

"The Romans," answered Twilight.

I was definitely listening now. Although I hate history and would rather not do it at all, the only part of history that I like was learning about the Ancient Greeks and the Ancient Romans. We did a bit of Latin when I was younger, and I loved every minute of it. I did so much research into Ancient Rome and found out so much - all their superstitions, their customs, their mythology, the political system, their legends. It was incredible how much came out of a tale so incredibly made up as that of Romulus and Remus, and, even earlier than that, that of Aeneas. I mean, how likely was it that Aeneas was the son of Venus, and that Romulus and Remus were raised by a she-wolf? And don't get me started on Romulus' death!

I'm rambling again, aren't I? Sorry, I get this way around things I'm passionate about.

"Equestria, many centuries before Celestia and Luna defeated Discord, before Discord was ruling over Equestria, the land was mainly populated by the Ancient Equinians. The city of Equinia, lost for centuries now, was founded by Equinius, who was thought to be an alicorn, and an ancestor of Celestia and Luna. Not much is known about his life, except that he founded Equinia, which was thought to be the best city of its time, and pretty much invented civilisation."

I made a mental note to find out more about this - it was quite interesting to see how similar Equestria's history was with ours, especially since I always associated Equestria with America, not us.

I was just about to ask Twilight more about this, when I saw something moving out of the window. I stood up, and looked out to find none other than my dad quickly making his way towards the Barn.

"Shit," I said.

"Err, language Gr-" Twilight started to say. But she didn't finish, on account of my dropping to the ground, quickly crawling towards her, and pushing her under a table.

"My dad is coming. Just stay still and don't make a sound."

Twilight nodded, and did as she was told, crawling further under the table. I immediately grabbed my bag, and ran out of the Barn back towards the house. As planned, I bumped into my dad on the way there, dangerously close to the Barn.

"Hey Grace. I was just coming over to check if you were in there."

"Well, I was," I said, smiling, trying to look innocent. My dad isn't very good at picking up secrets, or tension, or anything really, but I didn't want to risk it. "Anyway, I was just coming back inside now-"

"What were you doing in there anyway?" my dad said, looking behind me, through the window of the Barn. "You've been going in the Barn an awful lot recently. Something we ought to know?"

I quickly came up with an excuse. "Writing." My dad stared at me, with a puzzled look on his face. "Well, you know I've always liked reading and writing my own stuff, and, with summer coming up, I thought I could get a head-start, considering I have loads of spare time right now," I quickly made up.

My dad smiled and nodded. "At least you're planning on doing something this year - last year, if I remember correctly, we could hardly get you out of bed."

"Dad. It's summer. Of course I'm not going to do anything," I replied, winking.

He laughed and started walking back toward the house, with me following. "I want to read some of these stories. Let me know when you've finished one."

"Will do, Dad," I said, walking into the kitchen. Just before I shut the kitchen door, I turned around and looked towards the Barn.

"This is getting harder," I thought.

I needed help. Twilight was proving way to much to handle by myself. I could keep her company, and feed her, and entertain her for now, but soon enough my parents will start asking why I keep disappearing into the Barn, or where all these apples are going, or why all their books keep disappearing. There was no easy way to tell them about Twilight - either they accidentally stumble upon her, freak out, and maybe kill her or I tell them the entire story of how we met, they think I'm crazy, and have me sectioned.

Not good either way.

So this was what needed to happen. I needed to get someone else. Someone else who wouldn't freak out as soon as they saw Twilight. Someone who knew about this stuff.

Someone who was a brony.

And I knew just who that brony would be.

***

There was something about Josh, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. He seemed...different from everyone else. But I wasn't sure how exactly. But I felt as though he could be of some help, in the near or distant future. So I decided I would approach him. And talk to him.

And the next day would be that day.

So when I woke up the next morning, I prepared myself for what I would say to him. I couldn't exactly walk up to him and say, "Thanks for your help yesterday - why don't you come to my house today?" Because 1, that sounds a bit desperate; 2, he hardly knows me and it would be like a random girl to met the day before just wants to be best friends all of a sudden; and 3, it's a bit of short notice. I had to plan this properly, ease it into the conversation. Somehow.

Really, I was just going to wing it and hope for the best.

I was standing by my open locker, grabbing my books for the day when, just as I was about to shut it, the locker door slammed shut.

I turned, expecting to see Bella, ready for another round of 'Let's Bully Grace and Get Away With It', or some other past tormentor, but instead found Josh standing there.

"Erm...hi," I said, a bit confused.

"Best pony?" he said quickly.

I turned around and faced him properly before asking, "What?"

"Best Pony? he repeated, slower.

"Erm...background, Mane 6 or any?"

He laughed. "Oh, you know your stuff. Mane 6 first, then background pony."

"Rainbow Dash."

He smiled at me, and said, "Of course. Everyone's favourite. Mainly because...she's just so awesome. Background?"

"Vinyl," I said, without even pausing. "Definitely Vinyl 'DJ P0N3' Scratch. Well, its between her and Derpy. Because, you know, Derpy."

"Lyra," he said shaking his head. "I mean, Derpy's great and all, but come on! Lyra! Lyra and Bonbon? Sitting weirdly Lyra? Couch potato Lyra?"

"No way. I mean, Lyra's cool, but she's nowhere near as cool as Vinyl, or Derpy. Or even Doctor Whooves for that matter!"

Josh raised his hand to my face. "No. No way. Lyra is awesome. Don't diss Lyra."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. It had been a while since I had fangirled like this. And I had never done it with My Little Pony before - I had never had anyone to fangirl with. So this was a great experience for me. And I was enjoying every moment of it.

"Maybe we can agree to disagree on this?" I said, wincing slightly as I said it. I have never liked that saying - to me, it was always bullshit. Although, nothing can be worse than when my Head of Year came up with 'learn to agree to disagree agreeably'. No. Just no.

Josh raised his eyebrow. "Or we could agree that Lyra is Best Pony, and you're just wrong."

Oh no he didn't.

"No, no, no. Lyra may sit weirdly, and may want hands, but Vinyl. DJ P0N3. 'Drop that bass'. And don't get me started on Derpy. She's Derpy, for God's sake! Everypony loves Derpy!"

"You do have a point there," he said. "Derpy is pretty awesome. But there isn't enough Lyra love in the world. I mean Derpy gets the Doctor Whooves' companion love, and Dinky Doo love, and loads of other things. Lyra just gets Bonbon."

This is when it hit me that we, me and this guy I met yesterday, were arguing, in the middle of a corridor, about which pony is the best.

Don't get me wrong - I was loving this. Every second of it. But it was still really strange to me, and I wanted to change the subject, before I start getting really into it.

"Would you like to come over to mine today?"

But not with that!

Josh stared at me. "A bit random. Why?"

I was a bit lost for words. Part of me couldn't believe I had actually said that, and another part of me could believe he had actually replied in a way that didn't translate as "What the fuck?!"

"Err...there's something I'd like to show you. I think you'd really like it. If you can't, it's fine - we can do it some other time," I added.

"No, that's fine. I'm free after school today, so I shall accompany you home. Meet you outside the gates at quarter to?" he said, smiling.

I nodded, speechless. It had worked. I, Grace Blackwood, had actually achieved something!

As I said goodbye, and he replied with "See you later!", and I walked towards my next class, I couldn't help but smile.

But I knew that hardest part was yet to come.

Comments

[Wiggidy]

Achievement get: "Achieve Something"

But in all seriousness- what the hell are you thinking Grace?! One does not simply invite a fellow brony to one's house to witness the awesomeness that is Twilight Sparkle in a fit of drunken randomness! I mean, really, what do you hope to accomplish with this?

[Basmati]

1638804 In time, fellow brony, in time you shall see...

[Lolsternater]

Lyra is best pony. I love this guy. Hope Twilight will too. This guy really does sound like me... then again I sound like a lot of people.