The Trials Of the Elements

by Kirbysnumber1

4. A Supernatural Experience

"It's also important to mention that once you go to Equestria, you will not be able to come back."

That was the last thing Twilight had said to the large crowd in front of her, and John was still having trouble taking in this statement.

‘I won't be able to return ever?’ He thought to himself in disbelief.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, it made sense when he thought about it more, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. He was given the opportunity to go to the perfect world, where there was rarely any war and there was friendship all around you no matter where you were. But in order to go there he had to give up everything he'd accomplished on earth. All his friends, family, and..and...

"And what?" He said quietly to himself as he came to the sudden realization that... he didn't have much here. All of his friends lived nowhere near him, who was he kidding with family, the only family he had was a sister who didn't like him, and a brother that was in jail. Other than that, he had no one, and while his job didn't pay that bad, he was still getting paid enough to only live in an apartment.

"I guess I could go for an upgrade." He quietly said to himself, looking down at the ground.

'Then I guess it's decided.' He thought to himself as he looked back up to the stage. 'I'll try my best in these "Trials" that they have set up, if I manage to somehow win, I'll go live out the rest of my days in Equestria, if I don't, no need to be mad. It will be extremely disappointing, but I have one of the better lives as it is.' He monologues as a sly smile slowly grows on his face.

John looked back to the stage, Twilight was still talking about the trials.

"...And that's all you need to know about the actual trials." Twilight smirked as she opened her mouth to speak again. "Except of course for one catch."

There were multiple whispers in the audience, well, if you could call it an audience anymore. It seemed that after Twilight had announced that you couldn't return from Equestria, a lot of people left, of course there were still a fair amount of people, probably mostly bronies who want to live the dream life.

"There is one rule that everyone must follow." Twilight started to say when everyone got quiet. "Since these are trials that will test your abilities in friendship, it only makes sense that you should do them with a partner."

This shocked everyone in the audience. Most people weren't that worried, as they had friends that were in the audience with them, but the people like John, who didn't have many friends were very worried and quickly washed with disappointment as they realized that they couldn't participate without one. But none of the audience members could have predicted or expected was what Twilight said next.

"But there is a catch to this catch, the friend who you team up with must not only be someone from this audience, but they must also be someone that you don't know."

There was a silence in the audience as Twilight said these last words, no one really knew how to react to this stipulation. Many groaned out of displeasure, while others were silent because of shock.

John didn’t feel any more hopeful than he had before, sure, this meant he had more people to choose from. But he still had to build up the courage to go up to someone and ask if they wanted to team up on something as big as this.

After the initial shock had started to die down a little, Twilight continued.

“Now, the reason you must team up with someone else is because we want to test how easily you can make friends.” She stopped and took a breath before continuing. “Of course we’re not saying that if you have great difficulties making friends, that you will not belong in Equestria. It’s just that we want to know about how long it would take for you to become accustomed to a brand new world, surrounded by a different species. Obviously it would be lonely for you, so we have decided to see how much we will have to help you with making friends.” She explained very clearly to the audience.

This seemed to make sense to everyone in the audience, as some people were already looking around for someone to partner with.

“Now hold on everyone.” Twilight said, directing the audience's attention back up to her. “There are a few rules for the trials that you’re going to want to know, there aren’t many, but they are very important.”

Some people in the audience groaned as they heard the mention of rules, but Twilight ignored them.

“Rule number one is, of course: You must be partnered with someone you don’t know and have only met today. If we find out you were friends before this you will be immediately disqualified. Rule number two: You are all working together in this, even if you are not all going to win. If you try to sabotage anyone in the duration of the trials, you will be immediately disqualified.
Rule number three:” Twilight gave the audience a reassuring smile. “Have fun.”

Most people gave a sigh of relief when they realized there were only really two rules.

Twilight looked as if she suddenly remembered something. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The princess of Equestria could not make it to the actual trials, as she has plenty of princess duties, but she will be observing the trials as they go on so, smile, cause you’re being watched. Twilight said with a chuckle.

Most of the audience including John, who had been listening quietly, repeating the two simple, but important rules that were in place.

After he had repeated the rules enough to never forget them for the rest of his life. He started to look around for someone to partner up with, while thinking of how to break the ice with the person he decided on.

“Alright everyone!” Twilight said loudly as she raised her hoof in the air. “Your first challenge will be to make a friend, on your mark... get set...GO!!”

Almost immediately chaos was everywhere in the audience, people were pretty much shoving others out of the way to find a suitable partner. There were a lot of people who found a suitable partner almost immediately, while others took a while to find one, and then there were the people who had yet to even talk to someone. John was in that group.

John had not moved right away so he wouldn’t get swept up in the frenzy of people running around. Once things started to calm down he started to look around for someone who looked nice enough to be his friend.

“Now who would make a good friend?” John said to himself, walking around the area. Eventually, he saw someone walking around looking around, probably for someone to quickly make friends with as well.

It was a man, about the same age as him. He had blonde, short hair, and was wearing a shirt which at first glance, looked to be a doctor who shirt. But at a second look, you could tell that it was a crossover between doctor who and my little pony.

However, before he got a chance to go up to introduce himself. The man started to walk up to someone else, shying away about twenty feet away from the girl. But he wasn’t making any attempt to talk to her and by the looks of it, was starting to turn a little pale. Then, before the man could even think about talking to the girl, another man came up and immediately started talking to her, they eventually walked away, side-by-side.

The man looked utterly defeated, looking down at his shoes, on the verge of tears. John knew he needed comforting, so John took a deep breath, and walked up to the man.

“Well that didn’t go too well, did it?” He said, making the man jump. “Whoops, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” John said with a smile.

The man looked at John first with disbelief that someone was talking to him of all people, but then he started to look shy and looked nervous, not knowing what to say.

John looked at the man and held out his hand. “My name’s John, what’s yours?” He asked, giving the man a reassuring smile.

The man gave a small smile. “My name’s…” The man hesitated for a bit before answering. “...Sam.” He said as he gave a small smile.

John smiled as the man who he had only just met was starting to open up to him. “Well, it’s nice to meet you Sam, nice shirt.” John said as he pointed down to Sam's shirt.

Sam started to visibly open up more as he realized him and John shared an interest, and therefore had something to talk about. “Oh, thanks.” He said with a clear smile.

“Do you like doctor who or my little pony more?” John said, striking up a conversation.

“That’s a pretty tough question.” Sam said as he started to open up a bit more, to the point of chuckling even. Sam thought about the question before he gave his answer. “I’d have to say my little pony.” Sam said.

“Why is that?” John asked. “I don’t know much about doctor who, but from what I’ve heard, it’s really good.”

“Oh yeah, it’s about as good as many fans are able to describe it, but there are a couple creepy things that come from it, like the weeping angels and the Daleks.” Sam explained.

“Yeah, I guess they are kinda creepy. But my little pony has its fair share of creepy things, such as chrysalis and the cockatrice.”

“Yeah that’s true, but they’re more creepy in a cute sort of way, you know?” Sam said to John, who put his head down in thought as Sam finished.

Once John put his head back up, he had a smile once again. “Yeah, I guess I can see what you mean. But it’s still creepy for a kids show.” He said.

“That’s true.” Sam said, now seemingly to have fully opened up and was laughing. “Just imagine if there was a creature that was so cute, it was scary.” Sam said sarcastically, which caused John to laugh in response.

“Hahaha, yeah, that would be a weird.” John replied after he stopped laughing from imagining what something so cute it was scary would look like.

“Hey! You two!” A voice called down from above them. John and sam looked up to see Rainbow Dash floating above them. “You’ve been talking for five minutes now, if you’re gonna partner up then you should get over there!” She said pointing over to Twilight and the others.

John and Sam instantly snapped out of the conversation they were having. “Oh yeah, the trials!!” John shouted.

Sam looked over to John with a shocked look on his face, which quickly turned into a smile as he realized something.

“Hey!” Sam looked behind to see John waving over to him. “You coming?” Sam quickly nodded as he started to catch up to John and ran next to him, as he thought to himself.

‘I made a friend, and it wasn’t even that hard.’

***************************************

John and Sam had gotten back to the stage, it hadn’t looked that far away when Rainbow pointed towards it. But it had taken roughly another five minutes before they arrived in front of Twilight, who was smiling as she saw them run up the steps.

The first thing John noticed was the ridiculously long list that Twilight was holding with her magic. ‘Is that how many people are apart of this?’ He thought to himself in shock by just how many people that him and Sam were going up against.

“Hello, thank you for participating in the trials, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She said, holding out a hoof.

John held out his hand and shook her hoof. “Hello, my name is John, thanks for giving us a chance to participate in this. It is extremely exciting.”

“I know, it’s a big thing for both of our worlds.” She said, with a huge grin plastered on her face. She then turned over to Sam, reaching out her hoof to him. “And you are?” She asked.

Sam hesitated before grabbing the unicorns hand and shaking it quite hard. “It’s such an honor to meet you, my name is Sam.” He said excitedly, shaking Twilight's hoof, maybe a little too hard.

“Yes I’ve been getting that from a lot of people, I was aware that this world was extremely different than ours, and I had really high expectations coming here to learn about new things. But even with how much I’ve been told this place was different, it was still hard to believe that we were just a Saturday morning cartoon to you.” She said in disbelief.

“It’s almost the same to us.” John said. “Except to us, you were just a cartoon, and it’s a surprise that you actually exist.” He explained.

“It really is crazy.” Sam added.

John nodded. “The universe is a big place.” He said.

“It really is.” Twilight said, smiling. “Just think about it, there are hundreds upon hundreds of galaxies out there, and in those galaxies there are hundreds of planets, and millions upon millions of stars.”

John put up his hand. “Twilight, the universe is a humongous place. We know this.”

“Ah yes, of course you do.” Twilight said smiling sheepishly and blushing.

Twilight got back into more of a professional posture. “Now, you are accepted into The Trials of The Elements, and before I forget, here you go.”

Twilight’s horn glowed before a blinding light flashed over John and Sam’s chest. When the light went away, they looked down and saw a badge of some sort on the front of their shirts.

“What are these?” John asked, as he lifted his shirt to get a closer look at it

It was a very cool looking badge, it was in the shape of a purple, six pointed star, Twilight’s element of harmony. And upon closer examination, it didn’t appear it be made from any sort of plastic or metal. It was a gem, an actual gem shaped into Twilight’s element.

John was astonished that she was just handing something this valuable to them.

“A-are you sure about this?” He asked hesitantly. “Isn’t something like this extremely valuable?”

“To you right here and now? Yes it is, as it acts as a reminder for how many trials you’ve cleared, to us? No, this is a gem that you can find quite frequently if you look in the right places.” Twilight explained.

John and sam held their moves open in aghast, amazed at how such a perfect looking gem could be found by digging in the dirt in Equestria.

“Anyway.” Twilight said as she stepped to the side and used her magic to open the door. “Right this way to your test of friendship.” She said as she motioned her hoof inside the building.

John looked over to Sam, and smiled. “Here we go, we may not win. But we’ll do our best.”

“Right!” Sam said as he and John fist bumped.

And with that, they walked inside.

Author's Note:

Finally I've finished chapter four.

I would've had this out much sooner but things did not factor well in my favor, what with me getting sick with mono and strep, and then just as I was recovering, having a dentist appointment.

Anyway, the chapters done, a new rule to the trials have been added, John found a good friend in the quiet Sam, and they completed the first trial. But of course things won't be as easy as make a friend later on.

Thanks to everyone who's kept reading up to this point and feel free to give thoughts or questions you have in the comments. I always appreciate it.

P.S. And of course, if I made any mistakes, grammar or spelling, you can correct them as well.

P.P.S I will also be taking a little break before I start on the next chapter so that I can get settled into the new trimester.