Morning. The sun sent a shimmering beam through the library’s upper window, permeating the darkness with its glow. As the light spread on the sleeping face of Twilight Sparkle, her eyes cringed and opened into the new daylight. She promptly rose out of her bed, stretched her rested limbs and back, and proceeded towards her mirror. The fragrance of hay pancakes emanated from downstairs as she brushed her bed-head into her signature hairstyle.
“Good Morning, Twilight!” Spike stated, having heard the hoof-steps of Twilight walking downstairs. “Breakfast is almost done. Made it nice and early, so you can get right to work on that project with Rainbow Dash.”
“Thanks, Spike. You and I both know how much Rainbow wants things done on time,” Twilight replied. She then levitated her schedule for the week towards herself, and checked it to remind herself of the details of her project.
Earlier that week, Rainbow Dash had an idea that developed into the planned project. She wondered, exactly how high could a Pegasus go off of initial diving velocity; that is, with no wing support whatsoever. This caused her to plan an ideal jump location and course, where she would dive, accelerate, and then pull up. Twilight was supposed to measure the distances and acceleration rates, and thus formulate the formula that would solve Rainbow’s wondering. Twilight had lent her a few books regarding dive positions and techniques, which she took home begrudgingly. It was apparent to both Twilight and Rainbow that she wouldn’t study them, but neither said anything regarding this cumulative thought.
Twilight put her schedule away and shifted her attention to her breakfast. As she began to eat, she struck up a pleasant conversation with Spike.
“Do you have any particular plans for today, Spike?” she inquired before taking a bite of pancake.
“Me? Nah.” Spike shrugged. “I’ll probably just work on my present for Rarity.”
“Oh! Speaking of, how have you been doing with that?” Twilight asked. Spike had been working on a sculpture of Rarity made of clay. He had spent weeks sculpting it just right, trying to get an absolutely perfect effigy of his beloved unicorn. Twilight assisted his endeavor by providing proper sculpting materials, along with how-to books for beginning sculptors. His goal was to present it to Rarity for her birthday.
“It’s, uh, coming along decently,” he stammered, “I mean, It’s better than before. But I still can’t get the head right. And the hooves are out of proportion. I just hope I get it right in time, the last thing I wanna do is give Rarity a disfigured blob saying that it’s her…”
“Well, I think you’ll get it right eventually. Just keep working at it.” She said, then added with a giggle, “Besides, it’s really sweet and she’ll appreciate the effort and thought put into it, no matter what it looks like.”
“Really? You think so?” He said, his face lighting up.
“Definitely.” She finished the last bite of pancake, wiped her face with her napkin, and put the dish into the sink. “Well, I better head out if I want to be on time. Let me get my…”
“Your anemometer and measuring tape?” Spike interrupted. “I already put them over by the door, along with your book on aero-velocity equations.”
“Always one step ahead, huh, Spike?” Twilight smiled. She then put the materials in her saddlebag, put her saddlebag on, and opened the door. Or, at least tried to. For some reason, the door didn’t open as easily as usual.
“Huh? What’s this?” Twilight wondered aloud as she forced the door open. The door blocker was then discovered.
There was a box, about a cubic foot, set in front of the door. It was made of wood, and looked as if it had been smacked repeatedly with a pipe or thrown down a hill. It was bruised and battered intensely, with chipped edges and several dents. It had a scroll attached, rolled up very sloppily and barely sealed, as if written in a dire hurry. Twilight unfurled the note and began to read. This was difficult, as the writing was just as sloppy as the note and the box.
“To the receiver of this package: I leave my most prized possession in your care. I hope and pray that you will use the contents of this box as they properly should be. You may never find out where this came from, what it means, or why it is even here, but be sure of this one fact and this one fact alone; HE loves you, and HE did what HE did for everyone. Including you.”
Everything about this note perplexed Twilight. Who the heck was ‘HE’ and what did ‘HE’ do? Why does ‘HE’ love her, but did what ‘HE’ did for everyone? What did the note writer, who may be the ‘HE’ himself, leave in this box, and why is it so valuable? And most importantly, why did someone leave such an important package in the care of her, when she didn’t know who sent it or why? She pondered these as she examined the box further. What really struck out to her was the box’s lid. It was lined with gold designs and had a golden handle, and appeared to open out like a little door. The handle was a surprising contrast with the hinges, which were a bland, dark iron color.
“Hey Spike, did the mail mare come early today?” Twilight called as she put her saddlebag down, levitated the box inside, and shut the door.
“No. What’s the box for, Twilight? It looks like it’s been thrown into a tornado!” Spike declared, examining the cracked crate.
Twilight placed it on the center library table. Both she and Spike stared at the dork brown cube for a few moments. It’s aura of mystery had paralyzed them. It seemed to fill the air of the library with an ominous atmosphere.
“Well, shall we open it?” Spike asked, his claw grabbing the bruised golden handle.
“Wait!” Twilight shouted, blocking Spike’s claw with one swift hoof motion. “The note said this was the sender’s most prized possession! Shouldn’t we be more careful?”
“Good point.” Spike nodded, and drew his claw back towards his side. Twilight then began to open the crate slowly with her magic. It opened with a squeaky creak, as if its metal hinges hadn’t rotated in years. The top moved upwards and a cloud of dust and dirt poofed out from the innards. When the cloud vanished, the contents became clear; it was a lone, dusty, book.
“A book? His most prized possession, of severe importance, is a book?!” Twilight declared angrily. She levitated the book out, and was frustrated even more. The cover was positively covered in filth, and nothing was legible. She could not make out a word of the front or spine.
“Let me see it for a sec.” Spike said after he ran to the kitchen to get a rag. He then took the book and gave it a thorough dusting.
The book was a light-brown color, and had strange markings imprinted on the cover and spine. The spine markings were in fake, plastic silver, and the cover was in a similar golden tone. Twilight levitated the now clean book in front of both herself and her dragon. Neither of them understood the title. They had never seen this book, or even heard of it, or anything with a similar title. It was a complete mystery. After an awkward silence of looking the cover over, Twilight read it out loud.
“Holy Bible.”
Her words pierced the ominous essence of the room like a surgical scalpel through paper. The sound of the title alone seemed potent.
“What does that even mean, Twilight?” Spike asked, with a hint of nervous fear in his voice. “Is it even in our language?”
Twilight flipped to several random pages. “Yes, it seems so,” she answered, “but I don’t know what it is. I can’t figure out whether it’s novel, knowledge base, or reference. I can’t tell if it’s fiction or nonfiction. I can’t even find out who the characters are!” Twilight was considerably confused. As she flipped through pages, the stories got more and more incoherent and random. One page had a creature addressing a crowd about flowers, and another had laws for preparing food (meat, she noticed, which made her shudder a bit).
Twilight closed the book and sighed heavily. “Maybe the mail got mixed up again. I’m pretty sure this wasn’t supposed to come to me. But still, the letter said it was important, so I might as well hold onto it until I figure out whose it is. But I can figure that out later, I think I’m late for the project with Rainbow.” She put the Bible in her saddlebag, grabbed said saddlebag, and proceeded out the door.
“Wait!” Spike called out. “What am I supposed to do with this crate?”
“I don’t know, put it under a table or in a shelf in the attic somewhere!” Twilight replied, and then shut the door. On her walk, she hoped this whole Bible ordeal didn’t take too much time; she hated being tardy more than anything.
As she walked, her mind kept racing about this mysterious book. She didn’t have any clues on who ‘HE’ is, and the value and purpose of the book was still unknown. What did the sender mean by ‘use the contents properly’ when it’s a weird book?
Well, if it’s purpose was to drive me insane with questions, it’s doing a very good job, she thought. She must have been walking faster than usual, because she shocked herself when she realized she was at her planned destination. Rainbow Dash was waiting there, tapping her hoof impatiently.
“’Bout time you showed up, Twi!” Rainbow shouted and waved as Twilight arrived. “I can only stay 100% ready-to-go for so long, you know!”
INB4 religious debate
Hooboy. Bible and Ponies...
img.ponibooru.org/_images/704a65b5c8298201d5bf89dfa0d01005/130303%20-%20animated%20big_macintosh%20brace_yourselves%20macro%20reaction_image%20shitstorm.gif
Oh by the way, get ready for a surge of downvotes too. The internet and religion do not mix well at all.
Oh. goodness. I don't want to be mean. But, unless you're prepared for it, you're in for one heck of a bad time.
I feel epic luz and controveecy from tjos one . And the rising of a cult pf.blood and war(jesus brang forgiveness not peace), I am an atheist by the way.
I will give you a lickw for.the lulz my only godes is luna(not realy I am atheist as fuck....
804734
I know that all too well. Holy moley (no pun intended).
I propose womthing my litle devilish ponies lets just judhe the way he weites aince the holy bible is just cheap fiction after all
804784
Its kinda funny (and slightly irritating) to see both sides act just as bad as eachother if you ask me.
Dont judge my gramar blame thw iphoney
804734 Odds are this all ends with Tia and Luna disposed and dead.
Also begone fell troll! 804805 You are only makeing the what is yet to come worse!
I am going to get the hell away from this before the nuclear warhead hidden in this story destroys FIMfiction.net. This is going to get nasty.
804851
Probably.
If you ask me, someone should make story about how Twilight finds a bible and a few days after that is fearing for her life cause something called "The Audience" is now pissed off and wants to kill her entire world.
It would be just something to make fun of the usual reactions to this story ofcourse.
804874 That would be too much of a metafic.
804889
Oh yeah, forgot that those aren't allowed anymore.
Liked. Faved. Can't wait for the Shitstorm.
Geez, you guys act like I'm gonna shove Christianity down your throats! Looks like I'll have to...
SPOILERS No pony becomes Christian. No pony prays, or worships God, ever in this fic.
Now, let me get back to brainstorming Chapter 2...
trolloloolll
804919
First of all, I must say you are very brave for posting this story. What the others are saying is true, the internet is not very friendly towards religion. As all of them have said in one way or another, get ready for a lot of dislikes and unfriendly comments.
People are going to react negatively whether you shove Christianity down their throats or not. As we all know "love and tolerance" only works if you agree with what the readers personally believe...
I'm really interested to see where you will be going with this story!
804919 Okay, that's good, cause if you were..... I don't want to think about how it would end. You'd be as much of a target to bronies as a black man riding a bycicle at night would be to the Philidelphia police.
804919
Well it's mostly cause that's how it usually ends up; with one or all of those three things happening. Good to know you wont be going that route.
I upvoted it to balance out the butthurt.
I'm curious where you're going with that. As for the three cheapest endings, you have already spoiled us, but I wouldn't expect them anyway.
... I'm not even going to read this...
Right after Twilight read the note:
Why does ‘HE’ love her, but did what ‘HE’ did for everyone?
I will post other grammar mistakes as I read more.
As a Christian, I can say that, so far, I have found nothing bad about this. Please keep it this way.
805125
I agree.
I find these comments funny. What's funny is the way I lay out my Christian faith in my Crashing Equestria books is about the most rational I can make it, and nopony downvoted me for it, nor did my pages get filled with controversy. I must've handled it well.
So it begins... The greatest sh!tstorm of our time...
So...it falls to ME to be the starter of the shitstorm...very well...
Nope...No such thing as god.
Oh wow. I don't even know what to say. And I've always found the account of history in the the Bible to be perfectly legible and coherent, if you read it in the right order. The Bible actually follows a perfectly chronological timeline going from Moses all the way to the the Kings of Jerusalem to Jesus and even to the future and stuff. (of course just giving examples, there's much more than that.) Also, King James Version is best Bible, .
Oh yeah, goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway.
804750 Fail troll is a failure.
I'm a Christian. I'm giving this story an upvote, not because I think you're going to support my faith, but because I think it's an interesting concept.
Religion is important, both to us and to our fiction. We've fought wars over it, painted the greatest art for it, and even explored the universe because of it. Why shouldn't we explore how the ponies would react to our religion?
Would this story be different if it were the Quran, the Analects of Confucius, or the Principia Discordia? Maybe. Would people's reactions be different if it were those books instead? Maybe. (I'm not gonna go there.) In any case, I eagerly await to see where this story is going.
804851yes iknow I a son of discord, the one who leads pure ponies to madness>>804984>my togths exactly I am just atroll whose finds dwligrh in wars,but I guess this comunity is way to tigth for being devided by my corruption so gg
805125
Agreed ten fold
804984
Nice, looks like I fed the Parasprite... Now I'm really starting to regret my comment.
I know it hasn't been that long yet, but I hope you guys keep proving me wrong. I guess I just need to stop being so pessimistic.
BTW Just to let every pony know, I, the author, am Christian.
I'll bet a few of you are wondering why I said what I said earlier. Well, a story where Twilight and her friends find a Bible and become Christians is either 1) boring or 2) already done. This story has the Bible playing a key role, but the characters' religious views are not part of the storyline.
Sheesh, how many spoilers do I have to give to keep people reading?
808582 Enough to keep us happy without ruining the story.
I misread the title as "The World Became Ponified," and concluded that this is a "Equestria is Earth in the Future" story, and that the Bible will serve as a lead into that. I suppose it will remain to be seen whether or not this theory is correct.
In the mean time, a couple of things I noticed:
-It seems a bit out of character for Twilight to get angry about a prized possession being a book. Out of all the ponies, she'd be the most willing to understand.
-You might want to try reading your story aloud when proofing it to catch things like "formulate the formula", which, while syntactically correct, read a bit awkwardly.
Overall, though, it's too soon to make any judgments, since we still don't really know what the story's about. (I probably would have waited for more chapters to publish, if I were you.)
Have you read "The Gospel According to Twilight Sparkle"? It begins the same way, and is very entertaining. (And that's coming from a non-Christian, so I'm not showing favoritism.)
Twilight, given how obsessed she is with books, should not be treating the Bible with disdain, but rather respect. Granted, it'd be because it's a book and not because of its contents, but she still would be respectful.
804919
That's . . . a tad unexpected, but understandable given that they don't have anyone to give them context. Heck, there are folks falling out of the faith even now who do so because they haven't got anyone to give them context. The poor ponies don't even have the context of knowing what a human is.
Though, on that note, I'm surprised that you're using a religious book for a major plot point if nopony's beliefs are being brought up at all. Why not just use a regular history book then?
805475
I agree. There's just something special about the original King James Version. Perhaps because its translation was a labor of love done by college students doing their best to bring the Word of God to the people of England in a language they could understand. Quite the interesting and harrowing tale.
....oh what the hell, lets see where this goes
805475
The NIV is, in my opinion, definitely the easiest to understand, with just the right amount of poetry in the vocabulary to be beautiful. I enjoy thees and thous more than most ponies, but most people don't know what "iniquity" or "propitiation" even mean!
But I don't want to get into a version argument. As long as we both agree that the Message doesn't count as a real translation, we're solid.
Just started reading. OMG the things that will ensue
This gave me the chills!
was going to make comment about it. It would be like Rarity getting upset at thinking someone's prized possession is an expensive jewelry.
I figured you'd get a few dislikes on this. But this seems really good. Can't wait for more! Like and fav.
812865 that's the spirit
It seems a bit odd for Twilight to have such disbelief on a book being a prized possession, since she is such a bookworm.