Fading Suns: A New World

by David Silver

10 - Destiny

Lyra nodded. "Alright, so cutie marks, they represent." She saw his confusion and went over what represent meant. "I want to complain about that, but, on the other hoof, you're picking up the language pretty fast, so anyway! We get them when we realize what our destiny is, our purpose. The reason we are."

That was deeply fascinating on several levels. Far from being creatures of chaotic power, they were literally subservient to a higher power without even thinking about it, as if it were a base biology. These horses who had no church were pious creatures without noticing or realizing. But was that higher power a good one or ill? Was it God? That would make the whole situation infinitely more palatable. But first... "How get?" If they just had it penciled in when they made a decision, that wasn't nearly as interesting.

"It varies from pony to pony, but for most, a nice sparkly flash, poof! They have their mark." She threw her arms wide at getting to the flash. "But that's just working to what I was saying. So they get a mark. For unicorns, magic about that mark comes easier. Mine is about making music, so music magic is a snap for me." She clopped her hooves together briskly. "But some unicorns get all the luck. Twilight's is 'magic', as in plain magic, so all magic is open to her to use." Her eyes rolled. "She'll cast spells I can barely dream of using."

And she is considered a noble for it? "Is Twilight princess for magic?" He rolled his two hands over one another. "Is all princess for magic?"

"Huh, not exactly?" Her head canted to the left a little. "Twilight is known as the Princess of Friendship. Celestia is the Princess of the Sun, she raises and lowers the sun every day. Her sister, Luna, is Princess of the Moon, guess what she does." She shrugged as she turned in place. "Oh, then there's Cadance, She's an exception. I mean, she's not a princess of 'insert talent here' at all. She runs a smaller country, the Crystal Empire. Nice place, shiny."

Memories of his sharp descent towards the planet and the moving celestial bodies that caused it resurfaced for Laud. He was literally downed by the reigning rulers of this strange horse land. Wait, friendship? "She is not friendliest pony I met. No offense."

Lyra waved it off. "No one said she was perfect at it. But she's always trying and getting better. You're the first real alien she had to host before, so she's off balance about it. Does that answer your question?"

Not entirely... "What can magic do?"

"Sheesh, more?" She tapped her chin. "You know, this kind of question would be better asked of a magic pony. I'm a music pony, remember? Twilight fits the bill, but there are others. Moondancer pops into my head right away, but she lives in Canterlot." She pointed up towards the mountain city. "You'd have to ride the (unknown) to reach her.

"Ride what?"

She repeated the word before making chugging noises and shuffling forward in a straight line. A train?

The technology level of the horses seemed wildly off-kilter. There was no way their civilization grew into such a state on its own. He had seen something electric before, a simple light, which implied they had a way of supplying that electricity. They had trains, but clearly never opted for automobiles as a thing, perhaps because they moved quickly enough? But then why would they need a train? To haul goods? But it hauled people just the same. He struggled to place their development in line with what he knew of the human timeline.

Lyra could see he was focused on something and suddenly walked for the door. "Want a snack?"

He surfaced from his thoughts. "Do you have..." Darn vocabulary. "Town, bigger. Very bigger."

She spread her hooves. "A (unknown)? Lots and lots of ponies in a small place?"

Yes! "City, yes. Have city?"

She nodded as she resumed her walk with him trailing behind. "Oh yeah. There's Canterlot, Manehattan, Baltimare... Plenty." She stepped down the stairs easily, a feat he knew normal horses had issues with, and ambled into the kitchen. "Something sweet or a main course?" She asked.

He remembered the eggs he had been given shortly before the fight. "A snack is good, thank you."

"One snack coming up!" She popped open a barrel with her magic and grabbed a handful of small wrapped packages in colorful wrappers. "Bon Bon made these, and she's good at it." She floated the candies over to him. "Get to know her sweet side."

He had learned of her harsher side well enough. She was clearly a warrior. "Why candy maker fight?" he asked as he undid the wrapper on one, wondering how a winged horse or a normal horse dealt with the wrapper without magic to make it go away. For that matter, how did Bon Bon put the wrappers on in the first place? There were too many questions.

"She has reasons," deflected Lyra with a lack of subtlety. "Look, she's a good pony, and you're a good... you. Human, right?"

He couldn't be a hundred percent sure that was the right term for him, but it was the term used for him so far, so he had just started assuming it meant human. "Right." The candy was acceptable. Sweet, tasty. He tried not to partake too much in them. A warrior did not live on candy. "Can you fight?"

Lyra spun around at him. "No! I mean... I guess, but I don't want to. Sorry. If you're looking for another (unknown? fighting, sparring?) partner, you're going to have to find someone else. I would rather we be friendly friends."

"That is good." He nodded at her. "You do not need fight." That was what nobles and those who serve with them were for, protecting those who didn't want to fight.

"Phew, alright. If you... Nevermind." She shook her head as she lifted a sandwich of her own and got to chewing it even as she walked. "What do you do, besides fighting?"

That was a fair counter-question for what he had been trying to get, but how to explain it. "I am... like mayor, higher. Lower than princess." Did they not have princes? He hadn't heard mention of one so far. A matriarchal society. Would they be offended if he, a male, attempted to take a place of dominance? It would be for their benefit, but they might not see it that way. That could become a problem.

That was when he reached out for something that had no business in a world of horses. A door knob. His fingers curled around it gently and it struck him how insane its presence was. Only one third of the population, at best, could make easy use of it. What would inspire a horse to engineer such a device? Why not something more easily manipulated with their hooves? Despite that, it was universal. Every door had a knob.

There was only one reasonable solution... "Who..." Arg, vocabulary. "First to make something..." He rolled his hand, hoping to prompt the word. "Who first to make this?" He tapped at the door knob.

"Invent?" provided Lyra helpfully. "Wow, I don't know... You'd have to look that up." She thrust a hoof up at Twilight's castle through a window. "She has the most books of anyone in town, try asking her."

They had trains and electricity, but not computers, clearly. Or were they at the point where they occupied entire rooms? He didn't know, but he would have to learn. "Miss Heartstrings, thank you."

Lyra colored. "I'm not a 'miss'!" She protested, giggling. "Just call me Lyra and we're fine. Oh right, magic, you wanted to know some stuff, so let's do some examples." She sat on her haunches. "Teleporting, messing with time, making the whole town want a doll." She saw the look of confused horror on his face. "It wasn't that bad, we cleared that up with the help of Princess Celestia." She giggled as if it were nothing. "Let's see, turning a frog into an orange, that was a weird one..." She tapped her chin. "I think it's still living in the swamp."

Oh sweet merciful God. Their magic was beyond any reasonable measure. They could influence the mi... Wait... "If magic work here." He pointed to his own head. "Why not use?"

Lyra tilted her head left and right. "What, like a spell to make you talk better? That would be nice, but I'm not a magic pony, remember? Ask Twilight if she has a spell like that." She blinked suddenly. "Wait, do you mean, like, why don't we... just zap you." She threw a hoof at Laud, her horn glowing. "I mean, I guess we could... but that would be rude. Only the meanest of bad people would need a (unknown, mind?) spell."

"What spell?" he asked, keeping his fear in check. He had to know more.

"Oh, uh... make bad person to good person." She flashed a big smile. "You're a good person though, so we don't need that."

They could reform their criminals with magic, and saw nothing wrong with the idea. They were on a dangerous cliffside, waiting to give out beneath them. "What about magic to make friends?"

Lyra stuck out her tongue. "I mean, sure, I remember hearing some spells like that are out there, but that's a lousy friendship. We're friends without magic, and that's way better." She firmly bobbed her head. "Even the awkward parts. We have to learn about each other and stuff, but that's half the fun, right? Friend spells just means you get two people who are just... happy to be together for no reason. Boring."

"So... no use magic because not want to."

"Yep." She seemed entirely unaware of any terrifying implications. "I'll take one real friend over a thousand fakers." She offered a hoof towards him. "I mean, I know we're still getting to know each other, and that's alright. Hey, speaking of that, what do you like doing? Besides fighting."

That wasn't a bad reason, no, but it meant they could, if they thought he was a 'bad' person. He had been walking on a much more dangerous razor's edge than he had known. "Like to do... I often busy with... things must do. When not, art, music, horse riding--" Did he just say that? He just said that. He looked to Lyra for a reaction.

She didn't look disgusted. She looked fascinated. "You ride ponies?" The word for 'horse' and 'pony' were the same word, at least he didn't know a different word for the two things. They were horses, right? "You're too big to ride me." She squinted a little. "But if you ride ponies, why can't you talk like a pony? What kind of ponies do you have where you come from?"

He felt a frown coming on as he considered that answer. "Big." He held up a hand at the level where he would expect a horse's back to come to. "Not talk. Strong, fast. We care for them."

"They're your pets?!" She burst into laughter. "That's too much! Oh wait, wow, this must be so (unknown) for you. We all look like little pets. Well I'm nobody's pet. Except maybe Bon Bon, but that's (unknown)."

Bon Bon stepped in as if summoned by her mention. "Twilight's on the way. Let's get you cleaned up." She looked past Laud to Lyra. "He's been good, I hope?"

"He's a real treat." Lyra bobbed her head. "I mean, strange, sure, but isn't everyone until you get to know them? Did you know he rides ponies?"

Bon Bon got a wry smirk. "Does he now? It seemed more like ponies rode him. That aside, this way. We'll get you looking proper, for Twilight's sake."

That was a low blow. A humiliating jab. Laud wanted to fire a witty retort, but his vocabulary was failing him entirely. He could make a physical retort, but that might get him marked as a 'bad' person. Perhaps... he could take it as the poor humor it was? He would have to, for the moment.

Author's Note:

Laud is creeping closer to deciphering this mystery. How close are you?

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Comments

[badninja]

I blame Discord for why everything is so crazy. It seems right up how ally and something he would have his paws in.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Hmm... I can't state any hypotheses with confidence; I don't know enough about the history of the larger setting to know who might be responsible for uplifting horses in such an absurd way. Still, I look forward to seeing what backstory you have in mind for this Equestria.

[Booster Spice]

Poor Laud, and Pinkie hasnt even invited him to the DJ Pon3 Zap Apple Jam rave yet.

[Xanderfox]

8234419
I actually kind of am partial to the idea MLP G1 or a version of it happened and Ponies literally learned half of what civilization is from 12 year old farm girl. It kind of explains the schizo tech, they reproduced what Megan knew about from experience. They skipped steps and copied tools and technology rather than naturally develop them. So we got human style tools and tech limited to what was in Megan's home.

[Kris Overstreet]

How did he pick up the pony word for "horse"?

[David Silver]

8517835
When he was describing to the ponies what he thought they look like.

[tsaukpaetra]

We think he's beginning to figure out why ponies are so peaceful...

[Cross Lament]

Isn't Cadance the LooOOOOoOooOoove Princess?

[titanhades70]

Starlight would be a better pony to ask about magic. She's more skilled with it then even Twilight.

[redmar]

Given how different Equestria is from our world it wouldn't fit in any linear way at all. Laud doesn't even know about the large number sapient species living there which will really confuse him. Discord will most likely terrify him and it wouldn't surprise me if Discord would speak english to Laud and then maybe switch to another language like french.

[Skittlebug]

8898954
Half the word will be English. The other half Esperanto. It will make perfect grammatical sense. Well, as much as switching languages halfway through each word will. Not to mention it being inverted (middle on the outside, edges in the middle).
Sometimes.

[TheYear2525]

friendship? "She is not friendliest pony I met."

I lol'd hard at that.