2. The First Night
To say that the last thirty minutes hadn’t been awkward for all involved would be somewhat of an understatement. By the time the group had walked into the castle, the few staff and guards that remained, due to necessity, could scarcely do much but stare at the sight: the ‘guest’ that they were told that might arrive was holding an unconscious pony in his grasp while carrying a bizarre green Lantern. It was only by the direct orders from both princesses that a panic did not come about.
Rarity had regained her consciousness when they had arrived at the massive dining hall and, upon discovering her situation, blushed and a look of complete embarrassment spread across her face. Hal put her down onto her feet and apologized for teasing the unicorn and while Rarity did accept, she couldn’t look him in the face.
‘Oooh… This is just the worst possible thing!’ Rarity thought, berating herself as they took their seats. 'Here we are greeting a new resident to our country and what do I do? I insult him by fainting upon hearing his diet! How could I be so rude!’
Hal sat near Celestia, who had taken her own seat at one of the ends of the table; Luna sat at the other and pouted, not happy at the seating arraignments. Twilight sat across from Hal, something he began to regret as he could tell the excited purple unicorn was about to burst at the seams trying to contain her questions. The seat next to Hal was vacant, which was about to be filled by Fluttershy when the door opened and an unexpected guest walked into the room… much to Rarity’s displeasure.
“Blueblood! Uh… dearest nephew, it’s good to see you!” Celestia lied, very much caught off guard at the sight of her nephew. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” Blueblood gave the slightest of bows and brought up one of his hooves to adjust a lock of his dirty blonde mane off of his face.
“Auntie Celestia, Auntie Luna…. and honored guests,” Blueblood began, moving his gaze from his princesses to the others, looking somewhat curt at the sight of Rarity, who had taken a seat next to Luna on the other end of the table. “I had heard a rumor or two that a very unusual pony was coming to visit and just decided that it would be rude of me to not greet him…” Blueblood walked over and took the seat next to Hal, eyeing the sitting human from the bottom upwards and down again, scarcely taking notice of the Lantern that had been placed on the ground. “But I must say, I am very surprised that he isn’t a pony… or any other species I’ve met.”
Hal looked at Blueblood with an eyebrow raised and, deciding to play nice, introduced himself. “Well… thank you for the honor. Allow me to introduce myself: Hal Jordan, human and… newest resident of Equestria.” Hal put out a hand as a gesture of good faith. For the next few moments, the room was so quiet, one could hear a pin drop as Blueblood eyed the outstretched hand. Rarity had told her friends how rude he had been at the previous Gala and his snobbery during her stay in Canterlot and the six ponies and Spike were immensely concerned at what would happen next.
Celestia and Luna, being distantly related to Blueblood, were all to aware of the unicorn’s antics. Blueblood, in his own mind, believed himself to be a smooth talker when it came to diplomacy and meeting VIP’s. In reality, the prince was, as the ambassador to the Griffon Hierarchy had once called him, a “walking diplomatic nightmare” and a “political shitstorm just waiting to happen”. It was because of this that it was decided that Blueblood wasn’t going to be told of any future meetings such as this.
It was, with an audible sigh of relief from the others, that Blueblood limply raised his hoof and the human shook it. “Prince Blueblood. And the honor is all yours,” the unicorn said, speaking with an air that he was touching a particularly foul piece of garbage. As the eleven would-be diners sat at the table, a few of the kitchen staff walked in and began to take everyone’s orders. When it became Hal’s turn to order, the room once again became silent; everypony waiting to hear just what the human would order to eat. Hal became uncomfortable at the sudden attention and looked at his waiter, a brown Earth pony mare wearing a maid‘s outfit.
“Uhh… you guys got lobster?” Hal mumbled.
Twilight’s curiosity could not be contained anymore and she began to ask questions with such excitement and energy, it would have, and DID, make Pinkie blush. “Oh, you can eat lobster? Does this mean that you can eat other seafood? But wouldn’t that mean that you eat meat? Are you carnivorous?”
The questions kept coming rapid fire and Hal used one of his utensils, a fact that he was mildly surprised to see given that most of the residents he met didn’t have fingers to use them with, and gently tapped the side of his water glass to calm the chattering pony down. He cleared his throat and began to answer, in a calm voice, “Technically, my species are omnivorous in nature. While we do eat meat, we also can eat fruits and vegetables as well. My… friends informed me that foods here are safe for me to eat, so you won’t have to be concerned about that.” Upon looking at the others’ faces, Hal quickly added, “But don’t worry, I don’t eat any member of a species that I can have a dialogue with.”
While most of the ponies felt some relief at Hal’s words, Fluttershy was still concerned. “Mr. Hal,” she began, “does that mean that you still do eat meat… right?” The yellow pegasus wasn’t completely naïve; being a caretaker of animals, she realized that some of them did require meat in their diets. But while she wasn’t happy about it, she realized that that was the way nature worked.
Hal looked at the pony and tried to give an understanding look. “I realize that you all might look down on carnivores, but try to realize that it’s not because of any malice or joy we get from the act. A shark can’t help it if he has to eat fish and other sea creatures to survive, nor can a Thanagarian Lizarkon. If it makes you feel better, a healthy human diet requires mostly grains and nutritious plants, with meat only making up a small, but still important part of it.” Seeing Fluttershy still looking down, Hal added, “I won’t eat meat all the time, but from time to time, I will have to get some protein and nutrients from them.”
Fluttershy nodded in acknowledgement and looked at Hal, giving him a small smile. Blueblood scooted his seat a bit further from Hal’s, muttering, “Savage.” under his breath. Turning his attention back to the hand… or rather, hoof maiden, Hal finally gave his order: an ear of corn, a baked potato and grilled carrots. Upon getting all of the diners’ orders, the staff exited the room to kitchen to get the meal started.
“Actually, Hal Jordan,” Princess Luna began, addressing the human, “this land is not unfamiliar to such species which require a different diet.” Hal looked over to the Lunar Princess, who blushed slightly upon getting his full attention. “Dragons, such as our guest Spike here, eat precious minerals such as gems in addition to the foods which ponies partake in. And there are others who are carnivorous or omnivorous in nature such as thou, such as the griffons and the gargoyles. The kitchens are not unaccustomed to serving dignitaries with such diets, perhaps we could see if there are any wares that you can consume to suit you?”
Hal put on a small smile and shook his head, politely turning down the princess’s offer. Applejack then took the initiative to ask Hal a question, “So if you c’n eat fruits ‘n such… how do you feel about apples?”
“Oooh, oooh! And cupcakes. Oh, and cakes and candy too!” Pinkie Pie interjected. She wanted to know first hand just what she should prepare for the party, after all. Hal began to answer their questions, in addition to new ones, only slowing when the food arrived and everyone began to eat. Hal, in turn, asked some questions of his own, and learned that the girls were not only friends, but also a sort of special tasks group that used the Elements of Harmony, which they were still wearing, to help maintain the peace in the land when it was threatened.
It was towards the end of the meal that the questions then switched to topics that Hal wasn’t enthusiastic about answering: first his family, which he had responded was “personal” and did not comment on, and then to the ring and lantern. Being somewhat curt, Hal informed the group that the two were, rather than magic like they had thought, instead advanced technology which allowed the wearer to fly, translate different languages, and used will energy to fashion constructs and shoot energy bolts. All the while, the ring still remained in Hal’s pocket.
“But Mr. Jordan,” Spike asked, pre-empting Twilight’s similar question, “shouldn’t you wear the ring to get it to work as you want?” Hal looked off to a very interesting area of the wall behind Blueblood.
“It’s fine in my pocket. Just so long as it’s on my person,” Hal gave a short response. Knowing that the young man wasn’t comfortable with the conversation anymore, almost everyone decided to drop their question for now. Blueblood, on the other hoof, didn’t get the unspoken memo, and even if he did, he wouldn‘t have cared.
He used his magic to levitate the lantern off the ground and gave it a disbelieving look, unconvinced that what the human was saying was actually true. Hal snatched the lantern out of Blueblood’s grasp. “Sorry, but I just wanna make sure it doesn’t get damaged,” Hal apologized. When the prince was about to give a tongue-lashing that he felt the ‘upstart’ rightly deserved, he saw the look on Celestia’s face and wisely backed down.
When Blueblood was finished with his food, he got up and headed to the main door. “If you’ll please excuse me, I believe I need some fresh air. The atmosphere here is positively… uncouth,” the prince said, barely looking back. Rarity glared at the prince and resisted the urge to throw a fork at him. ‘How dare he say that about me and my friends!’ she thought. ‘And Mr. Jordan tried to be so polite as well!’
Celestia excused the unicorn and he left. She shook her head, thinking to herself that the boy needed some manners lessons like a fish needed water, when she noticed a strange sight out of the corner of her eye. Hal was smelling his jacket and when he took it off, he began smelling his armpit. Grimacing, he gave a ‘humph’ and spoke, “Yeah… I guess he’s right. It’s been a while since I’ve changed clothes… or bathed. Sorry.” Hal had known full well what Blueblood had meant, knowing the unicorn did not like him, but decided to play it off.
Placing one of her hooves to her mouth, Celestia giggled and called over a guard to escort Hal to his room so he could relax and get his affairs in order. Picking up his lantern and giving the still seated ponies an “Afternoon, ladies”, Hal followed the guard to one of the ambassadorial suites. When he was alone, Hal put the lantern in a wardrobe and shut the door, putting it out of sight.
The room itself was very fancy, a large walk-though window with an attached balcony, a queen size poster bed and a large shelf adorned with books were amongst the more noticeable features. A smaller door, he discovered led to a large bathroom with a sunken, built in bathtub and plenty of soaps and deodorants nearby. Upon hearing a knock at the door, Hal opened it to find another hoof maiden, this one a cream colored unicorn with an orange mane. She used her magic to give a large robe to the human and informed him that she would take his clothes to be cleaned.
Hal went into the bathroom and removed his clothes, folding them and putting on the robe in their stead. Before he gave his clothes to the maid, he removed the ring from his pocket and held it in his hand with some unease. “Please bear in mind that his is my only set, so I ask if you would make sure they don’t shrink or anything… but I must ask if you would please make sure the utmost care is taken with the jacket,” Hal asked the maid as he handed over his clothes, jacket on top with “JORDAN” sewn into the front. “It… it really means a lot to me.”
The unicorn smiled and nodded in response and Hal closed the door. He put the ring onto an end table near the bed, glad to be done with the thing. Walking into the bathroom, he got a nice hot bath ready and for the first time in days, truly relaxed.
Soon, the bath ended and Hal dried himself off, putting on his robe. Deciding to look up some Equestrian literature, he pulled a few books from the shelf and brought them over to a chair near one of the corners of the room, sitting down on it. Picking a book at random, Hal opened the tome up… to discover unreadable characters and symbols staring up at him. Well, unreadable to him anyway. A quick look through the other books revealed the same results: he couldn’t read the books, the written word just as foreign to him as their untranslated speech was.
With deep sigh of defeat, Hal realized that he needed help. He needed the ring. A brief thought flashed through his mind, Ganthet had said the ring had been modified, would it even work the way he wanted it? But this was pushed out of his mind with another, ‘Of course it’ll still translate. Ganthet said it would, so of course it’ll work with any written words.’
Hal looked over at the ring, still sitting on the end table next to the bed. He was about to get up, when he decided to test it. He willed the ring to come to him, not just a mere thought, but a deeper desire for it to work. He was mildly surprised when the ring glowed green and floated towards him, aiming for the finger which it had settled on so many times in the past. Hal, however, caught it before it could slip itself on his right hand and looked at it for some time.
A deep longing began to build in Hal’s gut just looking at it, and his desire to put on the ring was offset only by his… hatred?… of it. The ring, this small thing, represented many of the best things in his life… and many of it’s worst. Holding the ring in his hand, Hal opened the book and willed the ring to translate. It did, but rather than the words being legible to him, the ring spoke, conveying the words to him in audible language.
Hal closed his eyes and fought off his emotions. Despite how welcoming… most of his hosts had been, Hal knew full well that this didn’t change the fact that he was a stranger in a strange land. And having to depend on the ring, the thing which had now permanently ruined his life, only made it worse. Because now he couldn’t even read the literature and had to depend on a next-gen books-on-tape to get by, and in his voice no less. He hoped that some pony would be willing to teach him to read and speak in the local language, but the odds were… he’d, unfortunately, be needing the ring for a very long time.
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When the sounds of the footsteps made by the guard and the human had finally faded, the occupants of the dining room took a collective sigh of relief. Spike spoke for everypony, “Geez… that could have gone well.”
Twilight in particular felt more than her fair share of guilt; she had been so caught up asking questions to Jordan, she had almost completely forgotten his whole situation and steered the conversation to it’s uncomfortable ending. Everypony reassured her that the human didn’t seem too offended, but would probably not be feeling up to answering those painful questions so soon. After a short time, the seated ponies stood up and proceeded to follow Celestia and Luna to return the Elements back to their chest for safekeeping.
The hall which contained the chamber where the Elements were kept was just as grand to the six ponies as it had been when they first entered it during the Discord Crisis. Stained glass windows depicting some of the more memorable moments in Equestrian history were laid on both sides, the most recent depicting the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance and how they used their love to drive back the Changelings and their ruler, the Queen Chrysalis.
“So, Princess Celestia,” Applejack began, after returning her necklace to the chest, “what’s gonna happen with that feller? ‘S he gonna stay here in th’ castle with you?” Celestia, from the moment the Guardian had approached her with the request days prior, had been pondering this very question: where would Hal Jordan, now that he had been given asylum, stay. The answer, though simple, would require the agreement of Twilight and her friends.
“I have been giving it some thought… and I believe that keeping him in the castle would not be the best idea in the long run,” Celestia answered. Twilight placed her tiara, the last Element, into the chest and it was sealed behind it’s door, giving her teacher a questioning look. Upon seeing this, Celestia continued, “Keeping him locked inside Castle Canterlot like a cage would not help him out. It would probably be best for him to live outside, amongst ponies like you, so he can begin to acclimate and integrate.”
It was all falling together and Pinkie could scarcely, nay COULDN’T, hide her excitement. “He could come and live with us in Ponyville. He already knows all of us, so he’d have seven friends to help him out right off the bat!” the pink mare jovially exclaimed, jumping around.
All eyes fell on Pinkie, who noticed and stopped her bouncing. “What?” she asked. “Don’t you think that would be a good idea?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You’re just saying that so you can throw him a “Welcome to Equestria” AND a “Welcome to Ponyville” double party,” the cyan pegasus scoffed. Pinkie looked at her and put on her best “Serious Pinkie” face.
“Well, actually Dashie, it would be a TRIPLE party. You forgot the “Mythological Being Who Really Isn’t A Myth And Is Here!” party,” Pinkie began. “But I am being serious about letting Hally-Wally stay with us. He’s very lonely and needs to know that somepony will be there to help him out!”
Fluttershy gave a very meek “I think so too…” in agreement.
The other four ponies couldn’t disagree: like it or not, they were the ponies, save for the Princesses, that the human had known the longest and he did get along with them. Celestia decided to ask outright, “Does anypony have any objections over letting Hal Jordan come back to Ponyville with all of you?”
Twilight tried to rebut. “But where would he stay if he did go with us?” A question that was quickly answered by Spike, “He could stay with us in the library! Other than your weird science junk, the basement is mostly empty. A big guy like him would have plenty of room!” The lavender unicorn’s first thoughts were somewhat cynical, believing that the young dragon only wanted Hal around so he wouldn’t have to do his chores all alone, until she looked on the flipside. Not only could she make up for her (self-perceived) faux-pas, having Hal live with her meant that she could readily write down any of the valuable information he had to offer!
Slowly, to Celestia’s pride, the others came to a consensus. Well… almost everypony came to the same consensus.
“W- I believe that we are all coming to a decision too fast. We… we haven’t even asked the concerned party what he would wish to happen,” Luna cried out. Celestia looked at her little sister with some concern; ever since his outburst at the inquiry earlier, Luna had been paying a lot of attention to Hal Jordan. No doubt finding some kinship between him and her.
“I know that you think that may be for the best, Luna,” Celestia assured her baby sister, “but as we’ve all seen, Hal Jordan has a lot of healing to do. Meeting new ponies and building new friendships will help with that. Keeping him here… he won’t be able to move on. And Canterlot itself is a bit too… high strung. Unfortunately, there could be more ponies who are in line with our nephew, as we‘ve all seen. Less pressure would be the best for now.” Luna tried to find some way to refute her sister, but slowly lowered her head in defeat.
The group then left the hall and slowly headed towards the throne room, Celestia thinking along the way. “However, you are right about us proceeding a bit too hastily, sister. It wouldn’t be prudent to have the town unaware of their new resident’s existence until the moment he got off the train. I’ll be sure to send the mayor a letter with the details, she’ll be sure to keep everypony in the loop,” Celestia mused. “I’ll send the letter as fast as possible so you can all go home by tomorrow.” Sending mail with phoenix-fire with out a familiar destination was risky, but Philomena would be able to handle it.
As they reached an intersection of halls, the group came across a cream colored unicorn, carrying several familiar articles of clothing with her magic. She stopped upon seeing the two Princesses and gave a short curtsy.
“Harmony Gold, has our guest asked for anything, other than having his clothes cleaned?” Celestia asked the maid. Harmony shook her head, saying that he had only requested careful cleaning, especially in the case of the jacket.
Rarity eyed the folded clothing with the look an artist gets when they are about to be struck with great inspiration. “Do you think that our Mr. Jordan would allow me to make him some new clothes? I do get the feeling that he is the type to prefers to remain clothed, and it looks like he only has the one set,” Rarity asked.
“I would ask the man himself the next time you get the chance,” Celestia responded. Rarity quickly excused herself and headed back to her room; she wanted to write down the already mounting ideas and designs she was brainstorming for an unusual biped such as Hal Jordan before she forgot any.
With the fashionista gone, the others were excused to go along their way. Twilight and Spike headed off to their parents to join them in a dinner with Shining Armor and Cadance, Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided to go and get some drinks at a nice bar they had found the other day, Pinkie vanished to get some supplies for the triple party she was planning, and Fluttershy went off to try to amend her reputation amongst the castle pets.
Celestia and Luna also parted ways, the elder to write and send off the letter and return to her royal duties. Luna sulked off unhappily to her room to get a few hours sleep before it came time for her to raise the moon and adjust the night sky.
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Luna flew around the night sky, letting the cool breeze flow by her. The moon was high in the sky and she had a lot of free time, so she decided to take a night flight to help her mood. She knew her sister was right, that Hal Jordan probably wouldn’t be happy just staying in the castle, but she felt that Tia was practically throwing him out so quickly after his arrival. The fact that she didn’t have a chance to talk to him very well, even after their shared meal, didn’t help.
As Luna rounded the castle and head for her quarters, she noticed a figure standing on a balcony. Flying closer to investigate, the Lunar Princess discovered that, speak of Discord, it was indeed Hal Jordan! Surprised to find him still awake, Luna decided to get closer and strike up a conversation.
“Ah, greetings to thou, Hal Jordan. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you this night?” Luna addressed the human. Hal was once again dressed in his own clothes and had his jacket completely zipped up. He had been looking at the night sky and had noticed the alicorn flying about. He had been watching her graceful flying and it had helped distract him from his thoughts.
Hal decided to play it casual and answered the flying figure, “Eh, couldn’t sleep. I just came out to get some air and clear my head.” He looked again at Luna’s flapping wings and added, “I’d ask if you wanted to come in, but given that this is your place… eh, I think that be redundant.” Luna accepted the invitation and followed him into the room; he kicked off his shoes and threw himself on the bed to get comfortable while Luna stood bemused in the middle of the room.
“So, ‘sup?” Hal asked. “It’s not every day that I get a little one on one with royalty.” Luna knew what she wanted to discuss, but decided to work up to the conversation with some small talk. “We have heard that thou were involved in a… ‘spirited debate’ with a few of the staff earlier,” Luna spoke, an eyebrow raised.
Hal put on his best ‘Who, me?’ face and gave a short snort. “Yeah, at first I didn’t really believe the whole ‘Celestia raises the sun, you raise the moon’ thing. Usually, the sun is stationary and the planets orbit IT and not the other way around.” Hal turned his head towards the direction of the open balcony door. “In hindsight, I’ve seen stranger things happen.”
Luna ears perked at this. “Of that, we have no doubt. Thou must truly have a great many experiences in thy time, Hal Jordan…” Hal raised his hand and waved her off.
“You can stop with the formalities, Princess,” Hal said casually, turning his head towards the dark princess. “First, you can just call me ‘Hal’. And second, I’m not a warrior poet who’s come to spread stories of stars and worlds unknown and better society with my wisdom or anything like that…” Hal let his voice trail off for a moment and resumed. “Have I seen a lot in my time? Yeah, I won’t deny that. And… I won’t mind telling a few stories to anyone who wants to hear them… but really? I’m just a guy who’s had a lot of shitty luck. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Luna lowered her head and turned away from the human laying on the bed. Hal immediately felt like a jerk, he knew that he had little tact, even less when it came to dealing with royalty. As he was about to apologize, Luna began to speak, “Doest thou remember, earlier, when we said we knew of some of your pain? Allow us to tell you a story, of a foalish mare and the nightmare she caused…”
Hal remained silent and let the princess tell her tale.
“Once upon a time, little more than a thousand years ago… this land was ruled by two regal sisters. The eldest took charge of the day, while the younger ruled the night. The two sisters had long ruled over the land justly and happily, but there came a time when the younger began to feel unappreciated.
“The subjects of the land, the ponies, loved the day and lived their lives in the sunshine, while sleeping away the night. To the younger sisters, they shunned the night and did not appreciate it’s beauty. As time went on, her heartbreak grew more cracks, until one night… the younger sister refused to lower the moon and end the night.
“The elder sister tried to get the other to see the truth, that what she was doing was throwing off the balance of the world… But the younger sister did not take heed. Darkness had filled her heart, and transformed her into a monster. Calling herself ‘The Nightmare Moon’, the younger sister proclaimed that the night would never end.
“Three days of night passed, and finally the elder sister knew she had to act. She fought the monster her sister had become, and finally came the time to end the night. Using the Elements of Harmony, artifacts containing some of the greatest of our world’s magic, the elder sister defeated the Nightmare Moon and ended the night.
“Her heart breaking over what she had to do, the elder sister used the Elements to seal the Nightmare in the moon she loved so much. And the seal remained strong for a thousand years. During this time, the monster fell into legend and only the eldest, burdened with her actions, knew the truth.
“But the seal did eventually fail and the Nightmare Moon returned to the land, intending to once again bring about the eternal night. However, six brave ponies found the Elements of Harmony and, with their newfound friendship, soundly fell the Nightmare Moon, leaving only the younger sister in her place.
“For the first time in a millennia, the younger sister was able to see past her pain and think clearly. With the dawn, the elder sister appeared before the younger… forgiving her and welcoming her back…
“The younger sister could not believe it! After what she had done, she was being forgiven? She felt that… she did not deserve it. After many tears, the two sisters returned home and began to process of healing. So… so very much had changed during the time the younger sister was gone… but she knew that with a loved one by her side, she would be able to start anew.”
Her story finished, Luna turned around and looked at Hal, who had gotten off of his bed and stood up. “W… I was fortunate enough to have not taken any lives during my time as Nightmare Moon. However, I did hurt many ponies with my actions… especially my sister, the one who above anyone else did not deserve it. So when I say that I can relate to your pain… I mean it, Hal.”
Luna was then taken aback by a sudden hug from Hal, who had wrapped his arms around her neck. Trying and failing to find the proper words, all Luna could do was let her tears flow silently.
Eventually, the two separated and decided that it was time for Luna to go and for Hal to rest. Luna walked out onto the balcony and was about to take off when she heard Hal clear his throat.
“I just wanted to say… I’m honored that you trusted me with your story, Princess. And… I promise in time, I’ll return the favor. When it doesn’t sting so much,” Hal spoke, in an awkward tone. Luna nodded her head and turned around once again. “One more thing! Uhh… I really like your night. It’s… it’s pretty rad,” he added.
Luna’s face felt very hot upon hearing the unusual compliment. Despite the fact that she knew that her night was appreciated, she rarely received praise for her work. “T-thank you very much,” Luna stuttered. “May you have pleasant dreams this night.” Finally, she took off and was gone.
Hal walked back to his bed and took off his socks and jacket. As he crawled into the sheets, one thought blared in his head, ‘Did I honestly just say rad in a conversation?’ Soon, he fell into unconsciousness. His dreams were, unfortunately, not pleasant, filled with figures clad in red… and in yellow.
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Noon was drawing closer, and the small city of Ponyville was ablaze with excitement. A town meeting had been held the previous night and Mayor Mare had delivered the news to the residents: a human, straight out of the old ponytales, was going to be living amongst them! Reactions varied amongst the citizenry, but it was a safe bet to than none were more elated by the news than a certain green unicorn mare.
For most of her life, Lyra Heartstrings had been intensely interested in the old tales of humans. So much so, she was only mildly surprised that when her cutie mark had appeared, it hadn’t been human related. This isn’t to say that Lyra’s sole driving interest was humans; she took her musical career very seriously. But upon hearing that not only were humans real, but one was going to live amongst them? It took all her restraint to not jump up and celebrate.
Her housemate Bon Bon did not share her elation, to say the least. Rather, her first thought hearing the news was ’Oh, no…’, knowing full well that Lyra’s interest was probably going to get at least one pony arrested.
The two were currently in the house they shared, Bon Bon on the couch drinking a nice cool ice tea with a straw and Lyra pacing back and forth. “Maybe I should go wait by the station and meet them there!” Lyra giddily thought aloud. Bon Bon rolled her eyes, the train from Canterlot wouldn’t show up for another hour; a fact that Lyra was not happy about.
Before Bon Bon could open her mouth to tell the overexcited mare to calm down, a knocking came from the front door. Lyra walked over and opened it, revealing a strangely dressed blue unicorn mare in glasses.
“Oh… uh… wuzzup, homeslice!” the unicorn barked. “Um… I was looking for a shortie, name ‘a Lyra Heartstrings. Tha human expert?”
Lyra looked over her shoulder to look at Bon Bon, who returned the look. The two had been expecting to see an unusual sight today, but they weren’t expecting this.
The mare was wearing a long black sweater, covering most of her coat which was a dark blue. Her somewhat short light blue mane was mostly covered by a black beret. White rimmed glasses adorned her face, a match to her white pants. But other than her speech, the strangest part about the unicorn was her size; she was approximately one and one-half times Lyra’s size. If it wasn’t for her fashion sense, Lyra would have guessed that she was one of those high class supermodel ponies.
“I’m… Lyra,” the minty green unicorn replied, “though I’m not sure what that has to do with my size…” The strange unicorn began to laugh. “Ah, naw. Wasn’t trying to slam ya. Filly please, we’ve just barely met,” the spectacled mare explained. “But I do have a proposition, mind if I come in so we can talk private-like?”
Lyra looked over at Bon Bon again, the sitting mare shrugged in a ‘why not?’ gesture. The guest entered and closed the door. Lyra joined Bon Bon on the couch, sitting in her usual position of having her back against the rest while the cream colored Earth Pony sat with her belly down with her legs curled up.
The strange unicorn then faced the two and began to explain. “So when I came here the otha’ day, I was just crashing til the train to Canterlot coming today showed up. I’m sure ya can already guess that I heard the awesome news that a human is gonna be kickin’ it up in here at that meeting the other night. Like you, I’ve got a keen interest in humans and I’d be trippin’ to miss this opportunity, so I’ve decided to stick around for a while. Keeping it short, what I’m saying we should do is pool up and research the guy together! Know what I‘m saying, mare friend?”
At this, Lyra smiled, indeed understanding what she was saying. “Yeah, we could team up and get better results. Find out everything we can about him! Compare what we know about humans with him!”
“Precisely!” the sweater wearing mare beamed.
“And we’ll be able finally see how his hands feel for real!”
“Yea… huh?”
As the two unicorns started discussing questions and strategy for talking with the human, Bon Bon looked on in horror at her worst nightmare: essentially two hyperactive fangasming Lyras. Somepony was DEFINITELY going to be arrested by the time this was through.
“So, my sister from another mother,” the mare asked Lyra, “will your friend be joining us in our endeavors?” Just as Lyra was saying that her house mate wasn’t interested in humans, Bon Bon answered for herself. “Sure. It sounds like fun.”
This caught Lyra off guard, but then the green unicorn beamed and brought the other two mares together in a hug. Unfortunately, this sudden movement accidentally caused Bon Bon to spill her half drunk ice tea all over the clothes of the mare opposite of her. “Oops. Hehe, sorry,” Lyra apologized, “I just got so excited! You know what they say: three heads are better than two.”
‘And hopefully, one cool head will keep you two from making complete foals of yourselves,’ Bon Bon thought to herself, forcing her smile to stay on her face as she picked up the glass and the straw she had been drink out of and putting it on the table.
As soon as the mare had claimed no foul, Lyra tapped her hoof to her head, remembering that they had yet to be properly introduced. “Oh,” she exclaimed, “Just remembered that we didn’t get the introductions done!” Lyra let go of the two and held a hoof to her chest. “As you all know, I’m Lyra. And this,” Lyra put a foreleg around the back of the Earth pony’s neck, “is my good friend and roommate Bon Bon.”
Sitting on the floor, the blue unicorn brought her own hoof to her chest and was about to speak when she realized she was about to commit a serious error. ‘Wait,’ she thought to herself, ‘obviously if I use one of my pen names, I’ll be found out on the spot! Gotta think!’
Looking desperately around the room, the mare spotted a photo hanging on one of the walls. It was a picture of Lyra when she was mountain climbing Mount Kilimarejaro, a beautiful sunrise behind her in the background.
“My name…,” the mare began. She cleared her throat and spoke more confidently, “Just as the magnificent sun beats back the night, so did my ‘rents recognize such awesomeness. And so I was given my name, one worthy of recording in the pages of the unabridged history of all bad flanks!” The mare jumped up and shouted, “I am GLORIOUS DAWN! And when that human lays his eyes on me, my magnificence just may force him to go blind with awe!”
A minute of silence passed before Bon Bon broke it. “Glorious Dawn? That’s a pretty strange name.” Bon Bon went to the closet to get some towels to wipe up the mess.
Dawn’s face scrunched up in disappointment, although she had just come up with it, she thought it was cool. “Well, at least it’s unique,” Dawn retorted. “Better than being named after a candy.” She looked down at her wet clothes and added, “Um, yo. Could I put these in your wash?”
Bon Bon just sighed and nodded. Dawn walked into the next room, her horn beginning to glow as she started to remove her wet clothes. Bon Bon then placed the towel on the couch, drying it from the tea that had fallen onto it.
Between this strange pony who sounded like she just walked out of the ‘80’s and Lyra, Bon Bon felt that today was going to be a long day.
“You know what we should do? We should come up with a name for our little group,” Lyra suggested, acting as giddy as a school filly. Dawn then walked back into the room, her clothes being held by her magic as she handed them to Bon Bon. The Earth pony looked over at Dawn’s cutie mark and, matching her ridiculous name, it was of a sunset rising over a hill. The two unicorns then began to brainstorm some names, acting as if it was vitally important.
It was going to be a very long day indeed.
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Big thanks to my pre-readers Lanafilly & Violet Droplet. As always, comments on errors we might have missed are appreciated. Now it's time to take a break. Gotta catch up on my Resident Evil before RE6 comes out!
And I promise: there will be more Mane 6 & Spike next chapter!
EDIT 9/26: Fixed a few errors I noticed.
something i didnt notice before... but i now notice... but can't think of ANY way to fix it to make it better.. is this:
i just can't think of what to change that bolded part.... it is just glaring out at me and i cant for the life of me think of ANY way to fix it
1327100
Thanks, changed it. Hopefully it's a bit better now.
Keep up the good work
I Have witnessed no less than three other Green Lantern fics on this site die.
Please maintain the willpower to continue, the hope that your story will be amazing, the compassion for your readers who wish to see this through to the end, and the love of the media that you use.
and F.Y.I.
best Blue Lantern
I'm afraid I'm several years out of the loop on Green Lantern continuity (does this follow the universe reboot?), but I'm not having any trouble keeping up with the story.
Nicely written and decent characterizations. I look forward to seeing more of this.
1327647
Thanks, I'm gonna try to keep this up for the long haul. I've got a lot of ideas that I really want to explore, the buildup is nearly done.
1327754
It's more-or-less based on the pre-New 52 continuity for simplicity's sake (I am liking the New 52, but I do kinda miss the old continuity still), but there are a lot of alterations to history (young Hal Jordan being the cheif amongst them).
Thank you for the encouragement, one of my biggest concerns was trying to make sure the characters weren't terribly OOC.
Okay, Luna trying to talk like a manehatten street mare.
That made my eyes derp.
I don't know why but it somehow physically hurt me.
....
Also, hey, Halllll, put the ring back on... put it oooonnnn... you know you wannnntttt toooo
I give him a week. Tops.
Here's hoping that it still has basic functionality, because I have a feeling some yellow and red suited ring-wielding psychos are gonna be eager for some revenge against that 'particular' Lantern... especially now that he is effectively beyond the help of the Corp.
also, Raptor.
th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/094/a/7/mlp__blackest_night___pinkie_pie_by_cynos_zilla-d4v1l26.png
I agree.
1328986
Aw, yeah. I've faved all those GL/MLP pics on DA, bit of a shame that the artist didn't get around to the Black Lanterns, but I guess White Lantern Celestia was a good finish.
Also, Luna talking like what? I know I kinda butchered her Ye Olde Equestrian, but I didn't think it was THAT bad...
Oh, you mean Glorious Dawn? I was trying to go for a Vanilla Ice in his "prime" kinda voice for her, but I couldn't do it like the master could. So now she's like a mare pretending to be a white guy pretending to be a white guy who thinks he's a "hip gangsta". And that only made it better.
But yeah, Dawn's got a secret. There's a clue to her identity in the scene when the Elements are returned to their chest. I wonder if you can find it...
As for Hal & his ring... it's a very love/hate relationship with it. It's brought him some of the greatest moments in his life and many of the absolute worst. Right now, if he didn't need it to communicate, he'd just pack it away with the Power Battery and be done with it. But, as you've guessed, the universe hates Hal Jordan, so he'll be singing a different tune sooner or later.
1329062 I just had a terrifying thought. If Pinkie WAS given a blue lantern ring, that empowers the green. With Hal's will, he could probably use that extra juice to override the Guardian's control.
...
PINKIE PIE SAVES THE UNIVERSE! YAAAAAAAYYYYY
Or she would blow up the ring and half of Equestria with it...
....
YAAAAAAAYYYYYY
J/k... wow, I must be tired. 
This is great and I'm really looking forward to seeing Lyra and "Glorious Dawn" meeting Hal.
One thing you may want to be aware of, since Hal mentioned that the food on Equestria is safe to eat: That's not entirely true. Humans can't process food that's high in Cellulose, so eating a lot of food based off grass or hay would make him sick.
Keep up the good work
1329644
I probably should have been more clear, but what I meant to portray was that, say, if Hal was to eat an apple grown by Applejack, or a cupcake made from Equestrian ingredients by Pinkie, he'd be fine. His biology wouldn't have an adverse reaction.
It's like in the Mass Effect universe, quarians and turians have different amino-acids and can't eat food that humans, asari, & batarians can. Hal wouldn't have a life-threatening reaction to most foods on the planet, but he can't eat grass & hay.
That's why he ordered simple vegetables at the meal.
He's gonna have some issues with the local cuisine, like how they put flowers and grass in pancakes, or how they have cakes but never have heard of a pizza.
And the fact that he can eat meat is a fact he has to keep on the downlow from most ponies... huh, makes one wonder just what kind of detail is in all those old legends of humans... 
1333291 *Skips over link to list and starts reading Mogo* Hmm... mmmhmm... Believable... woah, wait! XENOMORPHS??? *Checks* Yup, Xenomorphs. *Continues* Hmm... really interesting. *Finished* Cool!
*Opens Leezle* Okay, this is the one that I was interested in. *Starts reading* ...*Finishes reading*... I'm still feeling the "WHAT THE FUCK???" feeling... That's it?
1333519
Yeah, that's all there is about Leezle Pon, unfortunately. Not much, but there you go. Sentient smallpox, I'm guessing, is a hard concept to find new scenarios for, giving his short number of appearences. But, there's my point, 12 year old Lantern recruit Hal Jordan doesn't look so strange in comparison now, huh?
1335521 He didn't look strange before then. If people can easily imagine 6 year olds as trained killing ninja (Kakashi from Naruto) then I see no problem here.
Neat!
Hmmm I'm guessing this is Luna, and she got her 'times' mixed up. I may be wrong though...
one could hear a pin drop as Blueblood eyed to outstretched hand
1. I believe it's supposed to be; Eyed the outstretched hand.
Pretty cool so far and with me knowing nothing of the Lanterns and what not.
And then we get fan canon Lyra... she always seems to make her way into the good fics... heres to hope'n that she doest become to big of a thing.
the "lacking powers" thing is gonna take some getting used to, but ill continue reading. i feel that this has started out pretty good, and i will see it through.
Just read ch.1 and I'm liking this. A new perspective with a young Hal but you kept in an important event from his GL career. I do have hope for seeing what comes next.