Consolation Prize

by Geo-Sif

Chapter 1

The next morning came far too quickly for my liking. I never was a morning person, and I doubt I ever will be, even if I actually try for once.

I was awakened to a tapping at my door, faint at first, almost delicate. At least, that’s what I heard through my sleepy haze. The next set of rapping were quite louder, knocking at my chamber’s door. I dragged myself out of bed, still garbed in my torn clothes, and with an audible thump promptly fell to the floor.

If I wasn’t awake before, I certainly was now. Pain was an unpleasant motivator, but effective, nonetheless. I continued on with limping gait.

And the knocking continued at my closed gate.

Quite loudly I cursed the hour, forgetting where I was, as I stumbled and squirmed my way across the rug. I had also forgotten that I was now a quadruped, because I kept attempting two legged steps, only to meet the not so soft floor.

And the accursed hammering would not leave from my door.

“I’m coming!” I shouted, grinding my teeth, taking it one step at a time, inch by inch towards the annoyance that waited on the other side of my large, wooden barricade. This seemed to placate the guest, as the assault on my door ceased.

I thanked the stars that they weren’t a crude, rude beast.

As I reached the door, I took a deep breath to calm myself. I didn’t want my morning grump to come out, but I did at the same time want to give the person on the other end a piece of my mind. So I settled somewhere in between. “Do you have any idea what ti--”

And my complaint died in my throat when I realized I was facing a gold clad guard with stony expression. It came back to me fairly quickly, that I should at least be respectful lest I be punished. Although, that apology died in my throat as he stepped aside.

I finally noticed the being behind him. I was barely meeting the chest of what was an exceptionally large pony. I had to crane my neck upwards, and even then, retreat a few steps to get the full picture. I was treated to a subtly glowing, white winged unicorn, graceful as she was tall, with kind magenta eyes. Her mane and tail flowed in a gentle nonexistent breeze, shifting hues to match a vivid aurora, mixed in with natural morning hues. She radiated a power, but also a calmness to her aura that I couldn’t possibly describe. And yet, to sum it up, I was intimidated from day: one; second: one.

“I believe it’s approximately 7:14 am,” she spoke in a cheerful voice that I subtly hated, like waking up to wind-chimes from a terribly deep slumber: pleasant, but still disruptive. “May I come in?”

My brain had long since fried, body having stumbled in my retreat to a seating position. So I responded with the first thing to come to my mind, “Y-you’re pretty…” It took all but a second for me to realize my error, as a blush now coated my face. My drool slicked, messy coat, bed-maned...

I was incredibly self-conscious in that moment, since I had yet to even attempt clean up.

“Why thank you,” she took the rather dumb comment in stride, lips curving in a soft smile.

Her original request finally hit me, and I continued my retreat, far enough away from the door to allow her entry. I graced her with a numb nod, and she entered, with my eyes never leaving hers. I was determined to read her, despite it being a fruitless effort at this stage. Her golden shoes clipped softly over the floor, while her equally golden and decorative yoke and crown gleamed brightly of light unseen.

To put it softly, I was mesmerized by her, embarrassing though that may be.

With a glow from her horn, the door shut, leaving us in a small, but pleasant silence. I stewed in my embarrassment, while she let me recover. “Uh, hi...” was my greeting, before I inserted a foot into my newly opened mouth, “So, um, if Luna is a Princess, does that mean you’re the Queen?”

She took the assumption far better than I’d ever hoped. “No. Luna is my sister, and we are both Princesses here in Equestria.” It felt like she was one word away from calling me silly. I got the feeling that there was a small, playful spark about her, while at the same time, all of my senses were telling me to bow now or flee. Being a pony changed certain aspects of my mindset and instincts, but I still had my personality to temper said instincts. Anyway, I settled on an awkward bow, that took me deep and low, while my legs shook the whole way through. “I am Princess Celestia, bringer of the sun, and co-ruler of Equestria.” A diarchy? That was a new one to me. “And you must be one Forrest Benjamin.”

“Yes,” I nodded to the name, but added my full name, “Um, Forrest Benjamin Moore… but I prefer Benjamin or Ben.”

“Very well, Benjamin. It is nice to meet you.”

I stared dumbly at her for a moment before my brain fully rebooted, having ever so slowly gotten over her stature. Again, the silence came, and there was a moment I thought she was waiting patiently for me. “Yeah. Nice to meet you as well…” I glanced around the room, as if to find a topic, but settled on the first thing on my mind, “So, can I go home now?”

I really needed to think more before speaking because that playfulness was gone in an instant, replaced with a carefully guarded expression, what I took as a mask honed and constructed after years of use. “I am afraid it is not quite that simple. You see, you are of a special case,” she said, “When you arrived in the Everfree last night, you caused quite a stir. Such a surge of Harmony is hard to go unnoticed, even by the common laypony. So powerful was your arrival that it would be difficult to replicate without sufficient time or planning.”

“...oh,” was my response, not that I understood much about what she referred to about Harmony and Magic—with a capital ‘M’. “But can I change back to a human?”

“Is this the ring you had on last night?” she changed the subject, levitating my heirloom for me to see. The chain must’ve snapped sometime in my sleep. To my nod, she continued, “This is no mere stone inside this ring, but a piece of the Tree of Harmony itself. A Tree, that for all intents and purposes, is one of a kind.”

“But that’s impossible! That ring has been in my family for at least ten generations, and we’re from nowhere near here!”

“Be that as it may, this ring still holds a piece of the Tree of Harmony, no matter how ancient it may be,” she began to pass the ring over to me, but paused midway through, “Would you mind if I kept it? It will be placed in a safe place, and you can withdraw it at any time.”

I froze. This was an heirloom, given to me by my grandmother herself. I was entrusted with it, and was supposed to pass it down to the following generation, should I ever get the dating thing figured out. I chewed over my lower lip, and my ears lay flat against my head.

Reading my answer in the negative, she continued to pass it to me. Yet, when I went to receive it, I gently pushed it back her way. “N-no, no,” I started, hesitant, “You can take it. Part of it belongs in this world anyway, right?”

She nodded and moved it to examine further. As she looked over it, she nodded a second time, as if to confirm her suspicions of some sort. “Yes, the Tree of Harmony is of a special breed: while being made of the most beautiful crystal, it is also grown magically. A single sliver could prove very powerful in the right hooves, or perhaps prove disastrous if used incorrectly. In days past, bark from the Tree of Harmony was gifted to very special ponies, a symbol and reminder of home, but also a means of finding said home, should they become lost.”

“Oh,” was all I said, brain working to process her information.

“As well,” she cleared her throat, “We believe that this might explain your sudden appearance and transformation.”

“Wait, wait,” I held out a hoof, again wishing it were a hand, “Are you saying that the ring is the reason I’m now… a pony?”

“Perhaps,” she answered cryptically, but there was a hint of agreement from her, and pride, like a teacher to student. “But it could also have been any number of things to cause the change. The ring itself is but a catalyst.”

I blanched. I had been carrying that thing around with no idea what it truly was.

“I assure you, it’s most benign,” she responded quickly to my expression.

“You mean, mostly benign,” I corrected her, but she didn’t correct me in return.

“Regardless, you are now a pony. I will repeat the question Princess Luna gave to you: What will you do?”

“Well,” I answered with a shrug and without so much of a thought, “hopefully this pony-business isn’t permanent. I’d like to get back to my home, to my life. I really would rather not end up on a missing person’s list.”

Celestia paused, just long enough for me to catch. Her body language changed, head lifting, wings shifting, until she was a ruler, not a playful mother trying to teach a child. “I am so very sorry, Benjamin,” was all she said though.

I took it as well as could be expected. I shut down completely. Her words pierced my very resolve. The shock was all over my face, ears laying against my skull. “N-no,” I stammered. She looked saddened, sympathizing with me, but I thought I understood well enough. I began jumping to conclusions though, anything I could grasp at that I thought could help, “But there has to be something! It’s magic, for crying out loud! Maybe it’s in some book, somewhere? I-I don’t exactly have much to be doing. I could look for it! Maybe I can find the answer?”

Her lips fell to a thin line, “That is a possibility, but one should not bring their hopes up too quickly, lest they be dashed just as fast.”

My heart hammered in my chest; the shock not going away. I was to be stuck like this? An awkward equine, that has to start out life again, from square one: learning to walk without breaking any teeth?

Her eyes drifted up and over to the side, as if searching for a clock, but settled on the window behind the curtain, “I am afraid my time is up for this morning. I will have to be going.” To my silent protest, she said, “Now, I won’t be far. You are in my palace, after all.” That did little to calm me, though.

“Wait...” she paused, looking at me expectantly, “Could you please… send me some books to read, so I can start leaning about this magic stuff?”

“Absolutely,” she nods, pleased with my insistence in learning magic. “I will send somepony with a few books from the Canterlot Library. They will also be by to pick up your clothing.”

“M-my clothes?”

“Yes. I feel as though it would be best if you’re perceived as just a pony in need. Your clothing would likely give away your origins. Not to mention, they could use alterations and repair.” She wanted to keep me a secret for the time being.

“O-okay.” I was thoroughly embarrassed by this point at the mere thought of being nude for the rest of my days here in Equestria, my face a deep shade of crimson.

But she paid it no heed, “Have a pleasant day, Benjamin.”

“Y-you as well, Princess Celestia.”

000

Thankfully, someone did indeed come by later that day to deliver those books to me, so it didn’t feel like the day was a total loss. I did, however, give up my clothes to the pony as instructed, albeit reluctantly. I pushed aside any embarrassment towards being naked, deciding to worry about it later. In the end, though, it felt like a clean trade. I had my reading material, so I was content.

Or so I thought.

My first clue was my lack of comprehension for any of the titles: I could not find any. My second being that I couldn’t find the table of contents, in any of them. And finally, that the pretty little runes and pictures scrawled over each page turned out to be completely illegible to me. I was at a loss. How could we have nearly identical speaking languages, yet they lack an English alphabet?

Whatever. I should take these things in stride. There was some hope, though. I had taken foreign languages before, and while sentence structure changed between the languages, it was a rather decent game of plug-and-play for direct translations. At least, that’s how I found it to be. As long as my mind could alternate between the rules from the two languages, I could understand and translate what I was studying.

When it came to the Equestrian lettering system, though, I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. I studied it, slowly turning the pages, even flipping or rotating the book, but couldn’t see a specific pattern. They were too advanced for me, which only served to discourage me. And even still, I was left to my devices for a day and a half, so I didn’t quite have it all together by the end.

To top it all off, I lacked any note taking materials or even any ability to write. It was all going to be from memory if I had any hope of learning this.

It was late in the afternoon of that third day that I was greeted by a knock at my door. I had been studying the book lazily, laying on the bed as I stared over the pages, hoping beyond hope something would jump out at me. The only thing that jumped was me, however.

“C-come in!” I cursed my nervous stutter from being startled.

The doorknob clicked through use of magic, and in walked a beautifully pink pony princess. Or I assumed her status of princess on the fact that she wore regalia and had both wings and horn. So princess by virtue of race…

I stared at her for a few moments, but my tired brain had little will to process this newcomer. I’ll admit, I was rude to her, and probably made a poor first impression, but I could already feel the onset of cabin fever. Without looking, I greeted her with a nod of the head and a soft grunt.

I could see her tilt her head from my peripheral, though I was still getting used to the ability to see without the need for glasses. That was a blessing, not to be forced through a small vision cone and be able to move just my eyes to see.

I looked up then when she didn’t move from the entrance, just having closed the door, when I realized what I’d done. My eyes widened, and I practically dove off the bed in a low bow, smashing my face to the ground in the process. When I looked up again, she wore a look mixed with amusement and embarrassment.

“Please, get up. There’s no need for such a bow,” her voice held kindness, but also flowed like a melody. I bet she had a wonderful singing voice.

Squashing that thought before I could consider where it came from, I stood on shaky legs, a sheepish smile of my own formed on my lips. “S-sorry...”

“No need to apologize either!” she practically scoffed, shaking her head. Lighting up her horn, she drew out a clipboard from under her wing, looking over it for a few moments. “You must be Forest ‘Benjamin’ Moor,” there was something off about how she said my name, but I couldn’t put a finger on it, “I’m Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Pleased to meet you, Benjamin.” She held out a hoof, and I blanked on what to do. Torn between a shake and a kiss, I simply mirrored her, and she seemed more than happy to gently clip hooves together.

I blinked as I lowered my hoof. Looking back up to her bemused expression, she again shook her head. Another look at her clipboard brought a nod, though, and I cleared my throat. “Um, you can call me Ben.”

“And you can call me Cadance,” she gave me a warm smile, which I tried to return. “Much better than stuffy old ‘Mi Amore Cadenza’, eh?”

I felt like I should chuckle at that, so I did.

“So what had you so absorbed?” she moved around the bed to look at my reading material strewn about the place.

I had lacked a means of really picking up after myself, having no magic of my own and barely able to walk on my hooves, much less used them dexterously. I still tried, but I had made a mess. Needless to say, though, I was looking far worse than when Celestia had visited me days prior. I had attempted a brushing, but it didn’t work out. There were too many knots in my mane. My coat was matted by this point, and I had minor bags under my eyes. My breath probably stunk as well.

All of which she didn’t seem to care about as she scanned over the books I had open. “You realize this book was upside down, right?” She righted it for me.

I swallowed down my embarrassment, “Nope...”

It took her a minute to process my single syllable, before she was back at the clipboard, flipping a few sheets this time. She muttered something to herself, but was far too adept at it for me to hear, which struck me as odd at the time. “So, you can’t read?”

She tore that bandage off, hair and all. I admit that I flinched, fighting off my rising embarrassment.

Cadance immediately worked to calm my nerves, “Hey, it’s okay. You’ve been through a lot already. Just have to take it one step at a time.” She placed a hoof on my shoulder and smiled her warm smile.

“Heh, literally,” it was my turn to mutter, but she caught it with a soft snicker of her own.

There was an awkward pause that followed, allowing me to get over myself with a sigh. “So, you think I can get a, uh, foal’s book on reading?” I asked.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” her smile widened, “I mean, you won’t be able to see a tutor for likely a week from now. But that’s no reason to give up.”

I smiled a tiny bit, “Thank you. But what do you mean by tutor?”

“Oh! I meant more that the Crown is working to hire you one, but since you’re not ‘normal’, they’ll need a briefing on your ‘condition’.” And I was far from normal, given from what I’d seen so far. “If you were a prince, this would be a lot smoother,” she smirked at me for a moment.

“Ah, that’s fine.” I nod with a little more conviction, “That’s actually fairly perfect. If I can get a copy of the alphabet to go with it, I could potentially teach myself, therefore saving the tutor some time?”

“That might work,” she blinked, “but are you sure about that? What if you end up learning the wrong thing and wind up back at the beginning? You don’t seem to take mistakes very well.”

“Oh, it’s probably fine. More than fine, actually. I’ve taken a few language classes like French and German for years, though this is probably nothing like either of those!” I gesture, hobbling over to the book, “See, it all matters about the structure. I speak Equestrian fairly well, I like to think, so unless you have some really weird method of writing it all down, it should come fairly swiftly through memorization and repetition. It’d work something like a cipher. I’d just have to translate the alphabet that I know into this equine script, and since the sounds are similar, it shouldn’t be too difficult, even accounting for a greater number than twenty-six letters.”

She stared at me for a long moment, mouth hanging somewhat open, likely to correct me on something. When I went to shyly apologize, she stopped me, “Ben, that’s amazing. If you can accomplish that, I mean. That’s literally the best case scenario.”

I grimaced, “Best case scenarios rarely happen.”

“Regardless,” she was quick to console me, “it means you have a solid plan for the written language right away! What about magic?” She pulled a quill from somewhere behind her ear, licked the tip, and began writing in her notes.

“Well, um, that I’m less sure about,” I said, grinding a tip of a hoof into the floor, “I don’t have magic where I come from, unless you count stage magic, sleight-of-hand type stuff. Then, that’s a ‘maybe’ at best...”

She stopped her writing, “What’s a ‘hand’? … never mind, probably like ‘French’ and ‘German’.” It obvious she’s talking to herself, but I found myself apologizing anyway. “Hey now, there’s nothing to be sorry about. To be honest, I’m just trying to get a baseline with you, help ease you into life here.”

“But I don’t want to ease into life here. I want to go home as quick as possible!”

“And Auntie Celestia said that would be a while at best before a way is found. So you better just get used to the situation and make the best of it.” I felt like sulking right there, like pouting, but thought against it. I wasn’t nearly that childish, or I liked to think anyway.

So I changed the subject, “Auntie Celestia?”

“I slip up sometimes...” Cadance starts, “Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna. You’ve met them both already. I usually refer to them with title, but I guess I got a little too comfortable with you.”

“Is fine.” I swallowed, asking the next question, “But how come you don’t look like either of them?”

She doesn’t even look up from her clipboard, not missing a beat, “Oh, I’m adopted.”

That threw me off right away. I didn’t expect such a nonchalant way of expressing adoption. She couldn’t nearly be that old to be so accepting of it, though…

I wanted to ask about her age; I was really curious, but I bit my tongue. It’s rather rude from my cultural standpoint. She glanced over at me, eager to keep the conversation going, “Do you have any hobbies?”

“Yeah,” I could answer this without thinking, “Specifically: reading, some writing, people watching, and just studying in general. I can’t stand to not know a topic.” My chest puffed up some as I said that. There was pride in my voice, as there was in my studies.

“That reminds me of somepony,” she sighed wistfully, before continuing, “Are you easily excitable when it comes to learning a new topic?”

“I like to think I’m calm and mature!”

“Mhmm.” I frowned at that, certain she slipped that in there to make fun of me, but she lacked a certain twinkle in her eye that I’ve seen from the two pony sisters. “Anyway,” she slid her clipboard back under a wing, quill behind her ear, “that should be enough information for the time being. I’m going to have to leave you for now, though, but I’ll see if I can get you those books, and maybe get someone to help with clean up.”

I make a face, muttering, “I don’t need special attention...”

“But you do,” she’s quick to pick up on my line of thought, “Simply put, you likely have your thaumic pathways blocked from lack of use. And that’s not your fault since you come from a zero-magic realm, but it’s the facts.” She shrugged, “You’re likely going to have trouble with your lessons from the start.”

“I’m too old for this… to be treated like a kid.”

“Oh? How old are you?” she tilted her head, showing genuine curiosity.

“Likely older than you!” I could feel myself getting angry, frustration with myself boiling.

“Doubt that,” her mouth split into a grin, “Would you like to make a bet?”

I didn’t give her the satisfaction of a bet, “I’m nineteen.”

“Hmm, nope. Still older than you. I pegged you for at least sixteen though.” It took a moment for me to get over that she’s older than me. I had guessed younger, because… well, I’m not sure why. I couldn’t tell age on the best of days. By the time I look up, she’s at the door. “Well, until next time. You have a good evening, Ben!”

“Uh, yeah, you too, Cadance.”

000

Thankfully, mercifully, Cadance got me the kids’ intro to spelling and kindergarten level alphabet books. I was glad to have them in hand… hoof, whatever, since that allowed me to finally attempt a translation. Unfortunately, that led to a new problem that I didn’t foresee: I lacked horn use, so I couldn’t write things down. I mean, I could potentially just use my hooves, or my mouth, but I didn’t see that coming across as quite legible enough to be noteworthy just yet.

And yet, the foal books were turning out to be a great help, regardless of my writing situation. Sure, the alphabet was a little backwards compared to English, but at the same time, it’s a reasonable amount of symbols. It’s a fascinating twenty-three base symbols, with several rules for add-ons and accent marks from what I could gather from a cursory glance and comparing the basics with the more advanced books. It’s also a largely phonetic written language, to which I was pleasantly surprised at. Languages that I had been accustomed to had rules to their letters, such as some being silent, but Equestria one had none from what I could tell. I had no idea it would be this simple; although, it wasn’t quite “start from Apple and work to Zebra.” It would take some getting used to, that’s for sure.

Still, I feared for a library’s organization given the way these letters are laid out.

At any rate, I didn’t know how long after receiving the books that I stayed buried in them, only coming out for a bite to eat that had been helpfully supplied to me. So consumed was I, that I failed to notice the hour. Now, my internal clock, while largely broken, still functioned some. I just had no real wake/sleep schedule outside of school and work, which ended up as a double edged sword. It allowed me to work until exhaustion, then sleep it off for a good eight hours and be back at it. This largely left me outside of the normal twenty-four hour day cycle.

But I was comfortable with it for a life style. So long as I arrived at appointments and the like, I didn’t see a problem, and neither did most people.

So imagine my surprise when, in the dead of night, I received a little knock at my door. I gave a soft yawn, before trudging on over to open it. Every movement was slow and deliberate, and despite that taking time, there weren’t any further knocks. When I finally opened it up, it’s none other than Luna standing there.

I blinked at her, noticed her guards, like those I had ran from in the Everfree, had taken the place of the solar guards, looked back at the clock, then stared directly at her. She seemed to find this very amusing, if that twinkle in her eye was of any indication. “We may have had an inkling that… your sleep had not come yet. May We enter?”

It took a full minute to realize what she wanted, being slow from concentrating so hard on other ideas, combined with the late hour. “Oh! Yes, sure. Come right in, Princess.” Stepping out of her way, I left the door wide open, before I rubbed along the back of my neck. I was momentarily surprised that the hoof could reach that far back, but the amusement quickly wore off. “Um, sorry about the mess. I kind of… can’t clean it up.”

Closing the door behind her, she tilted her head at the mess that is the bed, the books spread about, open to some page or another. There was even a half eaten daisy sandwich on the counter, there from the moment I decided I didn’t like daisies. There were enough towels spilling out from the bathroom to be quite noticeable, from the momentous attempt at a shower that didn’t end well for anything involved. “Mm, yes. We are aware of your predicament.”

I stood there as she surveyed the room again and again despite my growing embarrassment, staring, hoping to glean which way her cogwheels turned. I was unable to guess what came next, “We surmise that you have made yourself quite at home, indeed. Very well. We shall instruct our sister to assign you an aid post-haste! We simply cannot abide by these living conditions.”

I felt my stomach drop. “W-what?”

“Fear not, young Benjamin. Surely mine sister will have the perfect idea of which pony is best suited for the job.”

That didn’t make me feel any better. “But Princess… I don’t need someone to take care of me. I’m learn--”

“Ah, ah,” she tsked me, turning to face me directly. I could see it in her eyes: there would be no changing her mind. “These conditions are simply barbaric! We cannot in good faith allow you to live as such.” With a click of her tongue, she smiled, “Surely, thine life will improve with a little aid.”

“… yes, Princess.” I didn’t fight her on this at all after that.

With a tilt of her head, she approached me, lifting my chin with a hoof. “Perhaps, in time, thou couldst learn to take care of thine self. However, for the moment, thou needst help.” I noticed that she had been flip-flopping on her speech a few moments before, and I wondered if old habits died hard.

I couldn’t help but give a low, hollow chuckle at the situation.

“Now then!” she turns back towards the bed, “Niece Cadance has stated that you enjoy reading. What books have captured your fancy?”

“Oh… I can’t actually read yet.”

This halted her in her tracks, looking at me in disbelief. I waved my hooves in a defensive fashion, “I mean, I can, but that was a different language, apparently. On a different plane of existence, or planet, altogether.”

Luna nodded, accepting this, “Very well. Do not give up in your studies, young Benjamin. Even We had to learn modern Ponish upon our return!” So that’s what it was called. Why hadn’t Cadance corrected me?

I couldn’t help myself. I just had to mutter under my breath with a small smile, “And that turned out so well for you.”

She did not take it well, stiffening, a frown forming on her lips.

“Ah! I mean, I’m sorry!” I panicked, deciding to quickly change the subject, “So, your return, eh? Did you go on vacation or something?”

Her frown deepened, her jaw locking. “Yes, or something.”

And another landmine blew up in my face!

“We shall leave thee to thine own devices.” She made for the door, swift with long strides.

“Luna, wait!” I was determined to make it up to her, but before I could say more, I went crashing onto the floor. When I looked up, she’s looking at me expectantly, any trace of humor gone from her face. It hit me that perhaps I pressed in on a sore spot perhaps too hard, “I mean, Princess Luna… sorry.” My gaze shifted down, and I heard the door click open. “I mean, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just didn’t know that I was pushing your buttons. I was only trying to lighten the situation.”

“Be that as it may, ‘pushing our buttons’ or not, thou has overstepped a line,” she turned to leave, but I called out to her.

“Please, just tell me why you stopped by. Maybe I can help in some way?”

Luna stared at the open hallway, unblinking, deep in thought. Finally, she answered, “We simply wished to aid thee. Perhaps even take thee ‘under our wing’, as it were.” She sighed, and when she faced me again, her gaze had softened considerably, “We understand that at this time it may be difficult for thee, and at this, We can only hope to help what little way We can. Know this, young Benjamin, you need not be alone in thy journey.” With that, she left.

I didn’t sleep that night. And it wasn’t because of any nightmare that kept me up, either. It was my own foolishness, my own thoughts believing that I was at fault for why she had left like that. Perhaps, if I had been calmer, or more respectful, I wouldn’t have hurt her. But I had, and I couldn’t take that back. I couldn’t even move on from it. I just laid in bed, staring at the moon.

Comments

[Mix-up]

Hum, look interesting, I will read it tomorrow morning, promise always a sucker for Human Turned Pony Stories

[_Kenzu_]

So far its been an interesting read, I'm curious to see where this story goes

[Vaalintine]

The princesses do seem rather like they're intimidating him. If they want him to regard them with anything other than fear or submission I don't see why they don't act otherwise, considering they seem to want to help him. Though the Tree of Harmony being having done this to him does make it seem like it is rather cruel. There's no reason for it, it just took away everything he's known. Calling it benevolent just because of what it is makes no sense.

[rikithemonk]

I stared dumbly at her for a moment before my brain fully rebooted,

I didn't see proof it was ever running at all.

Ill give this story a fair shot, however I hate stories where the writer makes the main character a complete dunce. So far, this isn't instilling me with confidence.

The Monk
“On her doorstep was Twilight Sparkle. While Derpy deeply respected the mare, like most in Ponyville, they wished she'd either switch to decaf, or start hitting the harder stuff.” -Dan_s Comments

[LonePigeon]

Still, I feared for a library’s organization given the way these letters are laid out.

Why do I see in the future Ben having a rousing discussion/debate with Twilight on the pros and cons of the Dewey Decimal System, Library of Congress, BISAC, and whatever classification systems exist in Equestria and possibly its allies and places elsewhere in that world?