Act I: Bifröst (Bonus Chapter)
Himinbjörg, Crystalvania: twenty years, eleven months, and twelve days ago
It was being very cold in Crystalvania. It was always being very cold in Crystalvania.
I did the staring out over the icy expanses, vaguely in the direction of ‘south’. The only indication that I was looking the right way was the barely exposed railroad tracks. Four hundred miles away in that direction I was being told that there were other ponies. Ponies like my parents and me. Not ponies like those living in the town around us.
Once a month the train would do the arriving from Equestria to do the replenishing of our supplies. The boreal forest was being beautiful, but not capable of feeding a town – not even one as small as Himinbjörg was being. It was being my job to be keeping an eye out for the train. It was being very boring. And cold. It was being boring and cold.
I did the wrapping of another blanket around me. This was being the third, and even my pegasus magic wasn’t helping with the keeping of the chill out of the air. The wind was being biting, doing the cutting through all the fabric, right to the very marrow of my bones.
I did the keeping my body behind the parapet, doing the rising up only to be checking on the train every minute or so. After hours of doing the waiting, I finally spotted the train doing the chugging along the tracks. The first sign was always being the cloud of steam from the train’s boiler.
Doing the wrapping up in the blankets hindered my mobility, but I managed to do the poking my legs out of the covers. Laden, I couldn’t manage even a trot, so I did the walking across the roof to where Mom kept her silent vigil to the north. No words needed to be said, she just nodded, doing the releasing of me from my duty. I did the climbing down the stairs to the warmth of the fort.
There were being no external openings to the fort. None of the doors or windows were being functional at all. The windows were being purely decorative crystal visible from the outside, with masonry behind them, while the doors were being painted on. Entry came via a network of tunnels in the fort’s basement, all of which were capable of being sealed in the event of an emergency. When the fort was built, it was designed to be impenetrable – nothing was to be doing the going in or the going out. Even the air was magically doing the recirculating.
The tunnels were being chillier than the fort, but were still being warmer than the outside air. I only needed to be wearing my winter gear to not be freezing my rump off. The train was doing the stopping inside a tunnel that was being a recent addition to the centuries-old fort. I did the trotting to the loading docks as the train finally finished with the braking.
The boxcars were being aligned with the docks, and I quickly did the lowering of planks once the pegasus courier inside the train did the opening of the doors. A lavender mare with gorgeous pink hair did the flying out and then the landing on the dock next to me. It was always nice doing the seeing of Sweetsong every month when she did the delivering of the supplies.
“Hey kiddo, where are your parents?” She did the tousling of my mane.
“Mama is doing the guarding, and Papa is doing the sleeping, so I am doing the helping unloading.”
“Good, I can see you’ve grown into a big, strong filly since I saw you last month.”
Then we did the unloading of boxes, Himinbjörg’s monthly supplies direct from Canterlot. There was being food, medication, the previous month’s magazines, and extra blankets, because even with such a small population, there were never being enough blankets in Himinbjörg. Winter was coming; winter was always doing the coming, even in summer. It could snow at any point of the year, and had done so.
Mama said that in Equestria, teams of pegasi moved the clouds and brought the weather. In Himinbjörg, there were being just three pegasi, Mama, Papa, and me. There was being no weather team, and the weather was always doing what it wanted, when it wanted.
Doing the unloading of the train took several hours. Sweetsong and half a dozen other ponies did the doing of most of the work, but I did the helping wherever I could do the needful.
When we were done with the unloading, there was being a large pile of boxes on the platform. I was being exhausted, and I did the flopping onto the tallest box to do the catching of my breath.
“Oh hey, I almost forgot.” Sweetsong did the throwing of a box of cookies at me. “Thanks for the help, kiddo.”
“Thank you!” I did the catching of the box as she did the stepping back onto the train. Then she did the departing back to Canterlot, that place so far away that had more ponies that were being like her. Ponies that were being like me. Part of me was wanting to do the stowing away on the train to do the going with her.
But we were having a duty here, or so my parents had been telling me since before I was understanding them. A duty that was being ours.
I did the waving as the train did the chugging away.
Once the train did the pulling out of the tunnel, Smokey appeared to help with the moving of the boxes into the fort. He was never showing himself to any of the outsiders, not to Sweetsong when she was doing the dropping off of our supplies, and not to the crystal ponies of the town surrounding us. The only three ponies who knew he was being here were Mama, Papa, and me.
The little ice dragon had no problem with the moving of even the heaviest boxes; boxes that would have had to do the waiting for Papa to wake up otherwise. I did the grabbing of some of the smaller boxes and did the following of Smokey into the fort.
We did the picking up and moving of the boxes, back and forth, until the station was being empty. Then I did the sorting of the boxes. With the rail depot being inside the fort, we were being the distribution center for the town. Mama said it was supposed to be doing by the post office, but Crystalvania didn’t have a post office. I was being unsure what a post office or mail was.
Mayor Turquoise Shine was the first pony to do the approaching of the fort, as normal. She was knowing the train’s schedule as much as we were.
She was having an ironic name. Her coat never did the shining; like the other crystal ponies, there was being no healthy sheen at all. There was just being a dull, vaguely turquoise-colored coat. The crystal ponies were always being cold to the touch. I did not like to do the touching of them. It was being unlike Mama and Papa, who were always being warm.
She started the doing of the inventory on the shipment, like usual. The supplies were being here for the entire town. Smokey had already done the removing of the fort’s supplies. Once the mayor was done with the inventorying, half a dozen crystal pony stallions arrived to do the moving of everything into town and the doing of the disbursing.
My job was being done, so I did the returning to the fort so I could do the practicing of my flying. Thankfully the fort was being very big and open on the inside, perfect for a filly to do the flying.
Himinbjörg, Crystalvania: sixteen years, eight months, and seven days ago
It was being spring and that meant the temperature was only slightly below freezing. It was being warmer indoors, perhaps the only good thing about doing the learning.
Juniper Jade did the standing up from her desk and the addressing of the class. “Today we will be doing the learning about King Sombra.”
Most of my classmates did the gasping. Lingonberry and I did the looking at one another. The earth pony was being as lost as I was.
“Many moons ago, there was being a mighty empire in the Frozen North. The Crystal Empire was being the envy of much of Equus. The crystal ponies did much of the trading with other nations, especially with the ponies of the nascent Equestria to our south. The Crystal Empire was being one of the last outposts of the original pony homelands. The cold of the windigos didn’t do the bothering of the crystal ponies as much as it did the other pony tribes, and we did the adapting and expanding to any lands that were close enough to do the warming of with the Crystal Heart. While the other tribes were doing the squabbling over food, the Crystal Empire did the standing proud. Under Princess Amore’s leadership, the crystal ponies were having food in their bellies and love in their hearts. Please do the turning to page three hundred and seventy-two of your history textbooks.”
I did the opening of my book to the indicated page. A picture of a coal black unicorn did the glaring back at me. I did the repressing of a shudder. If a mere drawing of Sombra could be that intimidating, I could scarcely be imagining of what the real Sombra would be like.
Juniper Jade did the starting of her lecture. “More than a thousand years ago, King Sombra did the rising to power. An umbrum, a pony being made of shadows, corrupted by the hatred in his heart, he did the crystalizing of Princess Amore and then did the shattering of her, and finally he did the scattering of her remains to the corners of the world. It was being his hope that nopony would ever do the reassembling of her.”
“Did anypony ever do the succeeding in putting her back together?”
“No, Bright Opal. To this day nopony has ever done the finding of all her parts. In the early days, before the vanishing of the Crystal Empire, there were ponies who did the trying. After the Empire did the disappearing, crystal ponies were lacking in the desire to do much of anything. We are not being like Lingonberry and Bifröst, we are being tied to the Crystal Heart and without it, there is a piece of all of us that is not being there.”
That did the explaining of so much. For once, history was being interesting.
“Sombra was being a tyrant, and he was having weird mind control powers that did the turning of all of the crystal ponies into his slaves. Princesses Celestia and Luna did the arriving from Equestria to strike him down, but he did the magic sealing away of the Crystal Empire, which has been missing ever since.”
“How long has it been?” Lingonberry was being as enthralled by the tale as I was being.
“Too long. More than a thousand years, my little ponies. Some say that the Crystal Empire and Crystal Heart are being naught but a myth. But I am feeling it right here.” Juniper tapped a hoof to her barrel. “I am missing a piece. Do any of you feel it too? That feeling of not being whole?”
All the crystal ponies in the room did the nodding of their heads. Lingonberry and I did the shaking of our heads.
“The two of you couldn’t be hoping to understand.” Juniper Jade did the walking toward us. “This is being a good thing. You’re being ponies; you’re being complete. That is being a feeling the rest of us will never know until the Crystal Heart returns. It is being my hope that I live to see it.” She did the patting of our heads. “And it is also being my hope that neither of you ever experiences this feeling of incompleteness. It is being awful. I would never do the wishing of it on anypony.”
“Where was the Crystal Empire being located?” I couldn’t help doing the asking, my curiosity was being piqued.
“North.” Juniper pointed in the direction that my parents spent all day and night watching. “It is being beyond the tree line. Twenty-two hippikons from here. Crystalvania is being distant from the Crystal Empire, for two very important reasons. First of all, nopony is going to be wanting to be standing there when the Crystal Empire is doing the returning. Secondly, the Crystal Empire is being on the tundra. It is being okay for the growing of blueberries and lingonberries, but trees cannot be taking root there due to the permafrost. Without the Crystal Heart, there is no way of doing the melting of all the snow and ice. Crystalvania is located as close to the Crystal Empire as possible, but within the boreal forest. We can grow crops here, right Lingonberry?”
My best friend nodded. “The growing season is being different from the rest of Equestria. My parents have done the traveling south many years ago. Equestria is having a much longer growing season because it is being warmer and closer to the Equator. On the other hoof, for so much of the year it is impossible to do much of the growing here because of the weather and the lack of the sunlight. But the near perpetual light of summer makes the growing of the plants so much easier for a few short months. Crystalvania may not be having much of a growing season, but we are making up for it with the quality.”
“So this is where the crystal ponies who survived the disappearance did the gathering, and all extant crystal ponies are being descended from them. Ponies who were living outside the range of Sombra’s spell. Ponies who were being away from the Empire at the time for one reason or another. Ponies who did the returning home only to do the finding of nothing. Crystalvania is being a sovereign nation, a protectorate of Equestria. That means that Equestria is being responsible for our defenses, hence Fort Hope to the north of town. Bifröst can do the elaborating.”
I can? “My parents are being Royal Guards.” How do I make staring north everyday sound important? “They are being very vigilante for outside threats.” But only if they’re coming from the north. I decided not to do the explaining of that. “They also speak funny, with the Equestrian grammar. I do lots of spending time with them, and sometimes my grammar does the slipping.” I hope that is being enough of the explaining.
It was. Juniper did the continuing, “That is why we are being able to continue controlling the Crystal Empire’s lands. Equestria’s protection… and the fact that nobody else is wanting this land for anything. Maybe some nomadic griffins could do the hunting here, but that’s about it. There aren’t being enough game animals to support an entire town of carnivores, it’s being too far inland for the hippogriffs, and not enough can do the growing here without earth pony magic for the other sapients.”
Juniper Jade did the distributing of very battered textbooks. “We will be doing the diverging from Equestrian history now to learn more about the Crystal Empire’s history. Please be careful with these books. They are being very old, and we are not having a way to easily replace them. These are being the last textbooks that were issued in the Crystal Empire.”
The textbooks were being very precious and we were not allowed to do the taking of them home for the night. We had to do the copying of the information instead. That did the taking up of the rest of the afternoon, but it was being very informative.
“Mama? Why are we being here in Fort Hope?”
“Well, sweetie, Fort Hope is an assignment for the worst of the worst of the Royal Guards. Those who charge with the blunt end of the spear, or those who shoot their instructors by accident during the archery practice.” Mama did the sighing. “Your father is better with spears these days, but I’m still not allowed near a bow and arrow.”
“Oh.”
“It’s an important duty, sweetheart. We’re providing a valuable service to all of Equestria by watching.”
“Watching for the what?”
“We are watching for an ancient empire that vanished many moons ago, and will return again someday.”
“Mrs. Jade said we’re here to do the protecting of the crystal ponies.”
“That too. When the empire returns, so will its old enemy, King Sombra. We’ll be ready for him.”
“But we are being just three ponies, Mama. And I am not knowing how to use a spear or bow and arrow.”
“Ahem.” Smokey did the clearing of his throat.
I did the correcting of myself at his prodding. “We are being three ponies and a dragon. How are we to do the protecting of an entire town?”
Mama did the kissing of my forehead. “You won’t be doing any fighting, sweetie. You’re not a guard, and stars above, don’t do anything stupid like enlisting. Your father and I have vowed to see our assignment here through to the end, but we want better for you.”
But she didn’t do the answering of my question.
Himinbjörg, Crystalvania: sixteen years, five months, and seventeen days ago
Summertime. Those rare few months I could do the flying in the sky instead of inside the fort. It was being invigorating in the sky – it felt like I was belonging to the sky. Even with my natural pegasus insulation, it was being too cold to fly from late autumn until late spring, and the weather was being too unpredictable. Even in the summer, I was only allowed to do the flying within sight of the fort and town because there were being no crystal pegasi. If I got lost, Mama and Papa were the only two ponies who could come to my rescue.
Himinbjörg was being surrounded by forest in all directions. If I did the flying too far north of town, the trees stopped and the snow began. I didn’t do the flying north very often. There were not being many landmarks in the snowy wasteland, so it was very easy to be getting lost.
Instead I did the exploring to the south and the west and the east. I became very good at the marking of the trees so I could fly further from town and not be getting lost. I was probably being the first pony to set eyes on some of the places I visited since the Crystal Empire did the vanishing.
I was definitely the first pony to be coming across the giant rainbow in the sky, or else somepony would have done the mentioning of it before now. There were being no weather teams this far from Equestria, so the rainbow had to be natural, but the weather was being very dry, there was not being enough moisture in the air for a rainbow to do the forming. The rainbow was being huge, and it was miles from where I’d spotted it. I continued to do the marking of trees so I wouldn’t do the getting lost so far from home. It was being slow going, but I had to do the seeing of it up close.
I eventually did the reaching of it. It was being even bigger than I’d expected. I did the flying up to it, doing the marveling of its majesty. At the end of the rainbow were being the ruins of a settlement. What was being left of the town was having the same general architecture as other surviving remnants of the Crystal Empire. I have done the finding of an archeological site.
When I did the flying over of the rainbow I found myself being surrounded by clouds, overlooking forested fjords. This is not making sense. We are being many, many miles from the ocean.
I did the looking back the way I came and it was all open sea. The rainbow was not even being behind me anymore, just clouds. I could not be seeing any of the trees I’d marked. I was not doing the seeing of any trees at all. The boreal forest was being not there. I am being very, very lost. The only trees were the ones being in front of me, along the fjords. Mama and Papa are going to do the tanning of my hide… if they ever do the seeing of me again.
I started to do the panicking. After doing the examining of the trees and fjords, I did the flying back to the clouds I’d landed in when arriving, in the hopes that they would be taking me back home. The clouds didn’t do the moving like the other clouds. They just did the staying there, being stationary. I did the poking around until I did the finding of an opening. I did the gulping and then the jumping into the hole.
The relief did the washing over me as I once more saw my homeland’s endless forest spreading before me. I did the turning back and looking at the rainbow. This is being very odd. It almost like it is being a bridge to somewhere else.
I did the turning of my back on the rainbow and did the returning home, barely making it there before it was being dark. I had definitely done the missing of dinner, and I was being very hungry after all the flying I had done. I did the looking in the refrigerator to see if there were being any leftovers from whatever my parents had done the eating of.
As I was doing the rummaging Papa came into the kitchen. “Looks like somepony got her cutie mark.”
I did the looking back at my flank and sure enough, the rainbow bridge was being emblazoned there. I really hope my special talent isn’t having anything to do with that weird rainbow bridge thing. I am not doing the planning of going back. “I was so busy doing the flying I didn’t even do the noticing.”
“Did my little weather pony make a rainbow?” Papa asked.
I can’t be telling him about where I went. “I did the seeing of a rainbow and it was being really pretty. But I wasn’t making it, no.”
“Oh.” Papa didn’t know what else to be saying so the pause in the conversation did the turning awkward. “Still, this deserves a cuteceañera.”
Who would I even do the inviting of, aside from Lingonberry? I can’t do the inviting of one classmate but not the rest. I shook my head. “I am not wanting one, Papa. Can we just have ice cream? Please?”
He chuckled. “Sure thing, sweetheart.”
It wasn’t being much of a cuteceañera, but I didn’t do the caring. When they were asking me what I wanted for presents, I just asked them to be getting me more blankets before winter did the coming around again.
The fort was being very old and having a multitude of secret panels. Smokey was knowing them all. He did the popping up in my room as I was doing the getting ready for bed.
“I hate to intrude on you, but I have a few questions about the rainbow you saw. Was it big?” I nodded, and he continued. “Was it permanent?”
“Yes.”
“Did you find yourself somewhere else? Someplace strange?”
I looked at my hooves in shame. Smokey was knowing where I’d been and what I’d been seeing.
Taking my lack of a response for an answer, Smokey chuckled. “You found Bifröst. Fitting.”
I turned to do the looking at Smokey. “How can I be finding Bifröst when I am being Bifröst?”
“You’re named after the rainbow bridge that connects us with a world known as Midgard. Horrible place, I don’t recommend going there.” He looked at my flank again. “You’re lucky you came home. Don’t ever go there again.”
“You don’t have to be telling me twice. I was being very scared and even more alone.”
“Good. In that case I won’t contradict that load of horseapples you told your parents.”
“Thank you.” I let out the breath I didn’t even know I’d been doing the holding of.
“The two of us might be the only ones living outside of Canterlot Castle to know that’s it’s not just an old mare’s tale. Let’s keep it that way.”
“There are being no objections from me.” I did the shuddering. “I have never been being more scared in my life. I didn’t think I would be the doing the coming home.”
“If you go there again, you might not. It’s dangerous.”
Himinbjörg, Crystalvania: ten years, six months, and eighteen days ago
My alarm clock did the waking of me from a sound sleep and I did the reaching a hoof out to turn it off. No matter how many times I did the hitting of the snooze button the blasted alarm kept doing the buzzing.
I finally did the opening of my eyes to see what was being the matter. The first thing I was noticing was that it was still dark. As my groggy mind did the clearing up, the second thing I did the noticing of was that it wasn’t being my alarm clock going off, but the emergency sirens.
I did the jumping out of bed and the racing down the hallway to my parents’ bedroom. Papa was on nightshift, so that meant Mama was sleeping. I did the meeting of her halfway between our rooms and she did the scooping of me up. “Come with me, sweetie. Things are going to be crazy but I’m going to keep you safe.”
“What is doing the going on?”
“The Crystal Empire. It’s back.”
“This is being a cause for celebration! All my classmates will be having their Crystal Heart back and be whole again!”
“King Sombra is also back.”
I trembled on Mama’s back as she did the running into the labyrinthine tunnels under the castle. Smokey was already doing the waiting when we got there. As were two other ponies I had never been seeing before: a white unicorn stallion and a pink alicorn. There aren’t being that many alicorns in Equestria.
It was taking my mind a few seconds to realize I was looking at Princess Cadence and her husband, Shining Armor. Once I did the figuring out of who they were I quickly did the dropping into a bow.
They didn’t even do the noticing. Mama did the saluting and then the three of them did the disappearing. One minute they were doing the standing there, the next they weren’t.
“Teleportation,” Smokey helpfully provided. “Princess Cadence has been training for this. Your mother is in good hooves. Now, I need you to be a good filly and wait here. It’s my job to evacuate Himinbjörg.”
Like that, I was being all alone in the fortress. A fortress with an evil king doing the lurking somewhere outside. I was doing the shaking when Papa came down from the observation turrets. He did the sitting on his haunches and I did the throwing myself at him, doing the cuddling of him like my life depended on it. It just might.
Mama did the returning soon afterwards, doing the winking in with Prince Shining Armor. Shining Armor did the turning of one of the storage rooms into a command center, barking orders to my parents. Papa couldn’t stay huddled against me so I did the following him around.
Suddenly I was being airborne, but not under my own wingpower. Before I could scream in terror I came face to face with the prince. “Hey there, kiddo.”
“Hi Mr. Prince Shining Armor, sir.”
He chuckled. “That’s a mouthful. How about you just call me ‘Shiny’? That’s what my little sister calls me. What should I call you?”
“I am being Bifröst. It is being a pleasure to be meeting you, Shiny.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Miss Bifröst. Speaking of my sister, she and her friends are going to be here soon and we need to be prepared for them. Wanna help?”
“Sure! But what can I be doing? I am being just a filly.”
He hoofed me a crystal. “This is a scrying crystal. It’s keeping watch over her train right now. I need you to keep an eye on this and let me know when they’re getting close to here. Or if anything attacks their train. Especially dark shadows.”
I did the saluting. “You can be counting on me Mr. Shiny! Sir!”
He did the grinning at me, then went back to doing his work. He did the waving of me to the only other chair in the room, and I did the sitting there, my eyes glued to the scrying crystal. I did the watching and waiting, while Shining Armor did the taking care of everything else that was important. But this was being his little sister, and it was being very obvious that he did the caring a lot.
I remained sitting there when Smokey did the returning with the refugees from town. Eventually, Lingonberry did the hopping onto the chair next to me. I did the explaining of what I was doing, and she joined me in my vigil. If Shiny was being bothered by the addition my friend, he never did the saying of it.
“Shield’s up, sir!” Mama did the running into the room to be giving Shiny the news.
“Evacuation status?”
“Approximately 85% of the town is accounted for, sir!”
I did the looking up. It had done the getting crowded in the main room. Really done it. The townsponies had done the practicing of the evacuation many times; twice a year, every year as far back as I could be remembering. Those preparations were finally being for something other than naught.
Papa did the galloping through the tunnel, foals huddled on his back, and other ponies doing the clinging to him. “We’ve lost the northwest side of town. Sombra finally spotted us.”
A few ponies did the straggling in behind him, and then we did the sealing of the tunnels. Nopony would be doing the getting in or out. The mayor was doing the taking of a rollcall, and the making of a list of the missing.
I continued doing the scrying on the train as it did the continuing of the chugging down the tracks. I hated to do the interrupting during a crisis, but I was being under orders. “Prince Shiny, sir.” He did the looking up at me. “The train is being very close.”
“I need to get to the train station.”
“That isn’t being necessary. We have a siding that goes right into the fortress.”
“Too risky. We’ve sealed the fortress for a reason. Nothing can get in, but that also means nothing can get out, either. Well… except for teleports. Smokey, I’m going to the depot. I know we don’t have everypony accounted for, but I need you to initiate the final phase of the operation, then give me a distraction.”
Smokey did the saluting, then he did the scrawling of a letter, which he did the burning of. Then Shiny did the teleporting of them both out of the fort.
No sooner had they done the leaving then Princesses Celestia and Luna did the teleporting into the fort. The princess of the day did the commanding of the attention of everypony. “Everypony, please gather around us.”
“In an orderly fashion, please.” Princess Luna was not having an indoor voice.
Once everypony had done the grouping around the princesses, we did the winking out, and I did the teleporting for the first time. A second later I did the standing in Canterlot Castle. It was being my first time out of Crystalvania and I did the gawking.
The princesses continued winking back and forth, evacuating the fortress that had been being my home my entire life. It didn’t take them long to be getting everypony to safety. Lingonberry and I did the taking of seats in a corner, and we did the watching of the scrying crystal. Shining Armor did the meeting of his sister and her friends, then they did the galloping off. Unfortunately, the scrying crystal was being specific to the train, and all we could do was watch as the conductor did the turning around of the train before King Sombra’s shadow cloud did the overtaking of him.
Nopony had yet done the inventing of trains in Sombra’s era, so when he did the enslaving of the conductor, the train was being abandoned. The last I was seeing of him, the conductor was doing the marching through the snow toward the Crystal Empire. We did the stopping of watching the crystal when it was being obvious that the train wouldn’t do the moving again.
It was being hours later that the room did the brightening. Nopony needed to do the telling me that Sombra had done the losing. The crystal ponies were shining and being translucent.
Seeing the crystal ponies being full of life was amazing. Suddenly they were all having what they had been missing. I could feel my heart being happier for them. It was like the light switch inside of them all had been flipped to ‘on’.
Without the Crystal Heart to be lighting their souls, the crystal ponies were being incapable of feeling anything. Their hearts were being as cold as the stone that did the comprising of their hides. With the Crystal Heart being restored, they were being ponies. Truly whole crystal ponies were being like Lingonberry, my parents, and I were all being.
A guard raced into the room. “King Sombra has been defeated…” He trailed off as he looked around. “…as you all are apparently already aware. A train will be arranged to take all of you home tomorrow. For tonight, you’re guests of Canterlot Castle.”
It was being a very nice place to be a guest of.
Himinbjörg, Crystalvania: ten years, six months, and seventeen days ago
Our train to Crystalvania did the leaving very early the next morning. Despite doing the unloading of the supply train every month, this was being my first time riding on one.
The anticipation was being contagious. All my classmates could be talking about on the ride home was meeting their ancestors. They were even having family trees ready to go.
I was of course not having any long lost relatives in the Crystal Empire. I was excited because it was being an entire new city close enough to home that I could do the visiting of. Princess Cadence was doing the waiting for us, and she did the teleporting of us to the center of the Crystal Empire. We did the arriving next to the Crystal Heart that was being so important to the crystal ponies.
I was still doing the getting used to bright and cheerful crystal ponies instead of the dull and gloomy ponies I had done the growing up with. But that wasn’t being the biggest surprise. As I did the getting close enough to overhear their conversations, I did the coming to a startling revelation. They’re all doing the talking in modern Equestrian. We have done the preserving of the language for them – what is doing the happening?
It was making no sense – they had done the vanishing for a thousand years. They shouldn’t be doing the talking like my parents or Sweetsong did the talking.
I did the slipping away from the group when we did the passing by a school. I did the looking through the textbooks and the finding of a copy of the same book we did the learning from. I did the opening of it to find that it was written in modern Equestrian, and it was even including all of the Equestrian history of the past thousand years. I did the blinking in surprise.
Evidently other ponies had also done the questioning of what was going on, because it was being published in the newspaper. TheCrystalvania Chronicle had even done the changing of their name to The Crystal Empire Chronicle to do the celebrating of the empire’s return. The leading theory was being that the spell that had done the preserving of the empire and its citizens had also done the altering of them to do the better fitting in with today’s sociopolitical realities.
That was being all well and good for them, but what about those of us who had done the old way of speaking for generations?
Himinbjörg, Crystalvania: eight years, six months, and twenty days ago
I did the laying in the grass, letting the summer sun warm my hide. There were being only a few days each year where the weather was being warm enough, and the sun was being sunny enough, to do the sunbathing, and I did the making of a point of it to be using all of them accordingly.
I did the rolling over, to let the sun be warming my belly. The ponies that are living in Baytona Beach can be doing this any day of the week. They are having it very lucky. I was doing the dozing off when the peace and quiet was being broken.
“Bifröst!”
I did the cracking open of an eye. “What is it being, Mom?”
“Start packing. We’re moving to Ponyville.”
“When?”
“At the end of the month.”
I did the standing up and the stretching. “Why?”
“Crystalvania just passed the referendum to officially join the Crystal Empire.”
“I am being surprised that it did the taking of this long.”
Mom did the running of a hoof through her hair. “There were a number of other things to take into consideration first. It’s amazing how many things need to be resolved when an entire empire reappears after an absence of more than a millennium. Especially when it reemerged with its own hostile entity trying to reestablish control. Simply put, there were other fires to put out first.”
“Oh. That is making sense. I am not having many things to pack. I will start doing the packing later.” I pulled my sunglasses down over my eyes again.
“There’s a new school that just opened in Ponyville run by Princess Twilight Sparkle. They’ve sent applications to every town and jurisdiction in Equestria and beyond. You’ve been selected to take Crystalvania’s spot.”
I did the pulling of the sunglasses off my face as dramatically as one can be doing when one’s face has dabs of sunscreen all over. “But we’re not Crystalvanians.”
“True, but you reside here, and you go to school here. Everypony else was more interested in reintegrating with the Crystal Empire for obvious reasons, and because we’re about to be out of an assignment and need someplace to go, it was decided to award you the position as a way of thanking us for our many years of dedicated service. And since you’ll be going to the School of Friendship, your father and I have been reassigned into Princess Twilight’s royal guard duty.”
“You’ll be getting a real assignment?”
Mom nodded. “We were going to petition for an honorable discharge, but this offer was too good to refuse.”
“Wow. I am being very happy for you.” I hugged Mom, doing the smearing of sunscreen all over her armor.
Mom giggled. “We’re going to have to readjust to military life. Your father and I aren’t used to having superior officers around. We’ve had one inspection in all the years we’ve been here.”
“They did the sending of you here to do the forgetting about you. What about Smokey?”
“He’s already left.”
“Oh. Without doing the saying of goodbye?”
“Dragons aren’t exactly known for their sentimentality.”
That didn’t seem like the Smokey I knew.
“But I’ll let you in on a secret. I don’t think he could face you.”
That was sounding more like the Smokey I knew.
Ponyville: eight years, one month, and twenty-one days ago
Ponyville was being warm. Ponyville was always being warmer than Crystalvania.
When we had first done the moving to Ponyville, I did the sunning of myself at every opportunity. But as the days did the turning to weeks, and then did the turning to months, I did the missing of the cold. When we did the Running of the Leaves to help move the season from autumn to winter, it finally started getting to a temperature I was comfortable with. My parents didn’t do the minding of it, but they’d both been born in Equestria and this was being a return to normal for them.
The warmth was being new to me. At first I did the loving of it; it was like having a bunch of summer days all in a row. There was being no biting cold, and the weather team was being there to make sure that wind chill was being nothing but a bad memory.
My sinuses did the clogging and I found it hard to be sleeping at night because it was being too warm. Warm days were being so rare in Crystalvania that it had never done the bothering of me before. The sleepless nights did the adding up when there were being no cold days at all, and they couldn’t have been doing so at a worse time as I did the struggling to adapt to the School of Shipping Friends.
Right when the seasons did the turning, I expected that I’d finally be getting the relief I was needing. But then I did the discovering that my roommate was fond of doing the turning the heat up. Somehow, it was making the room being drier and made my congestion even worser.
No amount of the begging or the pleading would get Citrine Spark to do the lowering of the thermostat. Unlike in Fort Hope, I couldn’t just do the moving back in with my parents. They were having their own barracks in the castle.
Ponyville: eight years, zero months, and twelve days ago
Just as there was no way for me to do the stopping of Citrine from turning the thermostat all the way up, there was being no way for her to stop me from doing the opening of the window. It did the becoming of a battle of wills. It was a battle I did the winning of because the room’s heater was being no match for Ponyville’s weather team. Winter did the coming, and the little overworked heater was having no hope of overcoming the elements. Ponyville never did the coming close to being as cold as Crystalvania, so the chilly weather didn’t do the bothering of me, but it did the irking of Citrine.
Then Princess Twilight did the letting us out of school for Hearthswarming break and I did the trotting out of the school behind the rest of my classmates. Once outside I did the coming to a horrible realization – I was having nowhere to go.
I did the hearing of crying coming from next to me and saw that Cozy Glow was doing the weeping. “I don’t have any place to go for the holiday. I’m an orphan. Starlight even told me I should look into being adopted, but I told her I wasn’t ready for new parents yet.”
“I am also not having a place to go. My parents are being guards and I can’t be doing the living in the barracks with them.”
“Golly, it seems Twilight didn’t think this through very well. We could get a room off campus together.”
“I am not having a job and not having much money.”
“Don’t worry about it. I get a stipend from the treasury ‘cause I’m an orphan, and I don’t have anything to spend it on. Gosh, that’s what friends do for each other. And we’re friends, right?”
I nodded.
She clopped her hooves together. “Then it’s settled! We’ll get a room together.”
“I am liking it very cold in my room.”
“That’s okay. I can always put on a sweater or hoodie or something, or just pile a bunch of blankets on top of me. Golly, I can’t imagine making somepony else sweat just because I want to keep the room hot. What are you supposed to do, shave your coat off? That wouldn’t be very friendly of me.”
Hmn, Cozy is being right. It wasn’t very friendly of Citrine Spark to do the slow roasting of me in my own juices, but it was just as unfriendly of me to do the retaliating by opening the window.
“Golly, you have such a pretty pink coat. It would be a shame to have to shave that off, don’t you think?”
I looked down. My coat was being a normal shade of pink, but it was being a lot brighter than Cozy’s pale pink coat. I had never done the thinking that it was pretty before. My color was being pretty similar to many other ponies in Equestria.
“I even know just the place to rent! It’s already furnished and everything!” Cozy did the fluttering of her wings and I had to do the leaping into the air to do the keeping up.
Cozy Glow did the leading of me to the local gymnasium. The proprietor, Bouncy, was doing the renting out of the rooms above the gym. Because it was being noisy during the day, the rent was being pretty reasonable. Cozy did the paying for an entire year in advance.
When we were being alone in the room, I did the asking, “Where did you do the getting of all that money?”
She shrugged. “When Princess Twilight heard I was an orphan she arranged a monthly stipend, and a rather hefty one-time payment, courtesy the royal treasury. I tried to tell her that just being allowed to stay at the school would be enough, but she and Starlight insisted I take the money. So now I’m sharing it with all my new friends!”
“That is being very generous of you.” I did the opening of the window, letting the chilly winter air into the stuffy room.
“Golly, the cold isn’t even all that bad. I guess it helps to have natural pegasus insulation. You know what would make this even better? Hot cocoa!” She did the flying out the window and did the returning a few minutes later with two piping hot cups of hot chocolate from Sugarcube Corner.
It didn’t do the taking of long for the little room to get chilly, and I did the closing of the window. Cozy did the curling up under the blankets and we did the talking. She did the asking of lots of questions about the Crystal Empire, Crystalvania, King Sombra, and the Royal Guards and I did my best to do the answering. She was being very inquisitive.
There was only being one bed, so I did the curling up on the floor.
“Gosh, you don’t have to sleep on the floor, Bifröst. The bed is big enough for both of us. Wanna snuggle together for warmth?”
I wasn’t having any objections, so I did the sliding into bed next to her, and did the wrapping of a wing around the little filly.
She did the nuzzling of me. “I may not be ready for new parents, but you’re like the big sister I always wanted but never had.”
I did the smiling as she did the falling asleep cuddled alongside me.
Ponyville: seven years, eleven months, and twenty-eight days ago
Cozy Glow and I had done the moving out of our respective dorm rooms and done the moving of our belongings into our new rented room.
I was not having much to move. Crystalvania was being well off the beaten path. There were not being many places to buy things, and I was not allowed to do the ordering from Canterlot because delivery was being expensive. I had also done the growing up in a fort, and it was being against military protocol to be doing the decorating. So I was having very few belongings and I had done the getting used to living in a sparsely decorated environment. It was not bothering me at all. My only decoration was being a photo of my parents and I when I was being just a filly.
On the other hoof, Cozy had done the decorating of her side of the room with skulls and old relics. It was giving off the creepy vibes. But she didn’t do the complaining of how cold I kept the temperature, so I didn’t do the complaining about her décor.
Cozy was being proud of how she’d arranged her things. “Golly, do you like it?”
I shrugged. “It is not my opinion you should be caring about. If you like it, that is being all that matters.”
“They were out of kitten and rainbow posters.”
“Cozy, it is being okay to admit you’re going through a goth or emo stage. Everypony does the dealing with grief differently. If skulls and flames are being what makes you happy, you are not having to explain yourself to me.”
She smiled. “Thanks friend.” She looked at my side of the room and frowned. “You should get something to liven up your space.”
I did the shrugging and sticking my tongue out. “But you said they were being out of kitten and rainbow posters.”
She giggled and I laughed along with her. She is not being a bad roommate. She is being a little weird, but everypony says I am being strange too.
Ponyville: seven years, ten months, and twenty days ago
My classmates and I did the trotting through Sweet Apple Acres. Honesty 101 was being a hooves-on kind of class, and Applejack often had us doing the practical learning.
“Even in the off season, there’s never any shortage of work to be done around the farm.” Applejack did the bending over to pick up a small branch. “See? This right here is what I mean. All that snow we had has broken a bunch of branches off my trees. Gotta get these all cleaned up, and we can use ‘em for firewood or kindling. Everypony grab some branches.”
“Golly, it seems like this is just an excuse to use us all as manual labor for your farm.”
“Listen up, little missy. I ain’t no teacher with some fancy-schmancy degree. I’m a farmer, and it’s up to Big Mac and me to keep everything running. Y’all can’t seriously expect my granny and my little sister to pick up the slack while I’m here at the school. Besides, I can’t teach y’all magic like Twilight, or philosophy like Pinkie Pie, or anything else educational. This here’s a friendship school, and I’m here to teach y’all honesty. An’ there ain’t nothin’ like a good, hard day of farm work to keep you honest.”
“I was just being honest, Professor Applejack.”
“Sometimes honesty ain’t always the best policy. I had t’ learn that th’ hard way, and it sounds like y’all need an extra lesson. Ya can start with the back forty.”
Cozy Glow groaned.
“As for the rest of all y’all, Granny Smith has some fresh apple cider waitin’ for us in the barn right ‘bout now. Just keep this on the down low, ‘cause if Rainbow Dash up and finds out about this, she’ll drink it all up before we get there. That varmint can fly faster than all y’all can gallop.”
We all did the sitting around drinking cider as we did the watching of Cozy Glow flying back and forth between the orchard and the woodpile.
“Now that you’ve all filled up on cider, get out there and help your friend. And let Cozy know we saved some cider for her and she can come take a break and help herself.”
I did the catching of Cozy Glow as she dropped more twigs off at the woodpile. “Cozy! Professor Applejack said you should be taking a break now and having some cider.”
“That’s nice.” She did the turning tail and the heading back to the orchard.
“Aren’t you going to be getting some?”
“Applejack can take that cider and shove it.”
“Where should she do the shoving of it? It is being cider, and liquid isn’t very good at being shoved without doing the spilling.”
Cozy Glow did the sighing. “Never mind.”
I did the cocking of my head. “Equestrian expressions are being very strange.”
We continued doing working for the rest of the school day. The rest of us did the going back for seconds or even thirds, but Cozy Glow never did the getting of any cider.
Ponyville: seven years, ten months, and fifteen days ago
It was being the day of Twilight’s field trip to Cloudsdale. With there being much surprise to the rest of us, it was Rainbow Dash who was being the teacher instead. Cozy Glow did the explaining that Twilight was being very busy, but that the loyalty of her good friend, Rainbow Dash, would do the saving of the day.
It was being a routine flight to the city, with Rainbow Dash, Silverstream, Ocellus, Smolder, Gallus, and I doing the flying under our own power, while Starlight Glimmer and the rest of the class did the taking of a hot air balloon. Once we were being on solid clouds, Yona did the attaching of herself to my hind leg. She was doing the shaking in fear and I did the rolling of my eyes. There was being nothing to worry about.
“Hey Yona, come check out this view!” Gallus did the challenging of her to do the conquering of her fear, playing the yak’s pride against her phobia. “Unless you’re too scared.”
“Yona not scared!” She did the letting go of my leg, and I did the turning of my attention to Cloudsdale. I had done the seeing of the pegasus city before…
No sooner had she done the letting go of my leg then she did the falling through the clouds and then the plummeting toward the ground.
“Now Yona scared!”
Starlight tried to do the using of her magic to catch Yona, but it did the fizzling out and she did the dropping through the clouds too, followed by all of the groundbound students.
“Come on! We gotta catch ‘em!” Rainbow Dash did the rallying of us to action and the rest of us did the leaping through the clouds after her.
I did the catching of Night View as the earth pony was nearing the ground. I could feel her do the cowering in my hooves as we did the falling. I did the pulling out of my dive and then the landing on the ground. She did the kissing of the earth below us, then she did the kissing of me for doing the rescuing of her. Blech. I wish she had been doing the kissing of me first, then the kissing of the dirt.
It could have done the ending up being a disaster, but in the end everypony and everycreature was being okay.
Ponyville: seven years, ten months, and thirteen days ago
Cozy Glow was being younger than most of us, but she was also being Headmare Twilight’s assistant. She was also being the pony who did the stepping up and ousting of Chancellor Neighsay when he did the trying to usurp Twilight as magic was being drained from Equestria. It was only being logical that we would look to her for leadership in the absence of anypony else.
When she did the promising that we would see that some of our classmates were trying to do the syphoning of magic from Equestria, I did the following of everypony else into the catacombs that were being under the School of Shipping Friends.
She was being right. Sandbar, Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder, Ocellus, and Yona were doing the surrounding of magical artifacts, and Counselor Starlight Glimmer was being trapped inside. Just as we approached, Ocellus did the confirming that they were trying to do the destroying of the school.
“Destroy the School of Friendship? Oh dear! Chancellor Neighsay was wrong about a lot of things, but I guess he was right about all of you.” Cozy’s words did the rallying of everypony to stop them.
I was being on the upper level, but the students who were being right behind Cozy marched on Sandbar and the creatures responsible. It was being a short fight. Gallus did the getting trapped in the magical bubble with Starlight, and the others got sucked in trying to save him. Cozy did the monologuing about how the Elements of Harmony were ‘only a guide’ when Citrine Spark did the proposing that we save them as Starlight and the others were being sucked into the magical void.
As much as I did the disliking of her, Citrine was having a point. It wouldn’t be very pony of us to just do the standing by and watching as they were being sucked out of Equestria forever, especially since Starlight was being with them. But before that could do the happening, the Tree of Harmony did the lighting up, saving them all from the certain doom.
Sandbar and his friends told us to do the running while they did the disconnecting of the artifacts from where Cozy had put them. We did the evacuating as the magic did the exploding.
I did the feeling of my magic returning to me. With magic being restored, the authorities quickly did the capturing of Cozy Glow.
That was being a problem for me, since I was doing the sharing of a room with her. Twilight Sparkle did the approaching, but there were being other Royal Guards behind her, weapons being at the ready.
“Bifröst.” It was being Twilight who addressed me. “We need you to take us to your apartment.”
I nodded. I was having nothing to hide. We did the marching across town to the gym, and I led the way up the stairs to the room I did the sharing of with Cozy Glow. Twilight did the standing next to me as the Royal Guards did the searching of the room.
The guards did confiscating of all of Cozy Glow’s belongings. The room was looking very plain without all of the skulls and flames that the filly had done the decorating with.
They did the finding of nothing of interest in my half of the room, but they were still having questions for me. Twilight did the teleporting of us back to the School of Shipping Friends. There were only two Royal Guards in the room with us, and those were being my parents, both of whom did the looking very uncomfortable. But at least their weapons weren’t being drawn.
“Bifröst. As you know, your roommate committed treason. While there’s no indication that you might have been an accomplice, we need to investigate you.” I did the holding back of tears as Twilight Sparkle explained why she had to do what she was doing. “What Cozy Glow did was serious.”
I did the nodding. “I am understanding, Princess Twilight. I did the growing up in a military family. I am comprehending the concept of treason.” As hard as it was being to do while feeling so ashamed, I did the looking her in the eyes. I was needing her to see the truth in my eyes. “I am being innocent.”
“I think you are, too.” Twilight smiled. “But we have to be sure. I’m sorry to have to put you through this, but unfortunately Cozy Glow was uncooperative with us and has been sent to Tartarus for her crimes. Since she wouldn’t talk to us, she can spend eternity chatting with her good buddy, Tirek.”
I did the gasping. “She is not being reformed?”
Twilight did the shrugging. “She didn’t seem overly interested in reforming. If she couldn’t learn friendship, here, then there really isn’t much hope for her.”
“Oh.” Like Citrine had done the pointing out to Cozy as Gallus and the others were doing the sinking into the void with all of Eqestria’s magic, that didn’t seem very pony of Twilight. But I was likely being biased by having shared living space with her. “I am still doing the rectifying of my emotions. Part of me can’t forget how friendly and helpful she was always being. I know it was being a charade. But I have been cuddling Cozy Glow every night for months because I am liking to keep it very cold in the room, and she was telling me that I was being the big sister she never had. I am feeling very used, yet I am also wanting to do the believing that there is also being something inside her worth saving.”
Twilight did the patting of my hoof. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. And this.” She did the motioning around her office, and to my parents who were doing their best to be looking anywhere other than at me. She held up an artifact. “Does this look familiar to you?”
“It is being one of the magical items that Cozy did the using of to drain the magic from Equestria.”
“Have you ever seen it before today?”
I did the nodding and my parents did the gasping. “It was being on her side of the room. She did the saying it was an heirloom, one of the only things she had left to do the reminding her of her parents.” It wasn’t being hard to be guessing where her line of questioning was going, so I did the heading it off. “The same is true of the other five artifacts. I have done the seeing of them all in our room at one point in time or another. I did the recognizing of two of them from class, and Cozy did the saying that she was doing cataloguing of them under your direction. As she was being your student assistant, so I had no reason to do the doubting of her.”
Twilight did the opening of her mouth, then the closing of it. She did the pausing, like she wasn’t sure what to say next. “You weren’t the only pony she fooled with her goody-fourshoes act. She took it upon herself to catalogue the artifacts for me, but I thanked her for doing so.” Twilight did the sighing. “I’ve been as blind to her actions as you were. What made you decide to be roommates with her?”
“Citrine Spark was liking our dormroom too hot for me, and I was liking it too cold for her. Cozy did the offering to share a room that I could do the keeping as cold as I liked.”
Twilight did the nodding to my mother, and she did the leaving of the room. “We’re going to corroborate that immediately, so there’s no prolonging this any longer than necessary. As princess, it’s my responsibility to ensure that all of my citizens are treated fairly and respectfully.”
Mom did the returning with Citrine Spark.
“Citrine, please take a seat. I have a few questions for you.”
“Sure thing, Headmare Twilight.”
“Citrine, you were roommates with Bifröst when the semester started, correct?” She did the nodding, and Twilight did the continuing. “Why did you two stop sharing a dorm?”
“She likes it way too cold. Like, opening a window in the middle of winter cold. I was freezing my flank off.”
“You were doing the roasting of me! You did the having of the thermostat set to max!”
“I like it warm.” She did the hesitating. “With everything that happened the past few days… I don’t know if I should admit this. But I guess it’s better you hear it from this pony’s mouth rather than some other pony’s mouth. I was complaining about how you opened the window and the heater did nothing to warm our room… and Cozy Glow overheard me. She offered to do something about it, because, and I quote, ‘that’s what friends do for one another, and we’re friends, right?’ When I got back from break, Bifröst wasn’t my roommate anymore.”
“She did the saying of something similar to me. She suggested that if she were my roommate, she could do the putting on of more clothing or blankets, but that my only option would be to shave my coat off to cool down, and that it wouldn’t be very friendly of her to be making me do that.”
Twilight nodded. “So Cozy was taking the Gladmane approach. Play everypony against one another, but position herself as the solution to everypony’s problems. Are the two of you okay with each other?”
“As long as she’s not my roommate.”
“As long as we are not being roommates.”
Twilight did the smiling. “That seems like a simple solution to a problem. Deal. Citrine, if there’s nothing else, you’re free to go.”
Citrine did the nodding, and then the leaving.
“Bifröst, I think Cozy Glow was targeting you, specifically, because your parents are Royal Guards. My best guess is that she felt that if she could convince you of the legitimacy of her power, she could theoretically also win over your parents, who could in turn convince the rest of the guards to fall in line behind her. With my friends and I trapped in Tartarus, there’d be nopony to say otherwise. At least not until Princesses Celestia and Luna showed up. I haven’t quite worked out how she was going to deal with them. I also don’t know why Discord didn’t do something about her. I’ll be having a long talk with a certain draconequus after we wrap things up here.”
Twilight did the walking to the window and then the staring out of it at Ponyville. “The Royal Guards are done searching your apartment. I’m satisfied with the answers you’ve provided. I find you innocent of any wrongdoing, Bifröst. You’re also dismissed. I’ll see you next week when classes resume. I think that after the events of the past few days that it’s fair that we take a break from studies for the rest of this week.”
“Thank you, Headmare Twilight.” I did the excusing of myself from her office, and then the hurrying back to my apartment.
I did the making myself a salad for dinner. I was not feeling very hungry. I was feeling emotionally drained. All I was really wanting to do was sleep, but I was knowing that I had to eat.
When I was done with the eating, I did the climbing into bed. It was feeling much bigger and lonelier now that I had it all to myself. There would be no more doing the snuggling of Cozy Glow. On the plus side, there would also no longer be any waking up due to her doing the snoring. I’ll do the adapting. I just don’t know how I’ll be doing the affording of this place once her prepaid rent does the running out.
That thought did the preventing of me from getting a good night’s sleep.
Ponyville: five years, eleven months, and fifteen days ago
Classes had done the starting up again after the Hearth’s Warming break. I was still doing the living off campus, and had done the getting of a couple of afterschool jobs to do the paying for my room. I mostly did the working at Blueberry Chamomile’s Teahouse on the weeknights.
On the weekends I did the working for Shenanigans. She was being an aviatrix, and she was being in need of pegasi to act as a safety net in the case of disaster. She was being a very good pilot, but Ponyville’s being close in proximity to the Everfree Forest meant that errant weather could cause mishaps. I was having experience catching ponies falling out of Cloudsdale – Night View was very happy to be giving me a recommendation. It was thankfully being a very boring job because nopony ever did the falling from the balloon’s basket.
Because of her occupation, Shenanigans did the employing of pegasi exclusively, despite being an earth pony herself. On Saturday nights, we all did the competing in Shenanigans’ weekly derbies. They were being underground races, which wasn’t doing the making of sense since the racetrack was being aboveground. It was like having a mini-Wonderbolts race every week, and several of my coworkers had done the trying out for, and then the being rejected by, the Wonderbolts.
I wasn’t being very good at the racing, but Shenanigans paid me the same regardless of whether I did the winning or the losing, so I didn’t mind doing the losing. I was not being under any delusions about being one of the fastest flyers in Ponyville; I was very definitely not being amongst them. Yet every once in a while, I would do the taking of the checkered flag first. I was always being very surprised when that happened; it was as if nopony else was trying very hard on those nights, or sometimes they would do the crashing out ahead of me.
Between being a student and doing the working of three part-time jobs, I wasn’t having much of the free time, but it did the paying of my bills.
I was still being very alone in my apartment though. I was not being able to find anypony to room with me willing to put up with the temperature I liked best. It was being the first day back from break and Headmare Starlight had done the calling of me to her office. I did the sitting in the waiting room next to an orange pony with a bee cutie mark. She was doing the talking to another pony I didn’t do the recognizing of.
It was being rude to eavesdrop on other ponies’ conversations, but I couldn’t help it considering I was doing the sitting right next to her.
“You look awful, Honeybuzz.”
“I couldn’t sleep last night. My roommate’s back from break and she keeps our room as hot as a furnace.”
I couldn’t help but do the snickering at that. “Is her name being Citrine Spark?”
Honeybuzz turned to look at me. “How did you know that?”
“I am also being a former roommate of hers. I am liking it very cold because I come from Crystalvania, in the Frozen North.”
“I sleep better when it’s chilly.”
“Me too.” I smiled. “And I am having an off campus apartment and I have been doing the looking for a roommate. Would you be showing the interest?”
“Yes.”
I clopped my hooves together. “Then let us do the talking to Headmare Starlight.”
She did the chuckling. “That’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?”
I did the laughing along with her as we continued to do the waiting in Headmare Starlight’s office.
Ponyville: four years, eight months, and sixteen days ago
The wind was doing the blowing very hard. A storm being of unknown intensity had done the blowing in from over the Everfree Forest. It was being a very bad hurricane, which should not be doing the happening of because Ponyville was being very inland and away from the ocean.
Rainbow Dash had done the calling in of every able-bodied pegasus to assist in doing the breaking up of the hurricane. The normal storm team was being there: Thunderlane, Cloudchaser, Flitter, Caldor, Sunshower, and Blossomforth. Three of Ponyville’s weather team were being Wonderbolts, so we were having very competent flyers in our midst.
Several hundred pegasi had done the gathering, and Rainbow Dash was doing the barking out of orders. “Thunderlane, Caldor!” Rainbow did the pointing to Sweet Apple Acres and the two stallions took to the air to protect one of Ponyville’s primary sources of food. “Cloudchaser, Flitter!” Rainbow pointed to the Everfree Forest. “Try and make a break in the storm.” She turned to the rest of us. “All ponies with a name starting with an A through I, come with me. We’re going to try and blow the storm back into the Everfree Forest or at the very least, divert it to Ghastly Gorge. J through P, go with Blossomforth. Your task will be to keep vendors at the market safe while they pack up. Everypony else with Sunshower. She’ll pass out assignments on protecting the rest of town.”
Our three groups did the scattering, and I did the following of Rainbow Dash as we did the taking up of positions along the leading edge of the storm. Fluttershy was doing the clinging to Rainbow Dash, and the prismatic mare was doing the explaining of that wasn’t what she was meaning when she did the saying of ‘Fluttershy, on me.’ I was being paired with Bulk Biceps, who had also done the trying out for the Wonderbolts and was being a reservist.
Bulk was having more experience, so I did the following of his lead. We did the taking up of hovering positions, and tried to do the blowing of the hurricane back into the Everfree Forest. I could do the seeing of Banana Bliss and Breezie off to our right, and I could just manage to do the seeing of Cloud Kicker and Ditzy Doo to the left. Anything beyond that though was being obscured by the darkness, except when the lightning did the flashing.
The storm was being more intense than any I’d ever done the seeing of. There was being no weather team in Crystalvania, but we were being so far north and inland that we didn’t do the experiencing of many severe storms, and certainly there were never being any hurricanes.
I did the remembering back to the yearly storm drill we had done the running of to be preparing for a crisis like this. Then I did the flapping with all of my might, against the prevailing winds of the hurricane. The hurricane did the pushing back. This storm wasn’t going to do the going down without a fight.
Bulk Biceps, for all of his bulging muscles, didn’t have very big wings. They were being comically small compared to the rest of him. They were being very powerful for their size, but they were not being enough to keep him airborne. The storm did the knocking him out of the sky and into the window of Sugarcube Corner.
Even though the windows were being boarded up, Pinkie Pie did the popping up between two of the boards and caught him. “It’s raining stallions!” I was not doing the understanding of how she did the pulling of a stallion the size of Bulk Biceps between two wooden planks.
Bulk was being the stronger flyer of the two of us, and I also did the tumbling end over end not long after. Pinkie Pie was not doing the catching of me as I did the landing in the stream. The stream was not being any wetter than the storm. I was already being thoroughly drenched.
Rainbow Dash’s rule was simple: anypony that did the getting knocked out of the sky, did the staying grounded until after the storm. With that, I did the trotting back to the apartment I did the sharing of with Honeybuzz. But the gusts did the blowing of me around, and when I did the tumbling past Carousel Boutique, Rarity did the grasping of me with her magic and then the pulling of me into her shop.
I did the riding of the storm out in her boutique. She did the taking of the opportunity to use me as a living equinnequin when the inspiration did the hitting and she did the designing of her Hurricane Collection. But at least I was getting to keep a couple of the dresses when she was being done.
Ponyville: four years, eight months, and fourteen days ago
Rainbow Dash and the rest of weather team did the getting battered about by the storm. They did the buying of town the time it needed to do the battening down of the hatches. But that didn’t do the coming without the costs. Some pegasi had done the getting injured, and two of the team were still being missing two days later.
I did the flying over the Everfree Forest, doing the providing of air support for Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon as they did the searching through the forest for the missing pegasi. It was being my job to do the keeping alert for potential threats like monsters or poison joke, and to do the warning of them if there was being any danger.
I was being very vigilant, and I didn’t do the seeing of any threats like hydras, manticores, or thunderbats. Likewise, Lyra and Bon Bon failed to do the finding of Flitter or Cloudchaser. Unfortunately, none of the other search teams did the finding of the lost pegasi either.
The mood was being very somber in town hall, as we did the regrouping to discuss our lack of results. Rainbow Dash was being very frazzled – she did the taking of losing her teammates very seriously. It had been being her decision to send them into the Everfree in the first place. Fluttershy did the saying she would do the talking to Discord to see if he could do the using of his chaos powers to find them. Twilight Sparkle did the reading from Medley’s Magical Meteorological Mysteries trying to do the finding of an explanation as to what had done the happening. All she was able to do the determining of was that most unexplained weather phenomena had historically done the forming over the Everfree Forest without any warning, doing the striking of towns that did the bordering of the woods. The book wasn’t being very helpful.
Ponyville: eight months, and eleven days ago
Earth had done the becoming of a very big deal in the years since Princess Twilight Sparkle had done the announcing of it. There were now being clubs, organizations, and even conventions for Earth. I had done the going to EarthCon, and the joining of EEE, the Equestria-Earth Exchange. The EEE did the setting me up with pen pals to learn languages, and also with a citizen of Earth. My human pen pal had even done the adopting of an Equestrian name, preferring to go by ‘Biscuit’ rather than his given name.
The EEE had just done the assigning of a pony pen pal to me. Her name was being Feathermay, and she did the living in Steedville, which was being in the middle of nowhere. She wasn’t having access to anypony else going to Earth and she was needing help with her practicing. So I did the writing of a letter to her.
Dear Feathermay,
My name is being Bifröst, and I am doing the writing to you on behalf of the EEE. I have done the learning of English, French, Swedish, Norwegian, and Dutch. I’m being a graduate of the School of Shipping Friends, and I’m currently doing the living with a pony named Honeybuzz who has done the learning of English, German, Spanish, Mandarin, and Japanese.
I am doing the writing of this letter to you in English, because I am knowing that this language is being mandatory. What languages are you doing the learning of?
What are being your likes and interests? What are being your goals once you arrive on Earth? I’m doing the planning of helping with stopping Earth’s climate change.
As a vocabulary building exercise, in your reply, please do the working in of the following words:
accord
celebrity
citation
dart
diplomat
encore
escort
focus
intrigue
jet
marathon
navigator
rebel
spectrum
spirit
valiant
I’m doing the looking forward to hearing from you.
Your new friend,
Bifröst
I did the enclosing of a photo of myself so she would do the recognizing of me if we did the meeting up at any events or on Earth someday, then did the mailing of the letter at the Ponyville post office.
Ponyville: one month, and two days ago
Honeybuzz did the helping of me as I did the cleaning of our apartment. Feathermay was doing the visiting of us, and would be doing the living here until it was time to do the going through the portal. It was being too cold to be having a yard sale, so we did the donating of objects that were doing nothing but taking up the space. We wouldn’t be having room to be taking nonessentials with us to Earth, so Feathermay doing the arriving early was doing us a favor.
Eventually we did the making of enough room for a third roommate. All that was left was to do the cleaning up. I did the dusting while Honeybuzz did the sweeping. Then we did the cleaning of the windows and the polishing of the furniture. It wasn’t being much, but it was being home. It was also doing the best it had been looking since I had done the moving in years before.
With all of the doing the cleaning, I did the losing track of time. I did the galloping across Ponyville, and was being just in time to do the meeting of Feathermay. I found her doing the sitting with the local blacksmith, and I did the pulling up of a chair. “Hello, you are being Feathermay, yes?”
“Yes. Bifröst I presume?”
I did the nodding. “Shall we begin with the learning, or am I interrupting the something?”
“We can start momentarily. Just let me wrap this up.” Feathermay did the kissing of Swiftspeed, and the patting of one of his forehooves. “I’m really not normally this awkward and tongue-tied. Pinkie caught me off guard and got me all out of sorts.”
They did the continuing of their flirting, while I did the browsing of the menu.
Pumpkin Cake did the trotting up and did the gasping. “Oh, you two are totally pink and pinker!”
I did the nodding, and then the pointing to the sugar cookies on the menu. Once the waitress was being gone, I did the turning to Feathermay. There’s no time to do the getting started like now. “Let us get to the conversing, then I shall be taking you to see your stallion when we’re done. He is being the local blacksmith, very easy to find.”
Feathermay was being very smitten with Swiftspeed. I wasn’t doing the seeing of the appeal. He was being too old for me, even though I was being older than Feathermay. But if that was what she did the liking of, it wasn’t being my place to tell her that she couldn’t. She was being a mare and fully capable of doing the making of her own decisions.
After I did the showing of her where Honeybuzz and I did the living, I did the taking of her to the smithy. He was being surprised to be seeing us. I think he thought she was doing the pulling of his legs. He did the agreeing to let her stay with him, and I did the bidding the new couple adieu.
Honeybuzz was being very confused to be seeing me come home alone. She immediately did the worrying that something had happened, and I did the reassuring her that it was only being love at first sight. We did the agreeing that we would do the keeping of space open for her in case her new relationship did the fizzling out as quickly as it did the starting. Is it better to do the burning out, or to do the fading away into nothing? Either way, it is being a very bad time to do the finding of a coltfriend.
Ponyville: Yesterday
Honeybuzz, Feathermay, Swiftspeed, and I all did the sitting around a table at Sugarcube Corner. Feathermay did the leaning against Swiftspeed and the resting of her head on his shoulder. Feathermay was very much not liking the waitress, Pumpkin Cake. Her public display of affection was meant to do the marking of Swiftspeed as her territory. It would have been being unnecessary, but Pumpkin Cake was being oblivious.
“Hey, it’s the return of pink and pinker, now with plus ones!”
Honeybuzz and I were being used to Pumpkin’s personality, but Feathermay did the giving her the stink eye. It had been being a challenge to convince May to eat here again, and Pumpkin Cake was making her do the regretting of her decision.
“What can I do…” She trailed off as May did the glaring at her, Honeybuzz and I did the shaking of our heads, and Swift did the mouthing of ‘no’ with a pleading look in his eyes. “…for you all today?”
It was being a pretty good recovery. I did the responding before things could do the escalating any further. “A dozen doughnuts, please. We can do the sharing.”
She did the nodding and practically did the galloping away from our table. Swiftspeed did the patting of May’s foreleg to try and do the calming of her down.
Without even doing the taking of our drink orders, Pumpkin did the returning with mead for Honeybuzz, a sweet tea sans ice for Swift, and my usual raspberry lemonade. She did the putting of a glass of water in front of May without a word.
A minute later she did the returning with our doughnuts. Again, she had done the bringing of our favorites for the three regulars she did the knowing of. Three powdered sugar, cream-filled doughnuts were on Swift’s side of the dish, three cinnamon doughnuts for Honeybuzz, and three strawberry frosted doughnuts were being there for me. It was being a reminder that the Cake daughter was being a very good waitress. Lastly, there was being a trio of plain, unglazed doughnuts for Feathermay. That was being a reminder that Pumpkin needed to do the working on the social part of her job.
Swiftspeed was having questions for all of us. He hadn’t done the looking into going to Earth, being too old and the wrong gender to go. Until a month ago, he wasn’t having any interest in the subject. May had done the changing of that, and she was still doing the clinging to him in what was being a public display of affection that Swift didn’t do the looking entirely comfortable with.
Mostly though, Swiftspeed just wanted us to promise to do the looking out for Feathermay since he couldn’t be doing it himself. He didn’t have to do the saying of it – Honeybuzz and I already did the knowing that May was being very distractible and naïve. As aloof as the blacksmith was normally being, Feathermay had somehow gotten his heart to do the thawing.
After doing the answering of his questions and the regaling him with our plans, we did the chitchatting as we did the eating of doughnuts. Pumpkin Cake did the coming around occasionally to do the refilling of our drinks. Except May’s, which has done the remaining untouched. “You didn’t drink your water?”
“You probably poisoned it.” May wasn’t doing the taking of any of Pumpkin’s sass.
Pumpkin Cake did the gasping in shock, then she did the grabbing of the glass and the chugging of the contents. Then she did the falling on the floor and the spasming of her muscles.
“Ha! I knew it!”
“Nope, not poisoned,” Pumpkin replied from the floor. “Tastes like Ponyville tap water all right. It’s not very good, but you didn’t order a drink and I had to bring you something.”
Feathermay and Pumpkin Cake did the glaring at each other and eventually the absurdity of the situation did the sinking in and they both did the laughing.
Once she’d done the standing back up, Pumpkin did the turning serious. Or at least as serious as she could be getting. “Since you three are going to Earth… would any of you be willing to do me a favor? Obviously not you.” She did the sticking of her tongue out at May who did the responding in kind.
“Maybe?” Honeybuzz was being hesitant.
“So, if I truss my brother up tonight, could I stick him in your baggage tomorrow morning?”
“No.”
“Phooey. It was worth a shot.”
The Cake twins had obviously done the getting into a fight. If Pumpkin was being this upset over it, she must have done the losing.
We did the paying and walking out. It wasn’t being a very productive meeting otherwise, but at least Feathermay and Pumpkin Cake had done the coming to some sort of détente. I wouldn’t do the expecting of them to do the inviting of each other to their next birthday parties… actually, I could kind of do the seeing of Pumpkin doing that just to do the getting on May’s nerves.
Ponyville: Today
It was finally being the big day. Honeybuzz and I did the looking around the apartment one last time to make sure we’d done the getting of everything that was being ours. The furniture would be doing the staying for the next occupants, as it did the coming with the apartment. All of our remaining possessions were being in our suitcases. We had already done the selling, donating, or giving away of everything else we owned.
She did the moving of the dresser to do the looking behind it and did the exclaiming. “What’s this?” She did the holding up of a black, gothic-looking dress that was being many sizes too small for me.
“Oh, that was belonging to my previous roommate.” I did the nervous chuckling. “So, do you remember when your twin sister did the coming to town?”
She did the nodding.
“And you remember how you hadn’t ever mentioned Bumblesweet’s existence to me until that point?”
She did the nodding again, slower. I could tell she wasn’t liking where this was leading.
“So I never mentioned this but my former roommate was being Cozy Glow.”
“Ah. Yeah, I can see why you wouldn’t go advertising that. What should we do with this?”
“It won’t be doing the fitting either of us, and I don’t think she’ll be doing the needing of it anymore.” I did the grabbing of it and the throwing of it into the trash.
“So who’s worse – Cozy Glow or my sister?”
“That is being a tough call. One is being a manipulative, habitual liar bent on making everypony love her, and the making of her enemies to do the suffering forever, and the other is being Cozy Glow.”
Honeybuzz did the laughing so hard she had to do the sitting down and catching of her breath. “I needed that.”
Once she had done the settling down, we did the grabbing of our luggage and the leaving of our home for the past few years. Honeybuzz had once done the telling me that it was more of a home than her real home had been. Just remembering that made me want to do the hugging of her, so I did the hugging of her.
“What’s that for?”
I did the shrugging. “I was just feeling like it. We have done the living here together for years. It is being an emotional moment to leave it all behind.”
She nodded. “Yeah. It really is. But we’ll make new homes for ourselves.”
Being an earth pony, Honeybuzz had done the taking it upon herself to carry most of our luggage. I did the draping of a wing over her as we did the trotting through Ponyville to the Everfree Forest. We weren’t being alone, with dozens of other ponies also doing the heading in the same direction with their belongings. In a way it did the reminding me of pictures I’d seen of Abyssinian refugees doing the fleeing from the Storm King. The big difference was being the excitement in the air. Everypony here had done the choosing to go to Earth. Change was doing the coming for those of us making the trip. A change we were all doing the wanting of.
Once we did the getting to the Everfree, there were being signs to do the directing us to the portal. According to some of the other ponies I did the overhearing of, they were trying to do the making of a road through the Everfree so they could do the getting of some trucks or buses to make the trip easier for everypony. That would be nice for the return trip five years from now. I did the looking to Honeybuzz. I did the doubting she would be coming back to Equestria. She was having nothing on this side of the portal she was being really attached to. She did the loving of her parents and even her sister, but she had also long since moved past them. Like me, she was being single. Unlike me, it didn’t do the bothering of her.
I did the knowing that I wasn’t going to be finding a nice stallion waiting for me on the other side, regardless of where life did the taking of me once I was on Earth. So I did the knowing that for me, it was only being temporary. I would have to do the coming back to Equestria someday.
I wasn’t being surprised to see more of my fellow graduates from the School of Shipping Friends doing the trudging through the forest. Starlight had really done the pushing of going to Earth to a lot of the students. As we did the catching up to them, Night View did the waving me over, so Honeybuzz and I did the joining of their group.
“It has been a long time since I’ve been seeing you.”
“Too long!” Night View did the giving me a hug.
I did the introducing of them to Honeybuzz. She was being two years behind us in school, so she hadn’t gotten to do the knowing of many of my friends. “Everypony, this is being Honeybuzz.”
“I’m Night View. I owe Bifröst my life.”
“Literally. She did the falling out of Cloudsdale and I did the saving of her.” I did the moving on to the only pegasus in their group. “And this is Violet Twirl.”
“Howdy.”
“And lastly, these are being Lilac Swoop and Strawberry Scoop. They’ve been doing the dating since not long after the school did the opening.”
“We’re married now,” Lilac did the correcting of me. “Swoop and Scoop!”
“Swoop and Scoop!” Strawberry echoed. The two earth pony mares did the bumping of hooves.
We did the giggling as we did the recalling old memories and the sharing of newer stories. Honeybuzz did the staying quiet as she did the listening to our reminiscing.
My parents had done the requesting of portal duty so they could be seeing me off. They couldn’t do the taking of time to do the chitchatting, but they the making of time for a hug. To my knowledge, Honeybuzz hadn’t even done the informing of her family of her intended plans of going to Earth, so there was being nopony waiting there for her. The rest of my friends had their families to see them off, and we did the rounds, doing the supporting of each other as we did the saying of our goodbyes and the promising to stay in touch and the looking out for one another as best as we could be doing.
We did the ending up near the end of the queue, and then we did the waiting. It was being very boring, except for the brief interludes when the newly arrived humans would do the walking past us. So I did the pulling of a sheet of paper out of my bags. Honeybuzz did the nodding in approval as I passed the lyrics around to my friends. Honeybuzz and I had done the finding of a song about buses in our research on Earth, and since we would be doing the riding on one, we thought it would be appropriate to be singing about the bus on the bus.
“The Wheels On The Bus?” asked Violet, as she did the reading of the song’s title from the sheet music.
I did the nodding, and Honeybuzz and I did the starting of the song. We did some practicing, and other ponies near us did the joining in. We will do the practicing so that we can do the performing of the song so well that our bus driver will be doing the being honored at our tribute.
Fort Lee, New Jersey: Today
“We’re coming to America!” We did the singing along to the song on the radio, doing the substituting of ‘we’re’ for ‘they’re’. “Today!” The song was being very similar to the Neighl Diamond song, Equestria, except that it was being about America.
We were being stuck in traffic on a magnificent bridge with nothing better to be doing than the singing. The bus driver had done the liking of our impromptu performance of The Wheels On The Bus so much that he did the rewarding of us with playing the radio loudly so we could do the singing along. He was being so moved by our vocals that he even did the weeping of tears of joy as we slowly did the traversing of the bridge.
Between songs, a unicorn had done the asking of us to go in on a hotel with her, and Honeybuzz and I had done the agreeing. None of my other friends were being interested, unfortunately. It was being very bittersweet to do the reuniting with old friends only to have to do the going of our separate ways immediately afterwards. But we did the enjoying of each other’s company while we had it, and did the promising to write once we all were having permanent addresses.
Eventually, the bus did the breaking out of the gridlock and we did the arriving at the consulate. I did the thanking of the bus driver for his service as we did the disembarking. It was being a chilly winter morning, but the sun was doing the shining. The winds were doing the whipping between the buildings. I did the spreading of my wings. The way the city was being laid out was doing the wreaking of havoc on the local wind currents. It would do the taking of some getting used to.
Much to my delight, there was being more singing once we got off the bus, as my new business associates and I did the breaking into a heartsong. The bus driver did the closing of the door and the driving away as quickly as possible. I guess he is being late for something.
We did the trotting into the consulate. They had done the making of it to look like a castle, which was being a very nice touch. The decorations were being a mishmash of styles from around Equestria, as well as Earth. It was all doing the clashing, which was being an unfortunate necessity since it had to do the representing of all ponies. Every tribe, every town. It was being as if an art gallery and a historical society had done the merging.
The waiting area was being mostly decorated in maps – some were being of Earth, and the rest were being of Equestria. I did the looking at the various maps of Earth as everypony did the getting to know one another better. New York City is being very big.
I was still doing the looking at the maps when I was called to do the meeting with the Duchess. I did the bowing to Ploomette and the sitting down across from her.
“Salutations, Bifröst. Now that you’re on Earth, what are you planning to do?”
“I graduated from the School of Shipping Friends in Ponyville. Before I left, Starlight Glimmer did the urging of me to come here to try and reverse climate change because Earth’s polar icecaps are doing the melting.”
Ploomette did the nodding. “That’s a noble goal. How are you planning to do that?”
“I am having no ideas, Duchess. I was doing the hoping you could do the pointing of the right direction out to me. In the meantime, I have done the agreeing to join Snowcatcher with the hotel she is wanting to do the starting of. I can do the researching in my downtime.”
“That makes sense.”
“That is what I was thinking too. I am needing a place to live, and this will be working fine for me, until I am knowing what direction I need to be going in.”
“You’re okay with paying your entire stipend into this?”
I did the nodding. “I am also having a grant from Equestria because I’m doing the promoting of goodwill. So I’ll be getting paid regardless. I’m doing the considering this a payment for living expenses. No different than the paying of rent.”
The Duchess was seeming satisfied with that answer because she did the changing of subjects. “From one pegasus to another, it pains me to have to say this. But as you’ve got a weather mark and you’re here to study climate change, you can’t actively alter Earth’s weather without permission.”
I did the shaking of my head. “I am not having a weather cutie mark, Duchess. My mark is being Bifröst, which is also being my name. Bifröst is a rainbow bridge that is being very much like the rainbow bridge that did the bringing of me to Earth. Except Bifröst is being in the Frozen North outside what was then being known as Crystalvania.”
“There’s another Rainbow Bridge?” The Duchess did the blinking of her eyes.
I did the nodding. “Yes, I did the accidental discovering of it when I was younger.”
“Where does it come out on this side?”
“I am not being sure it did the coming out on Earth. I did the going across and from the seeing of one vast, arboreal forest to being surrounded by open sea with fjords in the distance. I did not do much of the exploring as I did not want to do the getting lost. I did the turning around and flying home. I was still being a filly at the time and I was being scared I might not be able to find my way back if I did the venturing too far.”
She did the typing into her computer. “Interesting. Earth has record of a rainbow called Bifröst as well. I guess I’ll need to do some research on this. Does anypony else know about this?”
“Only a dragon who was being stationed at Fort Hope. His name is being Smokey. I am not knowing where he is now. We did the falling out of touch when I did the moving to Ponyville. He did the telling of me not to tell anypony else, but you are outranking him so I think it is being okay if you know.”
“Where did you say this is located?”
“It is being near Himinbjörg, which is now being reunited with the Crystal Empire.”
“Very interesting. Thank you for letting me know. If there’s nothing else, please ask Electric Slide to wait five minutes, then send in the next pony.” She did the scribbling of notes while I did the returning to the waiting room.
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Since the story notes are at the beginning of the chapter, here are the links for Bifröst:
Story notes for this chapter: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1018011/story-notes-16-bifrst
Ask Bifröst questions related to the story: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1018012/meet-the-mares-bifrst
Maybe its because I failed English classes while being a natural English speaker, Im not to be having that much difficulty following this speaking.?
I suspect theres a Thor going to be going. Ponies, Another.
Reading a “normal grammar” version of this chapter would be like removing the Yaks’ self-referencing in every sentence or Princess Luna’s decidedly non-authentic Ye Olde English. Different is fun and interest.
Now something like genuine Middle English would be as annoying as it would be near-incomprehensible.
I read this version first and found it quite endearing! Maybe it's because I have relatives for whom English is a second language and they have similar speech patterns. Anyway, off to read the other one now!
I'm a little surprised that her speech pattern made it into English completely intact in her letter. I get that people do often carry their speech patterns into second languages if they aren't trained out of it, but usually not this completely.
hmn, they had an odd past