Chapter 3 - The Reveal
[Golden Shores - Western Equestria]
Former Princess Celestia stood in the middle of the town square, looking at her little ponies with a look she never thought she’d display on her face a year ago: utter disgust. Using an advanced disguise spell to craft a pegasus persona for herself named Sunny Skies, she had been wandering Equestria with her former student Sunset Shimmer by her side. Both of them had been traveling from many different villages and towns in the kingdom. For Celestia, she was trying to determine for herself what kind of attitudes different ponies had towards other races. She and Sunset had noticed a bit of a worrying pattern. Smaller villages, like Golden Shores, had a higher tendency for ponies to mistreat those of other races, such as what had happened in this coastal town.
A family of five zebras had moved to town in the hopes of receiving a better job than they’d had before as well as a better education for their foals, two fillies and a colt. Even so, prejudice and fears of other races still prevailed among ponies and had resulted in the current situation. The town mayor, a unicorn stallion named Salt River, had only given the zebra stallion, a younger father named Juhudi, a job as a low paying overnight janitor in the local school. Kuaminika, Juhudi’s wife, had to get a job herself to help pay for their foal’s education.
It hadn’t been any better for the foals, either. All of them had been experiencing bullying behavior at school, and when they tried to tell the teachers about it they were summarily ignored. When they tried fighting back, they were given out of school suspensions while the bullies got off with light slaps on the hooves.
However, as much as her anger against the ponies gathered on the beach was, it was nothing compared to what Sunset Shimmer was displaying. The townsponies flinched back in utter fear as Sunset’s mane and tail were both ablaze with magical fire. Worryingly, it reminded Celestia of her alter-ego who she had kept suppressed for so long, Daybreaker. “What in the ever-loving FUCK is wrong with you pieces of shit!?” Sunset was shouting with a fury that reminded Celestia of her earlier days. “What makes anyone better than anybody else?! What, is it their stripes?! Is it their lack of magic, you xenophobic little bunch of bitches!?”
If there was one thing Celestia didn’t quite like about her time in the mirror human world, it was Sunset’s newly acquired vocabulary. It wasn’t like she’d made swearing illegal during her time as princess, but she hated their use. For Sunset, they never came out of her unless she was extremely angry like she was now. She could understand Sunset’s anger, of course. Walking up, Celestia said, as her Sunny Days persona, “My friend’s language aside,” she began, putting one of her wings on Sunset’s back to try and calm her, “she has a point. Faust above didn’t just create us ponies. She created every living creature on the planet. We’re all the same in her eyes. Why does that stop you from accepting others?”
The townsponies response was less than ideal. “Yes, Faust created all life,” the mayor said with derision, “but clearly, she valued ponies more. Time and again, you hear countless stories of how uncivilized and brutish the other races are. Even zebras have notorious pirate groups that raid and steal from anything that comes their way. Now, they are here taking what good fortune we have for themselves!”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “And are ponies any different? Does nobody here remember the damned Trial? Does anyone here remember what the horn showed?! How are any of you any different from those ponies?!”
“While I doubt the legitimacy of the word of a creature that aligns with one of Equestria’s most notorious villains,” the mayor replied, “we are nothing like those ponies in Ponyville. We gave the zebras a job and opportunity, unlike the former princess and her associates. So, why is there a reason for these complaints?”
“Job? Opportunity? Goddamn it, I call bullshit on that!” Sunset snapped. “Did you give them at least minimum wage? Did any of the worthless teachers step in when their children were being bullied? Sure, you gave them ‘jobs’,” and here, Sunset used her hooves to make air quotes, “but these two are much more intelligent than the jobs you gave them! In fact, they’re smarter than anyone else here!”
The mayor scoffed at this. “Well, if that’s true, they can take an aptitude test for better placement. Of course, you are required to show some documentation proving said intelligence. If not, then the zebras can simply wait to garner more experience and take the test when they are ready. We can’t go giving free hoofouts or going off the word of some stranger such as you two,”
Sunset turned back to Celestia. “And this is the mindset of most ponies we run into. Is it any wonder we’re quickly becoming hated by every other race on the planet?” She turned back towards the zebras. “I’m really sorry about this, you guys. Apparently, these useless ponies don’t believe in harmony and friendship for every creature.”
Juhudi gave Sunset a thankful look. “Your kind words to me and my tribe are more than what words can describe. We’d believed ponyfolk to all be kind, but clearly these ponies' hearts are blind.” He turned to the mayor. “Faust made us all equal in her sight, but you treat us like some sort of blight. All we ever wished to be was a member of your community, but now I see, the truth is clear, you wish for us to disappear.” He turned to his wife and children. “My dearest love, it’s time we moved on. These ponies are not a part of Faust’s Song.”
As the family of zebras left with Sunset and the former monarch, Celestia reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a bag of bits. “Juhudi, as compensation for all your family's hardships, please take these bits. There is an organization for non-ponies that's been making great strides in changing ponies mindsets. Creatures for Equestria. I believe they can provide you with more than enough aid. In fact, one of their establishments is in the next town over.”
Juhadi accepted the bits graciously, then turned to the still disguised former princess. “Our thanks again for everything. Tonight, a new verse of Faust’s Song we’ll sing.”
“We’re heading to that town anyway,” Sunset said, “so we can walk you there. I believe it’s called…” she paused as she took out a map out of her own saddlebag and looked it over, “Let’s see, here…Ironforge Bay. It’s a mining town, and from what I’ve heard, they have good schooling and you can get better paying jobs. The CFE has really turned that town around.”
Juhudi’s family all nodded their heads gratefully. “Perhaps I was too quick to judge. It seems not all ponies are sticks in the mud. You have helped us in our darkest hour. Your kindness shall be repaid, so you’ll neve be dour.”
“Not all ponies are like them, but from what my friend and I have seen, those are few and far between,” Sunset replied.
As the group made their way to the next town, Celestia could not help but to lament the state of her country. “Has all I’ve been doing as a ruler is enjoying the splendor I believed to be harmony? How could I be so blind?” Celestia mutters softly to Sunset.
“You want the honest truth? The answer is yes,” Sunset replied without hesitation. “Face it, all you’ve been doing is enabling. You acted more like a mother who spoils her children and less like how a princess should act. If you had a motto, it would probably be ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child.’ Ironically, that’s a human saying.”
Celestia tried to come up with some kind of rebuttal. However, she could find none and looked down in shame. “You’re right. As much as I don;t like to admit it. Equestria must change. The CFE has indeed made great strides. But, I believe there may be a way to help them.”
“We’ve been traveling Equestria for a year, Sunny,” Sunset said, using her fake name so as to not arouse suspicion from the nearby family of Zebras who were having a conversation in their own native tongue, “and so far, the majority of ponies in smaller towns are a lot like those in Ponyville. Back when I was in the human world, I learned that humans had made a study of different animals. There are ponies there, but just like Jason said, they’re only animals over there. Ponies are a herd and prey species in both worlds. We tend to fall to our baser instincts and fear predators. Ponies in some of the bigger cities are more tolerant, like in Manehattan, but that’s because they generally don’t give a fuck. I’m all for trying to help the CFE, but what do you suggest?”
Celetia looked down at her former student, who was quickly becoming the teacher in her eyes, and smiled. “I was thinking of seeing if there were any other open positions in the CFE for them.”
[Canterlot - Throne Room]
Princess Luna sat on the throne that had once belonged to her sister, looking down at the paperwork that her secretary, Raven Inkwell, had brought for her to read over and sign off on.
A lot had changed for Luna in the year since The Trial. Over the course of twelve months, she had actually grown in many different ways, one of them being physically. She was now as tall as her sister had been the last time she’d seen Celestia. Her regal regalia had to be upgraded because of that. She’d also grown fast in how much she had to learn about modern day politics. In the past, she had been content to let Cellie deal with it since it gave her a headache, but she realized now that was a horrible mistake.
With Celestia now gone, Luna had taken on the mantle of raising and lowering not only her moon, but the sun as well. At first, it was massively difficult for her, but eventually she grew used to it. She believed that it was due to this exercise of her magical power that she had experienced her new growth spurt.
Thankfully, she had the help of her nephew, Prince Blueblood. He sat on her old throne which had been reupholstered to better suit his nature. He wore regalia that was similar to Luna’s, only it was purple with the chestplate bearing his cutie mark. His crown was purple as well with a diamond gem in the center. He, too, was looking over some of the paperwork with a frown. “Another business on the verge of bankruptcy asking for a crown bailout,” he scoffed as he put one paper aside. “What, do those fools at Pine Cone Dairy think bits grow on trees?”
“Dear nephew, you and I both know that this is the result of us losing trade with the other nations,” Luna replied with her best patient tone. “That business in particular once used many donkeys as below minimum wage labor.”
“A shame,” Blueblood said as he grabbed a nearby quill pen with his magic and began writing something on it, “I did admire the cheese they made, but it’s for the best. Equestria’s good name has been tarnished and dragged through the mud for far too long.”
“It is a consequence of our foolishness,” Luna replied, “but if we are to bring back our former alliances, we must strive to show we are changing.”
Blueblood was about to reply, when he paused. He held up a letter in his magic, a small grin turning wide as he examined it. “Ooohohoho, this is quite rich indeed,” he said with a grin. “Dear aunt, I believe this letter is for you.”
He floated the letter over to Luna, who took it in her own magical grasp. On the front of the letter, she read the words URGENT! PLEASE READ! From Twilight Sparkle. Luna eyes the letter in intrigue. While she was initially disappointed with how Twilight, her friends, and all of Ponyville’s citizens acted with Jason, she did not feel it was right to completely excommunicate the mare that played a vital role in saving her. So, she began a series of dialogues through letters a few months ago. Through those letters, Twilight expressed how horrible she felt after the trial and that she and her friends were barely on speaking terms anymore.
Then came the economic depression. While some places like Canterlot hardly felt the blow, places like Ponyville fared very poorly. Thus, the support of the Helping Hooves shelter came into fruition. It was a noble goal to help those that Luna personally would’ve let rot. But, still, she would not turn down aid for the foals. However, in all their letters between each other, Twilight never wrote something with such urgency. As Luna read the letter, her expression turned grim. A deep scowl began to form by the time she finished.
Blueblood noticed this and tentatively addressed his aunt. “Auntie, you’re making that face again,” he said, “what’s happened? What has that failure of an alicorn written about now?”
“There’s another human in Ponyville.” Luna said bluntly.
Blueblood eyes widened in shock. “Another human? You mean different from Jason? Are you sure?” Luna floated the letter over to him. He took it in his magic and he quickly scanned through it. “Gregory Graystone? These humans sure have uninspiring names,” he replied as he put the letter aside. Turning to Luna, he asked, “What do you wish to do, Auntie?”
“We make for Ponyville immediately!!!” Luna said as she stood.
Blueblood was stunned by the ferocity in his aunt’s tone. “Right now? On such short notice? Wouldn't it be better to send a contingent of guards?” he suggested.
“We must show those villains in that town how serious we are about this human’s safety,” Luna replied with a snarl. “To think that even after the trial, ponies continue to cling to hate and xenophobia! I swear to Faust that if that human is hurt, there won’t be any leniency this time!!!”
“Or, we can go there and calmly pretend we are not slaves to our knee-jerk reactions and assess the situation?” Blueblood suggested again.
“Regardless, we leave now! Meet me at the castle gates!” With that said, Luna teleported out of the throne room, leaving Blueblood alone.
Blueblood sighed as he looked back at the stack of paperwork she’d left behind, then down at his own. “Well, at least it’s better than bureaucracy,” he said. He stamped on the floor three times, which summoned one of the castle servants. “Have my pegasus chariot made ready immediately,” he ordered. “I make for Ponyville.”
[Town of White Ridge, Thirty Miles East of Las Pegasus]
Spike stood just offstage as he watched the founder of the CFE, a young pegasus filly named Cozy Glow, giving a speech to the ponies in White Ridge who had gathered to hear her and the other people, as the CFE called every creature now thanks to Chrysalis’ suggestion a year ago. Everyone had something to say about their treatment from ponykind. Everything from the unfortunate death of Mildred due to lack of medical treatment to Gabby’s own mistreatment by many ponies in various towns around Equestria during her tenure as a mail delivery griffon was recounted.
Which is why today’s topic was going over creatures that have been wrongfully imprisoned. Cozy had accumulated many documents thanks to the crown and various cities that wanted to change. She cleared her throat as she spoke into the microphone.
“Hello, my fellow creatures of Equis. Thank you for joining today's meeting.” There was a round of applause from the gathered crowd as Cozy waved her hoof appreciatively. “Golly, you’re all the best. But, we can’t cheer just yet. Going over what I want to talk about today, I noticed something that was strange. In the various cities of Equestria with holding cells and make-shift cages, a lot of those occupants are several of our non-pony friends - the evil villains as the ponies would say. Actually, there are more non-ponies than ponies being held for minor charges, and the evidence against them is pretty flimsy at best.”
Many of the members murmured in agreement. “Take this case file from Manehattan for example. Three suspects - two unicorns and an abyssinian - were apprehended outside a bar for disorderly conduct. It was said that a fight broke out and the guards arrested everyone involved. However, we managed to talk to the cat. They were a tourist that got lost and stumbled upon the bar for directions. When the fight broke out, the cat was struck by accident, but the guards included them in the arrest. While the ponies were out on bail already, the abyssinian is still in indefinite holding pending a trial date. It’s been two months since the incident. Equestrian local trials normally take two weeks to occur!” Spike stated, causing an uproar of boos at the situation.
“I know. It’s horrible,” Cozy said with a sorrowful frown on her face before she stood taller and looked over the crowd with a determined expression on her face. “That’s why I’ve contacted the Manhattan chapter as well as others all over Equestria. We will be going to every precinct in every town and staging a protest. We will demand to review any case involving non-ponies and see if they are truly guilty or if there is another example of xenophobia and intolerance. In which case, we will not rest until they are free. Now, let’s get out there!”
The crowd went into a frenzy of cheers as they began to march to the White Ridge’s sheriff station. However, as Spike went to follow, he suddenly coughed up a letter. It was rough as he hadn’t done that in a year. After Cozy’s letter to Twilight, she’d actually listened and refrained from using enchanted fire to send letters through him, so this sudden letter came at a surprise to the young dragon. However, he hadn’t received any letters from her since then.
Cozy noticed that he’d stopped and came back to him. “Spike? Is something wrong?” She then noticed the letter in his claw and frowned in confusion. “Where’d you get that?”
“Hrk– I just coughed it up!” Spike frowned as he broke the seal and opened it, reading the contents of the letter. He already knew who was sending it but that didn't make the young dragon happy as he thought Twilight was coming around. “It’s from Twilight, but, no. These words can’t be right…”
Cozy looked over Spike’s shoulder and read along with him, mouthing the words as the two read the following:
Dear Spike,
I’m really sorry to be sending a letter like this, but I had no choice and no time. I have some rather upsetting news for you. Another human has arrived on Equis and is currently staying at Helping Hooves. His name is Gregory Graystone, and from what I’ve seen I think he knows about us in the same way that Jason did. He hasn’t told me the truth yet, however. I don’t know what to do here, so I’m asking you to ask Miss Cozy Glow if she’d be willing to come and meet with him. It might be worth it, especially since the ponies around here have already made an attack against him. Not him personally, but some of his property.
Spike, I know I don’t have the right to ask this of you after everything I’ve said and done to you, but I’m putting two other letters inside this one. One is for Prin Celestia and the other is for Cadance and Shining Armor. I just wanted them to know as soon as possible about this new human.
I miss you, Spike, but I know you’re doing good out there. I hear about it a lot and I’m proud of the dragon you’ve become. Please stay safe.
Twilight Sparkle
Spike could hardly believe it. “T-There’s another human in Ponyville?!”
“Golly! Depending on how you look at it, this could be very good and bad,” Cozy said thoughtfully.
“How can it be both? Wouldn’t it just be bad?!” Spike asked fearfully.
“What I mean is this is our chance to fix Ponyville’s horrible mistake after what they did to Jason,” Cozy explained. “Still, I imagine some ponies over there are still feeling sore about the Trial. We need to get there and help as soon as possible!” Cozy went back to the microphone and addressed her members. “Fellow CFE members. It has come to my attention that something completely unexpected is happening at Ponyville. Right now, there seems to be another human there. Someone different from Mister Jason Wright. His name is Gregory Graystone. It is our duty to give Mister Graystone the welcome Mister Wright didn’t get before. Spike and I will head to Ponyville while everyone else keeps working to free those creatures from imprisonment!”
“Pardon me,” a young unicorn mare said, stepping forward and raising her hoof, “but could I tag along?” Her name was Feather Duster, and she was one of the earliest members who had joined back in Canterlot. She was a dark green unicorn mare with a dark orange mane and tail and dark blue eyes. Her cutie mark was of a white feather. “I’d like to try and help if I can.”
“Of course you can!” Cozy said happily. “The more the merrier! If anyone else wants to come, I think there’s room for one more!”
“I’d like to come too,” a familiar voice said from the crowd. The young griffoness Gabriella, or Gabby to her friends, flew up from the crowd and landed next to Spike, putting a comforting wing around him. “I’d like to meet him, too.”
“Are you sure?” Spike asked, “I mean, you’ve been giving your testimony a lot lately about how you were treated by ponies.”
“Cranky Doodle’s here too,” Gabby said, looking down with a kind smile at Spike, “and his testimony is just as good as mine. Besides, I’d like to try and meet him. I didn’t get to meet Jason.”
“It’s alright if she comes, Spike,” Cozy said with a bright smile, “like I said, the more the merrier. It’ll also show Mister Graystone that we’re serious about the CFE’s goal of equal rights for all!”
Spike looked back at Cozy, then nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Great!” She turned back to the crowd and waved with her hoof. “Until I get back, keep fighting the good fight! My friends and I are off to Ponyville!”
[Unknown Time, Unknown Place]
Gregory was walking towards Ponyville with a smile on his face. It was a gorgeous autumn day and the leaves that surrounded the Castle of Friendship were falling off of the trees. There was a nip in the air, and the entire town seemed to be decorated for the autumn months. He even caught glimpses of what looked like Jack-O-Lanterns on some houses.
Ponies were going to and fro about their daily lives as he approached. He even heard what at first sounded like shouts of merriment coming from a nearby commercial district. Curious, he made his way down to the source of the sound. However, as he approached, the sounds morphed from merrymaking to jeers and shouts of anger.
Turning the corner, he saw a group of ponies, all with various rotten fruits and vegetables in their hooves or magic, throwing them as hard as they could on a huddled human figure in what looked like tattered clothes. The leader of this band, which looked like Carrot Cake, held a large rotting pumpkin in his hooves which he hurled directly at the cowering human. “We told you before, and we’ll tell you again, don’t come back here!” he spat with a hatred that stunned even Gregory.
The human looked up, and Gregory gaped at his current state. This human had lightning shaped scars on one side of his face, one eye was milky white, his frame was pretty skeletal from possibly lack of nutrition, and his clothes were covered in dirt, sap, and rotten garbage. “P-Please,” the human croaked out with a whimper, “I-I just need some food to survive…”
“What’s going on here?!” Gregory shouted, and tried to move towards the man. However, he found that he couldn’t move. Looking down, he saw that his feet were still on the ground, but he just couldn’t move. “Stop attacking him!” he shouted, but the ponies didn’t react.
One of them, who Gregory recognized as Octavia Melody, held a bruised squash in her hoof. “Get your nasty smelling carcass out of our town!” she hollered as she hurled it at him, hitting him square in the head.
“Get out of here!” Gregory heard another pony shout. He saw Bon Bon throw some rotten cabbage at him. Next to her, Lyra Heartstrings hurled a rock at him with her magic which thankfully missed him.
The human tried to move away, but it seemed difficult with all the garbage and rocks being hurled at him. Finally, he managed to get to his feet. Running straight towards Gregory, the human at first didn’t seem to sense his presence. As the garbage and abuse was continuously hurled at the man, he stopped a few steps shy of where Gregory was frozen to the ground. He looked up at him and stood taller. The amount of scars on this man’s body startled Gregory. There were cuts that were festering and/or tied with torn patches of his clothes, he smelled like a sewer and looked like he’d been starved for weeks on end.
The man looked directly at Gregory with tears in his eyes. “This is but a taste of the terror that was unleashed on me, Gregory Graystone,” he said weakly, “and I’m not the only one.”
Gregory felt himself losing his balance as the scene around him, along with all the ponies around him, shifted and morphed. Suddenly, he found himself in a familiar looking hospital lobby. In fact, it was the same one that he’d seen in the episode Read It And Weep. There, he saw three equine creatures standing around. He recognized all of them quickly enough. The first was a unicorn stallion with a doctor’s coat on, the second was an earth pony nurse, and the last was Cranky Doodle. He found he could move, so he approached.
As he did so, he began overhearing the conversation. “…got to be something you can do for her!” Cranky was shouting desperately at the doctor and nurse.
The doctor shook his head and frowned. “The law is the law,” he said in a surprisingly stony tone, “this is a hospital for ponies only, and you’re not a pony.”
“We’re not that different!” Cranky said, a look of desperation in his eyes. “Surely there’s something! I can pay or work off my debt!”
“Even if you were a part of our medicare system, I still can’t treat her. I would be disbarred from practicing medicine,” the doctor said.
“I tried medicare, but they told me the same thing!” Gregory saw Cranky growing angry. “You were at my wedding, doctor! You too, nurse! I thought we were accepted into your community! Why are we so different?! Are we nothing but stupid, dumb animals to those bigoted minds of yours!”
The doctor’s frown turned into a glare. “I will not stand around here and be insulted by the likes of you,” he replied with a hint of anger in his tone. “I told you the reason I can’t treat her. If you’re desperate for medicine, try that zebra shamaness.”
“You know I can’t! Can’t somepony else help!? Maybe one of the town’s local guards??”
“They’re here to protect the town, not to run errands for every little thing,” the doctor replied.
“The most we can do is give you one of our older medical beds,” the nurse said. Gregory could see a bit of sympathy in her tone, but she also seemed a bit afraid of the doctor. “We’re upgrading and throwing the old ones out. They’re good beds.”
The doctor shook his head. “Nurse, we can’t do that, either. It’s standard policy.”
“Forget this!” Cranky said, stomping the ground hard enough to create a crack in the floor, “I thought you ponies were all about friendship and junk, but apparently that only applies to ponies. May Faust judge you!” With that, he turned, flicked his tail at the doctor and nurse angrily and stormed towards the door. However, he paused right at the door, turned towards Gregory, and said, “There is more to see.”
The scene once again shifted, and he found himself standing on the edge of a forest with Ponyville a short distance away. It was snowing lightly and there was a coat of white on the ground already. He caught a glimpse of the Castle of Friendship hovering above the horizon as well. As he looked around, he heard the sound of what sounded like a horse drawn carriage approaching from the forest. Turning, he saw a rather tall and beautiful zebra pulling a cart full of various books, potions, masks and more through the snow. The blue eyes and the golden jewelry adorning her made it clear to Gregory that this was Zecora.
He found himself suddenly walking beside her without any control over his legs. As they walked through the town, Gregory noticed the looks of hatred and derision thrown directly towards the zebra shamaness. Nobody made a move to even help her with her load, not even when she had to go uphill and then downhill multiple times.
Finally, she and Gregory reached the train station where finally some of the staff began loading her belongings onto the train, albeit begrudgingly for the most part.
As they did so, Gregory heard the sound of galloping hooves. Turning, he saw Princess Twilight running up. She got onto the platform, panting heavily as she looked at Zecora with pleading eyes. “Are…are you really leaving?” she asked in a forlorn tone.
Zecora stopped, and Gregory saw a look of cool anger appear in her eyes. Slowly, Zecora took a deep breath, calmed her features, then turned to Twilight with a neutral expression. “This town no longer welcomes me, so it is up north where I must flee,” she replied.
“I-I can talk to everypony else!” Twilight said with desperation in her tone, “I can-”
“No you cannot, for a princess you are no more,” Zecora replied, “so a new life for me is what’s in store.”
Twilight’s ears drooped and she lowered her head. Gregory could hear the sound of sniffling as she whispered, “I’m sorry…”
“It is not I who deserves those words,” Zecora said sharply, “say that to him who was left out of the herd.”
“H-He won’t forgive us,” Twilight said with a hiccup.
“And the decision is up to him,” Zecora replied, “for him to forgive you of your sins.”
“Will…you come back someday?” Twilight asked.
Zecora pursed her lips thoughtfully before she said, “The future isn’t set in stone, so perhaps back this way I’ll roam.”
“Where are you going, and what will you do?” Twilight asked.
“To Yggdrasil is where I will go, my knowledge there I will bestow,” Zecora said.
Twilight’s ears drooped. “Starlight’s new school…if you see her, could you tell her that I said hi, and that I miss her and I’m sorry? And if you see Trixie, could you pass along my apologies to her too for her mistreatment by me and everypony else?”
“For the sake of our friendship past, I will do just as you ask,” Zecora replied as the conductor began making last calls. “Farewell, Twilight, and I hope that someday you won’t let your prejudices lead you astray.”
“I won’t,” Twilight replied resolutely. “Goodbye, Zecora. I hope wherever you end up next is a better place than Ponyville.”
Zecora simply nodded, turned and headed onto the train. However, she paused, turned back to Gregory and looked at him with her piercing gaze. “Once more, this is only a simple glimpse of Ponyville’s multitude of sins.”
The scene shifted again and he was standing in the middle of Ponyville near the town hall. He saw a number of other ponies sitting around or walking to and fro. However, many of the conversations around quieted down when someone began walking into view. It was hard to tell at first who it was since the person in question was laden down with a ton of scrolls and books. However, the green claw gave it away.
Spike was carrying a bunch of different things and it was clear that he was having difficulties with it. However, when Gregory looked around to see if anyone else would help, he was shocked to see that the ponies seemed to be avoiding looking at him. Some even looked afraid.
It was then that Gregory saw something in the ground directly in front of Spike. A massive footprint that looked like it matched that of a dinosaur had been made deep in the earth. Gregory tried calling out to Spike to watch out, but like before, his cries fell on deaf ears. He watched as nobody else even gave him a warning. Gregory winced as poor Spike fell into the hole, scattering everything that he’d carried. And just like that, everyone seemed to go back to their daily activities. However, Gregory could hear a few ponies scoffing. “That’s what he gets for almost destroying Ponyville,” a random pony said with some derision.
Gregory ran down into the pit, momentarily forgetting that he wouldn’t be able to interact with the young dragon. When he reached the bottom, he could hear the sniffling and soft sobbing coming from the dragon as he slowly began gathering everything up once more. Climbing out, he began heading down the street again, hiding his tears behind the massive amount of things he was carrying.
He reached a familiar looking tree shaped library and opened it, walking in and setting all of the things down on the floor beside the desk. Twilight was sitting there, still a unicorn, reading over some book. When she heard Spike, she turned and looked down at what he had just put down. The first thing that the purple pony noticed was the dirt on the objects. “Spike! How did these things get so dirty!?” she asked, turning to the poor dragon.
“I…I tripped and fell. Sorry, Twilight…” he said apologetically.
She sighed. “Well, guess it can’t be helped. Go take a bath before you finish your chores,” she said in a surprisingly dismissive tone. “Chop chop.”
“Alright, Twilight,” he said as he trudged up the stairs, hiding his tears. However, halfway up, he turned and looked at Gregory again. “I didn’t mean to go on a rampage,” he said between sobs. “Everypony else started treating me like I was a dangerous animal for a while after that…”
Gregory’s instincts made him reach out to try and comfort the little dragon, but before he could do anything, he felt the ground underneath him give way. He screamed as he fell…
…right out of his bed and onto the floor with a massive thud. “Gah!” he gasped in pain as his head hit the floor. “God-fucking-damn it!” he shouted in reflex as he sat up and held the back of his head, which at the moment was throbbing with pain. He grabbed the side of his bed and pulled himself up, groaning in pain as he lay back down, waiting for the pain to subside. It was still dark in the room, and according to his phone, it was only around four twenty three in the morning.
Despite the window having been open before his little sojourn outside to protect his car, he felt like he was sweating. He lay there, panting and waiting for the pain to be tolerable enough so that he could go and splash some water on his face. About ten minutes later, he did just that, using his flashlight to see in the dark. Thankfully, when he checked, there wasn’t any blood, just a bump on the back of his head which he doubted anyone would see thanks to his hair.
It took him a while to calm down, and by that time the contents of the dream seemed to have faded away slightly from his memory. It had been a while since he’d had such a vivid nightmare, or even such a vivid dream. He hardly ever dreamt anyway. Mostly, he would go to sleep and his next memory would be of waking up.
He sighed, rubbed his face with his hands, then pulled the covers back up and closed his eyes.
When he next woke, it was to the sound of somebody knocking hard on his door. Groaning, his head still slightly throbbing from the fall out of bed, he sat up and looked at the door. “Yes? Who is it?” he asked groggily.
“I-It’s Twilight!” the voice of the purple alicorn said from behind the door. “You’ve gotta get up! The Princess is here to see you!”
[Helping Hooves Shelter - Cutie Map Room]
Twilight was extremely nervous as she and Gregory walked down the room towards the Cutie Map room. She hadn’t quite expected Princess Luna herself to come down along with Prince Blueblood and an entire platoon of Royal Guards. She tried her best to hide her fear, but it seemed that Gregory was too excited to really notice. Of course, it only added to her nervousness that he thought he was meeting with Princess Celestia.
Finally, they reached the doors to the Cutie Map room. The doors were closed, but the two unicorn guards who were standing at attention opened the doors with their magic. Twilight looked up subtly at Gregory as his exhaustion gave way to utter excitement. When he saw Princess Luna and Prince Blueblood, his expression seemed to freeze, but only for a second.
Princess Luna rose and faced the two. “Young Twilight Sparkle and Mr. Gregory Graystone, we are pleased that you could come. We apologize for the early hour, but we wished to meet you as soon as possible.”
Gregory looked between the two of them, then bowed his head respectfully. “Your Highnesses,” he said politely, “it’s an honor to meet both of you.”
“Urgh, another one,” Blueblood scoffed.
Gregory raised his head, looking between the two of them before asking, “How can I help you two?”
“We received some startling news from young Sparkle about an attempted assault on your health,” Luna replied gravely, “so we came down to ensure that you were well.”
Gregory looked a bit confused before a look of realization came over his face. He chuckled a bit. “Oh no no, nobody assaulted me. They tried to destroy my car, something I brought with me,” he clarified. “I drove it through town yesterday when I was showing it to Princess Twilight, and I guess it startled some of the ponies in town. I mean, I doubt any of them have seen a car, much less a human like me. No damage was done, but I appreciate you coming down personally to check, Your Highness.”
“Still, we shall endeavor to make your stay in Equestria comfortable,” Luna replied. “Two personal guards will be assigned to you so that last night’s incident is not repeated. Of course, if you feel the need to relocate, you can come with us to Canterlot.”
“Relocate? Well, I wasn’t exactly thinking about it, Your Highness,” Gregory replied. “Besides, I only got here a couple of days ago. I brought a lot with me that would take a while to move. I came a long way because I’ve heard a lot of great things about Ponyville. I’ve heard that it’s generally quiet and peaceful, something I prefer over a large noisy and busy city. Still, if things don’t work out here, I wouldn’t mind taking you up on your offer.”
“Wait, back up just a moment,” Blueblood said as he held up his hoof. “You mentioned that you doubt anypony in town has seen a human before. Has Sparkle not told you?”
Gregory raised an eyebrow. “Told me? Told me what?”
“Apparently not,” Blueblood said as he turned to Twilight, narrowing his eyes at the alicorn. “Miss Sparkle? Care to tell your guest what you’ve obviously been hiding from him?”
Twilight knew this was coming and she still wasn’t ready for it. However, she knew she eventually had to come clean. Turning, she took a deep breath and faced the confused human. “Gregory, I’m afraid that I haven’t been honest with you…”
Gregory frowned in confusion. “What do you mean, Princess?”
Twilight swallowed. “That’s the thing. I’m not a princess anymore–”
“Aha, the truth comes out,” Blueblood snarked.
“Wait, she’s not?” Gregory asked. He looked thoughtful for a few seconds before snapping his fingers and smiling. “Oh, I get it. Since you’re running the shelter now, you had to give up the title to help others. That’s fine. You don’t need a title to still be the embodiment of friendship. Heck, a lot of the ponies still see you as the princess.”
Every word made the lump in Twilight’s throat grow thicker. “They call me that because they are still clinging to an old and horrible mindset,” she said with a trembling voice. “You see, you weren’t the only human to come here. There was another named Jason Wright and we…” Twilight swallowed hard as the words seemed to escape her. “We abused and tortured him for the better part of three years. There was a trial that was publicized for the whole world to see which exposed our crimes against him.”
Gregory’s eyes went wide in alarm. He stepped back, and a look of realization passed over his eyes. “Wait…tell me something,” he said, “was this Jason Wright blind in one eye with lightning shaped scars running down his face, a bunch of bruises, wearing nothing but dirty and filthy rags and skinny as a post?”
Twilight winced as she nodded. “He wasn’t skinny when I last saw him. But, in his memories that he showed during the trial, he was. My friends and I, along with the rest of Ponyville, are responsible. Jason came back during the Grand Galloping Gala with an all-powerful artifact called the Gjallarhorn. With it, he exposed his mistreatment to the other rulers and the world at large.”
Gregory stepped back again, a look of disbelief passing over his face. “Wait, that dream last night was showing me actual events?” he asked with a tremble in his voice.
“We were unaware such dreams plagued you,” Luna said, “but it is safe to say that the Gjallarhorn’s magic was indeed informing you of what transpired. It stands to reason that you will get all the details soon enough if you do not wish to know from us.”
Gregory took a deep breath and exhaled. “I think…I think I might need to sit down for this,” he said. “Do you mind if I sit on one of those thrones, or is that not allowed?” he asked, pointing towards the empty thrones.
“It’s not as if the ones who were meant to sit in them are worthy of them anymore, so go ahead,” Blueblood said.
“Thank you,” he said shakily as he headed over to the nearest one, which happened to be Applejack’s, and sat down in it. “So…um…what exactly are you talking about?”
“I believe it’s better to just show you the key points of it,” Twilight said as she looked at Luna. The lunar monarch nodded as she produced a crystal with her magic. The stone glowed brightly and began to display visuals and accompanying audio of the trial.
To say that Gregory looked stunned was an understatement. He watched as Jason stood before all the rulers of the world. He saw the abuse he suffered at the hooves of ponies, even the ones that came from the Elements of Harmony, the so-called heroes and standard bearers of everything good in Equestria. He saw how Jason took events from the show and cleverly broke them down as more misconduct, as well as reckless and borderline criminal activity. He saw the punishments Jason laid out to everyone that wronged him. All the while, his features morphed between shock and disbelief at everything he’d seen.
Some time later, the projection ended, and the room was silent. Everyone was looking at Gregory now. Luna had a look of sympathy and sorrow on her face, Twilight a look of trepidation and Blueblood a look of anticipation. Everyone waited on baited breath to hear what words would come out of his mouth first. Finally, Gregory looked at them all. “You…you know about the show?!” he exclaimed.
Twilight nodded slowly. “Yes, although it doesn’t follow every aspect of our lives, the events that Jason did show were so shockingly accurate that it would be considered spying if not for the circumstances,” she said. “The worst part is how much we shattered Jason’s worldview. Everything we thought we represented was nothing more than a falsehood that we told ourselves. It’s why those ponies did what they did to your car. It’s the real reason why so many ponies are a part of this shelter now and why I am not a princess anymore…”
Gregory took in a deep breath, then exhaled. He looked down at the table for a while before looking over at Twilight. “Is that why you’ve also been only asking me about my technology and nothing about me as a person?” he asked with a hurt expression.
“Ohoho! Of course she would be asking about only that!” Blueblood chuckled. “Even when she was a unicorn in Canterlot and especially when she was a princess, she always prioritized knowledge over friendship!”
Twilight glared at the prince, but she couldn’t refute him. She turned back to Gregory. “It’s been a year since the trial,” she said, “and Equestria has gone through several changes. Ponies don’t know it yet, but our economy has been on the decline. Our allies all pulled away their trade agreements and support from Equestria. I would imagine that if nothing is done soon, Equestria could face a great depression that may lead to its end.”
“Just like in the show…” Gregory murmured, “only now Equestria’s ending even before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were to retire and hand control of the kingdom over to you. Even before the eventual separation of the three tribes and the removal of magic from Equestria altogether.” He looked over at Twilight again. “Why…why would you do something so awful and heinous?” he asked with a pleading expression.
All Twilight wanted to do was run to her room and hide under the covers. She just wanted to hide from those hurt eyes. However, she didn’t look away as she replied, “I want to say it was because Discord used his magic on us; that he made us respond to Jason with fear and paranoia, but that wasn’t the case. Yes, Discord played a part in Jason’s suffering, but it wasn’t because he was looking to enact some cruel sense of amusement. He knew about my trip to the mirror world. There, I had a very negative experience with the humans there. I carried that foolish outlook back here. Discord brought Jason here to try and help me in his own way, but instead, when Jason came to see me, I rejected him. I wasn’t the worst, but I was the first. From there, everypony did their best to outperform my example. The things we did were downright illegal, but, make no mistake that it was our poor judgment and xenophobia that led to everything you see now.”
Gregory glared suddenly at her, causing Twilight to flinch away out of reflex. He then took a deep breath, calming his features. “So…you didn’t stay in the mirror world in the library on a bed of books. You didn’t bring the human equivalent of your friends together against Sunset Shimmer to win the Fall Formal princess election. You didn’t even befriend them.” He faced her with a harsh frown. “What was it about humans you disliked? What was so repulsive you shunned a fan of the show who just wanted to befriend you?”
“I-I thought humans were nothing more than cannibals that eat living creatures for their amusement,” she replied haltingly, “I wasn’t prepared and didn’t bother to learn the cultural differences. I merely stole the crown the first chance I got and left.”
Gregory quickly stood, glaring at Twilight once again. No words were spoken for a few seconds. Finally, he sat back down, trying once more to calm himself. “Alright…so let me see if I got this right,” he said. “Twilight goes to the human world, freaks out at seeing that we eat meat, something we can’t help due to our evolutionary pathway, and runs away after getting her crown. Discord, in one of his wildly misguided attempts to ‘help’, brings Jason to Equestria to have Twilight get over her prejudice, but it doesn’t work. Twilight then proceeds to ignores this Jason guy and when the ponies in town learn about this, they go out of their way to abuse, torture and make attempts on Jason’s life multiple times for three years. In those three years, he doesn’t leave because a part of Discord’s magic is still attached to him that keeps him from even considering leaving. Then, Jason tries to kill himself only to be stopped by you and the others. Discord sees this and erases your memories because you’re unable to comprehend the idea of someone killing themselves and because he failed and didn’t want anyone to know he screwed up. Jason runs away and is found after a suicide attempt by Chrysalis in the Everfree Forest, where he is taken back to the hive and plans his revenge by calling on whatever deity runs this world. He receives the Gjallarhorn and puts the Elements and Princess Celestia herself on trial. Because of this, you are all summarily punished and Jason leaves to live with Bug Horse. Am I missing anything here?”
“You’re forgetting the creation of the CFE.” Prince Blueblood said to Gregory’s confusion.
“CFE?” Gregory asked.
“Creatures For Equestria,” Twilight explained. “Jason’s trial inspired a pegasus filly named Cozy Glow. They are a group fighting for equal rights for nonponies. They’ve been making great strides during this year. Especially, since Spike joined up with her shortly after the trial.”
Twilight saw Gregory frown a bit at the mention of Cozy Glow. Standing, he began pacing the room in silence, the only sound heard were his footfalls. Twilight didn’t know what to say or do now. Once again, she’d been the key cause of a human’s shattering perception of them. He paused in his musings, came back and sat down before looking at the table which displayed a map of Equestria and the surrounding nations.. “None of this makes any sense,” he said. “No, that’s not it…it’s that I don’t want to believe it…” He looked up at them with a look of hurt that broke Twilight’s heart. “You were my heroes,” he whispered, “especially you and Applejack.” He pointed at Twilight when he said this, causing Twilight’s cracked heart to shatter. “Your friendship lessons might have been for little girls, but I loved watching them too. Your show was like a break in the clouds on a rainy day. I gave up so much to come here…”
Blueblood, having clearly reached his breaking point, glared at Gregory. “And, whose fault is that?” he asked. When Gregory looked up, Blueblood pointed a hoof at him and continued. “Since I am finding you humans to be of the intellectually challenged variety, allow me to break things down. We ponies are not obligated to adhere to whatever idea or premise you have of us. You’re disappointed that we don’t act out how you envisioned us or masquerade like good little actors for this mysterious and frankly intrusive show of yours? How presumptuous and selfish of you. Honestly, a lot of the issues with Jason and now youcan be avoided if you simply take two moments to consider your actions. Now, auntie and I have to waste resources safeguarding you. You know what, I grow tired of your presence. Auntie, I shall return to Canterlot now.”
As Blueblood stood and sauntered off, Gregory watched him go. When the door slammed behind him, he continued staring at it in silence for a few seconds. The silence was broken when Gregory made a scoffing noise. “No wonder fans of the show call him Blueballs.”
Twilight was aghast by this. However, she was even more surprised when Princess Luna snorted and made a whinnying sound of amusement. “Many call him that here, too,” Luna said.
Gregory gave a brief smirk, not taking his eyes off of the door. Slowly, he turned back and looked down at the Cutie Map. He studied every landmass and ocean. A half a minute passed in silence. Suddenly, there was the sound of shattering glass, only it came from Gregory himself. At the same time, a small portion of what looked like chaos magic came bursting from him only to quickly dissipate in the air. He didn’t seem to notice this, however, as he slowly turned back to the other two remaining ponies in the room.
“You know,” he began, and Twilight could hear the heartbreak in his voice, “now that I think about it, it makes more sense now. My desire to come to this world and leave mine behind wasn’t just naive, but impulsive even if I bought enough things to live comfortably. If Jason was affected by Discord’s magic, then I was too. Now, that pony who just left might be the biggest blowhard in the kingdom, but he’s got a good point. Even before I found that website, I admired you ponies. I loved the world and everything I saw. I suppose I just glossed over the negatives. That’s my fault, I guess. As the saying goes where I’m from, I once was blind, but now I see.” He paused for a bit before then slowly stood and looked down at Twilight. “I want to see the others, and after that I want to see the cave where Jason lived.”
“I can arrange that,” Twilight said, “but give me some time to notify my friends. There’s no telling how their mood will be when they see you. But, we can go to Jason’s cave now if you like.”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he said. “Just let me get prepared and armed.”
Luna’s ears perked up at that. “Armed? What do you mean?”
Gregory snorted. “This is a world of dangerous creatures and magic. I didn’t come without means to properly defend myself.”
“Hmm, a wise decision considering where we are going. But, I shall also accompany you for added safety.” Luna said.
“As you like.” Gregory pushed the throne chair in and headed to the door. “I’ll see you at the front gates.”
[Everfree Forest]
It had taken Gregory a whole twenty three minutes to join Twilight and Luna. However, when the human came out, Luna felt unsure as to whether he needed guarding. He had changed his clothes, and now he wore large sturdy looking boots, a pair of dark brown pants with plenty of pockets, a black jacket that looked like it was made of leather, a long light gray scarf, a pair of dark black gloves and a satchel hanging from his back. Not only that, but he had several strange accouterments attached to him.
She might not have known just what the strange objects he had strapped to his belt were, but she knew what the two long knives were. There was also a larger metal object slung over his shoulder which he held in place with one hand. He had been tight-lipped about what exactly the strange devices he carried were, but he said that he wouldn’t use them on anypony else. They were only for self defense.
The trio walked through the Everfree Forest, and Luna noticed that Gregory’s features seemed to calm considerably when they entered. When she’d asked why, he replied that the forest reminded him of his old world’s own forests, a fact that disturbed her greatly. Just what kind of world had Gregory and Jason come from that they found the Everfree of all places a soothing place to be?
Eventually, the light that came through the forest canopy dimmed, causing Luna to illuminate the foliage with her horn. Luna and Twilight both took note of how alert Gregory was. He held a large black metal object in both his hands which was slung over his shoulder by a black strap. It was clearly made for human hands, and Gregory seemed to have experience in handling it.
Finally, they reached a clearing, and there, big as life, was the large cave that had been discovered only a few days after the Trial. Gregory immediately covered his nose with his scarf at the putrid smell that emanated from the cave. “Jesus Christ…it smells like a sewer threw up around here!” Gregory said as he swatted away at the insects swarming around.
“Yes, the smell is not the best in the world,” Twilight replied. “Although, Fluttershy would say that it’s the natural scent of the forest and you would get used to it.”
Gregory gave them a deadpanned expression. “Not the best? I bet even Hell itself would smell better! At least there it only smells like fucking sulfur!” Gregory snapped, making two alicorns around him wince. This was the first time he’d used foul language, after all. He dug in his small satchel and produced a small metal flashlight, which he turned on and shone into the cave. Nopony could see his mouth, but his eyes said it all. The scene before them was not a pretty one. There was dried blood, old feces, dirty looking scraps of cloth scattered everywhere, and even what might have been an impromptu fishing rod. “My God…three years in this shithole and he didn’t go insane? I wonder why he didn’t try and ask Zecora if he could stay with her?”
“My best guess is the chaos magic influencing him the same way for him not leaving Ponyville after the first week,” Twilight surmised as she adopts a forlorn expression. “I never came here until today. It’s just another reminder of my sins.”
“Sometimes facing our sins is both a relief and a curse. I still have trouble visiting my old castle.” Luna said with a sad expression.
Gregory stopped, walked over to Luna and hesitantly put a hand out, touching her withers. Unlike with the expression of anger he reserved for Twilight now, the one he gave the dark blue alicorn was a kindly one. “I think that you’ve punished yourself enough, don’t you?” he asked. “Even in the show, what brief glimpses I saw of you made you best princess in my book. Your sincerity and earnest behavior and strong desire to make things right is one of the reasons you were my favorite princess. No, sorry, not were. Are. The fact that you came running here after hearing about what happened earlier this morning personally says a great deal about you. I’ve gained a whole new respect for you, Your Highness.”
“Hmm, there is truth to this,” Luna replied, smiling at the human’s kind words, “However, it was Twilight who notified me of your situation the moment things went awry. I believe that is worth some praise as well.”
“I only did that after the incident,” Twilight said, looking at the ground. “I should’ve sent the letter the moment I saw Gregory. But, no more. I am tired of standing on my frogs. Starting here and now, I promise to make your stay in Equestria an enjoyable one. This,” Twilight gestured to the dilapidated cave with resolution, “will never happen again!”
Gregory gazed down at her with a small frown. Slowly, he sighed. “Words are one thing, Sparkle, and so far my trust in your words isn’t there anymore. You deliberately hid the truth from me about Jason Wright and used me to try and get information about human technology. Now, I will admit that a part of me really wants to trust you, but I’m going to need proof that I can.” He held up one finger. “I’m willing to give you one more chance despite everything I’ve heard and seen. One chance. No more. If at any time I feel that chance has been blown, I’ll take up Princess Luna’s offer to move to Canterlot and you’ll never see me again. Am I clear on this?”
“That’s more than fair,” Twilight agreed. “I know I got carried away with learning. That’s a part of me that will never change. But, I’m not going to betray your trust or use whatever idea you have of me to curry favor. I’ll take this chance to earn your trust and truly become your friend.”
Gregory slowly approached, removed the glove on his right hand and held out his hand towards her. “Then let’s shake on it,” he said.
Twilight nodded in agreement and reached her hoof up to his hand. No words were spoken as the two exchanged another hoof/handshake. As he released her hoof, he stepped back and put his glove back on. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to head back. I packed a good number of food items from Earth I won’t ever be getting ever again and I think now would be a good time for me to cook some for myself.”
The two ponies both nodded at the suggestion and began making their way back. However, as they were about halfway there, they all heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes just off of the path. A large timberwolf leaps out of the foliage. It growled at the three, flashed its wooden fangs and crouched into a pouncing position.
Gregory’s actions were immediate. He flipped something on the strange metal object he held and held it up so that the tip was facing the timberwolf’s head and the back of the weapon was held against his shoulder for support. “WEAPONS FREE!” he shouted, “COVER YOUR EARS! FIRING!”
Twilight had barely any time to react before a loud explosion filled the air, louder than thunder when it was nearby. She screamed and covered her ears as a second explosion rocked through the forest followed quickly by the sound of multiple pieces of wood falling to the ground.
Twilight and Luna slowly recover from the noise to see the timberwolf thoroughly destroyed on the ground. It was hardly recognizable as whatever struck it tore through its head and traveled down its body. It would have been a gruesome sight if not for the creature being made of wood.
Gregory continued holding his weapon towards it, almost like he was waiting for it to reconstitute itself like it normally did. However, when it didn’t, he backed away and flipped the same switch he’d flipped before.
Luna was the first to speak as she faced Gregory with an alarmed expression. “What in the celestial cycles was that!? It was as if a firework exploded in our proximity!”
“A-And, look at the timberwolf. It isn’t reconfiguring itself. What was that?” Twilight asks.
Gregory held up the metal object in his hand. “Think of it as a miniature cannon, only instead of confetti it shoots out bits of metal that travel at such a speed that they can tear through flesh.”
Luna frowned immediately at his words. “You speak of displaying honesty, yet you wield such weapons and neglected to tell us. I understand the need to defend yourself, but there is such a thing as an extreme.”
“Princess, timberwolves don’t exist in my world,” Gregory explained, “and neither do many other creatures that exist here. Hydra, sphinx, the list goes on and on. My world has absolutely no magic, meaning my species has had to claw its way to the top on our ingenuity and physical abilities alone. I came here under the assumption that I’ll never have that defense against magic that ponies have, so I decided to level the playing field with weapons of my own.”
Luna frowned. She saw his point, but she didn’t like it. “Your point is well taken,” she conceded, “but as long as you are a guest in our kingdom, your use of those weapons will be heavily restricted. You will only use these weapons against the creatures of the Everfree. I expect you to let my guards handle any ponies that may seek to do you harm. Bringing those weapons here, when they have never existed, may cause more harm than good. No one else shall know about them!”
“That was always my intention,” he said, “and I never intended to share this weapon technology with any nation to begin with.” He was about to continue, when something in the timberwolf wreckage caught his attention. “Hold on a moment.” He made his way slowly towards the timberwolf wreckage.
“Gregory? What did you see?” Twilight asked with a hint of worry.
“Not sure,” he replied as he dug through the pieces of wood with the tip of his weapon. “I thought I saw something glowing. Wait, I see-aha!” Slowly, he reached down with his weapon, pulled it back and swung at something. A glowing green orb flew out of the wreckage, through the air and landed near the hooves of both Luna and Twilight.
“What is this?” Twilight said, picking up the glowing green orb.
“By Faust! That’s a mana core,” Luna exclaimed in awe. “It is what Grogar used to bind the rogue magic into the wooden vessels for the timberwolves,” she added as a means of further explanation. “They are notoriously difficult to acquire, and as such are quite rare.”
“Can I hold it?” Gregory asked.
Twilight complied as Gregory inspected the orb. “Amazing, I only ever read text about these orbs. But, if they reside within timberwolves, and timberwolves never stay down, why was this time different? Did your weapon disrupt the flow of magic?”
Gregory slipped the mana core into his satchel quickly, lifted up his weapon and touched something on the side. A curved rectangular portion of it suddenly detached. He grabbed it and reached into the top, pulling out a golden dart-shaped object with a silvery tip. “I have absolutely no idea why it stayed down,” he said as he held out the dart. “I just fired two of these into its head.”
Luna reached out with her magic to try and carefully lift the metal dart, but when her magic touched it, she found that it had absolutely no effect on the dart. “My magic cannot grasp it!”
“Wait, really?” Gregory asked, looking down at the dart with curiosity. He slipped it back into the curved rectangular object he’d retrieved it from and snapped it back into place on his weapon, then reached down and drew out one of the long blades at his belt. “Try picking this up.”
Luna tried to do so, but with the same exact result. “How unusual,” she murmured as she came at the knife from a variety of different angles. “I admit, I am perplexed. I have never heard of such a thing being possible.”
Twilight stepped forward, a thoughtful look on her face. “Gregory, you brought these weapons from your home world, right?”
“Yeah, what of it?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“And you said your world has absolutely no magic?” Twilight asked again.
“Yeah…what are you getting at?” Gregory asked.
“I have a hypothesis,” she said as she stared carefully at the knife from a safe distance, “and it could explain why those ponies earlier this morning couldn’t damage your car.” Entering her lecture mode, she cleared her throat. “Our world has magic and yours doesn’t. Perhaps it’s because of that reason that your weapon could so thoroughly destroy the magical bonds that bound the timberwolf together.”
“But if that’s the case, wouldn’t you have gotten hurt sitting in my car yesterday?” Gregory asked.
“Not necessarily,” she said. “The outside of your car is metallic, correct? Perhaps it has to do with that?”
“Hmm…there is an old wives tale back on Earth about fictional magical creatures being repelled by iron,” Gregory said, “so maybe you have a point. You’re the magical expert here, not me.”
“Perhaps this is a good avenue of study to embark upon, young Twilight,” Luna said.
“I’ll get started on it as soon as I am able, Princess. For now, let’s get out of here,” Twilight said in an anxious tone.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Gregory said as he hoisted his weapon up and slung it over his shoulder before sheathing the knife. “Let’s go.”
[South East of Equestria - Siren Seas]
The Seven Stars, a large cargo vessel which belonged to the South Equestrian Trading Company, was making its way back to fairer shores after a long stint at sea. Most trade between Equestria and other foreign powers had ceased the moment the results of the trial were made public, but there were still a few private traders from foreign lands who were willing to do business with the SETC, albeit at a greatly increased monetary rate.
The ship was crewed by a number of experienced seaworthy ponies, all of whom were going to and fro on deck. Standing at the helm, the captain turned the wheel slightly while looking at his compass. From behind him, the ship’s bosun appeared. “Captain, we’re making good progress toward the mainland,” the bosun said. “We should be back before nightfall.”
“Good, good,” the captain said as he put his compass back in his jacket pocket. “This voyage marks the end of my seafaring day. The missus will be happy I’m back ahead of schedule.”
The bosun chuckled. “I imagine she’ll be extra happy, Captain. A mare gets mighty lonely waiting for her stallion while he’s away at sea.”
“You’re not married, so what would you know?” the captain said good naturedly. “Back to work, bosun.”
“Aye, sir,” the bosun said smartly, saluting and heading down the ramp to the main deck.
The captain put his hoof on the wheel and stared out at the open waters. He’d miss this, he knew, but his days of sailing were over. It was time he retired and lived the rest of his days fishing and spending time with his wife.
However, as the ship continued to sail, a sudden and frosty mist quickly descended upon the area. The crewm look around in confusion at the sudden mist and drop in temperature. “Why is is so cold all of a sudden?” one of them asked.
“Aye, and where did this mist come from anyway? It was clear a moment ago,” another crewpony observed.
The captain frowned, then looked over at a random pegasus. “You! Sailor! I need a view from the crows nest right away!”
“Aye, cap’n!” the pegasus said as he saluted and flew up.
The captain waited as the young pegasus looked through a spyglass all around. When he froze, the captain shouted up, “What do you see?”
“...”
“Answer me, sailor!”
The captain got his answer with a resound thud as the pony fell back on deck, looking completely frostbitten. Another crewmate shrieked out in agony as they came running in a panic. Not wanting things to dissolve into panic, the captain stomped on the deck. “Calm yourselves! What’s wrong with you? Can’t you see we got a situation– By Faust!”
The crewmate held up one of his hooves. The captain saw, to his horror, that it was frozen solid. Ice kept on creeping up his leg. The captain could only watch helplessly as the stallion looked up at him and whispered, “Help…me…” before the ice covered him completely. At that moment, a large wave hit the portside and sent the newly frozen pony careening towards the main deck. Screams were frozen on their lips as the stallion shattered into a thousand pieces.
The ponies all recoiled in horror at the grisly sight of one of their own being frozen to death in such a gruesome manner before everypony on board heard a low wailing sound. The temperature plummeted fast after that. The crew huddled together in a vain attempt to keep warm, but it was a futile endeavor. The masts had all frozen over before something shattered the ice. All the ponies were having trouble breathing as the air became thinner and colder. One by one, each pony fell over while succumbing to the cold. The captain tried to hold out, but he was soon down on his knees, the ice covering his hindlegs.
All the while, the same wailing was growing in volume. It was like a banshee that crept in old abandoned halls. Or, perhaps it was the dreaded siren’s call, coming to calm the captain and his ship. However, the captain would soon wish it was a siren. A figure slowly trotted toward him, each step freezing more of the ship. Before the captain’s eyes froze over, the last thing he saw was the glowing ghostly-like spirit bearing down on him with hatred and malice as cold as the storm that claimed his ship, and his life.
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This is starting to get intense. Makes me wonder how the other girls are gonna react to seeing him. As well as Jason if he shows up later.
Hmm.. I relate to these characters quite well, I actually let my own bias about Cozy Glow infulence my judgements about her until he mentioned their biases. I didn't even realize, just goes to show we are all just one small piece of bigger pictures. I hope we can continue to grow and see this world adapt and change.. it's quite interesting.
I hope we can see a positive outcome and change for this. Bravo to Mr. Gregory for looking past what he saw. I know I would be able to as well, but I also know others who wouldn't. May this world be forever golden.
What happened to chapter 3?
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This is chapter 3. Sorry, it's a mislabel. He'll see this comment and hopefully make the change.
11613046
You will mention nothing of this.
Wonder how it will looks when Spike meets him?
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Even if we operate on the presumption that she's not as blatantly evil as she was in the show, I feel like Cozy's actions are still aggravating racial tensions to the point that the Windigos are active once more.
Across the sea, in times of old, did come many a tale.
And one such tale, now born again, comes forth to bring new hell.
11613147
I sang this to the Gilligan's Island theme tune for some reason.
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Why do you think that cozy's actions are aggravating racial tensions?
11613163
A year later, ponies are still reeling and seething over what happened 'because of Jason'. Even in this story, it's been demonstrated that the xenophobic attitudes are widespread in Equestria, seeing non-ponies as—at best—less than ponies, and—at worst—nothing short of monstrous or barbaric. A group like Creatures For Equestria would very much incense those who want their 'status quo', and any resistance to that change would only worsen the Equestrian public image further in the world eye, creating a negative feedback loop.
Resistance to change, be it for good or bad, will always stoke the flames of hate and disharmony.
11613152
As long as it brought you a bit of joy, I'm glad.
As much of a jerk Blueblood is, he has a point.
You should never meet your heroes, because heroes are people, and people are crappy.
Oh goddammit, you just had to run up the bright red flag on the mast didn't you? Just HAD to mention you were one day from retirement, or used the Q word in public, or [God forbid] broke a mirror.
Those windigos only attacked the ship due to the ever-increasing gravity of you openly mocking Murphy and his little sister Fate.
I feel like Gregory is still being too forgiving…. Hopefully he doesn’t just wave off what Rainbow did, out of all the ponies she was the “Worst”. Still maybe maybe the author is going for a complete deconstruction of Gregory’s character? Where he learns that being forgiving doesn’t always lead to a better situation, he’s desperately trying to hang onto this false idea of Twilight and Equestria. He even mentioned that he “wants” to believe her, which should be a huge red flag. The sad truth is that sometimes it’s better just to cut your losses, what does he think being there and putting himself in danger will achieve? That ponies will see humans aren’t so bad? That they can be friends? Maybe woo them with his technology? No… they don’t care, he’s a bitter reminder of what happened, doesn’t matter they brought it on themselves, it only matters that a human was involved.
Blueblood was…. Rough, but he’s honest, Gregory just dropping everything to come to a new world with no way home was idiotic. Am I to really believe he had no friends or family that would worried sick and miss him? On top of that, even though getting a physical was a good idea, did he know anything about Equestrias real medical knowledge? Did he think they would just be able to waggle their horns if he grew ill, despite having no knowledge of his biology? He might be healthy now, but things can change scarily fast! Why did he think he would be able to just walk right up to the girls and think that they would all be his friends, like some kinda poorly written self insert? I’m just… flabbergasted by his whole thought process… making me wonder if he’s mentally ill? Naturally this all applies to Jason too, as he came even less prepared than Gregory…
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Wasn't Jason basically abducted by Discord?
Also ironically, "Spare the rod, spoil the child" is cautioning against enabling children as opposed to disciplining. The full version is "You spare the rod and you spoil the child."
Obviously, you can see why the full one if often never used since it sounds rather abusive taken out of context.
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Pretty sure that's what Sunset meant when I wrote that part for her. Basically, Sunset is saying that Celestia spoiled her ponies too much.
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It's best not to trust anyone, so the decision that Kozi is not up to anything is premature.
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If everything does play out to its natural conclusion with the context clues we're given this early Gregory might have to bail to greener pastures, probably to Jason and the changeling hive, and Equestria would be sundered, ceasing to exist in any official capacity and becoming little more than the lands between with lingering self governing settlements. Between Cozy Glow's CFE kickstarting a cultural revolution (and being buddy buddy with Tirek), uppity nobles conspiring to maintain the status quo, the wendigoes bringing about the big chill and the lingering after effect of Jason's trial this story could very much have a pyrrhic end. For all we know, friendship and harmony may prevail... at the cost of everything else.
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And by the looks of it, so was Gregory. At least the chaos magic we saw leave his body may have done its own little part to help cloud his judgment, and we don’t know at which point it started to affect him.
I also can’t shake the feeling that he got his weapons straight from Chekhov's Emporium...
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Oh goodness… Royal Guard fails to protect him placing him in a self defense situation… then he finally understands that he’s not gonna get his happy ending… I’d like to believe Luna (and to a much lesser extent Blueblood) would be understanding, but would have to “relocate” him outside of Equestria.
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I want to be clear, while I’d love a deconstruction of Gregory, I don’t want him just falling into the “Grrrr pony’s suck” edge lord mindset. More just that bitter realization that he shouldn’t have left his home to meet his hero’s… While he might be interested in the Civil Rights movement brewing, I could also just see him washing his hands and leaving Equestria. That doesn’t mean he has to go to Jason, if anything I think looking at Jason would just hurt him more… cause he’s the personification of what ponies really think of non-ponies.
Another thing to consider, Twilights actions with Gregory will never be genuine. Considering how the trial shook her up, every interaction will always be colored with that one event. On another note, I’m concerned about her interest in Jason’s technology, perhaps seeing it as a way to redeem herself and “save” Equestria from economic stagnation and decline. She still sees herself as a “hero”, thus it’s her job to find a solution to the growing issue. Even in the movie she was willing to steal a precious magical artifact an entire civilization depended on to save her own country… is it so crazy she might be tempted to swipe Gregory’s stuff to save her own country? Though I doubt she could actually reverse engineer it… Twilight isn’t as smart as she thinks honestly (canonically and in this fic). Imagine it’s not another assault that finally puts him over the edge… but coming home to Twilight smashing his things in a desperate attempt to understand them? Even worse if it had family photos too….
There she is
Things are proceeding with current pieces, and some ancient cold pieces are coming out to play as well. And seemingly on a small scale for now, rather than as a huge near-instant storm.
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I have not seen the show in a while but why do you say Twilight isnt as smart as she thinks? is it because she has made numerous questionable decisions throughout the show's run?
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Twilight may be smart in math, science and magic, but when it comes to picking up on social cues, not so much.
And her relatives and friends not taking the chance to teach her how to be social with everyone are also at fault, but hindsight is 2020.
Even Blueblood in this chapter states that Twilight prioritizes knowledge over friendship. She might not have meant to do as such, nor hurt anyone in that regard, but it still doesn't change the fact that she did. And whether or not Twilight learns from this and be a better pony is up to her.
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Knowledge is great but it’s useless if you do not have anyone to share that knowledge with.
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To be clear, I’m not saying she’s dumb by any means, rather she’s just “above average” and been placed on a pedestal her whole life. Thanks to a statistical anomaly she had a magical surge that caught the attention of Celestia, which secured her the best (supposedly) tutoring and schooling in Equestria. But even with all that…. Most of what Twilight does is regurgitate information, rather than add to it. Starlight when you get down to it is far more impressive than Twilight, you could easily argue she’s a prodigy. She lacked Twilights educated background and yet was able to create a completely new spell that did what was thought to be impossible (remove cutie marks!), she later would take Starswirls Time Travel spell, rewrite it, and once again do the impossible… change the past. As if to add insult to injury, she was able to not only hold off Twilight during their battle, but actually beat her (an alicorn mind you) repeatedly in magical combat. Twilight only able to save the day by showing the long term cost of her “winning”, and potentially offering her help with her abandonment issues.
I think Twilight suffers from what I call the Lisa Simpson effect, you place an above average student in a mediocre learning environment, they come to believe they are a genius, getting rather full of themselves all the while. But place them in a better learning environment, where other students are actually engaged? Well their supposed “genius” falls flat pretty quick, this is a theme that’s actually been repeated a few times with Lisa. She finally is being taught at a “good” school, or a more rigorous curriculum,, suddenly her GPA falls to a B average, and she can’t handle it. Heck… the moment another student or even a family member starts to outshine her, her first response is to sabotage them.
Maybe it’s for the best Twilight didn’t stick around the human world… imagine if she found out her “Highly Educated” background wasn’t even up to human High School standards?
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So Twilight doesn't like it when she is outclassed by someone else that could be better at things than her?
Of course she would. Twilight was raised in Canterlot that had the whole 'we are better than every race' vibe going on. It stands to reason that she picked that habit up and let it pile onto her OCD.
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Makes you wonder if her relationship with Starlight was healthy? Maybe not as outright neglectful and abusive as Spike… but maybe she subconsciously tried to figuratively clip Starlights wings? Might also be why she disapproves so much of her friendship with Trixie?
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Honestly with access to things like Cell Phones, the internet and other things like that highly intelligent humans would quickly surpass Twilight
11615051
Forget cellphones, just place Twilight in an advanced math class at a decent school… imagine “Human” Pinkie Pie out scoring her by leaps and bounds? Twilight starts sobbing cause she doesn’t understand how this could have happened?
y.yarn.co/f2da00ac-7173-47ba-9224-0f9acf528c85_text.gif
I actually tossed around the idea of Twilight transferring into a human High School/College as a short story. But I was kinda worried it would be too much Twibashing you know?
Oh boy. Been loving this story so far. Poor Twilight seems to be the only one really trying to learn from her mistakes. I hope we get to see a happy ending for both Gregory and Jason. That would be really neat to see, but I feel like Jason is gonna hard a very hard time forgiving them. Can't wait for more. Great work on this so far :D
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I see Twilight as like Pinkie as in she is surrounded by people who enable her bad behavior rather than discouraging it and try to help her improve.
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I wouldn't mind if it's the right amount of Twibashing as long as she learns a lesson from being in an environment that challenges her intellect and chooses to change herself for the better.
Cant wait for the next chapter.
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But then what happens to the CFE movement now that it has that stained association in the eyes of the more stubborn, xenophobic Ponies that might form a mob to 'put it down'? 😒
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My guess, a civil war might happen even when they don't want it.
Pls that's one on you. Equestria is not fake If the creatures there have free will. You can't just expect them to have the obligation to live up with the ideals every single second. Even celebraties suffered from that. They are living beings too. Don't forget that you are dumb enough to have no way of returning to Earth which is much safer than magic, creatures, and monsters
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The world must be going crazy when blue blood makes sense.