Dawn of a New Day

by Nugget27

Understanding the Elements

So, I bought a chess set, because Blaze saw it in a window and was interested in it for some reason. Aside from the names of the pieces, it pretty much played out like chess. I was pretty decent, for somebody who doesn’t actively play chess, but apparently Blaze was nuts at it. So far, I won the first game, and that was the only game I won. Like after being fully explained as to what each piece does, Blaze took to it immediately and started kicking my ass every game. All without reading my mind or some shit too. Now I can safely say I was getting… Out foxed… I’m here all week.

“Checkmate.” Blaze hummed as she did, in fact, checkmate me with over half her pieces left. “So Ostri,” I looked up from the chess board after knocking my Princess, who was the King in human chess, over. “How old are you? Because I have been thinking ever since Luna dumped you, and I’ve been thinking even more since you claim you still love her. Just how old are you?”

“Well, I woke up in Equestria shortly after graduating high school, so about eighteen or so. I think I’m nineteen though; a bit hard to tell now.”

“So that is quite young, especially for a pony.”

“Yeah. Why are you asking now?”

“I learnt that ponies have birthdays, that they celebrate for some reason…” She hummed. “I was hoping we could do the same for you.” Blaze’s ears twitched. “But also it means you are quite inexperienced when it comes to dealing with relationships, correct?” I nodded. “How often have you interacted with people?”

“Not a lot. I was an orphan, after all.”

“So I have been thinking… I think you being with Luna, and speaking with Celestia is quite bad for you. Luna is simply trying to manipulate you. And I must ask, would Celestia seek you out if you were depressed? Celestia didn’t seem to care too much when you flew off in distraught. In fact, nobody did. Not even Luna. Not even after you said to her… And while I am at it, you may as well put some distance between yourself and those six mares. They’ll just try and guilt you into dating Luna again even if you two apparently left your relationship as friends.”

“Wait, Luna didn’t even care when I flew off?” Blaze nodded. “You aren’t lying?”

“I am not. Trust me, Ostri, I only act with your best interests in mind. And Luna will find some way into making you two date again; she wants control over you. As for why, I am not sure. I know Celestia probably still thinks you are a strategic genius, and with you dating Luna would tie you to Equestria. Hence any ‘juicy’ little secrets you have would only be of use to the Equestrian nation.” Huh… “I know. Trust me, Ostri, I would not be saying any of this if I did not think this is a genuine issue. Your naivety is going to get you into trouble because of how blindly you want the affection of a loved one.”

I silently stared down at the chess board. “You still-” Blaze leaned in and nuzzled me on the cheek. She then stood up, rubbing into my side before wrapping her tails around me. She then proceeded to start grooming me. “Blaze?”

“This is a sign of affection, Ostri. I would not do this unless I considered you a very close friend. And while I was once friends with Celestia, I do not find as much joy in grooming her as I do when I groom you. For kitsunes, if we even let you touch our tails, that is the ultimate sign of trust and affection.” Blaze then gave me a very canine-esk kiss. “I love you, Ostri. I simply want to protect you, and now that I know how young you are mentally, I… I think of you as my own little kit. Nobody is harming you without getting through me first. Not Luna, not Celestia. Nobody will hurt you while I am here.” Huh…

I leaned into Blaze’s chest and let out a deep sigh as I found myself feeling drowsy…

Then somebody started pounding on my motel room’s door. I sighed. “I can get the door,” Blaze offered.

“No, if I lay in your fur any longer I will fall asleep. I’ll get the door…. Who’s on the other side, by the way?”

“It is Twilight and her friends.” Oh brother. “I know. Are you certain you do not want me to get the door for you? I can tell them to ‘fuck off’ as you would say. Or we can ignore them.”

“C’mon Ossi! I know you’re in there!” Pinkie’s voice was very squeaky. “We want to talk to you!”

“I don’t think that’s an option, Blaze.” We both sighed. “Talk later?” My fox nodded. I got out of bed and walked over to the door, I mentally and emotionally prepared myself. I took a couple deep breaths before finally opening the door. Twilight and her friends, Twilight at the forefront because she’s a pretty pony princess and her friends aren’t, were all practically grouped around my door. “Why are you guys here? Like legitimately, why? I don’t wanna talk to any of you.”

“...Well, Princess Celestia has informed me that the way we’ve been treating you so far is a bit unfair. After all, you and Luna ended your relationship off as friends… You clearly are not a bad pony, so I shouldn’t get angry at you over your love life. That’s Cadance’s job, after all. So, me and my friends were about to go out on a picnic and figured we should invite you. Mostly at Rarity’s request,” Rarity batted her eyelashes at me, she was holding a fan up so her nose was just barely poking over it. I blinked a couple of times. “And I’m a bit curious about you myself, beyond you being from the past, you are quite interesting. According to records at the time, you simply appeared one day. You walked into town with a caravan of Earth Ponies and quickly found yourself in royal hooves.”

I stepped out of the motel room and closed the door.. A picnic can’t be too bad. “Say, can Blaze come along? The two of us were just having a little bit of a chat; some nice bonding time too. Given that Blaze is my best friend…” what is some bullshit I could come up with. “She would help me feel a bit more comfortable? I’m not the most socially outgoing dude ever, and Blaze helps boost my confidence.” I could practically see Fluttershy bouncing up and down when I asked that. The best part was, that was partially true; I suck at being social.

“I sure wouldn’t mind,” Twilight shrugged. The door was quickly caught in Blaze’s magical signature, and the fox casually strolled out. Not too long after, she was lying on the ground, Fluttershy babying her, with her tongue out. Now Blaze went from almost motherly to the biggest fucking baby on the planet because of the yellow pegasus. After a few moments of being babied, Blaze stood up, Fluttershy being held by the scruff, happily following us. It was kinda cute.

“Ostri, I like this mare. Don’t touch her; she’s mine.”

“Oi, I thought I was your favorite pony, you dickhead.” Everyone’s eyes widened, then became dinner plates when Blaze simply giggled.

“Ostri, you will always be my number one… Just don’t touch this mare.” She looked left and right. “Just trust me.”

“Meh, aight.”

“What did she say after she paused?” Apple Jack asked. “Ah don’t like how Blaze said something but none of us could hear it.”

“That is the art of telepathy, my little farm pony. I was merely telling Ostri some advice; it’s not a good idea to immediately chase love after your heart’s been broken…” Blaze grinned. “Rarity, stop staring at Ostri’s rear end. I know you think it looks nice, but my pony isn’t interested in mares right now.”

“H-how?” Rarity stuttered and sputtered as she just stopped, pointed at Blaze, and had a mini seizure.

“Ostri fully knows that you are interested in him.”

Rarity’s reaction was priceless.

After a while of wandering around, we found a nice spot in a random field, and quickly had a picnic blanket set up. Fluttershy was a giggly mess, happily trying to touch Blaze’s tails, even though the kitsune looked like she was trying her best to not growl at the pegasus. While everyone ate and happily chatted, I kept watch on the forest. Apparently, where Everfree City once stood, was just that massive, possibly evil and fucked up forest. Where the weather is free or whatever. To me it just seemed like planet earth; I don’t mind clouds going along with the flow and snowing when they feel like it.

“Say Ostri, wanna have a race on the ground?” Rainbow tapped my shoulder.

“Nah. I’ve just been wondering about… stuff. Me being dragged out of the time I was supposed to be in… It feels weird. Not jarring; I was literally dragged out of my home before. I just figured adjusting to a more modern time would be harder; it really isn’t. Luna said she struggled, but I suppose she’s a mare of tradition or whatever…” I hummed. “It just feels… eh. I dunno. I should maybe be a bit more sad now that I will never get to see some folks I was hoping to see again. But three out of the six people I talked to are still kicking.”

“...Who are you missing?”

“I dunno if you guys heard of them, but… I believe two of the last three people were a part of a very, very early day Apple Clan. Crab Apple and Red Delicious; they helped me get kick started in life with just a bag of bits. Hell, I never woulda been in Everfree City if it weren’t for them. I woke up in the middle of a forest, no clue how I got there, in a body that wasn’t mine, and they took me in for a bit. Hell, Red wanted to sleep with me if what Crab had to say was true.” Apple Jack’s jaw dropped. “What?” Twilight and Starlight were just rubbing their chins while they listened to me.

“You know my great, great, great,” several greats later. “Great Aunt and Grandma?” I nodded. “What were they like? I heard stories of their hospitality; it’s what we Apples pride ourselves on.”

“I can’t really say; they were the nicest folks I met. But I only got to speak with them and be around them for a day. I was hoping they’d stop by Everfree sometime, maybe grab a cup of rum and chat with them. Then uh… Yeah, no. That never happened,” I sighed. “I kinda found myself missing them at times. I don’t have much to my name, even back in the past, but I wanted to repay them for helping me out so much.”

“Ostri, what do you mean by ‘in a body that wasn’t mine?” Twilight asked.

“So uh, about me appearing randomly? That’s true. Even I don’t know why the fuck I ended up in Equestria. I used to be human; some hairless monkey type of thing.”

“Oh… That would explain why you weren’t utterly blown away by being in the present,” Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “So who’s the last pony you were missing?”

“Somebody named Chrysalis. We didn’t get to interact much, but I found her in a net, fed her, and we were sorta friends. I only met her a week before disappearing; that was zero time to get to know her. Luna and Chrysalis were best friends though. I wouldn’t have minded getting to know… What?”

“Chrysalis tried to kill us not even four months ago,” Rainbow’s hoof slammed into the ground. Damn. Guess that bitch went bumfuck crazy at some point then. “How did you even become friends with her? She had to of mind control you!”

“No. She was trapped, so I showed her some kindness and freed her. She was hungry and fed on love. Again, I just fed her and chatted with her. It was brief, but we were pretty chill… Man, this fucking sucks.” I got up and groaned. “All of the people I once knew are either dead, or immortal. And the immortal ones change just enough to feel completely different. Dunno what Luna went through after she came back from her banishment, but she changed enough to be different from the woman I fell in love with. Celestia is a lot more reserved from the bumbling Princess a thousand years ago. And Chrysalis might be too far gone to save.” I dropped my head onto my hooves. “The only one that even acts remotely the same is Blaze; she’s really all I have left.”

“That… has to hurt a lot. If you want me to, even if it will mess with the timeline, I can send you back in time. I-I uh… If only I bucking paid attention while performing the time travel spell! Then…”

“Starlight,” I didn’t raise my head from my hooves. “Don’t talk like that. What happened, happened. Boohoo, I’m a little sad, but the world will keep on spinning. No matter how many times I get knocked down, I’m going to get back up. No matter the universe, time, or place, I will get up and bulldoze through what I have to keep on living. Determination is what fuels humanity, Starlight. Yeah, you fucked up, but I ain’t gonna do Blaze like that. We’re both basically all we have, and separating us would probably end poorly for whoever…”

“I can help you make more friends, Ostri. I am the Princess of Friendship, after all.”

“I’m good. It just fucking hurts a little, especially to look at either of the Royal Sisters. I was literally going to marry one of them a thousand years ago, and I was becoming friends with the other. Now I just see two familiar faces with nothing that’s familiar underneath their hides. Celestia seemed somewhat innocent, for a woman that was fighting battles for her country and beliefs at the age of fifteen at least, and now… I can see her eyes constantly running calculations on how to act in a social interaction. I can see her processing just how to possibly spin any situation in her favor. It’s almost fucking terrifying at how calculated even just her breathing is. Everything she does is very deliberate and it’s scary as hell.”

“And Luna?”

“She hurt the most, but… I move on. Like imagine going to sleep next to your lover, brother, somebody you just hold dearly. Don’t matter who it is, just imagine somebody you cannot live without. Then you wake up the next day and they not only barely recognize you, but then they suddenly don’t like you. I think Blaze possibly knows why Luna did a one eighty and tried to get back together with me after saying she wasn’t interested anymore. It’s to tie me down to Equestria; Celestia and Luna definitely know I have zero loyalty to Equestria itself…”

“But you fought a battle for Equestria! And I bet it was totally awesome!” Rainbow pumped one of her hooves into the sky. “I mean, you have to be totally wicked! Twilight said you went through that battle without even getting injured; her egghead history books said that at least!”

“I took an arrow to the thigh. So that book’s inaccurate, and battles are never awesome, Rainbow. I can still hear griffins screaming in agony as I shoot fireworks into their ranks after leading them into a literal death alley. I didn’t do that for Equestria, Rainbow. Those people wanted my marefriend’s head on a pike. They wanted Celestia’s head on a pike. They wanted to kill everyone in that city, but I wasn’t thinking about everyone in that city even if I took measures to make sure they were all safe. I fought that battle to keep two people I cared about safe, and those two people happened to be the rulers of Equestria.”

“So why did Luna want to keep you after she turned you down?” Twilight asked.

“Think, Twilight. You see a stallion, who literally revolutionized war by using fireworks as weapons, something nobody else thought of before, and choosing to use guerrilla warfare, with zero loyalty to the country he is standing in. If I want to, I could go to some other country and give them strategies and schematics for weapons, and then that country will come for Equestria. Me ‘loving’ one of the rulers will give me some sorta loyalty to Equestria, so then I can’t go and tell some random guy things he can use to conquer this stupid, stupid country. Celestia probably recognized that and probably told Luna. And since Luna failed, I’m surprised that Celestia herself hadn’t gone and tried to have her shot.”

“...There was no love in what Luna was doing.” Twilight summarized that pretty nicely. “No wonder you haven’t given Luna another chance. I… I’m sorry for being so cross with you over that.” Twilight chose that time to lay her head over my neck, wrapping her wings over me. It was very similar to how Luna used to hug me while I was laying down. “Hopefully you can find your place in the world again, I really do. You deserve it.”

“...Thanks Twilight. You know, despite how you were acting earlier, you’re not all too bad,” I glanced around. “Y’all are quite nice, honestly. I know I’ve really only talked to Rainbow and Twilight, but I wouldn’t mind having you guys as friends.” I yawned. “God, I was up all night looking at job listings near the town hall… Only to figure I should try to leave Ponyville either tomorrow, or sometime next week.” I let out an even bigger yawn and Blaze shortly followed suit. “Big yawn, Blaze.”

“Thank you, Ostri.”

“Say, Ostri,” that was Apple Jack. “Ah know we haven’t gotten off on the right hoof, but Ah was wonderin’ if you would like to stop by my farm before you leave. You… even if you're quite an old one,” we both chuckled at that one. “You are a bit of a family friend. And it would be nice if my family and you got reacquainted; I certainly wouldn’t mind.”

“Ostri, I hope you know that Twilight and Apple Jack find you attractive-” Blaze got hit in the face by Apple’s stetson.

“Shut up you darn puff ball! Stop reading my mind!” Blaze let out a surprisingly human laugh that sent shivers down all of our spines.

“It’s as obvious as the sun. Twilight is holding Ostri in a very intimate way and thinks his wings are nice looking. You just like how muscly he is for something so ‘scrawny’. I don’t need telepathy to see that you two are attracted to him… my nose can also pick up on this.”

“...So hormones?” I asked. Blaze nodded. “Damn. Well AJ, Twilight, I wouldn’t mind dating either of you. When I’m done aimlessly wandering like an idiot, I might give either of you a chance.” I hummed. I slid out from under Twilight, or rather, tried to. She fell asleep on top of me. I could feel my cheeks burn slightly as everyone laughed at my predicament.

Author's Note:

so as you know, this chapter with through several rewrites. I wanted to include chrysalis in here, but she’s gonna get her own chapter next chapter

Comments

[Theresa]

I think he should wait a little longer before getting back into the dating game considering he just got dump and quite cruelly I might add. But friendship is a good thing. I hope he meets starswirl and gives him what for considering that guy deserves it. You in front of a princess and you want to have a holier-than-thou attitude because she got carried away with meeting her hero. I also want Luna to get a talking too for being so mean to her first friend. Telling him that she didn't realize how he felt and that she cared nothing about him. What he have to do write it in the sky before she got it. Though I wouldn't mind him dating twilight although I would keep him dating the elements away from Celestia and Luna until they find the ponies they used to be. And I get that time changes everything but they changed from the people who care to people who don't care and pretend to and no wonder the elements won't respond to them they have forgotten the values they stand for.

[DingoAte]

I like this chapter. Grate job:D

[BottleH2O]

Poor Ostri, he gets teleported to the future only to find out his so called "girlfriend" was only interested in using him to make herself feel better and doesn't even love him anymore. Celestia doesn't give a damn about him, just tries to hide her true intentions behind a friendly smile while keeping him in a gilded cage within Equestria, Chrysalis went batshit crazy. Honestly the poor guy should travel for a bit and see the world. A nice change of scenery from Equestria would do him nicely

[hmaf43]

Going to give chysalis a full, whole chapter next?

[Heptameron]

This chapter feels way smoother.

In both versions of your last chapter it felt like you wanted to just somehow shoehorn chrysalis in there somehow

[Theresa]

11628974
Though if he does to date the elements then he should keep the knowledge away from Celestia and Luna.

[Theresa]

11625488
Well sometimes when you loved someone it's hard to get them out of your heart even when your head says forget them.

[f0st3r21]

Something tells me that Celestia’s calculations may be influencing the Bearer’s actions here.

[Zepher]

11687784
Considering how tightly wrapped around Celestia's hoof Twilight is I wouldn't be surprised.

[CrimsonS4ge]

I don't think I can properly articulate how much of an improvement this story is over its predecessor. The difference is night and day. I'm glad that is soldiered through the dumpster fire that was the previous story. This is worth all that and more.