• Published 5th Jan 2013
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Rise of the Elements Part I: The Lost Element - Radiant Dawn



One wish, one night, and the entire world changed. Follow one man as he is given the chance of a lifetime.

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Gently

Chapter 2: Gently

'Ugh, my friggin head...' I thought as I began to awaken. As my head began to clear a bit, I could hear voices...voices I recognized.

"...I don't know, Twi. I don't trust him."

"Spike, Princess Luna asked us to watch over him until he woke up. You know as well as I do that she would not have brought him here if she thought he was dangerous."

"Yeah, but I still don't know. There's just something about this guy that bugs me."

"Spike, you say that about every new stallion you meet. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous."

"W-what? I'm n-not jealous!"

I smiled a bit, deciding to dump my feigned sleep.

"Your lips say no, your behavior says yes." I stated while standing. This startled the small dragon, making him jump as high as he was tall. I chuckled a bit before falling flat on my face, causing the purple dragon to go into hysterics. "Okay fine...I deserve that. Laugh it up." 'What's wrong with my feet? Oh wait...hooves. Oh yeah.' I tried to stand again, more slowly this time and on four feet not two. Needless to say I was more successful. "This is going to take some getting used to. Hey, do you have a book that can teach me how to walk or something?" I said to Twilight. I decided not to call her by name, as I didn't know how much Luna had told her.

Twilight blinked before walking to the bookshelves. "Umm, yeah. One moment." As she made her way through the different tomes, she added, "I guess it must be a big change for you, going from two feet to four hooves." 'Okay good, it seems Luna at least told her what I used to be. Saves me a lot of explaining.' Spike continued to stare me down, but Twilight noticed this and saved me from the awkwardness. "Spike, could you please go prepare us some tea?" The baby dragon huffed a bit, but complied as he walked to the kitchen. I looked at Twilight and mouthed a thank you when he left.

"What's his problem?" I asked once Spike was out of earshot.

"I'm not really sure. Just give him some time though. Being the only male around here that knows all my friends, he can get a little...protective." Twilight announced. She made sure Spike heard.

I raised my eyebrow and asked, "Well I don't look dangerous or anything, do I?"

"The mirror's over here in the washroom. See for yourself." She said.
I walked as carefully as I could to where she gestured, counting a '1, 2, 3, 4...' rhythm in my head in an attempt to avoid falling again. Slowly but surely, I made it to the small room in the hallway. I took a look at myself for the first time in the mirror, and was a little taken aback at what I saw. My fur was a silver color and very shiny, almost like metal. My mane was a stark white, with streaks of silver running down either side with a tail to match. My eyes looked roughly the same, though my pupils were much larger than before. What really surprised me was that I had a horn on my head. 'Sweet, I'm a unicorn!' Something was a bit off though...why was I so big? I was about the same height as Luna was, I think...but I towered over Twilight and Spike. 'I don't remember anyone except Big Mac being so tall. Oh well...I was a different species at one point, so I guess that must be it. I guess...'

"So what do you think?" Twilight said from behind me.

She startled me and I jumped up in the air, something lashing out and hitting the walls on either side of me. 'What the hell was th- no way...' I looked on either side of me, and sure enough there was a massive wing on each side...the color matching my coat with a white stripe coloring the feathers along the outside edge.

"You're...you're an alicorn!" said Twilight...taking the words out of my mouth.

I turned around to her in confusion and said, "I'm surprised, but didn't you see my wings before? I was just kinda laying on the ground for God...erm...Celestia knows how long before waking up."

She shook her head. "I don't remember seeing any wings. Hmm...if you can, fold your wings up against your body."

Being not really sure how to do it, I tried to feel for new muscles I wouldn't be used to, and luckily they were easy to feel in my back. I contracted them with some effort and the wings lay down at my sides...and then disappeared. "Woah...what the hell happened to my wings?" Twilight glared at me. "Let me guess...language?" She nodded. I sighed and lowered my head. "Sorry, Twilight Sparkle."

"Don't worry about it," she said with a smile, "I know you come from a different world and it's safe to assume the way of speaking there compared to here is different. Just try and keep things under control please. Ponies don't use strong words like that very often, if at all. Also, please just call me Twilight. When you say my full name, I start looking around for my dad thinking I'm in trouble." I chuckled a bit at this, surprised that she seemed to have a sense of humor. Guess the tv show didn't show everything. She pondered a moment, then seemed to have an epiphany. "I think I know why your wings disappear when you fold them up. It seems Princess Luna put an enchantment on them to disappear whenever they're folded up. My guess being it's easier to explain a big unicorn than an alicorn being in Ponyville. Ponies like the princesses aren’t exactly common."

Makes sense. All the same, I was still excited that Luna decided to make me the same type of pony she and her sister were. She must really trust me to do that. I felt a little flattered at this, and thought of how nice she was. 'She was pretty too...mmm...wait what? Where did that come from?'

*POMF*

Suddenly my wings were stretched out wide and quivering a bit...I had read enough fanfics to know what this was. 'Great...it's like middle school all over again.' I looked over and found Twilight blushing. Seems she knows what it is too...great. 'She probably thinks I'm a perv now. Smooth move, dude.'

Twilight just giggled a bit. "You need to flap them a bit to loosen the muscles up, then it'll stop."

I looked at her in confusion for a moment. "Umm Twilight, I'm not sure how to do that. New body, remember?"

She nodded then smiled softly. "Feel around for the strongest muscles in your back. Those will be your flight muscles. Rainbow Dash can teach you more about how to use them. For now, just find the muscles and try and move them. You probably can't fly yet without some practice, but you'll be able to move them enough to get your little...problem under control."

I sighed in annoyance but did as I was told. I found the muscles she was talking about after a few minutes of feeling, and worked them a bit. Luckily, it worked and my wings were relaxed again. Now I didn't feel like a complete jackass. I looked up at the violet unicorn and smiled. "Thanks Twi...you're a lifesaver."

She smiled and nodded, then went back to her books.

Spike entered the room a second later with the tea that I had completely forgotten about. I took it gratefully from Spike with a 'thank you', trying my best to befriend the little guy. He rolled his eyes, but nodded and brought Twilight her tea.

"Hey Spike, guess what?" I said with a smile. He turned towards me in time to see me stretch my wings to their full length.

His jaw dropped and he started stuttering. "Y-y-you're an a-a-a-alicorn?" I nodded. He just stood there, dumbstruck.

"Yeah, I have the lovely Princess Luna to thank for this." I responded with a grin.

The dragon begins shaking his head and replies, "Wait, wait, wait...so let me get this straight: Princess Luna comes to you - a complete stranger and an alien - and asks if you want to come to our world. Not only that, she makes you one of the most powerful beings to have ever lived? HAS SHE COMPLETELY LOST IT?"

I grin while looking behind Spike at the figure that just walked in the door. "Maybe you should ask her yourself, Spike." I then nodded towards the door behind him.

Spike winces as if he'd been physically struck on the back of the head. He slowly turns to face Luna as she looks at him with a face of mock fury. He trembles in fear before dashing past me and hiding underneath Twilight's reading table.

Twilight, finally broken out of her trance-like state while reading glares at the small dragon. "Ugh, Spike, what's the matter with yo-" but stops as she looks at the door. She smiles warmly at the welcome guest. "Oh hello, Luna. I'm so glad you're back.” She then pointed at me. “I know he missed you. He missed you a lot." 'Ooh...I am so going to get you back for this...'

Luna's face instantly changed to one of happiness as she gazed at me, seemingly pleased with my appearance. "Well, that turned out much better than I could have hoped. It appears you have adjusted decently to your new body."

Luna seemed deep in thought so I decided to get her attention quite possibly the dumbest way possible. I started singing "I'm too Sexy" while standing on my hind legs and running my hooves over myself in a silly manner. She stared at me for a second before blushing profusely and then...

*POMF*

Luna's wings were now completely stiff.

"Haha! I win!" I shouted.

Twilight fell out of her chair laughing and Spike, now no longer scared, joined her.

Luna was mortified, her face coloring an even darker shade of reddish blue. She stammered out, "S-s-silence! It is not that funny!"

I got up right in front of her face and whispered, "Oh yes...yes it is."

She blushed even harder...I didn't know it was possible, but she did. I then noticed she was on the verge of tears, the hazing apparently getting to her. 'Oh no...I didn't want this to happen. I'd forgotten how sensitive she can be.' I walked right up next to her and gently placed a foreleg around her in a gentle half-hug. She tensed a bit, but then sighed and leaned into it, her wings starting to relax.

I looked at Twilight and Spike, who were catching their breath from the laughing. "Alright you two, that's enough. We've had our fun." Then I turned to Luna. "Don't worry Luna, the same thing happened to me not thirty minutes ago. Twilight laughed at me as well, so it's all in good fun."

Luna relaxed a bit at this, and then started to giggle. "Aww...I missed your first wing-stiff? I feel like I missed out a party!"

I decided to push a little at this point and whispered in her ear, "Care to guess who it was that made it happen?"

She acted offended, switching to her old archaic style of speaking, though I could tell she was being playful. "Thou art filthy-minded, young one. Thou art to wash thine mouth with soap."

"Ugh...you make me feel like a little kid when you talk like that. I feel like I'm talking to my mom or something...minus all the 'thees' and 'thous'." I replied with a sigh.

The blue alicorn smiled at me, which instantly lifted my mood. 'God, I love that smile' "Come now, it was a jest. Surely you did not think I was serious?"

I shook my head. "Luna my family is one of the most joking and sarcastic bunch you'll ever meet. Trust me...I can take a joke just fine. You better be ready at any time to get a joke or prank played on you though.” I then frowned in realization and asked, “Speaking of my family, where are they? I thought they were coming with us."

Luna simply nodded. "Yes they have come with you. As a matter of fact, they are upstairs sleeping at the moment."

I glanced at the clock. "Wow...2:00pm? Must be nice to sleep in that long."

Luna giggled a bit before motioning up the stairwell. "Well...would you like to go see them?"

I contemplated exactly how I was going to do this. Though my voice was the same, a talking alicorn with their brother/son's voice was not going to go smooth. I had an idea suddenly, and prayed to Celestia it would work.

"Alright here's what we're gonna do. Twilight?” I started, and the unicorn looked at me, “ I need you to barricade the window in that room. Or if you have magic that can make it strong enough to where it couldn't be broken out of, do that. Second, we need to lock the door to the room magically so it can't be opened until we're ready. I have an idea on how to do this, but you have to trust me. Above all else, do not say anything until or unless I ask you to. They're already going to freak out a bit...I'd like to keep the freaking to a minimum.” Twilight cast a barrier spell on the window, effectively making in indestructible, and Luna locked the door. 'Hope this works...' I then took a deep breath and knocked loudly on the door to the room. 'No response...' I banged on the door louder. This time, I heard stirring from within the room, along with a few confused responses. My mom's voice sounded a little nervous, but luckily she seemed to be holding.

'*sigh* here goes...' "Mom?" I called out.

"Drew? Where are you? Where are we?"

"You're safe, I promise. I need you to listen to me now."

"Drew? Why is the door locked? Open this door and let us out."

"I will in a minute mom, I need you to trust me please."

"Umm...alright. What's going on?"

"I'm trying to get to that. I'm going to warn you ahead of time...the next few hours are going to be hard...and all of you are going to freak out and/or have a mental breakdown...just bare with me though, I'm here for you guys, I promise."

"I-I don't understand...what's going on? I don't recognize this room...are we even in our house?"

'*sigh*' "I don't really know how else to say this so I'm just gonna say it...we're not on Earth anymore. I'm not even sure we're in the same universe."

"...What? What are you talking about? If you're trying to keep us from freaking out this isn't helping."

I looked at Luna and nodded. "Mom, I'm coming in now. I'm going to warn you ahead of time...I look really different, but I'm still me. Please just trust me. No one is going to hurt you, I promise."

Luna undid the lock and the door clicked and swung open slightly. I nudged the door open and stepped in. My mother and sister stared at me wide-eyed in shock, and my brother stood in front of them in a fighting stance. I stopped about five feet away from them and sat down, lowering my head a bit.

My mother then shouted out the doorway, "Andrew? I thought you were coming in. Why did you send this...unicorn?" She stammered as she realized what I was...or at least half of what I was.

I simply looked up at my brother sadly. He stared at me for a moment before making contact with my eyes, then backed off, leaning against the wall behind him. My mother stared at him, as did my sister, with confused and worried expressions on their faces. I looked to my brother. He crossed his arms and nodded.

'Moment of truth' I sighed, then looked at the two human females with as warm of an expression I could manage. "Hi mom."

My mother's jaw would've dropped on the ground had it not been attached to her head. My sister shared a similar expression, though I could tell she was more curious than scared. Mother stood rigid for a good ten minutes before speaking. "My God...what's happened to you?"

I sighed. As bad as it sounds, thankfully she accepts this is me. This was actually going smoother than I thought it would. I raised my head to look at her and shrugged. "I've been changed to suit this world. Take a look out that window over there." I then pointed towards the closed window. All three humans slowly walked over to the window, not taking their eyes off me until they got there. When they looked, their eyes got even wider. All I could think was, 'Man, they’re gonna need some Visine after this.'

The adult woman then looked back to me, then back out the window, then back to me. "Where are we, Andrew?"

"Equestria." My brother stated. The two female humans both looked at him with eyes pleading for an answer. "It's a fictional world created as a TV show in our world. Well...our old world. Because of all the posts that 'bronies' make on the different sites I visit, I'm more familiar with it than I'd like to be. Still, there's no mistake about it...we're in Equestria. The show it's from is called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."

The other two stared at him like he was crazy.

I sighed, then turned my head back before calling for Luna and Twilight to enter. Luckily my family didn't seem as surprised to see the unicorn and alicorn enter...seeing as how meeting me had been the majority of the shock. That being the case, I introduced them. "Mom, Jennie, Mason, this is Twilight Sparkle: local librarian, and personal student to the co-monarch Princess Celestia."

Twilight stepped forward slowly and bowed her head slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"And this," I gestured to Luna, "is Princess Luna: co-monarch of Equestria, goddess and ruler of the night, moon, and stars."

Luna stepped forward slowly, before surprising me and bowing to my family. "How do you do. I am Princess Luna, but no formality needed. You may simply refer to me as Luna. I understand you all have a great many questions for us all, and we will answer them all in due time, I promise. For now, we need to find you all something to eat, and then you must rest. We will speak again in the morning."

Luna and Twilight left the room, just leaving me with my family. They all stared at me, taking everything in.

My sister was the first to speak. "So...what's it like? Being a unicorn with wings?"

I stretched the wings a bit as I chuckled. Thankfully her curiosity overrules her fear. "Well it's pretty cool actually. The correct term is alicorn though. I can use magic once I train in it, and I can fly once I learn how as well. Walking was a challenge...I fell flat on my face my first try."

My family laughed at this. 'Laughing...laughter is always a good sign.'

"I never really figured you for a brony, man." my brother said with a smirk.

"Meh...I can't really consider myself a brony. I'm not all obsessed over the thing. I do have to admit though, this world is a lot better than ours, so I'm not ashamed to say I'm glad that my 'guilty pleasure' actually went somewhere."

My mother was silent for awhile, but when she finally spoke, her voice was so low it was almost a whisper. "So why are we here?"

I knew this was coming...there would be no easy way to break this. I know I made the right choice bringing them all here. Here we can have a life much better than in our world. However, my self-guilt of making such a large decision on something that affects all four of us made me start to doubt myself. 'No, don't think like that...you made the right decision. You know this. Don't fall apart...you got this.' I sighed softly before explaining everything: my first meeting with Luna in detail, as well as my decision to turn her offer down on account of my family and devotion to them.

When I finished my little story, they all just stared at me.

Surprisingly, my mother spoke first after glancing out the window and around the room again. "So you were ready to give this all up...for us?"

I shook my head. "I can't give up what I never had, but I was ready to turn it down without a second thought. My exact words to Luna were, ‘My family comes first...” and that because of that I couldn't go. She then told me that she intended on bringing us all.” I then took a serious demeanor as I leveled my gaze with the three humans. “We can have such a better life here that would never be available to us on Earth. We deserve this...we've been through enough of the hard stuff. Time for a reward." My mother nodded her head, agreeing. 'Thank God for that.' "There is a catch though..." At these words, they all looked at me again. "I don't want any of you to go back to Earth. I want you here with me for a second chance and actual happiness." They all nodded. "However, in order to stay here, you will have to give up your human body. That's why I look like this now. I've already decided to stay. Now I want you to stay with me, but as I said, you'll no longer be a human. Luna and/or Princess Celestia will help you get a new form. I know it's a big decision, so don't make it right now. Take a day or two and think about it...I mean really think about it." They all nodded so I stood and walked towards the door. I stopped in the doorway and turned back to face them before exiting though. "I love you all, so much. You guys mean everything to me. I want us to be happy and together."


I arrived downstairs to see Twilight, Luna, and Spike all talking at the reading table. As soon as they saw me, they all fell silent.

Luna slowly walked up to me, gazing at me for a moment before throwing her forelegs around my neck and embracing me in a hug.

I was a little surprised at first, but then I stood up on my hind legs and returned the hug. "Thank you Luna...thank you for all of this. I will thank Celestia myself when I get the chance, but for now...thank you so much Luna." Without thinking, I kissed her softly on the cheek. She looked at me with a huge blush on her face, and then nuzzled into my neck. 'Phew...that could've been bad. Dammit Drew, you need to start thinking before doing shit.' After a minute or so more, Luna released the embrace and I walked over to Twilight and bowed before her. She looked at me quizzically. "Thank you so much Twilight for taking my family into your home. I know Luna asked you to, but still...thank you. You have my gratitude, and if you'll have me, my friendship." Twilight smiled before getting up from her table and also embracing me. I hugged her back and nuzzled her mane, to which she giggled. I broke away and mouthed one last 'Thank you' before turning away.

Damn...today was intense...