The Human Hero of Ponyville

by Alex Rite

Chapter 9

Chapter 9 The Princesses and Their Past

Gotta hide! Gotta hide! thought Alex in a panic as he runs through some bushes. A rustle behind him alerts him to the presence of his pursuer. Alex looks around as he runs and sees a tree out of the corner of his eye, and quickly changes course towards it. As he gets closer to the tree he hears the sound of something jumping out of the bushes to continue the chase. I'm almost there, he thought. Just as he was almost within jumping distance of the tree, though, he was pounced upon by his assailant.

"Got ya! I win!" exclaimed Smokey, waving his hands in the air in victory.

"Yeah yeah, Another game of tag won by the diamond dog," replied Alex, a little agitated at how he had lost yet again. "Now would you please get off of me?"

Oh, right. Sorry 'bout that boss," said Smokey as he helped Alex up.

"Aw man! You were so close," said Scootaloo as she and the rest of the crusaders walked out from behind the tree.

"I know," said Alex, "But in all honesty, he does have an edge in this game."

"Alex! There you are!" yelled Twilight as she ran up to him. "Where have you been? I need you and Smokey back at the library today! The princesses are coming to meet you today! Remember?"

"That's today?" replied Alex, "I thought you said it was tomorrow."

"Yes, but I said that yesterday! Come on, we need to get ready for their arrival quickly!"

"Well, I guess that's all for today girls," Alex said, turning to the crusaders. "We'll have to play again some other day."

"Don't worry, we get it," said Sweetie Belle. "If you need our help at all, we'll be hanging out back at the boutique."

"Eeeyup" Alex said, doing the impression of Big Mac that the girls enjoyed. "But you don't need to worry. After all, what could possibly go wrong?" It took a few seconds for Alex to realize that he had practically begged the universe to mess this up.

---

Alex was walking with Twilight from the library to town hall, where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would arrive to meet him and the girls. Alex was dressed in a nice black tux that Rarity had made for him. When she had told him that he probably shouldn't wear his hat, since it would clash with his tux. Alex said that he would wear it anyway, explaining that the hat had sentimental value to him and leaving it at that. Alex and Twilight got to town hall to find an eager crowd of ponies standing outside, waiting to see their beloved princesses. Twilight had informed him that the princesses wanted to meet him privately, so they were going to meet the others inside of town hall. As they entered Twilight told Alex that he should wait behind the stage until she was ready to introduce him, and he obliged. He went behind the stage and found a comfortable place to wait. He didn't have to wait long, though, for the cheering outside signaled that the princesses had arrived. When he heard the doors open and shut, Alex decided to peek out from behind a curtain to get a glimpse at the royal ponies. Alex saw Twilight talking to a very tall, white mare with a flowing pink, purple, green, and blue mane. The sun cutie mark that she had confirmed Alex's suspicions that this was Princess Celestia. Alex took a look at the pony to Celestia's left and decided that she must be Princess Luna. Luna had a dark blue coat and a Blue mane that looked like a starry sky. Her cutie mark was that of a crescent moon. It was then Alex noticed something strange. He felt an almost magical tingling sensation over his entire body, but passed it off as simple stage fright. After all, I am about to meet the princesses of Equestria, he thought.

"So Twilight, where is this human friend of yours?" asked Princess Celestia.

"That's my cue," Alex whispered to himself as he walked out onto the stage. The princesses and the girls gasped, and Alex was confused for a second. What Celestia said only confused him even more.

"Discord!" she screamed. "How did you escape from your statue?"

Alex knew from what Twilight had told him about her and her friends adventures that Discord was a draconaquus who had spread chaos across Equestria until he was defeated by the princesses, and later the mane six. Alex looked around in a panic for a second, until he noticed that the spirit of chaos wasn't anywhere in town hall.

"Well? Answer me Discord!" yelled Celestia again. She, Luna, and the rest of the girls began to surround him, and it was then that Alex realized that, for some reason, Celestia was talking to him. I don't know exactly whats going on right now, Alex thought worriedly, but whatever it is, I'd better get out of here! As soon as they were close enough to jump him, Alex ran past them and out the door. He was still very confused about what had happened in there, but before he could figure it out he heard a scream from the group of ponies in front of him. They all began to panic, running around like ants in a storm, and Alex used the commotion to slip away unseen, as he headed towards the only safe pace he could think of.

---

Alex ran as fast as he could towards the Carousel Boutique, where he hoped the crusaders would be able to help him figure out what was going on. As soon as he got inside he slammed the door shut behind him and leaned against it, breathing heavily from all the running he had done.

"Now I just have to figure out what happened with the princesses," Alex said to himself as he raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow.

Which, he was shocked to see, had become the talon of an eagle.

Alex almost screamed out loud, but he managed to cover his mouth with his other hand, which he saw was a lion paw. Wait a minute, he thought. A lion paw and an eagle talon? Oh no. Alex quickly ran over to one of the boutiques many mirrors, only to confirm what he had feared. He was a draconaquus. From the description Twilight had given him of Discord, he could see that he did look very similar to him, but there were a few differences. He was shorter than discord was, not as tall as Celestia, but about a foot taller than the girls. His face had a sort of younger look about it, had a single fang poking out of his mouth, and he didn't have a goat beard like Discord. His eyes, while mismatched, were a bright blue like they were when he was human. His horns were shorter than Discord's had been, and although his tux was gone, his blue cap remained snugly between them. He was most interested in the bird wing and bat wing he now had. As he gazed at himself, he heard three screams behind him. Alex turned around to see Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo quivering in fear at the sight of him.

"Girls! Don't freak out! It's me!" Alex assured the three. They stopped trembling and looked at the figure before them in astonishment.

"Alex!?" They exclaimed.

"Eeeyup," said Alex. When they heard his Big Mac impression, the girls smiled as they understood that it really was Alex in front of them. They soon began to frown again, though, and asked him how he had become a draconaquus.

"I don't know," he said. "One moment I was waiting to meet the princesses, and the next-" Alex cut off his sentence as he felt the familiar tingling sensation from when he was at town hall. The crusaders gasped, and Alex turned back to the mirror to see that he was once again a human, still in his tux.

"This... is weird," Alex said. Just then the boutique's door slammed open and Alex turned to find Twilight and the others, minus the princesses, walk in.

"There you are," exclaimed Twilight, "We were all worried about you for a second. We thought that Discord had you."

"I'm telling you guys, I don't think that was Discord," said Rainbowdash. "He looked kind of different, almost... handsome."

"Oh please," said Rarity. "In case you don't remember, darling, Discord is the only draconaquus in Equestria!"

"Yeah, well that wasn't Discord," said Alex, getting their attention. "I don't know how, but that draconaquus was... me."

"What?!" exclaimed the six mares.

"It's true," said Applebloom, "We saw him change back to human!"

The girls were stunned, still unsure of what Alex had told them. Alex noticed that Rainbowdash was blushing a little bit, probably because she had just called her best friend handsome. Alex was trying to figure out a way to prove it to them when the answer was provided for him. The tingling had returned again and he became a draconaquus before their eyes. Everyone gasped, and Rarity looked like she was about to faint, but just then the princesses barged through the door.

"Ah ha! there you are," exclaimed princess Luna. Both Celestia and Luna used their magic to capture Alex in a magic bubble.

"Wait, that's not Discord!" shouted Twilight, and she quickly explained to the princesses what she had seen. As soon as Twilight had finished, Celestia and Luna looked at each other and frowned.

"Well, he is still a draconaquus," said Celestia, "but if he's your friend... then I suppose he's not a threat." And with that, the princesses let Alex go.

As Alex got up and dusted himself off he said, "Thank you for not killing me,but I'm still confused about how I became a draconaquus. Any chance you know whats up?"

Celestia sighed and said, "I believe I do, although I hoped it wouldn't happen. I'm sure you all know the story of Discord?"
At everyone's nod she continued, "Well, he wasn't the only draconaquus here. Way back when, there used to be three draconaqi, to males and a female. One of them was Discord. When Discord started to create chaos and had to be locked up by the Elements of Harmony, I decided that it was too dangerous for the others to remain. I banished each to a different world, and hoped that hey would never come back."

As Celestia finished her story, Alex couldn't help being a bit agitated.

"That's very interesting and all," he said," but what does it have to do with me? Why do I transform from a human to a draconaquus?"

"I was about to get to that part," replied Celestia. "I believe the reason you keep changing is because you are not completely human. I believe that you are half draconaquus, and that one of the banished draconaqi was one of your parents. Your human form seems to keep your chaotic magic locked up inside and it gets released whenever you are around strong magic, such as the kind Luna and I posses."

Everyone gasped, shocked at the princesses explanation. The princess then began to smile as she got an idea.

"Twilight," she said, getting the attention of her student. "I want you to train Alex in the way of magic, teach him how to harness it in his human form. He seems like a good person, so perhaps he can learn to use his powers for good."

Twilight nodded at her mentor. She understood that this might be hard, but if Celestia believed it could be done, then she might as well try. Celestia then turned to Alex.

"I am trusting you to learn to use your powers for a good use. I will be paying close attention to your progress, so be sure to do your best." At Alex's excited nod, she began to address them all. "It has been a very... interesting visit. I hope to hear more good things from you all. Farewell, my subjects."

Everyone bowed as the princesses left tho boutique. A soon as they were out the door, they all crowded around Alex, excited about the assignment the princess had given him.

---

"Sister, are you sure that your decision was a wise one?" asked Luna as she and Celestia flew back to Canterlot.

"I'm sure Luna," replied Celestia. "Despite his draconaquus nature, I sense Cooper has a good heart. I believe this will all work out fine."

"But what about his relation to Discord? You didn't mention that the three draconaqi were all siblings, and how another one of them was more evil than Discord."

"You are also forgetting, dear sister, that one of them was very kind."

"No, I do remember," Luna said sadly. "I miss her very much."

"I miss her too, but it was the only way to calm everypony down. I couldn't tell which one he was born from, but whether or not he was spawned from the dark one, if he stays on the track he is heading, I don't believe we have anything to fear."

Comments

[Alex Rite]

2190998 Thank you. It's always nice to be appreciated. Especially from great fans like you guys.

[1toothkiller]

All shit! ever pony hit the deck.

[King Emerald]

Me Love it!