> A New King > by spectrobe18 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A Blind Welcome > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- An alarm starts to blare that causes me to wake up, but something’s wrong very wrong. I can’t see. I rub my eyes hoping to fix my eyesight, but had no luck. I sit up panicking now and my alarm blasting isn’t helping me calm down what so ever. I pull my phone out of my jeans pocket and turn it off by feeling for the power button. That’s better, now I can think clearly. I start thinking of what could be the problem. It could have been something that fell on me while I was sleeping. I do have many shelves that are above my bed with a bunch of useless junk on them and I’m deep sleeper so that may be the reason I didn’t wake up. I start to feel around. Nothing felt like my bed did. Did I roll onto the floor? No I couldn’t have this doesn’t feel like my carpet either. My hand caught something and it seemed to break off. I picked it up and started to rub the small object in my hand. It had a thin and smooth base with a larger, softer top that seemed to have many sections. I came to the conclusion that it was a flower and that I was in a field of them. I start to focus on listening, but all I can hear are birds chirping and the rustling of trees or bushes. I soon get tired of trying to listen for other people, so I get up. I extend my right hand in front of me and slowly walk forward. I was able to avoid collisions with any trees, but I was constantly tripping on rocks and roots. I walk for at least an hour before I try to listen for signs of life again. I hear again birds chirping and the rustling of trees, but this time there was something growling. It was deep and sounded like a lion. I slowly turn my head so I can hear it better. Don’t be a lion oh please don’t be a lion. It lets out a terrifying roar. It was defiantly coming from a lion. Just my luck. I turned and bolted in the opposite direction of where I though it was. I could hear it pursuing me and it was gaining quickly. I was constantly running into trees, but I just pushed myself off and continued running. I started to change directions after running into an object hoping to lose the lion and it was working, until I tripped over something. It must have been a small animal because it let out a small squeak. Before I can get up something was stabbed into my left leg and it feels as if it was injected with molten lead. It was on fire for a few seconds then it felt heavy, as I could no longer use it. The pain was unbearable and I was going to pass out, but right before I did I heard someone yell. “Leave him alone you big meanie!” I awaken and quickly try to sit up, but my leg is in so much pain I stop. I still can’t see where I am and I’m now laying on a something soft, a bed or maybe it is a couch. “Oh your up. How are you feeling?” I perk up. Someone was right beside me and it was coming from a girl. Her voice was a little quite, but it was also very calming. She seems nice enough to talk to. “I feel fine except my leg where that damned lion got me.” “Lion?” she sounds confused. “But you were hurt by a manticore.” “What? There’s no such thing and how do you know it was even a manticore that did this?” I point to my injured leg. “Well um I was there when it happened. You sort of tripped over me.” I do recall hearing a squeak and now that I’m thinking about it, it did sound like her. I’m starting to believe her now. She sounds to kind and timid to be making this up. “So what happened after I passed out?” “ You fell on top of me so I wasn’t able to stop him from hurting you. He injected your leg with venom, but don’t worry it will be better in a week.” I nod. “Continue.” “ Thankfully I was able to squirm out from under you quickly before he could do it again. I then told him to leave you alone, but he didn’t listen and tried to hurt you again. I had to give him the stare and he then ran off.” I think to myself that she must be pretty fierce when she’s in danger. She continues on. “I tried to carry you home, but I’m not very strong. Luckily we were in the forest and my friend Zecora lives nearby. I ran as fast as I could and told her what had happened. We both ran back to get you because that forest is dangerous sometimes.” “I can tell.” “When we got back to you Zecora noticed your clothes were covered in a fine blue powder that comes from a plant called poison joke. We um, had to um, remove your clothes and leave them in the forest.” She said this very quietly and it took a minute before I realized what she said. I quickly bring my hand to my chest, no shirt. I then brought it down to my leg, no pants. I slide my hand up to my side and I feel cloth. Thank goodness they left my boxers on. She starts talking again. “We found this thing in a pocket of your clothes, so we brought it with us when we carried you back.” Something was placed onto my hand. I could tell what it was immediately. It was my phone, but it to bad that I can’t use now. There was a knock on the door. “ Oh that must be Zecora. I’ll be back soon.” I hear her walk away, open the door and shut it behind her. I try to listen to their conversation, but the only thing I could make out was a name, Fluttershy. Man the people around here have weird names. I continue trying to make out what they were saying until something else caught my attention. There is something scurrying on the floor and it was coming towards me. When it was next to me I couldn’t hear it anymore, but then something landed on my chest. It was small and furry. Before I could determine what it was I heard the door open then shut. “Oh I see you’ve met Angel.” “Is he your pet or did he run off while Zecora wasn’t looking?” “Oh no he’s my pet bunny.” “So Angel here is a rabbit, for a second I thought he might have been a mouse.” “I forgot you got poison joke in your eyes and you cant see right now.” “Yep blind as a bat.” I say while waving a hand in front of my face. “Well you don’t have to worry about that anymore Zecora brought you a herbal remedy that cures the effects of poison joke.” “What?!” She squeaks. I force myself to sit up gritting my teeth when the pain from my leg shoots through me. I feel Angel jumps down then I hear him scamper off. “Please give it to me.” “O-ok just give me a minute.” I hear her walk off, but she quickly comes back. Something was placed in my lap it was a bottle. She also hands me something else, I think it’s an eyedropper. I hate the idea of putting anything in my eye even if it’s only water, but I don’t like being blind either. I get some of the liquid in the dropper and hold it over my right eye. I sighed before placing a drop in both of my eyes. I blink a few times. This stuff burns it like putting hot sauce in them, but it seems to be working. Instead of everything being pitch black it was light grey. I put some more drops in my eyes. Jeez they feel like they’re on fire. I can see a little more now. I see colors, but everything is so blurry it seems like a giant blob. I put the bottle and dropper on the floor. I’ll do the rest later went the burning subsides. “So did it work?” “Yes it’s working, but I’m going to take a little break from it.” I look over to where her voice came from. I see a moving blob right next to me. It must be her. There was pink and yellow. She must have dyed her hair pink and she’s wearing yellow clothes. “Thank you for helping me um. Hmm I never got your name.” “Oh I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Fluttershy.” “Fluttershy? Interesting name. Well Fluttershy my name is Dillon Orlando and again thank you for your help.” “Your welcome.” My stomach growls. Well that’s embarrassing. I smile towards Flutttershy. “Sorry about that I haven’t eaten since I was at my house and I have no idea how long ago that was.” “Don’t worry I’ll make you something to eat.” I nod thanks before I hear her walk off. I then sigh. I start to think about home. My parents are probably freaking out and I know I’ll be grounded when I get back. I’m going to have a lot of make up work when I get back to my high school. My friends will just wonder where I am and at most help look for me. I really don’t care about any of that though. The only thing I’m worried about is my girlfriend. She would be the person to worry the most and I hate it when she’s upset. I’m going to have to make it up to her when I get back. I was interrupted in my train of thought when something was placed in my lap. It was green and I assume it’s a salad. It’s not what I normally eat, but I’m not going to complain. I scarf it down then hand the plate back to Fluttershy. “Thank you it tasted great.” She giggles. “I’m not a great cook, but I’m glad you enjoyed it.” What needs to be cooked in a salad? I don’t say anything, but I do smile at the thought. She walks off to go put the plate away. While she does that I decide to completely fix my eyes now that they’re only slightly irritated. I pick up the bottle and the dropper. I get the dropper ready and hold it above my eye. I put multiple drops in both eyes. Damn, they feel like molten lava. I cover my eyes with my hands preventing the light from burning my eyes any further. While I’m sitting there I hear Fluttershy walk back into the room. I think it’s time to see what she really looks like. I take my hand off my face and look over to where she was, but I was surprised to see a tiny horse next to me. “This can’t be right. Hey Fluttershy where are you?’ “I’m right in front of you silly.” I look down to her. “A horse is talking to me I must be going crazy.” “ That’s not very nice and I’ll have you know that I’m a pony.” Screw the pain in my leg and eyes I’m getting out of here now. I jump over Fluttershy from the couch completely catching her by surprise. I land on my injured leg and go down on my knee, but I quickly recover and start to hobble away as fast as possible. I swing open the door and I duck my head slightly so I could walk outside. “ Dillon please come back you haven’t fully recovered yet.” “Nope.” A quick glace around shows that Fluttershy lives on the edge of a town. I spot a path and start to hobble down it. Fluttershy comes out and asks me to come back again. I ignore her and quicken my pace. I continue down the path with Fluttershy tailing me and begging me to come back to rest. I see the town and Fluttershy does as well. “Dillon you need to stop. I haven’t told anyone, but Zecora. There is going to be a lot of chaos if you enter Ponyville.” I ignored her and move on. There was a loud poof behind me and I turn around to see that Fluttershy had wings. I am no longer hobbling. I’m now sprinting towards Ponyville. I wasn’t able to run for long before I was tackled, but it came from the wrong direction. I was thrown back and I hit my head on a rock that was beside the path. I was going to black out, but before I did I saw a pony with a cyan colored coat and rainbow mane standing on my chest. > New Friends > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I awaken back on Fluttershys couch with the rainbow mane pony watching over me. I then see Fluttershy enter the room holding bandages. I try to sit up, but I was bound with rope. “Damn” “Thank you for watching over him Rainbow Dash you can leave now.” Rainbow Dash shakes her head and frowns. “ I’m not leaving you with this monster.” “Don’t worry he’s harmless.” I glare at her “I’m a human, but a monster works as well.” She glares back at me. Fluttershy then comes over and bandages my head. I hear a poof sound and I look over to see Rainbow Dash had her wing extended and was ready to pounce. I smile. “Come on Rainbow it’s not like I can do anything. I’m kind of tied up and I wouldn’t dare hurt someone who is trying to help me.” Rainbow Dash keeps her eyes on me, but she retracts her wings. I look towards Fluttershy. I should apologize to her. Human or not she did help me and then I repaid her by running off. I sigh. It seemed that Fluttershy knew what I was going to say as soon as I opened my mouth. “It’s alright I forgive you. I understand you’re not from around here and it must have been a shock to see a creature your not familiar with.” “Yea I panicked, but I wont do it again. So can you untie me now?” Rainbow Dash speaks up. “Don’t do it Fluttershy. He may be planning something.” Fluttershy shakes her head. “I trust him.” She comes over and starts to untie my hands, but she is having some difficulties. Rainbow Dash sighs then comes over to help. It takes them a while, but they finally get the ropes off. I sit up on the couch. Rainbow then makes a comment. “ AJ can really tie knots cant she?” Fluttershy nods her head then directs her attention towards me. “Dillon, I’m sure you have some questions. I will try to answer any of them if you’re willing to ask.” “Ok then, where am I?” “You are in the town of Ponyville in the land of Equstria.” “Alright I guess I’m not on Earth anymore.” “Is that where you’re from? “Yes it is. Next question, what other races live here?” “There are earth ponies, pegasus, and unicorns. There are also alicorns, but the only ones I know are the princesses.” “ Princesses?” “Yes, theirs Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. They are very nice.” “Ok, so has word gotten out about me yet?” “Our friend Apple Jack is spreading the news so you won’t be attacked again.” “Good. Last question when will my leg fully heal?” “ The only thing wrong with it was that it was injected with some venom, but you probably worked most of it out of your system when you were going to the town earlier. So um I would give it until tomorrow morning.” “Nice, alright Fluttershy that’s all I have to ask.” She smiles and nods then she leaves the room. I have no idea why though. Rainbow Dash approaches and it seems that she was pouting. “Your name is Dillon, right?” “Yes, unless you want to call me monster.” “Yea about that I’m sorry. I should have believed Fluttershy as soon as she said you were harmless.” Fluttershy walks back in the room holding a plate with a sandwich on it. Rainbow Dash moves back and Fluttershy comes to place it down on my lap. She looks to Rainbow Dash. “Have you two made up?” Rainbow Dash lets out a huff and I just grin. Fluttershy smiles, she can read Rainbow Dash like a book. Rainbow Dash walks to the door. “Well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” She opens the door somehow and leaves. I got a glance outside and it was dark. I spent an entire day in this weird world. I wonder if I can get home somehow or am I stuck here for the rest of my life. I was staring off for to long. Fluttershy was getting worried. “What’s wrong Dillon?” I shake my head quickly. “Sorry, I was thinking about my world and how I might possibly get back.” “You should ask Twilight tomorrow.” “Twilight?” “She is a friend of mine. She’s a unicorn and she has incredible magic.” “Real magic?” “Yes.” I nod then I turn my attention to my sandwich. I pick it up and take a bite out of it. It tasted odd. “Hey Fluttershy what kind of sandwich is this?” “ Oh it’s a dandelion sandwich. Do you not like it?” “It’s not that it’s bad. It’s that humans don’t normally eat these.” “ What do humans eat?” “We are omnivores so we eat both meat and plants, but it’s edible so I’ll still eat it.” I then finish the sandwich and hand the plate back to Fluttershy. “Thanks.” She goes to put the plate away. I’m starting to feel tired and I know that it’s late. I lie down on the couch and make myself comfortable. I close my eyes and drift off almost immediately. I awaken and it’s still dark out. I sit up and take off a blanket that Fluttershy must have placed on me. I know it’s six because I always get up before my alarm on a school day. I don’t mind missing school though. There were dumb classes, stupid teachers, and immature students. It was still easy to get straight A’s even with all the distractions. I sigh. Might as well get up. I turn and put my feet on the ground. I stand up and test my injured leg by taking a few steps forward. It felt sore and it caused me to limp slightly, but that should ware off eventually. The moon illuminated the room enough that I could see where I was going. I start to look around. There are two floors to Fluttershys house. The floor I was on has the living room and had a kitchen next to it. There are many birdhouses hanging up and I see Angel sleeping in his bed. She sure has a soft spot for animals. I then go up stairs. There is a hall with three doors. On the left was a bathroom, on the right was the guest bedroom I think, and the room at the end of the hall must be Fluttershys room. I go into the bathroom. I look into the mirror and look myself over. I’m pale in the moonlight and I’m just as thin as before I came here. I take the bandages off to see my brown hair that hangs slightly over my green eyes. I have somewhat of a large nose that everyone in my family gets and my lips are normal size. I see that I’m growing some scruff on my chin that I’m going to have to get rid of soon. I leave and go back down stairs. Light suddenly filled the room. I look out the window to see that the sun has risen. “Well that was quick.” I hear Fluttershy walking down the stairs. I turn to greet her. “Morning.” “Oh good morning Dillon. Did you sleep well?” “Sure did.” “So are you hungry?” My stomach growls in response. She smiles. “Follow me.” She walks out the front door. I follow her feeling ridiculous because I only have boxers on. We walk behind her house and I start to hear clucking. Then I see what was making the noise, chickens. They were wandering around a coop inside a fenced area. Oh great I hate chickens with a passion. My dad decided to get a few as pets, but I was the one taking care of the stupid birds. If I forgot about them or if I did something wrong he would ground me for weeks. Fluttershy notices me staring at the birds. “Don’t worry they won’t hurt you.” “I know they won’t. Lets just hope I don’t hurt them.” She opens a gate and we both go in. We go to the coop. Fluttershy goes in, but I was to tall so I just stood outside the entrance. I assume she was getting some eggs. While I was waiting one of the birds decided to come towards me. I want to kick the stupid thing, but it’s Fluttershys. She comes back out. “Can you hold these?” “Yea sure.” I hold my hands out and she extends her wings dropped eight eggs into them. We then head back to the house. We go inside then enter the kitchen. I look around. It’s interesting that they have appliances. I didn’t think they would have this technology available. I see Fluttershy get out a pot and started filling it with water. She then places it on the stove. “How many would you like Dillon?” “Um I’ll have four.” “Aright then Angel and me will share the rest.” I nod then go back into the living room. I sit on the couch and I see my phone on the cushion. I forgot all about it. I pick it up and turn it on. The only thing I want to do is look through my photos. I start browsing them looking for a specific one. Anime, anime, anime, and more anime. Jeez where is it? After a few more pictures I finally found it. It was a picture of my girlfriend and me on homecoming night. We are both smiling. She’s one of the few people who can make me happy. I start to study the picture. Memorizing every little detail. My phone’s battery won’t last forever in this world, so I won’t be able to look at it whenever I want. Also I don’t know how long I’ll be here and I don’t want to forget her. People say time heals all wounds, but in this situation it could cause the wound. I lost track of time until I felt something land on my shoulder. I look over to see Angel staring at my phone. I look over my other shoulder to see Fluttershy doing the same. I turn off my phone. She blinks a few times then shakes her head. It seems that she was looking at it just as intently as me. She picks up a bowl with the eggs in them, so I reach out and grab my four. She then puts it back down while I start peeling the first egg. “She’s beautiful.” I smile. “She is.” “You like her don’t you?” “Correction, love.” “Does she know?” “Yes she does we’ve been dating the last four years.” “Really? How far along in your relationship are you?” She is being quite nosey and this is getting very embarrassing. Time to turn this around. “So Fluttershy is there anyone you like?’ This caught her by surprise. She looks away and I can see her blush through her coat. “Um n-no.” “ I can tell your lying. Come on I wont tell anyone. Heck I don’t even know anybody here, but you and Dash.” Her blush intensifies then she hides behind her long pink mane. “H-his name is I-Iron Hoof.” I’m starting on my second egg. “What’s he like?” “He’s a blacksmith who works in Canterlot. He’s very nice, but he usually keeps to himself. “ She comes out from behind her mane. Her eyes are shining. “He’s oh so very handsome and he’s incredibly strong.” “I assume you haven’t told him your feelings yet.” She looks down and frowns. “No.” “Well you helped me when I needed it, so if we ever go to Canterlot I’ll help you confess.” “R-really?” “ Yep.” She starts to grin then she kind of skips off with her breakfast. I was able to turn that around well enough. I then start my third egg and finish it without any interruptions. I was about to start my last egg when Angel jumps up on my shoulder. “Hey bud.” He was staring at my egg. “What your still hungry?” I hold it up slightly. Angel takes this moment to jump off my shoulder and take it. He lands with the egg balanced perfectly on his back. “Hey!” I lean forward to try to snatch it back, but he got away by darting under the couch. I sigh. That little bastard. I was about to sit up, but something caught my eye. My injured leg seemed to have a dark blue web on it. I cross my leg to get a better look at it. I had a circular scab from were the manticore got me and from it the veins are dark blue, but the farther away the lighter they got. It was only on the back of my leg though. How did I not notice this earlier? Fluttershy comes back into the room. “Excuse me Fluttershy. I know this is a side effect of the manticore venom, but how long will it last?” “It won’t go away.” “What?” “The venom coated itself on the inside of your leg.” “Is there any other way to get rid of if?” “Not that I know of.” I sigh. Well I’ll just have to grow use to it. Fluttershy comes over to me. “Can you walk to town with me?” That came out of nowhere. “Sure, as long as no one tries to attack me.” “Don’t worry it wont happen again.” I stand up, go to the door and open it. Fluttershy walks out and I follow. “So what do you need to go to town for?” “I want to show you around and I want to introduce you to some more of my friends.” “Like the one who bound me with rope. What was her name Aj?” “Yes, you’ll get to meet her.” “Twilight?” “Yes, her too.” I nod. We walked to the edge of town and I can see ponies of all colors roaming around. None have noticed me yet. Fluttershy looks to me. “You ready?” “Yea.” We then walk into the town and almost immediately all eyes are on me.Fluttershy and me are walking through town. She going on about something, but I’m not paying attention. I’m to busy staring back at the other ponies. Most of them didn’t want to keep eye contact and went back to what they were previously doing. Well at least no one has tried to attack me. “Hey Dillon.” I look to her. “You might want to move out of the way.” “What? Why?” A net is tossed over me then something knocks me over. I hit the ground hard. “We did it.” It was a girl. “We caught the monster.” Another voice. “Do ya think we got are cutie marks? Kids? They sound like little kids. I sit up and see three small ponies. They look at their back leg and frown. They start talking to each other and I was able to pick out their names. The one on the left was called Sweetie Belle. She is a unicorn with a white coat. Her mane and tail have light pink and purple in it. The one in the middle is called Scootaloo. She is a Pegasus with an orange coat and dark pink hair. The last kid is called Apple Bloom. She has a yellow coat with red hair and she was wearing a large pink bow. It seems that they forgot what they just did and started discussing how they might get these so called cutie marks. I didn’t like that. I stand up and take the net off. The girls still aren’t paying attention. I toss the net over them and they let out a squeal when I picked it up with them still inside. They’re surprisingly light. “So are you girls going to apologize for knocking me over?” I look them over. Sweetie looks like she’s about to cry, Apple Bloom looks terrified, and Scootaloo is glaring at me. A crowd is gathering. Great now I really do look like a monster. “Dillon please put them down.” I listen to Fluttershy and I set them down. She approaches them. “I know that your trying to get you cutie marks, but that wasn’t very nice. You owe him an apology.” They frown. “We’re sorry.” They said it in unison. The small crowd that gathered dispersed. “Well that was a great first impression.” I look to the girls to see that they were upset. That’s not good. Lets see if I can fix that. “Hey girls can you help me with something?” They look up. “As you can tell I’m not from around here and there are many things I don’t know. You were talking about something called cutie marks. Can you tell me what they are?” Apple Bloom is the first to say anything. “All us ponies gets one when you’re really good at something.” I noticed she has a country accent. Scootaloo then speaks up. “Yea and we, the cutie mark crusaders, are trying to find our special talent.” I crouch down. “So where does the cutie mark appear?” Sweetie replies. “On our flank.” “You mean right here?” I poke Sweetie’s side and she giggles. “That tickles.” I poke her again then I stand up. “Thanks for lesson. Hey you know what you should try to get your cutie marks for teaching others.” Their eyes grow wide. They turn and run off. Apple Bloom yells back. “Thank you for the idea Dillon.” I go over to Fluttershy and we start to walk around the town again. Now that I know what cutie marks are I glance at Fluttershy’s. It’s three pink butterflies. I’m guessing she got it because she’s good with animals. She soon comes to a stop in front of a building that looks like a giant ginger bread house coated in icing. How does someone even accomplish this? “This is Sugercube corner and I want you to meet one of my friends who works here. She likes to greet anyone new to the town. ” “Interesting. So what is she like?” I walk up the steps and open the door. I was then greeted by a cannon pointed towards me. There is sizzling sound and I see the burning fuse. “Oh crap!” I turn and dive onto the ground. I cover my head with my arms. The cannon goes off and something is falling onto me. I pick up one of the pieces and hold it in front of my face. “Confetti?” Someone starts laughing. “Why did you do that silly?” I stand back up and I see a pink pony with crazy pink hair. I dust myself off before answering. “Where I come from that thing could have blown my head off.” She starts laughing again. I look at Fluttershy and point to the pink pony. “Your friend?” She nods. The pink pony walks up to me. “Hi I’m Pinkie Pie what’s your name?” “I’m Dillon and it’s nice to meet you.” ”Likewise. So would you like to stay for the party?” Fluttershy speaks up. “That would be nice.” She walks into the building with Pinkie following. Wait isn’t the cannon in the way. I look in the doorway and it wasn’t there. I go inside to see snacks and games laid out. “Hey Pinkie what’s the occasion for this party?” “Oh it’s for you.” “Why?” Fluttershy speaks. “I did say she likes to greet anyone new here.” Well this is going overboard, but it’s nice. “Was anyone else invited or will it just be us?” “Oh no I invited all my friends and they should start arriving soon.” As if on que someone knocks on the door. Pinkie goes over and opens it. It’s Rainbow Dash. She comes in and happily greets Pinkie and Fluttershy then she looks to me. Her smile vanished. “Nice to see you again Rainbow.” “Yea…you to.” Obviously she’s not, but it’s not going to bother me much. She then goes over and starts talking to Fluttershy. It’s something about the Wonderbolts newest member. I go over to one of the tables that had food set out. I start to help myself to some brownies while I continue to listen to their conversation. Apparently this pony made himself some wings and practiced with them daily. Then these Wonderbolts let him join because he excelled at flying. There was a knock at the door and Pinkie answers it. A pony with an orange coat and a yellow mane walks in. I see her wearing a cowboy hat so I’m assuming she’s a country girl. Pinkie yells across the room. “Dillon come and meet Apple Jack.” Apple Jack, Apple Jack, A.j. I walk over to her. “You’re the one who tied me up.” She smiles slightly. “Sorry bout that it was a safety precaution. We were not sure how you would of reacted when you would wake back up.” I was right about her being a county girl. “It’s fine I did freak out once and you were just making sure everyone remained safe from the unknown creature.” She starts to snicker. Did I say something amusing? Dash hears her and looks over before she bursts out laughing. “What’s so funny?” Dash is rolling on the ground. “Your hair!” “My hair?” I go to one of the windows and I see my reflection. Someone spiked my hair and put tiny bows on each spike. I look ridiculous. Who did this? I know it couldn’t have been Dash or Fluttershy they were to busy talking and Apple Jack just got here. “Pinkie.” I turn around and she’s standing in the middle of the room laughing. I go over to her an idea forming on how to get her back. “Nice prank Pinkie.” “Thanks.” “Hey Pinkie I was wondering do you like bows?” “Not really.” I smile. “Good.” I drop down on her and pin her to the ground. I then start taking the bows out of my hair then placing them into hers. She’s laughing and squirming trying to get away. Rainbow Dash comes over and starts to help. We soon finish and everyone in the room is laughing. I hear the door open then someone starts yelling. “A diamond dog! Why is there a diamond dog in here?!” I look over to see the new guest. It’s a white unicorn with purple hair. I then see Pinkie skipping over to her. “Don’t worry Rarity he’s a human and he’s super nice.” Wait how did she get away from me. I look to Dash and she is covered with the bows. “How did she do that?” “She has some pretty weird abilities yet no one knows how she does them.” “Interesting.” Dash starts to pick out the bows and I go over to help her. “Thanks.” “Welcome.” We soon finish pulling them all out and it seems the other pony has calmed down. She comes over to me. “I’m truly sorry about that. I mistook you as something else.” “Don’t worry its fine miss um…” “Rarity. I’m Rarity and you are? “Dillon.” “Well it’s nice to meet you Dillon.” “You to.” I was about to turn around, but Rarity started talking again. “Excuse me Dillon can you please get me a glass of punch. All that yelling I did has made me parched.” “Sure.” I go to the punch bowl and start filling a cup. I hear snickering behind me. What did Pinkie do now? I go back and give Rarity her drink. I look around to see everyone trying to contain their laughter, except for Rarity who just sighs. “They’re laughing at me aren’t they?” “They are. It seems that Pinkie drew pictures all over your back.” “Darn it this wouldn’t happen if I had shirt. No actually it would be better if I had a complete set of clothes.” Rarity perks up. “I could help you with that.” “Really?” “Yes, I happen to be one of the best clothes designers in Equestria and I need to make it up to you for being rude earlier. If you would like I could start making your clothes after the party, but you would have to come with me so I can get your measurements.” “That would be great.” There is a knock at the door. Pinkie goes and answers it. A unicorn walks in and she greets everyone. Then she spots me. This unicorn has a purple coat with dark purple hair. She also seems to have a streak of another purple and some dark pink. Her eyes grow wide. I hear Apple Jack mutter an uh oh. She rushes to me and I’m being bombarded with questions. “What are you? What is your name? Where do you come from? How old are you? Are there anymore of you kind?“ Apple Jack comes over “Calm down Twilight. That’s to many questions to ask at once.” I smile. “Not really I caught it all. Twilight I will start from the beginning. I’m human. My name is Dillon Orlando. I come from a place called Earth. I’m 16. Yes, there are more humans, but just not here.” It hurt to say the last one. “Why are you the only one here?” “I have no clue.” “Do you even know how you got here?” “No, but I would expect it to be some kind of magic. Speaking of magic Fluttershy told me you great with it.” “Yes, I am.” “Is there any kind that could possible let me go home?” She frowns. “I’m sorry Dillon I don’t think spells like that exist, but I’ll check my books when I get home.” “If I have time later I’ll come help you look.” “That would be great.” I seems she wanted to ask more, but Pinkie dragged her off to play games with the others. I stand to the side for a while watching them play truth or dare. It was amusing; Pinkie was fearless while Rarity refused to do almost anything. Everyone else at least tried. The game soon became too much for Rarity and she dared Pinkie to end the game, which she does. The party was ending. Apple Jack, Dash, and Twilight have already left. The rest are saying their goodbyes. Rarity has told Fluttershy what we were going to do so she wouldn’t worry if I came back late. Rarity and I then leave and we start walking to her house. There was an awkward silence for a bit before Rarity found something she wanted to talk about. “Dillon what kind of clothes would you like?” “I would like a weeks worth of shirts, pants, underclothes, and socks the color doesn’t matter. Also a jacket and a coat.” “That’s quite a bit to make.” “Well I can’t wear the same thing everyday.” “That’s true.” “What kind of clothes do the humans have?” “They vary in color, size, and design. Most people buy clothes that fit their personality or what is popular at the time.” “It’s not very different from here.” The awkward silence comes back. We continue soon arrive at Rarity’s house. We go inside and I see that she has a high standard of living. Everything in here was so nice, neat, and elegant. “Dillon before I get your measurements lets get that ridiculous drawing off your back.” Her horn glows and a cushion glides over to me. They weren’t kidding about having magic. I sit on the cushion then Sweetie Bell walks into the room. “Hey what are you doing here?” “I wanted to see if my sister needed any help.” Rarity peers around me. “Can you get a wet washrag and clean this off of Dillon while I look for my measuring tape.” They both leave then Sweetie comes back with the rag. She puts it on my back and jeez it’s cold. I hear Sweetie giggle it must be the drawing. “Sweetie, I was wondering what did Pinkie draw?” “I think it was supposed to be you, but it didn’t come out very well.” “Nice.” She soon finishes. “All done.” “Thanks.” I stand up and glance around. Rarity must be looking for her measuring tape still. “Should we help your sister?” “Yea she probably put it somewhere obvious, but she can’t find it.” We head upstairs and we go into Rarity’s room. Rarity is digging through some drawers. Sweetie runs across the room and jumps onto a desk then she motions me to come over. I go to the desk and I see the measuring tape is next to Sweetie. She was right about it being obvious. “Rarity, look at what we found.” She stops digging around and looks at us. “When did you come in here?” “A few seconds ago.” I hold up the measuring tape. “How did you miss this?” “Sometimes I overlook things.” Her horn glows and she takes the tape from my hand. She faces Sweetie. “Sweetie can you go play with your friends while I work?” “Sure.” She jumps off the desk and runs out of the room. Rarity sighs. “Alright Dillon please come over here.” I do as directed and for the next hour she measures almost every inch of my body. A little after we finished Apple Bloom shows up. Apparently Apple Jack wanted to see me. I leave with Apple Bloom and I follow her to a farm. Apple Jack meets us at the entrance. “Thanks sis you can go play now.” Apple Bloom runs off. “So A.j. what do you need?” “Follow me and I’ll show ya.” I follow her through some apple trees before she stops. She bucks one of the trees and apples fall out into baskets that were already set out. “I would like you to work with me by taking baskets back to the barn. Could you do that sugar cube? “Will it be a daily job?” “It certainly will be and I’ll pay ya too.” “Alright sure I might as well since I’ll be here awhile.” “Great, if you don’t mind do ya think you could start now?” “Why not.” I go over and pick up the baskets. “I just need to take these to barn right?” “Yep and bring back any empty baskets.” “Ok.” I go to the barn, drop off the apples then return to Apple Jack with the baskets. The apples aren’t that heavy, but after the first few hours my arms are starting to get tired. It’s now later in the day I’m guessing it’s either three or four before Apple Jack tells me I’m done for the day. She also gives me a bag of bits, which is apparently their currency. Last thing on my list today was to help Twilight look for a spell to get me home. “Excuse me A.j. can you direct me towards Twilights house.” “She lives in a tree in town. I don’t think you’ll miss it.” “Ok thanks.” I wave goodbye then head into town. It was really easy finding the giant tree in the middle of town. I knock on the door and I hear someone coming to get it. The door swings open and I’m now facing a purple and green lizard. Its eyes grow wide then it slams the door in my face. “Well that was rude.” I hear him yelling for Twilight. It seems he wasn’t informed about my arrival. I hear someone walk to the door then Twilight opens the door. “I’m sorry about that. Spike thought you were going to be a pony when I told him about you coming over.” “It’s fine.” I enter the house and I look around to see books everywhere. This is more of a library than a home. There is a stack of books on a table. I go over and pick up one of the books. “Twilight are these the books we’re going to look through?” “Yes, those are all my books that contain spells that could possibly help you.” I start flipping through the pages and I can’t read any of it. “Darn.” “What’s wrong?” “I assumed the written language would be the same as mine, but I was wrong.” “You can’t read it can you?” “Nope.” “Were going to have to fix that before you can really help.” So instead of looking for a way to get home Twilight and me compared the English alphabet to the Equestrians. We eventually translated the words and I made myself a cheat sheet to use, but jeez Twilight already had it memorized. It was late now, so I say goodbye to Twilight and I head back to Fluttershys. When I got there Fluttershy already had a meal set out. It was leftover cake from the party, but I can’t eat cake without getting sick. It has something to do with the icing, so I’m going to have to make an excuse of why I’m not eating. “Hey Fluttershy.” “Oh welcome back Dillon. Are you hungry?” “No not really I’m more tired than I am hungry, so I’m going to go ahead and go to bed.” “Are you sure?” “Yea the work A.j. put me through wore me out.” “Alright then goodnight.” “Night.” I walk into the living room then lay on the couch. It was my second day here and I’ve already met others that I can consider my friends. I even have a job now. I start to smile. I really like it here maybe I should save up some money so I can buy my own house here. I look outside into the night sky and see all the stars. My smile fades. No, I have to go home or I need to bring her here. In my opinion it would probably be best to bring her here. She could get away from our world and all its problems. We could live here together happily. I roll over to my side. “Goodnight Starr.” With that I fall asleep. > Intruders > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I awaken due to someone banging on the door. Fluttershy comes into the room and opens it. Rarity and Twilight come in and they both have saddlebags on like they were going to go somewhere. They start talking to each other, but I’m not awake enough to make it out. I get up and stretch then Rarity left the conversation and came over to me. “Good morning Dillon.” “Morning.” She smiles to herself. “I think you’ll be happy to know that I finished a pair of your clothes yesterday.” Her saddlebag opens and she floats a neatly folded stack of clothes to me. “Great thanks.” “Can you try them on now?” “Of course I will. I’ll be back in a minute.” I go upstairs into the bathroom to change. The clothes she made are amazing. Comfortable, yet thick socks to walk in. The pants are black with a fire design from my ankles to my knees and it has large pockets on each side. The shirt is black and is short sleeved. On the back it has wings coated in fire. Everything fit perfectly too. When I’m done admiring my new look I head back downstairs, so Rarity can do the same. “How do you like them?” “I love them and I was wondering where did you get the idea from?” “Celestia’s pet phoenix.” “That would explain the fire and wings.” I look to Fluttershy to see she also has a saddlebag now too. She then comes over to me. “Are you ready to go?” “Sure… Where are we going?” Rarity speaks. “Why to Canterlot to see the princess.” “Why?” Twilight speak this time. “Yesterday I wrote her a letter about you and she sent one back telling us to introduce you as soon as possible.” “So we’re going today?” “Yes, we actually have to start heading to the train station now so we don’t miss our ride.” “Ok fine just give me a sec.” I go over to a table were I placed my phone, my translator, and bits. I pocket my phone and translator while I toss the bits to Rarity who catches them with her magic. “Will that be enough for the clothes?” “You don’t need to pay. You can have them free of charge since your one of my friends.” “Well as your friend I insist you take it and get something nice for yourself.” We leave Fluttershy’s house and most of the walk to the train station I was trying to convince Rarity to take the bits. Nothing I said worked, so I end up sneaking it into her bag while she wasn’t paying attention. When we got there we went directly onto the train. Apparently Celestia sent us our tickets with Twilights letter. We head to the last cart and we met up with Dash, Pinkie, and A.j. They exchange their greetings and we then take our seats. The train starts and we are now on our way to Canterlot. After the first thirty minutes I was already bored out of my mind and apparently this trip was going to take until this evening. I look to see what the others were doing. Rarity brought work with her and the others are having a conversation. “Rarity do you need help?” She looks up. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you can. If you know how to sew maybe you could.” “Actually I can sew, I just can’t make clothes unless I’m directed by someone.” “Ok you can help then I’ll just show you what you need to do.” She tells me what I needed to do and pointed the corresponding areas. I sew the clothes and when I finished I give it to Rarity. She looks it over. “This was very well done. Where did you learn sew like this?” “My mother taught me.” “She did a great job in teaching you.” I nod. I only killed an hour helping Rarity and I sit another thirty minutes before boredom sets in again. I look to the group to see what they are doing. Rarity has joined the conversation and Twilight is now reading a book. I wonder if she has anymore with her. “Twilight do you have anything I could read.” She doesn’t look up, but she floats a book over to me. I take out my translator and I read the title. “The History of Equstria. Um do you have any fiction books?” She shakes her head. I hand her back the book. “Sorry, anything about history puts me to sleep.” Dash comes over to me. “I got something you might like.” She pulls a book out of her saddlebag and gives it to me. I read the title. “The Adventures of Daring Doo. Now this will keep me busy, thanks.” “Your welcome just give it back when you’re finished.” “Sure.” I start reading and after the first chapter I could definitely say this is their version of Indiana Jones. It’s a really good book and halfway through I ditched the translator because I finally had the language down. It took me a long time, but I do finish the book. I look out the window and watch the scenery go by. I do this not even a minute and two things are wrong. First I feel an increase in the train’s speed and we passed a train station without stopping. The door opens, again something you shouldn’t do on a moving train. “Hand over all your valuables and no one gets hurt.” Really a robbery? I face palm with the book still in my hand and it makes a noticeable thud. I look at the thief. He is wearing all black clothes and a mask. He also has a saddlebag and there is a knife strapped to his leg. He stares back at me. “What the buck are you?” Did he just curse at me? “Does it matter?” “No, it acually doesn’t.” He’s keeping is eyes on me while he is collecting bits from the ponies in front of us. I look over to see how the others are taking this. Rarity is trying to keep calm, but she’s fidgeting. Twilight looks worried. Pinkie is trying to calm down Fluttershy. Dash and A.J. are whispering to each other, but there was something else that caught my attention. I see a tail under Twilights seat and I lean forward to get a better look. It was Sweetie Belle and it looked like she was on the verge of tears. The thief notices this. “Stop! What are you doing?” I ignore him. “Hey Sweetie come here.” She glances over to the thief. “Don’t worry about him I promise to keep you safe.” She bolts out and jumps onto my lap. I move her beside me and I pat her back. “Just stay here.” I stand up and step into the aisle. He doesn’t like this one bit. “Sit down now!” I step forward and he takes a few steps back. “Don’t take another step!” I take another step forward. “I warned you!” He pulls the knife and charges. I kneel down and hold up Dash’s book. The knife goes all the way through the book, but it doesn’t hit me. I twist the book forcing him to lose his grip on his weapon. I quickly stand up then lightly kick the side of his head. He was stunned, but not down. I pull the knife out then toss the book at him. He recovered quickly because he dodged it with no issue. I hold the knife up. “It seems that the tables have turned.” He’s backing up and it seems that he was about to run, but Dash tackles him to the floor. I go to Rarity’s saddlebag and I pull out some of the spare cloth. I go back over and tie his legs. Apple Jack comes over. “That was quite something.” The thief smiles. “It’s not over yet. There are more of us on the train.” “We’ll take care of it. Dash, A.J. are willing to help me?” They nod. “Good, now let’s start.” The train doors have windows, so we’re able to peer into the carts before entering. We move up two carts before we spot the next thief. He looked the same as the other, but he was a pegasus and he was flying off the ground slightly. Dash and A.J. are discussing a plan, but I already had one. As soon as his back was turned I opened the door and ran up to him. He noticed it, but he didn’t have time to turn around. I put my hand on the back of his head then slammed it onto the floor. He was out cold. “Come on you two.” We continue through three more carts, but we were the ones surprised this time. He teleported onto the cart and immediately used his magic to throw me at the ceiling. He then threw Dash at me while I was falling back down. We collided and tumbled into the door. He is now using his magic to prevent Apple Jack from moving. He pulls out his knife. Dash bolts towards him, but he continues to use his magic to throw her at one of the passengers. This time he screwed up because apparently he can only use his magic on one person at a time and A.J. uses this moment to buck his face. Dash still hasn’t recovered, so I guess it’s my turn. I run up to him and grab his horn. “You don’t need this anymore.” Using the knife I took earlier I swing it at the base of his horn. It connects and only goes halfway through, but with a twist of my wrist the rest snaps off. He drops to the ground and he puts his hooves to his head. Apple Jack stares in disbelief. “Why did ya do that?” “He was using it to hurt others therefore he doesn’t need it.” Dash comes over and sees it. “Whoa harsh.” I sigh. “Why don’t you two tell the conductor that he can slow down now while I take this guy and the other in the back.” I pick the pony up. He was still in shock and didn’t struggle at all. I go back and get the pegasus who was still out cold. I take them back and bound them both. Everyone was staring at the pony that was missing his horn, but no one asked about it until Dash and A.j. got back. They explained while I lay down on the seat. My back hurt from being thrown around. Sweetie comes and jumps onto my chest. “Thank you Dillon.” “Your welcome.” A question comes to mind. “Sweetie why are you on this train?” “Oh Scootaloo and me were playing ball, but she hit it to hard and it rolled onto the train. I went to get it and the train started. I was going to run off, but then I saw every pony coming. I hid under the seat because I didn’t want my sister to see me so she wouldn’t get mad at me.” “Reminds me of my sister.” “You have an older sister too.” “No I have a little sister and she was a little evil thing, but I still miss her.” Sweetie looks upset. Was it because she was sad for me? She sits down and now it looks as she was thinking hard about something. After a few minutes she finally decided on whatever she was thinking about. “Would it be alright if you could be my big brother?” Rarity perks up. “Sweetie why do you want a brother when you already have me?” “He’s super cool and nice.” I pat Sweeties head. “I accept… sis.” Pinkie giggles and Fluttershy lets out an aww. A little while later Sweetie ends up falling asleep on me. It has been an exciting day, so I’m not really surprised. Also we should reach Canterlot early due to this excitement. After an hour of resting we finally arrived at the city in the side of the mountain known as Canterlot. I wake Sweetie and we all leave the train. As soon as we get off a white pony that was as tall as me greets us. She had wings and a horn, so this is an alicorn. The most noticeable feature about her was her colorful mane that constantly flowed even though there was no wind. She also had two guards with gold armor with her. “You must be the one named Dillon.” “I am, but I’m not important right now. Can you send your guards to pick up the thieves in the back of the train?” She looks to her guards and they nod then go on the train. “If you would, please follow me.” She starts to walk off and we follow her. Everyone here knows who she is and apparently very well. “Excuse me, but may I have your name.” “I am Princess Celestia.” “Well I didn’t realize I was in the presence of royalty, so Celestia where are we heading” “We’re going to my castle.” Fluttershy actually spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear. “Would it be alright if Dillon and I came by the castle later?” “That would be fine, but may I ask why?” I know why. “I promised I would help Fluttershy with something while we’re here.” Sweetie skips to my side. “Can I come?” “I’m sorry, but this is on private matters.” Fluttershy starts tugging on my shirt. “Ok I’m coming.” She starts to lead me through the city and we soon come to a house with an open area next to it with metal working tools. There was also a pony in it polishing a helmet. “Is that Iron Hoof?” She blushes in response. I look over the pony. He was a unicorn with a dark grey coat and short dark blue mane and tail. He was also wearing goggles and a vest where he carried his tools. “Do you want to talk to him or do I need to.” She nudges me forward. I guess I’m talking to him. I walk up to his workspace. He looks up at me. “Hello, what can I do for you?” I’m surprised he not glaring at me like I’m some kind of freak like most of the other ponies are. “Um Iron Hoof I’m here to tell you something my shy friend over there can’t.” He peers around me and sees Fluttershy. She stares at the ground blushing madly. “You mean Fluttershy?” “You know her?” “Yes I do. She saved my pet beetle Hercules and in return I fixed up some of her house.” He puts the helmet on a mannequin. “So what is it that she couldn’t tell me?” “She has a crush on you.” He’s taken aback. “Wh-what why w-would she like m-me?” “She finds you being very nice and handsome. Do you not like her?” “I-it’s not that. I do like her the same way she feels about me, but…” “But what? You should go tell her.” “I can’t there’s something about me that no one can know about and if I were to get in a relationship it would be found out.” He hangs his head. “Tell her I’m sorry.” He goes into his house and Fluttershy comes over. “What did he say?” “He said he’s sorry.” She’s looking at me with sad eyes and they were starting to tear up. “Hey don’t cry he still said he liked you.” “H-he did.” “Yes, maybe he’s not ready for a relationship right now. Give him some time to take in the information then next time you tell him how you feel. Now lets go to the castle before it gets dark.” “Ok.” She takes us back to the castle. When we arrive Pinkie is waiting at the door. She notices that Fluttershys depressed and immediately tries to cheer her up. They leave and I’m left to wonder around the castle. This place is huge. After a while I end you getting lost, but conveniently I run into Celestia. “Hello Dillon.” “Hey Princess. Where are the others?” “I sent them on errands for me so I could talk to you alone.” “I can guess why. What would you like to know?” Her horn starts to glow and she walks up to me. “What are you doing?” She puts her horn on my forehead and images start flashing before me. They were of my past everything that I saw and everything that I knew. She must be seeing this, but I have nothing to hide. It only took a few seconds before she pulls away. “I’m sorry I had to do that.” “It’s fine I know your just trying to uphold your duties as a princess.” My stomach growls and I realize I haven’t eaten all day. Celestia smiles. “Come I’m having a meal prepared for everyone.” I follow her I into a large dining hall. Everyone was already there and waiting, but there are three new faces. Two of them look at me in shock while the other approaches me. It was a unicorn with a white coat and it has a mane with multiple shades of blue. “Are you the one who protected my sister from the bandits on the train?” “I did stop the bandits, but I don’t know who your sister is or you. “My sister is Twilight Sparkle and I’m her older brother Shining Armor. I am captain of the guard and I thank you for protecting the other ponies as well.” “Your welcome.” One of the other ponies gathers their courage and came over. It was an alicorn with a pink coat and the mane had three different colors, which were yellow, pink, and purple. Shining smiles. “This is my wife Cadence.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I give a slight bow. Then I look to the other pony. “Who’s that?” Cadence tells me about her. Her name is Luna and she’s royalty as well. She is an alicorn and she has a dark blue coat. Her mane flowed like Celestia’s, but it looked like the night sky and now that she has no one to talk to she leaves. A little later ponies start coming in carry plates full of food and placing them on the long table. Everyone takes a spot around the table. I end up between Celestia and Sweetie. We start to help ourselves. For food meant for ponies it has to be some of the best I’ve ever had. Everyone is enjoying themselves and they were all talking about an upcoming Grand Galloping Gala. I had nothing to say about it because I have no idea what it was, but I prefer listening anyways. Everyone has now finished their meals and they are now just talking. Someone moving caught my attention. It was a guard and he was creeping over to Celestia. It wouldn’t have been an issue normally, but using his magic he slowly lifted his spear. Really, again today someone tries to harm someone else. I can’t let Sweetie see what may happen. I take my phone out and toss it under the table. “Oh crap. Excuse me Sweetie can you get my phone it seems that I dropped it under the table.” She smiles. “Ok.” She goes under the table. I glance at the guard to see the spear being pulled back and he’s getting ready to throw it. What is Shining doing. I glance at him and he was busy staring lovingly into Cadences eyes. Looks like I’m doing this myself. When I thought he was going to throw it I dashed behind her. I caught the spear, but I grabbed it by the blade. Ignoring the pain I quickly stuck the other end between his legs. Before he could react I turn around and put all my strength into flinging him. He flew over Celestia and he hit the table. He bounced a few times then skidded to a stop in front of Shining. It caught him off guard and he was shocked to see one of his men lying in front of him. Everyone then turns their attention to me. I see Shining is now enraged. “Why did you do this to my men!?” “Why was he trying to attack the princess?” He starts walking to me. “He would never do such a thing!” “Then explain this.” I drop the spear and hold my hand up for everyone to see. Blood is steadily rolling down my arm then dripping onto the floor. He stops and stares at my wound. “I’m smart enough not to grab the tip of a spear unless I didn’t have a choice.” Sweetie comes out from under the table. “I got it, but I think it’s broken.” She looks up and sees my wound and her eyes grow wide. She drops my phone and runs to me. “Brother!” Shining now looks confused. “Brother?” Sweetie pulls a cloth napkin from the table. I sit down and I hold my hand out. She wraps it then I stand back up. “Thanks sis.” Shining has calmed down. “Are you absolutely sure he tried to take her life.” There was a quick green flash and everyone gasps. A bug like creature replaced the pony that was on the table. It looked like a pony, but it had holes in its legs and it had fangs. I go get a closer look. It was cut up from shattering and rolling on dishes. It bled bright green blood from its shell. “What is this?” Cadence goes over to Shining to be comforted. “It’s called a changeling and those things almost ruined our wedding.” Their names give away their ability to change into whatever creature they choose. That’s not good at all and it means anyone here could be one. I pick up the spear and go to Shining. I jabbed his leg with it. It put a small cut on his leg and he bled a little, but it wasn’t green so he’s safe. “Ow! What are you doing?!” “I’m checking everyone here and your safe.” I hold out the spear and he takes it. “You can check your wife.” He understands the situation. He pricks her leg and she’s safe. I go to the table and pick up a knife. Shining and me go around the table checking everyone there. We’re all safe, but this is very bad there are probably more somewhere in the castle. Celestia starts directing us. “Shining Armor, Cadence I want you to take everypony to the largest guest bedroom we have then get my sister and come to my room. We will check her when she arrives. Girls do not come out of the room until we get you. Dillon, come with me.” “Alright. Shining the spear.” He tosses it and I caught it with my injured hand. It hurts horribly, but I just grit my teeth. Then I look to the changeling that’s lying on the table. “What to do with him.” Shining’s horn glows then the changeling is incased in a bubble. “That should hold him.” Celestia turns and leaves at a brisk pace. I follow her and we quickly reach her room. We enter and surprisingly her room is quite small. There’s a bed, table, a fireplace, some writing utensils and that’s all. I put the spear on the table then I take the cloth off to examine my hand. The cuts are actually petty deep. Celestia comes over and looks at it as well. “Here let me fix that.” Her horn glows and a bright light covers my hand. When the light faded the pain subsided and the wound is now gone, but there is a scar left on my palm and fingers. “Thanks.” “Back there you handled that changeling quite well where did you learn to do that?” “Hey you looked into my past you should know.” “I didn’t see everything that spell sometimes skips parts.” “Well my friend is very skilled in fighting and he’s much more dangerous than that changeling when he’s messing around. I hung around him so much I picked things up. I’m good at hand to hand combat and I can use multiple weapons, which are knives, swords, and staffs.” “Interesting.” There is a knock at the door and Luna enters. “You wanted to talk to us sister?” “Yes, but before that we need to check something.” I pick up the spear and jabbed her leg. I got a glimpse to tell that she was safe before she threw me across the room. Celestia and Shining calm her down and explain the situation while Cadence helps me up. “Are you alright?” “I’ll be fine humans are made tough.” We go and sit around the table. Shining starts the meeting. “We know the predicament is that changelings have infiltrated Canterlot castle and we need a way to remove them. Any ideas?” Luna has the first idea. “Why don’t we put a shield around the castle?” Shining shakes his head. “That won’t work if they’re already inside plus it would cause the citizens to panic.” I have an idea. “What about setting up checkpoints?” “Checkpoints?” “Yea take your most trusted guards and have them checked. If their fine set them throughout the castle and anyone who wants to enter must be tested. Then if they pass they need to be told about it so they can start traveling in groups.” “That works, but there’s one flaw. Citizen are allow to come to the castle to make requests to meet with Celestia.” “Oh that’s simple say the castle is being remodeled and don’t let them in.” “Ok this is probably the best plan of action. Does Everypony agree with this? Everyone nods. “Good we’ll start now. Dillon welcome to the royal guard, follow me.” “Yes sir.” We leave the room and we go down to the barracks. He barges in and he literally drags four of his men out of bed. He checks them and they’re safe. He then assigns us to our spots. I have the main entrance while he has the barracks and two of them go to question the captured changeling. The other two are placed on patrol. I go to my post and I stand by the doors all night long. In that time I only check two ponies and they were both fine. Shining relived me of my duty early in the morning. He got information back from the questioned changeling. They gave him a truth potion so they know he’s not lying, but he revealed more than they expected. He was the only one to plan the attack, but he’s not the only changeling in Canterlot. I end up being pulled into another meeting in Celestia’s room. Shining was furious at the news and wanted to remove them completely. I disagree with him because they have done nothing wrong, but I really didn’t know why they even despise them so much. “What is wrong with them living in Canterlot if they’re not a threat?” “They just attacked Celestia a second time, they came close to ruining my wedding, and those things feed off our love!” “The changelings that live here may have started families here and your trying to kick them out. It would be cruel and what if the ponies around them love those changelings. Known or unknown they aren’t taking it by force are they? Also it was only one changeling who attack the princess and only he should pay the price not the entire changeling race.” “They have launched a full scale attack on us in the past.” “Did you make peace with them afterwards?” “No we didn’t.” “The changeling that attacked held a grudge and the ones that live here want to live happy lives, so leave them alone.” Celestia listened to our argument and she seems to have come to a decision. “Shining I’m sorry to say, but Dillon’s right. The only ones who are guilty is the queen and her followers.” “We still need to find them though.” “I will give you permission to find the other changelings as long as you don’t harm them or let the news becomes public.” “How am I supposed to look without it becoming public?” I grin. It’s amusing how he can’t think straight when he’s mad. “Tell them a new disease has been discovered then go house to house checking ponies. If you find a changeling tell them you know what they are and reassure them that they can continue to live here in peace.” He nods. “Will you help me with this?” “Sorry Shining I’m only here because Celestia wanted to meet me, but when you’re done I would like a percentage of how many changelings live here sent to me.” “Why?” “If there are enough living here they can be used to make peace with their empire. I know you don’t like them, but you need to get along with them so no more attacks are made. Now if you will excuse me I have a train to catch back to Ponyville.” I get up and leave then head to the entrance where the girls meet me. We exchange greetings before heading to the train station. On the way Sweetie gives me my phone and I find that the screen was cracked, but what was I going to use my phone for here anyway. We get onto the same train we came here on. The only reason I know this is because I found the horn that I broke off that one pony slightly hidden under the seat. I decided to keep it, so I put it in my pocket then we take our seats in the back. I was going to sleep, but Twilight had a question for me. “Do humans use magic where you come from?” “No, we have these instead.” I hold up my hand. “I was just wondering because you seemed to know what it was when you came to me.” “It’s not real in my world, but we know what it is because it’s written in stories.” “Your not in your world anymore maybe you could use it here.” “I’ll give it a try then I’m going to take a nap, so what spell should I try?” “Telekinesis is a good spell to try. All you have to do is focus on something then concentrate on moving it.” “Ok.” What can I try this on? I see Sweetie playing with her ball. That will work. I start to focus on the ball and I concentrate on moving it up. I notice a faint glow in my pocket before the ball starts to levitate. “Oh wow you did it.” “Yeah cool.” It’s amazing, but I’m too tired to really care right now. I drop the ball than I look out the window and after a few minutes I nod off. Later I awaken because Sweetie was pulling on my shirt. “It’s time to go big brother.” We leave the station and say our goodbyes. Fluttershy and me head to her house and when we got there I went straight back to bed. I lay there thinking that now I can use magic how will I get home. Is there even a spell that can send me home? I know there is a spell to bring people here. I would still have to find it, but I would use it as a last resort. Also this stuff with the changelings. I’m going to have to help them so no one will get hurt or killed. This will surly become a pain later on, but I’m going to help anyway. I yawn. That’s enough thinking for now. I roll over then fall asleep. > Urgent Message > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I roll over and I hit the floor. I sit up and rub my face. I’m certainly awake now. I go into the kitchen where Fluttershy is talking to herself. It was a practice conversation between her and Iron Hoof. “It’s nice to know that you’re practicing.” She jumps and lets out a squeak. She turns around blushing madly. “Oh g-good morning.” “Morning. I just came in to tell you that I was heading to A.j.’s now.” I go to the door and open it before Fluttershy stops me. “Um how much of that did you hear?” I grin. “Not enough.” I leave and when I got to the farm A.j. comes to greet me. “Good mornin Dillon are you ready to work?” “Sure.” We start working and thanks to the magic of the horn I got so much more done. I would carry a few baskets and I would have some levitate by me. This job would normally take all day, but I was able to finish around lunchtime. By this time I’m physically and mentally exhausted, but my leg hurt the most where the horn constantly jabbed my leg. A.j. comes over with a bag of bits. “Here ya go sugar cube.” “Thanks. Hey um do you have any tools I could use I need to fix something.” “Yea they’re in the barn just put them back when you’re finished.” “Ok.” I go to the barn and enter. In the back corner were the tools. I take the horn out and put it on the workbench. I look at the tools and start thinking about what I could do. I see a saw and an old fashioned drill. I know what I’m going to make now. I take the saw off the wall and cut the base of the horn off. I then take the drill and make a hole in the piece I cut off. I make a simple ring and it fit on my ring finger perfectly. I test it and it still holds its magical properties. I put the tools up then I head to Twilights house. Now that I can read the language I can help look for spells to send me back home. When I get there I knock on the door and Spike opens it. He still hasn’t gotten used to me yet and he was about to slam the door in my face. I reach in and pick him up by his tail then Twilight comes in. She giggled at the sight of us. “What are you two doing?” “I’m just making sure someone didn’t run off.” I put Spike down and as soon as he touched the ground he took off. “Oh Spike. So Dillon what are you doing here?” “I came to see if I could help look for spells to send me home.” “Alright I have a stack already on the desk over there and I’ll have Spike give you more if you need them. I’ll help you in a little bit, but first I have to write my report to Celestia.” I nod then I go to her desk and take the stack of books. Then I go sit down and start reading. After about two hours I’m on the last book in the stack and I’ve had no luck so far. I do find something interesting in this book even though it’s not what I’m looking for. It tells how to use five elements earth, fire, ice, electric, and light. This might come in handy later so I’m going to learn them. I really can’t test earth out in Twilight house that one will just have to wait until I leave. Fire you have to focus on a spot and image it burning hot. I hold out my hand and test it between my index and thumb. A small flame appeared. With ice you have to image it freezing. I then make a shard of ice. Electric you do the same as fire, but it has to move place to place extremely fast. I made a spark. Last is light and all you have to do for this image something getting brighter. My hand starts to give off a faint glow. “Ok that was creepy.” I stop for a minute. “Is this what they consider spells? I feel more like the Avatar than anything else.” I get back to reading. In bold letters at the bottom of the page was a warning. It says not to use these spells in large quantities or long periods of time because it could cause the user anything between headaches and death. It also says if you can reduce these effects if you have a gem of the elements color. I close the book and stretch. Twilight comes over. “I see you’ve finish the books I’ll have Spike bring you some more. Spike!” “I’m already on it.” He comes over and places another stack next to me before trying to run off again, but I grabbed his tail and held him in front of me. He closes his eyes and covers his face with his arms like I was going to strike him. This surprised Twilight. “What are you-” I cut her off by holding my other hand out in front of her. “Spike why are you scared of me?” “I-I’m n-not s-s-scare of y-you.” “It’s obvious that you’re lying. What could I do for you so you’re no longer afraid?” “You could put me down.” “That would be a start, but you can’t run away.” I put him down. “So Spike tell me the rest of your reasons.” “O-ok. There was a time that I left Ponyville and tried to live with other dragons. They told stories of these creatures called humans that would slay our kind. Of course I didn’t believe them I thought they were only trying to scare me, but then you came along.” “They are just stories. In my world dragons aren’t real. They could only be found in our stories and let me tell you they are normally human’s allies.” “So you wouldn’t hurt me.” “No, in fact I could use your help now. My books tell me some dragons eat gems and if that is true I would like to know if you have any.” “No I don’t have any at the moment, but I do know somepony that should have some. I could take you to her if you would like.” “That would be great.” I stand up. “Lead the way.” We walk to the door and Spike calls back to Twilight. “I’ll be back in a little while.” Twilight just stands there. She must be trying to take in the idea of dragon slaying. We walk in silence all the way to the pony’s house that just happen to be Rarity’s. I knock on the door and Sweetie answers it. “Brother!” “Hey sis. Is your sister home?” I hear Rarity yell from another room. “Sweetie who is it?” “It’s Spike and big brother.” Rarity comes down from her room and we come inside. “Hello Rarity I came over because Spike here told me you might have some gems that I could have.” “I can give you a few. Is there any specific kind you’re looking for?” “I need a red, yellow, blue, and a brown gem.” “I don’t have brown, but I do have the rest. May I ask what you need them for?” “Jewelry I need to make rings out of them.” Rarity perks up. “Is this for somepony? A special somepony? If it is you have to introduce me. You haven’t been here very long and you’re already in a relationship like this. Is it even all right for you to be with a pony? Oh my this is wonderful!” “Rarity! Rarity your making assumptions. I would love to introduce you to my special someone, but she’s not here and the rings will be for me.” “I’m sorry I did get ahead of myself didn’t I?” I nod. “Well to make up for that I’ll have a friend of mine make your rings.” “Thank you.” Sweetie comes over and tugs on my pants. “Brother can you come play with me?” “Sure, what are we going to play?” “Hide ‘n’ seek.” “Alright you go hide and I’ll start counting.” She runs off and before I started counting I see Rarity and Spike leaving. I count to 50 then I search for Sweetie. It wasn’t hard to find her because her horn gave away her spot. We play a few more rounds then her friends show up. They wanted to try to get their cutie marks. Apple Bloom suggested they try to be hair stylist. I had to see this so I tagged along. They didn’t get any volunteers, but they did find a pony that fell asleep on a bench. The girls knew her as Berry Punch. They tried to dye her hair. It didn’t go very well because they used lime green paint. I wasn’t surprised when they didn’t get their cutie marks. Now that they are done causing trouble they brought me to their tree house. They ran inside then bring out a tiny red cloth and I notice they’re wearing red capes. Sweetie gives me the cape. “Um what’s this for?” “It your cutie mark crusader cape.” “Ok it seems that I’m part of your little group and I look forward to the adventures your going to put me through.” The cape was to small for me to put on so I put it in my pocket and the emblem showed. It was now starting to get late. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo go home while I take Sweetie back. We arrive a little bit before Rarity and Spike do. “Dillon what perfect timing. Here are your rings.” She levitates my rings over to me and I put them on. “Wow perfect fit.” “Yes, my friend who made them actually does this normally for me when I need a gem shaped when I’m making clothes.” I hear Spike mutter under his breath. “Lucky.” Right after he spoke he let out a belch with green flames then a letter fell to his feet. He picks it up and reads it. “Excuse me I have to go give this to Twilight.” He takes off running. “I’m going to head out now to see ya.” I take off after Spike and quickly catch up. I pick him up and carry him the rest of the way. Once we reach the house I barge in causing Twilight to jump. I drop Spike and he rushes over to give the letter to Twilight. She reads the letter and her eyes grow wide. “What does it say?” “It’s from my brother. He said he followed your plan and he got your numbers. 15 percent of Canterlots population are changelings and even though he reassured them they could still live there in peace they have been scared. The bolder ones have been coming to the castle demanding answers like who planned this and why. He’s also afraid they may get together and riot.” “I’m assuming you can get a letter to Shining.” She nods. “Tell him I’ll be at the castle early tomorrow morning to help and can you tell Fluttershy where I’m going?” “You’re going now?” “Yea the sooner the problem is solved the better.” “Do you have enough bits for a train ticket?” “I should I just got paid today.” “Alright I’ll get the letter to Shining and goodbye.” “Bye.” I leave and I run down to the train station. I purchase my ticket then I get on the train. I take my seat and get ready for the long boring ride to Canterlot. After awhile it was dark out and boredom was killing me. I would love to try out the new magic I learned, but being on a train it’s not the smartest thing to do. I started to stare out the window waiting for it to be late enough for me to be tired. About ten minutes later something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turn to get a better look at it, but it disappeared. When I go back to looking out the window it appeared again. It would probably vanish if I tried to get a look at it again, but I got lucky because a pony bumped into it and it fell forward. It’s a white unicorn and size says it’s a kid. The kid has a short black mane with yellow strips and its tail is very big, but it’s just black. “You done hiding kid?” “Y-yea.” It’s a girl. “You should know it’s not nice to stare.” “I’m sorry I just noticed that you had the cutie mark crusaders cape.” “I sure do. You want to get a better look at it?” I was looking directly at her then I blinked and in that split second she somehow moved into the seat next to me. “I take that as a yes.” I give her the cape and she hugs it. “What’s your name kid?” “Eclipso.” “Well it’s nice to meet you, I’m Dillon.” “How did you get this Dillon? I didn’t know the crusaders were accepting members.” “Sweetie gave it to me because she thinks of me as an older brother.” “I’ve never seen you with Sweetie before.” “I’m new here.” “That would make sense I haven’t been out much because I’ve been busy packing for this family trip.” “Do you normally hang out with the crusaders?” “Um I follow them around.” “Have you ever talked to them?” “No.” She’s a stalker. “Eclipso I’ll make you a deal. If you promise to join the crusaders I’ll give you that cape.” She lets out a gasp. “I promise! I promise! I promise!” I blink and she’s gone, but I hear her. “Mom! Mom, look at what Dillon gave me.” “Did you say thank you?” “Oh I forgot.” I blink and she is back with me. She hugs my arm. “Thank you.” She lets go and moves back a bit before sneezing. There was a bright flash and green flames. In front of me stood a changeling. I glance around to make sure no one else saw that. I turn back and she already changed herself back. She looks scared now knowing she made a big mistake. I pat her head and smile. “Hey your going to be a future crusader, so your secret is safe with me.” “Really?” “Yes and to prove it I’ll tell you one of my secrets. Princess Celestia and me are trying to make it were the changelings can live together with the ponies.” “Wow.” “Yea and hopefully I’m going to be able to put some kind of plan in effect by the end of the week.” “You don’t know what to do yet?” “Nope I don’t know what both changelings and ponies like.” “Everypony likes plays.” “A play that could work and I know one perfect for this situation. It’s very popular in my world, but it’s going to have to be toned down a bit.” I yawn. “Eclipso I’m going to call it a day and could you do me a favor by waking me when we arrive?” “Ok bye-bye.” “See ya.” As soon as I take my eyes off her she’s gone. She must have learned that from Pinkie in her free time. I stretch out on my seat and I quickly fall asleep. > Actors Needed > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was awoken by Eclipso who was jumping on my back. “Wake up! We’re here.” I stand up and stretch. It seems that we have just pulled into the station because other ponies were gathering their stuff then leaving. “Thanks for waking me.” I walk off the train and Eclipso follows. “I need to go to the castle now and feel free to come visit me while I’m there. Also look out for that play later this week.” “Ok bye-bye.” “Bye.” I set off at a brisk pace towards the castle and I reach it in like ten minutes. I see Shining outside the doors. He must have been waiting for me, but there was another pony yelling at him. I walk closer and I can hear what they were saying. “Sir please calm down.” “Are you the one who came up with that ridiculous plan?!” I go and stand next to Shining. “He didn’t. I did the one who wants to help your kind. Now go and tell your friends so they stop harassing my buddy here.” He nods while backing away. He then turns tail and runs. Shining laughs. “It certainly has its perks being a creature no pony is familiar with.” “Its been good for intimidation so how many others have been like that?” “I’ve been getting a few every hour thanks to your plan.” “That’s it? I rushed over here because you made it sound urgent.” “It was as you could tell we had to get you here as fast as possible, so we can prevent it from happening. Also if you want to help them we’re going to have to do more.” “Actually I have an idea thanks to a changeling child I met on the train.” “Really? Come then we’ll discuss it once we get Celestia.” He leads me into the castle and we find the princesses. We go to her room for a meeting and Celestia starts it. “It appears you have another plan. Will you kindly tell us?” “Yes, I know that both ponies and changeling enjoy plays. They’re public events that seem to be very popular here where both species can come enjoy a show. My plan is to put a play on at the end of the week it’s called Romeo and Juliet. Have you heard of it before?” “No, what is it about?” “It’s about two rivaling families whose children fall in love at first sight. The families come to a breaking point and family members from both sides are killed. One is exiled the other plans to fake her death then reunite with her beloved afterwards. It was a shame because he didn’t know. He went out bought poison and killed himself on her coffin, but a few minutes later she awakens to find him. She takes his dagger and kills herself. It’s a tragedy for any parent to lose their child so the families put an end to their horrible rivalry.” “That seems like a bit much for everypony.” “I know I was going to tweak the story to where no one would die.” “We still don’t have the script for this play. The actor wouldn’t know what to say or do.” “I have the script.” I pull out my phone. “While I was in school we had to read the play. There weren’t enough scripts for the entire class so I got it on this. It just needs to be transferred to paper.” “You do know the play might not be enough to convince everypony.” “I’m not finished yet. All the actors must be well known to draw in a bigger crowd and they must be changelings, but the biggest part will come at the end of the show. They will reveal themselves. The idea is to get changelings who are loved by many to put on this amazing show that is against these horrible rivalries. It will be a lot to take in, but I’ll prepare a closing speech to help with that. In the end it will be up to the ponies, but if we convince a good portion to accept this the rest will soon accept it as well.” “Alright we’ll do it.” “Ok first is there a way to send my phone to Twilight. She can translate the script while we scout for actors.” “Yes, I can do that.” “Good let me write a note how to use it first.” She levitates some writing material to me and I write down the instructions for Twilight. Then Celestia uses her magic and sends it. “Now that’s done we need to find actors.” Shining put a scroll on the table. “I kept track of the changeling residents and I personally know two we could try to convince.” “That’s a good start lets go.” He nods. We leave and he leads us to a house I’ve been to before. We’re at Iron Hoof’s and I now know what his secret was. He was busy making some armor when we approached him. “Hey Iron Hoof.” He stops what he’s doing and looks up. “Oh hey nice to see you again. Are you here to take a look at your armor?” “What?” He smiles. “Shining didn’t tell you did he?” “No.” “Well after seeing your fighting ability he came here and requested this to be made. He gave me the measurements that he got from a pony named Rarity. When I was finished with the legs I already knew who it was for.” Now I will have a suit of armor I’m not going to use, but I’m not going to tell him that. “Well we’re not here for that, but I was wondering if you would like to perform in an up coming play.” “The only thing I had planned this week was to work on this, but if you don’t mind getting it later then sure.” “Ok now let me tell you the plan that goes with the play.” I fill him in on why we are doing the play. “You want me to reveal myself at the end. Are you crazy? Doing this would strip me of everything.” “Doing this could gain you something you really want.” “Yea what is that?” “Fluttershy.” “You’re lying.” “No I’m not. Here let me go over some likely scenarios. Number one you never get into a relationship and just watch from afar as she slowly falls for someone else. Number two you do get into a relationship and she finds out you’re a changeling. The first thing that would come to mind would be you lied to her and depending on how long you’ve been together she would question every little thing you’ve ever told her. Scenario one leaves you heartbroken while number two will cause you to lose her trust and leave both of you heartbroken. Now if you do show yourself at the play it tells everyone that you’re tired of having to lie about whom you are and you want to be loved for who you really are. It my come as a shock at first, but with how much she loves you she will accept you.” He stares at the ground for a few minutes before looking back up. “O-ok I’ll do it.” “Great rehearsals start tomorrow at the castle.” Shining and me leave and we head over to a training field that was made for the wonder bolts. Apparently their newest member was a changeling. His name is Skycatcher and he was easy to pick out from the others. He had the same blue outfit with the lightning design, but he was the only one with the fake wings. Shining wanted to handle this one him-self. He calls Skycatcher over then they walk out of my hearing range. It didn’t take very long before Shining came back over. “So did he agree or not?” “He agreed.” “Wow what did you do to convince him?” “He owed me a favor because I enchanted the wings he uses.” “Nice now who’s next?” He pulls out the scroll and starts looking through it. After a minute he rolls it back up before setting off at a brisk pace. “Whoa what’s the rush?” I take off after him. “The next suitable changeling goes by Rainy Day and she’s very busy being the head of the cloud crew, but she should be on break soon. She apparently has a favorite café she goes to everyday for lunch and at this pace we should arrive a little bit before her.” “Ok what is she most known for?” “She destroyed a clock tower.” “And how is that good?” “It needed to be replaced anyway and everyone loves her still.” “Alright if you think she can do it we’ll try.” We soon reach the café and it was nothing fancy, but it was still nice. Shining goes right in and I was going to follow, but I was interrupted. A pony flew into the building then fell on top of me. We both hit the ground and it was obvious that I cushioned the fall because the pony got back up immediately. “I’m so sorry are you alright?” It was a girl. I stand up and dust myself off. I quickly glance over the pony. Her coat is a grayish blue and her nose is white. Her mane and tail are short, pure white and she has a big red bow in her hair. “I’m fine.” I open the door for her. “Ladies first.” She nods thanks and when she enters the pony at the counter calls out to her. “How was your landing today?” “It wasn’t one of my better landings.” The pony chuckles. “Well miss Day your order is already done.” “Thank you.” She gets her food and drink then takes a seat at a table by a window. Shining starts to head over there, but I shoo him away before I head there myself. “Um are you Rainy Day?” “Yes I am.” “It’s nice to meet you I’m Dillon and I’m looking for ponies who are willing to participate in an upcoming play. You seem like an eligible pony for one of the main roles. Would you be interested?” “I don’t know I’m really busy with being part of the cloud crew.” “Well if you do take the part you could help your entire kind out.” She perks up. “Yes, I know what you are and I’m trying to help out your kind. I explain to her the plan and she sits silently for a while thinking it over. When she was doing this I noticed something I didn’t catch before. She’s missing part of her ear and I must have been staring because she noticed. “When I was younger I ran into a manticore and it ended up biting a part of my ear off. Now I despise those creatures.” “We have something in common.” I lift my pants leg to show the dark blue web on my leg. “My first day in this world a manticore jabbed me with its tail. Now to get back on topic. Have you decided?” “Who else in participating?” “So far we have Iron Hoof and Skycatcher.” She blushes at Skycatchers name and I could use this. “You know there is a kissing scene and if you were to take the part you could probably be the main female character. Skycatcher being a wonderbolt he would probably get the main male role.” She quickly stands up which knocks the table over. Her hot drink burns one of my legs while the table collides with my other leg, which causes me to fall over. She’s blushing madly then she looks to me. “I’ll do it.” I stand back up. “Good rehearsals start tomorrow at the castle.” I leave before any more of her clumsiness causes me any more pain. Shining looked at the scroll when I was talking to Rainy Day so he already knew who to go for next. The next pony is a female called Moondancer, but Shining wouldn’t tell me any more. He wanted to go to a talent show that she was running and participating in so I assume she’s good at something. Thanks to Shining we got in free of charge, but the show didn’t start for another hour. To kill time Shining was talking about what it’s like to be head of the guard. He then started to joke that he could take on our forces. I shut him up when I told him we have weapons that can level entire cities. We then had about twenty minutes left, but that passed by quickly. The show started and ponies started with their performances. None of the first few acts caught my attention. Everything they’re doing I’ve seen humans do before. Now we are midway into the show and I saw something I liked performed by a Dj Vinyl Scratch. It was close to the end of the show and a pony is actually going to do magic tricks. She went by a title of the great and powerful Trixie. I will say her magic abilities were decent, but she got annoying very fast. She wouldn’t stop bragging about herself and she talked in third person. Apparently another pony found her to be unbearable because she stormed onto stage. The pony is a unicorn and she has a grayish blue coat with a bit of cyan on her nose. Her mane and tail are dark blue, but her mane has some cyan in it. She was also wearing a cape with a star design. It seems what really ticked this pony off was that Trixie claimed that she could defeat an ursa major. I see the pony smile. She must have a plan for Trixie. “You really think you can take on an ursa major?” “Of course Trixie can.” “Alright then you’ll just love my pet.” There was a puff of smoke that filled the entire building and it quickly cleared to reveal a giant purple bear. It was so big it had to stand over the audience. Trixie took one look at the bear before bolting for the nearest exit. The room then fills with smoke again then the bear disappears. I now know for a fact that this is Moondancer and now it’s time to put a show on of my own. I get up from my seat and walk onto the stage. “That was a great performance so great I would like you to join my upcoming play.” She glares at me. “Now’s not the time to be asking that. I’m trying to put on a show. Know what I’ll tell you now no.” “I knew you would say that. That’s why I wanted to propose a bet.” “A bet?” “Yes what you did to scare Trixie off vs. my own show. If I win you join my play. If you win I’ll do whatever you like until you release me of duty. To make it fair we’ll have the audience decide.” “I could use somepony to do some of my work so I can have time to practice and develop new spells. I’m also interested in what a creature like you could do. You’re on.” “Great, do you have a something I could fit inside of and it has to be something you’re not willing to keep because it will be destroyed. There was a puff of smoke that revealed a large rotting wardrobe. “That works. Now keep a note on this I’m about to show you something that will always catch the crowds attention.” I open the wardrobe and step inside. “And telling you now I don’t know the teleportation spell.” I close the wardrobe and now I finally get to test my new magic. I coat the inside with so much ice I have to crouch down and I have little room to move. Now that preparations are complete its time to start the show. Using the electricity ring I make a giant lightning bolt come down form the ceiling and strike the wardrobe. It caught fire and using my fire ring I make it burn stronger than it would have normally. I now concentrate to keep the ice around me as ice. I start counting and once I hit two minutes I assume the audience suspense has hit its peak. I then use the telekinesis spell to cause the wardrobe and ice to explode, but I also had to make sure it didn’t fly into the crowd. The last thing to do was melt the peices of ice before anyone spotted it. I look through the crowd then bow. All the ponies were wide eyed and then suddenly the place was full of applauding. I feel a sudden weight on my head and I pull whatever it was off. It was Eclipso. “Hey what are you doing here?” “I came to see my sisters show and speaking of her here she comes.” Moondancer comes over to me. “You win and that was a nice trick you pulled. Not many ponies are willing to risk their life to put on a show for others. So when do rehearsals start?” “Tomorrow at the castle.” Eclipso starts to bounce around. “Can I be in the play too?” “Sure why not.” I step off stage. “See you tomorrow.” Shining and I leave to head back to the castle. When we arrive it was later in the day and we go eat in the dinning hall. Celestia meets us there and showed us that Twilight had finish translating the script. She also gives me my phone back. I browse through the script to see it was already changed to something more appropriate for the ponies. Now I need to ask Celestia something while she’s here. “Hey Celestia can you invite Fluttershy to the play?” “Yes of course.” “Wait let me rephrase that. Fluttershy must be here for the play so the ending runs a smoothly.” “Alright I’ll make sure she comes.” “Good, thanks.” I finished eating and Celestia shows me to the guest bedroom where I’ll be staying for the week. I enter the room and I could care less what it looks like as long as there is a bed. I go strait over and jump in bed. I know for a fact that this group of ponies are the best choice for the play, but preparing them for the play will be a different story. I might as well go to sleep now so I can be prepared for tomorrow’s chaos. I lay there for a while before I finally doze off. > Revealing > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wake up early in the morning ready to deal with today’s chaos. I get out of bed and run down to the dining hall. I grab myself a piece of toast before I go outside to wait for everyone. The first to show up is Moondancer. “Good morning.” “Good morning. Um I’m going to go ahead and apologize for anything my sister does.” “What does she get grumpy early in the morning?” “No she becomes a completely different pony when she’s tired.” I spot Eclipso and just by looking at her you couldn’t tell she was any different. She did however bring a saddlebag with her. She walks up behind her sister and snatches her cape. Moondancer just sighs. “I’ll just take it back when she becomes herself again.” Great she’s not only a stalker, but she’s also a thief. Eclipso walks by me and Moondancer sighs again. “You might want to check your pockets.” “What is she really that good?” She nods so I check my pockets and my phone is missing. Wow she is good, but my phone is the only thing I have from my world. “Eclipso I need that back now.” She had disappeared; but I caught something moving in the corner of my eye. Using my magic I pull it to me. It was Eclipso and I didn’t have a grip on her very long because she used her magic to cancel mine. As soon as she touch the ground she took off running and I chased her. We take two laps around the castle before someone runs into me. We tumbled over each other and when we stopped the pony was laying on my chest. When the world stopped spinning I saw the pony was Rainy Day. We get up and dust ourselves off. I look around and it seems that I’ve lost Eclipso. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to run into you.” “It’s fine that was my fault to.” We head back to the entrance to see Iron Hoof approaching. He seemed to be in a really good mood. “Good morning.” “I would normally say good morning, but her sister took the good out of it. Moondancer when will I be able to get my phone back?” “Well my sister excels in invisibility magic so you won’t be getting it back until she decides to show herself.” “That’s just great.” They start chatting with each other. After a few more minutes Skycatcher shows up. Good now we can get started. I was about to speak, but another pony started talking. “That’s enough chitchatting we have work to do. Now if you will please follow me.” They go inside and I’m left surprised that someone was hired to do this. “Hey human thing you come in here too.” Looks like I’m needed after all, but not for what I thought I was going to be doing. I am going to help make the set and props for the play. It’s a good thing I’ve done this in school before. So sometime in the afternoon we finish with the set and now we have to look for props around the castle. I set off and find possible items that could be used. On my way back to the set I hear Eclipso. I peer into the room where I hear her voice is coming from. She somehow got Skycatchers wings and Celestia’s crown. It was pretty amusing watching her trying to act like a princess. I would have tried to get my phone back, but my hands are full. I go back and drop my stuff off to also I find out we’re done for the day. It I now day two and there was an unexpected guest. Rarity shows up and offers to help make the costumes. She also brought a gift for me. It’s the clothes I originally came here in. Apparently she went out into the forest brought back and cleaned my clothes just because she was interested what human clothes were really like. I’m not going to argue because I’ve been wearing the same cloths for days now. I go change into them and they’re my blue jeans with my Garfield t-shirt. Since I have some skills in sewing I help Rarity make the costumes the rest of the day and next day as well. Eclipso finally became herself again and everyone got their stuff back. Now for the last two days I have to write the closing speech. It took all day, but I got it done. It is now the day of the play and because I have nothing better to do I go wait at the train station since I know Flutteryshy is coming. At about noon she shows up, but I didn’t know she was bringing everyone else. I really didn’t care until Pinkie decided to hug me all the way back to the castle. At the castle I leave them before they could ask any specifics about the play. It needs to be a surprise even to them. I go lay around in my room until it was time for the play. I head down to the theater and I take a look at the crowd. It was huge, ponies sharing seats and they were even sitting in the isle. The play starts and I can finally see how well these changelings can act. The beginning of the play goes very well. Rainy Day got Juliet and her acting was perfect probably because she didn’t want to mess up in front of Skycatcher. It must have been hard to practice for this because they would have to share the side characters. It was time for the scene where Mercutio dies, but it was changed to where he went into a coma instead. Now it’s time for Romeo to kill Tybalt, but he just gets beaten to where he will be a cripple the rest of his life. The play continues on and Juliet just faked her death. It continues on and Romeo gets the poison then goes to Juliet’s coffin. He about to drink it then Rainy Day took the script a bit to seriously and knocked the vile from his hoof. With my luck it hit me in the face. They then runaway with each other and Rainy Day finally got her kissing scene. She kind of went into her own little world after that, but the applaud of the crowd brought her back down to Earth. I need to remember to congratulate Twilight with the script because she left a lot of violence in the play, but didn’t kill anyone. Now it’s time for the real show to start. I get up and walk onto the stage. The applaud dies down before I start speaking. “Thank you all for coming to play I really hope you enjoyed it.” They cheer then the actors come on stage. “Now for being such a great audience these guys are willing to tell you their biggest secret.” An excited murmur runs through the crowd. It’s too bad all the ponies were wrong. “First up is little Eclipso here.” I feel a sudden weight on my shoulder, which had to be her. “She is an energetic girl who can somehow break my world’s logic. Now what she’s about to show you please do not panic she’s harmless.” The crowd laughs then they gasp when Eclipso reveals herself, but luckily no tried to run away. “Everyone as you can see she is a changeling and I know you’ve all had issues in the past, but other than her new form she’s still the same girl. Plus she’s a child would you really hold something against her that she didn’t do. Moving on to her sister. Moondancer is amazing magician as well as a great sister. You could probably guess what her secret is now.” Eclipso goes stands by her sister when she reveals herself. There was another gasp. “Next is Rainy Day a very clumsy yet incredibly nice girl.” She blushes, but she didn’t change until Skycatcher did. “And you all know Skycatcher the wonderbolt someone you all look up to. He’s someone who entertains you all because he likes to. Last, but not least Iron Hoof. Let me tell you he’s here because he fell in love, but he can’t bear to lie to her.” He reveals himself and there was one gasp in the crowd. Everyone was shocked to see they were changelings and it’s not surprising. “Everyone I know you are surprised, but the real point of this play was to bring your races together. You all watched the play and you all know these rivalries cause nothing but trouble. I want to end this hatred so changelings don’t have to hide and let me tell you it hurts to hide. I can relate because where I come from I had hide from everyone, but a few who were very close to me. Now imagine having to put on an act every day. You get up every morning and put on a fake smile. You then go to interact with others where you fake your personality and force emotions just so you can fit in. It will tear you up and you could lose yourself in this fake image you created. You will become the someone you hate. The changelings that live here probably go through this all the time and I am truly sorry for them. The ponies here unknowingly put this pressure on everyone around them and the changelings took the blunt of it. With all the lies they’ve had to tell to keep expectations they must feel a literal weight in their chest. Now please let them be themselves so they can take off this lead suit and live peacefully amongst you.” I look through the crowd and you can tell whose changeling or pony due to their facial expressions. The ponies look guilty and upset while the changelings looked pained. I continue to scan the crowd. I soon spot a changeling who seemed to be debating with himself and I hoped he was going to do what I thought he was. He stands up then a bright green flame engulfs him. There is now a changeling I haven’t introduced who grabbed the attention of the crowd. The pony next to him I assume was a close friend because she just stared in absolute shock. The pony’s eye start to tear up then started the uncontrollable sobs. She stands up and wraps her front hooves around him. “I’m sorry! I’m so terribly sorry if I caused you any pain! If I’ve done anything wrong I’ll do anything to make up for it!” She lets go of him then stares at him waiting for an answer. He gives her a soft smile before wiping some of her tears away. “Just give me a smile.” She gives him a big grin and this was quite a push for all the other changelings. There are now green flashes everywhere as the changeling show themselves. Like the first changeling the ponies around them would apologize and some would even start up a friendly conversation. I find Fluttershy in the crowd and I wave at her to come up. Fluttershy was hesitant, but thanks to Pinkie Pie she got the encouragement needed. She flies over the crowd catching every ones attention. She lands on stage then walks directly over to Iron Hoof. She stops in front of him then takes a deep breath. “I-iron H-hoof th-there is something I w-want to t-tell you.” This is exactly what I was hoping for and it seems she’s in her own little world so there won’t be any distractions. “I-I-I lo-lo-l-love you.” You could barely hear her. The crowd went silent. Iron Hoof looks her in the eyes. “I love you to.” The crowd goes wild, but Fluttershy and Iron Hoof are oblivious to it. Their faces were really close together because they were staring into each other’s eyes and an idea forms in my head. I step behind Iron Hoof and give him a nice hard pat on the back. He steps forward and makes contact. “Congrats on your first kiss.” They both pull away blushing madly. Iron Hoof turns around and starts to chase me out of embarrassment. The crowd got a kick out of that. The play was officially over and my plan was close to finish. I watch the crowd leave which included Fluttershy and Iron Hoof. I over heard them taking about going out to dinner and I am really glad for them. They make a great couple. As soon as I thought that it came back and hit me hard. I’m here alone separated from the one I love. I sigh before heading inside the castle. I have to go report the results to Celestia because none of the higher ups were able to attend the play. I go to her room and knock on the door. “Come in.” I enter the room and I see Celestia at her desk. It seemed that she was busy writing something. She looks up to me then frowns. “Is something wrong? Did the play not go as planned?” “I’m fine I just kind of threw myself into a little depressed state other than that the play was a huge success.” “That’s great I already have a letter ready to be sent to the changeling’s queen.” So that’s what she’s been doing. “Dillon if you tell me what’s wrong I will try to help you.” “I’m sorry, but I can’t put it into words.” “No need.” She walks up to me and her horn glows before she taps it on my forehead. It takes less then a second before she pulls away. She looks at me with sad eyes. She must be feeling the same stress in her chest like I do. “Dillon I’m a pony who’s been around for thousands of years and being royalty I’ve been able to get my hooves on every spell book made. I’m so sorry to inform you, but a spell to send you home doesn’t exist.” My chest feels like its been hit by a car. Before she could say anything else I darted out of the room. I storm down the hall and barge into my room. Twilight was there and it looked like she wanted to congratulate me, but I was in no mood to talk to anyone. “Get out.” “What?” “Get out.” “But Dillon.” “I said get out!” She looks at me shocked before she leaves. I hear someone else approach outside the door. It was Celestia and she tells Twilight my predicament. I couldn’t hold my feeling in any longer and I lost it. I trash the room by hitting things or by using magic. When I was finished I go sit on the bed and broke down crying. The next thing I know its morning. I must have cried myself to sleep. I just get up and leave. I feel to empty to care and I end up walking down to the train station. I know we were leaving sometime today so lay down on a nearby bench until everyone arrives. They all give me sorry looks, so I guess Twilight told them. I glace at Pinkie expecting her to try to cheer me up, but to my surprise she doesn’t. Twilight approaches me. “I made her Pinkie promise to give you some space, so don’t worry about her.” I nod then I get up and got onto the train. I lay down on one of the seats and I listen briefly to a conversation. It seems that Fluttershy actually spent the night at Iron Hoof’s house. That’s all I heard before I tune out the entire ride back. Once we arrive I walk to Fluttershy’s house and lay down on the couch where I fall asleep oblivious to everyone and everything. > Preparation > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever since I’ve come back from Canterlot I’ve been depressed. All I’ve done for the past three days is lay around and go to work. It just happens to be time for me to be going. I get up and leave without saying anything to Fluttershy. I head down to the town and I go to A.j.’s apple cart. She has me working here now because she knows how I’m feeling right now and I’m currently famous which is bringing her more customers. The news of what I did spread like wild fire. Twilight has even told me I would go in history for breaking down the wall that held the changelings and ponies apart. The day flies by and its time for me to go back home. I was dreading the walk back because I knew someone was going to try to cheer me up like they have been the last few days. The first day it was Apple Jack who tried to convince me that this was my new home. The next day it was Twilight and she tried to get it off my mind with books. Then yesterday they unleashed Pinkie who tried everything she could think of and to make her go away I had to fake a smile. I spot whom they sent today it was Rarity and Sweetie. I walk right by them hoping they wouldn’t stop me, but they do. “Dillon do you have a minute?” I stop, sigh then turn around to face her. “I know your having a hard time right now and I also know you don’t want to be bothered, but I’m here to invite you to come to the great dragon migration tomorrow.” Now this peaks my interest. Sweetie starts to jump up and down. “Yea big brother its gonna be so much fun.” Great now I can’t turn it down. I simply nod my head before I start walking again. They tag along back to Fluttershy’s house. Once we get there I take my place on the couch. Rarity goes to tell Fluttershy to bring me along tomorrow and Sweetie was sitting on my chest poking my nose while I was trying to sleep. They soon leave and I quickly fall asleep. I was awakened early the next morning by Fluttershy who gently shook me. She was ready to go and apparently she let me sleep in so we were late. I grab my magic ring and leave the others before following Fluttershy to a spot outside of town. I didn’t see the other ponies until I fell into the trench they were hiding in. They all had binoculars and they were dressed in camouflaged clothes. I take a seat and wait for the migration to start. Sweetie also takes a seat in my lap waiting for the show to start. Since I showed up everyone automatically thought I was better and they tried to talk to me with no avail. I was glad when the migration started because they became preoccupied with that. I have to say it was amazing to see all those dragons and it killed a good two hours. When I see the end of the group of dragons I stand up and stretch. I clime out of the trench and I was about to start walking back to Fluttershy’s house when I hear Twilight mutter under her breath. “What is he doing?” I stop then Rainbow Dash talks. “Why is that dragon flying off course?” I turn around and it was Pinkie’s turn to talk. “What a silly dragon. Maybe he wants to be our friends.” I look up to see the dragon heading in our direction. It was flying fast it would probably be here in less than three minutes. We all hold our ground and continue to watch the approaching dragon. Once he was close enough I saw that his eyes were locked on me and I knew he wasn’t here to make friends. “Get down!” I have just spoken my first words since coming back from Canterlot and it caught everyone off guard. I run and jump over the trench to stand in the large field waiting for the dragon. A.j. calls to me. “Why do ya want us to get down?” “Because there’s no time to run.” I can now feel the powerful wind coming from the dragons wing as it started to lower itself to the ground. Twilight then figured out what I was going to do. “You can’t fight a dragon they’re the strongest creatures in Equstria!” “Well they’ve never fought a human before lets see who really is strongest.” The dragon lands in front of me and it was huge at least 20 feet tall. Its scales are a glossy red and it had razor sharp claws. There was a deep rumbling sound that came from the dragon that was actually him talking. “Human I will destroy you before you destroy us.” “Look I don’t want to destroy anyone. The only time I would do this if you’re threatening my life or my friends are in danger and currently your doing both of these. I would advise you to leave before things get messy.” He lets out a gruff laugh before suddenly getting serious and he takes a swipe at me. I jump back and I barely avoid it, but I can’t say the same for my shirt though. I focus my magic to try to push the dragon back, but he didn’t budge. Twilight calls out to me. “Dillon dragons are almost magic proof, but your elemental magic should still work on him!” The dragon takes another swipe and I duck down. Its claw goes over my head, but the dragon goes for another swipe before I could stand up. I quickly kneel down and hold my hand out toward the oncoming claw. I make a large bolt of lightning and fire it. It hits the palm of the dragon’s claw causing him to reel back. I put too much into that shot because I was hit by a sudden dizziness and my nose starts to bleed. I know I’m not going to win this without a gem of some kind. The dragon was in pain and this is the only chance I had to say anything. “Rarity I need a gem now!” “I don’t have any with me, but I’ll get you one.” Her horn glows and she starts to search the trench. The dragon raises both of his claws and I spot the one I hit because it actually had a hole in it. He swings both of his claws trying to crush me between them, but I jumped up and landed on top of them. I hop down then he follows up trying to bite me in half. I sidestepped it then I made a kneepad with a small ice spike on it. I brought my knee up into the dragons jaw, but it just shattered the ice. Rarity then calls out. “I found a gem.” The dragon goes for another bite, but I leaped onto his snout. I tear the remainder of my shirt off and I throw it over his eyes before jumping back down. I then used my magic to make it glow brightly. The dragon reels back from the sudden blinding light while I was hit by another wave of dizziness. I hold my head with one hand when I turn around to keep the world steady. “Toss it now!” She tosses the gem and I catch it with my other hand. As soon as I caught it there was a loud crunch, a sharp pain in my side, and I was then flying through the air. I hit the ground and roll a few times. I let out a cry of pain because of my now broken ribs and maybe a fractured leg. I turn my head and I see the dragon hit me with his tail. He turns to face me and he opens his mouth. I see the fire building up. I hold the gem up to see it was brown. The dragon shoots off a massive fireball toward me, but I made a rock wall that brushed it off like it was nothing. I grit my teeth before I force myself to stand up. I limp toward the dragon while he continued to shoot off fireballs that had no effect against my rock wall. When I got close enough I shifted the ground under his feet causing him to tumble forward. He tried to push himself up, but I trapped his arms in giant stone blocks. Then I make stone loops to pin his tail and neck to the ground I also put one on his mouth to muzzle him. I slowly make my way over to him. “I’m going to release you and let you make a choice. If you leave you’ll live if you stay I will kill you.” I then make my way over to the trench before releasing him. He stands up and glares at me, but he takes off. I watch him fly a ways off before he makes a U-turn then fly strait back at us at full speed. “You idiot.” I wait until he was at the right spot then I make a giant stone spike. At the speed he was going he had no time to avoid it and he impaled himself. I sigh before I turn around to face the others. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” My legs then give out, but I passed out before I hit the ground. I awaken in an unfamiliar bed in a room with a single window and door. Light shone brightly through the window. I force myself to sit up and I let out a pained shout while doing so. I didn’t know someone was out side the door, but when I shouted she came in. It was Rainbow Dash. She comes in grinning. “It’s nice to know I have a friend stronger than a dragon.” “Yeah ok, tell me what’s happened since I’ve been out. “ “Well after you passed out we brought you to this hospital. You’ve been out two days and everypony has been taking shifts waiting for you to wake up. We were uh worried about you especially Sweetie Belle.” “I’m up now, you should go tell everyone that.” She nods then leaves. A few minutes later the door bursts open and Sweetie runs into the room. “Brother are you ok?” She jumps up, but I stop her in midair with magic. “Slow down your brother’s still broken.” I put her down at the side of my bed then Rarity walks in the room. She floats over my elemental rings as well as a new one. “I went on ahead and had my friend make a ring out of the brown gem.” “Thanks, I don’t think I’ll ever take these off again.” “I wouldn’t blame you after what happened. Also I’m glad you’re back to normal.” Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash come in. A.j. says hello then she starts a conversation with Dash. Fluttershy comes in a few minutes later. She was looking around worried. “What’s wrong, lose something?” “Um I seem to have lost Pinkie.” I feel a sudden sharp pain in my side. I look down and there’s Pinkie hugging me. I yank her off and throw her across the room. She lands on the wall then walks to the floor. “That was fun. Can we do it again?” “No!” “Ok!” Sweetie lets out a huff because Pinkie got a hug, but she didn’t. After awhile Twilight shows up and she was levitating a bottle of red liquid. She levitates it over to me. “This is a potion specially crafted by Zecora it should make you feel better.” “I hope it does.” I chug the bottle. Sweetie took no time to jump up to give me a hug. I flinch expecting a sharp pain, but I didn’t feel any. When Sweetie let go I pressed my side to test it. None of my ribs were broken. I get out of the bed and test my injured leg and again no pain. “I need to thank Zecora. That potion was great.” “You’re going to have to do that at another time.” “What? Why?” Shining Armor walks into the room and I already know it’s not good. “Oh crap something went wrong didn’t it?” “Unfortunately yes. After the changelings were revealed princess Celestia sent a letter to their empire, however they captured the pony that delivered it. Yesterday they sent a message back saying they will trade the pony for you and if we don’t trade you the pony will be killed at the end of the week.” “What are you going to do?” “I refuse to trade you. You have done something no pony could have done by helping both pony and changeling. I’ve decided to bring a group of soldiers and infiltrate the hive to take the pony back.” “No your not. You’re going to make a mistake.” “How’s that?” “If you attack the changeling hive the ones that I just helped aren’t going to like you. It tells them you’re willing to attack them to save one pony. You could however recruit some changeling soldiers to come help you. This solves only one problem though. Lets say your group goes to the hive two more problems will arise. Number one you fail and everyone you brought will be killed on the spot. Number two you succeed in rescuing the pony, but I have a feeling they’re not going to take it well and they will start an all out war.” “Then what should we do?” “You trade me.” “I already said I wouldn’t do that.” “Her message never said I couldn’t come prepared.” “But.” “Look I can do it if I’m prepared. You should know I just defeated a dragon and if I had my rings at the time I could have beaten him in less than a minute. I have six days before I have to show up that will be plenty of time.” “What about your problems wouldn’t they still be present?” “This would be something that needs to be released to the public. I will go to the changeling empire to try to solve things peacefully if it doesn’t go well I’ll take the pony by force, but cause as little damage as possible. If they try to declare any war it would be against me and not everyone else.” Shining sighs. “You’re not giving me a choice are you?” “Nope.” “What do you need?” “I need to know how long it will take to get to the hive?” “I could prepare a royal chariot to take you so it will only take a day.” “Ok also I need Iron Hoof to bring me my armor. Anything else I can get myself.” “Alright I’ll take my leave and prepare everything.” Shining turns to exit the rooms. Everyone was silent, but soon Apple Jack asked me a question. “Are ya really going to do it sugar cube?” “I am and I’ll need everyone’s help.” They gather around to here what I’m going to say. “Rarity I need a new shirt and strips of cloth. Pinkie you could make and deliver my lunch the next few days it would help. Dash you’re an athlete so you will make me a morning training schedule. Fluttershy when I come back a night I might need a message, so I can be ready the next day without being sore. Twilight I need you to find spells that could help or benefit me in any way. A.j. I know you have some alcohol and I’ll need some bottles.” “You sure, are you even old enough to drink?” I burst out laughing and she just looks at me confused. “They’re not for drinking. I’m going to make something out of them.” “A-alright then.” “Now when you finish or you would like to visit I’ll be at the place where we watched the great dragon migration.” I leave the room and make my way out of the hospital. It was in the middle of Ponyville so it was quite a walk there. When I arrived the first thing I do was take care of the dragon’s corpse by dropping it in a massive pit and sealing it. I used a lot of magic even with the ring on and was hit by a wave of dizziness. It took a minute before I recovered. An idea came to me of what I’ll train first, magic endurance. If a fight starts within the hive I’m going to need to be able to use my magic for long periods of time without getting hit by this horrid dizziness. I start with levitation and I found out two things. One I can only levitate things in a small range around me and two weight is a factor. I worked with this by lifting and moving the heaviest boulder possible for an hour. The next ring I try is ice. Its only limitation was how much ice I could make at once and the way I worked with it by constantly using it for the hour. Next is electricity and its limitation was the sky. If I’m in an open space I can create powerful bolts of lightning, but if I’m in an enclosed space it gets weaker. To train this I did the same like the ice, but in larger amounts. When I was done for the hour I collapsed onto ground because my head felt like it was going to split. While I lay there I caught a glimpse of Pinkie, A.j., and Sweetie. They all drop something beside me, probably what I asked them to bring. Pinkie then sticks her face in mine. “I brought you a late lunch.” I push her away before I roll over and grab the basket. A.j. must have helped Pinkie because everything was made with apples. I scarf the food down and I then stand back up. “Thanks.” A.j. approaches me. “I’m still wonderin what are ya going to make the alcohol?” “Here I’ll show you.” I go to her bag to grab a bottle and then I go to Sweetie’s to get a piece of cloth. I open the bottle then dunk the cloth inside before pulling it to where half was inside and outside. “You might want to move back.” They all step back before I light the cloth. I waited a few seconds and I then throw the bottle at the boulder. At impact the glass shatters then the boulder was engulfed in flames. “This is known as a Molotov and I will use it to keep violent changeling at bay.” Now that she has her answer she leaves with everyone else. It’s time to start training again. I’m going to work with fire and its limitation is intensity. To practice with this is difficult because the fire kept burning me and I had to stop to put ice on the burns. I move on to the last element earth and the only limitation was that I had to touch the ground. To train this I moved large portions of the ground around. I found out that I could sculpt things so I also practice making weapons out of the stone. For the next three hours I trained with a staff, sword, and with stone armor pieces to simulate the weight I would have to carry. It’s dark out now and I start to make my way back to Fluttershy’s house with my stuff. I go inside and drop down on the couch. I immediately fell asleep. I was abruptly awoken the next day by Dash who knocked me off the couch. “Get up it’s time for training.” She pushes me through the door then she not only gives me my schedule, but she coaches me as well. It takes all morning, but we finished just in time for Pinkie to bring us our lunch. When we were done eating Dash and Pinkie leave. The rest of the day I spent like yesterday, but I got to Fluttershy’s house later. Fluttershy gave me my massage then I fall asleep. The next day I was awoken by Iron Hoof who had my armor for me. He brings it in and I finally get to see it. It was silver and it looked like a normal suit of armor, but he added a horn on the helmet. He also made a shield to go with it that looks like a pair of wings. I tried it on right when Dash arrived and she made me do my morning training with it on. It was smart on her part other than the fact that I almost passed out. At lunch Rarity and Twilight shows up. Rarity repaired my Garfield shirt and gave it back to me. Twilight didn’t come to tell me about new spells, but other important information. “Dillon remember what Celestia said about how there’s no way for you to get home.” “Yea don’t remind me.” “When she said she’s read all of the magic books technically she hasn’t.” “What?” “The only books she’s read have been made by ponies, but you’re about to go to the changeling empire where they’re bound to have books she’s never seen before.” “Then there’s still a chance I could get home.” “Possibly.” “I would hug you right now if my arms didn’t hurt so bad.” “A thank you would suffice.” “No it wouldn’t. When I come back I’m going to get you some new books. Now if you would please excuse me I have some serious training to get back to.” They leave and I train even more intensely than I have the previous days. I go back to Futtershy’s house. I was about to open the door, but I hear Iron Hoof. I don’t want interrupt them and ruin the moment. I peer in the window and they are cuddling on the couch, where I sleep. I sit outside waiting for them to move, but it didn’t happen soon enough because I fell asleep where I sat. The last two days I continue training like I have been and I significantly improved all my magical abilities. I also grew use to the weight of the armor so I can maneuver around in it like it was nothing. It is now the day I have to leave and I’m waiting outside Fluttershy’s for the royal chariot. Everyone was there to say their goodbyes. They are all upset because they know it’s going to be dangerous and there’s a chance I might not come back. The chariot arrives and they have to give me hugs before I leave. The chariot takes off. After a weeks work of training and a day of traveling I now stand at the entrance of the changeling hive ready for what’s ahead. > Next In Line > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The chariot dropped me off at the base of a mountain. I glace around and I spot a train station that has a train full of rotting supplies. The ponies must have been planning to build a town here until they meet their neighbors. I continue to look around and there is a giant cave in the side of the mountain. It must be the entrance to the hive. I enter the cave to find that it was long and dark, but using my magic I made a light I could use. After a good ten-minute walk I come to a set of giant iron doors. It must be the actual entrance to the hive. I bang on the door and the metal on metal clank echoed through out the cave. A small slot opens and a changeling peers out takes a look at me then slammed it back shut. I bang on the door again. “Hey open the door or it’s going to come crashing down!” I step back and give them a few minutes, but they still haven’t opened it. I was about to unhinge the door from the stone wall when there was a loud creak and the massive door slowly opened. I was greeted by a group of eight changelings. The leader of the group steps forward. “The queen requests your presence. If you will please follow us.” I don’t have much of a choice because they surround me before they start the escort. While we were walking I got a good look around. It was a city carved into the mountain. It was probably as big as Canterlot with a castle set in the middle. The city had no natural lights, but they were using these green lanterns. They were placed on every house and brightly illuminated everything. I did spot other changelings on the way, however none of them looked happy. When they spotted the guards they took off running. I don’t know what the queen has been doing, but she doesn’t seem fit to rule if she is just going to cause her kind to live in fear and despair. We reach the castles entrance and the leader goes inside to fetch the queen. While I was waiting for them to return I noticed the guard to my right eyeing my unmade molotov strapped to my waist. “It was a long ride. This was all I brought to drink.” He looked away satisfied with the answer. After a few minutes the castle doors open. The leader of the group came out and rejoined us then a much larger changeling comes out. The guards all bow when it approached us. It must be the queen. Like I said she was taller than the other changelings and she had holes in her legs, tail, mane, wings, and her horn. She also had a green strip down her back and across her chest. She comes over to me and the guards move out of her way. She looks me over before smirking. “It looks like your ready for war.” “If it comes down to it I am, but if you will give up the pony peacefully no conflict will follow. Also if possible I’m here to make peace between you and the ponies.” “My letter stated I would only give the pony up if they traded you, but releasing her will have to wait.” “And why is that?” “Technically speaking you’re my property to begin with and I can keep that miserable pony as long as I like.” “You do not own me.” She laughs. “Have you ever wondered how you got here in this world and why?” “Yes of course I have.” “Well let me tell you how you came here. I had just failed in capturing Canterlot and I was busy planning another attempt. I had found out we were not strong enough by ourselves. I had to make an alliance of some kind and who would be better than the strongest creatures in Equstisa. I went to the dragons asking for help and I was planning on stabbing them in the back later on, however they turned me down before I could start my master plan. While I was leaving he made a comment saying maybe if I had a dragon slayer he would reconsider then he started to laugh like he’s said something funny. Out of interest I did some research on what dragon slayers were and I found out they were a creature known as a human. It was a shame when I found out none of your kind existed in our world, so I decided to make a spell that would snatch a character from a story. After creating the spell I found a written dragon story to test it on. I cast the spell, but instead of pulling a character from the story it tore open a space in the air. It showed your world and it then quickly moved closer. It moved straight down and it collided with your house. It went through your roof before hitting you. The next thing I know the tare was gone and a there’s a human passed out on the floor. I looked you over thinking this scrawny thing can kill a dragon. I had my soldiers get rid of you and scratched the spell marking it as a failure, but now you have proved me wrong. You have killed a dragon and I now have you back.” “You’re going to give me that spell right now.” She gives me a smug smile. “I never said the spell could take you home and I would only give it to you if were to help me in my conquest.” “I will never help you.” “All I need you for is proof so the dragons will assist me and because you’re here you’re mine.” One of her soldiers pulled my arms back then wrapped a length of chain around my arms. Me being peaceful just went out the window. I kick back at the soldier who tied my arms up. It was a solid hit that landed dead center of his face. The others were caught off guard and this gave me time to make a stone pillar to split the chains. The first to recover was the leader who charged at me, but was greeted by a shield to the face. The queen yelled at the six remaining changelings to get them motivated. “Capture him or it’s your heads.” They all charge at once, but I threw down a molotov stopping half of them. I turn to the other three and create a wall. Two of the changelings clear it then I put a path of ice on the ground. One of them lands and slides into a changeling behind me, but the other one was flying and tackled me the ground. He was going to bite me, but he just got a mouthful of metal from my gauntlet. I follow up with a headbutt forgetting there was a horn on the helmet. He lost an eye before he fell off of me screaming in pain. I stood up to be knocked back down by something. There was a sizzling sound then I see my shield was partially dissolved. I get back up to see it was the queen who fired the magic bolt. Her remaining soldiers recovered and they all charged again. Two were met by molotovs and engulfed by flames, but they’ll survive. The last two turned tail and ran. The queen charged another magic bolt then fired it at the runaways. They were hit and they yelled in pain as the acid like magic ate away at them. “Hey Lady leave your guys out of this!” “It’s Chrysalis!” She dashes forward while firing more magic bolts. I move out of the way of the bolts, but I failed to dodge Chrysalis who stampeded over me. I quickly get up at throw my last molotov at her, but to my surprise she shot it out of the air. She then makes a flying dash toward me. I hold up the remainder of my shield as I make a stone sword. She veered up right before I made my first swing and she was barely out of my reach when I swung again. Chrysalis flew high up out the range of any of my spells. She now has the advantage firing her spells down on me. I could solve this easily by making a pillar to stand on, but if she were to hit the pillar or me I would fall to my death at the height she was at. If I were to make a pillar to big for her to destroy I would be hit by dizziness leaving me as a target. She had me running around while I tried to think of something I could do. She got lucky with a solid hit on my leg. It dissolved the armor and badly burned my leg. The pain was excruciating, but I continued to avoid her attacks until my leg gave out. She was going to try to finish me off with a massive magic bolt. She was ready to fire, but she was suddenly tackled by something. She misfired the shot before she was tackled again. I had to squint to see her new attackers, which happened to be the two guards she attacked. Their wounds are horrible and it’s surprising they can even fly, but now she’s busy with something else. I create a pillar of stone and once I reached her height she killed off her guards. She got cut up and it seems she is now having difficulties flying. When she turned her attention to me I hit her wing with a fireball. She wouldn’t be in the air long and she knew it, so she tackles me off my pillar. As were plummeting to the ground we’re fighting to make sure were not the one to hit first. It didn’t work out well for either of us because we landed on our side. We were both lucky to survive the fall, but the loud crunch says we both have broken bones. She was the first to recover and she fired a bolt onto my chest. It ate through my armor, burned my chest, threw me across the ground, and sent sharp pains all throughout my body. I look to Chrysalis to see her push herself up as much as possible, but it wasn’t much because it seemed like her back was broken. I do the same and force myself up. Everything that was broken in the fight with the dragon was broken again plus more. The missing helmet and the bleeding from my head says I could have a fractured skull. I start to limp toward her when she shot off a spell. It was slightly different from her other spell because it went straight through the remainder of my shield and my side. I came close to collapsing, but I managed to stay on my feet and continue on. I covered half the distance to her when she shoots another one of those bolts through my shoulder. She’s lucky I need that spell from her or I would have killed her as soon as I got up. She went back to her acid spell and fired it at my face. I blocked it with my hand; unfortunately it was the one with my rings. I’m now right in front of her when her horn started to glow. I grab her horn, which hurt because every limb is screwed up in some way, and then I snapped it off. I grabbed her mane and pulled her head back then put the horn up to her neck. “You will make peace with the ponies and give me your spell or I’ll drag you back to Canterlot and let Celestia decide your fate.” She gives a pained laugh. “You know I’ll never make it to Canterlot.” “Then do what I ask and maybe you’ll get some medical attention.” “I won’t even make it back to my castle.” “Oh you’ll make it. The only the only thing wrong with you is back and your head, but look at what you’ve done to me and I’m still moving.” “It’s a shame this didn’t go according to plan, however the same will go for you.” She suddenly jerks forward. The portion of her mane I was holding was torn out and she slammed her neck upon the horn. Her green blood starts spewing. I drop her shocked that she just killed herself rather than doing what I asked. I was pissed, but I need to do what I was originally here to do and rescue the captured pony. After Chrysalis knocked me off my pillar we fell a good distance away from her castle. Now I start to limp all the way back and I think about the spell Chrysalis made. If I’m lucky maybe she’s written it down or left out the books she used to develop the spell. I reach the castle, climb the stairs, and open its massive doors. I look around to see her servants run and hide. I take two steps inside before passing out due to the adrenaline wearing off. I awaken in large bed, but I can’t see the room because the bed has black drapes. I can’t move, however I can see someone has taken off my armor and bandaged my wounds. Conveniently though a changeling opened the drapes and I assume it was to check on me. “Oh your awake, here let me get these out of your way.” He takes the drapes and ties them to the poles on the bed. It’s a shame I couldn’t turn my head and actually get a good look at my room. The changeling comes over to me carrying bandages. “Who are you and why are you helping me?” He undoes the bandages on my arm then starts to put on the new one before answering. “I’m Shade and I’m helping you because the queens no more. I can do as I please now like all the other changelings that were once under her rule.” “Ok where am I?” He moved on to bandaging my legs. “You’re in the queens room.” “Alright that raises more questions. Why am I here rather than a medical room?” He stops what he was doing and sighs. “I don’t know how you’ll react to the information, but you have been chosen to become the next ruler of our kind.” “Whoa, whoa wait what now!?” “After you defeated the queen the next in line would have originally taken her spot, however she has no relatives or children to take her place. The next thing we do is hold a vote on who will rule next and with how much you’ve helped us you won hooves down.” “How long have I been out?” “Not even a day.” “Wow you guys are certainly organized, but what if I don’t what to be king?” “It’s a bit late even if you don’t do your duties you’ll still be our king until you die.” “Ok, ok I’m not even going to try to deny this. I’ve seen enough pain that she’s caused, so I’ll be the best ruler you’ll ever have. Now first thing I ask is for you get me the pony that was captured.” “Yes sir.” He leaves the room and I’m left with the idea of being king buzzing around in my head. I grin to myself wondering how this will turn out. It didn’t take long for Shade to come back with a grey pony with crossed yellow eyes. “Uh hello.” She was scared and nervous, but that’s not surprising. “I’m going to release you and I would like you to get back to Canterlot as fast as possible to deliver a message to Celestia. Shade can you please write the letter to explain what has happened and ask them to bring back a healing potion from Zecora. He nods then they leave and a few minutes later Shade comes back. “One more favor to ask. I need Chrysalis’s horn and I’m sorry that you have to get it, but if I could walk I would get it myself.” He looks at me funny. “May I ask why you need it before I comply?” “I need it so I can use magic and she won’t be needing hers anymore.” “Alright I’ll be back soon.” He leaves and after a good twenty minutes he came back. I think he put it on a table next to the bed. “Thanks.” “Your welcome sir.” “Shade, out of curiosity how did you get stuck with taking care of me.” “Oh well I used to be the queens personal adviser, but I was treated more like her personal slave because she never listened to what I had to say.” “Nice, I’ll defiantly need your help because I don’t know the first thing when it come to leading an entire race. Wait a minute did you happen to be with Chrysalis when she made the spell that brought me here?” “I brought her books she asked for, but I did no more than that.” “That’s great do you think you could bring me any of the books she’s read?” “Yea sure I’ll go collect them now and I think you should know that she has a diary, but I don’t know where it is other than it’s in this room. It probably has more information, but we’ll have to look for it once you’re better.” “Alright we’ll do that.” He leaves and comes back with a set of books. He then leaves again and for the next two days he only came into the room to change my bandages or to simply check on me. It was around noon on my second day and I hear my door burst open. “What’s wrong Shade?” I hear quick hoof steps then something tiny jumps onto my chest. I clench my eyes shut as it sends waves of pain through my body. When I open my eyes I’m surprised to find Sweetie sitting on me. “Are you ok big brother?” “I will be once you get off of me.” I hear someone else enter the room. “My turn!” “Pinkie if you jump on me I will personally throw you in the dungeon!” “Oh that sounds like fun.” “That is in no way fun!” Sweetie hops off me causing me to cringe. I then hear more hoof steps and they walk into my view. It was Twilight, her friends, Iron Hoof, Shining Armor, and Shade. Shining looks me over. “You sure made a mess out of yourself.” “Yea one side is broken the other is badly burned.” “Hey Twilight you should give him his potion now.” She nods and levitates the potion over to me. “I hate to ask, but I can’t move my arms.” She got the idea and tips the bottle back for me to drink. When I finish it I immediately feel better. I get up out of the bed and stretch. Sweetie came up to me and hugged my leg then Pinkie jumped on my back to hug me. It became a hug fest because all the girls had to hug me. Twilight gives me a warm smile. “Come on lets go home.” “I’m sorry, but I can’t leave right now.” “Why not?” “Celestia didn’t tell you did she?” “All she told us was that the situation has been dealt with and that we needed to deliver the potion for you.” “She left out the most important part of my message then. After I defeated the queen I was knocked out for a short period of time and during that time Shade here set up polls to decide who would become the next ruler of the changelings. I helped the changelings immensely in the short time since I’ve been in this world and they thought I should take command. I am now the king of the changelings.” They all gasp and then Iron Hoof trips over himself before bowing. “There’s no need for that.” He lifts his head. “You’re all welcome to stay as long as you like, but I need to stay because Twilight was right. I found out that Chrysalis was the one who brought me here by using a spell she made using these books. As you can see I’m going to have a lot of studying to do, so in the meantime Shade can show you around. Will that be fine with you Shade?” “Yes.” “Great you should start now if you want to finish by tonight. Oh and I’ll need to borrow Pinkie for a minute.” Shade leads them out of the room and leaves Pinkie. “What do you need me for?” “I just want to play a quick game.” “Oh what game are we going to play checkers, tag, chess, hide and seek?” “None of those, we are going on a small scavenger hunt. We are going to look for a hidden book in this room and the winner gets to plan a festival for when I’m publicly crowned.” As soon as I finish the sentence she starts dashing around the room. It took her less than a minute to find it behind a large mirror on the wall. She comes over and gives it to me. “Wow Pinkie that was a quick win. You should go join the others so you can see how you want to set up the festival and let the others know to see if they would want to help.” “Ok, but when would you like it to be held?” “Anytime you please.” “Great we’ll have it tomorrow evening.” She turns then skips out. I might want start studying before tomorrow. I look at the diary and it looked like a normal book other than it has three locks on it. I pick up Chrysalis’s horn and I hope it will work like a pony horn. I cast an electric spell and it worked. I flip open the diary to the last entry, but it’s a shame I can’t read it. Just great I’ll have to wait for Shade to get back so he can translate. I wait a good two or three hours before Shade gets back. “You want to be publicly crowned tomorrow. Do you know how little time we have to set that up?” “Hey let Pinkie handle it. She could have it done tonight if she wanted, but for now I need some help translating this.” I hold up the book and he looks surprised. “You found it already.” “I had some help, but yeah here it is.” I give it to him. “Please tell me anything that relates to the spell that brought me here.” He nods before flipping through the pages. His eyes quickly scan the pages, but he starts to slow down before he starts to blush. “You find something good?” “Lets just say I now know why I have this job.” “Oh wow ok then.” He continues reading and he finally gets to the part that involves the spell. It was a combination between a teleportation spell and a creation spell. The teleportation spell will be easy to find as well learn, but what is a creation spell? I have Shade fetch Twilight since she’s the one who knows the most about magic. When she came in I asked about the two spells. She knows how to use the teleportation spell and she quickly teaches me. The other she knows what it does, but she’s never actually preformed it. It allows you to make one object into another like turning silver into gold. It was more of a transmuting spell to me. The real issue though is putting the spells together the way Chrysalis did. I let Twilight head back to her room, but before she left I gave her some books. She may not be able to read them now, however knowing her she’ll learn the language. I was starting to get tired and in here I can’t tell if it’s night or day. I release Shade then go over to lie on the bed. It takes a few minutes before I fall asleep. The next morning I was awoken by Shade. He held up a paper that had the changeling language and my own. Apparently he went to Twilights room and asked if she knew my language. He also asked if she could help translate it, which she did. Now I can do some serious studying. Shade and me search for the creation spell. For a simple spell it sure took a long time to find. I now have both spells, but how am I supposed to put them together. I have Shade go back to reading Chrysalis‘s diary to see if there is anything about how she put them together. We didn’t have to time find it before Pinkie came to get us to help set up the festival. We leave the castle and we found that Pinkie almost had the entire kingdom helping her. We were done relatively fast. Now it’s time to have fun. I let Shade go and do as he pleases before I start to look around. As I pass the vendors and the games the changelings tried to give me stuff for free, but I politely turned them down. After walking around awhile I run into Rarity and Sweetie. “Hey Rarity. Where are the others I would expect then to be with you?” “Oh we split up to look around a bit, but we’re going to meet up later your highness.” She was teasing me and I could tell that by the way she was smiling. “Your highness here might has a long term job for you. How would you like to make clothes for royalty?” “I would love to. I’ve always wanted to make elegant clothes for kings and queens.” “Great, if you do this Celestia and Luna might start asking you to make their clothes. Another bonus is that it’s going to be a well paid job.” “How much?” “Take what you make now and lets triple it.” She’s practically bouncing with excitement. “I get to do what I love with one of my dreams and I can get about anything I would want with that new income. I have to go tell the others the good news.” She runs off and left Sweetie with me. “What would you like to do until your sister realizes she left you?” “Lets go play some games!” “Alright lets go.” We go to a game where you had to knock the bottles down with a ball. I let Sweetie go first and she knocks down three of the five towers. When I go I purposely hit only one. Sweetie hops up and down. “I win I win I win.” A small group of kids gathered around. One of them steps forward. “Can we play too?” “Sure why not.” We continue to play and I purposely lose to them. They were all having a blast and we continue doing so until Shade came to get me. He brings Sweetie and me back to the castle up to a balcony. There we met Iron Hoof and Fluttryshy. It seems that Iron Hoof had the honors to make the crown and he was all night making it. The crown was a simple black and it was encrusted with emeralds. Since Pinkie was the one who set the entire thing up she wanted me to walk out and crown myself, but I cast the idea aside. I’ll do it my way that will hold a greater meaning behind it. I’ll have Fluttershy and Iron Hoof crown me. I tell them what they need to do then walk out on the balcony before they could answer. As soon as I step out I notice the large crowd gathered at the base of the castle and when they noticed me they all start to cheer. Iron Hoof and Fluttershy comes out the crowd starts to quiet down. Next Sweetie came out holding the crown the crowd goes silent. Fluttershy and Iron Hoof take the crown and hold it above my head. Everyone is holding their breaths until it was placed on my head and the crowd releases the loudest cheer I’ve ever heard. Now that I’m officially king its time for my first decree. I step forward and everyone gets quiet expecting me to speak. “I have been wondering how much do you changeling like living in this remote cave were there is no natural lights or seasons to enjoy.” Shade stands beside me and I hear him whispering. “We all despise it here. This is we were forced to live for as long as we can remember.” “You have all lived here against your choice, but now you will have one. I would like you all to help me create a new kingdom by the town of Ponyville. There you can live happy lives and meet new people. Even if you don’t want to live there you now have the choice to go wherever you please.” “When will this be done?” “Anyone who is willing to help may join me on the unused train outside of the mountain tomorrow morning and if there is anyone here who has experience driving a train please come see me. Make sure you bring what you need because we will stay there until we’re finished. When we are done we’ll send a message back telling the rest that you can now come.” I was done with what I wanted to say and I go inside the castle with Shade. He has a question for me. “Why do you want a new kingdom and why so soon?” “I don’t like it here and you told me everyone else does as well. This place holds a dreadful feeling even after Chrysalis fell. I don’t want to sound mean, but I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.” I go and collect the few things that I have so they can be ready for tomorrow. Shade leaves, but he soon comes back with news that we have two changelings who are willing to drive the train. I have some important news for Shade as well. “Shade I hate to tell you this, but your going to have to stay here.” “How come? Won’t you need my help?” “Of course I need you help, however I need you to stay behind because someone has to run things while I’m out.” “You’re leaving quite a large responsibility with me. Fine I’ll do it.” “Thanks. Now if you’ll please excuse me I’m going to go to bed.” He nods before he leaves and then I go jump into bed. It didn’t take long before I nod off. I get up early the next morning and get my stuff before I leave the castle. I walk through the town to the giant metal doors and they were already open so that means some changelings are waiting for me. I walk through the long tunnel then I make my way down to the train. I was surprised when I saw who was there. It was the queen’s guards. The reason I could tell was because there is six of them one with an eye patch, two have scars all over caused by burns, and the rest were badly bruised. “Uh hey guys I’m so sorry about our fight earlier especially you three. What can I do for you?” “We’re here because we wanted to help make the new kingdom.” “Really even after what I did to you.” “These injuries are nothing compared to what you did by removing the queen from power.” “Wow, well I’m glad you guys are going help.” They get on the train and I see the next group coming. It’s Twilight, her friends, Shining, and Iron Hoof. They are taking this as a ride back, but I know they will help as well. Then the next group comes and it’s huge. They all start getting on the train and I ask the last guy if there will be anymore coming, but he told me this will be all. I get on the train and we soon set off. It was a two day trip and I spent that entire time studying my books. As soon as we got off the train we got to work. We went to the edge of the Everfree forest and started to clear out the trees. It took all day, but with the amount of changelings and ponies that came to help we finish the area where were going to put the kingdom. The ponies are kind enough to let the changelings stay at their houses while we do construction. I didn’t even ask, but I went straight to Fluttershy’s house and took my spot on the couch. I went back to studying until I fell asleep. For the next three weeks it was building, studying, and sleeping, but we were finally finished. Everyone moved in and everyone was happy especially me when Rarity had her friend make my rings again. I continue my studies for another week before I finally figured out how the spell worked. It required a story and an object you want to pull from it. The creation spell is to image that object and the teleportation spell is to bring that object to you. However after testing it by tearing the hole open to my world I found out living things can only come from my world to the one I’m currently in. I used animals to come to that conclusion, but if it’s not alive I can send things through. I’ve been using this to send letters back home and to all my friends telling them I’m all right, but I don’t tell them anything about this world. The only person to receive full details was my girlfriend and I sent my phone as well so she didn’t think is was some kind of cruel joke. The proof was on the phone with the last ten percent I took pictures as well as a video here. After this we kept in touch by letters, but they weren’t enough as we are people who would rather talk face to face. Her letters show that she’s been having a hard time beginning with my disappearance, school has become unbearable, and she can’t stand being around people. She made it seem like the world was after her. I gave her an offer that she could come here, but a warning went with it as well telling her she won’t be able to return. Another week passes and she takes the offer seeing that she can still keep in contact with letters. She collects her things and then I bring her here. She’s shorter than me and just as thin as me, but just by a bit. She’s dyed her short hair a dark blue. She has green eyes and a small nose and mouth. She hates her nose, but I think the exact opposite. Its been to long since I’ve last seen her and I couldn’t help myself, so I give her a hug. When I released her she surprised me with a kiss. I absolutely hate when they end because the feeling always lingers on my lips and I always want another. She gives me a smile and I return it. I am overjoyed now that she’s here with me as she is my true love and hopefully my queen. > In The End > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Its been five years since I came to Equestria and in this time I’ve tried to be the best king possible. Of course I needed help a lot of help, but thanks to Shade’s advice and the princesses experience I can run my kingdom efficiently. I’m obviously not the only one to change after all these years. Twilight became a princess and an alicorn. She had just as many troubles as I did when I started, but she got a good grip on it after her first year. Another kingdom was made for her on the other side of Ponyville. After it was finished Ponyville became one of the largest cities in Equstria. Rarity’s business is now massive due to all the residents that live here. She had to hire others to keep up with the wants of everyone. She’s become a well-known clothes designer and often meets with famous ponies to talk about what they would like to wear. Rainbow Dash achieved her dream of being a wonderbolt. I’ve seen some of their shows and they were great. I even get to see Skycatcher again and Rainy Day is normally with him because they are now a happily married couple. Apple Jack is doing what she’s always has, but on a larger scale. The population grew; so more people are buying her apple products. With all the money they’ve acquired they made a bigger barn. Pinkie Pie has been a big help. With two kingdoms there are multiple events and she plans most of them out for us. Half of the time we don’t ask she just appears with the plans ready. I swear she must have a cabinet full of preplanned parties. Fluttershy and Iron Hoof are married now. Two years afterwards they had a kid that looks like Futtershy, but has the colors of Iron Hoof. Today she is turning three and I going to be stuck with watching her while everyone sets up her party. It also just happens that I have to go meet with the princesses at the same time. I leave the castle and start to make my way to Fluttershy’s house, but I run into the Sweetie Belle. She is now a preteen and she’s finally got her cutie mark. The same goes with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. “Hey brother.” “Hi Sweetie. What are doing here?” “I came to bring you something.” She steps to the side and there’s Fluttershy’s kid. Well that makes things easier because now I’ll be on time with my meeting. Sweetie turns and leaves, but calls back. “I will come get you when were finished.” I look down to the kid who was poking at a rock she found. It was perfectly fine until she tried to put it in her mouth. I snatch it from her then pick her up and put her under my arm. “If you’re hungry we can go to the dining hall.” I walk back into the castle while she squirms trying to get away, but she quickly gives up when she figured out she’s having no effect. We go to the dining hall then into the kitchen. I put her down and let her wander around until she found what she wanted to eat. She found some strawberries so I take them and she follows me back into the dining room. I pull out a chair for her and I put them down. She hops onto the chair before digging in. When she finished I picked her up before heading to meeting room. The room is empty other than a table, chairs, some papers, and a tiny box. I put her down again and she immediately went for the papers and the box. I move them out of the way. “Oh no these are important. If you want to play with something play with this.” I take off my crown and drop it on her head. She moves to the corner of the room before taking it off and fidgeting with it. A few minutes later there was knock on the door and I go to open it. Standing there was Shining Armor, Cadence, Luna, Celestia, and Twilight. They come in and find a spot around the table. Cadence was the first to notice the kid. “Aww is little Nightshade going to help us with our meeting?” “Yep just until her p-a-r-t-y is ready.” Nightshade has gotten bored with my crown and started looking around to see who’s here. When she spotted Twilight she jumped up and ran over to hug her legs. “Auntie.” Twilight gives a soft laugh. She takes all of her papers out of her saddlebag before dropping the bag on her back. “Go play with that. Auntie and her friends need to work.” The first thing she does is going around the table to see what she could have and surprisingly everyone gave her something. She goes back into the corner where she left my crown to play with everything. “Ok now that she’s busy lets gets down business. How do we want to set up the summer games?” We started these a little after Twilight got her kingdom. It was meant to be kingdom vs. kingdom and as a requirement Twilight and me entered. It was popular as, so many planned to enter or watch the events. It was so popular we held another one in the winter, but this time Luna, Cadence and Celestia decided to join. Again its popularity grew and now it’s held every season. After the second year of holding these events we added team vs. team events. They’re held after the kingdom events and in them you’re placed in a random team of five from there you would have to decide who would be best for what event. I’ve joined all of these and they’re great. This meeting is to decide what games will be played, but they are the ones who do most of the planning since I can’t match their sports with the name. I end up listening to them while I watch Nightshade. She plays with everything a good ten minutes before she couldn’t sit still anymore. She gets up and walks awkwardly to me. I already had a good idea why. “Need to use the bathroom?” She nods. “Ok let me show you where it is.” I get up and we leave the room. “Alright we’re going to turn left head down the stairs.” Before I could finish telling her where it was she took off running. Apparently she really has to go. I take off after her and it was easy to keep, but she caught me off guard when we reached the stairs. She jumps from the top spreads her wings and quickly glides down. I have to rush down to meet her. “Now go right down that hall. It’s the third door on the left.” She runs down the hall and takes a right, but then she realizes it wasn’t the right room. She darts over into the correct room. After a while she comes out and we go back to the meeting room to find out no one realized we left. Nightshade goes back to playing while I actively participate in the meeting now that they came to the conclusion of what games will be played. For the next hour we planned where, when, how long, and effectively getting the news out. Now the meeting is over and everyone was collecting their things. Nightshade was however a little reluctant to give us our stuff back. They just started to say goodbye when Nightshade had the idea to play a game. She goes over to Celestia and pokes her leg. “Tag!” Celestia smiles then gently pokes her back. “Tag your it.” Nightshade immediately tags her back. Celestia then tags Cadence who tags Shining then Twilight then Luna. I step out of the circle, so I won’t be dragged into anything that’s about to happen. They are all continuously poking at one another until Cadence darted out of the room giggling. They all run out after her running in all directions. I sigh before stepping out of the room. “My castle isn’t a playground!” I can’t believe I have to state that to adults and royals at that. I go down to the main entrance where they’re playing and I stood to side while they chased one another. They kept this game going a good half hour before Sweetie came in and the only time I interfered was to trip Shining Armor so Nightshade could tag him. “Hey Sweetie please tell me your finished setting up. I’ve grown tired of their racket.” “Yea we are.” “Good. Hey Nightshade it’s time to take you back home!” Nightshade runs over to us and we leave without saying anything to anyone because as soon as they realize the game is over they’ll come join us at the party. On our way to Fluttershy’s house Nightshade started to fall behind so I pick her up and we finish the walk to the house. Knowing that Pinkie set the party up I can assume this is supposed to be a surprise. Sweetie opens the door and no one in sight confirmed my thought. Sweetie goes in first then Nightshade and me. As soon as I step through the door everyone jumps out. “Surprise!” There was absolutely no response from Nightshade. I look down at her and I start laughing. “She’s fallen asleep.” Fluttershy comes over to me and I put Nightshade on her back. She goes upstairs to put her daughter in her bed. While she was doing that I looked around to see who was here. There was obviously Fluttershy and Sweetie then there’s Iron Hoof, Pinkie, A.j., Dash, Rarity, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Eclipso, Moondancer, Skycatcher, Rainy Day, and lastly my beloved Starr. She is treated and acts like a great queen, however the queen part is more of a title because we aren’t married. Fluttershy comes down stairs and informs us that Nightshade will probably be asleep for the next hour or so. We were going to have to surprise her once she’s woken up and comes down stairs. Everyone starts conversations with each other, but me. I go lay down on Fluttershy’s couch which I have to say is more comfortable than my bed. A few minutes later the princesses show up with Shining Armor and they were relived when they found out they didn’t miss the surprise. They quickly mingle with everyone else. A little later Starr comes over and gives me a look that tells me to move over. I refused to move by making myself more comfortable, so she responds by sitting on my chest. “Do you have to sit on me?” “I gave you a chance to move, but you didn’t therefor you deserve this.” “Fine then take this.” I poked her sides and she lets out a squeak. Her hands immediately go up to cover her mouth. She then playfully swings at my head, but I hold my arms up grinning at her attempt to get me back. She then crosses her arms and makes a pouting face while I’m still smiling like a fool. Then Rainy Day bumps into the couch while she was heading over to her husband. Since it was Rainy Day the legs of the couch decide to give out. It was unexpected, so I ended up gripping the couch and Starr fell on top of me. We’re face to face and I must have had a face of pure shock because she starts to laugh at me. I really hate karma, but I can deal with this. I reach up and put my hand on the side of her face. She’s smiling now and puts her hand upon mine before leaning in. We share a kiss then we hear an aww from half the ponies in the room. That caused us to blush, get up, and do something to work off the embarrassment. She goes into the other room while I start fixing the couch. When I was doing this Iron Hoof came over to tease me. “Well that was a nice little show. Maybe next time you should remember that there are others in the room.” “Hey need I remind everyone of your first kiss with your beloved wife because I certainly remember it in great detail as I’m the one forced it upon you two.” That shut him up. After a while I finished fixing the couch and then we hear footsteps from upstairs. Pinkie quickly starts to direct us to our hiding spots. I was told to hide on the ceiling and she knows I can do this as I’ve used it to play a prank on her once. I jump up and touch the ceiling freezing my hands to it then swinging my legs up to do the same. With what Pinkie wants us to do I’m afraid that we’re going to make Nightshade cry rather than just surprise her. We can now hear Nightshade coming down the stairs and once she reached the bottom everyone except me jumped out. She was certainly surprised as she jumped, her eyes grew wide, then the tears started to well up. Now I’m going to have to fix this before she starts to cry and it’s going to hurt. I quickly heat the ice then I plummet the short distance to the floor. I land on my back, but it was worth it as she started to giggle at my pain. Pinkie then gathers everyone into the other room, so they can cut the cake while I just lay here on the floor. A minute later Starr comes into the room to help me up. The rest of the party goes on without any problems as she enjoyed the cake, loved her presents, and won Pinkie’s idea of a board game tournament. With the amount of people here this took hours to finish, but it was fun. It’s now dark out, so Starr and me say goodbye to everyone before leaving. The sky was clear of any clouds and you could clearly see the moon and stars. It would be a waste to go back to the castle on this beautiful night. “Hey Starr you think we can take a detour before going back to the castle?” “Sure, but where are we going to go?” “You’ll find out once we get there.” After a few minutes we’re at the park. I find a bench to sit on that has a clear view of the sky and then Starr comes to join me. She leans her head onto my shoulder and takes my hand. We stay like this awhile gazing off into the night sky. Then I decided this would be the best time. I stand up in front of her and take a deep breath. “I know what I’m about to say will seem to come out of no where, but as you know I love you dearly and I’ll do anything for. You’re my motivation and support without you I would fall apart and I wouldn’t be here. You’re one of the few people who I’m truly happy with and because of that I’ll do whatever I need to keep you happy as it tears me up to see you sad. I know in the past when you’ve been upset while I was around and I’ve helped you, but I feel that I never did enough and I regret that. Today however I’ll fix that and hopefully make us happy the rest of our lives.” I kneel down and pulled out the box. I open it revealing an obsidian ring embedded with emeralds. “Will you marry me?” She let out an exited squeal before jumping onto me. I was bounded by a hug and surprised with a kiss. I’ll take that as a yes. When she let me go I returned her answer with my own hug and kiss. We then get up and walk hand in hand back to the castle. The news spread like wild fire because by noon the next day everyone knew. It seemed that the messenger I saved years ago was flying by after a late night trip to the store for some muffins when she overheard the whole thing. Our wedding was planned for next week and for as long as I’ve been king this has to be by far the hardest thing to plan for. It was going to be a public wedding and I needed all my friends to help with every little detail. The week was chaos, but today is the day and it will all be worth it. I’m nervously standing at the makeshift alter in front of the population of Ponyville while waiting for my bride. She now appears and makes her way up the aisle. I do have to say that Rarity outdid herself as Starr is already beautiful, but the dress amplified her beauty and I’m just standing here in a normal suit. She reaches the alter and I see that she’s blushing madly and it’s adorable. Celestia is up hear as well as she is the giving us our vows. Now we officially begin. Celestia starts with an opening statement, it moves on to the significance of our vows, the actual exchanging of the vows, the exchanging of the rings, and then what everyone been waiting for the kiss. The big wedding is over. My lovely wife and I quickly retreat back to our castle before the crowd could get to us. Now as a married couple we’ll be together no matter what. We will enjoy the good times and work through the tough for ourselves and now for our kingdom.