> Knight of the Heart > by Neroson40 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > the New Student > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knight of the Heart The New Student My name is Champion; I’m the last pony that even I expected to be where I am now. Like Princess Twilight Sparkle before me, I studied magic as hard as I could, never for a minute thinking that I would be the best. But here I am; Princess Celestia’s third student here at the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns. I hated that school, but I couldn’t bear to leave. Not after all the trouble Princess Twilight went through to put me there. What I hated the school for wasn’t the classes, they were a breeze, easy for me to get. What I hated about the school was the rest of the students. This hatred started the first day, when Princess Celestia introduced me to the school as her new student. Everyone who actually worked for that position started to hate me, but they didn’t know that I had no time to work for it. Until I was taken in by Princess Twilight, I was all alone in the world, no family, no friends, no one. She taught me everything she could, which was enough to pass the Entrance Exam. But it was my past that got me my position as Celestia’s student. And I hated that. My greater story begins when Princess Celestia summoned me to her throne room. My dragon assistant, Scorch, read a letter with only five words written on it. “Champ, see me at once.” When I went to the tower, I noticed somepony standing in front of Princess Celestia. She was a silver unicorn with a blue mane and tail, I couldn’t see her eyes, but she didn’t have a cutiemark. Just like someone else I know. “Champ, this is my friend’s daughter Melody,” Princess Celestia said. “Mel this is Champion, my third Student.” Melody turned around to meet me, showing her ruby eyes. There was definitely something special about her, otherwise I wouldn’t be brought here to meet her. “Nice to meet you,” I said. Already I was looking for a reason not to like her. Melody smiled quietly, not bothering to respond. “Why isn’t she saying anything?” I asked Princess Celestia. “She has very damaged vocal chords,” She answered. “And she’ll be staying in the school until we find a healing spell that can mend the injury. Not to mention as my sister’s student.” My eyes widened. Were they planning on putting her with me? That was stupid! “She’ll be staying with her until the new tower is finished.” I relaxed a little; at least I didn’t have to worry about having a conversation, let alone monopolizing one… or worse… I’d rather not have that train of thought. But then I hopped on another train, why did Celestia summon me to meet her if there was literally nothing to do with me? “Princess Celestia?” I said. “I have one question for you.” “Ask away, Champ.” “Why did you bring me here if this had nothing to do with me?” “I’m pulling you out of your classes and teaching you and Mel myself… with Luna’s help, of course.” > The Melody in My Mind > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Melody in My Mind Why would Princess Celestia do that? Pulling me out of all of my classes wasn’t the right thing to do, was it? I mean sure I hated everyone in the classes I was in, but… I don’t know; I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I would be leaving my classes for Princess Celestia’s personal tutelage. Then there was that new mare, Melody. Just who was the friend that she was the daughter of? I was watching the sunset from my tower; it was the only thing that brought me happiness in this school, along with the ice cream I ate with the show. Princesses Celestia and Luna always took their time with it, to make sure I had something to look forward to every day. But today, the only thing that filled my mind were thoughts of my family, and the horrible accident that happened to them, leaving me to wander Equestria, looking for a home. Then I heard the music, a pan flute coming from Princess Celestia’s tower. It snapped me out of my depressing daydream to notice that the sunset was over. Scorch was sound asleep in his bed, just at the foot of mine, so I guess it must’ve been late. I looked at the tower to see who was playing, and saw melody, moon raising behind her, using magic to hold the pan flute to her mouth… she looked beautiful. That one thought made me depressed; if she got a chance with everypony else in the school… she could’ve been very popular, unlike me who had a chance and wasn’t given hay. She put the flute away inside and I heard a voice in my head. “Feeling better Champ?” I looked to Melody to see if she could hear it too, but she was looking right at me, like the gentle voice in my head was a… telepathy… spell… she… cast… oh… “That’s the whole reason I play, after all.” “Thanks,” I said telepathically. “But I learned a long time ago, not to trust or rely on anypony.” “Well, that’s not how the world works,” Melody said. “In order to get anywhere, you need to trust other ponies.” Trust other ponies? Yeah right. It was because of other ponies that my family is gone… and the entire school hates me. Immediately I regretted that thought, because telepathy spells work both ways. “I just don’t think I can.” “Everypony can, you just need to find the strength to do it.” > The Friend I Never Had > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Friend I Never Had The summer of that school year came within the week, and Princess Celestia sent me back to Ponyville to spend it with Princess Twilight. I would’ve been fine with that; Princess Twilight was the one pony I felt I could fully trust with anything. But I wasn’t going back alone. Melody was put in my care for the summer, so everywhere I went, she was there with me. The only time I could actually think freely was in writing stories but I didn’t find a lot of help in it. We were in the chariot, Scorch the only company I could tolerate. The Pegasus flying the chariot kept a steady pace as they flew for the Palace of Friendship. I slid each of them fifty bits, thanking them for their service. “So, here we are,” I said. “The only place still standing I call home.” “What happened to your real home?” Melody asked telepathically. I showed her the memories of my home being destroyed by the monsters that were alien to Equestria despite the guard’s best efforts to stop them. “I see.” “So, why did Princess Celestia send you here with me?” I asked. “Don’t you have a family to go back to?” then the door opened and Spike, Princess Twilight’s assistant Dragon ushered us in, both by name. “So, Melody,” Spike said. “How was your adventure in Canterlot?” I didn’t hear the response because it wasn’t for me, but I could take a guess at what she did say. “Really? Does it hurt?... I see, let me get your mother.” Mother!? As the thought occurred to me, Princess Twilight came down the stairs that led to her chambers. “Welcome home, Melody!” Princess Twilight said. “And you too Champ.” “Melody’s your daughter, Princess Twilight!?” She rolled her eyes when I called her “Princess.” She didn’t like her friends calling her that, and she considered me a friend for some reason. “Yes, she is my daughter. Why? Did you hear something about her at school?” “Only that her vocal chords are damaged and that her mother is a friend of Princess Celestia. But if you’re her mother… then where’s her father?” Twilight looked down and I got the picture. Fifteen years ago, he died in the Kaiju War. Just like my mother, father, and sister. “Oh…” “My father saving Equestria isn’t important,” Melody said. Saving? “What is important is that you’re here in Ponyville for a reason right?” “Tsk,” I said. “Don’t remind me,” I was told to “make some friends” under orders of Princess Celestia… yeah right, like that would happen. “Champ I was told about your orders for being here too,” Prin- Twilight said. “You didn’t strike me as the antisocial type I was before I came here.” It’s true. I wasn’t always against the idea of friends and relationships. In fact the only reason I was an antisocial jerk at this point was because of my experience at the school. But sometimes I think that the biggest mistake anypony could make is sending me to Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns to be Princess Celestia’s personal student. I always thought it was an honor I didn’t deserve and everyone agreed though they didn’t understand that I think the same way… okay now I’m just brooding, Moving On! “Champ, Listen to me,” Melody said. “You won’t get anywhere if you don’t trust anypony. This is the biggest lesson anypony has to learn.” I couldn’t take any more; I got up and left the Castle, going out into the streets of Ponyville to seek out sanctuary. Big mistake. Everywhere I looked there was friendship and unity in some way shape or form. I hated the town even more for showing me the one thing I could never have… then somepony jumped in my face. “Hi! Are you new here!?” I looked this pony up and down, there was nothing about her besides her eyes and cutiemark that wasn’t pink. Her hair and tail were all over the place, like frosting on a cupcake gone wrong. “Yeeeaaah,” I said slightly creeped out. “I’m new.” “I’m Pinkie Pie; call me Pinkie, nicetomeetchawhatsyournamefavoritecolorfavoritefood-” “Gah!” I said. “Slow down! Geez!” Pinkie giggled. “I’m sorry, What’s your name?” “Champion, the few friends I have call me Champ.” “You seem lonely, why is that, Champ?” I froze when she called me “Champ.” “When did I say we were friends!?” I exclaimed. “I barely even know you!” “You don’t like making new friends?” Her hair started to straighten out a bit, and she looked like she was gonna cry. I hit myself in the forehead for being so stupid. “It’s not that I don’t like making new friends… I don’t want to talk about it.” “Come on then,” Her hair started to get puffy again. “I’ll help you make friends the only way I know how!” I had no idea where she was going with this, but I followed her. She led me back to Twilight’s castle, making me think that following her was a mistake. Funny thing, I’m grateful now that I did. inside was a party, the banner said “Welcome to Ponyville Champ!” and the whole town, who somehow made it to the Castle by the time Pinkie and I got there jumped up and said what was on the banner. > The Mute and the Mule > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mute and the Mule Scorch never did anything without my permission. Seriously, he asked if he could party with everypony else in the castle, only doing so when I said I had no problems with it. One of the donkeys in town came over to greet me, even though it should’ve been clear I didn’t want anything to do with anypony here. “Hi Champ!” He said. “I’m Mulesworth, one of the town transporters,” “Hi,” I said, annoyed. “Great party, huh? They’re Pinkie’s specialty.” I didn’t answer. I tried to be quiet and out of the way from everypony, but then this happened. “Yeah, right.” I told Mulesworth. He looked at me with genuine concern, a form of concern I hadn’t seen in the last year. “Why aren’t you enjoying yourself? This is your party.” “I never asked for it. I learned never to rely on anypony for anything.” The hurt on Mulesworth’s face was enough to make me hate myself. But then he seemed to get over it. “Hey, you might not have asked for it, but here’s your chance to make a good first impression! I say take it!” Geez! Did this kid think badly about anypony!? Before I could blink he was pushing me onto the dance floor with Melody not too far ahead of me. The music shifted to slow dancing. I looked over at the DJ to see that Twilight was pulling a few strings. I swear, everypony wants me to suffer. Melody put her head against my neck and we started trotting left and right, very slowly, very deliberately. “You know,” Melody used the Telepathy spell, “This may be the first time I’ve seen you smile.” What? I was smiling? I guess it would make some sense, she smelled nice from this close up, she was so warm against me, and she just made me happy… this may be the first time I was happy since my family’s last trip to the Summer Sun Celebration… the memory made me back away from Melody as tears started to form on the sides of my face. “What’s wrong?” She asked. I couldn’t stay there. I ran out of the Castle, out of the square, out of the town, and into the woods. > The Witch Doctor > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Witch Doctor I was halfway into the woods when I thought it was too dangerous to go any further. I didn’t care that I was in the most dangerous region in Equestria (That being the Everfree Forest), or that I just bailed on my only chance at having actual friends. I just need a place where no one would see me crying. You’d think I’d be over my family’s death even a little by now, right? Well I would if my last memory of them was happy. But the last memory I have of them before the Kaiju war, I was yelling at them, saying things I swear I will never stop regretting. Then they were all murdered by the Kaiju, and moments before it could get me… it died. My home, gone. My family, lost. Where was I to go? I just went on with my miserable life, fifteen years from town to town, until I reached Ponyville. It was Twilight who showed me just how warmhearted a pony could be. And the students at the School who showed me how heartless they really are. It was around the time for the sun to set when I realized somepony was watching me. I looked up to see the last thing I ever thought I would see in Equestria, a Zebra. “Hello there my young colt,” She said. “Why do you sit there and mope?” “Why do you care?” I said, suddenly feeling very bitter. I wiped the tears from my eyes trying to retain my dignity. “As a living being, it is my job to be concerned,” The Zebra said. “What would I be otherwise but a huge jerk?” “Everypony I have experience with,” I said. This warranted a look of concern, the third I ever got since my family died. She started to walk away, but turned around when she realized I wasn’t following. “You are coming, are you not?” she asked. “I would not stay here with the monster juggernaut.” With that piece of advice I followed her to a tree that had been hollowed out and turned into a house. The sign read “Zecora’s Natural Remedies.” The Zebra, Zecora if this was her place, turned to me. “Welcome to my shop,” She said. “Why not come in for a quick stop?” “Thank you,” I said. “But why are you helping?” She ushered me inside then answered the question. “You are Champion, are you not? Ponyville is looking for you by the lot.” “Yeah, Champ,” A voice said. I turned to the voice to find three young mares about five years older than me, one a yellow earth pony with red mane and tail wearing a pink bow, and a cutiemark of a paintbrush and wallpaper. Another, a short, magenta maned orange Pegasus, with a scooter cutiemark. The last a white, light purple maned unicorn with a heart made up of an upside down treble clef and a bass clef for a cutiemark. “Why’d you run away from your own party?” the earth pony said. “Because I can’t smile…” everyone looked at me with confusion. “Zecora, do you have something for that?” the unicorn asked. “No Sweetie Belle,” Zecora said. “I have nothing to make a subconscious ailment well.” “Subconscious ailment?” The Pegasus said. “It means I can smile, but I don’t want to,” I said. “And it’s not subconscious, it’s totally conscious.” I told them what happened fifteen years ago, word for word what I expressed here. “Sweet Celestia…” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m so sorry.” “That is, put simply, rather unfortunate,” Zecora said. “But there are some things that shouldn’t change you, whether or not you forget.” I was silent, not even the tears at the corner of my eyes fell off my face. “Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom,” each nodding as their name was called. “Make sure that Princess Twilight sees Champion to his room.” She put a bottle in the Pegasus, Scootaloo’s saddlebag. “Make sure he takes this every day, I don’t want to hear him from that mile away.” > The Dream I Had > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dream I Had Remember when I said I wrote stories? Well that’s not entirely true; I write comic-type books along a normal-ish storyline. I’ve had this little hobby since Twilight took me in. I always wanted to be a part of the stories I wrote. Scorch was the first one to know about this. Next in line was Mulesworth. It was about two days after my breakdown at the party, everypony knew to avoid me for my sake until the medicine that Zecora gave me was completely gone. Everypony, that is, except Mulesworth. He acted as my bedside nurse. The conversations we had were interesting, especially that day. I told him I wrote these books and how by comparison to the characters I wrote about, I was an ogre he started talking about things he wanted to do. “I could be the transporter for the town’s import and export someday,” he said. “Or I could transfer to Canterlot and transport items there! Maybe I could become the first Donkey on the Royal Guard!” I laughed at this last one. “Your right not happening,” then he looked at me. “Who would you be?” “I’d never be anyone,” I said. “Just for fun who would you pick?” “There’s nopony I’d rather be than who I am now.” “Really? You seem to have a huge problem with the way the world is now. By the way what is it you have against the world?” I was caught off guard for a split second, admittedly. But then I sobered up and said what I thought was most appropriate. “I’m not the one with the problem, the world seems to have something against me. everypony at school takes one look at me and they start talking, saying bad things behind my back. Judging me… before they could even know me… that’s why I was better off alone.” Mulesworth started to tear up a little. I couldn’t blame him, I wasn’t crying because after experiencing it for so long, I knew it wouldn’t help to cry. “But y’know Champ, When we met I didn’t feel like badmouthing you,” Mulesworth wiped his eyes. “So there’s really nopony else you’d rather be?” I did the last thing I ever thought I’d do. And Melody came in to hear it. “I guess I’d be a hero, With sword and armor clashing, Looking semi-dashing, A shield within my grip. Or else I’d be a Viking, And live a life of daring, While smelling like a herring, Upon a Viking’s ship I’d sail away, I’d see the world, I’d reach the farthest reaches, I’d feel the wind, I’d taste the salt and sea, And maybe storm some beaches, That’s who I’d be (x2) I could be a poet, and write a different story, One that tells of glory, And wipes away the lies, And to the skies I’d throw it, The stars would do the telling, The moon would help with spelling, And I would dot the I’s I’d write a verse, recite a joke With wit and perfect timing, I’d share my heart, confess the things I yearn And do it all while rhyming But we all learn (x2) An ogre always hides An ogre’s Fate is known An ogre always stays in the dark And all alone. So yes I’d be a hero, And if my wish were granted Life would be enchanted, Or so the stories say. Of course I’d be a hero, And I would scale a tower To save a hot house flower, And carry her away But standing guard would be a beast I’d somehow overwhelm it, I’d get the girl, I’d take a breath, And I’d remove my helmet, We’d stand and stare, we’d speak of love We’d feel the stars ascending, We’d share a kiss, I’d find my destiny, I’d have a hero’s ending, that’s how it would be A big bright beautiful world! But not for me.” I didn’t think it’d go any further than that, but then Melody and Mulesworth started singing. “An ogre always hides An ogre's fate is known And ogre always stays In the dark, you're all alone, all alone So yes, I'd be a hero and if my wish were granted (And I know he'll appear) (All alone) Life would be enchanted or so the stories say ('Cause there are rules and there are strictures) (You need a pal) Of course I'd be a hero and I would scale a tower (I believe the storybooks I read) (My pal is an ogre) And save a hot-house flower and carry her away (By candlelight) (You need me!) A perfect happy ending That's how it should be!” Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/shrek-the-musical/who-i-d-be-lyrics/#iilTHgGwfg3qcaZ2.99 > The Doppelgangers > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Doppelgangers Twilight gave me a book with strange chapters. It was written like a journal, but they were addressed to Princess Celestia until a certain point, from somepony named Sunset Shimmer. After that point, the entries were to Twilight. I didn’t get it, why would she show me this? Then the book started to glow and vibrate in my hooves. A new page appeared at the back of the book, along with a new message from this Sunset Shimmer. “Dear Princess Twilight I know I haven’t written to you in a while. Not since your daughter went on that little trip of hers, but Canterlot High needs your help. Not like last time, where new kids were the problem, but this time you could see the problem from space. I hope you can get here quickly, because the Rainbooms can’t figure this one out on our own. Your friend here, Sunset Shimmer.” I couldn’t even process what happened before Twilight pulled the book out of my hooves and read the message for herself. Her face showed seriousness that I would never think of for something so… odd. Then she looked at me, then the book again. “What did you read?” she asked “I didn’t get a good look before you pulled it away.” I didn’t think I’d get anywhere with this, until Twilight proved me wrong. “You wanna come with me?” Twilight had set the book in a strange machine. Judging by the way it looked, it took whatever magic was in the book and transferred it to a mirror connected to the same machine. The bells and whistles on the machine started to go off, the lights started to go on and off and we rushed through the mirror, which I thought would break when we made contact with the glass. When I woke up from the shock, we were in a square of some sort. I couldn’t make out the details because my vision was very hazy, but the first thing I saw was Scorch. “Are you… a dog?” I asked him. “Yeah, but… What the hey are you!?” I looked at my front hooves and saw twelve more appendages coming off the end of them. I got a better look at myself and I saw what he meant, my entire Skeletal Structure had changed. “That’s a good question,” I asked quietly “What am I?” “It’s called a human,” a voice said from the statue to my left. I looked and saw another… human I think he called it, sitting on the statue. The strange thing is… I recognized him! He was always training at the Crystal Empire whenever I went there with Princess Celestia for a field trip. He hopped down from the statue, landing on his hind legs for some reason, and offered me his… uh… yeah. “You’re from Equestria right? Take my hand and I’ll help you up.” I put one of my “hands” in his and he hoisted me onto my hind legs too… and it just felt natural in this form! “Name’s Flash Sentry, by the way,” the human said. “I teach music here at Canterlot high.” “I’m Champion,” I said. “Friends call you Champ, I know,” this was confusing. “There’s another you at this school, although he doesn’t dress so… Dark.” I looked down at my clothes and saw what he meant. I was, indeed, wearing dark clothes, very dark clothes. A black jacket, a burgundy t-shirt under it, and a pair of green cargo pants, at least that’s what Mr. Sentry told me they were. “Wait… Where’s Twilight, and Spike!?” I heard two screams coming from the impressive building behind me… both of them belonging to Twilight. “I think she just met my coworker, c’mon!” Mr. Sentry and I rushed to where the screams came from, there we found Twilight and Twilight just staring at each other with disbelief on their faces. “What the hay is going on!?” I yelled. “Champion, don’t yell,” One of the Twilights scolded me. This one was wearing a white lab coat over a purple skirt with an image of her cutiemark on it, glasses, and a sky blue blouse. Then she got another look at me. “You do realize the school has a no weapons policy, am I right Mr. Sentry?” “Weapon?” he said. The other Twilight looked at me. She was wearing everything that the first twilight was wearing with the exception of the glasses and lab coat. And apparently she saw what the other Twilight was talking about. “Champ, Where did you get that!?” she said with urgency. “Get what?” I asked. She walked over, and tried to grab something behind me. Whatever it was, I couldn’t see or feel it, and her hand just phased right through it. “What is this?” she asked. It wasn’t like Twilight to make something up, so if she said she saw it, odds are she saw it. “You have my… Wayvern’s sword Hummingbird on your waist.” She explained. “Wayvern…” The other Twilight whispered. “You’re the Pon-…Princess me!?” “Yes, I am,” Twilight said. “And you must be me from this world.” “Dr. Twilight Sparkle, I’m a scientist, and normally wouldn’t believe in magic, but…” “I get it.” “Can we get back to how I got this on me!?” I pointed to my waist. “Sorry, Champ,” Twilight said. “But we don’t have any idea how you got Hummingbird on you.” “Does he really have Hummingbird?” Flash asked. “I don’t see a knife on this guy.” Before the Twilights could answer, another human came running down the hall. She looked kinda like me with the orange skin, but her red hair had yellow streaks in it. “Sunset Shimmer?” Flash said. “Hey, Flash,” she said. “I’m here for Twilight.” “Which one?” I asked. “The one from Equestria, which else would I be asking for in a time of Crisis!?” “The Scientist…?” Sunset Shimmer looked into the room and saw what I meant. “Well… Crud.” > The Giant's Sword > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Giant’s Sword When Sunset Shimmer took us to what she wanted us to see, I knew she was exaggerating, but she was still pretty close when she said you could see it from space. She took us to central park, where fifteen years ago, Relies the leader of the Kaiju resurrected a dragon like ship to fly to Equestria to wreak havoc. Not only did I see no signs of that thing ever coming from the ground here, but there was a different form of debris entirely at one corner of the park, surrounding a large sword shaped statue… or was it a statue? It looked very real despite being over a thousand times my size. It was a single edged katana type, the blade’s edge facing the north side of the park. The Tsuba, or guard, was simply four sides disconnected from the others, but connected to the center by means of a separate piece. The hilt was wrapped in a blood red cloth on a vertical axis. I had no idea how I knew so much about weapons considering I had no experience with anything violent. “What is this?” Twilight asked. Then she noticed some… body at the bottom of the giant weapon. “Girls!” She yelled to them. “Twilight!” They all turned to her, ran and hugged her… funny thing, I’ve seen their faces all over Ponyville. Applejack ran the farm with Apple Bloom and their brother Big Macintosh, Rarity ran a boutique with her little sister Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash managed the weather and was often practicing to become a Wonderbolt (Celestia knows why, she’s better than any of them), Pinkie Pie was often throwing parties and Fluttershy was the Animal Caretaker. Then I noticed three more at the bottom of the weapon, coming over to greet the newcomers. They looked like Mulesworth, Melody and…and… Mulesworth looked at me and stopped in his tracks shock overcoming his face. I ran to the base of the weapon and touched the cold metal. When everyone saw what I did, they all tried to pull me away, like they were trying to prevent something major from happening, but I got shocked and flew a foot off my feet. In my unconsciousness I heard a voice, not one of my quote-unquote “friends,” but a voice alien to my recent memory… yet somehow they rang a bell meaning that somehow I knew it. “Please, won’t you revive me?” > The Days Before Me > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Days Before Me I woke up in the school nurse’s office, my right arm, though feeling completely fine even when I touched it, was in a cast. I took hold of the place where the bandages were held in place, but I heard a voice. “Don’t,” it said. “Trust me; it’ll be better if you leave that on for a while.” I looked over at the seat next to my bed and saw Mr. Sentry… but something was, to put it bluntly, off about him. He was dressed a lot younger: letterman’s jacket, jeans, even his hair was styled very differently. “I’m Flash Sentry by the way.” “I know, Mr. Sentry,” I said. “You already told me.” “I don’t see how, you were unconscious when you fell out of the sky. By the way, just call me Flash.” Okay this was getting a little weird. He didn’t remember meeting me? “Where’s Twilight? I need to get home.” “How do you know Twilight!?” Flash asked. “I seriously would’ve thought my teacher would remember me better than this.” Flash looked at me like I was crazy. “Uh… I’m not a teacher, I’m a student.” By this point I knew he had to be pulling my leg, but he looked so serious about it I couldn’t get him to crack. “What did I go back in time or something?” “You tell me.” He pointed to the calendar. I couldn’t help but stare at it for a minute. According to the calendar it was the same month and day as when I left. But somehow it was seventeen years into the past, just a week before I was born. “Wait… your serious!? You’re a time traveler!?” “Apparently…” then I remembered what happened to Twilight during the week before I was born. “Have three new girls forming a band called the Dazzlings come here?” “Yeah…” “Whatever you do, don’t listen to them,” I told him everything that happened to Twilight over the course of the Week before my birth here at Canterlot High. “Sorry if I find that a little hard to believe,” Flash said. “But can you really blame me?” I stared at him, silently reminding him that he had a crush on a magical talking pony from another world. “Point taken.” > The Dazzling Past > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dazzling Past The next time Flash and I were anywhere near each other, he had me sit at his table. He and his bandmates were very nice to me, but then I got a little worried. What if my very being here was enough to change my future? Across the lunchroom I saw those human friends of Twilight’s that I saw before I wound up here in this time period. Time didn’t seem to affect them in the past seventeen years, they looked just as they did when I last saw them, only dressed younger and styled differently. Then the doors swung open and I heard very… sensual…singing. “Guys, cover your ears!” I whispered only afterwards realizing how stupid the warning might’ve been for my time. “What?” Flash asked. “Never mind.” I wanted everything to go as it did before I got there. So they ignored my warning, but while everyone else started fighting with each other only two groups stayed quiet. Twilight’s human friends and my table to be exact. Oh no. “Let’s get out of here before they stop singing!” I told Flash. He hesitantly agreed and he and his buddies left the cafeteria with me in the lead. “Okay, What was that about!?” Flash asked. “Something’s wrong,” I said. “You guys were supposed to be hypnotized with everyone else in the cafeteria, the only exceptions were supposed to be Twilight’s friends.” “You mean Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms?” “I guess, I didn’t really get a chance to meet them all. Anyway, let’s get out of here before anyone realizes something’s off.” “Why!?” one of Flash’s Friends, Blueburst asked. “We have information! We need to report this to Principal Celestia!” “For one thing, that might alter things worse. Second, that didn’t work when the Rainbooms did it!” “Then what do we do?” “Try to blend in, and act mad at Twilight and the girls.” “What!?” Flash exclaimed. “I’ll tell you why later.” We were walking unwittingly towards the statue of the Wondercolt mascot in the courtyard. Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms were hanging around it, as if waiting for something… or someone. “Guys we gotta go!” “What? Why?” Sunlit Torch asked. “I think Twilight’s coming and you guys can’t be here when she does.” It was obvious that being separated from Twilight was hurting Flash, but he understood. We all walked away. I turned around just in time to see Twilight come out of the statue’s pedestal with Spike not too far behind. “So how did I act towards Twilight before you interfered in this?” Flash asked. “Involuntarily, I mean.” “You were mad that she was trying to steal your thunder, not understanding that she wanted to shut down the Battle of the Bands rather than being a part of it in the first place.” “That’ll be tough to pull off, We’re a band, not an acting troupe.” “We?” I asked. “Welcome to the Sentries, Champ.” Blueburst said. “Of course you could decline, but you’re an honorary member of the band now.” “Thank you,” I said. “But even if I did join how would I play without both hands?” I waved my right hand, which was in the cast that Flash told me to keep on for reasons that he wouldn’t share. “Equipment Management?” Flash suggested. Couldn’t argue with that. “Equipment Management,” I agreed. After that got squared away I noticed seven girls outside the shop. Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were coming to the Soda Shoppe… oh dear… my fears were quenched when they went to a table without noticing us for a second. I got up, the Sentries followed suit and we left when they noticed how agitated I was. “What’s wrong?” Flash asked. “My arm’s hurting now,” I said. > The Monster's Right Hand > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Monster’s Right Hand And my arm was hurting, and the further away I got from Twilight and the others the less it seemed to throb. It seemed to be less of an internal pain caused by their presence, and more of a strain for my arm to get out of the cast it was in. We got back to the school when the Battle of the Bands was going to be announced, the noise and the arguments were unbearable. After a small attempt at shutting down the event, Twilight bumped into Flash. “We really need to stop bumping into each other like this,” she said. I could tell that Flash wanted to say something nice to her, but he pretended to be a little bit of a jerk. “You guys hear something?” when Twilight tried to repeat what she said: “There it is again! So annoying!” “What’s gotten into you!?” Twilight started to look hurt, and I regretted the fact that Flash had to do this for my future. “What’s gotten into me!? What’s happened to you!? You go home for, like, forever and come back only to try and stop the school’s biggest event!? I want this, Twilight!” “No, Flash!” Twilight tried to reason with him. “I know you don’t really think that!” “Then maybe you don’t know me.” Sunset shimmer took Twilight by the shoulders and guided her away from us. Right then I felt like a real A-class monster for having Flash say those things to Twilight. And I could tell it hurt him a lot more to say them. “Is she gone?” “Yeah,” Sunlit Torch said. Flash put his back to the lockers, slid down them and started to cry. I wanted to comfort him, tell him I was sorry he had to say that stuff, but it didn’t seem like my place to try. I looked at Twilight who I could tell was wiping a tear from her eye. Sunset Shimmer wasn’t glaring at Flash anymore; she was looking cautiously at me! Why me!? Then I realized something. My arm was still throbbing, even though they were out of sight five minutes later, and it was starting to hurt worse. I looked at the cast and noticed a faint blue light coming from within. When the light died down, so did the pain. “What was that!?” Blueburst asked. “It was glowing!” “I don’t know…” I said. “But I get the feeling we’re gonna find out by the end of this.” Flash looked up for a second, then another, and a full minute passed and his expression changed to one of confusion. I looked where he was looking, and I saw what he was so confused about. There was a man in front of us. All I could tell you about him was he was wearing a black coat. I didn’t see anything else, not his face; I didn’t even hear his real voice. He must’ve had a voice distortion device of some sort, his voice sounded unnaturally deep. “The Nephilim… is Champion,” he turned away and walked into the crowd in the auditorium, disappearing from sight. At that point I had to know what he was talking about. I looked at Flash silently telling him what I was thinking. “Champ! NO!” but it was too late, I grabbed the bandages around my arm and started to tear at them, it was easy to get them completely off, when the spikes popped out then retracted back into the monstrosity that was my right arm. It was brown scaled, like those of a cobra, if those were big as a knife’s blade. The only parts that weren’t covered were my fingers and the back of my hand, which glowed unnaturally blue with an unknown energy. Flash came over to me and punched me. “I warned you.” > the Battle of the Bands > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Battle of the Bands “What is this!?” I said. Flash just gave me a glove that normally wouldn’t have fit the hand. But I put it on and rolled the coat sleeve down over it. I felt my eye, the left one, which Flash punched. There was a little bit of bruising under it, but it was fine. “I told you not to take the cast off!” Flash said. “I’m sorry! I just had to know!” “Y’know what, forget it, let’s just get this over with. How close do we come to actually winning the battle?” Flash asked. “Last stretch, then the Dazzlings beat you.” “Wait, we make it to the finals?” Sunlit Torch asked. I shook my head and explained that the Dazzlings beat them just before the finals. “Okay.” “So… Let’s do our best from here on.” Flash said. But he gave me and instrument to play… apparently they needed a keyboard player. There were only three really good bands in the battle, the Dazzlings (though I hate to admit it), the Rainbooms and us. When it was our turn to go on during the final stretch Flash gave one menacing glare to Twilight (Which I later punched him for), then he turned and walked onstage with the rest of us. We didn’t try as hard to win as we did to get here so there were a few mess-ups, but we still did pretty well. Especially considering it was my first time playing keyboard with fingers. Then the Rainbooms played “Awesome as I Want to Be,” and until they were finished I didn’t see how they could’ve possibly made it to the finals. Then I looked at Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, the Dazzlings were working their magic on them. When the scores were announced I was somewhat relieved that the Sentries didn’t make it, and so was Flash though he controlled his as an air of rage. But then I saw what the Dazzlings were up to. They were trying to make the Rainbooms fight amongst themselves… that was when Trixie, the “Great and Powerful” Jerkwad, threw them beneath the stage. So that’s how that happened. “We gotta help them!” Flash insisted. “And we will…” I said. “Later. First there’s someone whose help we’ll need before the final act of this little play.” I hated myself. Mostly because it wasn’t the Sentries who were supposed to help the Rainbooms… but I thought it’d be the best chance I’d get to go home without ruining any more than I did. > The Music in Our Hearts > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Music in Our Hearts Later that night, the guys were setting the Rainbooms stuff up discreetly at the hilltop with the help of Vinyl Scratch, the only other person who was immune to the Dazzlings’ hypnosis (She never took off her headphones). It was time for me to see what my right hand could do, and I didn’t even have any intention of trying it out in the first place. The door was locked from the outside, but I didn’t have a key. I started banging on the door with my hands, getting just a little farther with my right hand, the one that would look monstrous if I actually let it out. So I let it out, and something incredible happened. It expanded into a set of ethereal claws surrounded loosely by the scales which pushed me back a few feet. It tore at the door and pulled it away from the wall. I dropped it on the ground as Spike walked in. Flash wasn’t too far from me, so he commented on it with a single word. “Impressive!” we ran to the opening left by the door. Once inside, I saw Flash and Twilight arguing. “Look, I had to say that stuff! I cried when I did!” “Give me one good reason why you said it then!” Twilight said. Flash looked to me. “He was helping me,” I said. “But right now I need your help in beating the Dazzlings! Get Changed and let’s go!” I tossed them the costumes that they wore the first time, Flash, Spike and I ran to the Hilltop, soon followed by Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms. The Dazzlings were already singing when we got there. Welcome to the Show, we’re here to let you know Our time is now; your time is running out Feel the wave of sound as it crashes down you can’t turn away we’ll make you wanna stay. We will be adored, tell us that you want us We won’t be ignored, it’s time for our reward. Now you need us come and heed us nothing can stop us now! It was around here that the Rainbooms started Playing, and Fluttershy’s song was being sung by Twilight. Oh-whoa-whoa I got the music in me Don’t need to hear a crowd cheering out my name, I didn’t come here seeking infamy or fame, the one and only thing that I am here to bring is music is the music is the music in my soul Gonna Break out, set myself free, yeah Let it all go, just let it be, yeah Find the music in your heart, let the music make you start to set yourself apart! I could tell even from here that the Dazzlings weren’t intimidated by this intrusion to their performance they just kept singing. What we have in store, all we want and more, We will break on through, now it’s time to finish you! Three giant ethereal sea horses of varying colors popped out of their music and knocked us down. The mic flying into Sunset Shimmer’s hand. “Sunset Shimmer!” I yelled. “Sing! Take the Mic and SING!” and she hesitantly did with some encouragement from Blueburst and Sunlit Torch. You’re never gonna bring me down, You’re never gonna break this part of me, My friends are here to bring me ‘round, Not singing just for popularity We’re here to let you know That we won’t let it go Our music is a bomb and it’s about to blow And you can try to fight But we have got the light of friendship on our side Everyone started to change, including me. We all got pony ears and our hair grew into ponytails (girls longer than the boys) and Flash, Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy grew wings. A rainbow shot out from their hearts, and my hand involuntarily shot upwards got the music in our hearts we’re here to blow this thing apart and together we will never be afraid of the dark! Here to sing our song out loud Get you dancing with the crowd As the music of our friendship Survives, SURVIVES! The rainbow formed an ethereal Alicorn made out of constellations, it’s magic rebounded off my hand and hit the Sea Monsters that the Dazzlings created. got the music in our hearts we’re here to blow this thing apart and together we will never be afraid of the dark! Here to sing our song out loud Get you dancing with the crowd As the music of our friendship Survives, SURVIVES! The last round of music was played through by Rainbow and Flash, and it was epic. The Explosion of sheer power resonated through the crowd. The Dazzlings were booed off the stage and Flash hugged Twilight. “Rainbooms Rock!” he said. I just had to smile… then I remembered Melody and went right back to a somber look. It took me that long to remember that I had no way of getting home, back to my Twilight, my Flash… my friends. Then, something drastically different from before (my coming) happened. “That was… awesome!” Rainbow Dash said. “Wow, umm… what was that?” Twilight asked. “That’s called a kiss.” Flash said. “Don’t have those in Equestria huh?” “Not really,” Twilight was blushing like crazy. “I liked it though.” “Ahem!” I said. “Now that that’s outta the way, can I ask Twilight about the thing?” Flash looked confused for a second… only remembering that I predicted everything that happened this week and why that was. “Oh! Right!” Flash looked to Twilight. “Twilight, this kid’s named Champion and he’s… well to be blunt from the future.” “What!?” “That’s why I had Flash say all those nasty things to you, he said them before I altered with the timeline because he was under the Hypnosis… but because he befriended me he was protected from the spell.” “What’s the thing you want then?” “I want to go forward in time Seventeen years… to the time I came from.” “You want to go home… even though it might be different?” “I know it’s going to be different, that… kiss secured the fact that my first friend will never be born.” > The Nephilim's Coat > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nephilim’s Coat “How would your friend not be born because of a kiss?” Twilight asked the next day. It was just after the revelation that it was, quite literally, my birthday. It also took me a while to get what it meant when Melody said that her father saved Equestria Fifteen years before I met her. But now I understood that her father was Wayvern, the Kaiju hunting King of Equestria who killed the Kaiju King Relies, and himself to save the universe from them. I also saw the Equestrian Flash around Twilight’s castle and Melody often called him “Dad” though she knew he wasn’t her real father. “Well, Twilight, my friend is your daughter, but she isn’t Flash’s by birth. Her father died saving Equestria.” “I already don’t like this guy,” Flash said. “You will, he was your best friend when he met you.” “Really?” “Yeah, though that slowly turned to aggravation when he tried to separate himself from Twilight for her sake.” “Why would that make me mad?” “I never heard the whole story.” Twilight thought about it… then she came to a decision. “I’ll wait for this mystery pony, what’s his name?” I was shocked… But I told her his name, leaving out his title. “Wayvern, that’s all I can tell you about him.” The man in the coat came into the café. Man? No way! This was a woman! Her hood was down now showing yellow skin and red hair, braided with a bow at the top. “Apple Bloom!?” she turned to me. “There you are Champion, and not quite,” She said. She didn’t sound like Apple Bloom at all, not even the accent was the same. “My name is Siu, I’ve come to bring you back.” “To my time!?” I was getting excited… then I remembered the others who were still sitting at the table behind me and got kinda depressed. “Will I ever see them again? In this time?” “You can see these friends of yours whenever you want,” Siu said. “But you need the Nephilim’s coat to return to this time period. I have one prepared for you, here.” She pulled a coat similar to what she was wearing out from behind her. “It’s the only way for you to go home too, so you really don’t have much choice.” I couldn’t think too hard and took the coat. “The Heart is the one thing that Transcends both Time and Space, I will be back.” I promised one last time.