A collection of short stories, stand-alone intros and intros for stories that never made it.
The short description says most of it.
I always have a bunch of concepts popping up in my head. Most of them don't last more than a few minutes before i dismiss them as stupid. Some are keepers and might someday evolve into written pieces. Then there are those in between that are either very short or where the ideas stops after the intro and/or concept. This is a collection of a few of the ones I can remember.
Seen from the sky, the district would have looked almost completely square.
At the center of the city were the office-buildings and expensive restaurants. Moving northeast from there, you’d first pass through residential areas of varying status and quality, then to warehouses and businesses, hardware stores and car-dealers. After that, you’d reach the medium-and-light industry-sector of the city.
There, in the early hours of the day, the broad, heavy traffic-accommodating streets were overflowing with people going to work, leaving entire suburbs almost empty during work-hours. Then, nine hours later, the reverse happened. The streets of the small & medium-industry-sector were filled, and then emptied as the blue-collars and small business-owners went home to where society stored them between work-days.
It wasn’t an unusual sight to see stray cars and people after this, though. Most people who spent their days here knew what workaholics the owners of smaller business could be.
One of these not-unusual sights would be a woman stepping out of a car. What was unusual about this was her striking appearance in this bleak autumn afternoon.
Celestia’s gaze slowly travelled over the mostly-still surroundings, the somewhat sombre feel of the place being compounded by the grey sky, leaf-covered ground still wet from recent rain, and the dull sounds of car-tires on asphalt in the distance.
After consulting a note on her hand, Celestia walked up the asphalt-ramp between somewhat wild-grown bushes and birch trees, the effort of making an industrial-zone more aesthetically appealing not working as intended at this time of year.
It was a building of corrugated steel and reinforced windows. Heavy doors to accommodate the shipping of heavy equipment were placed next to a modest reception-entrance. The windows were caked with grime which seemingly obscured only darkness, the little of the interior which could be seen from the outside being dusty workbenches with worn tools and forgotten binders.
Celestia’s steps took her through a trail in the birch-leaves clearly made by a motorcycle. The leaves, she noted, seemed to have been accumulated for several years.
The door would held in place by a steel chain, twined several times around the large push-plate in black plastic, and one of the stout metal supports for the small roof sticking out from the building, which she was currently loitering beneath. It offered no hindrance to anyone anymore, though, one of the links having been severed and the chain hung beside the door.
She was entering uninvited, but not discreetly, as she did not come here to harm or steal. A few knickknacks and small pieces of junk, obviously from the factory-floor, were disturbed by the door as she pushed it open.
Inside, she was first met with a mess. The mat in the short hallway was absolutely filthy from use. Celestia had been certain she was in the right place before, but seeing the tire-tracks in the grime confirmed it. Sunset Shimmer lived in this place.
Beside the carpeting, the corridor Celestia found herself in only contained an umbrella-stand and a small, plastic palm-tree. As she took a few steps into the gloom, a sliver of trepidation crept into her chest at what she saw.
The umbrellas in the stand obscured a baseball-bat, and the pot hid a hammer. Celestia looked at them, hints of worry and contemplation playing across her face.
After noting that they were dry and somewhat clean, she pushed on.
A small, uninteresting, and almost empty office was to her left. She ignored it and walked on to where the left wall ended, opening up into the factory-floor, with some doors on her right.
The weak, grey light of a cloudy autumn afternoon was the only source of illumination, almost making the scene resemble a cave of monsters from some fantasy-story or other, but all was still and quiet
Celestia spotted a switch on the wall. Pressing it did nothing for a few seconds, until the fixtures hanging from the ceiling came to life, one by one. At least the survivors of seemingly long neglect did.
Celestia slumped slightly and let out a sigh. Sunset Shimmer had access to electricity, though that also have meant that one of her students might have had messed around with industrial-grade circuit-breakers.
Large parts of the factory floor were bare, though none of it was clean. Layers of dust covered everything from the fixtures hanging from the ceiling to the cold concrete floor, though some of the shelves seemed more like it was cocooned by it. A few areas were taken up by workbenches and tool-racks, mostly empty. A few worn hammers and pliers could be found here and there, but it was mostly junk and scrap, broken desk-lamps, pieces of plastic tags, and such, with a few scorch-marks around a rusty soldering-station.
Metal shavings littered the floor around an empty stand, hinting at what type of machine had once stood there, and the large shelves found alongside two of the walls were completely bare of anything but dust.
Celestia took it all in with with an almost impatient look, then walked back to the light.switch and the unexplored rooms. If there ever was anything of value here, it was long gone now. The few things that remained wouldn’t give enough scrap-money for a single meal. The only thing that stood out was a part of the wall beside the light switch, where an area the size of a textbook looked fresher and covered in newer dust.
Celestia eyed it with mild curiosity before dismissing it and turning off the light.
One of the doors led to a changing-room, with a toilet and a roomy shower area. Celestia was lucky that she was advancing as slowly and methodically as she did, or she might have tripped when her foot touched the large, thick plank nailed to the floor. She eyed the plank with curiosity before she noticed the longer plank leaning against the wall beside her, perfect in length to jam the door she had just entered through.
Switching on the light, she almost let out a small gasp at the sight, before she dismissed the fear with the help of reality.
A clothing rack and hat shelf-combo took up the long wall to the side of the door, where more than a dozen black garbage bags hung in a row, at first seeming like they could accommodate humans.
Celestia softly pulled at the edge of one of them, revealing only clothes in Sunset Shimmer’s size.
Opening the door into the shower-area, Celestia’s eyes narrowed slightly at another strange and somewhat uncanny sight.
On the tile-floor of the showers stood a faded, plastic patio-chair, together with a large numbers of PET bottles, a foot-bath tub, and a pair of kitchen-pots.
Shower-supplies stood underneath the same shower-head that the chair stood under, and the area directly around it was scrubbed relatively clean, standing out starkly against the surrounding tiles brown with chalk, soap-residues, and the occasional trace of mold.
The bathroom revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Only a single toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. Celestia set the tap to lukewarm and opened the flow of water. After twenty seconds, she felt certain that this place provided nothing but ice-cold, though thankfully clean, water.
Celestia walked out of the restroom-area and into what was apparently a break-room with a kitchenette. There, another collection of PET bottles and pots on the stove provided Celestia with a significant clue as to the purpose of the out-of-place objects in the shower.
A small amount of dishes were drying on a rack beside the sink, the cupboards revealing only a few more plates, bowls, and other kitchen-utensils, together with a few tin cans of fruit.
The table was empty, except for a few crumbs on the cloth beside a toaster.
A slight hum came from one of the fridges, that one containing some cartons of milk, some butter and little else. The silent one containing only cheap cereals and half a loaf of bread.
Celestia moved to the final and largest room, not counting the factory floor. This one was in the best shape, though it took a few moments to discern this, as the lights in the ceiling were missing, and the windows were covered up.
Moving forward to the desk, Celestia turned on the lamp sitting on top of it, and let out a small cry of shock when she processed what rested on the bookshelf behind the desk, the first sound she could not hold in for this little investigation.
Her short-lived confusion about the bare area on the wall in the factory-floor had been answered. In the bookshelf laid a pair of first aid-kits.
The supplies of one of them were half-depleted.
Celestia closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh before continuing.
The windows were covered mostly by old newspapers, duct tape, and pieces of curtains. The desk-drawers and bookshelves revealed a number of textbooks on her school’s curriculum, a number of book advanced beyond that, as well as a somewhat battered laptop.
At the far end of the room was an old couch with a floor-lamp next to it. The light from the desk didn’t reach that far, and the gloom hinted only of a shape lying prone on it.
Celestia walked softly towards the couch, but stopped when the light revealed a pair of empty tin cans hanging from the ceiling in a hook, connected by a fishing-line going out into the doorway. Celestia frowned, continued towards the couch, and turned on the lamp.
A makeshift bedding covered the couch. Stale newspapers lay on top of a pair of banners that had gone missing from a school sporting-event last year.
Celestia cautiously reached out a hand and peeled away the makeshift cover, revealing only more cloth. A torn off office chair-cushion in a pillowcase and one of the couch’s backrests made up the place to rest the head, while a duvet made up the base of the bedding, and an old trench-coat presumably provided some additional warmth.
In the stillness, Celestia had tuned out the faint, ambient sound of cars travelling in the distance. That all stopped when she heard a clear sound coming from the glass door she had first entered through, and she whipped up her head to better make out the almost-minute sound.
The sound suddenly stopped halfway, and Celestia hesitated. Unless Sunset had seen Celestia’s non-salient car, and only now registered it as hers, Celestia could not see what would give Sunset pause. No light spilled out from the windows, and she had disturbed nothing.
The sound of the door closing, and steps moving away from the door, told her that Sunset was more clever, and more paranoid, than Celestia gave her credit for.
As the steps suddenly became slower and heavier, and Celestia suddenly remembered the debris she had disturbed with the door on her way in. She peeled away some of the paper covering the window, it too being reinforced, to see Sunset Shimmer jumping on her motorcycle mid-run, and driving around the corner.
Celestia hurried out of Sunset’s ‘bedroom’, out of the building, through the tracks in the leaves, and onto the road, only to see a black-clad figure with a hint of fiery red hair beneath her helmet speeding away into the distance.
Princess Luna landed outside the entrance to the mines "belonging" to the Diamond Dog pack currently situated in the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, and walked down into the mines with determined steps.
These days she was often glad that her sister held the supreme executive power in Equestria. Her thousand year stint on the moon hadn't done as much to quench Luna's impulsive side as one might think. Of course her sister was right, their new friend from Terra, Gabrielle Desrochers, had been abducted by this pack, but it would seem like the rogue action of one thoughtless individual. The pack as a whole shouldn't be punished.
Still, she couldn't quite mask the anger on her face. The Dogs yelped and scurried out of her way as she made her way through the dark halls with determined steps. She reached the Alpha's chamber and opened the door without invitation. The alpha was discussing something with a pair of Diamond Dog mares. She stopped herself from simply barking the demand for an explanation, and instead addressed the mares in the correct ways that Diamond Dog mares should be addressed, but in a way that brooked no argument. This was between her and the Alpha.
Applejack was taking a break from her farm work and was leaning against the fence that surrounded Sweet Apple Acres, while conversing with Fluttershy who had brought her some refreshments as repayment for Applejack's help in repairing Fluttershy's chicken-coop.
A few of Fluttershy's animal-friends had joined her in her little stroll to Sweet Apple Acres, passing by the neighboring apiary.
Fluttershy suddenly turned away from Applejack and softly called out to one of her friends who had approached the apiary's honeycombs. "Now, now, Mr Badger, that honey's not yours."
Her friend stopped mid track just steps away from the honeycombs and turned back, sauntering towards the two ponies as he was assaulted by hundreds of bees.
Applejack's eyes went wide as Mr Badger was stung dozens of times during his casual stroll towards them. "Doesn't that bother him none?" she asked.
"Oh, no" Fluttershy said in her normal soft voice and slowly shook her head. "Honey Badger doesn't care. Honey Badger doesn't give a shit."
Twilight Sparkle was a scholar. Applejack was a farmer. The two ponies relied on vastly different amounts of food-intake.
When Applejack first met Twilight about an hour ago she could tell that Twilight's strength was not in physical prowess. She had first assumed that the visitor was some sort of clerk, but Twilight had later clarified that she was Princess Celestia's personal protegé. Either way it explained Twilight's city-slicker behavior to the farm pony.
On the issue of the amount of food they craved, Applejack was at first a bit worried about Twilight's eating habits. She was getting full very early and still seemed to hurry for some reason. Twilight for her part felt that she had made a mistake in treating this hearty meal the way she usually treated meals, as an unfortunately necessary distraction away from her scholarly pursuits.
And so with her tummy having protested loudly on and off for the last fifteen minutes she was surprised when Applejack, who was sitting next to her, asked "Getting a bit full there, miss Sparkle? Would you like another kind of pie?"
Twilight raised her eyebrow's at the farm pony. "More pie? Ugh no thank you, Applejack, my stomach can't take anymore."
Applejack chuckled. "I wasn't talking about the kind of pie you swallow, sugarcube. I think you might like this one. It helps you relax, and that helps your digestion."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, completely oblivious at what Applejack was insinuating.
Applejack chuckled again and rose slightly from her seat. "You must have a different way of talking over there in Canterlot," she said and gestured to her rear which she jiggled as Twilight looked. "I'm talking about my pie."
Should any individual from a vastly different culture have been sitting at the table at that instance, they might have been more than a little surprised at the conversation so far, especially how utterly unabashed everypony involved was and how uninterested everypony within earshot was. But this was only the beginning.
"Oh," Twilight said. "Yeah, sure, when?"
"Well, you said that you were in a bit of a hurry so don't worry. We can do it fast," Applejack said.
"That's considerate of you," Twilight said and turned to her other side. "Spike? Will you be okay alone for a little while."
Spike, who was involved in a very pleasant discussion with Applejack's younger sister, simply waved his claw and without looking back.
"Alright," Twilight said. "Lead the way."
Applejack started walking away from the big outdoor-table towards the farmhouse. "Let's do it indoors, it's a busy day here and we don't want to get in anypony's way."
Twilight thought this sounded reasonable. They entered the farm house, went into Applejack's room and had a wonderful time together.
Applejack was right, her pie certainly helped Twilight feel all better, but Twilight doesn't always learn from her mistakes and once more overindulged quite a bit.
-
It was looking bleak for quite a while there but the night was shaping up to be quite wonderful. Twilight was experiencing her first slumber part with two very good friends.
"So... who's up for another slumber party tomorrow night?" Twilight asked.
The resulting, good-humored barrage of pillows she got in her face told her that both of her friends thought it best to do so another time. And Twilight's offer of postponing the event was met with more laughter and pillows.
Twilight would never be upset with her friends for something as simple as declining a slumber party, but it was clear that her friends wouldn't budge and she decided that they had to make the best of the event.
"Oh! I almost forgot since the book neglected to mention it! Do you two want to have sex?" Twilight asked.
Realization dawned on Rarity's face. "Of course, darling. You didn't ask and I was starting to think that I did something wrong last time."
"Oh! No no!" Twilight said. "I just assumed that it would be covered later in the book and forgot when the whole thing with the tree branch happened. So how about it?"
"Well sure we do!" Applejack said. "We were mighty tempted to have a go at each other earlier but we didn't want to keep you up."
"That's a relief," Twilight said. "I was starting to think you didn't want to do it with each other."
Rarity gasped and put her hoof to her barrel dramatically. "Not making love to Applejack? Banish the thought, darling! It's such a pleasant way to solve frustrations concerning her."
Applejack turned to Rarity with a smug look on her face. "Right back at you, sugarcube. I haven't had an argument with you in forever, I was starting to miss this."
"Then I shall have to make something absolutely outrageous sometime soon," Rarity said and shot Applejack a sultry look.
Twilight considered this for a moment. "I wonder if that could be another letter for the princess sometime," she said ."Alright then, let's go."
The trio trotted up the stairs and did what friends in Equestria does best. The more the merrier.
-
Applejack and Rainbow Dash had finally finished with their work after the Running of The Leaves and were heading to the Apple-family farm.
"You wanna rest up your wing before heading back home?" Applejack asked her friend.
"Yeah. It's still a bit sore," came Rainbow Dash's reply.
"Still sorry about that," Applejack said with a apologetic look on her face.
"Don't worry, It'll pass in no time, I can tell," Rainbow said confidently.
"You wanna use the bathtub? Might help it get better faster."
"Yeah, thanks," Rainbow said and considered something for a moment. "You're gonna freshen up too, right? We could save some water if we do it together."
"Yeah. I'm assuming you wanna roll in the hay while we're at it?" Applejack asked.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Well, duh!" she said and planted a kiss on Applejack's muzzle.
-
Ponyville was not a cultural or economic center. So the population of Ponyville considered themselves very fortunate to house such a sophisticated establishment as the town's spa.
Aloe and Vera were attending two of their regulars, Fluttershy and Rarity. Rarity had been talking animatedly about a grand opportunity in her career as a dress maker for quite some time when they approached the part of the spa routine when the four would usually go to a quiet room for the highlight of their physical satisfaction program.
But Rarity had been talking non-stop the entire time and did not look like she was going to stop anytime soon. The sweet Fluttershy listened interestedly to Rarity and her babbling the entire time.
Aloe and Vera looked at each other. Do they keep going like normal or do they interrupt the endless verbal stream to ask for conformation?
After consulting wordlessly with only looks for a few second they decided to keep going like normal. Surely their attendees would complain if they were doing anything inappropriate?
Rarity talked through her pleasure-induced moans and barely let her gasps interrupt her for even a moment. Fluttershy had to use her moans to indicate that she was still listening.
After the whole affair Aloe and Vera were convinced that they had done everything right. This was confirmed when Rarity entered mere seconds after leaving for another round.
Luna once again strode through the dreamscape, and once again she beheld the source of her vexation. Bellerophon, the human, walked on. Time and again, Luna had tried to discern the meaning of this place, and time and again, she had failed. She was nothing if not persistent, however, one does not live through thousands of years without learning patience after all. And so she continued.
"Lero!" she called out to the distant form. Always, he failed to notice her. Always, he kept walking away, the laws of time and space seemingly being incompatible for the two forms. She tried following him, as she had many times, but the strong beats of her wings were never adequate to match Lero's calm gait.
"Lero, hear me!" Luna called out, and then, something unprecedented happened. The distant form stopped and turned around. Time and distance did not hold the same meaning in this place as the waking world, Luna could not tell how many leagues away Bellerophon was, but she could still see him clearly in the great distance.
Bellerophon looked at Luna with impassive eyes. She took some comfort in that his form looked healthy and sound. In fact, Lero looked almost impossibly tranquil, with a small smile on his lips. It was clear to her that communicating with this human in the dream-world would not be as simple as with her little ponies.
Luna decided that coyness and pleasantries would have little meaning in this place. She was here with a purpose. "I am here to learn about you, my dear human," she stated clearly.
Lero slowly closed his eyes and calmly nodded once in recognition.
"Will you sate my curiosity?"
Lero slowly shook his head, his calm demeanor never changing.
Luna frowned, but she did not sense any malice or even mischief from the human.
"You will not allow it or you cannot?" Luna asked.
Lero's head dipped slowly, but his expression still did not change.
Luna thought for a moment, this had never happened before, and she would not throw this opportunity away.
"If you cannot, then who can?"
Lero slowly raised his hand and very gently touched Luna's forehead with a finger.
Luna was jerked back into the physical world with a great start. The sensation had been alarming, but not unpleasant.
Forgotten lore from forgotten beings. How does one reach the twilight between awareness and forgetfulness? She thought about this for only a short time before realization suddenly hit her. Of course!
—
Berry Punch kept waiting. Anypony else in her situation would assume that they had been forgotten by whoever had requested to meet her. But Berry Punch's mind worked in strange ways. Ponies often assumed that she was completely irrational, while those who knew her knew that she wasn't always true, but still couldn't tell when she was and when she was not. She allowed others the same indulgence.
So she kept waiting patiently, and after a while, a dark-coated unicorn approached her.
"Still here, your majesty. Or do I not call you that?"
"Indeed. For the moment, I am Silver Shine. I thank you for your patience," Princess Luna said.
"I get the feeling that it's not because you don't want to be associated with somepony as crass as myself," Berry said.
"That is true, but for now, please pretend that it was so."
Berry finally looked at the princess, it was a long look, full of the kind of contemplations that normal ponies do not let themselves have. "You mean pretend that you would want to go somewhere where we wouldn't get the stink-eye?"
"Yes,” Luna said with a strange form of approval in her voice. “Where would that be?"
Berry Punch had never been to Los Pegasus before, but she took a moment and looked around her. "That way," she said after a while, and pointed in a seemingly random direction with a small measure of conviction.
"Excellent," the disguised Princess Luna said as they started walking down where Berry Punch had pointed.
—
They had been walking for some time through the city when they Luna had felt something. It was a short while after they had passed the marina into the older residential-areas. It was somewhere here, perhaps not what she was looking for, but somewhere that led to it.
Until recently, Luna had had very little to indicate whether there had been any purpose to this whole enterprise or not, but she knew not to ask Berry Punch questions as they made their way through the city. This was very subtle magic, the kind that took a lot of commitment to even get a vague sense of its workings.
But now it seemed that they might be on the right track, even though that was a phrase that didn’t fit the situation at all.
After Berry had said that they were in a good spot, they had settled down on a bench and Luna had started looking around carefully in the fading daylight.
My little ponies' cities are clean and pleasant, Luna thought as she carefully scanned their surroundings. But there’s an aberration. Neglect, disrepair, filth, it should be here somewhere.
Then she spotted it. An alleyway between an old pool-hall and a storage shed. The signs were faded, the stone had cracks and the windows in the alley were old and grimy, with a few panes missing. The alley was ignored by all passersby.
Luna, still in her disguise, wordlessly got up from the bench and calmly walked down the seemingly empty alley, Berry Punch followed. The further they walked, the more muted the sounds of the city behind them became. The shapes of the houses were becoming uneven, perhaps even a bit uncanny.
Soon they reached a small crossroad. "Wait here," she told Berry, making sure that the way they came out of was still in sight, the ponies who ignored the alley still visible in the distance.
Berry Punch hadn’t said anything for some time now, she stood there with a expression of unease as Luna peered around the corner. Uneven, almost abandoned old streets stretched into the distance, old newspapers held in place by small trickles of water from rusty old drain pipes. Steam or fog obscured much of both the sights and sounds. The occasional shape hurried across the street in the distance and the windows were all dark with the occasional hint of an onlooker.
Luna turned to Berry. "Thank you for your help, Miss Berry Punch. Now please, go back, I will watch over you."
Berry gave a small nod and walked back they way they came. After she reached the streets of the normal world, she gave Luna one last worried look, and then walked away.
Now then, Luna thought to herself. Let us see if there indeed are any answers to be found in this... place.
Not carrying herself with confidence she hadn’t earned, Luna cautiously walked down the street, the ground, the buildings, the refuse, even the air feeling forlorn, twisted… wrong.
—
Celestia lowered the sun, then did something she’d hoped she would never be forced to do again: she raised the moon.
For a thousand years her sister had been locked away in the form of that foul being, and now she was alone again, as Luna's inquiries would right now require her to be absent from the castle, and indeed the world, in a way. At least this time, Celestia would have her sister back soon.
At least she hoped so.
—
Luna opened the decayed wooden door, and slowly descended the damp, stone stairs. The establishment at the bottom was dimly lit and worn. The guests were talking quietly amongst themselves, playing cards, nursing their drinks, and reading newspapers.
There was no direct reaction to her entering, but she still felt watched as she made her way over to the bar through the thick, smoke-filled air. She looked around and saw that the patrons looked mostly fine, but a few details stuck out if one inspected them long enough. A few worryingly sunken eyes, odd and strangely old-looking wounds, and a few bloodstains on jackets and old travel-cloaks.
Luna inspected the menu as the bartender approached her. A strangely impressive collection of beverages were available at about half the normal price, and a few that didn't last all that long, so they were supplied from somewhere.
As the bartender looked at her questioningly, Luna said, "I'm looking for someone, with one eye, someone solitary who leaves shortly before midnight."
The bartender wordlessly gestured towards a table in the back. Luna turned to see and saw a lone figure sitting by an old wooden table. She slowly approached it.
In the world of Equestria, Princess Luna was a guardian of an entire realm, and had power enough to enforce the protection of her subjects. In this place and in this presence, however, she felt smaller and more powerless than she had in a long time.
The figure at the table was imposing, majestically so, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and covered by a great, plain cloak. A filmy membrane covered one of the eyes. Luna could not hold back her curiosity and peered through the veils of the world to try and get a better understanding of what exactly it was that she had approached.
She recoiled and just barely held back a cry of shock. She had not managed to discern what was in front of her, but she had seen two great, black birds on the figure's shoulders. She took the last few steps even more carefully than before.
The figure observed her in silence beneath the brim of the hat. Luna took heart and spoke up. "I am under the impression that you can help me."
The figure kept observing her as it nursed a beer, and it was impossible to tell if her statement had been acknowledged. She tried again. "I have questions about Bellerophon the human."
The figure slowly gestured for her to sit down, but otherwise did nothing. Luna did so and assumed, and hoped, that her presence was not unwelcome. "Do you know of Bellerophon?"
"Yes," the figure answered in a calm, low, and masculine voice.
"Who are you?" Luna asked, her voice void of accusation of passion..
"I am the Decreer," the figure answered patiently.
“And how do you know about this visitor among my subjects?”
"I know of Bellerophon and his kind, for through much of what you know as time, I have walked among them through the Lands of Lies."
"And what is that place?" Luna asked.
"The Elysian Fields," the Decreer answered. "Their sanctuary and prison ever since the Sinfall. Erected by the Usurper and false creator."
"And what is the ‘Sinfall’?" Luna asked, despite starting to feel light-headed.
"The great Deceit. The imprisonment of Anthropos."
"Lero is a prisoner?"
"A prisoner of time, matter, and flesh."
Luna shook her head, she was starting to feel dizzy and could not stay here for long, and needed answers to important questions.
"Is Lero powerful?"
"He is Anthropos," the Decreer answered cryptically.
"Is he dangerous?"
"If he so chooses."
Trying to think hard, Luna tried another tactic. "What would the involvement between Lero and my subjects mean for their safety? And please, answer clearly," Luna pleaded.
The figure paused for a moment at this before leaning forward and for the first time really looked at Luna with a piercing gaze from his eye, then leaned back in his chair and took a sip from his drink before answering. "The Last Cycle approaches. Should Anthropos awake, her friends will be shielded from all the darkness in the cosmos, everywhere, and for all time. Her old tormentors... might find themselves beneath her notice,” he said, then seemed to consider something for a moment before continuing. “Or not," he concluded simply.
“What will happen if I talk of this with Lero?” Luna asked.
“You will bring him pain.”
That would have to do, Luna shook her head in frustration before rising up. "Thank you for your time," she said.
The figure gave her a small but still respectful nod. "Take care, mistress of moonlight, your presence and what you still possess breeds envy in this place," the figure said and gestured towards the rest of the establishment.
Luna noticed that the slight buzz had died of and all eyes were hungrily locked on her. A subtle but deep fear crawled up her spine like an impossibly deep rumble.
Then the figure on the other side of the table turned his head towards the room at large and its patrons. As he did, the figures looked away and once again went back to their drinks and talks. Luna gave the Decreer a grateful nod and walked across the room, up the stairs, and out the door into the night.
She kept walking, through the alley and out on a street down towards the marina, still in her unicorn-disguise. Close by, a night-open restaurant's patio-section held several happily laughing groups of ponies. There, in the comforting radiance of merriment, she leaned against a streetlamp and let her composure drop. She shivered at her experience and the relief of its ending. She breathed deep for a few moments before gathering up the strength needed for the final stretch.
She reached her royal chariot, ignored the worried looks her guards gave her and simply said, "Canterlot. Post-haste."
Her guards obeyed immediately, and Luna leaned back in her seat. Before long, she would be home, and she could not reach her sister's comforting presence soon enough.
NEW author's notes, now with color! So, like, the original is the one at the bottom, which it seems like Orbiting Kettle likes (thanks, man ). Then he thought it could benefit from some polish, which if you'll read it, you'll find out is the case. However, since this story was a bit of a time-trial for me, I thought I might as well keep my old little one-shot, and include Kettle's new suggestion
So, Orbiting Kettle new and improved version of Pony People With Pony Names(and I hope my over-clarification doesn't come across as sarcasm, I just haven't had anyone building on something I've written before, this is actually really exciting ):
Tommy Gun leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin. His grand plan was still going on despite the traitors and backstabbers that had been hiding among his own ponies. But that was the past. His new second had cleaned up the shop, brought the grunts back on track and was leading the pigs on a merry chase far away form the Westside Laundry business. He had to admit it, that stallion had an uncanny skill in staying always one step ahead of the cops and ratting out turncoats. Tommy Gun grabbed a cigar and lighted it, a smug grin as skewed as his tax-forms on his muzzle. Hiring Sting Operation has been the best thing he had ever done.
That's was Kettle's improved version, here's my intentionally rushed original:
In a mansion overlooking an old suburb of Manehatten, Tommygun leaned back in his chair. Everything was going according to plan. His operations had taken a hit after the ousting of several traitors among his old guard. But the pigs had been running around like clueless foals after he placed his new wiseguy in charge of several operations, the same stallion who had busted the aforementioned traitors. In just a few months, he had managed to fool the cops away from the money laundering on westside completely. With any luck, his recent losses would be recuperated and then some. Yeah, Tommygun thought with satisfaction, that stallion, Sting Operation, has an uncanny ability to stay ahead of the law. He was the best damn enforcer he had ever hired.
It once came to pass, that a previously unknown creature arrived in Equestria by pure chance. An alien, with alien ways of thinking, knowledge about alien technology, who brought alien tools with him.
After some initial confusion and alarm, the ponies of Equestria was delighted to learn that the creature, a 'human', was quite friendly. However, he missed his home, and the pony-princesses agreed to help him find a way back.
They would all be sad to see him go, and he promised that he would return to visit if he could. He also decided to repay their kindness with teaching them about his trade with his alien tools.
And so, while he was waiting for the spell to send him back home to ready, he was teaching the knowledge-craving young princess, Twilight Sparkle, as they were sitting around a table in Canterlot Castle.
"Put some at the tip of the iron, then heat up the pin," the human said patiently.
Twilight groaned in frustration as the alien device once again seemed to do everything except what she wanted.
"Don't wait too long, or you're gonna boil the flux," the human continued.
It was the day after the big movie night with almost all her new friends. Gabe was walking across a field in the outskirts of Ponyville, enjoying the pleasant weather, when a sound caught her ear.
Aiming her ears forward, and looking up, she spotted Rainbow Dash’s house, and heard Rainbow Dash’s voice faintly sounding from it.
“Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-DASH! A-AAAAAH! Savior of Equestria! Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun.”
At this point, Gabe had bitten down on her hoof, trying desperately to stifle her laughter, lest Rainbow heard her. After about half a minute, she had to start stumbling away from the house, her teeth still clutching a hoof as her ears automatically splayed back to catch Rainbow’s raspy words.
Pinkie Pie sat in front of Carrot Cake, her expecting smile never leaving her muzzle.
In another situation, with another pony being interviewed by another potential employer, it might’ve come across as presumptuous, but both in the Cake-couple had found that they very much liked the young earth pony the moment they met.
Carrot Cake broke into a warm smile himself, and extended his hoof across the desk. “Congratulations, Miss Pie, and I think that’s the last time we’ll refer to each other like that, you’re now both a resident, and employee, of Sugarcube Corner.”
Pinkie Pie gave Carrot Cake’s hoof a friendly clop. “Yessir, Mr Cake, sir. I won’t let you down!,” she said, and gave a one-hoof salute.
As the day was wrapping up, the three ponies at Sugarcube Corner had just closed up shop. Pinkie had performed admirably throughout the day, despite no formal education or experience in customer service.
As Pinkie cantered up the stairs to her room on the top floor, Cup slided up next to her husband.
“It was kinda nice having another pony around, wasn’t it?” she asked.
“It was,” Carrot agreed.
“Think we have room for another one?” Cup asked, as she took a few steps towards the stairs.
“Uh, what do you mean?” Carrot asked.
Cup looked back at Carrot with half-lidded eyes, and slowly swished her tail. “I’ll let you figure it out.”
Carrot finally caught up with his wife’s meaning, and trotted after her with a smile on his face.
There were no words as they slid beneath the covers of their bed, only the occasional happy giggle and smacks of kisses.
“Wait,” Carrot suddenly said. “Uuh, do you know if, you know, our new resident will be able to… tell?”
“Don’t worry,” Cup assured him. “I checked when you were interviewing her. You can't hear a thing.”
That was all the assurance that Carrot needed. “Oh, okay then, let’s bake another Cake,” he said, enthusiastically.
Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was in her bed, and true to Cup Cake’s assurance to her husband, Pinkie could indeed not hear a thing.
The keyword being ‘hear’.
Another small spasm went through her belly, and her tail wound up into a tight spiral.
“Aaah, hihihihihihiiiii!” she giggled, her grin widening as what she sensed intensified. Pinkie loved foals... she also loved when ponies made them.
Gabe walked through a street in Ponyville towards Golden Oaks, still and serene save for the soft chirping of birds... and a strange thumping sound that grew steadily louder as she made her way down the road.
The thumping grew most intense next to the library, and Gabe peered her head around the corner to see Crescent, her Saddle Arabian neighbor, whipping a carpet with an irritated scowl on his face.
"Hey, Crescent," Gabe said. "How's it going?"
Crescent first looked annoyed at the interruption, before his face mellowed into a mix of relief and anticipation.
"Ah, Gabe. Just the pony I wanted to see," Crescent said. "Could you take a look at this? I can't get it to start!”
There was an almost palpable sense of unease in a house in a Cloudsdale suburb. Three of the four members of the family could sense it, whether the fourth could sense, and whether he cared, who can say?
What everypony sense however, with their cutesy.wutesy pony ears, were the occasional breaking of glass.
The broken glass were related to the sense of unease, but not for the reason that many might expect. It had simply been the result of some pretty callous behavior from the son in the family, Zephyr Breeze. Now that episode was over, and the house’s residents were calming down from the overly dramatic exclamation of the center of the drama, and Zephyr Breeze certainly liked being in the center.
Spirits were still not back to their normal level, but they were not so low that nopony would answer a knock on the door, and they did.
“Ey, Neighbor!” a widely smiling pegasus stallion said as Mr. Shy opened the door.
“Oh, hello, Bright Feather,” Mr Shy answered. “How are you today?”
“Great!” Bright Feather said, slid out of his saddle bags, and started digging around in them. “I got off work early, and the missus has promised my favorite for dinner, good things like that, but never mind that now. I saw this on my way home.”
Bright Feather fished out his lunchbox, and opened it, causing a very perplexed reaction until the contents were revealed.
“I thought this looked familiar,” Bright Feather said. “I hadn’t seen something like this in… oh, I don’t know. Decades, it feels like. I figured it was yours.”
I was a tiny cloud, just like the type that was collected in the building in the back.
“Oh thank you,” came the happily surprised respond.
“Hey, no problem. Laters.”
Fifty Thousand Zebras With Vuvuzelas Visit Canterlot
Celestia walked out on her balcony, and looked down on her realms and lands, love and pride for her little ponies welling up in her.
It was a familiar sight, and familiarity breeds comfort, which breeds a desire for certain outlets.
As Celestia’s horn glowed in preparation for raising the sun, her warm smile warped into a mischievous one. She took a deep breath, and called out in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
Gabe gave a small, surprise squeak as the first kisses landed on her neck, followed by pleased giggles.
She pressed her back tighter against the warm form exploring her, and took a foreleg in her hoof, guiding it into a hug, while snuggling against its shoulder, softly brushing her lips against it.
“Gabrielle Desrochers! We request your expertise!” a voice loud enough to consume the cosmos called out.
The warm form pressing against Gabe vanished, as did whatever soft object she had been lying on.
Gabe stood up, her legs and eye suddenly appearing on her. “Wha—what!? Emergency!? Fire!? Invasion!?”
Princess Luna came out of the sparkling haze surrounding Gabe, seeming taken aback by Gabe’s reaction. “Neigh, young Gabrielle, we simply wishes you to teach us how to properly prepare certain meals; knowledge which can be hard to come by, even in Canterlot.”
Gabe looked up into her princess’s eyes, her expression slowly turning from shock into disbelief, and disappointment. “Luna,” she said, complainingly. “I was having company!”
“Truly?” the princess of dreams asked, and sniffed the air. “Ah, we see. We have interrupted something which should not be interrupted. Never fear, we shall set things right.”
“Uh, okay, how?” Gabe asked.
“We shall prove a worthy replacement!” Luna called, and reared up in a dramatic pose.
What Gabe saw wasn’t anything she had ever expected to see, and made her plop down on her rump. “... what?” she asked in disbelief, eventually.
Luna had stopped waving her forelegs in the air, but she still stood on her hind legs, the pose quickly leaking a lot of the drama. “You don’t like it?” Luna asked, confused.
“Well I, it’s uh… It’s…” Gabe started, and never quite finishing.
Luna fell back down on all four hooves, still looking confused. “Strange,” she said, mostly to herself. “There has been so many. W— we just assumed...”
She finally noticed the confused look Gabe was giving her. “We have often seen images of ourself in the dreams of our subjects, even before our banishment” she started explaining. “Lately however, there has been a certain trend. A very prevalent trend that started not long after our return. It was very strange at first, though also flattering in some ways. Judging from your expression, there are still exceptions in the world. We apologize, this was a fallacy, or perhaps, in this case, a phallus-y.”
MLAABQ Gaiden: Sweet And Unusual Punishment part one
He, who had threatened the world twice. He, who emerged victorious from his battle with the power of four demigods combined.
He, who swore to never give up until all the power in the world was his.
Tirek cursed, and glared at a pebble just out of his reach.
He had grumpily kicked all rocks and stones around him off the small ledge that was his cell long ago, and shot the pebble that his chains held him from a poisonous glare as he continued to stoke the hate he held for ponies in his heart. One thousand years of brooding had made him terrible. Who knows what another thousand could do.
His hateful scowl mostly made way to curiosity, as he heard the sounds of hoofsteps approaching. Who dares approach the mighty Tirek?
Then she appeared on the ledge. A small filly, blue coat with a large shock of orange mane. She observed him for a moment with a look of utter dispassion.
Tirek was about to ask who she was, but something about the filly made him hesitate.
Instead, it was the filly who spoke first.
“So you’re the one,” she stated. Her tone and delivery holding down the deepest recesses of Tirek’s soul and telling him very clearly that she didn’t care for his response.
The filly turned her head around, and dug something out of a saddlebag. It was a gem. A fairly large one, letting out a softly pulsating glow of magic power.
This made Tirek take a step back. He couldn’t tell if she was here to harm him, aid him, or subjugate him for her own ends.
He stumbled for words once, before steeling himself. “What is this?” he asked with as much courage as he could muster.
The filly set the gem down on the ledge, just in sight of Tirek.
“A song,” she said, and tapped the gem.
Soft, easy beats started pouring out of the gem, and shortly after, a female voice filled the cavern, and shortly after that, three more voice joined the first. Their song was carefree and gay, the melody joyous and happy, in sharp contrast with the utter coldness on the filly’s face.
“Enjoy,” she said, turned around, then walked away.
MLAABQ Gaiden: Sweet And Unusual Punishment part two
The formerly mighty Tirek way lying down and staring straight ahead while mumbling to a tune. All sense of time had left him. He didn’t know how long he had been in his prison, and he was slowly losing his knowledge of who he was, where he came from, and where he was and why.
The only sensation he had left to cling to, was ironically enough the incessant sounds that had corroded his mind, and tethered all that was left of his sanity on it.
Weeks or eons, he couldn’t tell. Always, the song played.
A small, twisted grin formed beneath Tirek’s unseeing eyes, and he waited...
“♫Lollipop♪” Tirek quietly mouthed the next word.
“POP!”
A smile of relief came to his features, but it slowly faded as the song continued.
Then came the time again. Tirek’s eyes lit up from their deadened gaze, he quietly prepared to breathe the word.
“♫Lollipop♪”
No sound came.
Tirek’s gaze became alive as his eyes whipped towards the ledge where the music played from.
After a moment, the song continued from where it should’ve after the pop. Tirek watched it intently, his eyes focused with desperate hunger.
“♫Lollipop♪”
“... Pop?” he asked the still air quietly.
The song continued.
Once more, it was time.
“♫Lollipop♪”
Silence.
Tirek’s eyes went wide in panic, and he did something other than lying and waiting for the first time in what felt like eons.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Throughout Equestria, ponies stopped in their business, and looked around themselves in worry. There was a low rumble in the ground, but that wasn’t the worrying part, it was the overwhelming sense of despair that came with it.
In a bed, in a room, in a town, Gabrielle Desrochers was reclining against a pillow, relaxing with a book.
The slight tremor reached her, then a small smile formed on her face, and she chuckled impishly.
Twilight and Spike walked down the path towards Ponyville.
Unlike the last time, there was activity in the town. Quite a bit, actually.
“Well, my castle is still gone,” she said, referring to the crystal behemoth which had shone with its absence the last few times. “But… this looks… better, I think.”
“Yeah,” Spike said. “At least there are ponies in Ponyville this time.”
“And at least we’re not attacked or abducted,” Twilight said, before spotting a familiar figure trotting down with a bounce in her step a bit to their side.
The school teacher turned in confusion to the unfamiliar voice, but greeted the stranger with a tone befitting the hospitality of Ponyville. “Oh, hello there. New to Ponyville?”
Twilight and Spike didn’t respond immediately, being horrified by what they saw.
Half of Cheerilee’s face seemed to have been torn off. One of her ears was completely missing, staples held scarred and coatless skin in place at the side of her head, an eyepatch covered a clearly empty eye socket, and a heavy-duty bandage was wrapped around where a disturbingly large chunk of her muzzle seemed to be missing.
Cheerilee on her part, just smiled, acceptingly, with just a hint of ruefulness. “Yeah, I know it looks bad, but don’t worry about it,” she said, before walking up and looking closer at Twilight and Spike, her remaining eyebrow rising in surprise. “Are you a dragon... and— oh my, are you an alicorn?”
“Uh, yes, I,” Twilight started, before shaking her head. “Never mind that! Cheerilee, what happened to you!?”
Now Cheerilee was looking with Twilight with a hint of worry. “I’m sorry, do I know you? You have to tell me if you do. The doctors said I didn’t hurt my brain, but I should still keep an eye out for worrying signs.”
Twilight and Spike looked horrified for another moment, before Twilight let out a forlorn sigh. “No, don’t worry about it. You don’t know me.”
Cheerilee looked uncertainly at Twilight, before accepting her words. “Well, alright. Although I would think most ponies would have seen worse by now. I consider myself lucky.”
“Lucky?” Twilight asked in disbelief, and pointed at Cheerilee’s muzzle. “How is that ‘lucky’?”
“Well, I saw a lot worse on the front,” Cheerilee said. “And aside from a few scars, I’m gonna be good as new.”
“Front?” Twilight asked, before realization struck. “You were in… the war?”
“Yep,” Cheerilee said. “I was in the mid-ranks at the ambush at Horseshoe Dale. I was part of the group that covered the withdrawal of the sixth army.”
“You don’t say…” Spike said.
“Mhm. When I first woke up in the hospital and saw myself, I figured I should’ve joined the navy,” she said, before playfully nudging Twilight and blinking at her. “Then I learned that stallions really like a mare that saves her buddies in arms.”
“Oh, haha,” Twilight laughed nervously. “So, uh, there seems to be a lot of activity in town.”
“You don’t know?” Cheerilee asked, and looked at Twilight in surprise. “It’s Grand Admiral Desrochers’ victory tour. We won.”
“Gabe?” Twilight asked. “Is she here?”
Cheerilee eyebrow rose in surprise. “You know her? I know a lot of the Doomtroopers don’t like it when you use that name, but I’ve met her. She likes it. She said she was gonna make sure I was as good as new,” Cheerilee said, and smiled.
“Doomtroopers?” Spike asked.
“Yes, her new military branch? They man the ships?” Cheerilee said. “Wow, you’ve been missing the news,” she said, and pointed to a number of extremely large shapes flying in from the distance. “There they are.”
It was an armada of airships, the large ones being hundreds of trots in length and tall like the town hall, and flanked by packs of smaller ships flying in tight formations, forming a perimeter around the fleet. All the ships were covered by long metallic rods and barrels sticking out of the hulls, forming impressive and intimidating arrays of weapons and cannons.
“That’s the Angel Wings,” Cheerilee said, pointing to one of the larger ones. “That’s the one that picked me up when I was injured, and I’m gonna report to it later to get measurements for my prosthetics.
“And that’s the admiral’s flagship, The Thunder Of Guns,” Cheerilee said, pointing at the largest ship, an absolute behemoth, brimming with gun batteries and cannons, making it look a bit like a giant, upside down porcupine.
There, at the edge, was the admiral, In full dress armor, covered in so many medallions that some of them had to have been transferred to her impressive hat. It looked like a few soon would have to be placed on her eyepatch.
Her legs were all metal, and covered in shining lights, displaying power levels for systems that nopony except the creator would understand, and behind her, a large cloak billowed in the wind.
She calmly waved at the audience cheering from the town square in the distance, though she also kept glancing at the other ship Cheerilee had mentioned, almost eagerly.
“Yeah, this is… better,” Spike said after a while. “But maybe we should try again.”
“... That might be best,” Twilight said, and turned around towards the map.
“You’re not staying?” Cheerilee asked. “There’s a party later. Free food.”
“That sounds lovely. We’ll try and make it back in time,” Twilight said.
“Hope to see you there,” Cheerilee said, the happiness radiating from her face standing in stark contrast with all the chunks missing from it.
Your continued scoffing did absolutely nothing to diminish the ponies’ upbeat mood and infuriating lust for life.
You walked on your two legs throughout the town of Ponyville, because that was as many as you had. Two legs, not four, like the ponies around you. Two. Because you were Anon, a human. The human.
At least it’s assumed you’re a human. Human’s normally aren’t green, with a question-mark where their faces should be.
You did have a mouth… probably. It was either that, or there were some other arrangement for getting the right parts of the atmosphere into your bloodstream, because from what anyone could tell, you didn’t have a nose, just a big questionmark.
You continued on down the road, hands in your pockets of your suit. You hate everything of course, but you still put the effort into being a snappy dresser. Rarity complimented you on it, and you jumped at the chance to let out a small but still very pointed snort at her remark.
Except you didn’t jump. Only people who care about stuff jumps. You don’t care about anything, not even your grumpy demeanor and slumped posture. Which took a lot of effort to keep up every time you were out among ponies, let you tell you.
You walked into the market-square, getting some smiles and waves from nearby ponies. They never give up, but neither do you. You didn’t wave back. That’ll show them.
Everything is stupid, and you don’t care about anything. Except maybe one thing, and that thing is still stupid.
Turning the lighter around in your pocket, you pause to look at that mare. Applejack. You let your eyes, or perhaps you should use the word ‘gaze’ instead to keep it vague, because it wasn’t entirely clear whether you have eyes, travel across her body. From the strax-blonde mane on the top of her head, down across her barrel, over her wither, her cutie-mark adorned flank, and on to the region concealed by her tail: Your goal.
You take a breath, but not a preparing one, because you’re anon, and you don’t do that stuff, and walked up the the pony-pony, because she’s not a cow-pony, she’s clearly all pony.
“Howdy, Anon,” Applejack says, her smile both on her face and in her voice.
You grunt in response.
“You know, Anon, there is one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she says.
You don’t like answering questions, but you also don’t care enough about anything to try and deter her from trying to ask them.
Taking this as an invitation, she presses on. “What’s wrong with your face?”
Perhaps some planets somewhere aligned in some way, because you managed the unprecedented feat of shrugging in response.
Amazing. You almost only respond to a prompt from a pony when there’s an opportunity to tell millennia-old demigods how wrong they are about the cosmos and the laws of physics.
Applejack studied you for a moment, unfazed by the glowering indifference radiating from you.
“Well, if you don’t wanna tell me today, perhaps some other time them. Can I offer you an apple?” Applejack says happily.
Seeing an opportunity, you nod your head. Only once, and not too deep, or fast.
Applejack turns around to face the barrel of apples behind her, and you surreptitiously lean forward, lighter ready, when you hear the sound of a sparkwheel on flint.
You whipped your head around to see that infuriating prism-pony, Rainbow Dash, with a lighter held up by your rear.
She looked up when you furrow your the ridged where your eyebrows should be at her.
“Heh, hey, Anon. What’s up?”
“You’re weird,” you muttered.
“Your face,” Rainbow said smilingly.
And that's as far as I got way back when. Hope you liked it.
Ten ponies, and one dragon, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Spike, and the provider for the night’s entertainment, clustered together on cushions, all facing the computer display in front of them
“So how many movie do you have anyway?” Rainbow asked Gabe.
“I’dunno,” Gabe said. “A few dozen on this one.”
“Would you let one of us take a pick?” Rarity asked.
“Sure, but some of them are recommended for the ages fifteen and up,” Gabe said.
“Not one of us is younger than twenty, Gabe,” Applejack pointed out.
“By human standards, I mean,” Gabe said.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Applejack said. “Well, who gets to pick the movie then?”
“Ooh! Ooh! Me!” Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof.
“Darling, perhaps we should look at the list of films and all try and agree on something, shall we?” Rarity asked Rainbow.
“Alright, fine,” Rainbow conceded.
“Well, here it is,” Gabe said, manipulating the mouse with her unicorn magic. “I’m gonna scroll through it, speak up if you see something interesting.”
“Oh!” Fluttershy immediately said, perking up. “A movie about an animal?”
“Where?” Gabe asked.
“There,” Fluttershy said, pointing at the screen. “The Crow.”
“Uuh,” Gabe starte, uncertainly. “Yeah, there’s a crow in it, but that’s not really the focus of the movie.”
“What about that one?” Rainbow asked. “Saving Private Ryan?”
“That sounds promising,” Applejack agreed, putting her forehoof around her little sister. “Saving somepony and setting a good example for the young ones here.”
Apple Bloom looked up in mild annoyance at her sister.
“Uh, let’s keep looking before we decide on something,” Gabe suggested, and scrolled on.
“Oho? What’s that?” Rarity asked. “A film about dancing and high society perhaps? Sounds perfect if you ask me.”
“Which one?” Gabe asked.
“Tango and Cash it says,” Rarity said.
Gabe let out a nervous sigh, and silently kept scrolling.
“That one’s called Alien!” Pinkie said happily. “That’s kinda what you are, Gabe.”
“What’s The Thing about?” Twilight asked, confused.
“What about The Mist?” Rarity asked. “That’s a delightfully mysterious title.”
“No thanks,” Rainbow said. “I see enough mist at the job, it’s not really exciting.”
“Oh! Applejack said, spotting something on the screen. “Another film for the young ones, about hard work. The Professional.”
“Oh! Oh!” Pinkie Pie said, pointing at the screen again. “That one has to be good. It’s called Super!”
“Is that movie about animals then?” Fluttershy ventured. “The Lion King?”
“Yes it is! Sold!” Gabe exclaimed, and immediately booted up the movie.
Everyone around Gabe looked puzzledly at her stiffly nervous face, before shrugging and turning their attention to the movie starting up.
“I’m sorry, my little humans,” Celestia said. “But we cannot find a way to return you to your homes. If that ever changes, we will let you know, but whatever happens, you are welcome in Equestria.”
The three stallions in front of Celestia shifted uncomfortably from the tangible sadness which the princess delivered the news with.
“Uuh, that’s ok, your majesty,” one of them said, shuffling his hoof on the carpet. “It’s not your fault.”
Celestia smiled sadly at the pony. “If somepony found themselves in your home, and you were unable to help them leave, you would apologize too, I think.”
“Oh… well, when you put it like that,” one of them said. “Thanks for letting us stay.”
Celestia’s smile relaxed. “You are most welcome. Will you be returning to Ponyville?”
The three stallions nodded. “Might as well,” one said. “That’s where we keep our stuff. We might as well get comfortable around here, and make a living.”
“Yeah, and there are less people there,” another said. “More empty space for the tests.”
This piqued Celestia’s interested. “Oh, what kind of tests?”
They shrugged at her. “Well, you know, none of us are unicorns, but we still can’t let magic just sit around, untested.”
Celestia looked at them with uncertainty. “And that is what you do for a living?” she asked.
“Uhm, well, that’s often, but not always, one of the prerequisites for our inventions.”
“Ah, so you’ve started careers as engineers,” Celestia said. “That’s heartening. Regardless, if you ever need assistance with settling into Equestria, please do not doubt to ask me for aid.”
The three stallions smiled at the princess. “Aaw, thanks, your majesty. We’ll ask if we need any startup-money.”
… And so it came to pass that the three strangers, having learned that no known magic could take them back to their homeworld, settled into the small town of Ponyville. However, they never forgot their dreams of one day returning to their homes, and applying that same, or perhaps ever-changing, logic that they engaged in everything with to find their own way back… by looking to Luna’s stars.
Twilight Sparkle looked up from her desk when she heard the knock on her door.
“Come in,” she called.
The door opened, an the mayor of Ponyville, Mayor Mare, walked in. “Hello, your majesty,” she said.
“Oh, hello, Mayor,” Twilight said brightly. “How can I help you today?”
“Well,” the mayor started, uncertainty. “You know how Knee-Deep said that the pressure was dropping at the sewage treatment-station?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, have you found anything?”
“Yes,” Mayor said. “I asked him to look into it, and it looks like gas is being drained somewhere between the treatment plant, and southwest of Sweet Apple Acres’ northwestern field… right where our… new residents have their house.”
Twilight looked on in disbelief at this information, before rubbing her temples with her hooves, and without a word, walked over to her window, then flew out of it.
Halfway to the field, she heard the earth shake, and a great mushroom-cloud of smoke and fire rose from the outskirts of town; right where she was headed.
Twilight sped up, and reached a trench dug into the ground, with the three ponies, in high spirits, and covered in soot, were lifting up their goggles while filling glasses and clinking them against each other.
“Success!” they yelled.
Two of the stallions were looking at the almost-fallen-over tank with absolutely terrified expressions.
Twilight carefully levitated it down while looking at the two stallions with a worried expression.
“What’s in this?”
“Acetylene,” the pegasus said.
Twilight instinctively backed away from the tank.
“You said you weren’t making anything dangerous!” she protested.
“We’re not,” the earth pony clarified. “The hydrogen torch is perfectly safe, but I needed acetylene to make it.”
“Where did you get acetylene anyway?” Twilight asked.
“... Spike,” they answered simultaneously.
Princess Celestia stood and silently looked at the pony who in turn looked at the strange panel of gauges attached to the pipes before him, comparing them to a clipboard of numbers.
The stallion was utterly oblivious to her presence, until she decided to speak up.
“So, my little pony,” she said, making the stallion jump up in surprise before turning to her.
“Oh, hey, your majesty. What can I do you for?” he said.
“I was just wondering what this thing that you’re working for is,” Celestia said. “It’s quite the structure.”
“Ah, it’s a human thing, majesty. It’s called an ‘oil pipeline’.”
“Hey, Twilight,” Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle happily called in unison.
“Hi, girls,” Twilight said, tearing her eyes away from the bookshelves. “Do you need something?”
“Kinda,” Apple Bloom said. “We think the humans are building something over at the lake, but we can’t go in and figure out what they’re doing.”
Twilight paused at this, and tensed. “What do you mean, ‘can’t go in’?” she asked.
“They built some kind of weird, big metal thing that’s somehow floating around in there.” Scootaloo said. “We tried getting in, but the door on top was locked, and they had painted the frame like a bee.”
Twilight was breathing easier now, but not feeling entirely relaxed. “Big metal thing?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle said. “They put a sign on it though. it said, ‘sub-nautical hydroponics testing facility A’.”
“Alright, everypony,” Cheerilee said to her class, sounding a bit uncertain. “We have a special guest with us today. Mr Drew, the pony from another world, is here to talk about chemistry.”
In walked Drew, carrying on his bag a pair of saddlebags, which he placed on the teacher’s desk as Cheerilee sat down with her students.
“Thank you, miss Cheerilee,” Drew said, before turning to the class with barely contained excitement.
Cheerilee looked on in fascination despite herself, as Drew emptied an impressive number of objects from his saddlebag, including sealed metallic containers, and a large number of goggled gasmask.”
“Now, I know you’re all stoked to learn about chemistry,” Drew said excitedly. “And if you’re not, you should be, because today, I felt we should learn about one of the best things about chemistry: Fluorine fires!”
Twilight Is An Alicorn Who Outlived All Her Friends
Gabrielle Desrochers and Studded Armor cruised silently through the dark streets of Canterlot, their tails swishing behind them like a pair of siamese flying cyber foxes.
They came to a halt by a window on the second floor, and peered through the opening between the pair of curtains.
"This is the place," Gabe whispered.
"Do you see anything?" Armor said.
"Yeah, two ponies, a mare and a stallion under the covers."
"How many legs to they have?" Armor asked
"You know what, that's kinda hard to say from here," Gabe deadpanned.
"Are we gonna do this?"
"Yeah. No time like the present," Gabe said, and dug through the bag hanging by Armor's side, pulling out a metallic hind leg.
"Hopefully his measurements are still what the doc said they were," Armor said.
"Yeah, well," Gabe said, and shrugged before magicking the window open. "He's gonna have to visit a smithy if they're not."
As soon as the window as unlocked, Gabe powered down the magic, silencing the chiming sounds, and opened it slightly.
Gabe and Armor stopped, but neither the chiming of magic or the low flapping of Armor's wings made the two ponies stir in their sleep.
"Alright, I'm going in," Gabe said, and sat down on the windowsill.
Armor held her hooves and helped her slowly lower herself to the floor, tush first.
When she was on the floor, Gabe took the limb in her mouth, lay down on her back, and slowly pushed herself backward with her elbows. That was the thing with hooves; They were not great for stealth, at least not on parquet.
When she reached the bed, she slowly lifted the cover off the ponies' lower halves. Luckily, the couple had not coupled that night, this felt weird enough without witnessing that.
True enough, the stallion's left hind leg ended just above his knee. Gabe took the limb, and stopped herself just as she was about to attach it to the leg, and breathed out in relief at having spotted the flaw.
She turned the leg over and breathed on the cup that would be connecting the prosthesis and the leg to warm it up, and made sure that the textile between the cup and the leg was in place.
Gabe lifted the covers again, hesitated for a moment, the simply put the cup against the stallion's residual limb.
She held her breath as the stallion stirred, making him hold the mare closer. She mewled slightly in response, but neither of them woke up.
Gabe let out her breath, and lifted the cover again to see the prosthesis hook around the mare. Then she lay down on the floor to scoot back to the window.
"Did it work?" Armor asked as she reached the window.
"Like a charm," Gabe said.
"Great," Armor said, and reached into the room, hooked his legs to Gabe's, and hoisted her onto the windowsill.
"Wait," Gabe said, as they were about to close the window. "Manual."
"Oh, right," Armor said, and fished out a roll of paper from his saddlebag.
"Okay, uuh," Gabe said, holding the paper uncertainly, then she just tossed it towards the bed, before closing the window. "Whatever. Now let's get the buck out of here."
After the very sudden shift in governance after King Sombra's departure, and the shock of all the ponies defecting with him, Keen Seeker's job had become a very difficult one. After all, how is one supposed to stop organised crime and syndicates when half of your colleagues just ups and leaves? Not just half of colleagues, but a large chunk of the entire bureaucracy needed to keep law enforcement running. Luckily, the Changeling rangers, sneaky but ever stalwart, were ready to step in and bolster the numbers of the overtaxed agents of the law.
Keen Seeker stood at the Seaddle sky harbor in the night, talking with guards and dock workers who'd rather just go home for the day, scribbling notes on his pad that he knew would be useful.
"I didn't seen nothin'," the mare shrugged. "Lot'sa ship today, like any other day."
Keen Seeker let out a sigh, adjusted his hat, and raised his collar to shield himself from the wind. "Nothing? How did the crew look? Can you at least remember that? Filthy bandanas? Gold teeth? Parrots? A peg leg? Anything?"
The mare slowly shook her head.
Keen Seeker looked at the guardspony next to her, trying to communicate with his demeanor that the question was aimed at him as well, but he only had eyes for something in the distance.
He didn't want to drop his demeanor, but curiosity won out, and he looked towards where the guard was looking, just as the latter's eyes widened.
"What?" he asked, before he widened his stance to run over and either assist or protect ponies. From what, however, he wasn't entirely sure.
A dinghy came flying in towards the mole. Not so fast that you'd think the pilot was trying to destroy it, but they were certainly being reckless with their craft.
"Hey-oop!" came a voice from the boat, just as the dinghy crashed into the stone structure, and Keen Seeker didn't exactly understand what he saw at first.
It was a hat-clad unicorn filly, with a grown, tall, pretty pegasus mare over her back, hopping out from the boat and onto the mole, before calmly starting to walk towards Keen Seeker and his interviewees on the way to the city proper, holding the mare's hooves and wings off the ground with her magic.
"'Sup?" she asked the confused trio, making them recoil slightly at the sight of her milky white eye.
The filly pointed behind her, towards a star that seemed strangely bright considering its closeness to the horizon. "There was an accident over there. This ship crashed into a cliff wall. Everyone's okay though, they got into their life boats and sailed away, but I'm sure they'd be super grateful if guards, and plenty of them, could collect them. Big crew, and I'm sure they're cold and hungry by now. Bring hoofcuffs too, they might be distraught and need restraints."
"Uhm..." was all that the guard could say.
"Well, nice talking to you," The filly said, and started walking away.
"Wait!" Keen Seeker said, when he finally noticed a crucial detail with the filly. "That hat! That's the hat of Captain Cutlass Tricorn!"
The filly looked up at her hat, specifically towards the charred and missing edge, before shrugging. "That makes no sense. A tricorn hat needs three corners," she said, happily, before turning away and talking to herself to herself. "Now to find an inn perhaps? ♫My Bonnie lies over the ocean, drei ecken hat mein hut... ♪"
Keen Seeker and the guard looked at each other, then back and forth between the filly and the distant star.
After a few seconds, they rushed the other way, towards the sky guard’s headquarters.
“No, Twilight,” Celestia interrupted. “I’m afraid we must call in another to stop him.”
“Who?” Twilight asked, her curiosity overpowering the unintentional chide of Celestia’s interruption.
“A brave warrior, and vanquisher of evil from beyond the vastness of the stars,” Luna said, before Celestia could speak.
“Luna,” Celestia said, shaking her head. “I do not doubt her intentions, nor her ability, but her demeanor frightens me.”
“As it should,” Luna said, nodding. “When her foes hear her name, the terror is palpable.”
“Who is this pony?” Cadence asked.
“She is not a pony,” Celestia said. “And once much, Luna, I must object.”
“It is the best option,” Luna insisted.
Celestia let out a sigh. “Very well, let us call out to her. I do prefer her violence over Tirek’s destruction.”
—
The dread warlock, Tirek, stomped across the landscape towards the town of Ponyville.
Another great villain might have been a bit worried by the ease of which the princesses had given up their power, but not Tirek. He did not have much subtlety in him. Power and everything to him, and to him, power was destruction. One had to look to find a more simple being in Equestria.
And as he neared the town, Twilight and her friends helped their weakened princesses and Twilight’s brother, the prince, peer above the hill they hid behind to witness Tirek approach the town.
“Where is she?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“She’ll be here,” Celestia said. “She has never failed.”
There was a flash of light as a yellow object smashed into Equestria’s atmosphere, superheating the air around it at it crashed towards the ground, before slowing down quickly enough to gently touch down on the soil between the centaur and the town of Ponyville.
An armored figure emerged from the vessel, clad in the ancestral war gear of her adoptive people, the glossy and sleek design containing destructive power the likes of which technology might never achieve in Equestria.
She looked at the nervous ponies peeking out above the hill, giving them a nod, and walked towards the centaur.
“Who dares stand before the mighty Tirek!?” the centaur roared.
Samus Aran gently lifted her arm cannon, and aimed it towards Tirek as she kept walking.
There had been a moment of worry as the enormous centaur had literally swallowed his opponent, intent on consuming what he saw as powerful magic, before the battle very suddenly and very decisively ended in the extraequestrial warrior’s victory.
The ponies looked on, stunned, as she turned to them, once again nodding in their direction.
For their part, the ponies felt very conflicted. On one hoof, the threat was gone and the magics he had stolen was soaring back towards their owners. On the other, pieces of the threat in question was still raining down around them and blanketing the landscape.
“And that,” Luna said, coping a little better than the others, “is a victory that should be rewarded.”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, shakily, trying and failing to properly punch the air in victory. “That was bucking aws-uagh!”
The others slowly backed away from Rainbow, as her voice was cut off from her emptying her stomach.
In tradition of many tales of heroics and great deeds, the princess of Equestria was to reward their savior; in the bedroom.
As Luna lay on her side, she playfully pushed the orange, armored ball on her bed, smiling to herself as it rolled a body length away from her.
“We suppose it’s true that the powerful often find it exciting to delve into another role in intimate moments,” she said.
The ball was held very tightly with black leather straps, squirming gently from side to side.
“You are a very flexible mare,” Luna observed. “Do you want to be let up for a moment?”
The ball rolled back and forth in small, negatory motions, and Luna could sense the protest among the satisfaction. She embraced the armored sphere and gently nuzzled it.
Scenario B:
“And once again, Luna, I must object.”
Luna let out a sigh, and waved invitingly at her sister. “Fine, we shall do it our way.”
Summonings were performed, magics were stolen, and princes and princesses were relocated to a hill outside of Ponyville.
“Where is she?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“It’s not a she,” Celestia said, then put her hoof to her chin. “Or… at least I don’t think so.”
“Where is… he, then?” Applejack asked.
Before anyone could ask, there was a sharp twinkle in the sky, and an a bright yellow star-shaped object crashed into the ground between the approaching Centaur and Ponyville.
The ponies up on the hill looked on in disbelief as a small, round, pink creature with eyes of a size to match their own walked out of the smoking crater with vaguely arm and leg shaped appendages.
It looked around in confusion, before spotting them up on the hill and waving at them eagerly with a look of pure happiness.
“It’s… a bubblegum,” Rainbow Dash said, not quite believing her own words as she saw Kirby waving at them.
“Who dares stand before the mighty Tirek!?” the centaur roared, making Kirby turned towards him, ready to fight by the look of his large eyes.
The centaur walked close enough to see the pink shape staring at him defiantly, and started laughing heartily.
“Aaah-hahahahahahah-hauaAAAAGH!”
Tirek’s laughter was cut off by a panicked scream as Kirby opened his mouth wide enough to take up his entire surface, allowing a torrent of air to flow into it.
Tirek quickly lost his balance and fell onto his barrel. He gripped the ground with his hands, making his rear parts flow first towards the consuming entity, but only managed to delay the inevitable.
After a both comical and disturbing sight, the ponies kept looking on in disbelief at what they saw.
The centaur was gone, and the little pink shaped let out a hearty belch, and then looked at the ponies with the same happy smile as before.
“... Yeah!” Rainbow whooped, punching the air. “Go Bubblegum!”
Celestia lay on her side on her bed, a look of much fulfilment as she observed the shape next to her.
“Ready for more, my sweet?” she asked, a little provocatively.
Kirby nodded eagerly, a large smile on his face.
“Heeeere comes the pegasus!” Celestia sing-sang, and floated a large bit of cake in front of Kirby. “Whoosh! Whooosh!”
“Thanks for coming, Gabe,” Twilight Sparkle said, as the two of them walked down a hallway in The Castle of Friendship. “He’s speaking a language I’m not familiar with, but perhaps you know it.”
“Well, if I don’t understand it, I might still be able to identify it, which might help,” Gabrielle Desrochers said. “How is he? Is he scared or something?”
“No he seems very calm,” Twilight said, as they neared the door. “He might be getting a little restless from not knowing what’s going on though.”
“But can he understand you?” Gabe asked. “Did he try and say any words you understood?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Alright,” Gabe said, taking that into consideration, as Twilight opened the door to the large guest room.
In it, on a bed, focusing on the door opening in front of him with a curious and slightly apprehensive expression was something Gabe didn’t realise how long it had been since she had been until she saw him: A human.
He looked calm enough for the situation, and not scared or angry at all, which Gabe found to be a relief. He mostly looked curious at the sight of the two ponies.
He slowly raised his hand in greeting, and simply said, “uhm, hello.”
Gabe stopped, and looked at Twilight.
“He said ‘hello’,” Gabe pointed out, confused, as she gestured towards the human.
“He did?” Twilight asked. “You understand him then?”
“Of course,” Gabe said, confused. “He’s speaking the same language as us.”
“He’s not… is that what you hear?” Twilight asked.
“Yes!” Gabe said, before pausing for a moment. “Don’t you?”
“No... interesting.”
Gabe walked closer to the human, and held up her flesh and keratin hoof. “Hey there,” she said. “My name’s Gabrielle Desrochers. What’s your’s?”
The human cocked his head at her. “I’m sorry,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “I don’t understand you. I mean, it’s clear that you’re speaking some form of language, but I can’t understand the horse sounds you make.”
“Oh, thank you,” Gabe said, rolling her eye. “I know I have a bit of an accent, but– wait a minute, what do you mean ‘the horse sounds you make’?”
The human looked a bit flustered, and then just shrugged.
“The sounds I make?”
A soft nicker came from behind her. “Gabe?”
“Wha-what?” Gabe neighed at Twilight shaking her out of her thoughts.
“Are you okay?” Twilight nickered. “You looked lost in thoughts.”
“I… did? Did? Did… Diiiid,” Gabe whickered, listening to her every word. “Oh… OH!”
“Gabe?” Twilight neighed. “What is it?”
“I’m… I’m,” Gabe nickered in a shaky voice, before looking up into the ceiling with a deranged expression and whinnying as loud as she could.
It was done. The wicked Tirek was defeated, magic was restored to ponykind, and Twilight even had a new home.
The heroes, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity, set down in front of the new castle, the enormous powers granted to them by the Tree of Harmony still being channeled through them for the moment, manifested as what Rarity would describe as "Gloriously beautiful garments."
Behind them, two ponies who had just returned to Equestria stood, watching their friends' outlandish clothes.
"Why are you guys dressed like Earth, Wind & Fire?" Gabrielle Desrochers asked.
A destitute orphan moving to live in an opulent castle is in for many experiences, some with a stinging feeling of familiarity, others not, some filling one with elating feelings of hope and opportunity, others… not.
Princess Celestia sighed, as she sat on her balcony, deep in melancholy and worry despite the refreshing night breeze.
She thought back to her own humble origins, a family of ordinary peasants long ago, when Equestria was different, darker, and that word, peasant, was commonly used.
She searched in vain for something she could use to relate to her wayward student, shared experiences, longing, something to help impart the wisdom she had learned all those centuries ago.
But she mentally kicked herself at every idea. Orphans aren’t similar to each other just because they’re orphans. Something else was needed.
Sunset Shimmer’s headstrongness had become an iron will, and eventually an indomitable determination. Her desire for knowledge and power had become ambition, and eventually obsession.
All points against Sunset’s character, to be sure, but…
Celestia sighed again.
… Not everypony can gracefully see the path to becoming an immortal alicorn, and then be denied it, even temporarily.
Celestia could. In her great wisdom, forethought, and patience, granted to her by her nigh-incomprehensibly long life, she could stand to wait, and let ascension into an alicorn come when she was ready.
The bitter irony was not lost on her.
She looked up into the night sky, to the fabled Mare in the Moon, and saw her sister staring back at her.
Lessons had to have been learned. It could not all have been in vain.
She stood up, she would send for Sunse– no! She would go to Sunset. The young archmage’s behavior could be infuriating beyond words, and could send even the most unflappable of ponies bristling, but humility was needed. Patience, and understanding, and love, was needed. She did love Sunset Shimmer.
That was when the alarms on the forbidden section of the castle tingled inside her mind.
“No!”
—
The core faculty of Hogwarts reached the innermost chamber.
“And this room is where I will be placing my contribution,” Albus Dumbledore said, calmly.
“While we appreciate the vote of confidence, this is You-Know-Who we are talking about,” said Fillius Flitwick. “Any... danger course we will be able to think up will be useless against him.”
“Certainly not,” Dumbledore kindly asserted. “And false modesty is of no use here.”
“I have to also voice the same concerns,” said Pomona Sprout. “It will, at most, be a delaying tactic.”
“Ah, but a little delay can mean so much. And besides, he cannot be everywhere at once, he did have his cadre of followers for a reason.”
Dumbledore did not glance at Severus Snape, Flitwick and Sprout did however, as did Minerva McGonagall, though it was barely perceptible. Snape’s expression did not change.
“And so that will be your task between classes. A bit of… homework, as it were,” Dumbledore added, jovially, as they turned around and started walking back towards the entrance. “My old friend has entrusted us with the safety of his great accomplishment. Let us not disappoint him. Walk with me if you will, Severus. Minerva, please join us at the mirror.”
“Yes, professor Dumbledore,” McGonagall said.
The staff of Hogwarts filed out of the corridor on the third floor, and walked their separate ways, except for Snape and Dumbledore, who calmly strolled down the hallways together.
Dumbledore broke the silence. “Despite the circumstances of the Dark Lord’s temporary demise, we must assume you are of course still in his favor.”
Snape's expression hardened. “... I have not spoken to him since before his… misfortune.”
“You are valuable to him however, or so he is convinced.”
“He is vindictive.”
“Yes… but you were not alone in clearing the path he walked. Blame can be shifted onto others.”
Snape’s mouth twitched as he fought down both a smile and a snarl as he realized who Dumbledore was talking about.
“Even so, be mindful of what you do and what you say. His servants will do their best to cloak their allegiances. Use that, and do not let them reveal to you that they are out to do his bidding.”
“Of course,” Snape said, with not a hint of emotion in his voice.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, until they reached the empty classroom, in a far corner of the castle, where Minerva McGonagall was approaching them.
“I trust I am not interrupting.”
“Not at all,” Dumbledore said, in a kind voice, as they entered the room with the mirror of Erised. “I assume another barrage of owls will not be required to have the young mister Potter convinced of his heritage?”
“No, it appears Rubeus has been quite convincing.”
“As ever,” Dumbledore chuckled, with his back placed against the mirror, and Snape had to sidle a bit to not get a clear view of it himself.
“Now, as for my plan concerning this–”
That was as far as Dumbledore got before the mirror started glowing intensely, instead of showing what it normally showed, there was a whirlpool of lights and mists, before a blinding light positively exploded out of it, making the two wizards and the witch avert their eyes.
When next they looked, the mirror was back to normal, and Snape had to jerkily avert his eyes from it. That was easier than expected, as there was something else demanding their attention. At the foot of the mirror was something that made even the unflappable Albus Dumbledore open his mouth in surprise for several seconds before he shot forward with a worried frown.
A young girl, with an eye catching mane of fiery red hair with blond streaks running through it, was sprawled on her belly, wearing a set of robes and a shoulder bag, her head to her side, revealing a troubled expression.
Dumbledore quickly drew his wand and wordlessly motioned it over the unconscious girl, his free hand a small distance from her mouth to confirm her breathing.
“Albus?” McGonagall said, in a worried voice.
“Alive, and seemingly unharmed.”
“Who is she?” Snape asked, evenly.
“I do not recognize her. Do you?”
“No,” said McGonagall. “How could she…? That was not apparition, or phoenix fire, and it was not a house elf.”
“No,” Dumbledore concurred. “Regardless, I believe the medical wing is our next destination.”
Showing a surprising strength, Dumbledore lightly picked up the young girl, and walked out of the classroom, his staff in tow, with only Snape stopping in the doorway to cast one more suspicious glance at the mirror.
—
Poppy Pomfrey liked her job, but disliked actually doing it. It meant, after all, that there was demand for it. Nevertheless, she dutifully patched up the students, and sometimes faculty, of Hogwarts through the years, mending scrapes and lesions, setting bones right, restoring mis-aligned teeth…
... Neutralizing mis-brewed love potions, moving ears from heels back to the head, re-inserting brains into skulls, and once, safely removing a schooner from a nostril.
“Madam Pomfrey?” Dumbledore had gently called from the entrance to the medical wing.
Poppy Pomfrey had looked up from her weekly issue of Time Travelling Monthly and seen the man in question and the reason he was coming to visit. A quick glance at his face had told her she did not literally have to spring into action however.
“Really, headmaster. The semester has not even started yet.”
The headmaster chuckled to himself in his office. Now that the mysterious girl was being cared for, he felt confident that recognising the levity in the situation would not be tasteless.
It had been established that the girl had magical talents, or the wards of the castle would have informed him otherwise. That was good, because it meant he did not have to turn her over to muggle authorities and let them take care of it, even though he had more confidence in their abilities than many others born into the magical world.
Of course, it also meant that it fell to him and his staff to locate the girl’s family.
She looked somewhat like a Weasley with her fiery hair, but Dumbledore felt confident she wasn’t one, as all but two of the Weasley children were attending or had attended Hogwarts. Even so he had penned a quick letter to Molly to affirm the whereabouts of her remaining two children, and not to worry if they were present. The inquiry included Ronald, in case he was under a shapeshifting spell- the girl was rather tall after all, like Percival and William.
The headmaster brought the bag the girl had carried with her up to his desk, and gently opened it. She had not had a wand on her person, nor did it seem one was in here.
The contents still gave him pause however. A book and some coin were not the most unique of contents to find in a shoulder bag, but these were not ones Dumbledore was familiar with.
The book was a fairly stout one, with a picture of a red and yellow sun on the cover, the colors matching the girl’s hair. Dumbledore inspected it closely, and there was magic on it.
Whatever spell was on it was powerful, but Dumbledore did not recognise it. Being a rather well-informed wizard, and an old one, and well-schooled in all manners of magic even for his age, Dumbledore was somewhat taken aback by how utterly unfamiliar it felt.
It could have been one he had missed in his many years of study of course, it wasn’t impossible, just… unlikely.
Unlikely to the point where he felt confident enough to dismiss that possibility. Another possibility was that it was particularly old, and from a culture of magic he wasn’t familiar with. In his myriad quests over his life, the older magical arts of Mali for example had never become very relevant.
So if not particularly old, then some magical culture he was particularly unfamiliar with. He opened the book, and saw the contents.
Everyone tended to develop their own style of cursive writing, and some ended up being tricky to decipher, but he did not suspect that this… graceful, to say the least, style of writing was the result of sloppy crow’s feet style of jotting down words. This was a foreign language.
He gently tapped his wand against the pages, and again, and again, a myriad of translation spells slid past the signs on the page, not recognising any of it as forms of communication.
Dumbledore sat deep in thought for a moment, before reaching into the bag again and retrieving one of the gold coins. On it was more writing he did not recognise, and more particularly, the side profile of a serene-looking unicorn with closed eyes, an impossibly lustrous mane, and an incredibly long horn.
Dumbledore leaned back in his chair.
An unfamiliar culture indeed.
After a while, he rose to his feet, and walked over to a large, stout cupboard.
Inside, there was a chamber that was larger than the furniture. In that chamber was only one thing- an open book resting on a pedestal, with page after page filled to the brim with names.
At the bottom of the current page was a name that had not been there the day before.
—
Sunset Shimmer was sprawled across a bunk in the medical wing, snoring loudly, her hair looking like a grenade had gone off in it.
To Sunset, waking up and starting to function did not happen at the same time as she gained the ability to form conscious thoughts.
She sat up, smacked her lips loudly to try and dislodge some half-dried saliva, and raised her hand to use digits she had never had before to dislodge the eye-boogers from the bridge of her nose as she blinked her eyes out of sync.
She didn’t remember going to bed with a white curtain like in a hospital around her. In fact, she didn’t remember going to bed at all.
She looked down on her unfamiliar body, and figured that might have something to do with it, before she let herself fall down on her pillow again, not caring enough to get up until she gets ten more minutes.
After a short while, her eyes shot open, and she sat up with lightning speed, but scared to actually look at herself.
Eventually, her still murky eyes looked down on herself again. She decided to deal with this later, and went right back to sleep.
Immediately after that, or so it seemed, Sunset was awake again, this time she didn’t have the comforting haze of half-wakefulness to shield her from what she had seen before, and deciding that third time's the charm, she made another attempt at inspecting herself.
“Okay, okay, different body, it feels… okay, not in pain. Hmm, no hooves. Paws?” Sunset whispered to herself, as she held her appendages in front of her, and flexed her jaw as she felt around it with her tongue. “No, no tail, no muzzle, these aren’t paws, they’re hands. Some sort of… simian, without a coat.”
After a few moments, she figured out the trick with opposable thumbs, and lifted the quilt off from her. She wasn’t a minotaur, as she had another version of hands at the end of her hindlegs, further showing that she was a simian.
“At least I seem to be a hygienic version of one,” she said to herself.
She actually had to admit that she looked better, a lot better, than she thought she’d look if somepony told her she’d wake up as a species that looked like cousins to great apes.
Her new body had distracted her for too long from her primary concern. She brought her hoof… hand, up to her forehead, and felt the absence of a horn.
This was a setback, but not necessarily more than a temporary one. She closed her eyes, and focused inward
Her magic was still there, she focused on it, and it stood ready to respond. Without a horn however, she’d need another outlet, another focus. It wasn’t a trivial task, but just about any part of the body could function as one. It took time, and knowledge, and willpower, but it could be done, and Sunset Shimmer was not some… fumbling novice- in fact, scratch that, even when she was a fumbling novice, she could run in circles around most anypony with her magic.
A pair of voices from beyond the curtain broke Sunset out of her musings.
“... Looks like a perfectly healthy young girl,” a mare said. “I would guess eleven years old, a little tall. The only two strange things I could find were her slightly pointed ears.”
Sunset’s brow creased. That was an old earth pony tongue. Not that it would present a problem of course, it was an efficient and comprehensive language enough.
“Hmm, I must admit I did not inspect her ears through her hair,” a stallion, definitely an older one, said. “Mayhap there’s some goblin blood in her.”
“Physical inheritance might not be my expertise, but judging by the rest of her I would think not. I’d say a nymph is more likely.”
“Perhaps,” the stallion said, sounding amused. “And the other?”
Sunset quietly put the quilt back over her and settled in to listen.
“Well, she’s… you must have noticed, professor, she looks lithe enough, but she is somewhat heavier than one would expect.”
Sunset’s eyebrows rose up from that comment, before falling back down into a scowl.
“May I speak with her?”
Sunset let her head burrow into her pillow again, and she closed her eyes, pretending to be resting.
“I will see if she is awake.”
Sunset heard the curtain being pulled back, and frowned a little at the light washing over her face.
She opened her eyes to see the mare looking at her with a concerned face, and the stallion a little ways behind her.
She blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the light, before sitting up and focusing on the two.
“Good…” Sunset glanced out the window, “... day.”
“I’m sorry, what was that?” the mare said.
“I said, I-uh mean,” Sunset said, quickly shook her head, and switched to the old earth pony language. “Good day.”
Dumbledore cocked his head slightly. That had been a very scant few words, but he did not recognise the language before she had switched over to English.
“Good day, young miss,” the headmaster said, smiling amicably. “And welcome, unexpected as your visit may have been.”
Pomfrey and Dumbledore couldn’t help but find the girl’s poised manners intriguing, as she calmly glanced around. “Thank you, sir. May I ask where I am?”
“You are in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in the medical wing to be specific.”
Sunset frowned slightly.“Medical wing?” she asked, and frowned a little more. Hogwarts?
“That’s right,” the mare almost-barked, and moved forward to lean over Sunset. “And I’ll have you lying still until I can see you’re unharmed, I will.”
Sunset, in her confusion, let herself be pushed back into a lying position. These creatures looked less like apes by the minute. Their balance and center of gravity being wholly different among many other things, and as with sapient creatures she knew from Equestria, they had a dignified bearing.
“If it helps, I feel fine,” Sunset said, not counting the wholly unfamiliar feeling of only having had a few minutes of conscious time with her current body.
“That’s good, so now we only have to worry about problems you might not feel.”
Sunset squirmed a little uncomfortably. Problems with her body were things she could identify and take steps to rectify. Problems with the mind were trickier. How do you fix a problem when the problem is you not realizing you have a problem?
“Look into the light, please,” madam Pomfrey said, and held up the tip of her glowing wand.
Sunset fought the desire to frown in thought as she did as she was told. This meant that they were magicians, able to actively control the arcane powers, like herself.
“Are you seeing this correctly, dear?” madam Pomfrey asked, a little concerned.
“The light at the end of the… your wand? Yes.”
Madam Pomfrey paused a little, and intensified the light. “Is this bright to you?” she asked, straining her own eyes.
“A little,” Sunset said, not showing any signs of discomfort.
Madam Pomfrey dismissed the light from her wand, and held out a finger in front of Sunset. “Please follow this.”
There was no indication from Sunset that she had stared into a normally uncomfortably bright light, and her teal eyes followed the finger in a relaxed manner.
“Well I… have to say that you seem healthy enough.”
“Wonderful,” Dumbledore said, as Sunset sat up in her bed. “I feel we have delayed introductions long enough. As I said before, welcome to Hogwarts, I am Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster, and this is my colleague, and the matron of the medical wing, Madam Poppy Pomfrey.”
“Thank you, and pleased to meet you, Albus Dumbledore, Poppy Pomfrey. My name is Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset said, nodding in recognition at the two creatures, just then realizing her name probably sounded as strange to them as theirs did to her, except the name Poppy. At least she hadn’t forgotten to translate it as she said it.
“That is a lovely name, Miss Shimmer,” Dumbledore said, assuaging her worries. “Tell me, how did you come to be here?”
This made Sunset pause. Recent developments back in Canterlot taught her to hold her cards close to her chest, but no effort was required to make her seem ignorant of the answer to this. How had she come here?
She looked down on the sheets covering her as she thought. “I… don’t know.”
“Curious, as neither do we,” said Dumbledore. “Now, may I ask where your parents are?”
“I don’t know. I never knew them,” Sunset said, shortly and easily.
Dumbledore smiled sympathetically at her, even though she showed no signs of sadness. “I apologize. Any other guardian or caretaker then?”
Sunset had noticed that she was of a somewhat smaller physical stature than these two individuals, and if they worked the way most animals worked, in that they stopped growing larger in adulthood, she could presume that she was now physically younger than she had been as a unicorn. It was hard to say how young, but probably not a small child- she suspected there would be more comforting language and reassurances if that was the case.
“Yes, a… tutor,” she said, and had to struggle not to let out a growl as she thought back to Celestia, who had taken her in, comforted her, taught her, trained her, loved her… then let Sunset catch a glimpse of the path to immortality, and denied it to her.
“A tutor? Of… magic?” Dumbledore asked.
“Well, yes, among other things,” Sunset said.
“Where is she?”
“At… her home I suppose.”
“And where is that?”
There were several reasons Sunset didn’t want to tell these people who she was and where she came from. It was clear that she was now on another world, or even another plane of existence, and she had no idea how people here would respond to that. If she believed that, being locked away in a mental asylum might be the least unfriendly thing they’d do.
But really, the main reason Sunset to hold her cards close to her chest was that she had revealed her plans and intentions before, and been stopped from pursuing them. She would not make that mistake again.
“Uhm, it’s…”
Thinking fast about the etymology of the word for her home nation in the language she was currently using, she decided to try and confuse this... Albus Dumbledore.
“Canterlot,” she said, in Modern Equestrian.
Dumbledore cocked her head at the alien, but still beautiful name. “I see, and where is that?” he asked, in a kind voice.
“Equestria.”
Sunset thought she saw something glimmer in Dumbledore’s eyes, but perhaps it was just a trick of the light, as she also felt a little mentally scrambled, which was understandable considering her situation.
“Never heard of it,” Poppy Pomfrey noted, making Sunset high-hoof herself in her head.
“I assume you’d like to return there?” Dumbledore asked.
Her mind still racing, Sunset went for an answer that didn’t close off any paths while still sounding believable.
She let her gaze fall again, and nodded mutely. “... Yes, but… I’m not sure how to.”
Dumbledore slowly nodded as he considered the facts. “I see. Please forgive me for being blunt, but you are currently new in this land, with no guardian and no means, no?”
Sunset glanced up at his eyes, behind his half-moon spectacles, before her eyes fell down again. She nodded sadly to herself, and to her surprise found it wasn’t all an act.
“Then perhaps you’ll be pleased to know that you are considered eligible as a student at this school.”
Sunset looked up at the headmaster, and considered him for several seconds.
“What do you learn here?”
“The subjects for the first year students, which is what you would be, and there are seven years here, would be the practical subjects involving the direct implementation of magical abilities, they are Charms, Transfiguration, and Defence Against the Dark Arts, use and indirect handling of magical resources, which are herbology and potions, the theoretical subjects of Magical History, and Astronomy, and of course Flying lessons.”
That last part made Sunset pause, as she realized she still had no idea what the species she now found herself as was called, or if there was just one type like gryphons, or many kinds like ponies. Were there winged ones as well?
She focused on the matter at hand, and simply decided to keep her ears open to pick up as much as possible.
“I see,” she said, nodding to herself. “What’s the catch?”
Dumbledore cocked his head and considered the question for a moment. “Oh, well, there are of course certain rules when attending the school as a student, and conducts that are enforced. You will of course be expected to attend classes, obey curfew, and show respect and deference to the staff and faculty. Of course, besides the education you’d be receiving, there will also be a dormitory available during the semesters, including the winter holidays, as well as free meals, access to the school library, postal services, various things like that.”
“And what would this cost?”
“Nothing but your time and effort, should you wish it.”
Sunset looked at the headmaster for several seconds. “It sounds amazing. In fact, it sounds too good to be true,” she carefully noted. “And you know what they say about that I assume?”
Dumbledore simply smiled. “If it worries you, I’m sure some benefits can be stripped out for you.”
Sunset smiled wryly. “... Alright then, deal.”
“Wonderful!” Dumbledore said, and clapped his hands together. “I shall set my deputy headmaster to confirm the paperwork. When it does, I’m afraid you are going to have to start referring to the faculty as ‘sir,’ ‘ma’am,’ or ‘professor,’ so I recommend you get used to it soon.”
Sunset nodded. “I understand, professor.”
“Splendid. We will talk more later. Now, I’ve kept Madam Pomfrey from shooing me out of her wing for far too long.”
“You have indeed,” the mare said, and pushed at Dumbledore towards the door. “Not let the poor girl rest before lunch.”
The two… individuals, walked away. Walked, not swinging in branches and vines, Sunset noted.
As their footsteps echoed away into the hallways, Sunset simply shook her head in disbelief. “Second strangest morning I’ve ever had,” she said to herself, and set to familiarise herself further to her new body.
She gently heaved herself out of bed and set her feet on the floor, before immediately pulling them back up into the bed again. “Gah! That’s cold.”
She noticed the… black, vaguely L-shaped leather tubes on the floor, and assumed that the… whatever the hind hands were called, feet if she remembered correctly, goes in them. As she figured out how they worked, she noticed a bag on the table beside her bunk, and a small mirror.
Sunset looked into it, before nodding to herself, and her messy hair. “So this is how I look,” she said, and shook her hair into position. “Not bad.”
She opened the bag, and noticed it had the contents she had left Equestria with. It, like herself, had probably changed shape to be a little more appropriate.
Of course, she could also feel the scent of the old stallion inside it, and on her book. She immediately felt a little better about the previous conversation, as it was clear that she wasn’t the only one not revealing everything.
