Prologue

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"Fellow Guardians, I must implore you to reconsider. Lantern 2814.1... no, Hal Jordan does not warrant such harsh punishment as this!"
"What would you have us do, Ganthet? Do you understand the consequences of what Lantern Jordan has done?"
"I must agree. If this... incident were to prove one thing, it is that the Corps still have many enemies, too close to us than we'd like, that could use this information to harm it... Atrocitus... Sinestro... the Zamarons! Need I go on!
"Harm the Corps? Or harm this Council?"
"You speak out of line Sayd. We ARE the Corps. Without us, the chaos that plagues this universe would unchecked..."
"Enough! Ganthet... you cannot keep delaying this judgment, action must be taken sooner rather than later. We have all agreed that mere imprisionment is not suitable for punishment and an execution could... No, it WOULD cause an uproar we could not contain amongst Jordan's supporters. We cannot simply just strip him of his ring and return him to Earth! The Source Wall is our only choice to ensure that this does not get out!"
"But it is not right Appa! Imprisonment in the Source Wall... that is the fate of fallen Gods and conquerors who believe themselves right to know the secrets of the universe... It is not right for a loyal warrior who did what any loyal Lantern would have done!"
"Then what, pray tell, would you have us do Ganthet?"
"....I propose banishment."
"To where? There is no place in this universe that we..."
"Appa! I believe I know what Ganthet is thinking. One of the Sovereign Systems, yes?"
"Yes. And I have a place in mind that we could send Jordan to that will allow him some comfort. Provided that their rulers are still willing to speak to us after five thousand years..."
"Five... No! Ganthet, I know where you are talking about! Those fools would never...!"
"Fools, Herupa? I would not call them such merely because they refused our protection. They merely have the power to protect themselves. Few places in this universe can claim that."
"Exactly, Ganthet! They refused protection, why would those isolationists claim a refugee, an alien, to live amongst them!"
"We shall not know until we ask! It is better there than some diseased pit in the Vega System!"
"ENOUGH! We shall put it to a vote."
.....
"Very well, the majority rules: former Lantern 2814.1, Hal Jordan, will be sent to Equis... provided they accept him."
"I believe they will. Brothers and sisters, you may forget, but long ago, I was one of the ambassadors sent to speak to the royalty. For whatever it is worth, they do have kind hearts. I believe they will not turn away a life if it truly needs help."
"But we still must ask them first, Ganthet. What would be the appropriate way to contact them?"
"Hal Jordan will accompany me to visit them. WITH the Honor Guard of course, for protection. There, I will make a case for him."
"You coddle these humans too much Ganthet."
"Maybe I do Herupa. But even ignoring his previous service... you cannot deny the fact that if it were not for Hal Jordan... none of us would be here today."
.....WE AGREE.

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[Three Standard Equestrian Days Prior]

It was night time in the regal city of Canterlot. Although not nearly as lively as it was during the day, it was undeniable that after hours the city had a new life of it's own. It was something that Luna, the Princess of the Night, was still suprised about; all the years prior to her banishment, she had felt that nopony had appreciated the night that she worked so hard to create. The dark blue alicorn stood on the balcony adjacent to her room and looked down at the light filled city, her silver clad hooves on the railing.

"What differences a thousand years can truly make..." she quietly said to herself. However, her pondering had not gone unheard as she heard a giggle behind her.

"The march of progress truly is amazing sometimes little sister. Indeed moreso when you take it all in at once," said a warm voice that Luna knew all too well. She turned around to see her older sister, Celestia, walking onto the balcony to join her in her sightseeing.

"I hope you don't mind. I DID knock and was a little concerned when you didn't respond," Celestia stated, preempting Luna's question of why she was in her room unannounced. Luna did understand, she had been lost in her thoughts for quite awhile.

"Yes, it can be overwhelming at times. You truly are fortunate Celestia. You were able to adjust to all this as it happened..." Luna began to say before realizing her error. Indeed, Celestia's face fell and a pained look overcame her visage. "Oh, Tia... I didn't mean..."

It had been quite a while since the return of Nightmare Moon and Luna's resolution with her older sister, but the scars still ran deep; not only for Luna, but for Celestia as well. Luna knew full well that Celestia practically ripped her heart out when she had to banish her, as Nightmare Moon, to the moon and seal her for a thousand years and had long since forgiven her. However, her sister refused to let the guilt go.

"I know Luna... it's just that it was still so much time we had to be apart. So much time wasted..." Celestia said forelornly as she walked up and looked at her sister's moon. As the gentle light washed across her beautiful white coat, her mind drifted back and remembered all the nights when she would look at the moon and weep for her sister. Luna set her forelegs down and walked over to her sister, placing a hoof onto her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. Celestia looked at her baby sister and the small smile that adorned her face, a smile that quickly spread to her own.

It seemed like only yesterday when her faithful student Twilight Sparkle and her new friends used the Elements of Harmony and saved Luna from herself; Luna looked so much younger than she really was, due to her magic being reduced after being purified. It had taken months for Luna's magic to gradually return and allow her to resemble her true self: not a young filly like she had been so many centuries ago, but the strong mare that stood alongside Celestia on the white marble of the balcony.

"I was thinking about how much Equestria has changed... not just in a thousand years, but from our foalhoods Tia," Luna exclaimed, in a not-so-subtle attempt to change the subject. It was partially the truth; she HAD been thinking about it... a few hours ago, when her speech lesson had ended and her... "teacher", a very nice mare from Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, had left and Luna was still reeling on how improper language had gotten over time. "Could you imagine if all this was around when we were fillies? We wouldn't have known what to do with ourselves!"

Celestia sat down, deep in thought as she twirled a lock of her flowing multicolored hair around her right forehoof. Luna was right: if the two had seen Equestria as it was today when they were young, she had no doubt that their heads would explode. She giggled at the mental image and looked over at her sister who had also just taken a seat.

"No doubt that, if my memory is correct, we would get into all sorts of trouble, but could you just image how mother and father would act?" Celestia replied. Luna took a hoof and placed it to her chin as she thought, rather than her flowing midnight sky hair.

"No doubt they would explode from the sight of it all... Twice!" both sisters exclaimed loudly in unison. The two regal sisters then began to laugh in a most UN-princess like manner, something that no doubt their parents would also have disapproved of. Their parents, the Royal Highnesses King Chronos & Queen Gaia, were ridicuously rigid, even back when they were children; even when they had abdicated their thrones for their daughters and were about to climb the Golden Steps to the Higher Reality, they had warned about the consequences of letting things get too relaxed amongst the commoners.

Celestia & Luna's laughter eventually subsided and they both stood back up. Although they didn't say anything, the look they saw on the other's face said it all: that for all the flaws they had (and there were plenty), they still missed their parents, despite their ascention being a good thing.

They began to walk back into Luna's room, with Celestia about to bid Luna a good night as she had originally intended to do, when a strange green light suddenly appeared in the night sky unnoticed by the sisters. Only when it came into a closer proximity to the moon did Luna notice something was amiss. She had barely turned around with Celestia noticing Luna's movements did the light appoach Canterlot Castle... or more specifically, Luna's balcony. A brief, but intense green light the area and just as quickly died downwhen the sisters looked at the source, they saw an unusual, but not unfamilar sight.

The unannounced visitor stood on the railing of the balcony, or rather hovered just above it. Clad in red & white robes with a green symbol on the white of the front, it's blue skin & white mane clad in a ponytail stood out from it's attire. It took a five fingered hand and adjusted it's robes around it's arms; the creature's legs were hidden by the robe. And although it stood no taller than most of the ponies living in Equestria standing on all fours, the visitor exhalted power and presence that Celestia & Luna had only seen once before in their lives.

"WHO DARES BE SO BRAZEN TO ARRIVE BEFORE US LIKE THIS... IN OUR OWN BEDROOM NO LESS! Luna shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice, forgetting her speech lessons in her panic. She could not remember clearly why she felt the figure was familiar, but she DID remember this power and a... fear? Her father using his Voice? The figure looked over at the two ponies, and a smile adorned his face before he bowed and began to speak.

"Greetings, fair rulers of Equis. Forgive me for the unannounced visit, but I need to speak with you urgently." Both sisters were shocked at the sight, but were also confused at the name it used. Luna was still trying to figure out what was going on when Celestia stepped forward to the visitor, now knowing what was going on.

"You need not bow before us, Guardian, nor be so formal," Celestia stated in a warm voice. The Guardian stood up from his bow and hovered himself down from the railing down to the marble floor of the balcony. "And this planet hasn't been called Equis for thousands of years. Today, it is called 'Pax Harmonia'. My sister & myself thought it to be horribly elitist to name the world after just our species." The Guardian nodded his head and was about to speak again when the three were interrupted. The castle guards & Luna's personal Nightguards had quickly arrived from the bedroom entrance and the air around the balcony, weapons at the ready to protect the princesses from the intruder.

"Guards. Stand down. This man is our guest," Celestia ordered without a beat. The guards quickly looked at the Princess, then to the small being before them and then to Luna; they could not take a chance that Celestia may be under some enchantment from the being. Luna looked over to her sister, an apprehensive look in her face; Celestia looked back, closed her eyes & nodded, telling Luna that they would be fine.

"THANK... thank you for the swift response. We shall be fine with our... guest here. You are relieved," Luna assured the skeptical guards. They bat-pegasi looked at each other and nodded, saluting the Lunar princess as they flew away... though not too far away; the unicorn guards at the door also saluted and closed the door, leaving the princesses with the small being.

"Thank you," the Guardian spoke. "I did not mean to startle you like I have done. But time is of the essence and I must speak with you." Luna looked at her sister and the visitor, unsure as to why they were getting along so well; surely Tia would remember what she did about him... right?

"Celestia... Do you know this being?" Luna asked. Celestia looked unsurprised at her sister's query, it had been a long, long time since a Guardian had last graced their planet and even though Luna was there as she was, she was very young and most likely wouldn't have remembered.

"Yes, I do know of him," Celestia explained. "This is one of the Guardians of the Universe. They lead a guard called the Green Lanterns to protect other worlds and fight against the evils of the universe." The Guardian moved forward towards the two, outstretching his hand to create a construct of the universe of green light.

"We watch over the universe with and direct our Lanterns, our guards, to any serious crisis which may occur. They otherwise watch over their sector of space and uphold justice. We have divided the universe up into 3600 sectors with two Lanterns in each sector... usually," the Guardian explained to the younger princess, changing his model as needed before letting it rest on Lantern Kilowog to illustrate what a Green Lantern generally looked like. "We have maintained our vigil for billions of years."

Luna's eyes widened. This Guardian... if he was to be believed, and apparently Tia did so, he was so much older than she had thought! "If... you are telling the truth...," Luna began, swallowing her discomfort in an attempt to hold a higher ground, "then why have we not seen any of these... Lanterns... before?" Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she thought of a more eloquent way to answer her sister.

"The Lanterns have been here before, during our parents' reign, Lulu," Celestia began, looking somewhat ashamed, "Our father thought they were the harbingers of an invasion and detained one of them. One of the Guardians and a fleet of Lanterns had to come here and words were used. Royal Canterlot Words." To Luna, this seemed very familiar and appeared to match with what little her memory could be trusted. "You were so afraid of father after the fact, you hid from him for about a month!" Yes, it definitely matched up. "The 'agreement' that father came up with was that for the release of the captive Lantern, the Guardians would declare our star system off limits to any 'outsiders'."

'That definitely sounds like father,' Luna thought to herself, embarassement at her father's actions overcoming her. But to her, and Celestia's, surprised, the Guardian began to chuckle, slowly shaking his head with his eyes closed.

"Yes, I remember we had to give some relief for several of the Lanterns who were there. Even I had a hard time hearing for some time afterwards," the Guardian reminiscenced, like it was just a mere disagreement rather than a one way shouting match that had left Chronos without a voice for a week. The Guardian stopped shaking his head and opened an eye to observe the princesses, reading what they were about to ask next. "And yes, I am the Guardian who was there." The smile on his face widened, "I remember when you two were much shorter and we could see eye to eye." Even Luna, who was the smaller of the two sisters, towered over the Guardian. "Please forgive my rudeness, I forgot to formerly introduce myself: my name is Ganthet."

After the sisters had followed suit, Celestia asked Ganthet if he was there to renegotiate with them to remove the Celestia System's "Unprotected" status. Ganthet's smile quickly faded, he knew that it was time to be serious: Hal Jordan's life depended on him.

"You may keep your sovereign status, Princess Celestia. In fact, that status is why I'm here. My reason for coming here is much more personal... a life hangs in the balance," Ganthet spoke with a serious tone. Celestia & Luna stiffened, not expecting Ganthet to sound so somber. "Are you familiar with the species call humanity, your majesties?"

The question took them aback and they looked at each other, wondering where this line of questioning was going.

"Yes. In a way," Luna replied. "Humans are mythological creatures in this land. They were said to have once inhabited the world long before Equestria was founded. Even before our parents, the former King and Queen were born." Ganthet listened, knowing this from experience. When he had first met Chronos & Gaia, they had asked him if he was a human, and had relatively relaxed when he had said no.

"They may be creatures of myth on this world, but I can assure you this: humans are indeed real," explained Ganthet, hoping to connect the dots better as Celestia & Luna gasped at this revelation. "And not only are they real, but in recent years, several of them have made many impacts amongst the Corps and my fellow Guardians. Some good... and some bad. When I explained that each sector has two Lanterns to protect it, I said usually. The reason is that the sector that the human homeworld, Earth, is located in, there are four Lanterns. All of them human."

Celestia & Luna looked at each other, not knowing how to take this, but Ganthet was not finished. "It is not what you think. Each of the humans have since proven themselves to be amongst some of the greatest of Lanterns. They have helped save the Corps, and indeed the universe many times over... and that is where the problem begins." Ganthet turned his back to the Princesses and floated back out to the balcony, looking at the moon. "I shall spare you all of the details, but a great deal of things have happened to our Corps. Enemies changing, sometimes becoming dark reflections of ourselves. But we have endured, our Emerald Warriors preservering under the pressure of insurmountable odds with no little thanks to our human Lanterns Rayner, Stewart, Gardner... and Jordan." Ganthet turned around and once again moved closer to the princesses.

"A few days ago... we faced yet another crisis. My fellow Guardians and myself were at the mercy of an old foe, one who had long haunted us. The Corps was is disarray, and in the final battle... Lantern Jordan... ended our foe. Permanently."

The two mares closed their eyes and understood. Luna, despite the fact she had just barely learned of the Green Lanterns, knew full well that in times of battle, sometimes lives had to be taken... or lost. But... "But then what is the problem then, Lord Ganthet?" Luna asked. Celestia nodded, also confused about Ganthet's urgency. "Surely," Luna continued, "wouldn't he be thanked for his actions?"

Ganthet looked down, unable to look the princesses in the eye yet again. "You do not know. For most of the Corps' history, using their weapon to kill was forbidden. But in recent years, that law was relaxed. The problem isn't that Lantern Jordan killed... but rather WHO he killed. And in accordence to our laws, he must be punished: exile from Guardian space... or death."

Celestia and Luna said nothing.

"Earth is in Guardian space, so we cannot even return him to his home and there are too many in the Corps who would and have died for him. Jordan's fate is looking more grim; the last discussion I had with my fellow Guardians... there was even talk of sealing him withing the Source Wall, the barrier between this universe... and the next."

Celestia stepped forward and as she did, Ganthet looked up to stare into her eyes. She asked, "And what could we do to help your friend? I believe I know what you are after... you wish to keep him here, in a system where Guardian influence is nonexistent." Ganthet did nothing more but gently nod his head in answer.

Luna had enough. She walked over to the small Guardian and demanded a real answer, "If you expect us to allow house your... human... then we demand a proper answer. No, I mean it Celestia!" Celestia tried to calm her sister down, but Luna waved her off. "If he did his duty fair and proper, then why would he be punished? And why would you, of all beings care! You would still have other humans in your army." Celestia stared daggers at her baby sister, but Luna did not flinch as she continued to stare into Ganthet's eyes.

Ganthet looked back and great shame washed over his face as he, an immortal, struggled to answer. "The truth is... when Jordan fell Kr... our foe, he did something his ring, his weapon, wasn't programmed to do. Each ring is based on our designs, Guardian designs, yet this human... broke a safeguard we had put in. Our rings are made of a special metal, forged from the purest emotion of will. Ever since our Corps' founding, none have had more will than the Guardians, but... For even the briefest of moments, Jordan had greater will than any of us. And... my fellow Guardians, though they would never admit it... are afraid of this fact."

Luna's mouth slightly opened, as if to speak but Ganthet continued, "My people... including myself sought to rid ourselves of emotions long ago. We had said that they were a burden, distractions from our purpose at best, the cause of the evils of the universe at worst... We had agreed this was true. I agreed it was true.We had gone so far as to cast off our old names to rid ourselves of emotion. But when Abin Sur's ring came to this human... a being who questioned us when we did something he felt was wrong, I began to... feel again. Some of us began to retake our old names... I found love with a fellow Guardian... All of our human Lanterns contributed, but it was Jordan who started it." Luna watched as the Guardian poured out emotion he hadn't felt in millenia. "It thanks to Jordan and his fellow humans in green that I feel hope again."

Luna looked over at Celestia and motioned with her eyes to follow her into the bedroom. Once both sisters were inside, Luna cast a barrier to keep Ganthet from overhearing their discussion. Ganthet waited patiently; he had several ways of listening to the conversation, but chose out of respect to not use them.

After a few minutes, the barrier faded and the princesses walked back out to the balcony and Ganthet. Celestia walked forward and spoke in the voice that she ususally held for official decrees. Appropriate, since this decision truly was one. "After conferring with my fellow ruler, Princess Luna," Celestia began, looking over at her sister briefly before turning her head back to Ganthet, "we have come to a consensus. We have decided that we are willing to consider opening our doors to a life in need of help." At this news, Ganthet began to smile.

"However!" Luna stepped forward, now in line with her sister, "we would like to meet with this human. For the safety and security of our subjects, we would speak to him before we make our final judgment. But if he truly is as you describe, a fair and just being... we would be glad to officially welcome him in and place him under our protection. Does this sound fair to you, Guardian Ganthet?" Ganthet nodded and began to rise, a green light emerging from his being.

"More than fair, your majesties. Thank you. I shall go and discuss bringing Jordan here to Pax Harmonia as an alternative and bring him here with in a local week," Ganthet thanked with his smile still on his face. For the final time this night, Celestia and Luna were surprised at the Guardian's words, a fact he caught on quickly. "As I'm sure you are aware, Princesses, when you live as long as we do, when it comes to politics, it's best to make sure your options are truly open before you consider using them. And don't worry, I shall send a more advance warning when I return. Until then..." Ganthet put his hands in their sleeves and bowed.

Celestia and Luna returned the bow and Ganthet shot off into the night sky in another brief but bright green flash and was gone as suddenly as he had arrived. Looking at each other, Celestia & Luna walked back into Luna's bedroom and closed the windowed doors that led to the balcony. Celestia bid Luna a good night and left her to refocus on raising the moon to keep on it's schedule. As Celestia walked into the Hall and began heading towards her own bedchambers, Shining Armor rushed up to her side.

"Princess! Forgive me for the delay, I only received the news of the intruder from the Commander Swift after you had ordered the guards out. Are you and your sister alright? There was another green flash just now. Is the intruder..." Shining began, before Celestia took her hoof out to calm down her captain of the guards.

"Yes, our guest is gone. And he apologized for his sudden appearance. He will send word next time he comes to visit... which will be later this week. In the morning, I want you to gather your command. I shall brief you on the details then," Celestia explained, trying to calm down Shining. "But for now...," Celestia yawned, "I would like to get some rest before I raise the sun. Shining Armor, until then you are relieved. Go home to Cadence, any questions will be answered at the briefing." Shining Armor, unsatisfied but following orders, gave a salute and began to walk away.

"There is one thing I can tell you, Captain," Celestia called to the retreating pony, who looked back at her. "Our guest has a quality that I'm sure you can admire greatly: like you, he is a real father to his men." At that, Celestia turned and began to head to her room once more, leaving Shining Armor with one less question... but several more to take it's place.

1. A Farewell And A Welcome

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The planet Oa. Existing in the very center of the universe, the sight of the planet is enough to make one take in it’s splendor even without any knowledge of it’s inhabitants. For it even from orbit, one could see it’s great citadel which at night can be seen bathed in a wondrous green light. This citadel, which takes up nearly a complete quarter of the planet’s surface, is home to the great Green Lantern Corps.

In an underground facility, near one of the citadel’s edges, lies the holding facility for the prisoners detained by the Corpsmen. The most remarkable thing about the facility is the sheer number of sciencells lining the walls, seeming to go on for miles in every direction.

Not every sciencell was full, however, but the fact that one could say that they are never wanting for bodies to fill was a testament to how much crime occurs in the universe… and how diligent the Corps truly was. Most prisoners were only held in this place for a short time after their capture and imprisonment; they are shut in, fed, and eventually transferred to any planets where they face outstanding charges to face proper punishment.

It was only rarely, more recently becoming much more frequent, that the occupants of the sciencells became permanent residents of the prison; deemed too dangerous to society or the safety of the Corps to let loose even for a short time.

Lantern Voz, the warden of this prison, home to some of the worst scum in the universe, had heard the news from some of his comrades when they came to deliver the food for the prisoners. Voz, a former soldier with many years of experience working the beat in his home sector 571, had no love lost for any of the prisoners who he was presided over… except for the rare Lantern who found themselves on the other side of the door.

Being a big intimidating hairy biped, who Lantern Gardner had once called “a big friggin’ Bigfoot with tusks for claws”, Voz had depressingly seen a fair share of Lanterns behind sciencell doors during his tenure. He hated it because it always reminded him that he still had a heart, a fact that he had always tried to forget even before getting his ring. But this would be hard to hide from the four he was escorting to the prisoner for his transfer.

When they had reached their destination, the five green glowing figures stopped and floated outside of the sciencell, it’s occupant on the “bed” asleep… or at least appearing to be. Voz turned and faced his guests: two of the Guardians, Honor Guard Tomar-Tu, and Lantern Kilowog, a close friend of the prisoner.

“Must he go without saying goodbye to his fellow Earthlings?” one of the Guardians, a bald female asked her ponytailed male counterpart. Like him, she was one of the few Guardians to retake her name after eons, Sayd. “Ganthet, couldn’t you give him that?”

With a grim face, Ganthet looked at Sayd, the woman he loved and shook his head, his hand gripping the handle of the large green lantern-shaped Power Batter which the Corps was named for. “Unfortunately, Lantern Stewart was forced to leave when a situation arose on Earth. And most of the Honor Guard was called in to deal with the Red Lantern attack of one of the Sector Houses… Gardner & Rayner amongst included,” he replied. Voz turned his head and looked through the transparent portal of the sciencell door.

“For whatever it’s worth… his brothers did come to visit the day before,” Voz informed the Guardians. “It didn’t really do much good.” Voz turned slightly to face the door and outstretched his paw which adorned his ring. A small beam of green light shot forth from it and touched the sciencell door. A second after the door identified the ring as having the proper clearance, it beeped and opened.

Kilowog, a big hulking red-eyed being who vaguely resembled a giant pink bipedal pig with a jaw with four grooves that belayed his huge teeth, floated over to the sciencell to awaken it’s tenant. He put one of his huge hands, still covered in it’s green aura, on the prone figure’s side and, surprisingly for his size, gently shook it.

“Hey, time to wake up poozer,” Kilowog said sadly in his low, growling voice. “It’s… it’s time to go.” The figure sat up and stood up facing the wall opposite of the door. He nodded his head and Kilowog used his ring to create a large green bubble around the standing figure, sealing him in completely. Kilowog floated out of the sciencell and flew out toward the direction of the exit, still carrying the bubble and the human within it.

Tomar-Tu, a tall bipedal alien with yellow skin, pointy ears, a head fin and a beak, turned towards the three still at the open door. “We will wait for you at the surface, Ganthet,” Tomar spoke to the Guardian. After putting a hand to his chest and giving a short bow, he too turned and left.

Using his free hand, Ganthet removed a ring he had hidden up his sleeve. When Voz saw the green ring, a shine under the over head lights bearing down upon it, his eyes widened. “Is… that…?” he began. Sayd slowly nodded her head, answering Voz’s query.

With a mental command, the ring resting in Ganthet’s open palm began to glow, rising into the air and, like a small green glowing firefly, shot out towards the other side of the room, to the other exit and was gone in the blink of an eye. “The ring will reach Equis… will reach Pax Harmonia in three local days. Lanterns Tomar, Kilowog & myself will be there in five,” Ganthet began, speaking to Sayd. “When we reach the planet, the princesses will interview Jordan and if all goes well, will agree to give him sanctuary.”

“And… is there any concern that Jordan will do anything that might prevent that?” Sayd asked. Ganthet shook his head.

“No, Jordan may be hotheaded and his emotion are wildly in flux, but he is no fool. He knows that this is his best chance,” he replied. Ganthet then turned to the warden. “May we have your word that this all will remain between us, Lantern Voz?” Ganthet asked.

Voz turned away from the two Guardians and used his ring to close the sciencell door. He took a moment to reply. “I’ve…,” he began. “I’ve seen more Lanterns than I’d like behind these doors. Jordan, Laira and her father Kentor… Sinestro…. Some of them deserved it. But others…” Voz turned towards Ganthet and Sayd, looking straight into their faces. “Laira deserved better. Jordan deserves better, too. I promise that I will speak of this to no one. Just… make sure that he doesn’t go down the same road that Laira did.” He stopped, knowing full well that the Guardians knew what had happened to the young warrior, what those red… animals had done to her.

Ganthet & Sayd closed their eyes and gave a slow nod. With that, they flew in the direction which Tomar & Kilowog had gone; Ganthet joining the two Lanterns & Jordan in their journey to Pax Harmonia and Sayd back to the Guardian’s Chamber in the Main Building. Unbeknownst to them, their conversation was overheard by a fourth; one of the high risk prisoners clad in a uniform of black & yellow, a strange symbol on her chest that was resembling the Green Lantern crest, but looking far more sinister…

“Now isn’t this the beginning of an interesting story…”

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To my most loyal student Twilight Sparkle,

As you may very know, it is sometimes necessary to help a pony when they are in need of help. A simple kind gesture can lead to a strong bond of friendship. It has come to Luna’s & my attention from an old acquaintance that there is one who is need such need: a land to abide by safely, a house to be live in, an outstretched hood offered in friendship.

This lost soul is currently on his way to Canterlot as quickly as he can, accompanied by his friend, my old acquaintance. Upon his arrival two days from now, he will meet both Luna and myself and we will try our very best to welcome him to our country. It is for this reason that I cordially invite you and the other Elements of Harmony to Canterlot to greet him.

However, it is with a heavy heart that I must ask you and your friends to once again prepare for a need to use the Elements. Although I do no expect there to be any trouble between this new guest or my old acquaintance, wise ponies do have a saying for a such an occasion: “An ounce of prevention can be worth more than a pound of cure.” In the best scenario, we will be able to welcome an new friend, so I must insist that you do not treat our guest with suspicion or prejudice; I have heard a little of his story and his life appears to have been full of hardships.

There is so much more I wish I could tell you, to better prepare you and your friends, but this situation is very fragile. This information can cause a great uproar if not handled properly. I will better explain when you all arrive at the castle. I cannot wait to see you again, my little ponies.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

P.S. Do not be shy in inviting Spike along with you all. It has also been a while since I’ve seen your faithful, dependable assistant. I will be sure to cover all charges for the tickets.

Celestia stopped writing her letter to Twilight, satisfied that the letter both conveyed the urgency she had wished to convey to her pupil and certain that her postscript would sufficiently butter up the small dragon into actually coming to Canterlot as opposed to remaining home in Ponyville. Using her magic to simultaneously put down her quill and roll up the scroll she had been writing on, she whistled to summon Philomena to her side.

“Philomena, please sent this to Spike posthaste. It is a matter of no small urgency and time is of the essence,” Celestia asked of her magnificent pet phoenix. Knowingly, the phoenix nodded her head and, as Celestia used her magic to hold the scroll in mid-air, flapped her great wings in a small, but powerful firey swoop. The scroll vanished and Celestia knew that any second, it would reappear in a show of green dragon fire as Spike received the message.

Normally, Celestia used her own magic to send letters to Twilight and Spike, but using Philomena’s fire was much faster. It was still, fortunately, mid morning, less than an hour had passed after it had appeared. It was with even greater luck that the scheduled meeting with the representatives from Manehattan had ended and the ponies had left the room when it decided to fly in like a small glowing green bird. When it was right in front of Celestia, it came to a dead stop and spoke with a voice of what sounded like a young stallion, “Message waiting for Princesses Celestia and Luna. Awaiting both recipients.”

Naturally, with this unusual event occuring, her loyal guards had thrown themselves between Celestia and the foreign object; only standing down when faced with a direct order to do so. Trying to reassure her guards, she ordered them to fetch Shining Armor and bring him to her sister’s chambers for a meeting with the princesses as this was related to their guest from several days prior.

The object, which Celestia could now see was clearly a strange green ring, did not need any prompting from her magic; it moved with a life all it’s own as it followed her to wake her sleeping sister. As she had predicted, Luna was not happy being awakened from her slumber. However, her annoyance instantly vanished when she saw the reason for the disturbance. When the ring appeared to be satisfied that both Celestia and Luna were present and prepared, the ring leveled itself with the flat surface bearing the Guardian’s mark upright towards the ceiling and a small figure of Ganthet appeared, to relay the message recorded in the ring.

“Wise rulers of the kingdom of Equestria, Princesses Celestia and Luna… As you are sure to remember, my name is Ganthet. Several nights before, I met you at your castle and requested your assistance in a serious matter: the possible fate of former Lantern Hal Jordan. Upon our agreement, this message is to inform you that, in approximately two of your local days from receiving this message, an envoy of myself, several Green Lanterns and Jordan himself will arrive. There, Jordan will submit himself to answer any queries or tests you ask of him, for your determination. This advance message is to allow you the time to make any preparations you may need. I humbly ask you one thing however…,” the message stated. The two sisters believed they knew what the Guardian was to request from them.

“I ask..,” the message continued. “…When it is time for your meeting with Jordan, that you do not take offense to his attitude. This is still an unbelievably hard time for him… forced to say good bye to everyone and everything he has ever known… I ask… for your understanding of this pain he is going though. ….Until our arrival, farewell for now.”

With the message concluded, the ring stopped glowing and fell upon Luna’s bed, it’s energies apparently drained. Using her magic, Luna immediately covered the prone ring with the bluish glow of her magic and raised it into the air yet again. As she and Celestia examined the ring with a great deal of interest, wondering how the strange jewelry worked, there came a knock at Luna’s door. The visitor was given permission to enter and, as Celestia had requested, it was Shining Armor.

After a short discussion of new security measures to enforce when the Lanterns arrived (such as giving most of the on-hoof staff a holiday, cancelling or rescheduling previous meetings and engagements, increased Royal Guard presence and the like). It was towards the end of this meeting that Celestia brought up the plan of inviting Twilight Sparkle and her friends to meet this “Jordan”. Luna agreed with this action, however Shining Armor was a bit more apprehensive to the idea.

“It’s not… like I don’t know that my sister and her friends haven’t tangled with some dangers before,” Shining began, knowing full well to avoid any mentions of Nightmare Moon. “Heck, when Discord broke loose, every guard, INCLUDING myself, were powerless to oppose him. I don’t think I even have to mention what happened at the wedding…” Shining Armor shivered, the mere thought of the changelings or their queen made his skin crawl. “I would love the chance to see my little sister again, but this… “Jordan” is a complete unknown. I… just don’t want my sister to be put in any position where she could be harmed,” Shining finished, looking towards Celestia.

Celestia lowered her head and closed her eyes, understanding the concern the stallion had over his younger sister. “I understand, Shining Armor,” Celestia retorted, opening her eyes to look her captain in the eyes. “I would not ask for Twilight or her friends to come if I did not believe there was any chance that there would be any danger.” Celestia walked towards Shining, continuing to speak, “But I will err on the side of caution here, to help alleviate your fear… I will ask them to wear the Elements of Harmony as a precaution. The magic they contain will ensure that if any threat, no matter how unlikely, does come about… it will be ended as quickly as it began.”

Celestia disliked the words she was saying: her nation thrived because of friendship and acceptance, of believing that everypony, no every being, had some good within them. However she knew this was necessary, not only to convince Shining Armor, but because Jordan was almost a complete unknown! Humans, going by the myths, could range anywhere from brutal savages to intelligent but loyal to no one… not that ancient ponytales such as those could be taken as absolute fact.

Thankfully, with Celestia’s mentioning of the Elements, Shining did some thinking and gave a nod of approval. Celestia felt a bit of relief at her captain’s acceptance and quickly began mentally writing her letter her student.

While this was going on, Luna continued to examine the strange ring. She got up from the bed and, still using the magic on the ring to make it follow her, walked over to her vanity. ‘How curious,’ Luna thought to herself as she gave the ring another once-over. ‘I wonder why it isn’t glowing any more? Did it run out of magic? Wait… that Ganthet said it ran on… willpower right? Maybe…’

Testing out a hypothesis which she had just thought of, Luna used her magic to lower the ring onto her horn. ’After all, it IS a ring,’ she thought as the ring was placed around her horn. The results were something that Luna expected.

“User not recognized,” the youthful voice said yet again, “Removing ring.” At that, the ring jumped off Luna’s horn and fell onto her vanity’s table top. After that, it became prone and did not speak again. This attracted Celestia & Shining Armor’s attention and they walked over to join Luna in staring at the ring. A minute went by before the silence was broken by Celestia’s giggle.

“It looks like the ring doesn’t like you wearing it, Lulu,” Celestia teased her little sister. Luna was not amused and picked up the ring once again with her magic, holding it in front of her sister.

“Well, let’s see what happens when YOU wear it, Tia!” Luna grumbled. However, just as it did with Luna, the ring reacted the same way and did not allow Celestia to wear it. The same results occurred when Shining Armor tried the ring on. “Apparently,” Luna spoke, “the ring does not allow just anypony to wear it.” A puzzled look appeared on Luna’s face as she added, “I wonder… what would happen if this Jordan were to wear the ring? Would the same results occur?”

After a moment of reflection, Luna & Celestia came to the silent agreement that perhaps it would be best to not remind Jordan of the ring, and so left it still on the vanity. The three ponies then left to begin their business; Luna & Shining Armor to begin preparations and Celestia to write her letter.

It was with no small relief to the snow white princess that less than three quarters of hour after sending her letter to her student, did she get a response.
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“Omigoshomigoshomigosh! I wonder what he looks like!” shouted a very excited Pinkie Pie as she jumped all around the cabin of the train. “I wonder if he’s a pony! Nowait! Maybe a dragon! Ooooh! Maybe he’s a gargoyle! Aah! I wonder what kind of party to give him?! A “Welcome to Equestria” party or a “Nice to meet you part” or…” Pinkie’s rambling was interrupted when an orange Earth pony wearing a Stetson hat put her hoof into the pink pony’s mouth.

“Now, hold yer horses Pinkie Pie,” Applejack began, her southern drawl began. “Didn’t ya hear what th’ letter said after? This critter might need to be taught some manners if Princess Celestia thinks we might need th’ Elements!” Pinkie sat down on her haunches and Applejack removed her hoof from Pinkie’s mouth. Standing up on her seat and looking at the two was Twilight.

“Applejack’s right. If the Princess believes that Elements of Harmony might need to be used, this must be an incredibly dangerous and delicate situation. I only wish she could have been more specific in her letter…” Twilight announced, using her magic to hold up Celestia’s letter for her friends to see.

The car which they were all in was largely deserted, save for seven occupants: six ponies and one baby dragon. Twilight heard a snort and looked over at the cyan pegasus Rainbow Dash. “Aw, relax Twilight,” Dash waved her hoof dismissively at her friend. “If this guy even thinks of trying anything, I’ll kick his flank so hard and so fast, he’ll never know what hit ‘im!” Rainbow Dash’s aggression was not shared by the butter yellow pesasus that sat next to her as she squeaked and recoiled at Dash’s last word.

“M-maybe he’ll be friendly…,” Fluttershy spoke in a very timid voice. “I mean… the princess did say that he needed help…” Dash rolled her eyes at her friend’s words, but otherwise said nothing.

“Well regardless of intentions, at the very least this whole experience has given us an excuse to go to Canterlot,” said Rarity, in her most refined voice. Canterlot was always a place she looked forward to seeing. “I only hope this situation will afford me some time to shop and catch up on any new designs which have come out…” Sitting next to Rarity was a small purple dragon with green spikes.

Spike’s presence with the group was not entirely of his own volition. Rarity had visited the library to check out some books and was talking to Twilight when Princess Celestia’s letter had come in. When he had read the P.S. on the letter, he looked over to Rarity and announced that he would go too. “After all, somepony needs to make sure this guy doesn’t hurt such lovely ladies,” was the way Spike had said it. Regretting it when he heard Rainbow Dash’s laughter; he had forgotten that she was there, so engrossed by her book was she that Dash seemed to be invisible at the time as opposed to her usual manner.

Thankfully, she was gone a short time after that as she left to tell their friends the news. It wasn’t too long before the six ponies and dragon bought their tickets and awaited for the scheduled time for the train’s departure. During this time, Twilight had Spike compose a letter letting her teacher know of their status. The train eventually departed the station and began it’s hours long journey to Canterlot.

The train began it’s final approach to the station and seconds after it stopped, the group grabbed their luggage and set out for the castle; Rarity giving longing looks at the city, frustrated, but understanding that for now, this was not a pleasure trip. In a short time, they reached the castle and were surprised to meet Celestia at the castle gates.

"It has been far too long, everypony," Celestia beamed at her guests. "We'll discuss matters in the throne room, but for now... I just wanted to know how all of you are doing, my dears."

As the Princess escorted the six ponies and dragon to their destination, they talked briefly about how things were progressing at Ponyville: Pinkie was trying to come up with a new recipe to add to Sugarcube Corner's menu, Rarity had recently finished a sizeable order for a client, Applejack joked about her hands being full with her little sister & the other Crusaders' antics, Rainbow mentioned her starting an application to join the Wonderbolt Acadamy, and Fluttershy had recently helped a colony of bees rebuild their nest after Harry the Bear had accidentally destroyed it while trying to get some honey.

"You all certainly have been keeping busy, my little ponies," Celestia chuckled. She then turned her attention over to Twilight & Spike, " And how has my student & her steadfast assistant been doing lately? I've heard you've recently gotten a new telescope for your library. Have you been studying the night sky again?"

Spike answered his foster mother's inquiry, "Yeah, we've been doing such here and there.... but I saw something a few days ago and Twilight doesn't believe me!" The alabaster alicorn gave a gentle look over at the baby dragon, "Oh? And what did you see, Spike dear? Do you think you discovered a new star?"

Twilight gave a small glare at the young drake and sighed, "He's been reading too many comic books lately, Princess. He says he saw.... it's a bit embarrasing to say... an alien landing in Equestria." Celestia's face froze and she stopped walking in shock; Spike & Twilight began arguing, not noticing the Princess dead in her tracks. "I swear I saw it Twilight!" Spike declared, "A green light coming out of the sky! And I think it landed somewhere near Canterlot!" Twilight rolled her eyes, rebuking him, "I think you just fell for a prank, Spike. It was probably a pegasus, or maybe a firefly that made an illusion..."

"Princess.... a-are you okay?" Fluttershy timidly asked, drawing the group's attention to the Princess, who had fallen behind them. Celestia quickly snapped out of her stupor and responded, "Yes... I'm fine, Fluttershy. I just wasn't expecting to hear such a thing.... I didn't hear any reports about anypony spotting this light that Spike saw...."

Twilight reassured the Princess, quietly panicking that Spike had upset her in someway, "I sent several letters to a few nearby observatories. Nopony saw Spike's 'alien landing', which is why I think he just saw something fly by the lens at the right time." The purple unicorn chuckled to herself, "Aliens landing in Equestria... I think it's just someone's overactive imagination, enhanced by their sleepiness that night."

Celestia gave a small smile and resumed the walk to the throne room with the others. 'That boy sometimes has the strangest luck, I swear.... she thought to herself. I hope this won't be too shocking to Twilight's sensibility...

The group made it to the throne room and, after ordering the guards posted to close the door and not allow anypony to listen into their conversation, made it to Celestia's throne and the Princess began to speak, catching the group up on Ganthet and his request, what they knew of the Green Lanterns, Jordan’s intended meeting with the Princesses and the fact that he was a human. Each of these facts were like a bombshell had been dropped on Twilight & her friends (including Spike, but not before he had jumped up in celebration and gave Twilight a "I TOLD YOU!" before realizing the full extent of Celestia's words), but taken in all at once left them speechless; even Pinkie Pie was at a loss for words.

“…and so, if my sister and myself deem him to not be a threat, we will allow the human sanctuary,” Celestia finished. An uncomfortable silence filled the room for several moments as everypony tried to digest this information, before it was broken by, not surprisingly, Spike.

“But then Princess… if you think that things will go well, why do you want Twilight and the others to ready the Elements of Harmony?” he asked, answering the question that had been on everypony’s mind for a while. Celestia’s face flashed the briefest bit of shame; she knew the question would come eventually but still dreaded it.

“The answer is difficult to say… while I do not think that Jordan nor the Lanterns would cause a ruckus…,” Celestia struggled to answer. “The power the Lanterns wield is not to be looked down upon. During the brief time my family was hostile to the Corps, it was fortunate that the situation did not become so grave that the Elements were used. However, the fact that even with my parents’ power, the best they could do was reach a stalemate. That fact cannot be denied…. nor can the possibility that they were holding back.” Twilight gave out a frustrated yell and shook her head hard, as if in a vain attempt to remove this new information by force.

Fluttershy tried to put a hoof on Twilight in an attempt to calm her, but Twilight brushed her off and stared incredulously at her teacher. “Please,” Twilight begged. “tell me that this is just a joke, that it’s a prank! Humans? Aliens? Life on other worlds?! Power greater than yours and Luna‘s?! This can't be real!”

It was too much for Celestia to bear, as she sat up from her throne, flew over to Twilight and held her in a hug.

“There, there… it’s alright,” Celestia whispered in a soothing voice, calming Twilight. “I know… that this is indeed a lot to take in,” the Princess continued, this time addressing all in the room, “Life… life is full of great wonders… and great mysteries. There is still so much we do not know, but we shouldn’t turn away from them. Rather, we should face them head on and try to understand them. For better or for worse… this is a great opportunity, to learn from one who has seen life amongst the stars, who is from the stars.”

Twilight looked up at her teacher and gave a small smile. “…You’re right, Princess,” she said with a small shake in her voice. “And… who knows, maybe we can teach him a bit about us…” At this, Twilight’s smile spread to Celestia. “I.. think I know why you want us to have the Elements ready. Doesn‘t the saying go… “It’s better to have a weapon and not need it, than to need it and not have it”?” Celestia nodded.

Celestia let Twilight go from her hug and looked over at her subjects, their faces a bit more relaxed but still full of worry. “The meeting is in two days, so you will have time to prepare for it,” Celestia addressed them. Pinkie Pie’s ears twitched at this and a mischievous smile spread to her face, her apprehension long gone. “I advise you to get settled in. Tomorrow, you’ll have some free time to enjoy yourselves while you are here,” the Princess concluded.

Their luggage had been left in the care of the guards in the outside of the throne room, most of the ponies, after bowing and excusing themselves, decided to take them to their rooms and unpack as the Princess had advised. Twilight, however, had asked Spike to take her bags to their room since she wanted to go to the library. Celestia’s ears overheard and she walked over to her student.

“The library, Twilight?” Celestia asked. “I thought the same thing, but I wouldn’t trust old legends and myths to gain any information on the human.” Twilight nervously chuckled.

“I know,” Twilight replied, “but I always feel better while I’m reading.” That was a fact that Celestia was all to aware of; years of being Twilight’s mentor lent her a great insight to the purple unicorn and her habits. Twilight gave Celestia a farewell and left for the library.

The rest of the day passed without incident and soon Luna raised the moon and the land was embraced by the night. When it came time to rest, the six ponies and dragon all looked out of their windows to the night sky in silence before climbing into their beds. It took a long while before sleep overtook them.

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The day had come at last.

Each of the six ponies were wearing their respective Element, but they still felt like there was a great weight in their stomachs. They had been waiting for several hours and it was soon noon.

“Where the hay are these guys?!” Rainbow Dash fumed, stomping her hoof on the floor. She had been trying to hide her nervousness with false bravado, a fact that didn’t fool her friends.

Spike, who was with the ponies shrugged. “Who knows, maybe they landed on the wrong side of the planet?” he suggested. Applejack gave an unconscious nod, she’d been thinking the same thing.

Rarity was not pleased. “Even if that WERE the case, you would think that they would know it is rude to keep a lady waiting,” she said, a touch of venom in her voice. She had woken up two hours before the others to make sure she looked her best for the visitors; she was not happy that it was looking more like it was wasted.

Pinkie was also somewhat upset. She had known that she wouldn’t be able to throw a proper “Welcome to Equestria” party in the castle, which was why she had spent her time planning the one she was going to throw in Ponyville. Any attempts to ask why the human would automatically go there were answered with a “Duh… where else would he go, silly?” She, like Rarity, didn’t want her planning to have been for nothing.

Most of the others kept silent, like speaking would scare away the Lanterns from showing up. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the pony most anxious to meet the visitors next to Twilight was Fluttershy. Although she probably wouldn‘t have the courage to get very close, Fluttershy was excited to meet new forms of life she hadn‘t before.

“I wonder if they’ll all be human… or is some of them are some other species…,” Fluttershy said quietly. The question hung in the air and the weight the ponies felt in their stomachs seemed to double. That is when, for better or for worse, one of the guards announced a confirmed sighting.

The meeting would take place in the gardens, out in the open for the aliens’ comfort. Shining Armor and Twilight had worked together to devise a variation of the barrier bubble that had been in place at his wedding: the outside would be solid purple, but from the inside anypony would be able to see. It would, in addition, be sound proof from both sides, and it’s smaller size would be much more inconspicuous.

Shining Armor’s horn glowed and the bubble went up. For those inside, it suddenly became incredibly quiet. The princesses were waiting by one of the statue exhibitions while the Elements and Spike were a short distance away, trying to stay out of sight behind a wall covered with plaques stating the names of the artists who’s statues were in the collection.

It was there on the edge of the barrier that the visitors landed. All eyes were on the visitors. All eyes widened the short, floating blue figure held out a green lantern and the two strange-aliens held out their hands towards it, appeared to say something and a glow emerged from the lantern. Shortly after, they entered the barrier. The two uniformed aliens remained by the edge, at alert, while the Guardian led the human towards the princesses.

Before Celestia and Luna, they stopped. For the first time, the princesses and the Elements, peering over the wall saw the human, the one all of this was for.

He stood on two legs and had both of his, if the descriptions were accurate, hands in the pockets of the brown jacket he was wearing. His mane was brown in color as was, as Celestia & Luna’s sharp eyes could see, his eye color. The jacket looked well aged and appeared to hang over him a little, like it wasn’t made for him; it’s front had what looked like an eagle on the left and some writing that looked unfamiliar on the right. He was wearing blue pants, what looked to be made of denim. And on it’s feet were two black laced shoes.

“We are well met, Ganthet,” Celestia addressed the Guardian, “but would you please introduce your compatriots?” Ganthet nodded and gave a small bow.

“Princesses Celestia & Luna of Pax Harmonia, diarchs of Equestria,” Ganthet addressed, “allow me introduce Lanterns Kilowog and Tomar-Tu.” His hand gestured to the uniformed aliens. Everypony’s breaths were held as they took in the appearance of the strange creatures. “…and this is Hal Jordan.” The Guardian turned everyone’s attention to the human, who had an unhappy look on his face. He eyed Celestia and Luna, then the guards including Shining Armor which were at their royals’ sides, appearing to commit each detail of their ponyage to memory.

He took a step forward and opened his mouth, everypony’s full attention on what the human was about to say.

“~~I think I can safely say that I feel my masculinity beginning to die.~~,” the figure spoke. The reaction from the Lanterns was surprising: Ganthet looked at the human with an unamused look on his face, the big pink alien put a massive hand to his face and sighed, and the yellow beaked one shook his head.

None of the Equestrians understood what the human had said, but apparently it wasn’t good.

“Please, do not take offense,” Ganthet sighed in an attempt to do some damage control. “He is still adjusting to the situation.”

Celestia & Luna looked at each other with their eyebrows raised and explained that while no offense was taken, they could not understand what he had said. At this Ganthet summoned over the two Lanterns and they stood in line at the human’s side, somewhat of a mirror image to the princesses.

The human opened his mouth to speak again, “Can you understand me now?”

For a quick second, the Princesses and Shining Armor were taken aback. The human’s voice had initially sounded familiar, but now that they recognized it: it was the which the ring spoke with! The princesses gave a nod in answer and Celestia took a few steps forward. The human stood as tall as her, not counting her horn, showing that the average pony would stand about to the bottom of his torso; however the big alien Kilowog stood even taller than her. She put on a serious face, it was time to begin.

“This inquiry is to determine one thing: if the human, Hal Jordan, will pose a threat to any citizen of Equestria,” Celestia proclaimed in a strong voice. “If he does not, he will be permitted asylum on our planet, in this country.” Luna stepped forward and joined her sister.

“Please speak,” Luna ordered. “Tell us about thineself.” Celestia’s brow rose again at Luna‘s archaic speech, but said nothing. Hal focused his attention at Luna, his face hard to read.

“My name is Hal Jordan. I was born on the planet Earth,” Hal began. “I was the second born of three brothers. I’m… I was a Green Lantern off-and-on for seven years. Two months ago, I turned 19 years old, Earth calendar.” He went on about semi-interesting facts in an monotonous voice like he was reading from a text book, but he didn’t waver his eyes.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and huffed. “I can’t believe it!” she said in a loud whisper to her friends. “He’s only a year older than me! I was expecting some grizzled old guy, covered in battle scars! Not… him!” None of her friends replied so they wouldn’t miss anything he said, but their expectations WERE different from the reality they saw before them. The most surprising being that he was apparently allowed to fight when he was a colt.

Celestia raised her hoof and Hal stopped speaking, his focus on her now. “I’m afraid that we’ll have to move on. We do have more questions to ask.” Hal didn’t move. “I must ask… from what you say, you were recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps at a young age. Why did the ring choose you?”

With this question, Hal’s face flashed a look of surprise before it fell back into the blank expression it had been. “Many…” Hal started, his voice slightly low before raising it to a more audible level. “There are many who assume that to be chosen, you have to know no fear. They assume that you have to show off greatness or intelligence.” Hal’s face, though he didn’t know it became more expressive, excited, something the princesses took note of. “However they’re wrong. I’m not all that smart, nor was I able to do anything great since I was so young. And I certainly felt fear… a lot of it.”

It was at this that his face had a pained expression, remembering his father’s crash from when he was 10 years old. “For a long while I wondered why I was chosen and it took years before I found my answer,” Hal continued, his face now full of determination. “I was chosen, not because I didn’t feel fear, but because I could overcome it.”

Luna looked the once-over on Hal. She felt that there was still questions to ask, so she decided to go with a big one.

“Doesth thou believe thou deservest this punishment, Hal Jordan? Or mayhap does thou believe thine actions in the crime in which you were charged with were just?” Luna inquired, her voice hard. Celestia felt that familiar apprehension again, this was an important question but Luna had asked it right out without sugarcoating it. The question hit Hal the hardest as he put his hands back into his jacket pockets, closed his eyes and held his head down.

“That…,” Hal started, voice full of emotion. “That is a hard question to answer…” Turning around and walking away from the princesses and passing Ganthet, Hal suddenly stopped. “I’ll have to give two answers… because those are two very different questions,” Hal replied, his voice still facing away from the others.

The ponies and dragon hiding behind wall tensed up, ready to act if any funny business went on. Celestia waited with baited breath towards the response. Luna bit her lower lip, afraid she had asked too callously.

A minute went by before Hal began to speak again, “I’ve tried to do my best to help, to serve. Despite what many think, Lanterns aren’t perfect. And I’ve made many mistakes in my life time.” After another brief pause, “I’ve got blood on my hands. A lot of it. And not just from the lives I couldn’t save.” With this, everyone’s heart began to race. Kilowog stepped forward.

“Hal, you poozer… what are you trying to do?” Kilowog growled in a low voice. Hal looked over his shoulder, his face full of pain.

“Kilowog… you don’t have to try to hide it. Not after everything I’ve done. Not after what I did to you… and to Tomar,” Hal responded. At this Tomar-Tu looked at Hal Jordan, knowing full well what he was trying to say. “A few years ago… my home city was destroyed… and I wasn’t able to save it. My anger… and my fear were manipulated by another and I went crazy. The Corps tried to stop me… my brothers in arms tried to stop me, but I wouldn’t listen. I hurt them… and killed them. Thanks to me, the Corps was nearly destroyed…” Hal went on. “I was possessed by another and because I wasn’t able to stop, I hurt and ruined so many other lives.”

Luna gave a small gasp and put her hoof up to her face in shock. Celestia put her own hoof on Luna’s shoulder. This was a tale that was all too familiar to them and they knew why he was in so much pain.

“Luckily… despite my efforts to put out that light, there was someone to carry the torch and so the Corps was able to rebuild,” the human continued, turning around to face the princesses again. “To answer your question… Yes, I was just in using lethal force to save the Guardians. I would do it again. And while I don’t think I deserve punishment for that… I do for the sins I’ve caused.”

Hal finished and looked at Ganthet and the Lanterns, their heads lowered knowing full well that this revelation could get Hal kicked off the planet. Luna looked at the human, a soul that knew that pain of what she had once felt. “Hal Jordan… we understand what it is that you have gone through…” Luna began, but was interrupted by the sight of Hal’s glare.

“I’ve heard enough ‘I understands’ and ‘It wasn’t yous’ already. I’m sorry, but you don’t. You can’t possibly know what it’s like to turn against those you’ve sworn to fight alongside with. To hurt them…. kill them….” Hal retorted. Luna lowered her head, and silent tears fell from her eyes. Celestia looked at her little sister and then stared at Hal yet again, her face deadly serious.

“The final question we shall ask you, Hal Jordan,” Celestia began, getting Hal’s attention. “You did not need to tell us about this transgression. So I must ask… why did you?” Hal’s face sported a small, slanted smile.

“This place is a like a sugar bowl. You all look so freaking adorable with your soldiers in their get up and your ladies in waiting hiding behind walls hoping I wouldn’t see ‘em,” Hal pointed over at wall where Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash & Spike were hiding. They all jumped slightly when they were pointed out and, seeing as their cover was blown, walked out into the open. “And of course they all have pretty jewelry to boot, huh?” Hal muttered to himself before refocusing on the sisters. “This place… it’s too innocent for me to be here. And you deserve to know that.”

Celestia and Luna walked back to the guards and began to speak with Shining Armor. When they were done, Shining’s horn glowed as the barrier was dispelled and Celestia cleared her throat to speak.

“Hal Jordan of Earth. After consideration and the evidence before us, my sister and myself have come to a consensus,” Celestia proclaimed. Hal and the Lanterns prepared for the inevitable refusal when: “We are not so innocent as to think of the world in pure black and white, we have long since accepted there is a lot of grey between them. We did not expect a perfect Lantern to appear before us today. All life is fallible, and we all have the weight that comes with that fact. Even my sister…. And even myself.”

Luna closed her eyes in shame at these words, but forced herself to open them and look at Hal. With conviction in her voice, Celestia went on, “This inquiry was not to see if you were without sin, Hal Jordan, but to see what kind of… person you are… and we have found that you ARE a good person. We would be honored to allow you asylum and recognize you as a citizen.”

Hal was stunned, but closed his eyes. Speaking with a small voice he said, “Thank you.”

With this, the heavy tension in the air faded and Pinkie began to celebrate, she’d be able to throw her first party with a human! Ganthet and Kilowog smiled, and the big alien put a massive hand on human’s shoulder and shook. Tomar-Tu took in a deep sigh.

“To commemorate this occasion, I would propose that we have a feast and welcome our newest citizen,” Celestia suggested. Twilight was about to ask just what a human COULD eat when Ganthet politely turned down the invitation; the Lanterns and himself had to head back to Guardian space and resume their duties.

But before they could fly off, Hal addressed them, “I guess… this is good bye, huh? Thank you, Ganthet. For everything. ‘Wog, give my best to John, Kyle & Guy.” Hal then turned his attention to Tomar-Tu. “Tomar… I just wanted to say… I am sorry for everything I’ve done. To your friends and to you.”

Tomar-Tu closed his eyes and spoke, “We were lucky to survive the rampage… and the Manhunters when they found us. I do not speak for my fellow Lost Lanterns, only for myself. I may not be able to forget what you have done… but I do forgive you, Hal Jordan.” Tomar-Tu held out his hand. “Farewell, and may you find some peace at last.” Hal took Tomar-Tu’s hand with his own and gave it a firm shake.

“Thank you. Heh. Well, considering I couldn’t understand word one when they first started to talk, I think that lunch is going to be quiet entertaining indeed,” Hal looked over at the ponies who were all gathered around their princesses. Just as they had been unable to understand him when he spoke, he was similarly lost until he got closer to a ring for it to translate.

Ganthet smiled and snapped his fingers. A few seconds later, a small green light flew out from the castle and appeared stopped in front in front of Hal’s face, shocking the human when he saw what it was. “It’s… my ring,” Hal said quietly. The sight attracted all attention to Hal and the floating ring. Luna shared Hal’s shock, she had left it in her room, believing it was without power.

“It took some arguing, but I was able to convince the other Guardians to allow you to keep it, if only for translation only purposes. I did have to modify the ring’s programming, however…” Ganthet began, watching as Hal held the ring in his palm. “As dictated by it’s new orders, the ring will never be able to leave this system again unless directly ordered by one of the Guardians… myself not included.” A look of mild disgust spread on Ganthet’s face, that provision was by Herupa and the majority ruled had ruled in his favor. “And as I’m sure you remember from Kilowog’s boot camp, even the translation functions use power, so you will need this to recharge it when the time comes.” Ganthet handed the lantern-shaped Power Battery over to Hal, who reluctantly took it.

Hal didn’t know how to respond. “….Ganthet, are you sure about this?” Hal asked, still nearly speechless. Ganthet nodded, the group didn’t need it any more, having already used it to recharge their rings before entering the barrier.

“Good bye… Hal. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more,” Ganthet apologized to the still flustered human. The Guardian and Lanterns glowed a familiar green as their auras and ascended into the sky. Soon they were gone, leaving the human alone. Hal just looked at the ring he held in his hand, melancholy awash over him… but also nostalgia.

After a while, Fluttershy and Spike looked at each other and took the initiative to walk over to him. As empathetic as she was, Fluttershy didn’t need any special connection to others to tell that he was still reeling. In Spike’s case, he just thought the dude had some issues and wanted to see if he could help.

“Umm… Mr. Jordan,” Fluttershy timidly asked the human, “are… are you alright?”

“Yeah… how about we go and join the princesses and everypony for lunch. I’ve been wondering what a guy like you eats to get so big,” Spike added. It was the truth, after all.

Hal looked at the two and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and put the ring into one of the pockets in his jeans and when it was secure he opened them. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go get some grub,” he assured the two and started to walk towards the others.

“Errmm… When you say ‘grub’,” Rarity eyed the human with some disgust on her face, “do you perchance happen to mean… insects?” Hal eyed the purple maned unicorn and put his hand to his chin as if in deep thought.

“Not usually, but there WAS that one time when Kilowog dared me to eat some Rannian pillbug. Tough shell to break through and once I did… you wouldn’t believe the smell! I had to eat that sucker’s innards with a hand up to my nose to keep the smell out!” Hal teased the prissy looking unicorn. He felt a little bad when she fainted from his graphic description, but couldn’t keep the first real smile he had in days off of his face.

Deciding to be a gentleman, he picked up the unconscious unicorn and they all walked towards the castle, the Lantern’s handle in the crook of his arm.

2. The First Night

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To say that the last thirty minutes hadn’t been awkward for all involved would be somewhat of an understatement. By the time the group had walked into the castle, the few staff and guards that remained, due to necessity, could scarcely do much but stare at the sight: the ‘guest’ that they were told that might arrive was holding an unconscious pony in his grasp while carrying a bizarre green Lantern. It was only by the direct orders from both princesses that a panic did not come about.

Rarity had regained her consciousness when they had arrived at the massive dining hall and, upon discovering her situation, blushed and a look of complete embarrassment spread across her face. Hal put her down onto her feet and apologized for teasing the unicorn and while Rarity did accept, she couldn’t look him in the face.

‘Oooh… This is just the worst possible thing!’ Rarity thought, berating herself as they took their seats. 'Here we are greeting a new resident to our country and what do I do? I insult him by fainting upon hearing his diet! How could I be so rude!’

Hal sat near Celestia, who had taken her own seat at one of the ends of the table; Luna sat at the other and pouted, not happy at the seating arraignments. Twilight sat across from Hal, something he began to regret as he could tell the excited purple unicorn was about to burst at the seams trying to contain her questions. The seat next to Hal was vacant, which was about to be filled by Fluttershy when the door opened and an unexpected guest walked into the room… much to Rarity’s displeasure.

“Blueblood! Uh… dearest nephew, it’s good to see you!” Celestia lied, very much caught off guard at the sight of her nephew. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” Blueblood gave the slightest of bows and brought up one of his hooves to adjust a lock of his dirty blonde mane off of his face.

“Auntie Celestia, Auntie Luna…. and honored guests,” Blueblood began, moving his gaze from his princesses to the others, looking somewhat curt at the sight of Rarity, who had taken a seat next to Luna on the other end of the table. “I had heard a rumor or two that a very unusual pony was coming to visit and just decided that it would be rude of me to not greet him…” Blueblood walked over and took the seat next to Hal, eyeing the sitting human from the bottom upwards and down again, scarcely taking notice of the Lantern that had been placed on the ground. “But I must say, I am very surprised that he isn’t a pony… or any other species I’ve met.”

Hal looked at Blueblood with an eyebrow raised and, deciding to play nice, introduced himself. “Well… thank you for the honor. Allow me to introduce myself: Hal Jordan, human and… newest resident of Equestria.” Hal put out a hand as a gesture of good faith. For the next few moments, the room was so quiet, one could hear a pin drop as Blueblood eyed the outstretched hand. Rarity had told her friends how rude he had been at the previous Gala and his snobbery during her stay in Canterlot and the six ponies and Spike were immensely concerned at what would happen next.

Celestia and Luna, being distantly related to Blueblood, were all to aware of the unicorn’s antics. Blueblood, in his own mind, believed himself to be a smooth talker when it came to diplomacy and meeting VIP’s. In reality, the prince was, as the ambassador to the Griffon Hierarchy had once called him, a “walking diplomatic nightmare” and a “political shitstorm just waiting to happen”. It was because of this that it was decided that Blueblood wasn’t going to be told of any future meetings such as this.

It was, with an audible sigh of relief from the others, that Blueblood limply raised his hoof and the human shook it. “Prince Blueblood. And the honor is all yours,” the unicorn said, speaking with an air that he was touching a particularly foul piece of garbage. As the eleven would-be diners sat at the table, a few of the kitchen staff walked in and began to take everyone’s orders. When it became Hal’s turn to order, the room once again became silent; everypony waiting to hear just what the human would order to eat. Hal became uncomfortable at the sudden attention and looked at his waiter, a brown Earth pony mare wearing a maid‘s outfit.

“Uhh… you guys got lobster?” Hal mumbled.

Twilight’s curiosity could not be contained anymore and she began to ask questions with such excitement and energy, it would have, and DID, make Pinkie blush. “Oh, you can eat lobster? Does this mean that you can eat other seafood? But wouldn’t that mean that you eat meat? Are you carnivorous?”

The questions kept coming rapid fire and Hal used one of his utensils, a fact that he was mildly surprised to see given that most of the residents he met didn’t have fingers to use them with, and gently tapped the side of his water glass to calm the chattering pony down. He cleared his throat and began to answer, in a calm voice, “Technically, my species are omnivorous in nature. While we do eat meat, we also can eat fruits and vegetables as well. My… friends informed me that foods here are safe for me to eat, so you won’t have to be concerned about that.” Upon looking at the others’ faces, Hal quickly added, “But don’t worry, I don’t eat any member of a species that I can have a dialogue with.”

While most of the ponies felt some relief at Hal’s words, Fluttershy was still concerned. “Mr. Hal,” she began, “does that mean that you still do eat meat… right?” The yellow pegasus wasn’t completely naïve; being a caretaker of animals, she realized that some of them did require meat in their diets. But while she wasn’t happy about it, she realized that that was the way nature worked.

Hal looked at the pony and tried to give an understanding look. “I realize that you all might look down on carnivores, but try to realize that it’s not because of any malice or joy we get from the act. A shark can’t help it if he has to eat fish and other sea creatures to survive, nor can a Thanagarian Lizarkon. If it makes you feel better, a healthy human diet requires mostly grains and nutritious plants, with meat only making up a small, but still important part of it.” Seeing Fluttershy still looking down, Hal added, “I won’t eat meat all the time, but from time to time, I will have to get some protein and nutrients from them.”

Fluttershy nodded in acknowledgement and looked at Hal, giving him a small smile. Blueblood scooted his seat a bit further from Hal’s, muttering, “Savage.” under his breath. Turning his attention back to the hand… or rather, hoof maiden, Hal finally gave his order: an ear of corn, a baked potato and grilled carrots. Upon getting all of the diners’ orders, the staff exited the room to kitchen to get the meal started.

“Actually, Hal Jordan,” Princess Luna began, addressing the human, “this land is not unfamiliar to such species which require a different diet.” Hal looked over to the Lunar Princess, who blushed slightly upon getting his full attention. “Dragons, such as our guest Spike here, eat precious minerals such as gems in addition to the foods which ponies partake in. And there are others who are carnivorous or omnivorous in nature such as thou, such as the griffons and the gargoyles. The kitchens are not unaccustomed to serving dignitaries with such diets, perhaps we could see if there are any wares that you can consume to suit you?”

Hal put on a small smile and shook his head, politely turning down the princess’s offer. Applejack then took the initiative to ask Hal a question, “So if you c’n eat fruits ‘n such… how do you feel about apples?”

“Oooh, oooh! And cupcakes. Oh, and cakes and candy too!” Pinkie Pie interjected. She wanted to know first hand just what she should prepare for the party, after all. Hal began to answer their questions, in addition to new ones, only slowing when the food arrived and everyone began to eat. Hal, in turn, asked some questions of his own, and learned that the girls were not only friends, but also a sort of special tasks group that used the Elements of Harmony, which they were still wearing, to help maintain the peace in the land when it was threatened.

It was towards the end of the meal that the questions then switched to topics that Hal wasn’t enthusiastic about answering: first his family, which he had responded was “personal” and did not comment on, and then to the ring and lantern. Being somewhat curt, Hal informed the group that the two were, rather than magic like they had thought, instead advanced technology which allowed the wearer to fly, translate different languages, and used will energy to fashion constructs and shoot energy bolts. All the while, the ring still remained in Hal’s pocket.

“But Mr. Jordan,” Spike asked, pre-empting Twilight’s similar question, “shouldn’t you wear the ring to get it to work as you want?” Hal looked off to a very interesting area of the wall behind Blueblood.

“It’s fine in my pocket. Just so long as it’s on my person,” Hal gave a short response. Knowing that the young man wasn’t comfortable with the conversation anymore, almost everyone decided to drop their question for now. Blueblood, on the other hoof, didn’t get the unspoken memo, and even if he did, he wouldn‘t have cared.

He used his magic to levitate the lantern off the ground and gave it a disbelieving look, unconvinced that what the human was saying was actually true. Hal snatched the lantern out of Blueblood’s grasp. “Sorry, but I just wanna make sure it doesn’t get damaged,” Hal apologized. When the prince was about to give a tongue-lashing that he felt the ‘upstart’ rightly deserved, he saw the look on Celestia’s face and wisely backed down.

When Blueblood was finished with his food, he got up and headed to the main door. “If you’ll please excuse me, I believe I need some fresh air. The atmosphere here is positively… uncouth,” the prince said, barely looking back. Rarity glared at the prince and resisted the urge to throw a fork at him. ‘How dare he say that about me and my friends!’ she thought. ‘And Mr. Jordan tried to be so polite as well!’

Celestia excused the unicorn and he left. She shook her head, thinking to herself that the boy needed some manners lessons like a fish needed water, when she noticed a strange sight out of the corner of her eye. Hal was smelling his jacket and when he took it off, he began smelling his armpit. Grimacing, he gave a ‘humph’ and spoke, “Yeah… I guess he’s right. It’s been a while since I’ve changed clothes… or bathed. Sorry.” Hal had known full well what Blueblood had meant, knowing the unicorn did not like him, but decided to play it off.

Placing one of her hooves to her mouth, Celestia giggled and called over a guard to escort Hal to his room so he could relax and get his affairs in order. Picking up his lantern and giving the still seated ponies an “Afternoon, ladies”, Hal followed the guard to one of the ambassadorial suites. When he was alone, Hal put the lantern in a wardrobe and shut the door, putting it out of sight.

The room itself was very fancy, a large walk-though window with an attached balcony, a queen size poster bed and a large shelf adorned with books were amongst the more noticeable features. A smaller door, he discovered led to a large bathroom with a sunken, built in bathtub and plenty of soaps and deodorants nearby. Upon hearing a knock at the door, Hal opened it to find another hoof maiden, this one a cream colored unicorn with an orange mane. She used her magic to give a large robe to the human and informed him that she would take his clothes to be cleaned.

Hal went into the bathroom and removed his clothes, folding them and putting on the robe in their stead. Before he gave his clothes to the maid, he removed the ring from his pocket and held it in his hand with some unease. “Please bear in mind that his is my only set, so I ask if you would make sure they don’t shrink or anything… but I must ask if you would please make sure the utmost care is taken with the jacket,” Hal asked the maid as he handed over his clothes, jacket on top with “JORDAN” sewn into the front. “It… it really means a lot to me.”

The unicorn smiled and nodded in response and Hal closed the door. He put the ring onto an end table near the bed, glad to be done with the thing. Walking into the bathroom, he got a nice hot bath ready and for the first time in days, truly relaxed.

Soon, the bath ended and Hal dried himself off, putting on his robe. Deciding to look up some Equestrian literature, he pulled a few books from the shelf and brought them over to a chair near one of the corners of the room, sitting down on it. Picking a book at random, Hal opened the tome up… to discover unreadable characters and symbols staring up at him. Well, unreadable to him anyway. A quick look through the other books revealed the same results: he couldn’t read the books, the written word just as foreign to him as their untranslated speech was.

With deep sigh of defeat, Hal realized that he needed help. He needed the ring. A brief thought flashed through his mind, Ganthet had said the ring had been modified, would it even work the way he wanted it? But this was pushed out of his mind with another, ‘Of course it’ll still translate. Ganthet said it would, so of course it’ll work with any written words.’

Hal looked over at the ring, still sitting on the end table next to the bed. He was about to get up, when he decided to test it. He willed the ring to come to him, not just a mere thought, but a deeper desire for it to work. He was mildly surprised when the ring glowed green and floated towards him, aiming for the finger which it had settled on so many times in the past. Hal, however, caught it before it could slip itself on his right hand and looked at it for some time.

A deep longing began to build in Hal’s gut just looking at it, and his desire to put on the ring was offset only by his… hatred?… of it. The ring, this small thing, represented many of the best things in his life… and many of it’s worst. Holding the ring in his hand, Hal opened the book and willed the ring to translate. It did, but rather than the words being legible to him, the ring spoke, conveying the words to him in audible language.

Hal closed his eyes and fought off his emotions. Despite how welcoming… most of his hosts had been, Hal knew full well that this didn’t change the fact that he was a stranger in a strange land. And having to depend on the ring, the thing which had now permanently ruined his life, only made it worse. Because now he couldn’t even read the literature and had to depend on a next-gen books-on-tape to get by, and in his voice no less. He hoped that some pony would be willing to teach him to read and speak in the local language, but the odds were… he’d, unfortunately, be needing the ring for a very long time.

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When the sounds of the footsteps made by the guard and the human had finally faded, the occupants of the dining room took a collective sigh of relief. Spike spoke for everypony, “Geez… that could have gone well.”

Twilight in particular felt more than her fair share of guilt; she had been so caught up asking questions to Jordan, she had almost completely forgotten his whole situation and steered the conversation to it’s uncomfortable ending. Everypony reassured her that the human didn’t seem too offended, but would probably not be feeling up to answering those painful questions so soon. After a short time, the seated ponies stood up and proceeded to follow Celestia and Luna to return the Elements back to their chest for safekeeping.

The hall which contained the chamber where the Elements were kept was just as grand to the six ponies as it had been when they first entered it during the Discord Crisis. Stained glass windows depicting some of the more memorable moments in Equestrian history were laid on both sides, the most recent depicting the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance and how they used their love to drive back the Changelings and their ruler, the Queen Chrysalis.

“So, Princess Celestia,” Applejack began, after returning her necklace to the chest, “what’s gonna happen with that feller? ‘S he gonna stay here in th’ castle with you?” Celestia, from the moment the Guardian had approached her with the request days prior, had been pondering this very question: where would Hal Jordan, now that he had been given asylum, stay. The answer, though simple, would require the agreement of Twilight and her friends.

“I have been giving it some thought… and I believe that keeping him in the castle would not be the best idea in the long run,” Celestia answered. Twilight placed her tiara, the last Element, into the chest and it was sealed behind it’s door, giving her teacher a questioning look. Upon seeing this, Celestia continued, “Keeping him locked inside Castle Canterlot like a cage would not help him out. It would probably be best for him to live outside, amongst ponies like you, so he can begin to acclimate and integrate.”

It was all falling together and Pinkie could scarcely, nay COULDN’T, hide her excitement. “He could come and live with us in Ponyville. He already knows all of us, so he’d have seven friends to help him out right off the bat!” the pink mare jovially exclaimed, jumping around.

All eyes fell on Pinkie, who noticed and stopped her bouncing. “What?” she asked. “Don’t you think that would be a good idea?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You’re just saying that so you can throw him a “Welcome to Equestria” AND a “Welcome to Ponyville” double party,” the cyan pegasus scoffed. Pinkie looked at her and put on her best “Serious Pinkie” face.

“Well, actually Dashie, it would be a TRIPLE party. You forgot the “Mythological Being Who Really Isn’t A Myth And Is Here!” party,” Pinkie began. “But I am being serious about letting Hally-Wally stay with us. He’s very lonely and needs to know that somepony will be there to help him out!”

Fluttershy gave a very meek “I think so too…” in agreement.

The other four ponies couldn’t disagree: like it or not, they were the ponies, save for the Princesses, that the human had known the longest and he did get along with them. Celestia decided to ask outright, “Does anypony have any objections over letting Hal Jordan come back to Ponyville with all of you?”

Twilight tried to rebut. “But where would he stay if he did go with us?” A question that was quickly answered by Spike, “He could stay with us in the library! Other than your weird science junk, the basement is mostly empty. A big guy like him would have plenty of room!” The lavender unicorn’s first thoughts were somewhat cynical, believing that the young dragon only wanted Hal around so he wouldn’t have to do his chores all alone, until she looked on the flipside. Not only could she make up for her (self-perceived) faux-pas, having Hal live with her meant that she could readily write down any of the valuable information he had to offer!

Slowly, to Celestia’s pride, the others came to a consensus. Well… almost everypony came to the same consensus.

“W- I believe that we are all coming to a decision too fast. We… we haven’t even asked the concerned party what he would wish to happen,” Luna cried out. Celestia looked at her little sister with some concern; ever since his outburst at the inquiry earlier, Luna had been paying a lot of attention to Hal Jordan. No doubt finding some kinship between him and her.

“I know that you think that may be for the best, Luna,” Celestia assured her baby sister, “but as we’ve all seen, Hal Jordan has a lot of healing to do. Meeting new ponies and building new friendships will help with that. Keeping him here… he won’t be able to move on. And Canterlot itself is a bit too… high strung. Unfortunately, there could be more ponies who are in line with our nephew, as we‘ve all seen. Less pressure would be the best for now.” Luna tried to find some way to refute her sister, but slowly lowered her head in defeat.

The group then left the hall and slowly headed towards the throne room, Celestia thinking along the way. “However, you are right about us proceeding a bit too hastily, sister. It wouldn’t be prudent to have the town unaware of their new resident’s existence until the moment he got off the train. I’ll be sure to send the mayor a letter with the details, she’ll be sure to keep everypony in the loop,” Celestia mused. “I’ll send the letter as fast as possible so you can all go home by tomorrow.” Sending mail with phoenix-fire with out a familiar destination was risky, but Philomena would be able to handle it.

As they reached an intersection of halls, the group came across a cream colored unicorn, carrying several familiar articles of clothing with her magic. She stopped upon seeing the two Princesses and gave a short curtsy.

“Harmony Gold, has our guest asked for anything, other than having his clothes cleaned?” Celestia asked the maid. Harmony shook her head, saying that he had only requested careful cleaning, especially in the case of the jacket.

Rarity eyed the folded clothing with the look an artist gets when they are about to be struck with great inspiration. “Do you think that our Mr. Jordan would allow me to make him some new clothes? I do get the feeling that he is the type to prefers to remain clothed, and it looks like he only has the one set,” Rarity asked.

“I would ask the man himself the next time you get the chance,” Celestia responded. Rarity quickly excused herself and headed back to her room; she wanted to write down the already mounting ideas and designs she was brainstorming for an unusual biped such as Hal Jordan before she forgot any.

With the fashionista gone, the others were excused to go along their way. Twilight and Spike headed off to their parents to join them in a dinner with Shining Armor and Cadance, Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided to go and get some drinks at a nice bar they had found the other day, Pinkie vanished to get some supplies for the triple party she was planning, and Fluttershy went off to try to amend her reputation amongst the castle pets.

Celestia and Luna also parted ways, the elder to write and send off the letter and return to her royal duties. Luna sulked off unhappily to her room to get a few hours sleep before it came time for her to raise the moon and adjust the night sky.

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Luna flew around the night sky, letting the cool breeze flow by her. The moon was high in the sky and she had a lot of free time, so she decided to take a night flight to help her mood. She knew her sister was right, that Hal Jordan probably wouldn’t be happy just staying in the castle, but she felt that Tia was practically throwing him out so quickly after his arrival. The fact that she didn’t have a chance to talk to him very well, even after their shared meal, didn’t help.

As Luna rounded the castle and head for her quarters, she noticed a figure standing on a balcony. Flying closer to investigate, the Lunar Princess discovered that, speak of Discord, it was indeed Hal Jordan! Surprised to find him still awake, Luna decided to get closer and strike up a conversation.

“Ah, greetings to thou, Hal Jordan. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you this night?” Luna addressed the human. Hal was once again dressed in his own clothes and had his jacket completely zipped up. He had been looking at the night sky and had noticed the alicorn flying about. He had been watching her graceful flying and it had helped distract him from his thoughts.

Hal decided to play it casual and answered the flying figure, “Eh, couldn’t sleep. I just came out to get some air and clear my head.” He looked again at Luna’s flapping wings and added, “I’d ask if you wanted to come in, but given that this is your place… eh, I think that be redundant.” Luna accepted the invitation and followed him into the room; he kicked off his shoes and threw himself on the bed to get comfortable while Luna stood bemused in the middle of the room.

“So, ‘sup?” Hal asked. “It’s not every day that I get a little one on one with royalty.” Luna knew what she wanted to discuss, but decided to work up to the conversation with some small talk. “We have heard that thou were involved in a… ‘spirited debate’ with a few of the staff earlier,” Luna spoke, an eyebrow raised.

Hal put on his best ‘Who, me?’ face and gave a short snort. “Yeah, at first I didn’t really believe the whole ‘Celestia raises the sun, you raise the moon’ thing. Usually, the sun is stationary and the planets orbit IT and not the other way around.” Hal turned his head towards the direction of the open balcony door. “In hindsight, I’ve seen stranger things happen.”

Luna ears perked at this. “Of that, we have no doubt. Thou must truly have a great many experiences in thy time, Hal Jordan…” Hal raised his hand and waved her off.

“You can stop with the formalities, Princess,” Hal said casually, turning his head towards the dark princess. “First, you can just call me ‘Hal’. And second, I’m not a warrior poet who’s come to spread stories of stars and worlds unknown and better society with my wisdom or anything like that…” Hal let his voice trail off for a moment and resumed. “Have I seen a lot in my time? Yeah, I won’t deny that. And… I won’t mind telling a few stories to anyone who wants to hear them… but really? I’m just a guy who’s had a lot of shitty luck. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Luna lowered her head and turned away from the human laying on the bed. Hal immediately felt like a jerk, he knew that he had little tact, even less when it came to dealing with royalty. As he was about to apologize, Luna began to speak, “Doest thou remember, earlier, when we said we knew of some of your pain? Allow us to tell you a story, of a foalish mare and the nightmare she caused…”

Hal remained silent and let the princess tell her tale.

“Once upon a time, little more than a thousand years ago… this land was ruled by two regal sisters. The eldest took charge of the day, while the younger ruled the night. The two sisters had long ruled over the land justly and happily, but there came a time when the younger began to feel unappreciated.

“The subjects of the land, the ponies, loved the day and lived their lives in the sunshine, while sleeping away the night. To the younger sisters, they shunned the night and did not appreciate it’s beauty. As time went on, her heartbreak grew more cracks, until one night… the younger sister refused to lower the moon and end the night.

“The elder sister tried to get the other to see the truth, that what she was doing was throwing off the balance of the world… But the younger sister did not take heed. Darkness had filled her heart, and transformed her into a monster. Calling herself ‘The Nightmare Moon’, the younger sister proclaimed that the night would never end.

“Three days of night passed, and finally the elder sister knew she had to act. She fought the monster her sister had become, and finally came the time to end the night. Using the Elements of Harmony, artifacts containing some of the greatest of our world’s magic, the elder sister defeated the Nightmare Moon and ended the night.

“Her heart breaking over what she had to do, the elder sister used the Elements to seal the Nightmare in the moon she loved so much. And the seal remained strong for a thousand years. During this time, the monster fell into legend and only the eldest, burdened with her actions, knew the truth.

“But the seal did eventually fail and the Nightmare Moon returned to the land, intending to once again bring about the eternal night. However, six brave ponies found the Elements of Harmony and, with their newfound friendship, soundly fell the Nightmare Moon, leaving only the younger sister in her place.

“For the first time in a millennia, the younger sister was able to see past her pain and think clearly. With the dawn, the elder sister appeared before the younger… forgiving her and welcoming her back…

“The younger sister could not believe it! After what she had done, she was being forgiven? She felt that… she did not deserve it. After many tears, the two sisters returned home and began to process of healing. So… so very much had changed during the time the younger sister was gone… but she knew that with a loved one by her side, she would be able to start anew.”

Her story finished, Luna turned around and looked at Hal, who had gotten off of his bed and stood up. “W… I was fortunate enough to have not taken any lives during my time as Nightmare Moon. However, I did hurt many ponies with my actions… especially my sister, the one who above anyone else did not deserve it. So when I say that I can relate to your pain… I mean it, Hal.”

Luna was then taken aback by a sudden hug from Hal, who had wrapped his arms around her neck. Trying and failing to find the proper words, all Luna could do was let her tears flow silently.

Eventually, the two separated and decided that it was time for Luna to go and for Hal to rest. Luna walked out onto the balcony and was about to take off when she heard Hal clear his throat.

“I just wanted to say… I’m honored that you trusted me with your story, Princess. And… I promise in time, I’ll return the favor. When it doesn’t sting so much,” Hal spoke, in an awkward tone. Luna nodded her head and turned around once again. “One more thing! Uhh… I really like your night. It’s… it’s pretty rad,” he added.

Luna’s face felt very hot upon hearing the unusual compliment. Despite the fact that she knew that her night was appreciated, she rarely received praise for her work. “T-thank you very much,” Luna stuttered. “May you have pleasant dreams this night.” Finally, she took off and was gone.

Hal walked back to his bed and took off his socks and jacket. As he crawled into the sheets, one thought blared in his head, ‘Did I honestly just say rad in a conversation?’ Soon, he fell into unconsciousness. His dreams were, unfortunately, not pleasant, filled with figures clad in red… and in yellow.

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Noon was drawing closer, and the small city of Ponyville was ablaze with excitement. A town meeting had been held the previous night and Mayor Mare had delivered the news to the residents: a human, straight out of the old ponytales, was going to be living amongst them! Reactions varied amongst the citizenry, but it was a safe bet to than none were more elated by the news than a certain green unicorn mare.

For most of her life, Lyra Heartstrings had been intensely interested in the old tales of humans. So much so, she was only mildly surprised that when her cutie mark had appeared, it hadn’t been human related. This isn’t to say that Lyra’s sole driving interest was humans; she took her musical career very seriously. But upon hearing that not only were humans real, but one was going to live amongst them? It took all her restraint to not jump up and celebrate.

Her housemate Bon Bon did not share her elation, to say the least. Rather, her first thought hearing the news was ’Oh, no…’, knowing full well that Lyra’s interest was probably going to get at least one pony arrested.

The two were currently in the house they shared, Bon Bon on the couch drinking a nice cool ice tea with a straw and Lyra pacing back and forth. “Maybe I should go wait by the station and meet them there!” Lyra giddily thought aloud. Bon Bon rolled her eyes, the train from Canterlot wouldn’t show up for another hour; a fact that Lyra was not happy about.

Before Bon Bon could open her mouth to tell the overexcited mare to calm down, a knocking came from the front door. Lyra walked over and opened it, revealing a strangely dressed blue unicorn mare in glasses.

“Oh… uh… wuzzup, homeslice!” the unicorn barked. “Um… I was looking for a shortie, name ‘a Lyra Heartstrings. Tha human expert?”
Lyra looked over her shoulder to look at Bon Bon, who returned the look. The two had been expecting to see an unusual sight today, but they weren’t expecting this.

The mare was wearing a long black sweater, covering most of her coat which was a dark blue. Her somewhat short light blue mane was mostly covered by a black beret. White rimmed glasses adorned her face, a match to her white pants. But other than her speech, the strangest part about the unicorn was her size; she was approximately one and one-half times Lyra’s size. If it wasn’t for her fashion sense, Lyra would have guessed that she was one of those high class supermodel ponies.

“I’m… Lyra,” the minty green unicorn replied, “though I’m not sure what that has to do with my size…” The strange unicorn began to laugh. “Ah, naw. Wasn’t trying to slam ya. Filly please, we’ve just barely met,” the spectacled mare explained. “But I do have a proposition, mind if I come in so we can talk private-like?”

Lyra looked over at Bon Bon again, the sitting mare shrugged in a ‘why not?’ gesture. The guest entered and closed the door. Lyra joined Bon Bon on the couch, sitting in her usual position of having her back against the rest while the cream colored Earth Pony sat with her belly down with her legs curled up.

The strange unicorn then faced the two and began to explain. “So when I came here the otha’ day, I was just crashing til the train to Canterlot coming today showed up. I’m sure ya can already guess that I heard the awesome news that a human is gonna be kickin’ it up in here at that meeting the other night. Like you, I’ve got a keen interest in humans and I’d be trippin’ to miss this opportunity, so I’ve decided to stick around for a while. Keeping it short, what I’m saying we should do is pool up and research the guy together! Know what I‘m saying, mare friend?”

At this, Lyra smiled, indeed understanding what she was saying. “Yeah, we could team up and get better results. Find out everything we can about him! Compare what we know about humans with him!”

“Precisely!” the sweater wearing mare beamed.

“And we’ll be able finally see how his hands feel for real!”

“Yea… huh?”

As the two unicorns started discussing questions and strategy for talking with the human, Bon Bon looked on in horror at her worst nightmare: essentially two hyperactive fangasming Lyras. Somepony was DEFINITELY going to be arrested by the time this was through.

“So, my sister from another mother,” the mare asked Lyra, “will your friend be joining us in our endeavors?” Just as Lyra was saying that her house mate wasn’t interested in humans, Bon Bon answered for herself. “Sure. It sounds like fun.”

This caught Lyra off guard, but then the green unicorn beamed and brought the other two mares together in a hug. Unfortunately, this sudden movement accidentally caused Bon Bon to spill her half drunk ice tea all over the clothes of the mare opposite of her. “Oops. Hehe, sorry,” Lyra apologized, “I just got so excited! You know what they say: three heads are better than two.”

‘And hopefully, one cool head will keep you two from making complete foals of yourselves,’ Bon Bon thought to herself, forcing her smile to stay on her face as she picked up the glass and the straw she had been drink out of and putting it on the table.

As soon as the mare had claimed no foul, Lyra tapped her hoof to her head, remembering that they had yet to be properly introduced. “Oh,” she exclaimed, “Just remembered that we didn’t get the introductions done!” Lyra let go of the two and held a hoof to her chest. “As you all know, I’m Lyra. And this,” Lyra put a foreleg around the back of the Earth pony’s neck, “is my good friend and roommate Bon Bon.”

Sitting on the floor, the blue unicorn brought her own hoof to her chest and was about to speak when she realized she was about to commit a serious error. ‘Wait,’ she thought to herself, ‘obviously if I use one of my pen names, I’ll be found out on the spot! Gotta think!’

Looking desperately around the room, the mare spotted a photo hanging on one of the walls. It was a picture of Lyra when she was mountain climbing Mount Kilimarejaro, a beautiful sunrise behind her in the background.

“My name…,” the mare began. She cleared her throat and spoke more confidently, “Just as the magnificent sun beats back the night, so did my ‘rents recognize such awesomeness. And so I was given my name, one worthy of recording in the pages of the unabridged history of all bad flanks!” The mare jumped up and shouted, “I am GLORIOUS DAWN! And when that human lays his eyes on me, my magnificence just may force him to go blind with awe!”

A minute of silence passed before Bon Bon broke it. “Glorious Dawn? That’s a pretty strange name.” Bon Bon went to the closet to get some towels to wipe up the mess.

Dawn’s face scrunched up in disappointment, although she had just come up with it, she thought it was cool. “Well, at least it’s unique,” Dawn retorted. “Better than being named after a candy.” She looked down at her wet clothes and added, “Um, yo. Could I put these in your wash?”

Bon Bon just sighed and nodded. Dawn walked into the next room, her horn beginning to glow as she started to remove her wet clothes. Bon Bon then placed the towel on the couch, drying it from the tea that had fallen onto it.

Between this strange pony who sounded like she just walked out of the ‘80’s and Lyra, Bon Bon felt that today was going to be a long day.

“You know what we should do? We should come up with a name for our little group,” Lyra suggested, acting as giddy as a school filly. Dawn then walked back into the room, her clothes being held by her magic as she handed them to Bon Bon. The Earth pony looked over at Dawn’s cutie mark and, matching her ridiculous name, it was of a sunset rising over a hill. The two unicorns then began to brainstorm some names, acting as if it was vitally important.

It was going to be a very long day indeed.

3.1. Dawn Of A New Day Part 1

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The train station in Canterlot, like the city itself, is most times incredibly busy; multitudes of passengers coming and going for most of the day. The railroad system itself was still fairly new, the initial conception for it all being slightly over fifty years old, but none could deny that life would truly be the same without it- even if it was only in the past year that the engine was improved on that the fleet of ponies pulling the whole thing was made unnecessary. The schedule for the trains was so important that it was incredibly rare that most outside interference caused any delays for even one of the lines.

However, Princess Celestia fell outside of “most” and when her request for a temporary clearing of the platform for the Canterlot-Ponyville express, the transit officials couldn’t move any faster.

“Princess, was it necessary for all of this?” Twilight whispered to Celestia.

Celestia turned her eyes to Hal, who was doing the courteous thing and helping move in everypony’s luggage onto their car. “Maybe it wasn’t, but I thought that Hal over there would appreciate less attention than he’s already going to get when you all return home,” she answered. “But it would be best if we do not keep you too long, the guards are going to attract more unwanted interest the longer they are here.”

A small platoon of guards had set up a cordon to keep anypony out until the V.I.P’s were all on the train and the coast was clear, Shining Armor standing a distance away from the train making sure there were no lookie-loos. It wasn’t long before everyone was ready to go; Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie & Fluttershy were already aboard the train.

Hal turned his head over to Celestia & Twilight and walked over to them, with Shining Armor following suit. His face a bit uncomfortable, Hal looked into Celestia’s eyes. “Well, I suppose it’s time to go,” he hesitantly said. “I just wanted to say, ‘Thanks for everything’ Princess.”

Celestia beamed and assured the human that it was no problem at all. Hal then turned his attention over to Shining Armor. “Well captain, I want to thank you as well sorry for making things hectic for you,” he addressed the stallion.

Shining Armor gave a short chuckle. “No problem at all. I actually appreciated the break in the monotony of everyday duty, even better that it didn’t involve a crisis-level red alert,” he replied. Hal raised his eyebrow in suspicious curiosity, but decided to let the remark go for the time being. Twilight and Shining Armor gave each other a big hug and promised that they would see each other again soon.

Giving a short look across the platform, Hal turned his attention back to Celestia, “It looks like your sister won’t be coming by to say farewell, Princess.” He put his hands into his jacket pockets and raised his head, closing his eyes. “Well that’s the story of my life,” he sighed, voice heavy with melodrama.

“Actually, Hal,” Celestia began, getting the man’s attention, “Luna is usually nocturnal, so she can better focus her attention on maintaining the night sky and royal duties for the Night Court. Actually, I’m know she’ll be regretful about your departure. She is curious about you… and I would be remiss in saying that I share that curiosity as well.”

Hal waved his hand in dismissal.

“Yeah, I understand. ‘Alien welcomed on your planet, but everyone wants to know about them and space.’ Trust me, I’m no stranger to that at all,” Hal replied matter-of-factly. “It’ll have to wait until we meet again, but I wouldn’t mind talking a bit more about myself.”

Celestia moved her eyes from Hal over to Twilight, smiling brightly as she thought up a great idea. “Perhaps it would not have to wait for that long after all,” the Princess mused aloud. Again, Hal’s eyebrow shot up as the Princess walked over closer to Twilight. “My dear student Twilight and I keep in correspondence by mail; every week or so, she writes letters to me as she continues her studies into the magic of friendship. I propose that you also do the same, Hal Jordan.”

The other eyebrow joined it’s twin, leaving Hal looking slightly more than a little uncomfortable. Celestia’s smile spread a little bit wider at the sight of the awkward human.

“What I am saying is that perhaps Twilight here could help you compose a letter detailing your residence in Ponyville… and if you are comfortable with it, you would also be able to tell us a little bit more about yourself,” she explained. With this suggestion, Twilight caught her teacher’s smile.

“That sounds like an excellent idea, Princess!” the lavender pony exclaimed. She looked over at Hal, who didn’t really look less relaxed about the idea. “What do you think, Mr. Jordan?”

Hal raised his hand and began rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes looking to the right. A few short moments later and he responded, “I suppose that wouldn’t be too bad.” Hoping to escape from the awkward situation, he added, “We should go. We don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

“Yes, that is right. Until we meet again. Twilight. Hal. May you have a safe journey,” Celestia agreed heartily. Shining Armor raised his hoof in salute and turned to go gather his men. Hal and Twilight exchanged a glance and then proceeded to walk over to the their car and entered. Celestia herself joined her captain and they gave the transit authority permission to return to schedule.

With noting else keeping the train in the station, the engine soon began to move. With it’s cars in tow, the train soon cleared the building and began it’s journey to Ponyville at last.

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Hal felt a little uncomfortable as he sat in his seat. The seat was built more for a pony and didn‘t have a backrest, but that wasn’t the problem. Rather, what was affecting him was the conversations his chaperones were having all seemed to involve him; them taking him to some place or meeting some pony or another. He had a rather sinking feeling that for the rest of the day, he’d be strutted around like a dog on a leash.

He still remembered the odd looks his fellow Lanterns received after most of the Corps were depowered and with the few that remained setting up shop on Earth; the last thing he wanted was to become a recurring feature in any tabloids these ponies might have. It was then, as if she could sense his wariness, the lavender pony sitting in the seat in front of him turned around and began to talk to him.

“So, um.. Hal,” Twilight addressed, “is there anything you would like to do after we pull into Ponyville?”

Hal shrugged and curtly relied, “Get settled in, relax, maybe do some cleaning. Then turn in early. You did say I’d be living in your basement, I doubt you use it very much.”

“Aww, but that sounds so boring Hally!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing on her seat, “It’ll take me a day or so to get everything ready for the super special awesome party I’ve got planned for you, but that doesn’t mean that you should be a Gloomy Gus and stay home. I’m sure everypony would like to meet you now that they know you’re coming with us!”

The word ‘party’ sent a shiver down Hal’s spine and he audibly shuddered; he knew it wasn’t really fair, but he could only image what kind of shenanigans the hyperactive pink pony would get into if she got into sugar… or booze if it was THAT kind of party.

“Ahh… It’s… fine ma‘am,” Hal replied to Pinkie, putting his hands up defensively, “You don’t have to go through all that trouble on my account.” When he was finished, he heard chuckling coming from behind him. Turning his head, Hal saw that it was Rainbow Dash doing the laughing.

“Hey bud, you might as well give up. Telling her not to throw a party is like telling me not to be awesome: it’s just not going to happen,” the cocky pegasus boasted. Applejack, who was sitting next to Dash rolled her eyes.

Rarity, who was sitting in the seat adjacent to Twilight, then added her own two cents into the conversation. “While I can certainly understand the need to unwind after such a long journey, I too must admit that you could better spend your time than just merely staying home,” the white unicorn spoke with a flair. “To be honest, I would suggest that you come over to my Boutique. I am, by trade, one of Ponyville’s best designers and seamstresses and I would like the challenge of creating a few outfits made for a body shape similar to yourself. And you would get some more… variety in your wardrobe, darling.”

Hal thought about it and, deciding to not look a gift horse in the mouth (so to speak), replied, “That… actually sounds like a great idea. I might take you up on that.” Rarity beamed and, using her magic, pulled out a notebook and pencil and began to jot down some design ideas onto it’s pages.

Hal had scarcely turned his head when he came face to face with the pink party pony, who had seemingly teleported from her seat to the space next to him. Hal gave a slight recoil in surprise before Pinkie put her hoof around his neck and brought his head close to hers.

“Come ooonnnn, Hally! You haven’t partied until you’ve been to one of my parties! Just think,” Pinkie outstretched her other foreleg to indicate some imaginary sight, “Cake. Cake everywhere!” Hal’s face was in a grimace, it was worse than he had thought.

‘Best to let her down gently,’ he thought to himself. ‘Time to see if I can weasel out of this, Hal Jordan-style.’ Hal gently removed Pinkie’s hoof from his neck and cleared his voice, “Oh, I don’t have any doubts that your party would be ‘super special awesome’, it’s just that…” Hal let his voice trail off, now aware that the six ponies and Spike were starting at him intently.

“Just what?” Pinkie asked, her eyes big and her bottom lip quivering.

Keeping his poker-face on, Hal sighed and did his best to look ‘embarrassed’. “It’s just that… I’m terrible at remembering names when I meet so many people… ponies in this case. I just don’t want to offend anyone by misremembering their name,” he finished. Technically, it was half-true: he didn’t have any doubt that he wouldn’t be able to remember the name of EVERY single pony in town, but he wasn’t worried about any offence.

Speaking up for the first time in a while, Fluttershy poked her head between Rainbow Dash and Applejack and asked, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that Mr. Jordan… Umm.. Do you remember our names?” The timid pony then lowered her head, “Sorry, that is if you want to answer…,” she trailed off.

Hal froze in place, the question had truly caught him off-guard. He remembered a few names, like Twilight’s and Applejack’s if only because of Celestia and the orange pony’s cutie mark respectively, but for the past two days, he’d kinda zoned out on most of their conversations. Cursing fickle fate yet again, he internally debated if it would be better to tell the truth and come off like a jerk who prioritized some above others or if it was time for some more Hal Jordan-style: bluff his way out and hope for the best.

“Umm… of course I know… I think. Let’s see…,” Hal started. Pointing at each pony as he called their names, he covered the six ponies and dragon, “Skittles, Shrinking Violet, Calamity Jane, Surprise Party, Bowtie, Purple Guy and Dragon Bro?”

The atmosphere in the train car was heavy with silent tension. With not much surprise, Hal had succeeded in getting most of the his fellow passengers annoyed at him; the six ponies all had some degree of a frown on their face, with Twilight’s being the biggest. Hal, internally desperate to play off his faux pas, gave his best ‘Pobody’s Nerfect’ face and shrugged. Fluttershy merely lowered her head and mumbled yet another apology as she slunk back into her seat.

Only Spike seemed to like his nickname. “Dragon Bro, huh?” the young dragon said to himself, rubbing his clawed hand under his chin. “I like the sound of that!” Twilight shot her assistant a glare and sighed.

“Well, we have plenty of time to help you out with your… name association problem before arrive at the station. Thankfully, I have a book about some social interactions that I brought with me,” the purple unicorn began, levitating a book out of her own bag and holding it out in front of her. “Ahem, let’s begin with the introduction of the parties involved…”

As everyone reintroduced themselves to the human and Twilight continued her lecture, Hal only had one thought after committing each name to memory, ‘Nice one, Hal. Way to make these girls feel like crap. You stupid jerk.’

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3.2. Dawn Of A New Day Part 2

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As the train pulled up to the Ponyville station, the gray haired pony readjusted her necking and ran a hoof through her mane to maintain it's coif. Mayor Mare was no stranger to meeting V.I.P.'s and other dignitaries, Ponyville's relatively small size notwithstanding, but this situation was a completely different kettle of fish.

When she had received the letter from Princess Celestia the previous day, she had thought it as nothing more than a joke; the Princess known for her pranks from time to time. But instructing the mayor to inform the city via a town meeting quickly killed that idea, causing a potential panic amongst many of her citizens was not in her M.O.

To give the town credit, the large majority of them had taken the news... relatively well. After the Elements of Harmony had befriended Zecora, the zebra who lived in the Everfree, the town was by-and-large strong-hoofed into attending a very special play held by Miss Cheerilee's class about special sensitivity and the dangers of prejudice.

The idea of which had come direct from the Princess in a pleasant, but undeniably upset response to one of Twilight Sparkle's letters about the incident. However, there had been some extreme reactions from a minority of the townsfolk, in both extremes; with several pony's fainting at the news that a human would be living amongst them... and one mare in particular literally jumping with joy.

As the train finally came to a complete stop and the occupents inside began to stir, the mayor silently thanked the fact that her request to the citizenry had been complied with and that no crowds or paparazzi had been storming the station in a mad attempt to catch a glimpse of the human.

...Then again, that may have less to do with doing the right thing and not overwhelm their strange, new guest and more to do with the fact that she had threatened anypony to do so would receive a community service sentence. "Results are results, I suppose," Mayor Mare thought to herself.

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Although there weren't that many ponies awaiting at the station, save for the Mayor, station employees and the odd commuters, there were two sets of eyes watching the area from a vantage point some distance away. In the minds of these two, they were virtually invisible... but the third in their party was more clear-headed to realize that hiding in a bush isn't the high end in stealth. Glorious Dawn, Lyra & Bon Bon (or as the former two called themselves "Humares", much to their third member's chagrin) had decided to enact their "human research".

"Oh... dear sweet Celestia...," Lyra whispered, awestruck at the strange being conversing with the mayor. "He's even more magnificent that I imagined..."

Bon Bon rolled her eyes at her friend's remark, but was able to catch Lyra bolting out of the bush at the last moment. Dawn acted quickly before Bon Bon could even react, pulling Lyra back into their observation post before the minty mare got very far. "Wha... ...You must be outta your dang mind, filly!" Dawn growled as she gave Lyra the evil eye, "This is supposed to be 'look, don't touch'! If we just go up all hypa, he'll think we be trippin' or what?"

Inside her own mind, Bon Bon cringed at every word that Dawn spoke. She had no doubt that if Cheerilee were here with them, she would try to kill the strange pony with a book on proper grammar. "Dawn is... right, Lyra," Bon Bon spoke calmly, "the last thing you probably want is for the human to get scared of you. Or to get 100 hours of community service." Lyra looked like filly who'd been told she couldn't get a puppy.

"I know.... but he's right there!" Lyra whimpered. Dawn put an understanding face and placed a hoof on Lyra's shoulder. "Chllax shortie, if we play it real cool, this human won't wanna look anywhere else otha than our direction. Just a bit ta study 'nd it'll all pay off," Dawn said, with conviction.

Lyra looked through the branches at the group, now leaving the station after speaking with the Mayor. With Twilight and her friends hogging the human, there would be no doubt that they would hog him... but at least they would be able to observe him and they gave him a Ponyville welcome. Setting her face to match her sister from another mother, Lyra nodded her head.

"Bon Bon, notebook please!" Lyra spoke, in a manner like one about to go on an adventure, "time to commence Operation: Human Watch!" She stuck her hoof out and looked at her compatiots. Glorious Dawn gave a grin and put her hoof onto Lyra's. Bon Bon sighed and reluctantly stuck her hoof in the pile as well.

"One, two, three! Let's go Humares!" Dawn & Lyra shouted, temporarily forgetting that they were ~~stalking~~ quietly observing the human, Bon Bon mumbling her part of the cheer. With notebook in hoof, the three left the bush to follow the human.

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"You've gotta be kidding me." Hal deadpanned. He put his hand to his face and gave a facepalm. In hindsight, he realized how comfortable the castle was; sure he'd felt as out of place there as he was going to everywhere now, but...

"Is something wrong, Hal?" Twilight (yes, he HAD finally gotten all of their names remembered) asked the human. He looked at her, then at the others, then back to her and gestured what the problem was. He had hoped that it was merely his eyes playing tricks at him as they made their way to Twilight's house to drop of his few pieces of luggage (i.e. his power battery). But as it was literally two feet in front of him, he had to accept the truth: he was going to be living in a tree.

"I realize that, if I remember correctly, this town was founded by... Earth ponies who were close to nature.... but come on!" Hal exasperated. 'Even Ch'p wasn't this nature extreme... and he was a squirrel!' he thought to himself.

Twilight and Spike laughed, and the purple mare responded to the human, "I know it might look a bit silly, but the inside is really nice inside." As she opened the door to let everyone in she added, "Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying for now."

After letting the ponies and dragon in before himself, Hal crossed the threshold inside with only one thought, 'Thank goodness. With the size of these ponies, I thought I'd have to duck everytime I wanted to go though a doorway.'

As he beheld the interior of the main room, Hal looked around in surprise. "Okay... I'll admit that the whole tree thing distracted me a bit. But... is this place bigger on the inside?" Hal asked aloud. Twilight nodded and responded, "Yes it is, that always throws ponies off when they first come to visit. When this library was opened, a unicorn from Canterlot cast some spells to make the interior bigger." She beckoned the human to follow her down some stairs while the others remained. "And I'll admit: after I moved in... I might have added a few more of my own personal touches here and there. Just to make it more homey."

At the bottom of the stairs was a very large basement; what Spike said was indeed true, other than a few shelves of old books and, to Hal, some archaic-looking lab equipment, the room was indeed mostly empty. Placing his Power Battery on a table, Hal finished his inspection of his living quarters for the time being, "It certainly looks it." In a low voice, mostly speaking to himself, he added, "Something tells me Zatanna would probably like this pony... A LOT." Twilight's ears picked up on that, but she couldn't make out what he had said.

After the two made their way back up to the stairs, Pinkie gave her goodbye. "Well, I've gotta go! If I'm lucky, perhaps I'll get everything I need for Hally-Wally's ultra-mega super special awesome triple surprise party ready by tonight!" Then, pulling all of her friends into a huddle, she added, "Don't tell Hally. It's gonna be a secret." She then zipped out of the front door with a speed that even Hal & Rainbow Dash wouldn't sniff at.

With a dumbfounded look on his face, Hal pointed out the door and asked, "Does... she know I know everything she said she was going to do?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, just checking." Applejack gave a hearty chuckle, "I wouldn't worry none. Tha's just Pinkie Pie bein' Pinkie Pie." Rarity cleared her throat, "Ahem. Now that you've moved in... so to speak... perhaps we should go on to my boutique Mr. Jordan. I'm sure you'd like to get your measurements done as soon as possible."

Hal nodded and bade farewell to the others, following Rarity out the door. Shortly afterward, most of the others left for their own destinations: Fluttershy to her animals at home, Rainbow Dash to work with the weather team, and Applejack back to her farm. Twilight & Spike remained at home to, not only for the unicorn to write down the events of the last few days in her personal journal, but to await for the packages that Mayor Mare had said would be coming. The impromptu meeting with the Mayor had surprised the group; while Twilight had known that Princess Celestia would be sending word to Ponyville to inform them of their newest citizen, it had been surprising just how quickly (or perhaps for accurately, aggressively quick) the politician had moved in preparation for the human. Not only did the Mayor arrange for a large enough mattress to be delivered at Twilight's and for the group's luggage to be picked up and delivered to their homes, she had gone out of her way to make a not-so-subtle speech on just how kind and wonderful Ponyville's citizens were to new friends. As they had left the Mayor at the station, Hal had quietly asked, "Is she always that quick to earn brownie points, or am I the exception?"

All that Twilight and the others could do was put on a sheepish smile and move on.

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"Ooh, he's on the move!" Lyra exclaimed to her cohorts. Moving between alleyways and hiding behind buildings, the two Humares (and Bon Bon) kept their bead on their prey. Thanks to some binoculars & a handy listening spell that Dawn had cast, they were able to keep their figurative eyes and ears on the human, even when he was inside of Twilight's library. While Dawn & Lyra were keeping their attention on their target, Bon Bon just looked over their "notes". Despite only following him for about fifteen minutes, both Lyra & Dawn had somehow nearly filled up an entire notebook with their "important observations".

Bon Bon scrunched up her nose as she looked over the vitally important five page entry on his walk cycle. "Lyra, is all of this really necessary?" she asked her roommate, "I don't think any of this will help you two get to know him better." As she looked at Dawn's detailed drawing of his face (which looked very uncanny to the Earth pony) , she quietly added, "If anything, it'll make him get a restraining order..."

"Pony hush," Dawn shushed at the complainer and pointed at the pair of Hal & Rarity entering into a new building. "That's Rarity's Boutique!" Lyra informed Dawn, "she's Ponyville's premiere... and well only, dressmaker. I wonder why she has him going in there?" Dawn used her magic to get remove the notebook from Bon Bon's hooves and turned to a page to show her clueless ally.

"I got this right here shawnie. Based on tha, ah, legends on humans, they wore clothes cuz they didn't have protective fur like 'hus," Dawn said rather-of-factly. Lyra began to pour over Dawn's notes, admonishing herself for forgetting this fact. "Oh, yeah! He must be having Rarity make him some more clothes!", she remarked.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to get a good view of the inside of the shop from their position, so Lyra suggested they move in closer to the building. Dawn and, especially Bon Bon, were reluctant to go with the idea, but eventually complied after the excited green unicorn teleported herself to the branch of a tree near the building. After getting their way up to the branch, as well as shoot daggers at the reckless unicorn, Dawn & Bon Bon calmed down.

"Look, there he is!" Dawn pointed out. Luckily, their new observation spot was just in the right position to look through a window and see the occupants inside. "Ah... wonder wha-" she was about to add, when Hal took his shirt off. Dawn raised the binoculars up to her eyes much to Lyra's displeasure. "Nooo... I wanna see!" she whined. As Dawn & Lyra fought over their spying equipment, Bon Bon tried to calm them down, while holding onto the tree limb for dear life. Unfortunately, her pleas came a bit too late and Lyra & Dawn wound up pushing themselves off of the branch; fortunately, their fall wasn't too high.

Bon Bon groaned and grabbed the binoculars, that had hadn't fallen with the others, by strap with her teeth and was about to climb down when an impulsive idea popped into her head. "Might as well see what the big deal is,' she muttered as the put the spy glasses up to her eyes, "I mean, he's just getting meaured. No big deal." The words had scarcely left her mouth when Hal, who had his back facing the window, turned away from Rarity and dropped trou and inadvertently gave the mare the full monty. Bon Bon was on the ground in mere seconds, dragging the still fighting mares away from the Boutique, hoping the two didn't notice the blush on her face.

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It was about an hour later when Hal & Rarity stepped out of her shop, Hal adjusting his jacket. "Now Mr. Jordan, I believe that should suffice. With your measurements and the ideas for your clothes and... erm... undergarments, I should have something wearable for you in the next day or two," Rarity informed her client, still somewhat embarrassed. When Hal had told her he wore additional clothing that she hadn't seen, she had made the mistake of asking to see them. Hal had fought every urge he had to crack wise about the fashionista wanting to get into his pants, only stopping when he convinced himself that the reference would probably fly right over her head.

"Thanks in advance. I know you said they'll be a gift, but I insist you give me a bill for everything," he stated. "And again, sorry for showing you my ju... I mean, letting you see more than you probably wanted." Hal had to give the unicorn credit, she was uncomfortable with the sudden nudity, but still maintained professional control. He probably should have known better, but he had long been desensitized to aliens seeing him in the buff & vice-versa, he had to after years of communal showers back on Oa and the new Sector Houses.

Rarity's face once again flushed and she stammered, "Ahem, it-it was no problem. You merely did what I asked for, after all." In the back of her mind, she was thanking Celestia that Sweetie Belle wasn't home; the last thing she needed as for her to ask... questions. Getting back to the here-and-now, Rarity changed the subject, "Now that we're done with our business for now, might I suggest we get a quick morsel? I'm sure you must be somewhat famished."

It had been a few hours since their breakfast meal in Canterlot, so Hal agreed, "Sure. Got any ideas where?" Remembering that Twilight had suggested he meet as many new ponies as soon as possible (and noting his current attire would not fly for most the more fancy eateries she knew of), she made the suggestion of Sugarcube Corner. As they made their way to the sweet shop, Hal took notice of the crowd around them.

Ever since he'd gotten to town, he'd noticed that all of the ponies were a bit strange; he didn't really get the vibe that they were afraid of him, at least not too much, but they kept their distance, like they were trying to go out of their way not treat him like another face in the crowd. It all reeked of someone going out of their way to make him feel less out of place, but wound up being very off-putting.

It was at some distance away that Hal saw the building that, instantly, he knew was going to be this Sugarcube Corner. For the third time today, he'd seen one of the most impractical buildings in his life: first was the tree-library, then Rarity's Carousel Boutique, and now the love child between the Brothers Grimm & Frank Lloyd Wright. "So who works here? Please don't say Hansel & Gretel," Hal snarked at Rarity.

Sugarcube Corner, with all it's gingerbready appearance, had all the qualities any child-eating witch would love to have. Rarity, not getting Hal's reference but picking up on his attitude, answered, "I know it looks a bit strange, but this is one of the most popular spots in all of Ponyville. The whole place is owned by a lovely couple, Carrot & Cup Cake, and they employ and board our friend Pinkie Pie there."

Hal gave her a look that could only be read as 'are you serious?' and asked, "Pie. Cake. Are they related or something?" Rarity shook her head and gestured towards the entrance. She was about to walk in when the logic struck her: 'Is Pinkie related to the Cakes?' She had to admit, she had never given it any thought before...

There were a number of ponies inside the Corner, some waiting in line, most enjoying a treat at a table, when Hal & Rarity entered. Almost instantly, the whole place became silent and many of the ponies looking away from the once-thought-to-be-mythical human like they'd been caught stealing from the cookie jar. Hal rolled his eyes and made his way to the line at the register, whereupon which the ponies waiting in line decided to graciously allowed Hal to have backcuts to the front.

Mrs. Cup Cake was tending to the front, and to say she was regretting not being in her husband's position in the kitchen at the moment was an understatement. "Ah, ahem, wel-welcome to Sugarcube Corner. Can I... help... you?" the pudgy blue mare stuttered out. Hal eyed across the room and, despite knowing his order was goint to be a frosty chocolate milkshake (one of his few weaknesses!), decided to be a gentleman and allowed the lady he was accompanied with to order first. Anxious to get their orders done, Cup decided to personally deliver their order to the kitchen and zipped into the back.

Hal turned his head towards Rarity, but before he could say anything, three voices shouted out, "Cutie Mark Crusaders Human Hunters!" He had scarcely understood what was being said when Hal was suddenly covered by small ponies from out of ~~N.O.W.H.E.R.E.~~ nowhere! He felt his arms & legs ties up with some rope with an accompanying, "C'mon Applebloom! We gotta catch him if were gonna get our cutie marks in catching humans!" from a small, white unicorn filly.

Unfortunately, in the filly's eagerness to finally get her cutie mark, she had failed to notice her absolutely livid older sister, not even a few feet away. "Sweetie Belle! I demand you and your friends get off of my friend here," Rarity growled at the children in only a way an older sister could. In the blink of an eye, the Crusaders were in front of the upset unicorn, scared stiffless. Hal quickly managed to get to his feet, easily getting out of the would-be bonds of his would-be captors who still had to learn how to tie knots without large loops in them.

"Now, I want you to apologize to Mr. Jordan here right now young ladies," Rarity ordered. Turning to face the human, the Crusaders sheepishly gave a "We're sorry" to the now bemused human. "Me, Applebloom & Scootaloo just wanted to see if we could get our cutie marks in human hunting," Sweetie explained unhappily. Looking at their still blank flanks, Scootaloo added, "Looks like that's not going to be our special talent, anyways." Looking up at the floor, Applebloom put in her own two cents, "I hope yer not mad..."

Getting on his haunches to get closer to eye level with the little ponies, Hal decided to assure the trio, "Don't worry, it take more than that to get me upset. Promise to leave the sneak attacks alone, and I'll accept your apology." The Crusaders all nodded and the tension in the air started to let up.

Cup Cake had returned with their orders and rung them up at the register. "The plum tart and the milkshake all come out to five bits total," she announced to the human. Pulling out a small bag of currency from one of his jacket pockets, Hal put down seven coins and grabbed his beverage. After a few sips, he decided to pay his complements to the chef, "You know what, I've been to a lot of places in this universe, but I've gotta say: this is one of the best 'shakes I've had outside of home."

Giggling and feeling embarrassed at the praise, Cup waved off the complement, "Oh, stop. I'm sure you're just saying that to be nice." Handing tart to Rarity, Hal responded, "I am being nice, doesn't mean it's not true. You'd be surprised how many planets just can't get a handle on chocolate ice cream. This really is good... Cup Cake, is it?" The mare nodded and smiled. "Hal Jordan. Nice to meet you. If you'll excuse me..."

Gesturing over to an empty booth, Hal, Rarity, and the three Crusaders took their seats to enjoy their desserts.

"So," Hal asked the three fillies, "I hope you don't mind if I ask a question: Cutie Mark... Crusaders? What are 'cutie marks' and why are you trying to get them?" Breaking the floodgates, the three fillies informed the human that cutie marks were the special magical marks that appears on a pony's flank when they find a special talent, and that the three were the only ones in their class to still get them.

Their conversation petered out when a certain cream colored mare walked up to their table...

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"What's going on? Are those fillies still on him? I hope they didn't make him mad...," Lyra paced back and forth, nearly hyperventilating. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were rather infamous around all of town in their attempts to gain their marks, and now, due to their shortsightedness, they might have just caused the human to hate ponies! ....Or so Lyra feared.

Dawn was at a loss of words herself. She hadn't expected any of this to happen; she had no idea why all these ponies were acting so strangely, and now suddenly... this. "Les jus'... calm down. We gotta think. We gotta think..." she muttered, more to herself than to Lyra.

Bon Bon, meanwhile had finally had enough. "That's it, I'm putting my hoof down!" she shouted, literally stomping her hoof and getting the attention of the panicking mares. "We've been hiding and spying and writing pages of useless trivia all day. And I've had it. So I'm giving you an ultimatum: either you actually talk to this human, or we're all going home and leave him alone!"

Giving each other an uncomfortable look, the two mares began near-shouting protests at the Earth pony; 'they just wanted to make sure they had enough to talk about', 'they just wanted not make foals of themselves when they meet him', etc. All the excuses just served to annoy Bon Bon even more. "Fine then," the cream colored mare spat, "if neither of you will pony up, then I will."

With the calls of her friend, and Dawn, falling on deaf ears, Bon Bon walked into Sugarcube Corner. She didn't have to scan the room for very long, the human stuck out like a big sour ball in a bowl full of C&L's. 'Okay, Bon Bon. You can do this. You have to do this to get those two to stop acting so darn crazy. Just... put that image out of your mind, and talk casual,' she thought to herself, psyching herself up. While that certain mental image refused to leave, she made her way over to the table.

His back facing her, the first of the group to notice Bon Bon was actually Rarity. "Oh. Hello Bon Bon. How are you today?" the unicorn asked, getting Hal's attention of their visitor.

"Oh, uh, hello Rarity! It's been a while, hasn't it," Bon Bon smiled, trying to keep her cool, "I just wanted to meet your new friend here." Hal gave his name, but largely remained silent, looking Bon Bon over, much to the mare's mounting nervousness. "I, uh," she stammered, "is something wrong?" Bon Bon's mind was going a mile a minute, did he notice her & the others stalking him? Did he, Celestia forbid, notice she saw....!

"It's nothing major. I was just curious about your hair. Mane, I mean," Hal stated matter-of-factly. This threw Bon Bon off. "What about my mane?" she asked in return. Hal put up his hands to show he didn't mean offense. "I was just curious, some of you ponies seem to have some... unusual hair styles. Like with Twilight and Rainbow Dash and you. I was wondering if your hair grows multi-colored like that naturally. Most people on my planet have to dye their hair to get that effect," he informed the wary Earth pony.

Bon Bon put on a small smile, she had known this was best thing to do; already she knew more about humans in a few minutes than they had in hours of spying. "Nope, my hair is all natural!" Bon Bon cheerfully said, "while I can't speak for the others, especially Rainbow Dash, I find that mane dying always dries out your hair." Rarity agreed with this sentiment. With a bit of pride in her voice, Bon Bon added, "Everypony always says that my mane is silky smooth, so I'd never want to ruin that."

Against better judgment, Hal decided to mess around with the pony. "Really? Silky smooth? I'd sure like to know what that'd feel like," he said coyly. He was trying to be a smart-ass, but was thrown off-guard by Bon Bon's response. "I suppose, if you're curious, you could give it a feel. If you want," she muttered, her cheeks glowing through her fur. 'How do they do that? Magic?', the thought briefly flashed through Hal's mind. Turning his head over to Rarity for a cue, the unicorn was equally lost and merely shrugged.

Wary, Hal lifted his hand and, after a moment, began to pet the top of Bon Bon's head. It was awkward, but at least the mare was telling the truth, her mane was silky smooth. Bon Bon, meanwhile, was surprisingly enjoying having him pet her, seeing how a mare like Lyra could fixate on hands.

Suddenly, two voices shouted out a combined big "NO!" and Bon Bon quickly found herself being tackled by a green comet that took her a moment to realize was Lyra. "Bonnie, how could you!" Lyra accused, nearly in tears, "you knew I wanted to see his hands up close first!" Dawn was soon at the Lyra & Bon Bon's side, chastising them both for 'messin' up the plan'.

Hal looked around the store, everypony's eyes were on the bickering three who had apparently been watching him since he got to town. Rarity had a mortified look on her face and the Crusaders didn't know what to make of what they were seeing. The situation was so ridiculous, Hal Jordan did the only thing he could do: start laughing his ass off.

This happened to get everypony's attention, even the three members of the once proud group of Humares. Wiping a tear from his eye, Hal tried to compose himself, "I, ha, I gotta thank you. It's been a while since I laughed like that." Dawn, Bon, & Lyra all looked at each other and apologized, not only to each other but Hal for treating him like he was only something to study. It had taken their quarry to laugh at them for their actions, but Lyra Heartstrings & Glorious Dawn finally realized they'd been doing things extremely foalishly.

Realizing the two were legitimately remorseful, Hal decided to throw them a bone, "If you still want to know about humans so bad, I don't mind talking if we do it normally. Promise to stop all the stalking, and I'll accept your apology." He said the last part looking over his shoulder at the three Crusaders and gave them a wink, sending the three fillies into giggles. Looking at each other and smiling, the three mares grabbed a few empty chairs and joined the others at the table. It was, for the most part, an exchange on some facts of anthropology and hippology followed by some small talk (with Hal taking a mental note to talk to the Mayor about her little scare tactic), but it was for the first time in a while, that Hal Jordan felt completely at ease.

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Several hours had gone by and the sun was starting to set. The Crusaders, disappointed to have not gotten any anthropologist cutie marks, departed, going off to their parents', on curfew since the next day was a school day. The four mares & Hal were leaving the store when Pinkie Pie showed up.

"Oh, hello there Hally," Pinkie said cheerfully, "I've been looking for you." Trying to act nonchalant, Pinkie started to spin a story that Twilight wanted to see him at the library. Giving an aside glance at Rarity, Hal decided to play along. "Well, if my landlady wants me there ASAP, then I guess I gotta hurry. Mind if I bring some new friends?" Hal asked, with a false innocence in his voice. Pinkie looked over at Dawn and, realizing that her Pinkie Sense had failed to let her know that a new pony was in town, jumped up and gasped. "Omigoshanewponyisintown! HoldonforafewminutesbeforegoingtoTwilight's!" Pinkie said rapidfire and zoomed off, needing to correct some banners and the frosting greeting on the cake. Taking a few steps forward, Hal looked over his shoulder at the others and asked, "Shall we? I wanna see if we can surprise the surprise party."

The group began to run towards the library, a real lighthearted smile present Hal Jordan's face for the first time in a long while.

Author's Notes:

~~Happy Wednesday! What better way to celebrate new comic day!~~ Dammit, good Thursday everyone, I was hoping to get this up a few hours earlier. So has the long delayed second installment of the third chapter has come. I deeply apologize for the delay and want to thank everyone who's liked, faved, or even just read, this fic. I hope you'll all still stick around for the long haul. As always, pointing out grammar errors and other mistakes is greatly appreciated.

And yeah, no party. Why? I think the party scene has been done too much, so next chapter will be a letter chapter. "Secret Origins & Files 1" will be out, hopefully, by Saturday and is sure to be easier to write than this chapter since it's going to be largely backstory in letter form (forgive the percieved laziness, between awkwardly shoe-horned dialogue in a regular chapter and this, the letter seems the lesser of two evils). If you couldn't tell, this was the hardest chapter to write so far, largely because, I'll admit, it's mostly generic. In chapters shortly to come, there'll be more to work with than "first day in Ponyville".

I know that many of you are probably thinking "Why did he include THAT scene?" To tell the truth, it's less due to a funny scene and more as a response. Whether is "Human in Equestria", "Equestrians on Earth" or what have you, the trope of the "human unwilling to be naked around aliens" is around. Whether it's there to emphasize how the human eventually gets into a relationship with a pony who tells him it doesn't matter (or the troll equivilant, to laugh at the size of his dick) or just so they can have a flaw or some such, it's still present.

So I wanted to show that Hal is used to having his body seen by other species from the get go (and while it's not stated here, for him to not be bothered by the fact that most ponies wear nothing at all wear nothing at all wear nothing at all). But for those who think it was a bit much, I do understand. Just imagine that the pants were the only things that went down instead if you're uncomfortable with the idea of letting Rarity & Bon Bon seem more than they needed to.

3.5. Secret Files & Origins 1

View Online

To The Royal Highnesses, Princess Celestia & Princess Luna,

Hello, this is Hal Jordan corresponding. Due to the language barrier, Twilight is doing the actual writing while I dictate what I'm saying. I've got to admit, this is the first time in a while I've dealt in writing letters to others.

In the three days since we last met and I moved into town, I'm still getting adjusted to not only your country, but also civilian life. I've got to say, even though I am grateful about it, I find it a bit strange just how comfortable everyone is with an alien living with them in town. I've been through this scenario on the other side and even after the initial excitement wore off, there were still a great interest involved for quite some time. It looks like your recommendation on me certainly goes a long way with your subjects.

There were a few hiccups along the way; the mayor got a little overzealous about trying to make me comfortable and basically strong-armed the town into staying away from me on the first day. I've had a talk with her and informed her that I didn't need to have my hand held and have the town worried about overwhelming me.

Pinkie did throw me a party, which I've got to admit was very nice. I wasn't able to remember the names of each of the dozens of ponies I met that night, but I'm sure I'll get to know them better as time goes on. At the end of the night, I was glad that Mayor Mare arranged for a bed delivery, because I was out like a light.

Staying with Twilight & Spike has been good so far, but I would like a place of my own sometime in the near future. I got a very unwelcome surprise yesterday when awoke to find Twilight's owl at the foot of my bed. I know Twilight has already written to you and detailed this incident, but I must insist that I DID NOT yelp, but rather gave a Tamaranian war cry to induce confusion. Again, that is what happened.

Ponyville is certainly filled with some unusual characters, to say the least. My first day here, I've met three very interesting mares who'd been following me around since I literally stepped off the train. Eventually I did become aware of them and we talked face to face. Two of them, who are friends named Bon Bon & Lyra, have been living in town for some time, while the third, Dawn, is a traveler who was on layover and heard about my then-upcoming arrival. She didn't really talk about herself that much, but she seemed cool. She left shortly after I met her, but promised to visit again soon.

I've seen a bit of the town and the area around it, and I've seen where most of Twilight's friends live. I still haven't really gotten to know them very well, but it has only been a few days since I first met them anyway.

Rarity managed to make me some new clothes and, for a first time working with a completely different species, I've got to give some kudos; they're pretty good. Applejack is pretty down to earth. I've only seen her farm once, but it looks pretty good for a small, family run place.

Rainbow Dash is just so precious; trying way too hard to impress me with her stunts. She keeps telling me that she's going to show me her best trick, a Sonic Rainboom, soon. It's almost cute how she much she thinks I have to be impressed with her, but she's got some guts and I can respect that.

Pinkie Pie can be exhausting, emotionally & physically. I've been to her job, baking at Sugarcube Corner, and I've got to say: it's down right eerie just how accurate the desserts there match up with ones back home. I've gotten to know her bosses, the Cake family, and again, I'll give all my kudos on them for keeping up with her.

Fluttershy, however, I still don't really know too much about, other than she's an animal caretaker. I think she's still intimidated by me, which I'm honestly not trying to do. We still haven't really found any common ground, I guess.

I guess that's pretty much it. I hope you both are doing well, & hope you give my best to Shining.

Until later,

Hal Jordan

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To Princess Celestia & Princess Luna,

I've been talking with Twilight, who again has been nice enough to correspond for me, and the others and I've decided to answer to start answering some questions that they, and the both of you, have been wondering about me and the Corps. While there are some things that I cannot talk about and things I do not want to disclose, I know that there are some things that you do deserve to hear. Right now, Twilight and her friends are together with me so they too can hear what I’ve got to say; Spike on the other hand, I've asked to step out for a while. There are things in this story that might be a bit too much for one young as he is.

Since I do know that all of you are curious about my joining the Green Lantern Corps at such a young age, I will let you know the circumstances as to how I first received the ring. But before I do, I need to start at the beginning. There are some things that I might miss, and I will be paraphrasing a bit, but this is necessary to understand my story.

Twilight has informed me that most of your world has correctly hypothesized about the origins of the universe, that it started with a proverbial "Big Bang". How and why it happened isn't important, but suffice to say that the universe as we know it came from it. For the first eon or so, stars, planets, and eventually life began to develop. There soon came to be four worlds of great universal importance amongst the billions of worlds that inhabit the stars, but the first two are the only ones related to this story.

The First World is the planet Oa. It, along with it's sun and moon, were the first celestial bodies to form in the entire universe. Oa itself is the direct center of the universe, which is why the Guardians decided to move to an otherwise desolate rock.

The Second World is a world of Maltus, one of the first places to nurture intelligent life and is indeed the original home of the Guardians. Although I'm sure it's not true, I've heard more than a few Lanterns hypothesize that it's the first world to develop life, period; I've never really cared enough to ask Ganthet if this is true or not.

And since I'm sure that Twilight won't be able to get any piece of mind until she knows about them, I'll talk a bit about the other two worlds. The Third World is a long deceased planet who's name has long since been lost to time, even to the Guardians. All that is known is that it was a world of Gods, and that it was consumed with a war that has rarely been seen since in the entirety of history. From the ashes of the destruction, however, came about a cosmic event that has yet to happen again; the formation of two planets from the remnants of the old world. These twin worlds soon became diametric opposites of each other, with the paradise world of New Genesis and a world of death known as Apokolips. Inhabiting these two worlds were beings who became known as the New Gods. Together, New Genesis & Apokolips have been collecitavely known as the Fourth World. However, this is all a long story for another day.

The origins of the Corps began on Maltus, with it's immortal inhabitants. In those days, the Malthusians were great scientists & philosophers, and believing that they held a responsibility as the universe's most advanced civilizations, eventually moved to the planet Oa. It was a few million years after this migration that one of their smartest scientists began working on a device to observe the origins of the universe, an act forbidden by his peers. Unheeding their warnings, he used his creation and witnessed the moments before the Big Bang: what appeared to be a hand holding a cluster of stars.

As a result of this, a great cataclysm ensued that is still felt today; not only was the machine destroyed and Oa experiencing a great quake, but existence itself was altered. What had originally been one universe was forcibly ripped into many; one universe comprised of anti-matter and a multiverse of positive matter universes such as ours. There were many more consequences, but they aren't immediately important for now.

Prior to this event, the Malthusians, or rather Oans, had created what they referred to as their First Army, a force of robots known as the Manhunters. To best describe what a robot is can be a bit difficult, but to put it simply they are artificial beings which completes tasks assigned to it, in the form of programming, much like a computer. They had been deployed across the universe to suppress evil and ensue order and had gone about this for dozens of millennia. But not too long after the Cataclysm, an atrocity occurred; one that my predecessor Abin Sur once described as "an act so horrendous, it is myth".

A sudden programming error in the Manhunters' electronic brains altered their orders. Believing that the source of evil & chaos was emotion, they determined that the only way to accomplish their mission was the eradication of all sentient life. In a relative blink of an eye, the entirety of the billions of Manhunters converged onto Sector 666, one of the 3600 sectors which the universe had been divided up into. It was there that the Massacre of Sector 666 began; a near complete xenocide of thousands of worlds and trillions of lives. To this day, only one other being in existence has committed greater atrocities. In the aftermath, there were only five survivors. And most of the universe believes it to be due to an misreading in the Manhunters' programming. At least, that is what they believed.

It was shortly before I came to this world that I learned the truth from Ganthet himself. The scientist responsible for the Cataclysm attempted to flee Oa when the Manhunters were ordered to arrest him. It was then that he managed to gain access to a Manhunter and was able to reprogram it. After he was taken in, the altered Manhunter exchanged it's new programming to the others, until the entire armada was infected. 'Why did he do this?' you ask? It was to prove a point; to highlight the flaws of an emotionless programmable police force to watch over a universe of emotional beings. For all his crimes, the scientist was turned into living energy and scattered across the universe. But the damage had already been done and couldn't be taken back.

The five survivors, consumed by rage & sorrow, blamed the Oans and resolved that they and everything they protected would pay. Using some of the most black of magicks in the universe, the five unnaturally extended their lives so they would be as immortal as their enemies and gained powers & abilities to wage their crusade. These five eventually became known as the Five Inversions and created the Empire of Tears, an organization dedicated to the downfall of everything the Oans stood for. It wouldn't be until thousands of years later that they would be defeated and imprisoned on Ysmault, a forbidden prison world.

The Oans also experienced strife amongst themselves, splintering into several groups with different goals as to protect the universe. The first group believed that evil needed to be destroyed, and left in disgust over their peers' refusal to destroy the entirety of the Manhunters after their rebellion greatly reduced their numbers. They would later rename themselves the Controllers and create weapons such as the Sun-Eaters to enforce order amongst star systems. Those who remained decided chose to make use of what is now known as the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum, using the Green Light as their tool with which to use to protect the universe from evil. However, the Oans in favor of this chose to suppress their emotions, so as to not be swayed in illogical ways in their pursuit of their goal. This lead to a second group of Oans to leave the world, a group of females who refused to give up their emotions; they would later be known as the Zamarons, after the planet they chose to make their new homeworld. Those who remained on Oa would become the Guardians of the Universe and go on to create their Second Army: the Green Lantern Corps.

Thus as it was for eons on end, until several decades ago, which brings us to my predecessor as the Green Lantern of my home sector of 2814: Abin Sur.

Abin was a great man, called by many of his fellow Lanterns, and indeed some of the Guardians as well, the "Greatest Lantern To Have Ever Lived". His deeds were legendary, and he personally mentored several of the Corps best in his time. However, his fate became sealed as an attempt to rescue a downed starship led him to Ysmault, bringing him into contact with the Five Inversions, still alive after multitudes of millennia. One of the Inversions, a being called Qull, a master of dark prophecy then dealt the blow to Abin that would be years to kill him by fortelling him two prophecies. The first was of his own demise, where his ring would fail him in his greatest time of need; the second of the destruction of the Corps, which would precipitate the end of all life in the universe in an event known as the "Blackest Night".

Abin Sur left Ysmault physically unharmed that day, but Qull had done his damage. Abin slowly began to lose faith in his ring and began to rely more heavily on starship travel; he also began to become more erratic in his attempts to discover of Qull's second prophecy would come true. You have to understand that the ring is only as strong as the will as the one who uses it

Abin Sur came to believe in Qull's words so much, he would eventually return to Ysmault to stop what was foretold. Taking Qull's fellow Inversion Atrocitous from his bonds, Abin had hoped to use him to discover the world where the dark power which would begin the "Blackest Night" resided. Their journey eventually took them to Earth, my homeworld. Abin only told one person where he was going, his best friend & former pupil: Thaal Sinestro.

As they began to enter the atmosphere, Atrocitous finally managed to break the last of Abin's confidence in his ring, shattering the constructed prison the ring had created and break free, destroying the ship & mortally wounding Abin. As Atrocitous escaped the out-of-control ship, Abin used the last of his strength to guide the ship away from my hometown Coast City, where it was going to crash land into the desert, damaging his body further beyond any chance to save him. His life fading, he ordered his ring to record a message to his friend, and to find a replacement for after he passed.

That is where I come into this story.

It was the beginning of summer, with school out for a three month break. I was twelve years old at the time, and had been going through some problems, none of which I really want to talk about right now. I'd just gotten into a fight with some older kids who were bullying a kid my age for his race. The best way to describe it would probably be like some unicorns picking on an Earth pony, it was just stupid. I took a few lumps, but managed to chase away the bullies and was talking with their victim, Tom Kalmaku, who'd later go on to be one of my best friends.

We were down by the waterfront, near the ocean on the outskirts of Coast City when the ring came to me. I suddenly found myself covered in a green aura and forcibly taken to the crash site where Abin was waiting, all the while being bombarded with information about the Corps and the ring. In his final moments, he asked if I would accept his duty; when I accepted, he smiled and joked about "how he never thought he'd live to see the day". I thought he was talking about my age, but what he meant was the fact that I was an Earthling.

So there I was, given one of the greatest weapons in the universe, instantly clad in my new uniform after I put on the ring. What else could I do but try it out? I was able to fly! Without any sort of vehicle! I started zipping all around the place and soon I found myself at a place I otherwise wouldn't have wanted to go, a place call Ferris Air. I had some history with the place, which again I don't really want to talk about, but saw someone I knew: Carol Ferris, the daughter of the owner of the airfield.

I should explain: most humans cannot fly under their own power (even I needed the ring to fly), so we use machines called airplanes and jets to fly. I've been interested in aeronautics since I could remember, but had been too young to fly alone. Unfortunately, seeing a glowing kid hovering about distracted one of the pilots and he lost control of his plane. Remembering that what the ring had told me, I was able to create some constructs to land the plane safely and get the pilot out unharmed. What the ring didn't tell me was how exhausting it was, I felt like I had run two miles without a break. While one the ground, I found myself face to face with an unwanted crowd.

The plane I had rescued was being tested for the military, so I found myself being grilled by General Hammond, who had been overseeing the flight. With him was his son, a- jerk named Hector who had recently gotten some fancy degrees in astrophysics and theoretical science. There was also Carol's father, a man named Carl Ferris who I was not fond of at the time, along with Carol herself. I'm lucky that my mask was able to hide my identity and I shot out of there as quickly as I could.

I returned to Abin's ship and decided to give him a burial as best as I could. I just couldn't leave him out there. So there I was, the supposed "chosen one" who's supposed to look after the planet. I'd later find out that the ring had picked out another candidate, who was only not picked by the ring because I was closer. I would meet this man, Guy Gardner, and butt heads with him, but later call him a brother from another mother. When I tried to recharge my ring, I wound up being pulled to Oa against my will, for training.

Seeing the planet for the first time took my breath away, it was so beautiful. I found myself being trained by Kilowog, the big guy you met when I first arrived, and was put into bootcamp to hone my ringslinging skills. During my training, I met more Lanterns who I'd get to know well: Salaak, Ch'p, and Tomar-Tu's father Tomar-Re to name a few. I wasn't the most obedient rookie, and I wouldn't let go what I felt was the lamest thing about the whole thing: at the time, all of the rings had a weakness to the color yellow. Yellow objects couldn't be directly manipulated or touched by our constructs and could easily pass through them if one wasn't careful. The whole yellow thing I would find out had a reason for existing, but that's yet another story for another day.

I managed to graduate and earn my status as the official Lantern of Sector 2814. On my return to Earth, my head was filled with ideas, mostly from the comic books I read: how I would keep my identity secret from all my family & friends, etc. When I returned, however, reality set in: I had been gone for two weeks and I couldn't get out of the situation with a lie; I wound up having to tell my mother & brothers the truth. Tom had also seen me being abducted by the ring, so he knew who I was as well. My dreams of being mysterious like Superman died quicker than I had hoped.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, things were starting to build up. The military had managed to find Abin Sur's ship and was having it examined under General Hammond's orders, thinking it was mine, with Hector being allows special access to assist. Atrocitous had managed to survive his fall out of the craft and left a bloody wake in his search for the dark power. And Sinestro learned of Abin's demise from Ganthet and had set off for Earth. Despite my mother's attempt to keep the ring from me, I still managed to retrieve it when I got my first major alert.

During the examination of the ship, Hector was exposed to the radiation from the ship's fuel source, a group of rocks from a mysterious comet. The radiation altered Hector's mind, granting him immense psychic & psionic powers, but driving him to near-madness when he read the minds of the people there, killing them all with a thought, including his own father. He then set off for Ferris Air, where the Green Lantern was last seen. He had unleashed a mental attack on everyone there, including Carol, and when I tried to intervene- I was horribly unprepared. I'll fully admit now that if it weren't for the timely intervention of Sinestro, who managed to cut off Hammond's air supply and render him unconscious, things would have gotten really bad, especially when he had already managed to read my mind.

At the time, however, I was less than impressed, which Sinestro was likewise unimpressed with me, his friend's successor. Like a brat, I tried to convince him that I could have dealt with the situation by myself, arguing with him as we flew away. When he told me why he had come, I took him to where I had buried Abin Sur. It was there that the message Abin left and we both learned why Abin had done what he had. It was also when we learned the horrible truth that Atrocitous had survived.

We found him near a cemetery, trying to kill some teenager. He was incredibly strong and managed to put us at a great disadvantage: he had constructed a device to steal the power from our rings. Our fight was further hampered by the fact that Atrocitous' would be victim, William Hand, wouldn't leave! Sinestro managed to use the distraction, however, to summon his Power Battery from the Pocket Dimension he kept it in and we recharged our rings.

I managed to knock Atrocitous off-guard by crashing a bulldozer, a yellow piece of machinery, into him with a construct and Sinestro managed to knock him down completely. When I tried to tell him what I managed to do, Sinestro believed I was trying to showboat with lies and told me to grow up and lose the issues I had. That and the Hand kid running off without even a "thanks" angered me that I flew off, deciding to take up Sinestro's suggestion. While I don't want to express the details, I did finally manage to get some closure by the end of the night and had even mended things up with Sinestro.

We got pulled back to Oa, because the Guardians had believed we had broken a territory edict and wanted to charge us; believing that Lanterns should stick to their own sector. When they also waved off all of Abin Sur's fears, they tried playing the superiority card. Wisely or not, I called them out on it and accused them of being afraid that the Corps would wind up like the Manhunters, explaining why they didn't want Lanterns to work together with the edict and why, despite yellow being the weakness of the rings, every single building on Oa was yellow. It was only with Sinestro stepping in that we managed to not get the both of us kicked out of the Corps, but got put on probation.

Sinestro would return Atrocitous to Ysmault, and I returned home to my mom, who was furious that I had disobeyed her and gone off to do my duty. With what happened to Sinestro later, I had always wondered if the Inversions had done to him what they had done to Abin. I was disappointed to learn that wasn't that case. You know the drill, I don't want to talk about it now.

And that's how I got recruited for the Corps. Both in space and on Earth, I'd go on to make allies and enemies alike. I joined up with some of Earth's greatest heroes & help found an organization called the Justice League to fight threats to peace on and off world, go on a soul searching road trip with a guy I never thought I'd really befriend, retire a few times, and a bunch of other stuff.

But for now, I'm tired and don't really want to talk anymore. I'm sorry, I'm sure that a lot of my story was shocking, but I figured you all deserved to hear it. To be a Green Lantern is widely considered throughoutt the stars to be one of the greatest of honors, but Lanterns rarely live full lives and have happy endings. I know that all too well.

Sincerely,

Hal Jordan

Author's Notes:

So here we are, the first of the backstory dumps. I've tried to research all of the DC history involved here before writing it down here, so if I made an alteration to continuity that any of you recognize, then it's probably been made conciously. The whole "X World" thing is most likely all wrong, because I've unfortunately never been able to read the original Kirby New Gods comics, and with all of the alterations made to them by other writers to the mythos, it can get a bit confusing; this is personally how I saw the First World-Fifth World thing for a long time, so I decided to put it into this canon.

I'm not sure just how familiar anyone reading this story is with DC continuity, so I've tried my best to make it accessable. But if anyone has any questions, I've been thinking about adding a Q&A chapter with the next chapter I post (so that'll give everyone plenty of time to ask. Haha!... I'm a slow writer), so if you want any questions answered, leave them in the comments or PM's and I'll try to answer the best I can (just a heads up, spoilers about plot-threads I have planned will most likely be answered with "Sorry, can't say"). BTW, the crossed out "Hal Jordan"s are supposed to be his personal signature, not written by Twilight. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

For those who might not know, the long standing writer of Green Lantern, Geoff Johns, recently ended is nearly 10 year run last Wednesday, leaving the GL-verse along with Pete Tomasi, Tony Bedard, and Peter Milligan. When I started reading comics regularly, he was the main writer for the main GL book, and the stories he and peers came up with were great. Because of the late time in which I got into DC, I completely missed out on the long standing problems the franchise had been expeiencing: Hal's sloppily written turn into the villainous Parallax, the long-standing character shilling of Kyle, Guy's entire post-JLI history, and the b.s. racism bru-haha when John Stewart was made Lantern of the JLA.

I picked a pretty sweet time to be a Lantern fan, with all four having a place in the Corps (no matter how many people complained on scans_daily, the worst site on the net). The only complaint I have is that Johns & the others lost a bit of the human touch amiss the entire Space Opera; following the Sinestro Corps War, you could count the number of times any of them were on Earth one hand with the worst offender being Hal Jordan himself. None of the Lanterns had any real supporting characters on Earth anymore (example: Hal's family quickly dropped off the face of the Earth around the time of Final Crisis).

I can't wait to see what the new blood has coming up, but with all the #20's of the Lantern books this month, I bid adieu to the people who made the Lanterns the blockbuster I.P. it is today. Yes, even Pete Milligan (who made the worst retcon to Atrocitus' origin ever).

Once again, please point out any grammar or spelling errors I've missed. I would greatly appreciate it!

4. An Honest Heart To Heart

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"Hal deary? Your shift's over with," Cup Cake announced, as she walked into the kitchen where the human had been sweeping. "Don't worry, I'll finish up the cleaning for now. Just be sure to check in with Carrot so you can get your pay for this week." Hal gave a nod in response and let the broom rest against the wall near where he had been sweeping. As he went to the front of the house to speak to Carrot, Cup Cake began to take over.

Nearly a month had passed by since the ex-Lantern Hal Jordan had come to the village of Ponyville. 26 days, to be more precise. In that time, the human had become to grow, as much as he could in his situation, acclimated to living with the city's residence. There were still some who were wary of him and tended to avoid him; if there was any hostility towards him, it was thankfully kept below the surface.

As is with any major change-up, despite efforts to minimalize such a thing, there were the inevitable reporter-and-paparazzi influx to the town, trying to get a scoop and exclusive interviews from the mysterious "human from myth". None had gotten much more than photos for their trouble, and even then, most of the more respectable papers erred on the side of caution and chose to portray Hal tastefully. But, there's always going to be those who try to sensationalize to sell papers, which Hal could see when he helped Fluttershy change papers for some of the birdcages, covered with as they were trying to say.

"Alright, Mrs. Cake," Hal announced, sticking his head into the kitchen, "I suppose I'll see you in two days. Have a good one." But before he could leave, the pudgy blue mare called out to him, remembering she had a favor to ask of him. "Oooh, I'm such a scatterbrain sometimes!" she berated herself, "Hal, I have a favor to ask of you concerning your schedule for next week."

"What's up?" Hal asked as he walked into the kitchen, sticking the small sack of bits he'd received as his paycheck into his pocket. "I was hoping you could come in on the 22nd and help fill in my shift," Cup explained, "Pinkie's going to be out of town, and I only just got word from Balitmare that my reservation at the Confectioner's Convention has been confirmed. I was hoping you could help Carrot out with the register... as well as the twins."

Looking over his shoulder through the entrance way to see the lanky yellow stallion taking an order from a hungry customer, Hal nodded in approval. "Sure, I don't mind," Hal shrugged. Cup breathed a big sigh of relief, "Thank you. I'll give you an extra day off next week for this. Getting to attend this convention could be a huge opportunity for us to swap recipes and techniques with other pastry & dessert chefs."

His curiosity getting the better of him, Hal had to ask, "Yeah, no big deal. But what is Pinkie going out of town for? She didn't say anything to me that I can remember." Cup, taking the dust pan and broom over to the supply closet to put them away, answered matter-of-factly, "Oh, she's going to be visiting her folks over at their farm of course. She's actually going to be leaving the day before when she's done with her own shift." She sighed and shut the door sadly. "Huummm.... I wish the Convention didn't have to fall on that day, though.... I really didn't want to miss the day with Carrot and the kids..."

Slightly confused at Cup's words, Hal decided to keep his escorts from waiting much longer and bid his boss adieu. Walking into Sugarcube's front, he spotted Fluttershy & Dawn waiting for him. "Hey, hope I didn't keep you guys waiting too long," Hal apologized.

"Chillax, homeboy," Dawn waved off with her hoof, "me and Flutters her' weren't kept up long." Fluttershy gave an assuring smile and Hal's mind was put at ease, putting off the workday nearly instantly, as the three of them walked out of Sugarcube and towards the Hay Burger to eat. They had only just arrived within eye shot of the door, when Fluttershy paced ahead of Hal & Dawn.

"Twilight, Spike!", she exclaimed in her reserved, Fluttershy manner, "What a coincidence!"

The matching purple dragon & unicorn were on their way out, having already finished their own lunch, and stopped to speak. Hal got down on one knee, and gave Spike a light, playful punch to the shoulder, "Spike, dragon bro, if you'd told me that you & Twilight were coming here for lunch, I'dve asked the Cakes to get off a bit earlier."

"Sorry, dude," the dragon apologized, "me & Twi were out doing some errands, and just decided to stop in for a bite." Twilight also gave an apology, "We'd just got done setting up a last minute reservation at the Prancing Pony for next week, and... well... let's just say that the subject got me hungry with out my realizing it."

"The Prancing Pony is one of Ponyville's nicest restaurants," Fluttershy explained to Hal, who'd never heard of it, "it's a bit expensive, but the food is always very nice." Hal stood back up and, curiosity striking once again, asked, "So what's the occasion?" Twilight had a brief, puzzled look on her face before answering, "Well, my family is coming in from Canterlot. My mom and dad, and Shining is bringing Cadance along with him. So all of us and Spike are going out for the day."

'Huh, that is a strange coincidence', Hal thought to himself, 'first Pinkie, now Twilight. Some friends think alike, I suppose...' He smirked and spoke aloud, "Well, that's great Twilight. Just remember to keep clean when you see your folks. I don't think special sauce makes for good make-up." He tapped the side of his mouth with his index finger, letting Twilight know she still had some sauce around her mouth, to which the unicorn blushed & wiped off with her hoof.

"So what are you going to do for the rest of the day, Mr. Jordan?" Spike asked.

Dawn answered before Hal could open his mouth, "Me 'n mah peeps are gonna help Flutters out and pick up some chicks." Spike tilted his eyes over to Hal & Fluttershy, the latter of which giggled. "Dawn means that she and Hal are going to be helping me gather the new chicks that hatched in the chicken coop and help me count them," she clarified.

As the two groups decided to be on their way, Twilight turned her head back and addressed Hal, "Don't forget! You said you wanted to get some Equish lessons done this evening, Hal. Don't get overexhausted helping Fluttershy today!"

"Relax, it won't be a problem. Thanks again for the favor," Hal shot back, heading inside. Making good on his promise to try to be less dependant on his ring, Hal had been taking speech & writing lessons from Twilight over the last few weeks. It wasn't going so well, and the last time, Twilight had made the suggestion about getting Cheerilee, the school teacher, to assist in the lessons. His ego a bit hurt by this, he had asked for a few more weeks before going down that road.

"...And please make sure it's a soy patty this time. Thank you," Hal said to the teenage mare at the cashier counter, depositing the money for the food. Hay Burger, the last time he had gone, had given him one of their titular burgers, and even though he was not a big fan of soy, which was an alternative the establishment offered, he was much less so for their typical staple: hay processed burgers & fries.

As he sat down at the table that Dawn & Fluttershy had decided to use, the latter spoke up, "Mr. Jordan, I have some trout available for the bears and manicores at my house. After you help me out, I can give a fish or two to you as payment for helping me out." Hal smiled and frizzed her mane gently, "Thanks, 'Shy. That really would be great. It's been a while since I've had trout... or rather, trout from Earth anyway."

He looked over his shoulder at the counter, waiting for the food. "I figure that'll have a better chance of success than me trying to bake something." Dawn tilted her head smugly towards Hal, "Yet, cha working atta bakery wi' Shorty-Pie". Hal waved her off, knowing she was taunting him. Trying to find some employment since his arrival was a bit hectic; strictly speaking, he had a tear-off flyer at the bulletinboard near Town Hall open for anyone to hire-for-pay, but getting a more stable income was something that Twilight had insisted on.

Between several suggestions between their group of associates, Twilight & her friends had narrowed it down to either Sugarcube or the Day Spa owned by two sisters named Lotus and Aloe; the latter of which ended very suddenly when attempting to train him for massages had... "relaxed" their test pony a bit too much, leading to Hal bidding the establishment farewell with a red face and fast pace in his step. Sugarcube wound up being a compromise, Hal hadn't really much knowledge of any recipes (and the ones he did know were already on their menu) and his baking skills were subpar. He was fortunate enough to be hired on to do floater jobs, such as cleaning, register, inventory, or even watching out for the Cakes' twin foals, Pumpkin & Pound Cake.

'Maybe I should have taken home ec., back when I was still in school,' Hal languished to himself, head propped up, 'Ahh... who am I trying to kid. I didn't even have enough time for my regular classes. Thank god for Bruce and private tutoring...'

Even in Equestria, fast food usually lives up to its name and the three managed to get their order served, and quickly devoured. Dawn looked over Fluttershy to look through one of the glass windows the burger joint had. "Yo-yo-yo! Look who's struttin' her stuff outside, dawg!" she exclaimed, pointing her hoof at the pony she had seen. Hal & Fluttershy looked over to see Lyra walking by, and were surprised when Dawn teleported out of her seat to appear next to her outside, where they began to chat, Dawn being more lively than Lyra appeared to be.

"Oh, my," Fluttershy remarked, "I didn't know that Dawn could teleport. Most unicorns exhaust themselves and their magic doing that. Twilight's the only pony I know who can teleport without exhausting herself like that."

"Well, Dawn's says she's from Canterlot," Hal responded. "Maybe she's trained herself to use that spell to get around. Or something. I dunno." Hal shrugged and finished off the last few bites of his (thankfully) soy burger, just as Dawn teleported back in. Lyra, still outside, gave the group a wave and, after getting one in return, went back along her way.

"So how's little Miss Playing-On-Your-Heartstrings doing?" Hal asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin. Dawn looked towards the distantly shrinking unicorn and answered, "Shawny's just gotta few problems, and a big one's Bon-nay." Hal silently face palmed listening to Dawn speak; he thought she was a nice lady, but her accent was atrocious. It took a few days before he realized his ring wasn't on the fritz and that's how she apparently spoke.

"Seems little Miss Thang's tryin' to coppa attitude with Shawny, givin' hur the cold shoulder and crashin' with some homewrecka name 'a Harvest or summthin'," Dawn continued. Fluttershy gasped at the news, "Oh that's terrible! It's always so sad when friends fight... But to think that Bon Bon's actually moved over to Golden Harvest's... It must be really bad for it to come to that."

Hal put a hand up to his chin and tried to think back over the names he'd tried to learn. "Have I met this Harvest guy? I can't recall anyone with that name that I've met anyway..." he asked. Fluttershy shook her head and corrected him, "Golden Harvest is the mare who grows the carrots outside of town. That's her special talent & cutie mark. She's got a dark orange mane & light orange coat."

"Wait. That's who Bon Bon's moved in with? I thought her name was Carrot Top..." Hal trailed off, lost.

"That's just her nickname," Fluttershy lectured. Hal sighed, "Is there anyone else I've met that has any nicknames I should know?" Fluttershy thought for a few seconds and answered, "I suppose... I think Bon Bon's real name is actually Sweetie Drops, but I don't know if that's true or not..."

"Ah, drop this nickname biz," Dawn exclaimed, shifting the conversation. "My homegirls 'r fightin' and we gots ta do sumthin'!"

Hal stood up, and put his hand on Dawn's right shoulder. "I think the best course of action is to let them resolve their own problems by themselves. At least give them a few days to cool off," he explained. "The last thing anyone needs is for us to get involved in something we don't have all the info for and potentially make things worse."

"....You sure abou' dat? Seems kinda... messed up ta not try to help out homies in distress..."

Hal picked up his tray and turned his back to the table, "Yeah. Sometimes it's better to try to pick up the pieces and try to rebuild than trying to stop something from getting broken in the first place...." He instantly regretted his words and started to walk off. "Let's go and count those chicks."

Fluttershy and Dawn gave the other a concerned look and followed suit.

------------------------

"Thank you both so much for helping me with all the new chickens today," Fluttershy graciously thanked an exhausted Dawn & Hal. They had spent the last few hours, thanks to Fluttershy insisting on not scaring the chicks with magic, gathering up a group of fowl that did not want to be gathered; not helped when nearly half had found their way into Fluttershy's cottage.

"No prob, 'Shy," Hal waved off, "Still don't have any takers for my service flyer, so I had plenty of time." He held up the paper wrap which contained the fish that Fluttershy had promised him earlier. "I'm grateful for this. You really didn't have to..."

"Oh, yes I did Hal," Fluttershy cut in, "It was no problem at all. I'm just happy to help out a friend."

Dawn looked up at the sky with a bit of apprehension; the sky was starting to turn orange with the late afternoon. "Yea, boy. No troub at all." She looked over at the others. "Sorry, gots ta split. Have ta get back over thur to Canterlot." She gave a small nod and started running back to town.

Hal looked over to Fluttershy and gave her a two fingered salute to the head and ran off, trying to catch up with Dawn. The mare had a longer stride than him, but he was able to catch up with her, holding onto his wrap with such force that he knew was going to get the smell into his clothes.

"H-hey, Dawn!" Hal called out, getting her attention. "Listen... I've been thinking about the Lyra & Bon Bon thing! I still think we should give Bons a bit of time to cool off, but we should try to see if there's anything we can do to help!"

Dawn, not slowing down, turned her eyes over to the running human, "Uh... totes awesome, playa! I'll be able ta hang wid y'all in three days! Afta dat, it might take a while till I see y'all again. ...My job, 'n all."

Hal gave a bit of a smile and replied, "Great! Well... hope you can, uh, have enough time in a week. Cup's going to be out of town and if I take her shift, she & Carrot are gonna let me have an extra day off!"

Dawn nodded and put in a bit of speed, "Least they could do! Havin' ta work Parent's Day won't be a cake walk ya know! Hah!" As she pulled ahead, Hal started to slow down, coming to a complete stop as Dawn vanished from sight.

"Wait. What the hell!?"

------------------------------------
Five Days Till Parent's Day

"Parent's Day was established by the two Princesses in the first year of their reign... blah, blah, blah. ....meant to encourage family bonds, blah, blah, blah.... one of the first national Equestrian holidays... ugh! Why couldn't you just ask Twilight to tell you this egghead stuff?!" Rainbow Dash exasperated, throwing the book she had been half-reading-half-flying onto the ground at Hal's feet. Sighing, he picked it up and dusted it off.

"Given that she's already getting everything set up over at her place, I felt.... asking her wouldn't be the best idea," he explained. "That girl, I swear, has got OCD or something..."

Rolling her eyes, Dash gestured Hal to follow her to the place where she usually conducted her flight training outside of Ponyville, since Hal had agreed to watch her moves. The walk wasn't done in complete silence. "Back home, we have two 'holidays' for mothers and fathers, but those aren't national holidays... just excuses to sell cards and stuff," Hal went on, to Dash's frustration, "I know you guys are all for connections, but... Really? It just seems like an overblown event to make into a national holiday of all things. ...No offense."

Dash continued to fly, but turned around to face Hal, her face full of annoyance. "You really ARE hung up on this, huh?" she asked, and continued without letting Hal attempt to answer. "Look, I think I get it: you don't have anypony here you can spend the day with, so you're freaking out or something. I thought you were gonna be working the whole day anyway. It doesn't matter in getting nervous about it all, right?"

Hal put his hand up to his chin in thought, digesting Dash's words; she was on to something. Slamming his fist into his other hand, Hal exclaimed, "Speedy, you speak the truth! It's no biggie at all. I'm just gonna... gonna put it out of my mind and just focus on work."

"Grrreaaat....," Dash sarcastically quipped, "now that your little moment is over with, I want you to see a new routine I've been working on."

Despite his earlier proclamation, Hal couldn't help turn his attention to the rainbow-maned pegasus flying in front of him, doing some aerial stretching in preparation of her showing off. "Twilight & Spike are gonna be having their fam come over next week. Should I expect to see Rainbow Dad or Mama Dash coming by too?"

If she had been walking, Dash would have tripped up in surprise; as is she seized up for a second before resuming her hovering. "Uhh...," Dash struggled to answer, "no. I'm... gonna go visit Cloudsdale that day and see my Dad there." She hoped the human would buy her nervous sweating as being caused by her stretching, despite the fact that she hadn't even begun to start getting worked up.

Hal shrugged. "Shame, but whatever floats your boat, Flash."

"Let's just get this over with, and tell me how everything looks on the ground. And use my name!"

"Whatever you say, Rainbow Raider," Hal smartassly answered with a big grin on his face. 'Gonna be the last thing on my mind. It's just gonna come and go. No prob.' he thought as Dash shot up into the sky after giving him one last look of annoyance.
------------------------------------
Four Days Till Parent's Day

Hal, despite liking them fine for the most part, was never good with kids. Especially infants. 'Ohhhkkkaaay.... kids are changed, all washed up... just gotta get Cup or Carrot to feed them and they should be good for now...', he thought to himself as he stepped out of the washroom, waving the remaining moisture off of his hands. The business was, thankfully, not too bad at this time, so he wasn't too hard pressed in getting Pound & Pumpkin taken care of. He was about to walk into the kitchen when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw two mares walking by the window.

"...Cup? The kids are changed, but they need to get fed. Mind if I take a few minutes before I get back to work?" Hal called out into the kitchen where Pinkie & Cup working at the stove top, in the middle of making some fresh ice cream for stock. "Thanks!", he added before Cup could answer, and ran out the front door.

"And just where do you think HE'S going in such a rush?" Cup asked Pinkie, who was in the middle of mixing her bowl like a turbine. Pinkie shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe he's gonna get some carrots or something. Maybe for Mr. Cake!" she giggled. Mouthing out 'carrots' to herself, she let the Pinkie-ism slide and go get Carrot up from his break.

Outside, Hal ran up to his quarry. "Hey! Wait up!" The two mares turned around and looked at him.

"Hey... how's it going Bons...", he regarded them, "Miss... Carrot... Harvest." He was still a bit confused about the ginger mare's name, but she wasn't the one that Hal wanted to speak with. It was barely two days since he had decided to not stick his nose into Bon Bon & Lyra's apparent fight, and here he was. Not too unusual for him, all in all.

Trying to play it smooth, Hal tried to speak to Bon Bon alone. "It won't take long, I just want to talk for a bit while I'm on break."

Bon Bon looked over at Carrot Top for a second and flatly agreed, "Okay." She followed him a short distance near the back of Sugarcube. "What is it? I'm busy." She wasn't playing around and went straight to the point.

'Alright, I guess I'll just come out and say it if she's already not in the mood,' Hal thought as he analyzed the situation. He leaned against the wall of the building. "So I've heard you & Lyra are having a bit of a tiff."

"It's not that big a deal."

"It is to Lyra. She's got her feelings hurt because she thinks she did something to piss her off."

"She didn't."

"Then why are you crashing over at Golden Top's place? Why haven't you talked to Lyra?"

"That's not her nam-"

"Just answer the question, Bons," Hal demanded, giving her a glare. Bon Bon didn't appear to take the situation seriously, looking uninterested despite the discussion.

Bon Bon sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs in annoyance, giving a small scoff. "Excuse ME, but I don't think that you are in any position to demand me of anything," she accused matter-of-factly. Hal took a deep breath to continue his argument, but the indignant pony cut him off, her glaring eyes focused directly on the clueless fool in front of her. "You barely know me. You barely know Lyra. And yet you think that you have any say in our affairs? You, some weird alien who's so unwanted, he had to come begging to the Princesses to take him in?"

The wind immediately left Hal's sails as he found himself unable to voice a rebuttal.

"You've been here less than a month, yet you think you have any clue on how ponies interact? On any real knowledgeable scale? How dare you think you can just order me around like some Guard Captain. You don't know anything about us at all!" she snarled at Hal, a look of disgust at the human plastered on her face.

Feeling two feet tall, his eyes downcast, Hal knew that Bon Bon was right, at least on a good chunk of her points. He was clueless about this world and its people, their culture and traditions. Hell, the fact that the upcoming holiday totally caught him offguard until it was all but right in front of him was proof of that. 'Such an idiot,' he thought to himself, 'I should have just done what I said and stayed out of this. Why am I so damn stupid?'

"...You're right. I don't know anything about you ponies and how you guys tick," Hal strained himself to say. But just like always, he got a gut instinct and, perhaps foolishly decided to listen to it once again. "But we do know somebody who is all over these friendship studies, if I understood her properly. Maybe Twilight should talk to you two about your issues; perhaps she can..." He didn't get to finish before Bon Bon cut him off.

"Wait. That's.... not necessary," she spoke, eyes wide and her look of contempt replaced by mask of alertness & worry. "I just... needed some space for a while. I don't think getting the Princess' protégé involved is going to help anypony in this situation."

"There's a big difference between wanting space and completely shutting someone out, Bons," Hal growled, "I know. I've given as much as I've gotten in my time. I've lost good friends because of inability to talk and understand each other."

"...."

"I don't know you OR Lyra that well. That's true enough. But I can tell when someone feels hurt when they think they've failed a friend. And if getting Little Miss Sparkle involved is the only way for you two to make up, then obviously things aren't as rosy as you claim. So those are your options: Intervention or Reconciliation. And since you obviously don't want option 1, then at least trying to make up with Lyra is your only choice."

Bon Bon looked over at Carrot Top, who was still within eye shot, mulling things over. "...I will. I'll tell her I'll go back home after Parent's Day ends. Is that okay with you?" she glared at Hal, who had his arms crossed in authority.

After a while, Hal nodded his head in approval. "If that's how long it'll take you to get things sorted out. Lyra will appreciate hearing this anyway, even if you aren't ready to move back in." He unfolded his arms and stood back up. Bon Bon took this gesture as the signal the conversation had ended and she galloped back over to Carrot Top, who was still watching them. The two spoke briefly, too softly to be overheard, gave Hal one last once-over and went along their way.

Sighing, Hal stuck his hands in his pockets and wandered over to the front of the building. He only stopped upon seeing Cup and Carrot Cake, twins in tow with their bottles, on the front stoop. As their eyes set upon him, they began to smile with some pride.

"...You were listening in," Hal hollowly announced.

Carrot, holding onto Pumpkin, chuckled, "Well, you weren't that quiet about it. I think even Pinkie heard everything from inside." Hal set his back to the wall near the stoop and slid down until he hit the ground, sighing audibly. "You do know what you did was a nice thing, right?"

Hal turned his head towards the Cakes, "It was just a buncha show. I haven't really done anything until those two actually start to work things out." As soon as the words left his mouth, his mood turned even more dour. 'So this is all I've got left, huh? Threatening candy ponies because I decided to play alpha dog again. Getting chewed out because I'm an idiot and even these horses can see it. So much for the protector of a whole Sector and savior of the universe.'

Cup picked up Hal's mounting depression almost immediately. "Are you okay, hun?" she asked with some concern.

Hal decided to clam up and wave it off as he got up and headed towards the entrance, "I just gotta get back to work. Excuse me." He felt impotent and pathetic, the weight in his pocket more noticeable than ever. The Cake couple could only look at each other in sadness as the human's form disappeared into the building.
------------------------------------
Three Days Till Parent's Day

Hal's wandered into the market, accompanied by six certain ponies and a baby dragon, holding up a shopping list for them to see. His quest for distraction still in full swing, he decided it was high time to introduce them to one of the foods of his people with a nice little get together. The 'P'-word was deliberately not used around Pinkie, for obvious reasons. "So, everyone got the plan?" he asked his group, "we'll assign ingredients for each of you to pick up, meet up at Sugarcube at about half past four and we'll have our... gathering and eat when everything's made. You're more than welcome to do some shopping of your own, but I'll only comp you for what we actually need."

His eyes turning towards the list, as he put up a pre-emptive finger to stop Rarity and the others from objecting to his offer of payment, Hal put a slight frown on as he added, "I don't know whether to be confused or relieved that you've never heard of pizza before, given you have many of the same sweets and fast foods as my world does. I mean... come on, you guys have a freaking burger chain! Soy & hay yes, but burgers nonetheless!"

"I suppose that, despite the incredibly high statistics of our worlds having so many similarities, there would logically be a multitude of things that one might have which the other doesn't," Twilight lectured, her mind once again racing with excitement over the implications and opportunites at research this opportunity afforded. Hal chose not to comment on the fact that the purple unicorn was slightly beginning to drool in her giddiness, as she was kind enough to write up an Equuish-written copy of the list and assign each pony's portion by both personality of the buyer and efficientness at haggling.

Pinkie gave a small salute. "Okie-dokie, Hally! I'm supposed to get the cheese right? Is it alright if I get several kinds? Cream Dream usually has a pretty big selection!"

Hal nodded, "I suppose. Try not to go too out there though. I think baby steps would be better with you guys, so I'd stick to some of the staples. Like provolone, cheddar or..." He was interrupted by Pinkie, who had somehow teleported behind him and was now on top of him, her upside down face all up into his.

"Ooh, I know! Marezarella, right!?" she giggled with a grin highly reminiscent of the cat who's eaten the canary. Which only grew wider and she erupted into full on laughter as Hal's face curled up into the biggest frown he'd had in a while.

"No, that's a bad pony!" he chastised, "That pun was bad and you should feel bad. Your world is already full of them without you trying to be cute and screw with me."

Straightening her coiffure, Rarity bore her azure eyes at the human in annoyance. "Pardon me, darling, but just what do you mean by that? Our cities and countries aren't named after anything so... uncouth as mere punnery," the marshmallow pony glared, "Or perhaps you could tell us just what is so "punny" about such lovely names as Zebrica, Saddle Arabia, Prance or Bitaly?"

As one was not going to be sufficient, Hal gave himself a double face palm and decided that this was an argument not worth getting into as they'd be there for hours. "Okay, while you guys get the essentials, I'll go pick up some extra stuff for toppings. Any suggestions you want me to pick up?"

"Rose petals, if you wouldn't mind, darling." requested the fashionista.
"Ah'll git some apples from tha farm, so ya don't hafta worry." said the cowpony.
"Ah, I'll... I'd just like some carrots or alfalfa. Oh! Just a little, if you wouldn't mind..." trailed off the scaredy-pony, twiddling her hooves.
"Sapphires for me, please!", said a very ravenous baby dragon. Hal quickly looked over to Rarity with a look of 'Can you take care of that' and, thankfully, she nodded with a smile.
"I WANT GUACAMOLE AND MARSHMELLOWS!!" exclaimed Pinkie, channeling her inner Michelangelo as she hopped around.
And with Rainbow Dash and Twilight's decision to not have any, the group separated.

.....

'Ah... pony shopping is weird...' thought a ruffled Hal. Equestria's marketplaces were apparently barter-based, so Hal had to actively try to argue down prices with the shopkeeps. While this type of system wasn't quite as unfamiliar to the ex-Corpsman, it was still relatively odd to him. After all, who heard of a world where you could, in essence, get fairly valuable sapphires for what was essentially highway robbery... on the part of the seller.

He had only just placed Spike's precious gems into his bag when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure. "Yo! Dawn!" Hal called out and ran up to the mare.

Dawn, who had not been expecting to get called out like that, jumped up slightly in the air at the shout of her name and started to sweat at the sight of the human approaching her. Taking a gulp in nervousness, she put on her best toothy smile and waved one of her forelegs at the smiling human. "Ah.... It's so good to see you... Hal. How have you been?" she asked in her best non-chalant voice.

Slowing down his jog, both due to his closer proximity to Dawn and her odd greeting. "Hey... Dawn," Hal replied apprehensively, "glad to see you. I know you said that you'd be back, but I was half expecting your job would keep you too busy..."

'Job? What job?! There was no mention of a job?!' Dawn panicked in her head, but managing to keep her smile up. "Oh, yes... My job. Very busy, doing all that... paperwork... Ha...", Dawn smoothed through this potential situation, raising non-chalant levels through the roof.

"Sounds like the daily grind is the same no matter where it is in the universe, huh?" Hal responded neutrally, raising an eyebrow. "So, what brings to you town today?"

Giving a small cough, and feeling she had the situation under control, Dawn decided to answer truthily, "Ah, I was hoping to find Bon Bon and Lyra. ...They both weren't at home." She then quickly added, "I wanted to help them with the research."

Giving a small snort, Hal turned around and gestured Dawn to follow; he still had to get Pinkie's odd desert and some flowers from Roseluck's stall. As the two passed by the various stalls and stores, through the crowd of commercing ponies, Hal, still off-put, decided to let the odd mare in on the situation, "Well, I don't know where Lyra is right now, but Bons is still over at Golden Carrot's place." Looking over at Dawn's face, he was at least relieved to see her face scrunch up into a frown. "Despite the fact I said we should give them some time... I did talk to Bons the other day. She said that she was going to talk sometime after... the holiday ends."

"...Is that so?"

"Yeah."

The rest of the walk was done in silence, which continued after visiting the aptly named flower pony and getting some lovely reds for Rarity's request. "So," Hal said, breaking up the silence, "me and Twilight and them were going to have a pizza par- get together in a few hours, and I was just wondering if you wanted to join us for a slice or two." He turned his head over to Dawn who seemed confused at the mention of the food, understandably so to be fair. "Do you wanna?" he offered again.

Feeling confident at Hal's offer, Dawn closed her eyes with a small smile on her face. "Yes, that does sound very nice," she quietly accepted, "I assume it will happen at the bakery?" Upon hearing a grunt of approval from the human, she started to take her leave. "It sounds lovely, but first I think I should go see... Bons... and talk to her about a few things. Hopefully it won't take very long."

Biting his tongue, Hal decided to let loose. "Not so fast. Something's up with you."

Dawn's gait halted almost immediately, as beads of nervous sweat were already beginning to form on her body. 'Oh, dear mother, please don't tell me he's already figured things out!' she mentally screamed at herself. "S-something's up with me? What e-ever do you mean?" she timidly asked, while further berating herself at blowing her cover.

Hal walked over to her and put his hand on her withers, an action which made Dawn flinch due to its spontaneity. Looking at Dawn's face, he made his accusation, "For all the time I've known you, I could barely understand you. Then you show up today and, BOOM, this. Dawn...," he trailed off looking at her in the eye, which she tried to avoid, "what was up with you trying to impress me by pretending to be someone else you're not by trying to be overly cool?"

Dawn's head snapped over to his, bewildered at what oddity he was saying.

"Everytime we've talked, I could tell there was some... apprehension in your voice, that you tried to cover up. I think today's the first time I've seen you... shall we say, relaxed. And I've gotta say... you don't have to try around me. I get all the 'awesome coolness' I need from Flashy Dashie already. You can just be you," the clueless human concluded, putting on a supportive smile.

'...Okay, this works in my favor I suppose.' Dawn inwardly reflected. Putting on a small smile of her own, she nodded, "Thank you.... I suppose in hindsight, I did try a bit too hard. I just... wanted you to think I was interesting."

Waving a hand at her, Hal gave a dismissal, "You don't have to prove anything to me. ...It should be the other way around for me proving myself to all of you." He removed his hand from her and turned his body around to leave. "Well, I won't hold you up. See you in a bit, Dawn."

Giving the other a nod, the two finally parted ways for the moment.

And in no time at all, Hal had his shopping done. Holding up his bit pouch, he could tell he still had some cash left over.

'Okay. Things are going great.' he thought to himself with cautious optimism as he continued down his way towards Sugarcube. 'It's going to be a nice night, hopefully the pizzas will turn out at least half-way edible and I'llve shared a small bit of Earth with the locals. Everything's going fine.' But as his body went into autopilot, his mind wandered back to his trouble over the upcoming holiday. 'Still a stupid holiday. Why, just WHY would they make a legal holiday out of this? Just boggles the mind...'

Then, perhaps serendipitously, he saw a certain store front pop up. The window was englossed, a quick scan of his ring deciphered:

'BERRY'S VINEYARD ~ JUICES, WINES & SPIRITS'

Hal was looking at the store for nearly three minutes before he realized that he had stopped walking. Taking a deep breath, he pulled out his bit pouch from his pocket once again and contemplated his options, "....Why the hell not." He started towards the liquor store, after all, what was a bottle or two. Cup had, before she had left earlier that morning, that their arrangement for him to work on THAT DAY was still on, so he'd be able to work all day and be able to drink the rest of the night away without worrying about showing up to work hungover.

Everything was going to be fine.
------------------------------------
Two Days Till Parent's Day

Everything was NOT fine.

"What do you mean you don't need me to work the holiday shift!?" Hal shouted exasperatedly at his boss, who was in the middle of a kiss with her husband as he rolled some dough in Sugarcube's kitchen and NOT out of town like she said she was going to be.

Cup Cake raised an eyebrow at him and retorted, "Why deary... I mean exactly that. In fact, you should take an extended weekend to make up for all the confusion. Don't you agree, honey buns?" The chubby mare kissed the lanky stallion's neck, sending shivers down his spine in ecstasy.

"Not in front of the staff, Cup... *Ahem* Yeah, Mr. Jordan, I think that Cuppy's right. You do seem to be a bit stressed out, and perhaps a few extra days off will do you some go-OOD!" Carrot agreed, jumping at the end as Cup nibbled one of his ears playfully.

Hal watched the scene incredulously, his arms raised in disbelief. " B-but... but what happened to your Baking Convention in Baltimore... grr... Balimare, dammit! That's the reason you asked me to work since Pinkie was going out of town that day!" the human demanded to know why his plans to ignore reality on that day were getting squashed like an egg underfoot.

Swooning until her back rested against the countertop and with a foreleg raised to her head dramatically, Cup began her sickly sweet story, "I'm so sorry, deary. I know I seem to be a wishy-washy mare right now... but late last night, as I was waiting for my transfer at Canterlot's rail station, I began having second thoughts. About leaving my shmoopy-deary and babies all alone for such a special day..." She looked over at Carrot, tears in her eyes, "I couldn't bear it! I know I missed out on a real opportunity by coming home, but I decided that my family comes first over a few silly recipes." And with that, Carrot gave her a big hug and a sweet kiss on her quivering lips.

"I know that it's disruptive of you and Pinkie's schedule, but me and Carrot decided that this Parent's Day should be spent with just the four of us here at Sugarcube. Mommy and daddy and babies in tow..." Cup looked over at Carrot, still in his embrace, "Right, my sweet?"

The look of love that adorned Carrot's face dwindled as he looked over at Hal, guilt quickly filling it, "Tha...that's right. I'm sorry Mr. Jordan, but... I think this is going to be one Parent's Day with just us Cakes."

His arms quickly dropping and slouching in defeat, Hal tried to make some sort of protest. "I... Can't I just.... I can still work that day! I can stay out of the way. I'll cook, I'll clean, I'll even tend register! I'll do anything you want! Please?" his pleading bargaining filled with desperation. Which, despite making Carrot's face fall even more, had no effect on the determined mare who was now gathering some bowls to beat some eggs in.

"I'm sorry Hal deary, but the answer is still: NO. I can only wonder why you are so desperate to work that day? Surely you can find something else to do with your time?" Cup casually dismissed the crestfallen look on the human's face.

Hal looked to the floor and muttered. "Everyone else is either going to be gone or spending time with their families..."

"I think that you should take a half day today and get your vacation started a tad early," Cup stated in a gentle that's-an-order tone, "I believe that you might need as much relaxation you can get." She waved her hoof at him dismissively and Hal could tell that any further attempts to persuade her would be wasted breath. After seeing Carrot mouth out another "I'm sorry", Hal turned around and left the kitchen.

He put an arm up and rubbed the back of his head, still not able to digest what had occurred. Cup had always seemed like a nice lady, mare, whatever, but she seemed really passive aggressive in her attempts to basically kick him out. Something about her tone didn't seem quite right, but Hal couldn't pinpoint just what was bugging him about it. His thoughts into the matter, however, were quickly dispelled by the familiar sight of Pinkie bouncing down the stairs, humming a happy tune.

"Oh, hey Hally!" she playfully exclaimed when she saw him, "did you hear? The Cakes say we can take the next few days off!" She giggled to herself, "I can actually leave a whole day early and spend more time with Mom and Dad and Inkie and Blinkie and Maud than I thought! I'm so happy!" Pinkie jumped for joy, the biggest smile adorned on her face as she made her way back up, presumably to pack.

A smile that made Hal feel ten inches tall all over again. 'Am I so screwed up that I can't see that those two are just trying to do me and Pinkie a favor?' he asked himself. 'They just want to make us happy. Not their fault I have issues.'

Hal exited the bakery and headed down the street, now judging his options once again. 'So you can actually suck it up and try to get through this like a mature gentleman...' He found himself back in front of Berry Punch's store yet again, seeing through the window that the wine-red colored mare was waving at him. Berry Punch seemed like a nice mare, from what he could see yesterday. '...or I can go get enough booze to make sure the whole day's a blur. Outta sight, outta mind, right?'

Hal went in to the store, sure that he had made the appropriate choice for once in his situation.
------------------------------------
Parent's Day, Evening

Applejack paced back and forth around her barn, occasionally letting her eyes drift up to the loft on the second floor, where her newest headache was currently passed out. For what had been perhaps the tenth time in under an hour, she sighed, continuing her pacing as she waited for her friends to come. She'd sent Big Macintosh out to get them since they'd dumped an unconscious Hal up in the hay loft; the human all but dead to the world and his smelling like he'd taken a swim in a lake of wine explained the reason why. As the sound of hoof-steps grew closer, Applejack stopped, her ear turning towards the barndoor.

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy stepped into the room their faces devoid of any mirth. They most certainly hadn't expected such a nice day as this to end on such a sour note.

"Ah'm a-hopin' that Big Mac's told ya that a certain hooman is passed out drunker 'n a skunk up there?" the orange farmer asked her friends, sighing deeply as they nodded.

Twilight stepped forward, concern on her face, and asked, "Your brother told us that you two put him up here after you found him in one of your orchards." She paused and her eyes looked up to the loft before adding, "Do you know how long he was there?"

Applejack rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Prolly all day. Judgin' by all tha bottles that were there around him." She went over to pick up a spare tall mason jar she'd filled with water. "Us five 're tha only ones who know he's spent the day like this. Thankfully, noone's seen him make a foola himself." Her gaze focused on Rarity, quickly adding, "Had ta put his shirt in the wash, on account've the wine & sick was on it. Ya might wanna see if ya can get tha stains out tho, since that's more yer field."

Her face contorting into a scowl, Rarity let out a small, unladylike growl. "Hurumph! So this is what my hard work for that man gets?" she whined, upset that her gift to such an important guest was sullied. "So," she turned her head to the now climbing Applejack, "we have learned that Mr. Jordan is much more uncouth than we had thought. Was this the only reason you have sent for us?"

Shaking her head, Applejack paused midway up the ladder, water-jar still hanging from her mouth. "Naw," she explained, "'M gonna give this boy some'n ta drink before he regrets it later on. Worst comes ta shove, y'all can help me hold him down while 'Shy uses 'er Stare on 'im. Who knows how he's gonna be." She started climbing back up. "Gonna try wakin' his flank up alone so he won't get all flustered, so y'all wait down here, 'kay? If'n I need a hoof, I'lla holler fer ya."

This sounded reasonable to the three and they nodded in agreement; Twilight using her magic to close the barndoor behind them just in case.

When she finally got up onto the second story loft, Applejack walked over to the prone human, his body covered in the moonlight that flooded through the opening where the hay was lifted up by the pulley. His chest rose & fell slightly as he slumbered, but Applejack could hear the pace of his breathing change as she approached him. As if to confirm her suspicions, Hal opened one eye, wincing as he put and hand up to cover it from the full moon's light shining down upon him.

"Well, looks lahk yer awake now, ya varmint," Applejack stated smugly, "So how ya feelin' after actin' lahk tha fool all dern day?"

"Head's killing me for one. Embarrassed since it seems I slept all day for two," Hal retorted, bringing both of his hands up to his eyes and rubbing his temples. "Can't even get drunk anymore and just wind up getting sleepy... anything else new I should know about?" he mumbled under his breath.

Applejack came up to the pitiful human's side, still holding the mason jar of water, but pulled away when Hal tried to reach for it. "Ahhh naww... I dun' think so, mister!" the farm pony scolded. "Yew ain't gettin' any 'a this till yew explain just what th' hay you were thinking," her eyes narrowed, "If'n yew were thinkin' at all."

Groaning, his hangover killing him, Hal had no fight in him to resist the orange mare's demands.

"What I was thinking," he began, "was that I wanted to find a nice, quiet place to get stinko in and drink the whole day away so I wouldn't have to deal with your greeting card holiday bullcrap." He shakily slid his hands to push himself up and glared at Applejack. "I mean, really? Parent's Day? It wouldn't be enough to just send off a card or two, but nooooo..... You ponies just have to make things so lovey-dovey that you make it a national holiday and act so sickeningly sweet all together." He held out his hand expectantly for the water. "That's why I wanted to drink the day away since you just all have to shove it down everyone's throats."

Digesting this rant, Applejack didn't have to have any fancy psychiatry degree from Canterlot to see that there was some real issue the human had. One that she knew all too well. She tenderly handed the water to the outreached hand, which quickly snatched it up and brought it to Hal's parched lips.

"Not all 'o us really cel'brate, ya know..." Applejack began.

At this, Hal turned his gaze to the mare, still drinking the water like he hadn't had a thing to drink all week.

Applejack, at this, hesitated for a few moments before continuing. "...Mah parent's died when I was a filly a good few years ago..." She sat down next to the human and looked over towards the farmhouse where her family rested without a care. "Ther's a fire that started.... pro'lly from a candle, but next thang we knew, tha whole house was' aflame. Me n Big Macintosh wer' tha first out, while Ma & Pa went in fer 'bloom n Granny." Applejack's voice went low and husky, full of pain as she tried to keep her tears from falling. "G-Granny came outta tha house carrying Applebloom in her bassinette... said that a beam fell on Pa & Ma was tryin' to get it offa him... but before help came...." Her voice broke and she fell silent once again.

Hal sat upright, his eyes focused on the water jar, then over to Applejack who was still looking at the house. Slowly, he raised a hand and rested it on her whithers, hoping his sympathy wouldn't be lost.

"Twas a long, long time befor' Ah stopped hatin' this holiday muhself. Seein' ev'rypony else all happy 'n such..." Applejack turned her head over and wiped her eyes with her hoof, trying to regain her composure. "But 'ventually Ah realized that just cuz Ma & Pa were gone that Ah should hate ev'rypony else with parents. Mac n Bloom n Granny... Ah still got family who loves me n Ah've love them." A small smile spread across her face. "Ya wanna know whut we all did t'day? ...We told stories and looked at our albums, since that was all me n Mac could get out that day. Even tho' they're gone... we still rem'ber them."

Hal let his arm slide down until it was back at his side, bringing the water back to his lips so he wouldn't have to speak.

Applejack took this as a sign to keep speaking to try to coax him into sharing his troubles.

"N's not just me who's not really in tha festive mood," she began, "Fluttershy usually doesn't cel'brate either. Her folks 'r.. what's say... cultural hippopologists? Studyin' other cultures, Ah mean. Usually busy n all... Think 'Shy said they're studyin' Zebra tribal customs." Applejack frowned, debating if she should speak further.

"Rainbow doesn't cel'brate either," she said smally, her eyes downcast. "Always goes off ta Celestia-Know-Where fer tha day. Nev'r really said why, but Ah know she hasn't spoken to her Pa since she moved here to Ponyville. Pro'lly had some row, but nev'r wuz mah place ta pry..."

The two sat quietly up in the loft for a few minutes; while down below, the others stood silently, hoping to not make a sound and alert their presence. They all desperately wanted to leave since the situation began to get more personal than they had expected, but couldn't. Even Twilight's teleportation still made an audible sound which would easily be heard. All they could hope for was that nothing more personal would be said.

"...I might not be one to talk...", Hal's voice started out of nowhere, "...I might not know what her sitch is... but I hope she'd try to bury the hatchet." His voice went quiet, but in the still night was still clear. "...You never know when you might lose them. Then you'll have to deal with that baggage for the rest of your life."

Up in the loft, Hal slid his knees to his chest and closed his eyes; Applejack keeping silent to allow him to speak.

"I have two brothers. Jack is... was five years older than me, while my little brother Jim was three years younger. Jim was the momma's boy, the baby of the family. Jack was busy making plans for his own future. And me? My dad... was my hero. Everything I wanted to be. He was the coolest guy I'd ever met. Then & now. When he died... it broke my family apart." He reached for his right pocket and pulled out his ring, holding it up; his & Applejack's eyes looking upon it.

"When I got this ring... I was so happy. I was chosen to help people and I-I thought that I could be great like my father. My mother... disagreed." Hal closed the ring in his fist, clenching it tightly. "She tried to take the ring away, tried to... keep me safe. It never worked though, I'd always get it back. Hell, its return function one of the tricks I learned down pat."

"Mom... was always a worrier. She'd look up at night waiting when I was in space on duty, or watch me fight with the League... Everytime I'd see her, she'd beg me to give it up. Eventually, it got to the point... where I couldn't live with her anymore. So I asked a friend with some... connections to get me legally emancipated. When I couldn't attend school, I asked another friend if I could borrow one of his robo- I asked him to make a duplicate to stand in for me. Things were going well, all things considered despite me not speaking to my family for months on end. I... even managed to make a new family to make up for it..."

Hal trailed off, looking at the night sky and all of it's distant stars.

"I made plenty of friends in the Corps; can't avoid it when you put your life on the line with others. Took me a while to get what that really meant though... There were other humans from my world who'd earn their rings, who I'd call my brothers: Guy, Jon, even Kyle after I got back... And even though Alan wasn't really Corps, I looked up to him too. Sinestro...." He shook his head, feeling he was getting off topic. "But it was my friends in the League who I'd come to call family. There were seven of us, in the beginning...

"Clark & Bruce were sort of Team Dad for us. They worked so well together, the public called them the World's Finest. Them and Diana, they'd be called the Trinity, complementing each other well. J'onn & Arthur... I considered them the Heart & Soul of the group; one or the other or both, they'd always be a pillar of the team... Then you got me & Barry: the Brave and the Bold..."

Chuckling, Hal looked over at Applejack, who was listening enthralled. "In some ways, we were kinda like you & Dasher, ya know..."

Applejack raised a brow. "In whut way?" she asked.

"Oh," he waved, "clash of the egos at first, then fast friends thick & thin. Barry was a lot older than me... then again, everyone else was it seems... he was about in his thirties, married, and had a sidekick a few years older than I was. Couldn't stand him at first... but then eventually we started to... click, so to say."

Furrowing her brow, Applejack couldn't help but ask, "Clicked as in... how?" The phrasing raised several possible scenarios in her mind.

Scoffing, Hal answered, "Clicked as in he became my best friend. I got to know him and Wally well. We were... close." Hal trailed off, and all the mares who were in the area started to blush at the implication.

"He was like a second father to me," Hal croaked out tautly.

"Then things started to fall apart. Barry took the life of the man who'd killed his first wife and tried to kill his new fiancée, went on trial, and eventually left for the future..." Applejack and the others had heard enough from Hal's adventures, as well as their own, that he was most likely not embellishing. "And I got a phone call from Jack. ...'Mom has cancer and she's dying. She wants to see you' he said. I went to the hospital to see her, Jack blaming me for her failing health. All the stress he said...

"In her room, she did the worst, lowest thing I've ever seen: she emotionally blackmailed me. Told me that she would refuse any more procedures as long as I had my ring; that as long as I was a Green Lantern, she'd just lie back and die. ...What choice did I have after hearing that? I went up to the Guardians and quit, told them to pass it on to Jon, who was my backup... That was one of the worst mistakes of my life.

"There was a... Crisis, you could say. Was there a time a few years ago when the skies turned red?" Hal asked.

Putting a hoof to her chin, Applejack could recall that time; it had caused a panic amongst everypony, and Princess Celestia had to enact a nation-wide curfew to quell the panic. But as unexpected as it began, it soon ended with no explanation to this day what it was or why it happened. She nodded, not wanting to interrupt.

"There was a bad guy. Worst ever. Beyond murder, beyond genocide, beyond xenocide... he destroyed and ate entire UNIVERSES!" Hal yelled, causing Applejack (as well as the three ponies downstairs) to jump in surprise. "Nearly everyone, good and bad, stepped forth to fight... except me. In the panic, Mom... died. Barry wound up sacrificing himself to save everyone. A-and I wasn't there. I could have helped him, but I wasn't there! But... we won in the end, we all got to live. No thanks to me... didn't get a chance to say goodbye...

"I stopped speaking to Jack & Jim for years after that. Got my ring back, for all the good that's done me..." Hal looked like the weight of the world was placed upon his shoulders. "Clark died but came back... I couldn't help him either. I lost my hometown, got possessed, killed many of my friends, destroyed the Corps and tried to rewrite time to make a perfect universe. Kinda futzed around for a while after that, died saving the world myself, played the Spirit of Vengeance for a while, came back, got my ring again for all the good that got me again..."

Hal looked at Applejack again. "Arthur died, unrecognizable and alone. And before I came here... I was told that J'onn was murdered as well, after being alienated for months... I didn't get to say goodbye to them either. Dad, Mom, Barry, Arthur, J'onn... they're gone, yet I'm still here... and I can't go home ever again. I can't wear this damn ring. That's, that's why I just couldn't take it, why I wanted to just drink it all away." He looked at the ring in his hand once again. "My life was destroyed by this stupid, f*cking thing!"

Snarling, he threw the ring out the window of the loft, but as he threw it more down than far, it landed just in front of the barn doors below.

It was a lot to take in, and Applejack knew she had to watch her words so she considered them carefully.

"Would ya trade 'tall, tha good n bad... if'n you could then?" she asked, staring the human in the eyes. Hal opened his mouth to reply, but the words died before they could leave; the look on Applejack's face told him to speak honestly.

"--No," he finally answered, defeated. "My life... it's like a bunch of soaring highs... and soulcrushing lows. I know this, I've... even gotten used to it. As much as one can. But I just... I just don't know when things are finally going to go full circle. When I can finally walk tall in the sun once again."

The words had scarcely left his mouth when two orange legs wrapped around his chest in a hug. After a few seconds, Hal wrapped his right arm in a sign of gratitude. When the hug was broken, Applejack smiled at the human, "Ah can't tell yew when'll come. But Ah can say that yew got six, seven o' us with Spike, tha'll be with ya as long as ya want us ta be."

Hal bit his lip, his head still aching but his mind slightly at ease. An errant thought about getting his ring back crossed his mind and, like before, willed the ring to return. Just like before, it rose up to the loft's level, floating like a green firefly. "Yew keep hidin' that thing, and yer nev'r gonna get past yer pain," Applejack added, "Yew wanna walk tall in tha sun? Then face it head on. Yer still alive, that means yew can keep writin' yer story, good 'n bad. 'nd 'spite the pain, if'n yew c'n carry it? Yew'll walk tall in the sun n crawl in tha darkness with pride, knowin' yew kept tryin', n' believed."

Hal looked from Applejack to the floating ring. He was feeling tired after spilling his guts to a talking pony about his familial issues, and was stuck between dismissing her words as pretty fluff and wanting to believe in them. But taking a chance...

The ring lurched forward and slid comfortably onto its familiar spot on his right index finger; it's slight weight comforting in a way.

Applejack, finally remembering her friends downstairs, decided to take this time to leave, "Ah'll let ya stay tha night up'n here, but Ah'll expect ya to join us Apples fer breakfast in tha mornin'. Ah'll get ya some more water 'fore Ah'll turn in fer tha night."

Hal muttered in approval and situated himself comfortably onto some hay, out like a light by the time Applejack had climbed back down. He wouldn't know there were other ears listening to his heart-to-heart with the cowpony.

As the four mares opened the barn door to leave quietly, a single cloud above the building floated as it had for the last hour; the mare atop it conflicted with emotions she didn't want to think about. None of her friends would know she was there either.

And as he lay sleeping, his hand rested on his chest rising and falling with each breath, the ring caught the moon's light and shined.

Author's Notes:

Zzzz.... buh...? I live? Yeah. Sorry for the long, LONG update gap.

Honestly, it was a mix of me not having confidence in my own abilities to write, apathy, outright laziness, many games & movies, moving, me starting school again...

...I ask myself why I decided to try to dust off this story and try again, and honestly, what I can say is that it was the right motivation, at the right time from a story here on FIMFiction, that I've been trying to brush back up on after half a year of not reading it. Out of courtesy, I won't name the author or the story, but I'll say the story involves a human in Equestria who's basically a Gary Stu with the Seventh Element of Harmony. :/ The story wasn't perfect, none rarely are, but early on, I thought it had real potential and really wanted to see where it went. I quickly grew to dislike the story, especially the human and his (and the author's) casual dismissive misanthropy. The fact that he wants to play both ways in terms of romance, with a harem growing around him, yet the human being monogamous and causual with everything short of physical relationships was incredibly awkward to read. I gave up on this story, having finally been completely pissed off at the human, who's by all counts an entitled judgmental brat who's never had a real terrible day of his life (outside of "romance problems") yet is completely beloved by nearly all the Mane Six who want to jump his bones in various levels of interest. The second major problem is the chapter length: it is redonkulously out of control. I feel my level of detail & pacing ~~can be~~ IS lacking, but comparitively speaking, that story is glutted with small, meaningless details since he feels he has to chronicle nearly EVERYTHING which happens to the human in slow, boring filler. The fact the author seems to be coming off as a bit of an arrogant jerk doesn't much either. So that gives me encouragement.

But getting this particular chapter out was a nightmare in of itself. Can you totally tell I combined the ideas for two of my original planned chapters into one for this? Because I did; because the first one was nearly impossible to write interestingly but was important to set up the second, which was talk with Applejack. I started to really freak out over getting this done because the next big chapter is the one I've been dying to get to the most but couldn't because of certain plot details I needed to set up here. Ugh...

But to get more positive now.... uhh... A lot has changed since I started/stopped this story. Comics, Twicorn, Equestria Girls, etc. My position in the story is that, right now, this story is still taking place sometime after season 2 (for continuity), and because I absolutely did not want to shoehorn Hal into the events of Crystal Empire, I you can consider that to have happened somewhere in the month long gap. I have few issues with having the story continue into the later seasons, but we'll get there when we get there.

I'm still reading my DC, I'm still watching my Pony show, and hopefully, I'll be updating this story with more frequency.

Also... quick question: should I have Pegasi in this universe be able to eat fish? Just wondering if people didn't mind that as a thing.

4.5. Equestrian History 1: Lyra's Journal

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From the research journal of Lyra Heartstrings:

In the short time which I've gotten to know Hal Jordan, the human who has recently come to live in Equestria, my knowledge about humans like him has grown exponentially.

However, recently I've been thinking a lot about the old legends about humans which have inspired me since my fillyhood in Canterlot. Hal Jordan, despite of (or perhaps because of) being a human, was not born on our world; he was born on a planet called, strangely enough, Earth in a star system that, according to Hal, is nearly half of the entire universe away.

Is it a coincidence that his species calls themselves humans, that they look like our legends describe them to be (for the most part), or that, despite these legends, there has been no physical proof of humans ever living anywhere on Pax Harmonia?

I've talked with Bonnie (who's largely wanted to remain a silent partner in this journal, despite her helping me with my grammar & editing), and she's suggested that going over these legends chronologically and in order would be able to help me figure out some answers from all this. Dawn, despite being my partner in this human study, still comes and goes on her own schedule, so, if I want to get this done in a prompt manner, I have no choice but to compile these legends without her. I hope she won't be too mad...

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The legends of humans in our world actually don't begin with the humans themselves. If you're confused, don't feel bad; I was for a bit too. In order to get to the real meat (so to speak) of the topic, I need to talk about the Original Unity.

Every pony in Equestria, from the eldest & wizened, to the youngest of foals, learns about the story of Hearth's Warming at some point in time, and how could they not? It's the story of how modern day Equestria was founded after the three tribes of unicorns, pegasi & Earth ponies learned of the magic of harmony & dispelled the windingoes which threatened to wipe out our species from our constant distrust and nigh-on warring with each other.

The real story of HW Day was slightly more complicated than the version that's usually told in the play, but most of the information in it is still accurate. What ISN'T more widely known is that wasn't the first pact between the three races in our history; but that's more due to it taking place in our original home of Paradise Estate more than 40,000 years ago, well beyond the notice of current history being taught outside of specialized classes.

And not only that, but it has to deal with the fourth race: the Alicorns, of which only three are currently known to exist: Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. And of course, there is also the parents of the former two: the former King & Queen, whose whereabouts have not been known for millennia.

Despite all of my time put into finding out about the Alicorns, there is still very little known about them as none of the Princesses seem to know much about them; or, more likely, they merely do not wish to talk about them if they do. The most accepted theory, however, is that the Alicorns were a race born of this original harmonious pact between the three others: possessing the best qualities of all three. Right now, there is little information on how many of these Alicorns existed then (or even throughout all of history), but given that it's reported that nearly all seemed to have longer lifespans than the average pony, it most likely could not have been many.

The legends tell that the Alicorns, the most noble of all Ponykind, ruled over Paradise Estate with dignity & grace, perhaps much like today, if not more archaic for obvious reasons. It was said they were all for all Ponykind, and shouldered the duties that the other races would later do themselves. They governed us, they created the weather, they tilled the land to feed us and, of course, they raised the sun & the moon for the benefit of all, not merely us Ponies.

This rule was not, apparently, without some flaws, as the desire of the Alicorn Royality apparently led to clashes with the other young races at the time for land & resources. A rumor exists that at the height of this reign, the land owned by us Ponies even included most of Equestria itself, many years upon years before Pony hooves ever stood upon it. It was at this time that our world was unified under the original name of Equuis, showing the superiority of our species.

It kinda sends chills down my spine thinking how, shall I say, ruthless & uncaring, we were back then. It may be for this reason that this original civilization fell apart, leading to the separation & disharmony of the three tribes. Most of the land claimed under the kingdom of Paradise Estate was lost, none were able to keep it anyway. The Alicorns mysterously vanished for a long period of time, leaving the three tribes to fend for themselves and nearly leading themselves to ruin; only returning after Equestria & Old Canterlot had been founded.

And which event lead to the downfall of our world's greatest empire? That nearly sent our species back so far that it took hundreds of years to rebuild?

According to legends, it was the meeting of, and the subsequent war with, the newly discovered species that would vanish almost as quickly as soon as they were found: humans.

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The tales of these humans can be confusing and contradictory, but most agree that humanity, upon discovery by the Empire, was an incredibly primative species for the most part. Though only fourth-hoof knowledge of records that have long since been lost to time exist, these humans, as they were eventually labeled, were largely unintelligent and incapable of speech. They possessed no govenrment, no technology of any kind. It's been said that their strongest arsenal was fire, which few knew how to control, much less make; which did little against even the primative magic that we possessed then. These humans, if legend is to be believed, were little more than animals.

And yet, there was a contradiction in this assertion. A growing civilization that stood out amongst the others. One that possessed greater strength than even the might of all the Empire of Paradise Estate could not overcome. Led by one that is only known as being recorded as "Oracle", this group of humans had risen above the others and attacked us without peace or mercy. This led to what is perhaps our species' first known war: against the humans.

This conflict lasted until the intervention of yet another, enlightened, human and his tribe made their appearence and gave us enough time to retreat back to our homelands. This hero, who's name has been lost to time, stands as a shining beacon against the wicked Oracle & his warrors; who, above all else, saved our species from being swollowed completely by the fires of war and showed us the potential for which these humans were capable of.

But the damage was done; not just for the three tribes, but for the Alicorns as well. Although there was no real record of casualties amongst their number, nearly all the stories mention the losses amongst their numbers in some manner. In that regard, this tale frightens me in more ways than one. How could this have happened? How did Ponies who, for argument's sake, were as strong as Princess Celestia & Luna... fall to a people who were otherwise classified as primative? No records exist of any of the Oracle's weapons or magic, making the war and the casualties all the more baffling. I've personally lost sleep at night wondering how this could have occurred; honestly, it's one of the reasons I try to not delve too deep into the history aspect of my human studies. Faust knows that somethings lost to time or perhaps best left forgotten.

Did the Alicorns leave our people in shame? Did they think that it was their fault that our people, our society suffered so many losses? Did they think that we could retake our responsibilities? Tending the land to balancing the celestial bodies in the sky, handled by them for so long, as easily they had after years of neglect? Personally, I believe the blame rested with the Three Tribes, in the end. They were led to that conflict by our leaders, but nopony tried to argue against it, to take a stand and say no. Or if they did, it was forgotten with time; no records say otherwise. Perhaps, if we had tried to extend our hooves in friendship, the Oracle may not have seen us as a threat... But, if the description of the Oracle was even half true as it has been made out to be, then maybe not... An old teacher of mine once said that the saddest words in the world are 'What could have been...'

Since the beginning of the Common Era, for hundreds of years, archeologists & would-be anthropologists have searched the world, including the ruins of our original home of Paradise Estate, for any trace of these humans, but no direct records or proof have been found. The general consensus amongst those in the field is that these traces, if any did exist, were most likely plundered by other civilizations, such as the Griffions and the Minotaur, for whatever reason. Both species have denied such actions either way. I seriously doubt that I will find out within my lifetime in anycase.

This complete absence of evidence of a species which nearly brought ours to ruin is the reason why most believe that humans as a species never did exist, except for maybe as an allegory for real life events. After all, there still is a fringe group which insist that windingoes from Hearth's Warming were the same, despite more concrete evidence to the contrary. But I have hope that someday, hopefully soon, we will be able to find out what ever happened to these people. And if they still live, perhaps with Hal on our side, we would be able to make peace between our species. That whatever follies the past might have had, that together we would be able to make a great future.

Hopefully.

Lyra H.

The Soldier From The Stars, The Green Lantern Of Equestria

by biznizz

Prologue

1. A Farewell And A Welcome

2. The First Night

3.1. Dawn Of A New Day Part 1

3.2. Dawn Of A New Day Part 2

3.5. Secret Files & Origins 1

4. An Honest Heart To Heart

4.5. Equestrian History 1: Lyra's Journal