There are very few certainties in life. What we believe to be certain, and what actually is, can be completely different. I knew this, I always knew this, but I was still certain of 3 things.
1. I Exist. No amount of philosophy or science can make me believe otherwise.
2. My life was simple, unchanging, and I liked it that way. Anything more would complicate it, and that's the last thing I want.
3. My life was overdue for a dramatic change. It's a feeling I've had since middle school, that a big change would happen in my life and things would never be the same. My simple existence would suddenly collapse and become something else. As much as I would prefer to keep things simple and the same, this feeling I had was more convincing, and I knew it was going to happen anyway.
I work as an elementary school teacher, I teach first graders. I try my best to be fun and motivating to all of them, to keep their spirits up and dreams alive. Their mindset is more important to me than their education, but I don't slack on either one.
I live alone in an apartment building, single bedroom, cheapest I could find. I don't have a girlfriend, and I can't say I have many regular friends. I've severed my ties with my family. I just spend my days playing games on my computer and talking with total strangers. I like it this way.
I try to be as responsible with my money as possible. I can tolerate a cheap apartment in bad condition; I bicycle to school; I don't eat at restaurants, not even on holidays. I keep a cushion of money for a replacement computer whenever my current one will inevitably fail, and the rest of my money is just saved up.
Some might say, and I would agree with them, that I'm not really living, that I'm simply "existing" and wasting away my days. That's fine by me. Something will happen; I might get sick, or I might slip and break something, and I will deal with those issues as they come, but I'd rather that they didn't.
I don't know whether I was prepared for the impending change or not. I liked to believe that I was, but as I had no idea what kind of change it was, it was hard to be prepared. Even now, as I write this and look back, I still can't say whether I was ready or not, but it happened anyway.
It was a Wednesday in January, I woke up like any other day, had some eggs, orange juice, and toast for breakfast. As I ate, I watched one of the episodes of an anime I had loaded up the night prior. I try to have a little variety in my interests, even though they all involve the computer. My breakfast was eaten, the episode ended, so I put on my work clothes and headed off.
I'd mindlessly built a routine for myself, one that my body could follow without any cognition, leaving my mind to wander on anything and everything. My imagination was the most active thing, envisioning tales of heroism and romance, of adventure and danger, of glory and fame.
I made my way to school and began my lecture as any other day. Something was odd about today. It was dark outside for the entirety of the school day, yet the weather didn't say anything about clouds or rain. It was odd, but nothing so significant that would drag my interest outside of the classroom. It wasn't until school was out that my interest directed my eyes skyward and my mind jumped.
There was a solar eclipse. The sun was almost completely covered up, only a ring of light hanging there. I quickly looked away, I remember hearing that looking directly at an eclipse was bad for your eyes, and the last thing I need is for my eyesight to get worse. It was interesting, rare, once in a lifetime in fact, but that was it. I'd seen it, it was interesting, but now I was done. It was time to go home. Still, it was strange. I hadn't seen anything online that told me about a solar eclipse, and I think at least one web site that I check would've mentioned it.
I pondered as I rode home. It was about a 30 minute bike ride. It was about half way when there was a flash from behind me and then a sudden rumble. Thunder and lightning? But there weren't even any clouds. I stopped and turned to look behind me, I'd missed the lightning but I still felt like looking for some reason, curiosity I suppose. Without even noticing, a thick sheet of clouds was rolling overhead, moving quickly. It was fascinating to me to see clouds move so quickly. It wasn't fascinating to feel the heavy rain that quickly washed over me. Luckily I'd brought a jacket with me. Preparedness was one of my strong suits.
I continued my ride through the rain, biking a bit slower as the water was getting in my eyes and making it harder to see. I eventually made it back and parked my bike in the only bike rack around, which was out back of a neighboring building. As I walked through the alleyway, something moved. It was next to the dumpster, on the opposite side of the sidewalk, on my side. I couldn't really tell what it was, there were cardboard boxes everywhere. I knew it was probably a stray cat or dog or possum or something, yet as ordinary as those are, I was curious to see it. I didn't have any pets, so this was my chance, I guess.
I carefully approached, slowly removing cardboard boxes and putting them behind me, thinning out the pile. I got closer and closer, no sounds or movement from the pile. I figured whatever it was must've gone under the dumpster and ran off, but I kept going. Curiosity is a powerful thing.
As I reached for the top-most box on the pile, a voice shouted from the pile, "Go away!" It was a young girl's voice. I was shocked, there's a PERSON in there? Curiosity gone, I knew that I had to get this child somewhere where she might be cared for. She might've been someone's lost child.
Curiosity gone and no need for caution, I pulled away the boxes more quickly and did not find a child. I found a small unicorn. It was a sort of blue-ish purple color with a mane of every color between blue and dark purple. Its mane had some curls in it, but was completely drenched and straight. Her eyes were glaring at me, a brilliant emerald color, frightened but ready to defend herself. What was more astounding to me was that it had a great lack of details, like a cartoon character. In my shock I just stood there, dumbstruck and staring. She shouted again, "I said, GO AWAY! I...I don't wanna hurt you!"
Hurt...me? She's cold and wet and....I didn't even know. So much was going through my head. I finally caught myself and pulled off my jacket. She backed herself up more, cornered between the wall and the dumpster. I backed away and knelt down, "I don't want you to hurt me, and I don't want to hurt you either. I....you...i-it's cold and raining you know. Please, let me take you inside where it's warmer." I wanted to ask her so many questions, know all about her, why she's here, how long she's been here, everything. But it was raining and cold, and those questions can wait.
She continued glaring at me, cautious of me, but I think she could tell I honestly was not going to harm her, she was just scared. Her expression changed from one of hostility to sadness. It was an expression she tried her hardest to hide, but it was very clear. She whispered out, "Okay." I moved towards her slowly and drew my jacket over her, the hood propped on her horn and the rest covering her body as much as possible.
I motioned for her to follow me and we made our way inside. Nobody was at the front desk. Good. I went for the elevator and pressed the access button. Then we waited. She turned slightly and looked over to me, "What is this?" I looked down at her a little bit, "It's an elevator. It's like a closet that takes you up or down." She said nothing more.
The elevator came down, opened; we got on, and headed up. We stood in silence as the elevator took us up, but I could tell she was perplexed by the feeling of being pulled downward to the floor. We came to my floor and got out. Nobody was in the hallways. We made our way to my room; I pulled out my keys and opened the door.
Any other day this room would look the same to me, as it always does, and I would think nothing of it, but with this filly by my side, I couldn't help but start criticizing the small, empty, bland space that was my apartment. Still, we walked in; I closed and locked the door behind us. I looked around, somewhat nervous, and said, "Well, here we are. This is my home. Make yourself comfortable."
Despite saying this, I could tell she wasn't comfortable at all and had no intention of doing so immediately. She had something on her mind, and she was still scared. I'm sure that as much as this was for me, this was a thousand times more for her.
I made my way to the stack of towels and dried off my head and hair. I approached her with another one and knelt down, "Want me to dry you off?" She lowered her head and mumbled, "Yes please." I took off the jacket, also drenched and cold, and dried her off with the towel. She simply stood there with an embarrassed look on her face. She was all dried off, and I walked over to one of the wooden chairs at the table in the kitchen/dining room/living room. I sat in it and simply watched her. Nothing like this has ever happened before and I wasn't sure how to handle it.
She decided not to just stand there awkwardly and, instead, made her way over to my lounging chair. It was a chair that I typically used for thinking or napping; sometimes I would take my laptop into it. It was very comfortable, and she seemed more comfortable in it, though surprised that it also rocked.
I decided to just do what I could to make things less wary between us and asked her, "Do you want a blanket? If you're still cold that is." She didn't say anything this time, only nodded. I went into my room, her eyes followed me, and I brought her a blanket, one that I don't usually sleep in, but wrap myself in during cold winters. I lightly placed it over her and went back to my seat while she further wrapped herself in it. She seemed pleased, but quickly went back to frowning when I noticed.
"Are you hungry?" I asked without much thought. I wasn't even sure what she ate. I started wondering what horses ate. Hay was the first thing that came to mind. I don't eat hay so I wouldn't have any. Still, she nodded again, so I had no choice at this point. I went to my refrigerator and looked through it. Most of it is sandwich materials, cheap and decent meals that I can eat for many meals and easily alter whenever I get bored. I looked down to the bottom drawer where I kept the fruits and vegetables. Apples and carrots, I think she'd like those. I took a pair of apples and a carrot, put them all on a plate and brought them to her, placing them on the arm rest. She eagerly ate them all.
She seemed to be in a better mood now, so I decided to ask her the major question, "So, what's your name?" She looked at me now, directly in the eyes, I could tell she was deliberating on whether or not to tell me. "My...my name is...S-Stardust......what's yours?"
"My name is Charles Everwood. You can call me Charlie if you'd like," I replied.
"O-okay Charles....you can call me Star....if you want."
This whole situation brought a smile to my face. She smiled a little bit too, but she was still embarrassed and still thinking about something. I decided to find out as much as I could.
I asked, "What brings you here?"
Her face immediately lost its smile and she looked away. That was a blunder on my part; I should have known it would be a touchy subject. To my surprise, she responded anyway and said, "I'm looking for my big brother."
"Do you know where he might be? I could help you look for him."
"I....I don't know. One moment he was next to me and then there was this weird flash and then I was here, but he wasn't."
"So maybe he's still in Equestria?"
Another blunder. Now she knows that I know about her world. That was going to create a whole mess later. Her widening eyes revealed something I didn't think about that my question brought. She asked, "I'm....not....in Equestria?"
I guess I sort of assumed that she already knew that. She didn't. So I told her, "No. This is a city in a land called Earth. Equestria is not here. There's a lot of stuff that's different between Equestria and Earth."
Her eyes turned downward. She was nowhere near home; she had no idea where she was, aside from in a strange new place. So there she sat, shocked and probably making many realizations about the situation she was in. I knew it must be hard for her, so I stood up and walked over to her. I thought about giving her a pat on the head, I refrained from doing so and only said, "Don't worry. We'll find your brother and get you home. Until then, I would be more than happy if you would call this your home for now."
Her shock gradually turned to tears as she curled up in the blanket. So much has happened in such a brief window of time. I don't know if I can get her home or even find her brother, I'm sure she thought both were impossible and that she would never see either one ever again. Still, at least I could give her shelter from the elements and whatever, or whoever else stalks these streets. I retired to my room to get away from this, to collect my own thoughts. I didn't feel like going online tonight, so I went to bed early.
Good night world. Please grant Stardust sweet dreams tonight.
The following morning felt much different from the rest. Without even thinking about why it was different, it just FELT different. I tried to go about my morning routine as I did every day, but I couldn’t get into it. It was all far too different.
Stardust was still asleep in the chair, curled up in the blanket. She looked so sad and scared. I had to do everything I could to help her. She doesn’t belong here; this is a dangerous place for her, a place where the magics of love and friendship just won’t cut it. Still, I had no idea where to begin, and I don’t think she had any ideas either. All I could do is get to school and think of something when I get back. I left a plate of a couple more apples and 3 carrots on a plate on the arm of her chair and went out.
Class went as normal. I tried to be my usual fun-and-friendly-teacher self, but I just couldn’t get into it, I was thinking about Stardust the whole time. The students seemed to notice and didn’t seem as energetic either. Time couldn’t have pass fast enough as the day dragged on.
I went back to the apartment as quickly as my bike would take me, I was ready to answer any questions she had, entertain any theories, discuss with her, and find a solution with her. All that awaited me was my already-unlocked door. I opened the door and looked around. She wasn’t here. I dropped my bag to the floor and frantically looked around; maybe she was sifting through my things out of curiosity? Did somebody come in and take her? I was sure I locked my door, I always do. Please let her still be here.
She wasn’t.
She had eaten one of the apples I set down for her and left the rest. What could have happened? The door didn’t seem to be broken into, the door must’ve been unlocked, but by whom? I went to the front desk and asked who might’ve been able to unlock my door and if they had done so. That didn’t seem to be the case. It must’ve been unlocked from the inside. It then occurred to me. Stardust must’ve gone out to search for her brother. She’s a unicorn, maybe she could have unlocked and opened the door. Yes, that must be what happened. Without wasting any more time, I took off running down the sidewalk.
Where did she go?
When did she leave?
Did anybody see her?
Did anybody pick her up?
Should I put up fliers for a lost animal?
I thought these questions while I ran and ran and ran. I looked down every alleyway I passed, thinking, hoping I might see her there. How would I find her in a whole town? Whatever the case, she wouldn’t take the sidewalks; she would probably avoid people at all costs. She must be using the backstreets and alleys to get around. I went down the closest alley I came across and began searching the backstreets. What if I can’t find her? She’ll be cold and starving and alone. I have to find her, but where is she?
I searched and searched and searched. I had to slow my search to a walk. Exhaustion was setting in. The sun was setting. What do I do? Should I just give up?
As I sat down to rest for only a little while and think, I heard something. It sounded like whining, crying. I looked around, it was coming somewhere from my left. I got up and moved towards it. The sound was coming from behind a couple of trash cans. As I got closer, I could see her mane, my heart leaped with joy. I got closer and peaked over the garbage cans, looking down at her. She didn’t notice me.
I reached down as slowly and gently as I could and patted her head. She jumped with fright, moved away and looked at me. When it finally registered who she was looking at, she only cried that much more. I moved over to her and picked her up, holding her in a gentle hug as she whispered out between sobs, “I’m sorry….I’m so sorry….I’m sorry….please don’t hate me….”
We made our way home I set her back in her chair. She was dirty and had calmed down for the most part. I just sat on the floor next to her and gently stroked her fur. She avoided eye contact as best she could, ashamed, and mumbled out, “I’m really sorry….I…I just….”
I shook my head, “You don’t have to explain yourself. I’m just glad you’re okay. You must be hungry.” As I said that, my stomach growled.
She let out a slight giggle, then her stomach growled too. Then she giggled more. I couldn’t help but let out a light-hearted chuckle. It was good to hear her laugh.
I set about putting the food I’d laid out earlier back into the fridge and got her some fresher apples and carrots. I was beginning to run out. Still, we both ate and enjoyed each other’s company, though neither of us spoke.
After finishing eating and doing the dishes, I said, “So…you’re kind of…dirty. Would you like to take a bath?” It never occurred to me about ponies and cleanliness, how much dirt is considered “dirty” or whether they care about cleanliness. Still, she said, “Yes please, thank you.” In those words, though still speaking politely, I could tell she was more confident in talking to me now.
I got the warm water running and she enjoyed herself quite thoroughly. The tub was too small for me, so I never took baths. Still, her enjoying herself was good enough for me. We splashed each other and played “catch the soap.” I imagine this is what it would be like if I had a child of my own. It was a lot of fun.
All clean and dried-off, she sat in her chair, pleased, having had a simple and fun time. I wanted to ask her more questions, now that she was in a good mood, but I didn’t want to ruin said mood. As I thought about what to say, she spoke up.
“So what do you normally do? Where did you go today?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” I thought. “I went to school. I’m a teacher.”
“Ooohhh. What do you teach them?”
“All the basic stuff. Math, English, Science, History.”
“English? What’s that?”
I then remembered, while they speak, write, and read like we do, their language isn’t English. “English is the language that most people around here read, write, and speak. It’s a lot like yours.”
“Oh yeah, it’s weird how we’re from different places but can understand each other.”
“Not as weird as you’d think,” I thought.
“And what about my first question? You never answered that one.”
“Which one?”
“What you normally do. I doubt you just sit here doing nothing when you’re not at school.”
“Oh, I go on my computer and watch movies and play games and such. Nothing amazing.”
“Computer? Movies?”
Agh, I forgot they don’t have that kind of stuff in Equestria. Or do they? I’ve only seen Ponyville, I don’t know what the other places might have. Civilization seems to be all over the place in Equestria.
“Uhhh,” I started, “A computer is….a gizmo…thingy….that…uh….does lots of other things. Like, you can write stuff without using paper, watch movies without going anywhere, play games, and talk to people far, far away without seeing them.” I guess I’d have to explain the internet at some point. Maybe later. “A movie is like a play, but the actors don’t have to be there for you to watch it. It’s kind of like a book, you can read it without someone reading it to you. You can watch a movie without the actors performing It for you.” This analogy sucks, but I just can’t think of anything else.
“Sounds really cool! Can we watch one of those movie things?”
“Sure. What kind of stories do you like?”
“Uhhh I dunno. You pick one!”
Hmmmm, what might she like? I don’t watch too many movies, mostly just anime. I don’t care much for theaters so I don’t keep track of what new movies come out. I thought about the movies that I actually owned.
“Ah, I know one,” I said, “But where do you want to watch it? In here?”
“Your bed! I wanna watch it in your bed!”
My bed? Well, I guess most ponies did have beds, so sleeping in a chair would be weird.
“Okay,” I said.
We went over to my bed, which was really just a mattress in the corner of the other room with some blankets and pillows. I brought my laptop to my bed and sat with my back to the wall; Stardust came over and sat next to me, bouncing a few times on the bed. She noticed the laptop, its bright screen and simple flatness. It was strange to her. I popped in the DVD for the Disney movie, “Tarzan.” It was one of the few movies I actually owned, and I liked it very much. So did she.
We watched the movie, she frequently asked about the animals, such as gorillas, leopards, and elephants. She remarked about how the images looked more like her than they did like me. I did my best to explain everything, how this was a cartoon, the images were all drawn. Actually, I think they were computer generated, but I don’t know.
She enjoyed it with its talking animals and silly antics; she ended up falling asleep near the end. I tucked her in, closed my laptop and went to sleep as well.
I’d woken up to the sound of the usual alarm. Luckily I hit the snooze button before it woke up Stardust. She looked very cozy and, dare I say, safe. It’s a Friday, the last day of the week before I can spend a nice, free weekend with her and get to know more about her. For now, I got ready for work and went about my morning routine with a sort of feeling of being refreshed. I suppose I haven’t been this happy in some time, it felt good. This time, while preparing my breakfast, I prepared some breakfast for Stardust as well. I cut up the apples and added some cinnamon. I left a note for her, telling her about where I went and about the food in the refrigerator. It made me think about what else she might want to eat, I’m sure she’d get bored of apples and carrots all the time. I pondered these things on my ways to and from work.
Once I’d arrived at my door, I paused to remember yesterday’s events. I turned the handle, locked. Good. I unlocked, went in and, for the first time, said aloud, “I’m home.”
Stardust came trotting in from the bedroom, “Welcome back!”
I set my things down and loosened my clothing in preparation for a weekend that would certainly be fun. I went into my room, my books were scattered around the room and my laptop was partially opened. I looked over to Stardust, “What happened in here?”
She looked up at me, she wasn’t sure if I was mad at her or just curious, but apparently she was practiced in honesty, “I got bored of waiting, so I went through your books. I also tried to use your computer thing, but…” She looked sadly at her hooves; I figured what probably went wrong there.
I didn’t have much in the ways of reading material, just mangas and books I’d purchased in my college days. I’m sure textbooks would be pretty boring. “Did you just get bored of one and look through another or something?”
“No, I read them.”
“Read them? Even the textbooks?”
“Er, not the textbooks, but those funny backwards-reading comics.”
“Still, you read all of them while I was away?”
“Heehee, I like reading a lot. I’m super-fast at it!”
No kidding. Maybe I’m just slow, but it usually takes me an hour or two to go through a manga. I could already tell that I was going to run out of reading material for her real quickly. I began picking up the books and putting them back where they were; she used her magic to help. It’s perfectly normal for a unicorn to use magic like that, but it was still amazing to me, since this was the first time I’d witnessed her using it. Maybe I could get her some books on magic. Then I remembered the only books on magic out there are cheap entertainment tricks and weird voodoo Satanism stuff.
She nudged me in the leg to snap me out of it, “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, “Oh, no, it’s nothing, I was just thinking. I guess you like to read in your free time? Is there anything else you like doing?”
“Hmmmm. I like reading, and I like cooking, and I like eating, and I like practicing magic, and I like that movie you showed me. Hmmmmmmmmm.” She tried to think up more things that she might like.
The first thing that came to my mine was to get her a cook book and maybe some ingredients to play with. Then I remembered that I should ask her about food, “What do you like to eat usually?”
“I like hay, and cupcakes and cookies; I like candy and apples; I like all kinds of fruit actually. I like lettuce and carrots.”
“Do you like oatmeal?”
“Oatmeal?”
“Yeah, it’s like….oats…but kinda soupy, and you can add stuff to it. Do you like potatos?”
“I’ve never had oatmeal or potatoes.”
“Then it’s something for us to try!”
I had a box of oatmeal on top of my Mini-fridge, I never ate the stuff, too lazy to make it myself. I wondered how I should talk to her about meat. I’m very sure that ponies are vegetarians, and I don’t know if she would be okay with me eating it either. It would be a topic for the future. For now, I’d go vegetarian I guess.
We had oatmeal for supper. I laid the various spices and things that could be added to make it taste better. She seemed to enjoy it on its own, but quickly went overboard with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Still, it was something that she liked, and I’m glad that she did.
That night we talked about our families. My parents and siblings all were hard workers and seemed more mature than I ever was, I’d developed apathy for everyone and everything; I didn’t care for anyone, not even myself. Still, I kept it simple, that my family was nice and caring people, that we had fun together and that we all went our separate ways. I didn’t tell her that I didn’t much like my siblings or that I generally detested my parents. It made me feel bad when she told me about her family.
She didn’t have parents. She was separated from them only days after she was born. Apparently, her parents were kind and fairly wealthy ponies who lived out in the country. One had to go down a path through a beautiful forest to get to their establishment, which was small despite their wealth. They were generous, smart, and kind ponies. But one night a forest fire had started. The path to get out of the forest was already ablaze so almost nobody could come to the house to warn the family of the approaching fire. The family would awake to Stardust’s crying as the house caught fire. Having his room next to hers, Stardust’s brother was the first one to get to her, but before he could get out the doorway, it collapsed. He escaped with his little sister out the window and into the woods that were yet to be on fire. They didn’t know if their parents made it out of the flaming home or not, but they could not afford to wait.
The young siblings would be found later by the nearby villagers in a small cave by the lake in the middle of the forest. The siblings were taken in and cared for by every pony in the village where they’d been living up to this point.
And now, separated from her parents, separated from her brother, she’s here in a strange new world full of these being unknown to her called humans. It only made me want to care for her more.
Having shared her story, she looked me in the eyes and smiled, she didn’t want me to be sad about it. She said she was done being sad about it. She wanted to be happy. I could only smile and agree.
I put on the Disney movie "Aladdin" and we both fell asleep during the movie.
The following morning I woke up rather early, a natural habit with or without the alarm. I decided I would use this opportunity to go out shopping for the week to come, since I’d run out of apples and carrots already. It would also give me tomorrow to look over my financial schedule and tweak it a little to the expenses of having Stardust live with me. I hated thinking of it like that, it’s true I’m going to have to spend a tad bit more money to support us both, but she is most certainly not a burden to me by any means. I left her a note, just in case she got up before I returned.
It was times like these I wished I had a car, carrying everything back to the apartment was quite a bit, but I was rather satisfied with what I got. Eggs, flour, baking soda, various fruits, things I could add to a salad, since I don’t expect to be eating sandwiches anymore, and various herbs and spices. I didn’t know what kinds of foods they were all used in, but they’ll be nice ingredients to experiment with. I also got a cook book and the first of the Harry Potter series. I hid those; I wanted to give them to her as gifts, surprise her with some things to read to spend her time.
She woke up after an hour or two and I immediately got started on breakfast, a bowl of Cheerios and an apple for each of us. I set her place to sit across from me, but as soon as I sat down, she moved everything to the spot at the corner beside me, then beamed a silly grin at me. That’s just way too cute, I couldn’t help but laugh a bit. We both ate our breakfasts. She didn’t much like the taste of plain cheerios. I didn’t either, but if I add sugar to it, then what’s the point of a healthy cereal? She put sugar in hers and ate it with more enthusiasm.
After that, I showed her all the fresh food I put into the refrigerator this morning. I showed her where everything was so that if she ever got hungry while I was away, she would know where everything was. While she looked through it, I washed the dishes and went to go get the two books.
I brought them in, one in each hand and said, “Ta-daaaaah!” I felt really lame but also really happy that I could be so lame for any reason. She saw the two books, inhaled with excitement and dashed towards me to look at them. A story about wizards that captured the hearts of minds of a generation, and a book full of many possibilities to play with, what could be better? She took the two books with her magic and inspected them, flipping through the pages of both at the same time. I squatted down and asked, “So, what do you think? Think these will keep you occupied for a little while?”
She set both books down and leaped at me, wrapping her hooves around my neck and shouting, “Thank you!”
She was small but she still knocked me over and we both lay on the floor, pleased in each other’s company.
As I got up, she set the cook book on the table for later read while she took the Harry Potter book into my room and dove right in. I took this time to open up my laptop and check my e-mail, since I hadn’t for a couple of days. Nothing note-worthy. I’m not sure what I was expecting. I decided to look through a few news sites, I wouldn’t normally check them, but I figured they might say something about the storm or the unexpected eclipse on Wednesday, or maybe even something about her brother. The eclipse and storm were mentioned, though only mentioned as “mysterious” and “unexplained” and how scientists were looking into them for more details. One detail did pop out though, the solar eclipse is usually caused by the moon blocking out the sun. Reports say that the moon was in a totally different location at the point of the eclipse and that whatever blocked out the sun was not the moon.
After a few minutes of this, Stardust came out of my room and over to me. I was sitting in my lounging chair so she came over to my side and looked over the armrest at what I was doing. I stopped and looked over at her; I asked, “Do you need something?”
“Mmmmmm noooooooo. I’m just checkin’ what you’re doooin’.”
“I was seeing what they had to say about the eclipse and the storm on the day that I found you. That stuff isn’t normal.”
“What’s an eclipse?”
I guess if the sun and moon were controlled by Celestia and Luna, an Eclipse would never happen, “A solar eclipse is when the Sun gets blocked out by the moon.”
“Oh? Maybe Luna is mad at Celestia or something.”
“Uhh. Celestia and Luna don’t move our sun and moon. They sort of…move on their own. Well, our sun doesn’t move….much…”
“Really? But how? Do you guys have some sort of magic you all have or something?”
“No. Ours just….does. Like, we didn’t make it move, we just found out our planet and our moon both move on their own. It’s normal, like plants growing. No magic involved.”
“Reeeaaaaally? That’s weird. Are you sure?”
Thinking back to my philosophy class in college, technically I’d have to say no, I’m not sure, that I’m never sure, and can never be sure, but there’s no reason to complicate this, “Yeah, I’m sure. Some really smart people figured all that out and wrote it down so we’d all know about it.”
“It’s still weird though. And…what’s a ‘people’ “
“Uhhh. People is….are…..a bunch of persons. And a person is like me! It’s what we call ourselves, a person or a human being, or just a human, just like you call yourselves ponies. We also sometimes call ourselves ‘bodies.’ Like ‘somebody’ or ‘everybody’ instead of ‘somepony’ and ‘everypony.’ Get it?”
“I think so. I’ll try to remember!”
“Hehe, don’t worry about forgetting, I’ll know what you mean.” As I said that, I rubbed her head.
“Also….I was wondering….if…maybe…I could come with you?” She moved her hoof in circles and looked towards the ground as she asked.
“Come with me? Where?”
“To school. Maybe I could be one of your students!”
“Oh. To school? That would be…..uhm….” That would be troublesome. I could get in trouble for bringing a normal animal to school with me, bringing a talking cartoon pony would probably get me not only fired but all kinds of publicity. The last thing I want is everyone knowing about this. It’s dangerous.
“It’s okay if you don’t want me to. I’ll just stay here and wait for you.” She looked from the floor to the side. She tried not to look disappointed, but it was clear that she wanted to go, if not for the school experience, then just to be with me.
“No no. I do want you to, but I can’t risk a whole bunch of people seeing you or knowing about you. There are dangerous people in my world, a lot of them can be meaner than monsters. Maybe even scarier.”
“Really? I don’t think so; no pony I’ve ever met was meaner or scarier than a monster!”
“These people aren’t ponies. We’re like ponies, but we aren’t the same. Some are just always mean and angry all the time; you don’t know what they would do to you.” It was then that my mind began to think about the more extreme side of the brony community and shuddered. It’s not my place to judge or criticize anyone’s interests, but I simply cannot let anyone like that know about Stardust.
“Well…if you say so.” She was partially disappointed and partially curious about what I’d said and what I was thinking.
“Maybe…..maybe you could be there if they didn’t see you.”
“Yeah! Maybe I could hide!”
“But hiding you while traveling would be kinda difficult. You wouldn’t happen to know some sort of teleporty spell or invisibility spell, would you?”
“No, I’ve never learned any spells like those.”
But maybe….maybe she could. I don’t know what it takes to make a unicorn’s spell happen, but I guess this might be where the brony community comes in handy. I said to her, “Give me a minute.” She went off back to my room to read more Harry Potty while I searched the internet for something that might give me a clue about how her spells work.
I already had some sort of clue from seeing Twilight Sparkle use her magic in the show. The Magic power needed to do something can cause some physical fatigue but ultimately does not depend on the strength of one’s body. Concentration and will seem to be constants in anything having to do with magic. Twilight’s various “spells” didn’t seem to require anything different than one another, no special materials or memorizing of special symbols or anything. If I had to guess, they were just differences in what to concentrate on and what to ‘will’ to happen. If that’s the case, instead of trying to find out how to do certain spells, we could possibly just create the spells. After looking through various theories, I was ready to give it a try.
I called Stardust back in and looked at her confidently. She didn’t know what was going on. I said to her, “I want you to try an invisibility spell.”
She tilted her head, “But I told you I haven’t learned that spell yet.”
“I know, I know, but I want you to try anyway. Just…try wanting to be invisible. Concentrate on something like not being able to be seen. Set your mind to it and let the magic to the rest.” Of course, this was all very vague and really sounded like nonsense, but hey, I have a magical little unicorn in my apartment, this stopped making sense since Wednesday.
“Oooookaaaaaay…..” She said hesitantly. She closed her eyes and tried to think of it. I guess it was an abstract thought but she found some sort of idea. Her horn glowed brighter and brighter with a color that fluctuated between various shades of purple.
When it stopped glowing I could hardly believe my eyes. She was still visible, but various parts of her were very much invisible. Parts of her were see-through while a few other areas were more hazy. She’d managed to make her left eye and most of her mane entirely invisible. I smiled and said, “You did it!”
She looked at herself frantically, “Really!? You can’t see me?? I can still see me, but you can’t see me!?”
I went over to the bathroom to get a mirror and showed her what she’d done. Then she said, “Aww, I’m not TOTALLY invisible!”
I rubbed her head, “Practice makes perfect. You did really well for your first try at something like this!”
She beamed a grin at me and let off a, “Hee hee!”
“Now you can try another spell.”
“Hm?”
“Making yourself visible again!”
“Oh! Yeah!” She closed her eyes again and her horn began to glow. This one stopped much sooner and seemed to be easier to pull off. A thin ring of light moved from the tip of her horn and over her body to the tip of her tail, revealing her as clearly as she was naturally as it passed over her. She looked into the mirror again and saw her flawless success at reversing the invisibility spell.
“You did a great job, I’m proud of you.”
She grinned. She continued practicing her invisibility spell, each time getting different parts of herself to be invisible, each time getting more of herself at the same time. After a while, though, it was clear that she was becoming exhausted by the non-stop practice. I told her to relax awhile and we took a little snack break and each had a granola bar.
I decided to show her how to use my computer. I had a mouse that I could plug in, one that she could move more easily with her hoof or with magic. I also posed the idea of using her magic to levitate pens to poke the keys in order to type. She learned fast. I showed her Paint, Microsoft Word, and some of the games I had on my computer as well as how to insert a DVD and play it. I also told her not to click any of the icons to open up the internet. That was a big resource with many dangers lurking in it; I would want to spend another day explaining all of it. Most of all, she might find out about MLP:FIM, and I wanted to talk to her about it before she was exposed to that. I wasn’t sure when I would tell her about it though.
The rest of the day passed and she practiced more, read more, and skimmed through the cook book. She saw many recipes that she wanted to try, particularly the recipe for banana nut cupcakes. I didn’t have nuts or those pans needed for making cupcakes; it just never occurred to me that I might need one.
Sunday, it seemed like my weekend went by far too quickly. I always dread waking up on Sundays. I do like my job, but sometimes I just like to stay home and do nothing.
I’d woken up before Stardust had and I decided, once again, to go out shopping. This time, more specifically, I was getting cooking ware and some nuts. Once I got them, I headed right back and started finding places to put it all. Fortunately, I usually didn’t have all that much excess food or spices lying around, so my cupboards were mostly empty. I got out most of the dried ingredients needed for the cupcakes and set them on the counter by the faucet.
After all that, I set to reworking my weekly-to-monthly financial schedule. Buying all the things I normally wouldn’t get certainly caused a dip, but I don’t expect anything like that to happen again, unless I buy more books. Maybe I should start stopping by the school library. I had a general idea of what the weekly cost was going to be with Stardust and myself living here and reallocated how much I would put into saving and other such things.
Stardust woke up and came trotting in with a perky, “Mornin’!”
I greeted her back with a “Good morning.”
Her eyes immediately passed over all the dried ingredients, nuts, and the cupcake sheet on the counter. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and I knew she wanted to start immediately but I said, “Hold on there, Star, we gotta eat breakfast before we start baking any cupcakes.”
She turned to me, not smiling, her mouth was agape with surprise as she mumbled out inaudibly, “You called me Star…”
Unable to hear her mumble, I asked, “What?”
“You called me Star. You called me Star!” She started hopping in circles, now smiling again.
I guess I hadn’t thought about the implications of saying it but now it’s said, “So I did. So, what do you want for breakfast, Star?”
“Mmmmm, let’s have oatmeal, Charlie!” She was grinning now, I don’t know if she was teasing me or if she was comfortable with calling me Charlie now. Either way, it was nice.
So we had oatmeal and sliced pears this time. She really liked pears too. We talked about possible things we could add to the cupcakes. I was a little bit worried, but I was sure she was mostly kidding.
Immediately after, we went to making the cupcakes. I handled the wet ingredients and cutting the bananas while she handled the dry ingredients. When putting them together, she wanted to taste the batter and add more brown sugar. I told her a little bit. So she added a little bit of brown sugar to my hair. I returned fire by reaching for the flour. Naturally, it turned into a fun-filled exchange of brown sugar and flower, which finally ended with her “winning” and both of us laughing.
We set the batter into the trays and let them bake while we cleaned ourselves up. She took a bath, I helped wash her. She returned the favor by helping “clean” me by splashing me. Another splash fight ensued and before we knew it, the cupcakes were ready.
Still dripping wet, I turned off the oven and took the cupcakes out to let them cool off. She came out dripping wet too, but she didn’t care, the cupcakes smelled delicious. I warned her about how hot they were and told her to go dry herself off. I did the same and changed into my pajamas. I didn’t intend to go anywhere today so I figured if I was going to change, I might as well change into some cozy clothing. She said I looked silly.
We went the whole day snacking on cupcakes, she practiced her magic and I casually browsed the internet for any new information. Nothing.
Night approached. After supper I went to brush my teeth. I’d given her one of my spare toothbrushes for herself. When I finished and came out of the bathroom, she wasn’t there. I checked my room, she wasn’t there either. I was making my way for the door to see if it was still locked when she suddenly shouted, “BOO!”
Shocked, I stumbled back and looked around for her. I didn’t see her at all. I called out for her, “Staaaar?”
“Charlie, I’m right here!”
“Where is ‘here?’ “
“Right in front of you!”
I looked in front of me, there was nothing. It finally occurred to me. She was completely invisible. I reached out to touch the air and felt her fur. I felt around, I was touching what was apparently her cheek. She’d mastered it in only two days. She must be talented or very skilled in magic, it was amazing. I said softly, “You did it. You’re completely invisible.”
“Yeah! I did it!” She pounced on me, I felt her arms on my shoulders and something slam against my chest. I fell down and could feel her on top of me. She used her magic to make herself visible again, her silly grin of excitement and success. I couldn’t help but grin back, even though my lower back still sort of hurt from falling. She then asked excitedly, “So does this mean I can come to school with you!?”
I thought about it. There’s no reason why not. She could be invisible or hide when she’s not invisible. Nobody will get in trouble and she won’t be lonely. I nodded and said with satisfaction, “Yes. You can come to school with me.”
“Yippee!” She jumped around the room, laughing and excited.
“But that means you have to wake up early with me and hold on tight when we bike to school.”
“That’s okay! I’ll be sure to hold REAL tight!”
I knew there’s nothing to deter her now. There’ll just be fun days ahead.
We headed to bed early so that she could have plenty of energy and rest for tomorrow. No movie was needed; she snuggled right up to my side and fell asleep with a big smile of satisfaction on her face.
Sleep tight, Star, we’ve got a big day ahead of us.
I awoke to my alarm and quickly hit the snooze button. Then I gently nudged Star and whispered, “Star, it’s time to wake up. We need to get ready for school.”
She opened her eyes slowly, then shut them and heaved a big yawn. She rubbed her eyes, then looked at me and smiled, “I had a dream about you. We were in Equestria with my brother. We were playing hide-and-seek. It was fun.”
I rubbed her head gently, “Maybe we can do that someday, but today we’ve got important stuff to do. Remember?”
She stretched and said, “Oh yeah, we’re going to school today! Are your kids nice?”
I smiled and tickled her a little, “You’ll find out when you see them! Now come on, outta bed! I’ll get breakfast ready.”
Despite her excitement, she rolled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom, drooping her head. Breakfast today was peanut butter on toast with two plums and some orange juice. We ate and I dressed in more “professional” clothing while looking at ways that Star could ride with me on my bike. I didn’t have a basket or anything on the back for her to sit on, so I wasn’t sure how this was going to work. I came up with an idea, it would be weird, but it would work, hopefully.
I opened the door and checked the halls, nobody around. She came out of my room, then I closed and locked the door. We took the elevator down where she applied her invisibility spell before reaching the ground floor. It still amazed me how much I COULDN’T see her.
We got to my bike. Normally I would just hang my bag over my shoulder, but this time I put the bag into an old backpack I had and loosened the straps. I told Star what I was planning and she understood. She would hold onto my back and stick her arms through the straps of the backpack, after that I would tighten the straps which would tighten her shoulders to mine and pull the whole backpack, as well as Star, tightly against my own back. It wasn’t the best or the safest plan, but I felt it might work. It certainly looked weird having the backpack floating in mid-air off my back.
Once we were set, we took off. It was somewhat harder, I wasn’t used to the additional weight, but I managed to keep my balance and get us there.
I unlocked and opened the classroom, it was some time before class would officially start and some kids were bound to be here early. Still, it gave us time to find a nice hiding spot for Star, it would be near a pile of poster boards and boxes which were sometimes used for project materials, or just arts and crafts. We stacked the boxes and posters so she would have a hole to look through and a way to get out in case she wanted to turn invisible and walk around the classroom.
Time passed, the bell rang, she was in her hiding spot and I let the children in. I went about my lecture like I did almost every day. I try to keep a schedule present so the children know what to expect each day. Though, over the course of the day, children would report a flash of light from the box pile, feel someone breathing on them, or sometimes hear light footsteps. Of course, nobody saw what it was; some even thought there might be a ghost in the classroom. I almost wanted to say that there was one, but I try to practice honesty with my students.
At the end of the day, all of the children had left and it was only Star and I left alone in the classroom. I knew the janitor would come later on, but we still had some time. Star came out of hiding, she seemed somewhat tired. She sat on the carpeted floor and looked at me while I graded papers. Without looking up I asked, “So? What did you think?”
“They were nice,” she said. “They really like you and listen to you, and it seems like a lot of fun! Some of them were drawing while you were talking thought.”
“Haha, I know, but creativity and keeping the mind going are important. They know that I know, but I go over everything multiple times so they can catch it.”
“I wish I could be one of your students, it really looks like fun.”
“Well, maybe you can’t be a student, but would you like to join the class?”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe you could stop hiding. Maybe you could be my teaching assistant, or play with the kids during recess?”
“But wouldn’t you get in trouble if they knew about me?”
“They’re children. If they really wanted you to stay, then they would keep it a secret. And even if they told somebody, I don’t think any adult would take them seriously.”
“That’s mean!”
“I know, but it’s true. Humans are skeptical of silly things like that. They just think it’s a kid making up stories. We don’t have big, strange things here like you do. If you said you saw a dragon, the ponies might believe you and be on alert. If I told somebody I saw a dragon, they would say that I was crazy.”
“That’s sad.”
“It is, but as a human, I’m used to it. But still, how would you like to be the class secret? The kids will want to play with you and pet you and may hurt you on accident. You’ll still have to be invisible on the way here and back, though. What do you think?”
“I…..guess…….” She looked around the room and thought about it, then turned back to me with an expression of determination, “Yeah, I wanna be a part of Charlie’s class!”
I chuckled, “Well then Star, welcome to the class.”
After I finished my grading, we biked back to my apartment and settled down for supper. She decided that she wanted to practice a new spell before going to bed, a teleportation spell. I was weary about a teleportation spell. What if the teleportation spell works like the invisibility spell and she only teleports part of herself? What if she winds up on another continent, or in the middle of the ocean? I shook my head; maybe the worst that could happen is that the spell simply fails.
She set to practicing and, thankfully, the latter was true. The worst that can happen if the spell fails is that she simply doesn’t go anywhere and the magic is burned off. She seemed to be more worn out when trying this spell, it seemed harder for her to do. I had confidence, though, that she would conquer this spell just like she perfected her invisibility spell.
When she was done practicing, we tucked ourselves into bed and went to sleep. She fell asleep almost immediately, tired from all the non-stop practice. I knew she would succeed, just as I knew that tomorrow would be a great day.
The morning passed similar to yesterday, though instead of excitement, we were both feeling a bit nervous. It was what she wanted, though, and I’m sure the children would adore her.
We got ready to go and left. My plan was to go through the lecture until lunchtime. After that, She would reveal herself, that way we got some lessons done and still would have time to introduce her.
As such, the lessons were over, lunchtime started and the children went outside to eat with their friends. Stardust came out of her hiding spot and looked at me. We both exchanged nervous smiles and ate the lunch I brought for us.
Lunch ended and the children came back in, got in their seats, continuing whatever conversations they were having at lunch. I stood in front of the class and said, “Settle down class, settle down. I have an announcement to make and I’d like it if you all gave your full attention.”
The talking gradually reduced to a few whispers here and there, some chatter was fine. I continued, “I brought a friend with me today and I think she’ll be here every class day from now on. She’s a very special friend so you all have to keep her a secret. Don’t tell anybody, nobody in other classes, no other teachers, no parents, cousins, grandparents, don’t even tell your pets. Allow me to introduce my dear friend Stardust.”
There was silence, Stardust didn’t come out. Maybe she didn’t hear me, or wasn’t paying attention. I went to look behind the pile of boxes and cardboard. She wasn’t there. I went to look behind my desk, not there either. I stood in front of the class to see if she might be hiding in the back of the class.
Suddenly she appeared beside me and said, “Hello there!” She waved her hoof in the air.
The children were shocked, some standing up in their chairs, some rubbing their eyes, almost all of them started talking. Most of them probably haven’t even seen a real horse, let alone a cartoon pony from another world.
I settled the class down, told them to get in their seats and continued, “This is my dear friend Stardust. She’s special and if the adults were to know about her, they might want to take her away, then she can’t be in class anymore! So you have to keep it a secret, okay? Promise?”
The class agreed, I heard a few “I Pinkie promise!” from a few girls. I looked down at Star and nodded.
She moved forward a couple of steps and said, “Hello everypony…er….everybody. My name is Stardust! I’m a unicorn from the magical world of Equestria! My favorite food is cupcakes; I like reading and cooking, and I’m really happy to be here with Charlie!”
The class got rowdy again. They were asking all kinds of questions, some were remarking about my name being Charlie. I called out, “Calm down class. She can’t answer questions if you’re all shouting at once. One question at a time! Raise your hands and you can ask your question when you’re called on.”
Almost every student in the room raised their hands. Since Star was too short, I pointed to those who would ask questions, each child got one question.
“When did you get here?”
“Ohh I’ve been here since Wednesday, I’ve been living with Charlie. He’s really nice!”
“Are you really a unicorn?”
“Yup! Back in Equestria, there are tons more of us!”
“Can you, like, do magic and stuffs!?”
“I sure can, but only a little bit!” That said, she used her levitation spell to move some of the markers and erasers on the whiteboard and had them fly around the room.
“How did you get here?”
“I…..I…..” Stardust thought about this question, then fell silent. I hadn’t asked that question either, and I myself was curious. As she looked down and her eyes searched the floor for answers, I could tell that she truly didn’t know.
I interjected, “She must’ve taken a space ship over here! We’ve got space ships, I bet ponies have space ships too!” Of course, I’m sure it was something more magical, but I had to give them some sort of answer and get their attention. I continued, “Now I’d like to say this: She will be with us only when I’m here, she’s going to stay in the classroom, she can’t go out to recess or lunchtime with you, but you can stay inside during lunch or recess and play with her. Be nice to her. Keep her a secret outside of this classroom.” I paused a moment to look over the class, it seems they understood. I said to them, “There’s a little more learning we have to do before class is over. The sooner we get done with that, the sooner I’ll let you all play with her, okay?”
The class responded, “Okaaaaaay.”
Naturally, I planned to give them some play time anyway, but I wanted to give them an idea of what class was going to be like with Star present. As I did the lesson, a simple math review, Star moved about the class. She weaved through the rows so that the students could see her and pet her as she passed. After she was done, she sat in the chair at my desk and watched me teach with a big smile on her face. I could tell she was pleased with how this all went.
The lesson ended and I allowed the students to come over and talk to Stardust more, and many of them did so. Most of the boys stayed in their seats, talking to each other and looking at Stardust from afar. I was sure that some of them did want to go over and talk to her, but might seem girly for taking interest in a girl pony.
The day ended and the children left, waving and calling out good-bye to Stardust. Once they were all out, I closed the door and sat in my chair, heaving a sigh. I looked at Star, who was sitting in one of the front-row seats and smiling. She said, “That was fun.”
I nodded and replied, “Yeah, that went better than I thought it would. Some kids can be too excited.”
“Is every day going to be like this?”
“Only Monday through Friday, only if I’m not sick or absent that day, and only if you want to.”
“It’s nice, and fun! I can’t wait to play with them at recess!”
“I’m glad to hear that. Anyway, I have some grading to do, then we’ll head home. Okay?”
“Okay!”
While I quickly graded the papers, she wandered about the classroom, looking at a few of the toys and board games that could be brought out and played with, normally during rainy days.
I finished my work and headed home with her on my back. I thought about how lucky I was to have her with me. I’ve had more fun with her these past few days than in the past few years. Now she was a part of my life, maybe permanently. I was both saddened and pleased with the idea. Saddened, that if she was here permanently, it meant that she would never go home. Pleased, that she might be with me and make my days brighter. Was that selfish of me? I don’t know what to hope for, but I know that we’re happy together, and that we’ll continue being happy for as long as we are together.
We arrived back to my…no…our apartment. It wasn’t just mine, Stardust lives here too. She would be a part of my life, a part of our life, for many days to come. It’s not just about me anymore, it’s about us.
The days resumed and each day was fun. The children grew used to Star’s presence and began to act like she was a normal occurrence. They still had fun with her though.
Two weeks passed, it was a Saturday morning and we were eating breakfast, a breakfast prepared by Star herself. It was eggy-in-a-basket with apple slices and milk. As we ate and conversed about what we might do this weekend, she had paused and began looking down, away from me and seemed lost in thought. It was something on her mind, something, I could tell, that she’d wanted to talk to me about for some time. I had a guess, but waited for her to ask about it.
She looked up at me, a serious expression, but in a gentle and curious tone, she started, “Charlie?”
“Yes?” I responded, putting my food down and paying full attention.
“I’ve been wondering…about the day we met.”
“What about it?”
“You mentioned Equestria…before I ever said anything about it. How did you know I came from Equestria?”
I paused. I tried to think of the best way I could explain it, but my mind was rushing, somewhat panicked. I replied as best I could, “I know about it because…well…those cartoons….I’ve showed you.”
“What do you mean?”
I rubbed my head, “It’s kind of hard to explain, it would be better if I showed you. It may be confusing, but I’m sure you’ll understand.”
“Showed me?”
“Wait here, I’ll get my laptop.”
I got my laptop and went to a video site that I’d used dozens of times to show her other cartoon shows, she rolled her eyes, thinking I was going to show her something else. Then I loaded up the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. She was now paying full attention. All she had to see was Twilight sparkle before she was shocked and confused. The way this unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, the way she was drawn looked exactly like how Stardust looked in person. She continued watching, her eyes completely entranced and her mouth agape. With every new pony that was introduced, her eyes flickered. They were all drawn in a similar style, just like how Stardust looked.
These were the first ponies she’d seen that looked similar to her, and they were….cartoons?
The first episode ended and her shock hadn’t quite worn off. I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “Star?”
Without looking away, she whispered out, “Another…”
“What?”
“Another…episode….I want to see another.”
I loaded the second episode, then the third, then fourth. After each episode ended, we loaded up the next episode and watched it without any words beyond, “Another.”
We watched the entire first season, back-to-back episodes, non-stop. It concerned me, but I knew I should just continue and let her watch until she was satisfied. We didn’t stop to eat; she never moved from her chair; it was as if she’d forgotten all about reality while she watched it.
At the end of the first season, she finally looked away from the monitor and closed her mouth. She thought for a moment, then looked over to me, then down again.
I reached over and stroked her mane. She jumped a bit and looked up at me, but didn’t struggle. I spoke softly, “Star? Are you alright?”
She mumbled out, “Y-yeah. I just…am I…a cartoon?”
I shook my head, “No way. You’re as real as can be.”
“But those ponies! Twilight, and Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, and the others, they’re all cartoons! And they’re all like me!”
“But they aren’t you. YOU’RE you. And you exist, which means you’re not a cartoon. You’re here, which means Equestria must really be real. Whether the Equestria on that screen is real or not, or whether it’s the same one, we don’t know. You came from a world called Equestria, that means Equestria exists. Did you ever hear of any places called Canterlot or Ponyville?”
“I never heard of Ponyville, but there was a Canterlot. There was a Princess Celestia, a Princess Luna…ah!” Her eyes widened, “There was also one night, it was the night of the Summer Sun Celebration, and the sun didn’t come up! The night lasted a long, long time, nobody in the village knew what was wrong! I remember all that! The sun did come up eventually, and I remember hearing rumors about some ponies who had saved the Princess, how they got a stained-glass window in their honor. It must be the same one!”
“See? If you remember all that, then it must be real. It must even be the same one. I don’t know how it wound up as a cartoon here.”
“Maybe magic?”
“Makes the most sense to me.”
She giggled a bit. I was glad this didn’t turn out so badly, learning about the world she came from. She smiled a little bit, then her stomach let out a loud growl. She giggled more and said sheepishly, “Charlie? I’m hungry.”
“Then let’s eat.”
We ate a late supper and moved ourselves to the bed where we started watching season two of MLP:FIM. She was curious about the characters and wanted to know more. We watched it until we were both tired and fell asleep, then resumed watching on Sunday morning. I showed her the Wikipedia pages for MLP:FIM where she read up on them and learned more about the background characters. She learned all that she could about them without straying into the darker depths of the fandom. It was nothing less than fun.
The days flew by one after another. We went to school together, enjoyed our time together, and before we knew it, the school year was over.
Over the course of the summer, Stardust practiced creating new spells and reading many more books. She’d perfected the teleportation spell, as well as one for transformation. She mainly learned this spell so that she could disguise herself as me and go to the library freely. She’d practiced levitating pens to the point where she could rapidly type on the keyboard with them effortlessly. She primarily enjoyed exploring Wikipedia, going from article to article, subject to subject, learning all kinds of new things about Earth and its human history. She explored the ideas of religion and the various sciences, finding herself in a difficult position. Science made sense, but nothing about her magic made much sense. She learned a lot and only continued to learn and grow.
Physically she’d gotten bigger. Taller, longer, but she was still not a full-grown pony. She also did not have her cutie mark. This was to be expected as she didn’t have many opportunities to explore other possible talents.
While she practiced her magic, I searched for any new developments on any new information about her brother. She told me his name and his appearance, a red unicorn called Blaze Hart. Most of my searches ended up with finding various Original Character ponies designed by other people with no legitimate clues to his whereabouts. We started to think that maybe he wasn’t even on Earth. We still didn’t know how Star got to Earth either. There were so many questions that were gradually forgotten to the passing time. We enjoyed the now, and the now was us together.
Summer, too, came to an end, and with the coming of fall, brought a new set of children and the introduction of Stardust all over again. Sometimes children from the previous year would come visit her during recess and lunch breaks. The children adored her, and she enjoyed them.
It was now winter break. I had two weeks off and I had a one-week reservation for vacation time up near a skiing resort. I normally didn’t go because I was comfortable in my apartment, but with Star here, I wanted her to enjoy her vacation in the snow.
We spent the first week of vacation getting ready. We needed to buy winter jackets that would fit Star and keep her warm, she also needed to practice taking the form of someone other than me. She would go with me with the disguise of one of my previous students, a little blonde girl named Gwendolyn. We also looked for a way to get to the mountain and found we’d have to take a bus to another town and then another bus up the mountain to the resort.
The time came and we were excited. There wasn’t much to do on either bus ride, but we had each other, and kept ourselves entertained. Ironically, we ended up talking about My Little Pony, discussing who our favorite ponies were. I liked Rarity and Twilight, she liked Applebloom and Twilight.
We eventually made our way to the resort and checked in. Once in the room Star flopped on the bed and changed back to her normal self. She was exhausted since she had to keep her disguise up for most of the day, yet she was still excited to go playing in the snow. I told her to eat some food and rest, then we would build a snowman later.
So we did. We ate, made a snowman, then quickly erupted into a snowball fight. There weren’t many people around, so she started using magic to chuck snow at me. I was completely outmatched, but it was fun.
At night we laid in our bed. It was softer and larger than the one in the apartment, yet Star insisted that she preferred the one at the apartment. Despite the larger bed, she still drew up against me and fell asleep. I couldn’t help but heave a slight chuckle at this and hold her tightly as I, too, fell asleep.
The next day we ate food in the resort cafeteria, a larger variety and more tasty than what we had at the apartment. Star pouted because she wasn’t allowed to cook our food. I joked about letting her cook some ramen cups for us. Later, we spent the day going skiing. We were both terrible at it and were afraid to go fast on skis. We both fell, over and over again. We resorted to sledding instead, which she enjoyed much more. It was another fun and exhausting day that ended with us retreating back to our room. However, this time, we did not stay in our room.
It was later in the evening, dark out, and Star had gotten out of the bed where we were watching more cartoons on my laptop. She made her way for the door as I called to her, “Star, what’s wrong?”
She looked over to me, her eyes were wider, but she seemed…absent-minded, like she was in a trance. She moaned out, “I…have to go…..outside. I feel…..strange….”
With that, and without any disguise or invisibility, she used her magic to turn the handle and exit the room. I quickly put on my heavy jacket and pants and went out after her, bringing the heavy clothing she’d left behind.
Out in the snow, she was moving slowly through the snow. I caught up quickly, but didn’t force her to come back with me. She didn’t seem fazed by the cold or the snow and merely proceeded out behind the resort and into the woods. I was cautious about being out in a dark forest at night, yet that didn’t seem to faze her either.
We kept moving until we came to a clearing in the forest. In the clearing there was a very large, slanted, jagged rock that pointed skyward. Star proceeded towards it and scaled it to the top, about 8 feet above the rest of the snow. She then directed her head skyward and gazed at the stars. I also looked up.
The sky was perfectly clear, no clouds from yesterday, no pollution from city lights, just all the stars glimmering in the heavens above. Then there came a light. It was coming from Stardust. It looked over to her and there, on her flank, appeared her cutie mark. It looked like a four-pronged light-purple spiral that got thicker as it got closer to the center, it also had 8 dark-teal diamonds, 2 by the tip of each prong. At first I was confused, what kind of talent was that, and why now? Then it occurred to me and I looked heaven-ward again. Her cutie mark looked like a spiral galaxy. Then, her special talent was a galaxy?
I thought about it. Celestia’s was the sun, Luna’s was the moon. They were both powerful and capable of moving large heavenly bodies. I guess it was possible for Stardust’s to be something similar, but moving a whole galaxy seemed…impossible.
As she gazed at the stars, her horn began to glow, and as if in response to her, the stars began to glow brighter as well, and flickered. Some stars that were harder to see became more visible. It was a spectacular sight, far more majestic than any photograph than I had ever seen. I was dumbstruck until Stardust spoke, “Come up here Charlie, I want you to see something.”
Her voice sounded a little different, more mature. There wasn’t much emotion in her tone, perhaps some happiness.
I scaled the rock and stood by her side. She spoke again, “Look. Do you see it? The little green star far to the upper-right.”
I looked and looked, but there were so many stars it was hard. I finally spotted it. It was glowing a little brighter than the rest and gently flickering.
She smiled, “That little green star is Equestria. Faaar, faaaar away.”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” She replied, “I can just….feel it. I can feel many things. Like little voices in my heart, each one telling me, ‘Here I am! Hello!’ It’s a warm feeling.”
“What else can you feel?”
“I can feel the many stars and planets, the nebulae, everything.”
“Even on Earth?”
“Mhm. I can feel every single person on Earth. I don’t know them, or anything about them. I just know where they are.”
“Then, do you know where your brother is?”
“Yes. He’s far away from here, but he truly is on Earth. He’s across the ocean to the west.”
“Hawaii?”
She chuckled, “No Charlie, farther.”
“Japan, then?”
“Hmm…yes…I think that’s the place.”
“Then….we really found him.”
“Yes we did.” As she said this, she closed her eyes and her horn ceased glowing, the stars with it. Her backside fell on her rump, eyes still closed, just breathing for a moment. Slowly, she opened her eyes again and looked at me. She smiled, “Hey Charlie.”
I nervously chuckled, “Hey Star.”
She looked back up at the stars, her eyes half-closed, she sounded tired as she said, “They’re so pretty…”
“Yes they are.”
“Charlie, I’m cold.”
“Hang on.” I wrapped her jacket around her and picked her up, cradling her in my arms. She fell asleep with a calm smile on her face.
I took her back to the room and set her gently on the bed. I wrapped my arms around her and fell asleep by her side. We finally found him.
We spent the rest of our vacation as we intended to. More fun in the snow and comforts of what the resort had to offer. She was very excited to have her cutie mark and seemed to be able to use her magic more effortlessly. It also seemed true that she knew where everyone was all the time. She would randomly turn her head and look if there was someone around the corner or behind a tree. She also seemed more…free. She had a sort of composed happiness about her, one that expressed a temporary joy about a funny joke, but one that shone with a joy that came from one’s heart, from finding one’s calling. I knew because it was the way I felt when I first took in Stardust.
The vacation ended and school resumed immediately after with only enough time to unpack and rest between the two. In our free times we discussed how we might make our way over to Japan to search for her brother. The problem was that I simply didn’t have the money to go on such an adventure, and I didn’t know how we would come back to the United States unless her brother also had a disguise spell. Star came up with an idea, due to her seeming omniscience. She could tell that Blaze wasn’t wandering the streets, he was living in an apartment building with someone; however, over the week that she observed him, it seemed he never left the room he was staying in. She explained how she wanted to search the internet again, but this time in Japanese. I didn’t know enough Japanese, I wasn’t that obsessed with anime that I bothered to learn it. She knew it though.
“When did you learn Japanese? And HOW for that matter?” I asked
She blushed with embarrassment, “O-over summer, actually. I read your Japanese textbook and learned a lot of it from there.”
“Well, that book covers elementary Japanese one and two. What about the rest?”
“I…uh…looked up…lessons…..online?”
“Really? Geez, where was I when you were doing all this?”
“Out shopping and doing your jogging. You gave me lots of time to do it.”
I swatted my forehead with my palm. I had been none the wiser to any of this. I smiled and looked at her, “Still, this is convenient. Then you can take over the search. I’ll….uh….”
“You can cook the snacks!”
“Yeah…cook…..I’ll do that.”
“Don’t be shy Charlie, I know you’ve been wanting to cook too. You seemed so proud of your ‘Magnificent omelettes!’ “ She chuckled.
She got me there. I decided, instead, to work on baking brownies while she took on the internet search.
After only about twenty minutes she found some success. There was an internet blog announcing how she had found an orange unicorn by the name of Blaze Hart and that he was looking for his sister. The name of his sister wasn’t announced. The blog was about eight months old and all of the replies expressed skepticism and ridicule. The blog lead to a user profile with contact information.
I decided to give the number a call. After some time, the other side picked up. The voice was like that of a young man, and I could tell his accent was very much English.
“Moshi Moshi?” The voice said.
“Hello. I’m looking for a pony named Blaze Hart. Is he there?” I replied.
I could hear a gasp on the other side and they began speaking enlish, “Yes, it’s me, Blaze. And who’re you? Another one of those trolls? That blog is like, a year old. Cut us a break.”
“No, this is not a trolling effort,” I said with urgency, “Listen, my name is Charles Everwood, your sister Stardust is here. Another gasp and then shouting, “What!? She’s there!? I never told anybody her name! She must be there! Is she alright!? Can I talk to her!?”
“Yes, hold on. I’ll put her on the phone.”
I held the phone up for her to take with her levitation spell and said, “He wants to talk to you.”
She took the phone up to her ear and said wearily, “Hello?”
“Sis? Is that really you? That’s you, right?”
Tears began to form in Stardust’s eyes and she bit her lip. She’d recognize her brother’s voice anywhere. Her voice quivered as she said, “Yes. Yes, brother. It’s really me. Your sister Stardust is here. She’s safe and she’s so happy to finally talk to you.”
“Thank Celestia, finally! Not a day went by where I didn’t worry about you! How have you been? Where are you? What have you been doing all this time?”
Star giggled a little bit, sniffled, and wiped her tears away, “I-I’ve been well. This man, Charlie, he took me in. He gave me a home in the United States of America, gave me food and he took good care of me.”
“Gosh, that’s great Star. Hey, I’ve been doing alright over here too. This lady named Yukiko took me in. She feeds me and stuff but says I shouldn’t go outside or people will go nuts! She’s been trying to teach me some Japanese, but sis, I just don’t get it all, ya know?”
She laughed through her tears, “Yes. That’s wonderful, brother.”
“So how are we gonna meet? I know about the U.S., it’s across the ocean! Have to take a plane or boat or something. Can Charlie get you over here?”
I shook my head. Star replied, “He doesn’t have the money to do it soon, and it would be some time before he had the opportunity to get one. He works as a teacher.”
“Ah. Well I’ll take it up with Yuki, see if she can arrange for something. And Sis…”
“Yes, brother?”
“I’m so, so, SO glad that you’re alright. I was worried sick.”
“I’m happy that you’re okay too.” Star sniffled, her tears were gone by now.
“I’m gonna hang up now so I can contact Yuki, okay? But I’ll call back real soon! Okay?”
“Okay!”
“I love ya, Sis.”
“I love you too, brother.”
He hung up. Star lowered her head, a smile on her face. She was happy and trying to fight back the tears. I knelt down and we embraced one another and she allowed her tears to run.
A few minutes later, the phone rang again. It was Blaze Hart.
“Hello? Blaze?” Star answered.
“Yeah, it’s me. I texted Yuki, she said she could arrange a plane flight over next week! There’s some holiday happening and she’ll have Saturday through Monday off!”
“That’s great!”
“So uh, what plane should we be taking? Where do you guys live?”
The two exchanged information. There was an airport in the next town over that they could fly to and the meeting would be happening next Saturday. We were all extremely excited for the week to come that we could barely sleep that night.
Yet the week rolled by and it was Saturday. I had rented a car for two days and drove to the next town over. It was a town near a mountain range, away from too much city development. There were still plains and hills and a little forestry. At the airport, I held up a sign that read “Blaze Hart” in black sharpie, Star had taken the form of a little blonde girl again.
Eventually, a couple approached us. One was a Japanese woman with long black hair over her left shoulder. My guess was that she was in her late twenties, but I was pretty bad at guessing ages.
Next to her was a young Japanese teen with black bowl-cut hair. However, when he spoke, it was just like the one on the phone. He was looking at Star when he said, “Star?”
She responded, “Blaze?”
The two rushed for each other and embraced tightly.
I approached the Japanese woman and held out my hand for a handshake, “Hello. You must be Miss Yukiko. I’m Charles Everwood, I’ve been taking care of Stardust.”
She responded in english, though somewhat broken, “Hello. I am Yukiko Sanada. It is pleasure to meet you. Yes, I take care of Blaze. He is a good friend. Funny and silly.”
I chuckled a bit and said, “So…where would you all like to go?”
Star reached over and took my hand, holding Blaze Hart’s with her other. She smiled up at me and said, “Let’s go somewhere private so that Blaze and I can talk.”
I understood and we all got into the rental car. I headed towards the hills and drove off to the side of the road where we all got out and started walking. We walked over the first hill and looked out across. It was a nice place with a few trees here and there. It was cold, but the sun was out.
As we descended the first hill, Blaze Hart and Stardust shed their disguises and trotted alongside one another, smiling. Blaze Hart was an orange unicorn with a wild, crimson mane. It was somewhat long and spiked all along it. His eyes were an amber color and his cutie mark appeared to be a flaming pink heart. No special talents came to mind.
Blaze looked at Stardust’s flank and exclaimed, “Star! You got your cutie mark! When did that happen!?”
Star giggled, “It was actually a few weeks ago, actually.”
“And I wasn’t around for it! Aw man! Well…I’m happy for you though! Guess you found your special talent!”
“Mhm, and you could say that my special talent found you!”
“Huh?” Blaze tilted his head quizzically.
The four of us walked and talked and shared our stories with one another until the sun began to set. Even still, we kept talking. We settled atop a hill and looked up at the glistening stars in the sky. The two siblings lay side-by-side.
Star looked over to Blaze and said, “Well brother? Are you ready to go home?”
“Home?” He questioned, “You mean Equestria?”
“Yup.” She smiled.
“Well sure! But how do we get back there?”
I looked over to them. Star looked back at me and smiled. Was she going to leave? Was this it? A whole year together, and she was going to leave? She could see what was going through my mind by the expression on my face. She simply shook her head, still smiling at me.
She and Blaze both got up as she said, “I can get us back, but I need your help, brother.”
At this point I got up, I wanted to ask if they were really leaving, but I didn’t want to sound selfish. This was their first reunion in a whole year of separation in a strange world, who was I to ruin it?
Once again, Star smiled at me and said, “Charlie, we’re leaving…” She leaned her head towards Blaze. He figured he should do the same and leaned his head down, the tips of their horns touched and began to shine. Star spoke again, “We’re leaving, but you’re not leaving without you two.”
The two unicorns began to step back, the light began to expand, taller and wider, forming a ring. There was something inside the ring, but I couldn’t tell what yet. The two continued moving back and the ring grew wider. In the ring I could make out what it was. Houses, flowers, no paved road; inside that ring was Ponyville. Inside that ring was Equestria.
I gazed in awe as the ring grew bigger until it was a 7-ft oval-shaped portal. The two unicorns’ horns stopped glowing and they moved over beside us, Stardust was by my side, Blaze was by Yukiko’s.
Star and Blaze looked up at us. Star began by saying, “You welcomed us to your world.”
Blaze continued, “Now it’s our turn to welcome you to ours.”
Star nudged my leg, “Come on Charlie, let’s get going!”
I looked down at Star, then over to Blaze and Yukiko. It looked towards the portal and stopped thinking. There was no need to think anymore. What was beyond that portal was something new, something completely different from the life I was living. What was beyond that portal was nothing but days of fun, fun for all of us, not just me. What was beyond that portal was that life-changing something that my heart had been anticipating for so long. I took the first step and we all moved together into the portal where a flash of light enveloped all of us.
It wasn’t my world anymore, but it was still our life. Together….all of us.
