> Asio and Thunder Flare visit equestria > by Thunder Flare > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > New beginnings > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I awoke in a daze, my head is pounding I sit propped up on my hands. Something felt funny. I realized they aren't hands, but instead they were hooves. The first thought that runs through my head is what the heck am I gonna do? What happened to my hands and when? I attempted to calm my still racing mind and tried to stand up and get off the bed, but instead I fell flat on my face. Feeling incompetent lying facedown on the floor,I scrambled to get up only moving my hands- I mean forehooves. I looked back and noticed that I had a back pair of hooves too. I slowly lifted myself off my face I focused on learning how to control all of my appendages, flicking my tail and shifting my hooves l, then I felt something heavy resting at my sides. I turn my head to see what it was, and I saw wings. I had wings! I observed the other minor things, my coat being a dark purple, and the like. I heard the sound of hooves coming up the stairs hurriedly, I looked over at the door to the room as it flew open, slamming into the wall with a resounding BANG. An earth pony runs into the room, who I immediately recognized as my friend Damien. He’s going on about something, though I couldn’t really tell because his mouth is moving a mile a minute, looking just as confused as I was. I told him to calm down and breathe,then I tell him to repeat himself. He starts to explain what happened, describing how he was on Ponibooru at about midnight, and he randomly turned into a pony himself. His first response was to rush over here and tell me about it. I spent my time observing him, extremely confused as to why we turned into ponies for no apparent reason. I wondered to myself if anybody else had transformed into ponies like us. Suddenly, with a bright white flash from the center of the room, Celestia appeared in front of us. We shielded our eyes from the intense light. After the light died down, we could finally look at Celestia. Her long flowing mane was even more extravagant in person, the flowing locks of green, and purple, and blue with pink, all waving as if carried on an invisible breeze. After a minute of standing in awe, Celestia spoke to us. “I have come to take the two of you to Equestria with me.” I didn’t know what to say, I was shocked and confused.We didn’t exactly know why we were chosen to be taken there, and standing there lost in thought, I toyed with the idea of saying no, but decided against it. I decided to break the awkward silence. “Why were we chosen to go to Equestria,” I paused thinking of a reason that I might have missed “Are we special?” Celestia looked at me sternly, and I was afraid I had ruined our chances of going to see our favorite ponies. After a moment, she responded. “We have decided to see if ponies and humans can live alongside each other in harmony.” I glanced at Damien and he was just smiling, probably lost in his own thoughts. thinking of meeting Pinkie Pie. I looked back at Celestia and responded “Yes, we’ll go.” She cast a spell and a bright flash of blue illuminated the room. When the light subsided, we were in the throne room of the Royal Castle in Canterlot. Celestia looked at us with purpose. “In order for the two of you to better fit in, I shall give you both new names. I will grant you” she started, looking over at Damien, “the name Night Writer,” she paused for a moment before looking over at me. “And you will be called Thunder Flare.” The two of us bowed in respect, and we were shown out of the room. we were escorted to the courtyard, where Celestia had an air balloon waiting for us. before we climbed into the balloon, one of the guards that had taken us here had given a letter to Damien- uh, Night Writer. We climbed into the dirigible and began floating above Equestria. Night Writer began reading the note aloud as we glided over Ponyville, but I stopped paying attention . The only thing I could think of was the beautiful landscape below us: the rolling hillsides, the streams and rivers, I could even see the Everfree Forest off in the distance. The view gave me an idea. I looked back at Night Writer, who was still reading off what Celestia had wrote. I rolled my eyes as I turned back and put my hooves on the edge of the wicker basket we were in. I pushed off and lunged out of the basket. Night Writer ran over to the other edge to see me falling. I tried to use my wings as I rocketed towards the ground, but they wouldn’t budge. I began panicking, the ground getting closer and closer with each second that passed. Struggling against the wind, something connected in my head, and I unfurled my wings. Just too late though as I started flapping against the pull of gravity, only to be slammed into the ground. I could almost feel Night Writer facehoof as he lowered the balloon to the ground where I was lying. He stepped out of the balloon, trying to laugh and talk at the same time. “You are such an idiot.” I stared daggers up at him from the ground.“Just shut up already.” I shook my head and staggered to my hooves. It was rather surprising that I didn’t break anything from the fall. After I checked to see if everything was still in the proper places, we climbed back into the balloon and started rising again.. I asked Night Writer if he knew where we were going. He looked over at me and said “Nope. but we have a map!” After hours of traveling over rolling green hills and a few scattered forests we finally reached the outer parts of ponyville Night Writer lowered the balloon to the ground and we left the balloon and stepped onto the ground. We started walking around Ponyville asking if there was any vacancy; A mare said there were a couple vacant buildings, and the cheapest one for rent was 50 bits a month near Twilight Sparkle’s tree, we asked were we could earn some bits and she directed us towards Sweet Apple Acres where we could buck apple trees to earn bits. The mare guided us to Sweet Apple Acres when we got there we followed a dirt road through an apple orchard blooming with huge red apples. a little bit further ahead of us we saw a mare kicking an apple tree with her hind hoofs causing all the apples in the tree to fall perfectly into two separate wicker baskets. We walked for about five more minutes until we reached the barn and saw a large red stallion who was pulling a cart of apples into the barn I saw us and walked over to us and before he could say anything I spoke up and said “A mare told us we could earn some bits here to pay for a place to stay by helping out with bucking apple trees, is this true?” and he looked at us with a blank stare and replied “Eeeyup.” Night Writer says “Great!” I look at him for out of the blue finally talking after being lost in thought for so long “When can we start?” he asked, the stallion pointed a hoof at the mare walking up that we saw earlier, “Well if’n ain’t you two,” I was startled by the sudden thick country accent “What’re you two do’en here?” she looked at us with a huge smile, and I replied “Yeah we are looking for work and were told we could get some work here.” I smiled back at her “Yup I reckon that I can find you some work here.” she rubbed her head with her hoof “I know! you can help me buck some trees! she said pointing at Night Writer “And you can help move apples with Big Macintosh faster ‘en he can i reckon, since you can fly and all.” I stammered “But I can’t really...” Too late she was already off walking towards the orchard Night Writer tailing her. “Well see you later Night Writer I guess...” He turned around and waved “Have fun!”and he snickered as he walked away. I was glaring, I guess and Big Mac said “Lets get started.” and i reluctantly said “I...I...guess.” I followed him to the barn and she showed me a pile of apples, a HUGE pile of apples, my heart sank. This was going to be impossible if i couldn’t fly properly, I lowered my head and sighed. Better start working i said, I started working carrying the apples back and forth. After several hours of walking my legs were tired and i wasn’t even halfway done, I was determined to learn how to fly so i started trying to pinch the nerve in my brain that makes my wings flap and until finally i did and my wings started flapping in alternating patterns i tried to coordinate them and finally after minutes of trying i got them to flap in sync, now i worked on putting enough power into the wing flap to get myself off the ground i finally did it I yelled “I DID IT YES!” I felt a huge grin on my face and started getting higher of the ground and higher and higher and higher “This is going great!” I was feeling extremely happy. I started moving forward then lost control of my wings and started falling “AAAHH!” and I crashed into the ground and I looked to the side and saw Big Mac standing over to the left “Have you been.....?” i asked still dazed from my crash his response was “Eeeyup.” I was able to carry the apples back and forth much faster now that I finally learned how to fly. By the time we were finally done it was almost sundown now I was tired and I look back to the orchard and see Night Writer walking up, with the mare from earlier. Night Writer fell to the ground from exhaustion. “Apple bucking is a lot harder... than what I thought it would be.” He said with a very whiny voice. He got up from his slumped partly dead stance. “I don’t ever want to do that... AGAIN!! Anyway Apple Jack gave me only 25 bits.” I then replied somberly “I only made 24 bits.” Night Writer lowered his head he responded “What are we gonna do?!” he looked at me with a stern look “How did you only make 24 bits?” “I learned how to fly.” I responded he rolled his eyes then Apple Jack walked up and said “Here go ahead have this here one bit.” she smiled and dropped the bit in my little pouch holding the bits that Big Mac gave me. “Thanks!” I smiled at Apple Jack and then Night Writer and myself walked away from the barn worn out and started back down the path through the orchard back to the cottage we’re going to rent out. > The party begins! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We woke up after a long day and went down stairs, our cottage was quaint but not small, my stomach gurgled and so did Night Writers. “Thunder Flare can we go get some food?” Night Writer asked “No we don’t have any bits, remember.” “Oh yeah.” he looked sad “Cheer up maybe we can work for some bits and get some food.” I tried to sound encouraging “NOOOOOO I’M NOT DOING THAT EVER AGAIN!” Night Writer wailed he slumped down and covered his face with his hooves “Come on get up we should get going now and see if we can get another job there.”and with that we left the cottage and headed down to Sweet Apple Acres after an hour of working Night Writer was already complaining about too much work for two ponies. We walked back to Sugarcube Corner which Night Writer was excited about for two reasons, One; he wanted food particularly sweets, and two; he wanted to meet Pinkie Pie. Night Writer was infatuated with Pinkie Pie, We passed by two fillies and they snickered at us and yelled “Blank flanks!” and walked away, I looked behind at my flank it was blank, Night Writer did the same he showed an expression of disappointment. “Guess Princess Celestia wanted us to find our special talents like everypony else then, huh Thunder Flare?” He said letting out a sigh. “We’re here.” I broke an awkward silence Night Writer ran inside the front door of the building the doors a bell rang signaling a customer had entered, Night Writer was already at the front counter bouncing up and down, “What can i get you today?” Mr.Cake asked Night Writer “Can i see Pinkie Pie?!” he was excited and you could hear it in his voice “Well she’s not here at the moment but she will be back later.” He smiled I walked up and ordered ourselves two slices of cake, chocolate cake with whipped cream and strawberries on top; it looked delicious, Mr.Cake handed us the two cakes and we sat down at a pink wooden table inside the store I just slammed my face into the cake and the table shook. Night Writer looked at me and looked like he just didn’t know what to say in response to that. Night Writer picked up the cake carefully with his left forehoof and slowly brought it to his muzzle and carefully tried to eat it. We ate the cake and left I had frosting all over my muzzle; I looked like an idiot. He told me to wipe it off as we headed back to our cottage, and as we were heading back we ran into another pony, a mare, her mane was poofy and pink. She looked right at us silent for a moment, then she started talking extremely fast and I saw Night Writer out of the corner of my eye he had the biggest grin on his face; the pony we had run into was Pinkie Pie. I caught a few words like “Party” and “At Sweet Apple Acres” and at “7:00 p.m” and something about how she threw a party for all the new ponies in ponyville so they could make friends and get to know other people, with that she took off running a dust cloud left in her place where she was standing. “Ok......” I looked at Night Writer and he was ecstatic “Yay!” He shouted as he bounced into the air. We arrived back at our small little cottage and went in to relax, but, not two minutes after we get inside a loud knock is heard from our door, I walked over to the door and opened it up to see a tall white stallion with golden armor and a blue mane and tail at our door; I froze up, thinking we did something wrong Night Writer walked over and the stallion introduced himself “I am one of the royal guards from Canterlot Castle,” he paused and looked at the now un-petrified me “I have come to deliver a message from Princess Celestia,” he cleared his throat “Thunder Flare and Night Writer, I Celestia have told my student Twilight Sparkle about the two of you, she wants to meet you two tomorrow at her tree i’m sure she will want to know where you two came from, don’t tell her about your where you are actually from, Sincerely Princess Celestia.” and with that he left after we nodded our heads. “I’ve been so worn out since the moment we got here.” I sighed “Me too.” Night Writer agreed and just flopped down. I flew into my room and dropped onto the soft, plush bed and went to sleep. Night Writer woke me up at 6:50 and said we had to go, i was still groggy and didn’t really want to get up and I had almost forgotten about the party, I knew he wasn’t going to let me miss it so i got up and finally we left. As we headed down to Sweet Apple Acres I noticed that Ponyville was practically empty, all the stores were closed and everypony was gone, it was eerie and very creepy. When we finally made it to Sweet Apple Acres I looked and saw that every tree that had apples on it this morning were bucked clean, only the green leaves and brown bark were left. When we reached the barn I saw a note on the barn door that said “Come in!” and i thought that was peculiar, I pushed open the big red barn door and we were greeted with a huge “SURPRISE!” from every pony in Ponyville! This was a massive party and Pinkie Pie ran up to us and started asking us “Did we get ya?” she was very hyper, “Did we?” she had the biggest smile I’d ever seen on anyponies face. “Hi Pinkie!” Night Writer said, I just decided to leave them alone and walked away and went to the food table, I saw all kinds of colorful things to eat and drink. I saw candied apples, and sugar cookies, and cake all looking so delicious, I just smiled and dug in. After a while another pegasus approached me she had a rainbow colored mane and rainbow colored tail, I immediately knew it was the one and only Rainbow Dash. I started to talk “Rainbow Dash!” she looked at me weird “How do you know my name?” I thought for a moment, crap I shouldn’t have done that. “Who doesn't know the greatest flier in Equestria!” I smiled hoping she’d buy my bluff. “Haha, yeah i guess you’re right.” she smiled “You want to race?” I looked at her she looked like she was gonna laugh “You really wanna race me?” “Fine, i’ll humor you,” she said “We’ll race.” I smiled and we walked outside of the barn, she turned to me and said “First one to make it around the farm wins.” I nodded, and swallowed the lump in my throat. “Ready?” she announced “Set!” “Go!” and we took off, she was way ahead of me, so i tried to speed up, faster, I thought, then outta nowhere my wings just stopped flapping completely. I fell and slammed into a tree, my face hurt so much, Rainbow Dash flew over and just started laughing, “You really were fast there for a second, almost caught up with me!” she smiled and helped me off the ground, i rubbed my face with my hoof, “Maybe, just maybe i’ll give you flight lesson, since it doesn't look like you know how to fly too well.” now I smiled and was trying not to jump up and down. We walked back to the barn and the party had just ended, Night Writer was happy, and every other pony was tired. We said goodbye to everypony and started to head back home “That was fun.” I said to Night Writer “I saw you leave with Rainbow Dash.” sarcasm in his voice, I smiled and we left. > Love, flight, and writing > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next morning we awoke. “Thunder!” Night Writer whined “What?” I groaned “Make some breakfast!” Night Writer yelled “Ugh, fine.” I rolled my eyes he coulda made it himself, and proceeded to get off the bed and walk downstairs. “Just messing with ya, I just wanted you to get out of bed.” Night Writer had said jumping off his bed and walking downstairs. When I finally got downstairs he had already made a breakfast it was a really simple breakfast, eggs boiled and sunny side up, some toast slightly burnt, of course we are still adjusting to our new bodies, and I glanced downwards at the plate. “So I figured instead of me working at the farm today I would go to the school and see if there was anything I could help out with down there.” Night Writer had told me this as he finished his food and placed his dishes in the sink. With that he left and headed down to the school house, I sighed and didn’t feel like walking down to Sweet Apple Acres, I wolfed down the food and mulled over the thought of working, and it didn’t seem like much fun but, then I remembered that Rainbow Dash was home today so I dashed out of the house in an instant and headed down to Rainbow’s house. I was in a hurry and as I zoomed down the street in a hurry to get to Dash’s house I didn’t see that a small stage was coming up in front of me and before I realized I it , it was too late, and I had slammed into another pony. I looked up dazed and rubbed my throbbing head, and saw a blue unicorn dressed in a wizards hat, and starry cloak. At that moment I knew, I had run into Trixie, the first words I uttered were “Oh dear god no.” I had a look of terror in my eyes “How dare you crash into the great and powerful TRIXIE!” was all i heard her say in response. She had the biggest scowl I had ever seen on her face, it looked like I had interrupted one of her shows. I was greeted with "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" she huffed and lifter her light blue hoof off the ground slightly "I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!" She looked back down at me, it looked like she expected an apology. Normally I would have offered an apology but she was stuck up, self-centered, ignorant and the list goes on and on. "I know who you are," I stood up and dusted my coat off "And I don't care much for you either." “And in all honesty, for all I care, you can go die in a hole.” I walked off, and Trixies mouth was wide open. I was trying to hold back the laugh attack. I continued on to Rainbow Dash's house, but not too long after a unicorn came running through with some fabric and nearly crashed into me, I immediately realized that was Rarity, she looked frantic, I decided to go see what was going on. When i reached Rarity's boutique I knocked, at first there was no answer then, Rarity opened the door and was a mess. "What do you want! I'm a very busy pony!" "Um, I was just wondering if you could use some help?" I was afraid she would just get madder. "Why yes, I suppose I could use a lackey," she walked away, and brought me a long scroll, "This is my shopping list, I have to make these dresses for a ball, and I need a few things." My jaw dropped, and my heart sunk. Walking away I unfurled the scroll and looked at the first item on list, pick up some fabric Rarity had waiting at a store. When I got there there was a lot more fabric than I thought. I was walking back to Rarity's boutique when I spotted Rainbow Dash flying overhead moving clouds around the sky. I was in a trance watching her fly around. I dropped all of Rarity's things and flew up into the sky to meet Rainbow Dash. "Hey Rainbow!" "Hey, you're the one I raced last night right? Thunder Flare one of the new stallions in town." I smiled at the fact that she remembered my name