A/N: I got the name Sigma Harmonizer out of a video game (Red Alert 3 Uprising). Just thought I should mention it. Also I use a few other things and names from that game in my first chapter, which won't appear ever again, at least the way I planned it.
I mark this day in my calendar as Doomsday
(as soon as I have one again)
Let's face it. Humanity is done for. And you know what? In my alternate reality (yes, I'm a supporter of the multiverse theory) it happened a freaking lot faster, as if someone pushed the fast forward button. But I'm getting ahead of everything.
Hi, my name is Sarah Teasdale (17) just your typical girl going on with her life and still secretly mourning over her brother's death. I don't like talking about that, so let's leave it at that.
I have long black hair, a bit pale skin, chocolate brown eyes and I'm 1.90 meter tall and, as I said already, lived a pretty normal live, considering the crazy times we went through. Heck, just look at the stuff we humans kept pulling up our sleeves. I mean the chromosphere? A device allowing to teleport things from one point to another? It's still a prototype, but the general public knows about it, due to some kind of "accident".
A tank got transported into the backyard of some dude. Yeah, their aiming pretty much sucks. This entire incident caused Future Tech to go public and hoo boy, they live up to their name. The stuff they secretly invented is just over the top. Of course their mainly military interested or rather were. They make all kind of new electronic stuff nowadays, pleasing the public and most of all calming a few critics down. Only a few, but the general public was another thing. It was much easier with them. I mean, we got new toys, even faster pcs, etc. etc.
The bad thing about all of this was, since everyone knew the USA had access to really high tech stuff, other nations either got jealous and sent spies or revealed what they got. Russia had a device which makes certain armed things invincible for several minutes. Prototype stadium. People started to suspect aliens were at work here and in more than one internet forum I read about the illuminati.
It didn't take long and we were in a second cold war. Well not as bad, not yet, but it was a really tough competition. The chromosphere was useful but limited, as well was the thing the Russians invented the iron wall.
Rumors about none nuclear weapons started to spread across the net. Oh joy. Well the women rate inside military ranks was still low, so there was a good chance in case of war I wouldn't be pulled out of my life.
It was not a question of if, it was when the war would start. I just hoped I would still live my oblivious life as soon as it would start. Yeah, I don't think too much of humans. I even had a few bets running with my buddies at the bar whether the new Sigma Harmonizer would be the last drop or not.
But let's get on with things, shall we?
I was wearing a black leather jacket over my grey pullover. It was rather cold today and it rained a little bit too. I also had my jeans on and my black boots. My hair was hanging loose down my back. I normally don't style it and the little rain didn't bother me. I did what I did every Saturday: going into the local bar and played billiard.
"What's up Sam?" I greeted the 22 year old bar owner. He ran away from home from a rich family, came down here I this out of nowhere town and used the cash from his family to have some start money before his bank card didn't work anymore.
"What's up?" he asked. No one knows if he even got every legal things covered like selling alcohol and stuff. A lot of laws changed due to increased criminal rate and I faintly remember something involving an allowance to sell alcohol at a certain age. Meh, nobody around here cares. He brought a bar into our little shit-hole here, that's what counted to every single one of us.
"Not much." I replied. He put my drink on the counter before I even got there. I nodded a silent thanks and walked over to the billiard tables and started playing. Since no one else was around Sam walked over to me and together we played a few rounds.
I just won again, hey I Am that good, when other guests arrived and Sam needed to go behind the bar again and serve drinks. I just kept playing and listened to the music playing in the background, while every now and then looking at the TV as the football game went on.
The guy sitting next to me in most of my classes, Max, arrived around lunch time. I just took a break from playing and was now happily munching down a pizza I ordered earlier. Sam is pretty laid back about food from outside, since he didn't made anything himself.
"Hey." Max greeted me as he placed himself next to me, greedily looking at my pizza. "Forget it, man. You still owe me 20 bucks."
"Aw man." he exclaimed overdramatically, while throwing his arms up. Of course he didn't have the money for me, but he had money to buy himself some drinks.
"They're going to activate the Sigma Harmonizer thing today." Max said. I nodded.
"Heard about that shit."
"And no one knows what exactly it is supposed to do."
"You're turning into captain obvious again." I told him. He never meant to, but he could get pretty annoying if you let him continue on talking. The US-Government planned on making this entire thing some sort of day to be remembered. Oh it would be remembered all right.
"Got any plans tomorrow?" Max asked me.
"Not really." I replied between bites.
"Good, Laura is holding a barbecue tomorrow. Wanna come?"
I looked up and thought about it for a few seconds. "Sure, why not." I replied. "Good." Max took out his new phone. It was of course from Future Tech with the black-blue design and the light blue screen. I still had my old iphone. Apple was going through some hard times, I tell you. Yeah, Future Tech ruined a bunch of companies already, slowly but steadily becoming a monopole. No one seemed to really notice except a few. And from that even lesser talked up in public. Only a matter of time until Future Tech would get enough influence to shut them up too. Wow, the more I think about this, the more it looks like some sci-fi movie coming true with the bad company taking over the government. And the Sigma Harmonizer is something to take over the world, somehow.
"…Sarah?"
"Huh…?"
"You were spacing out." Max pointed out. I shook my head clear and noticed I still had a half-eaten piece of pizza in my hand. "Sorry, you said something?" I finished the pizza quickly, stuffing the cold piece into my mouth.
"Not important." Max waved off. Sam increased the volume of the TV, now showing a life commentary about the Sigma Harmonizer, which was actually a pretty large white building. Military was there too. No, a closer look showed it was a security firm. There was some kind of logo "HS". Who knows what it meant?
With mild interest I looked up at the sceney. Sam had waited until all the usual talk and interviews were done and those freaks were actually getting to it. There were no reporters inside the building, but a camera connected to the outside world showed a few scientists in lab coats pushing a few buttons.
"Alright guys, prepare for the end of the world!" I joked, raising my glass. Everyone else in the bar raised their glasses and as the lever was pulled everyone drank whatever they had inside.
Nothing happened. If this would be an anime, I'm pretty sure the lead scientist would have sweatdropped as he was standing there awkwardly holding the lever down. I was about to burst out laughing, when the machine behind the fence, which looked like a simple generator in my eyes, turned to life.
"IT'S ALIVE!" Max gave his best creepy laugh, earning him a few other laughs. The Sigma Harmonizer seemed to be running on Windows Vista or something, because it was pretty slow and from what the scientists were giving each other looks things didn't seem to work the way they planned it.
Finally the machine turned on to its full capacity, at least from the sound of things and how fast the…I'm gonna call it wheel, because it reminds me of a wheel from a water generator. Anyways, it was spinning faster than before and some guy, who did the background-talk, said that it probably needed more time to get to its full capacity, than Future Tech predicted. If I ever would have the chance to go back in time, I'd go back to that one moment, right next to the guy who was talking and tell him: "Oh you just wait and see, bro."
Also it would have given me the chance to see what actually happened. But I wouldn't change humanity's demise. Well not quite demise, I was still there after all. We're close enough though.
Everything seemed to work fine, until the wheel increased its tempo. It spun faster and faster and faster, alarm signals and lights turned on, everything became brighter until the screen was white. And then there was static.
We were all sitting in silent inside the bar, the static of the TV making the only noise until it suddenly turned completely off. So did as well the refrigerator behind Sam, as well as the few lights of his stereo (which had been on standby) and the few lights. I thought it was just coincidence that this happened. A small part of me must have known it wasn't coincidence. I turned my head towards the window, following some kind of instinct of mine. There it was, some kind of light blue energy wave with electric sparks everywhere coming closer and closer.
I don't know how I did this. Maybe it was the shock or the realization there was no escaping or the simple fact humanity had finally gone too far and was paying for it. Whatever it was, I kept my calm. I'm not exaggerating or anything. Well, there is one more possibility…
I finished my drink, looked towards the window again and said. "Bro, I hope you visit me down in hell from time to time."
Sam dropped the glass he had been polishing. I heard it shattering.
Max needed to beat me to the last words anyone in this town had ever spoken. "Oh shit! Take cover!" Maybe he thought there was a way to survive it. Well, there was. The thing is…I just don't know how or why I did this.
XIII
Nr. 13 Death. In Tarot it stands for the end of something old and the beginning of something new. Here begins my new life, as the Element of Courage.
Or as I prefer to call it: the element of being totally nuts.
XIII
The first thing I saw was darkness, when I opened my eyes. I thought: This is the afterlife? How boring.
But then slowly my eyes got used to the darkness and I could make out some shapes in the shadows. I blinked a few times. Nope definitely wasn't a dream. I raised my arms. They felt like I haven't moved them in a while, but everything was still there. I still had the taste of my last drink in my mouth.
Did I actually survived this blast? If then I must be under some debris. Okay, there is debris here, but I'm not buried. Guess I should be grateful.
I carefully tried to get up, my body aching all over. I could feel some dust in my hair, so I brushed it with my fingers a little.
I can't see much, but this totally doesn't look like Sam's bar. That means there must be other survivors.
...
Oh man, I so hope this is all just a dream and I'm gonna wake up soon. For now, well it's my first time lucid dreaming. Let's play along and see where it goes.
My eyes adjusted to the light source from outside, which turned out to be the moon. I was in some kind of dungeon. Luckily the door was open. So I literally stumbled around, even hit the ground a few times. It really looked like some kind of medieval hallway with holes all over the place.
"Looks abandoned." I muttered as I carefully made my way through the rubbles. I lost count as to how many times I hit several body parts somewhere, but eventually made it towards a staircase.
I walked up, supporting myself against the wall. When I got out, I saw I really was in some kind of castle. The roof was taken off and overall it looked like one of those almost a millennia old castle I've seen during my visits in Europe.
"Looks pretty handy dandy. Nice moon. Wow, never seen the night sky so clear." I stretched myself as I looked around the stars. I probably would have looked for much longer, if it wouldn't have been for the light show that came out from one of the destroyed rooms not far from me. It was one level higher and the staircase was right in front of me.
Guess I should check it out.
I ran up the stairs, hearing voices echoing through the building. I got a little faster until I was finally up. "Holy shit." I commented. I must have hit my head somewhere because in front of me I saw a lavender small unicorn, which had been knocked to the ground and a bit away was a black...pegakorn? It had wings and a horn and was almost as tall as I was. It was obviously amused over the smaller grass chewer lying on the ground.
I.
HATE.
BULLIES.
"Hey buster!" I called out. Remember, a great part of me was still convinced that this was all a dream, so shouting at Nightmare Moon didn't seem that crazy to me.
"What? Who are you?"
"How about you go on against me? Instead of going against someone weaker as you, like the coward you are?"
The horse growled and I could see it even had sharp teeth. "Foolish creature, don't you know who I am?" she asked. From the voice it was definitely a she.
I smirked. This was one heck of an awesome dream. Well, I thought it was a dream, but...oh well, I'm getting ahead of myself. "Well, I sure know what you gonna be when I'm finished with you." I walked into the room until I was next to the unicorn. I took on the fighting position I learned from thai-boxing. "I never had horse meat on my burger. But, I guess there's a first for everything."
I started tapping my feet front and back. Staying mobile is one of the key things I learned in self defense course. The black horse thing snorted in amusement. "Foolish creature. Whatever you are, you will NOT interfere with my return."
"Jesus Christ, you sound like one of those cliché villains out of the comic books. Get at least a little imaginative." I charged at her, rather blindly. She just smirked and her horn started glowing up. "Watch out!" I was sure the voice belonged to the unicorn. She made me stumble a little, causing the shot the other horse set off to miss me barely.
"Laser beams? Oh, come on, at least give me a long ranged weapon or something!" I exclaimed. "This is totally NOT my day! First the Sigma Harmonizer does...whatever it did and now a freaking horse is going to kill me with laser beams? And it started all so well." I talked, while trying to think of something I could do.
"Don't worry. I feel rather generous today. Let me end your suffering."
So much for the dream. Let's hope it will happen again someday.
I held up my arms as she shot the beam at me. I heard it hitting something, only it didn't hit me. "What? IMPOSSIBLE!" she shouted. I slowly lowered my arms and opened my eyes. Around me was some kind of green force field around me. "What the heck?" I asked. Suddenly I felt something around my neck. I looked down to find that I was wearing a gold necklace. A green, round-shaped crystal was attached to it. I titled it a little with two fingers and was able to make out an 8, which appeared white in the right angle.
"Okay. Looks like it ain't game over for me just yet."
"Twilight!" We heard multiple voices behind us. I didn't look behind, since I didn't know how long the shield would last. "Looks like we're gonna get some audience."
I heard the unicorn gasp all of the sudden, as if she realized something. "You think you can destroy the elements of harmony just like that?" she asked.
Seriously? Harmony? Reminds me way too much of a certain thing.
"Well you're wrong. Because the spirits of the elements of harmony are RIGHT HERE!" she shouted.
Where the hell did they come from? There were 5 more grass chewers around. A unicorn, two pegasus...I don't know the plural. And two normal horses or from the size I'd say ponies. And all of them were pretty colorful.
"Nothing against reinforcements" I turned towards the lavender unicorn "but how exactly are they going to help us?"
As if to answer my question some crystal shards flew up, surrounded by some kind of colorful auras. "What?"
"Applejack, who tried to reassure me, when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of Honesty."
Where did the echo come from?
A few shards flew towards the orange pony with the stetson.
"Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of Kindness."
Seriously? Am I in some kind of kid's show? Hello, death? You dropped me in the wrong universe.
Shards flew towards the yellow pegasus.
"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling, represents the spirit of Laughter."
That smile is creepy~
"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of Generosity."
More shards.
"And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the spirit of Loyalty.
The spirits of those ponies managed to get us through every challenge you threw at us."
"You still don't have the sixth element!" the big mare yelled.
"Well, luckily I got a shield. And what's more: I got my fists!" I charged at her and this time I managed to get near her, because she was startled as to what was happening around her. My fist connected and I made sure to hit one of the exposed spots on her armor.
"Arrgh, how dare you...!"
She shot another beam at me. There was my shield again, but the beam pushed me back to the others. "Please tell me you got a backup plan. 'Cause mine isn't exactly working."
"Hah! The spark didn't work! You have no chance of defeating me!"
My unicorn friend disagreed. "But it did. A different kind of spark. I felt it the very moment how happy I was to hear you. To see you." By the way, she turned to the other grass chewers. "How much I care about you. Even you." she turned back to me. "You don't even know my name." I deadpanned.
"But you helped me, even though you could have died. It makes you the same as the others. You're all MY FRIENDS."
There was a glow suddenly in the air and an orb with a star shaped sign on it came flying down, blinding me a little.
"You see Nightmare Moon" That's not really her name, is it? "when those elements are ignited by the spark that resides in the hearts of us all, it creates the sixth element: The element of Magic."
There was a bright flash. I don't remember all the details, it's still fuzzy. We were all flying in mid-air, yes even I was. The shards had created each of the ponies a necklace similar to mine, except for the lavender unicorn. She wore a crown with a star shaped crystal in her fur color.
The last thing I remember before being knocked out was a rainbow beam that shot at Nightmare Moon and her shout of "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
XIII
"Goooooooooooooooooooooooood moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorning, Vietnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!"
I do this every so often. Hey, I liked the movie. Anyways, things went on pretty fast for my taste, making me more belief it all had been just a dream. I mean in a dream, at least in my case, it's just one event that follows the other and the way things went, I didn't consider it that much different. Only reality told me something else. The first thing that I felt, while stretching my arms, was something cold on the skin of my neck. I opened my eyes and looked down. I was still wearing that thing.
I looked up and scanned the ceiling or whatever there was left of it.
"So~, I get it, it wasn't a dream?" I asked carefully with a slightly higher voice. Only I didn't expect anyone to answer. "It was no dream." The voice was calm, collective and warm. It made me feel the same way the voice was. I turned my head towards the source and found yet the biggest grass chewer I have seen so far. She had white fur, a multi colored floating mane, large white wings and a sun tattoo. I haven't really paid much attention to the tattoos so far.
"Holy mother of nature!" I exclaimed and got up as fast as I could, only to fall on my knees. "Urgh...what's up with that?" I muttered. I was feeling slightly dizzy all of the sudden. The white, I think she's big enough to be considered a horse, approached me slowly and lowered her head to my level. "Awesome eye color." Did I really just say that? The grass chewer blinked in surprise and I laughed. "Sorry, I'm...I guess...I'm trying to keep my sanity. Lot of crazy stuff happening. I...still try to figure out whether I'm dreaming, have gone nuts or the ever so slight possibility that this is all real."
The mare smiled at me. "I see." She helped me getting on my feet, by supporting my shoulder. "Thanks." I told her, dusting off my jeans a little. I looked around and found the other 6 ponies staring at me with wide eyes. The pink one was jumping up and down the entire time. I sweatdropped. I then noticed yet another pony hiding behind the white horse. I saw her butt and she had a similar tattoo to what this Nightmare Moon character had. The white horse followed my gaze and smiled down at the pony. "Please excuse her."
"Eh, no biggie." I raised my shoulders. "I mean I'm keeping my cool here, but actually I'm at the verge of freaking out." I looked down and touched the crystal on my necklace. "Especially this thing here. Appeared out of nowhere and saved my ass two times. Heh, I like the small 8 here. You can barely see it." I snickered.
The lavender unicorn walked up next to the horse, pegacorn thing and looked at it. "It almost looks like..."
"Like a seventh element of harmony." the biggest of them all finished.
"Okay, let's just assume for a moment I have no idea what you're talking about. Actually how about we start with some names, what...species we're, what the hell actually happened...wait a minute, there's something I need to do first." I pinched myself in the arm. It hurt.
"Ow...guess this officially isn't a dream."
And just like that, I had suddenly two big blue eyes in my vision field. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, party thrower extraordinaire. I'm a pony, an earth pony. We just beat old meanie Nightmare Moon, who tried to bring eternal night, but now she's not so mean anymore. She turned out to be Princess Celestia's younger sister, who was really, REALLY angry, because nopony appreciated her night, but slept through it. Who are you? What are you? Do you like parties? Do you like cupcakes? Do you? Do you? Do you?"
I was leaning backwards, now totally freaked out. I was wondering how she was able to stay in the air, when she hit the ground all of the sudden.
"Freak out factor just increased by 20%." I stated, taking a deep breath. "Urrgh, this day just keeps getting better and better." I rubbed my forehead, because I was getting a serious migraine. "Are you okay?" the biggest pony asked. "Just overwhelmed." I replied. Yeah, "just".
"My name is Sarah Teasdale. I'm 17, a human female and...I have no idea how I actually got here. Okay, I have one, but...sorry, I guess I need some time to think." The migraine was getting worse and worse. I rubbed my temples, but it didn't really help. "Can we...go on with the introductions? The more of a normal conversation we have, the better it would be for my sanity."
"Certainly. My name is Princess Celestia. I'm the co-ruler of the land known as Equestria."
"Co-ruler?" the other ponies asked. Celestia stepped aside, fully revealing the smaller pony. Both were wearing a crown. "And this is Princess Luna, my long lost sister, who will soon rule on my side again."
The younger pony looked up, scarred, but also curious. However, instead of saying anything, she walked closer to her sister, who wrapped a wing around her. "Guess I shouldn't have told her I'd turn her into my next lunch." I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. "Sorry about that. Heat of the moment."
She still didn't come out from that wing. Celestia smiled down at her, before she continued. "I am known to be an alicorn. One that inhabits all traits of the three different pony species: unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies."
"I get the first two, but what's so special about, what did you call it? Right, earth ponies. Except for the color and hairdo, they look like the ponies I am used to from back at home. Only they couldn't talk and were mostly an attraction in petting zoos."
That seemed to rub off the wrong way on all of them. Celestia seemed the only to not be affected by what I told them. "Your kind enslaved them?" she asked calmly.
"Not enslaved" Now I was really getting nervous "they couldn't think the way we all here can. They were animals, pets to us to enjoy having. Well, I never had one...arrgh..." I ruffled my hair. "The point is, so far my kind has been the only known species to be intelligent. Sorry if it comes over the wrong way."
"Understandable." Celestia nodded, her smile never leaving her face. "Earth ponies have enchanted strength, while pegasi can fly and move clouds and unicorns can use magic."
"Sorry, move...clouds? Did I get that right?"
"Yeah!" The blue pegasus with the rainbow mane flew up. And what's up with her voice? "How do you guys make the weather?" she asked.
"Make the weather?" I repeated. "The only thing we can do is predict on how the weather is going to be with a...I'd say 90% chance of the prediction coming true. Where I come from we have no control over the weather."
"WHAT?!" the girl exclaimed horrified. All the others seemed to be surprised as well, except for the lavender unicorn, who seemed to be pretty interested.
"Oh and before anyone asks, we have no magic either. Only illusions that look like magic, but are nothing more than simple tricks." Now I got the unicorn horrified.
"Interesting. But why don't we finish our introductions, before we go into further detail about the differences of our homes?" The Princess suggested.
"Agreed. My head is about to explode." I replied dryly.
"Well then" the white unicorn with purple mane, which was styled in a strange way, walked up with her head high and some elegance. "My name is Rarity and I'm Ponyville's fabulous fashion designer."
Ponyville? That the name of the place they're living? Oh man, I really AM in a kid's show.
"Please do tell Sarah, do you always wear clothes?" she asked, inspecting me from top to bottom. "Well, evolution made us go from monkey to what we are today. We got bigger brains, meaning higher intelligence, but we lost our fur. In return we had to make clothes in order to keep ourselves warm. Also, it's considered tactless around humans not wearing any clothes. It's even forbidden nowadays to do that outside in the public."
Rarity squealed in delight, freaking us all out. "Oh you just HAVE to let me take your measurements! But I do say, I do not completely agree with your sense of fashion. No offense."
I shrugged. "None taken. Everyone says I have no sense of fashion and I can only agree to that. Hehe, the only girl in class who does not wears clothes that are "in". I never actually cared, which got me a good amount of friends from the boys in my school." I laughed. "Everyone says I acted more like a guy, than an actual girl."
"Oh dear, we simply HAVE to change that."
I smiled knowingly. "Good luck with that. No other girl I met managed to get a sense of fashion into my head."
Next up flew the blue pegasus with the rainbow colored mane. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier of all in Equestria."
I smell a pretty high ego here.
"Fastest huh? Well I'll belief it when I see it. So, you're an athlete?"
"Sure am! I'm going to join the Wonderbolts, the most awesome fliers in all of Equestria."
"Well good luck with that. Pro tip, though. A high ego won't help you."
"Pff, whatever." She waved off and we were done. A simple minded girl, nothing against that. There was still something about her that stood out to me. "Say, are you two related somehow?" I asked pointing at Rainbow and Celestia.
"What? NO!" The blue pegasus screamed. "Why'd you think THAT?" she asked. "Sorry." I held up my arms. "I just thought, 'cause ya know... you two have the same eye color. Guess it is just coincidence. Or are you secretly royalty and just don't want to show it, because being royalty is total boredom?" I asked with a smirk.
Pinkie Pie decided to show me again her randomness. She popped up between me and Dash and looked at the pegasus with a magnifying glass and next Celestia.
"We have something at home called DNA test, you know?"
No one really listened to me, because of Pinkie's crazy antics. Right now she was measuring the lengths of the tails of the two ponies.
"Guees ah just go on." The orange pony with the Stetson had a country accent. "The name's Applejack. Ah'm a farmer at Sweet Apple Acres." She held out her hoof and I shook it. "Nice to meet ya." Applejack? I see a pattern coming.
I decided to make the next move myself. "And you're?" I asked the yellow pegasus. She shrieked in return and pulled up her wings in front of her face. I sweatdropped at her behavior.
"That's Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash flew next to her. "Sorry, she's kinda shy, you know."
Underestimatement of the year. "She IS the element of…kindness was it? Is there some kind of requirement of your personality of being shy in order to be that element? No offense, just letting my mouth move."
Fluttershy nodded meekly, while hiding more and more behind her insanely huge pink mane. She slowly walked backwards until she was behind Rainbow Dash. I suppressed the upcoming chuckle and turned towards the last pony. "And you're?" I asked.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am Princess Celestia's personal student in the school for gifted unicorns."
"Wow, sounds heavy." I commented. "Oh...it's nothing. I-I mean it's a-a great honor...j-j-just..."
"I think I get it." I cut her off. She looked a little embarrassed by what she almost said. "Okay, now that that's out of the way...what was this whole Nightmare Moon thingy? And what the heck are the elements of harmony? Sorry, but that all sounds out of a children's book to me."
Celestia chuckled dryly. "Yes and in the last thousand years that's what I have it reduced to."
"1000 years?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'm really tempted to ask how old you are, but I think I'm gonna hold back for now." Celestia let out a wholehearted laugh, while the others just looked at me like I offended someone, which I probably did.
"Nightmare Moon, as you can probably deduce by now, she is my sister Luna. We once ruled together over Equestria, Luna over night and me over the day. And although Luna created a beautiful night sky, ponies would rather sleep through it than enjoy it."
"I'm not gonna question how she was supposed to "create" a night sky. I'm just gonna go with the theory its cause I'm from a completely different world."
Celestia looked up. "Why do you belief you're from a completely different world?" she asked.
I rubbed my temples again. "Guess I'm gonna have to do some explaining myself. Well...I don't really know what exactly happened or how it is even possible and all. Basically there was this new thing called Sigma Harmonizer. No one except the guys working on it, know what it was SUPPOSED to do. There were rumors here and there and considering the political situation we were in, it's highly possible it was some kind of new weapon. Is...heck I dunno, all I know it was malfunctioning and the next thing I see is some kind of energy wave approaching my home." I raised my arms and let them hit my body. "I woke up in the dungeons of this place and thought it was just a dream: a lucid dream."
"What's a lucid dream?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Lucid dreaming from what I remember means you're actually aware that you're dreaming. Some skilled people can actually control their dreams, meaning they can decide what happens. Anyways, the point is after I saw the impossible already, I imagined I was still asleep in my bed and decided to just play along. When I saw that Nightmare Moon character I was just pissed off that she bullied little Twilight over here. I get pissed off easily under certain circumstances. Got me into some trouble from time to time."
A few memories popped up in my head, but I shook them off. It wasn't the right time.
"I said some insulting stuff, attacked, she attacked back and then" I pointed at my necklace "that thing appeared and put some protective shield around me. And then..."
"I know. Twilight told me the rest already." Celestia told me.
"Right." I nodded. "So, did you really put up all the stars in the night sky? ALL of them?" I asked Luna directly. She looked up from under her sister's wing and nodded. "Damn, no wonder you got pissed off like that. That's why you went on a rampage, huh?"
She looked down saddened and nodded again. "We thought...ponies would at long least appreciate our night, if we make the night eternal."
"EEEEEHHH! Wrong approach. If you want them to see how important your night is, than you need to take the night away from them."
Everyone looked at me in wonder. "How does that help?" Rainbow asked.
"Simple. We don't realize how important things are until they're gone. I went stir crazy one time, because I couldn't find a book I needed for just one school day. Or the other time I wanted to play with a ball, but couldn't find it. I was five years old at that time." I added the last part, when I got some weird looks.
"So, what now?" I asked. "We better do something or else I'm gonna...oh right! I still don't get this whole elements of harmony thing."
Celestia looked at my necklace again. "The origins of the elements are unknown. But originally there were only six."
I looked down at my necklace. "And now there are seven." I concluded.
"The six elements are Laughter" she pointed at Pinkie "Honesty" Applejack "Generosity" Rarity "Loyalty" Rainbow Dash "Kindness" Fluttershy "and finally Magic." Twilight. "They are, without exaggerating, probably the most powerful magic relics, which ever existed."
"Now THAT sounds heavy." I commented. "I smell a but."
"Really? I don't smell anything." Pinkie started sniffing into the air. I facepalmed. "It's a matter of speech."
"Don't bother sugercube." Applejack spoke up. "We tried to explain it to her many times."
"Is she sugar high or something?" I asked pointing at the still sniffing pink pony.
Celestia cleared her throat, getting our attention back. "Sorry princess." Applejack apologized.
"The elements can't be used as a weapon. They can only be used in order to maintain harmony, as hard as it is to belief this, considering how powerful they are." She came closer. "I do not know why a seventh element appeared with you or what it is even called. May I have a look on it?"
"Sure. Let me just...I have no idea how to take it off." I fidgeted a little with my fingers on the thing. "I can't find anything to unclip this thing." I told them a little embarrassed. Suddenly Celestia's horn glowed up and so did my necklace. I jumped, not expecting this kind of thing, but calmed down. The ponies around me chuckled at my behavior. "Please warn me next time. I'm still on the verge of freaking out."
"My apologies."
Celestia managed to get the thing off from me. She levitated that thing in front of me and showed me how to put it on and off. I nodded at her and she levitated the thing in front of herself. The other ponies walked closer to get a good look at it. "Wow. There really IS an 8 on it!" Pinkie pointed out. Celestia titled it a little. "Oh, now I can see it." Twilight said. "But why's there an 8?"
"Your elements kind of look like your tattoos. What's up with them anyway?" I asked. They all looked at their "tattoos" and then back at me. "Why darling, these are our cutie marks." Rarity explained. I almost lost my balance there. "Cutie...marks?" I asked in a deadpan matter.
Now I know that I am in the wrong movie.
"They show what kind of special talent a pony has. Mine for example indicates my expertise in magic and my love for star gazing." Twilight explained. "I'm just gonna buy it for now." I rubbed my temples again.
"You...love my stars?" Luna walked up to Twilight, surprise written all over her face. "She does. She also tends to forget to eat during the times she studies your night." Celestia told everyone around with a sly grin.
"P-princess!" Twilight exclaimed, causing us all to laugh up. "Well, at least now there's one girl around who appreciates your work." I said my fair share. "Speaking off, oh right it's daytime. Guess I'll have to wait. Sorry, couldn't take a good look earlier, you know, freaking out and all." I scratched my head. I was slowly calming down from almost freaked out to nervous. Hey, I know my twitches and body habits, I WAS calming down.
Celestia gave me back my necklace. "If you don't mind, I would like to take it with me after the festival, so my scientists can study it and maybe determine what kind of element it is."
"Actually I- wait festival? Never mind that, I think I got an idea as to determine what it is."
"Really?" They all asked.
"Well your necklaces look like your tattoos, cutie marks, sorry. Twilight's mark is magic AND she is the element of magic. So, we just compare marks to necklaces."
"That might actually work." Twilight exclaimed excited.
"Okay, okay." I snipped with my fingers "Applejack" I pointed with my fingers "I have a pretty good guess already, but can you tell me anyways?"
"Sure thing sugar. I'm good at farming apples." she replied with proud.
"Okay, looks like things won't be obvious." I paced back and forth a little. "But if we stretch things and use a little metaphor...honest working farmer for honesty, I guess. God this thinking is giving me brain freeze." I placed myself on some rubble and put both hands on my head.
"Hay, tell me about it. You lost me already." Rainbow stated, flying upside down...somehow. Fuck this place, it's fucking my mind.
I felt something very soft around my back. I looked up and found Celestia who had put a wing over back. "Maybe we should stop now? You look like you could need some rest."
"No, I just need to figure this out soon enough. Although I'm not really the smartest around. Rarity, what's your talent?"
"Oh, I received my mark after I invented this FABULOUS gem finding spell."
"Generosity, I can make the connection. Heh, if I wouldn't know about your element, I'd call you instantly greedy. Sorry, I'm a little fast with my judgment. And a little bit too honest under stress. So uhh...Fluttershy?"
"EEEP!"
I let out a really deep sigh. This was not helping at all. "She's an animal caretaker." Rainbow explained.
"Alright, explains kindness. You Rainbow?"
"I got mine after performing my AWESOME sonic rainboom for the first time!" she announced. "What's that?"
"Hehehe, I broke the sound barrier."
"You WHAT?!" I exclaimed.
"It's the truth. I was there." Fluttershy spoke up. When I turned towards her, she "eeped" again. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to be rude." she really whined. I sweatdropped again. "You...weren't rude." I pointed out. "We humans need a special flying machine in order to break the sound barrier. You can do that on your own? NOW I'm impressed. Explains your ego." I muttered the last part. "Still, I can't connect it to loyalty one bit. So much for that plan. I think I'm gonna shut my brain down now."
"Oh, oh, but you don't know what my cutie mark is! Please ask, please ask!" Pinkie pleaded with the best puppy dog eyes I've ever seen. I let out a laugh. "Okay Pinkie, what's your cutie mark?"
"It's because I make everypony smile with my parties." She gasped overdramatically. "I still need you to throw you a welcome to equestria party. Oh my gosh! I still need to throw Princess Luna a welcome back to equestria party!"
"I guess I can see the connection to laughter there...urgh, I'm gonna stop right now."
"Well then, I belief it is high time for us to return to Ponyville." Celestia stated. That's the town's name? Really?
"I'll see into your matter. For now, I would like to ask you to accompany us."
"Not like I have much of a choice. Besides, sounds interesting. Meeting a whole new species and all. As long as I can keep my brain from exploding."
Celestia walked over to Twilight and the two were whispering among each other for a while. "But Princess. We would have to go through the Everfree Forest."
"I know, but I would rather not teleport with a new creature. The risk of an accident is too high. But you do not need to worry. I think I can handle everything the Everfree Forest has to offer."
The ponies minus Luna all stared agape at their Princess. "But Princess-" Rarity started to protest, but was immediately cut off. "I won't leave a hero of Equestria to the dangers alone."
"Are you talking about me?" I asked.
"Why of course. I cannot thank any of you enough for bringing me my long lost sister back."
I sighed, my face falling. "What's wrong?"
"...Nothing. Can we go please?"
I wonder if necromancy works here. Doesn't look like it. Harmony and all that crap.
...
I'm getting a headache again. I shouldn't even bother thinking about it. He's gone for good. Accept it Sarah.
For now I'm still not sure whether someone put some drugs into my drink or if this shit is really happening. All I know is, I have to keep my head cool and figure out what happened.