So, I had to sit through Kung Fu panda, which wasn't really up to Rainbow Dash's standards. She found it funny in places with the humour, but the slow parts and the storyline seemed to bore her. Even Fluttershy was sitting at the edge of my bed immersed by all the fight scenes, I was expecting her to hide under the pillow at all the violent parts. Perhaps I underestimated the ponies' maturity. Although, on the other hand Pinkie loved the film to bits.
"I think that was AWESOME!" Pinkie yelled.
"It was alright, but there should have been more action." Dashie said.
"Well I think it was perfect!" Pinkie screamed.
The two were left playfully arguing over how the film was, while Twilight came up to me, she looked quite angry, but also rather afraid.
"Can we talk in private for a second?" She asked.
"Sure!" I replied, something was clearly on her mind.
We walked out of my room, I quickly stuck my head back round the door to tell the other ponies that I'd only be a few seconds. I lead Twilight into the spare room, where I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the purple unicorn.
"What's up Twilight?"
She sat down and looked me in the eye.
"Do you want to know why I'm on edge? Do you want to know why I'm not acting as cheerful as you thought I would be?"
She answered before I could even open my mouth.
"I'm afraid," she said, "I'm really afraid... Princess Celestia warned me of this world, I know what it holds. I know how much danger we are heading into, and I know what's going to happen if we fail this mission."
I know she's right, but I'm not going to stand there and tell her that it's hopeless, I have to comfort her.
"It's ok Twilight-"
"No it's not ok!" She yelled, "Our lives are at stake here!"
I had to shut her up before the others got worried. I tried a different approach.
"Shut up Twilight! Are you trying to demoralize the others? I'm not going to lie to you, it is dangerous, it is risky, but let me tell you this. If any danger comes to you, it's got to get through me first. I will die for your safety if that's what it takes, do you understand? I would die for you six. Now get it together, I understand how you feel. But whether you like it or not the only way you're going to get through this is to trust me."
In spite of how stressed she was, she was completely taken aback from my sudden change in attitude.
"Now that you're here, your safety is all that matters to me," I continued, "and I'll give everything
I have to give to ensure that you are all safe. No doubt your shouting has put the others on edge, so you need to pull yourself together and show them that everything is fine, and that there is nothing wrong. Ok?"
She was speechless for a few seconds, I could tell that my outburst caught her off guard.
"I'm just so afraid..."
I placed my hand on her shoulder.
"I know Twilight, I know... But you've got to trust me, I will protect you."
She glared at me, something had clicked in her. With her hoof she pushed my hand off.
"I don't trust you, Princess Celestia has told me of your kind, she has told me how evil your species can be. No matter how nice you are to me, I am not trusting you. And I never will, you are nothing but our guide, we are not friends."
The spare room door opened, and Applejack's head popped around the corner.
"Everythin' alright in here sugar cube?"
I gave Twilight a very quick glare, too fast for Applejack to notice. she looked at Applejack with a smile.
"Yes Applejack, everything's fine." She said.
Applejack looked at me with a concerned expression, as if she didn't believe Twilight.
"Everything's absolutely fine," I said with a smile, "I hope the five of you aren't too bored in there."
"Nah, we're all reading those books of yours, they're really interesting, they tell so much about your kind, you humans sure are somethin'..." She replied.
"Yeah, they sure are something." Twilight remarked, and I knew exactly what she meant.
I had no idea what Princess Celestia has told Twilight, but my guess is that she's taught her about the world wars, terrorism, murder, and most, if not all of the other atrocities that exist in this world.
A jolt of fear ran through me, I had a book about food somewhere in my collection, what if the others found it? If they found out that humans were omnivores and not herbivores, who knows how they'd react...
"Alrighty then," I said, jumping to my feet, "books can be fun, but they don't entertain forever. Let's find something more active to do."
I hurried out of the spare room and into mine. As I enter my room I'm greeted by the smiles of the other ponies. I couldn't help but just grin with them, just walking into a room to see these characters from my favourite T.V show made me feel so warm, and happy inside. It truly was a dream come true. By the looks of things they hadn't found the book. I sighed a breath of relief, only to inhale in a huge lungful of surprise when Pinkie jumped in front of me, her nose no more than a centimetre away from mine.
"Are there any games we can play? I'm bored of books now, let's do something else, what games do humans play? Do you have any more cake? Anyway what games can we play? I bet you have loads and loadsof fun games. Can we play a game huh? Huh? Can we? Can we?"
I didn't really know how to respond, I had no idea what game I should choose, these days the games I play involve holding a controller and looking at a screen. Sport wise I play basketball and rugby, and occasionally boxing, and I don't think any of those would suit their fancy.
"Sure! Do you have any idea on what you would like to play?"
The hyperactive pony stopped and froze like a block of ice, she didn't even appear to be breathing, she was completely motionless. I nervously looked at Applejack with a look of confusion. She laughed.
"She's thinkin' sugar cube, that's all."
Before anything could be said, the pink pony started vibrating, she then jumped into the air, her head hit the ceiling, then she landed of the floor with the look of a teenager when receiving a new games console.
"I have an idea!" She screamed, "Let's play hide and seek!"
I looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, I had a feeling that they'd be a bit too old for it. Dashie groaned a bit and Applejack rolled her eyes and gave a look as if to say "let's get this over with."
"Is that what everybody wants to play?" I asked.
"Everybody?" Rarity asked, "Surely you mean everypony?"
I smiled and sat down, I thought it'd be good to deal with this little subject quickly.
"Well, here on Earth, we say things a little differently. You see, we don't have talking, civilized ponies here, so saying everypony, is rather pointless, so we say everybody." I explained.
"Oh my, yes, that does make sense..." Said Rarity, "Could you tell us any more differences?"
"By all means." I smiled.
A few minutes after teaching the six the verbal differences between humans and ponies, such as hooves to hands, stallions to men, mares to women, and so on. The ponies were amazed by the small but significant changes in the language. I was about to ask if they had any questions when Pinkie randomly started to jump up and down.
"Hey, we haven't played hide and seek yet!"
We all decided to go and play it just to get outdoors and to keep Pinkie entertained. And like all games, it became quite fun once we all got into it, besides Twilight, who sat by the shed reading a book.
"Let's set Callum a challenge!" Pinkie yelled, "All five of us are the finders, Callum hides!"
"Make it fair though," I said, "no using magic to find me."
The ponies all agreed, and all covered their eyes and started to count, now, if they were going to challenge me, then I'd challenge them back, I ran over to the ironwood tree in the garden, and climbed to the very top.
"Twenty one! Twenty two!" Rainbow Dash called.
I loved being up in this tree, you could get a whole view of the garden. The wonders of nature contained so much when you really look, when you just sit back and observe every little detail.
"Twenty three! Twenty four!" Applejack shouted.
I looked at the house, I suddenly started feeling a bit homesick, I realised that I'd never come back here again, I'd be leaving my school, my computer, my best friends on Skype, and my beloved dog, Chilli.
"Twenty five! Twenty six!" Rarity yelled.
I looked down at the ponies as they counted, the previous feeling washed away, to travel with the 'mane six', to help save Equestria, it was totally worth it.
"Twenty seven! Twenty eight!" Fluttershy squeaked.
Everything I have in life now, could never be half as good as this opportunity to go somewhere else, to be someone else, and to think, if I help the ponies to succeed, I would be seen as a hero, like in the movies, the hero who saved the world. Who wouldn't take the chance for that title?
"Twenty nine! THIRTY!" Pinkie Pie screamed at the top of her lungs.
All six ponies scattered across the garden searching for me, while I sat there in the tree watching them.
A nice breeze of wind blew against my face, I took in a large breath of air and for the first time, I felt happy. Like, truly happy.
I feel happy when I get a new games console for my birthday, or when I first saw the six behind my shed. But this was a whole new type of happy, I felt it deep inside me, I felt happy as a person, like I had found a purpose in life, it was wonderful.
In the middle of this feeling I suddenly felt a hard, smooth object gently nudge my arm.
"Umm, excuse me, I found you."
I turned round to see Fluttershy sitting on the same branch as I, lightly poking me with her hoof. I jumped and almost fell out of the tree, she really knew how to sneak up on people.
"How did you find me?" I asked.
"With my eyes..." She replied with her tongue sticking out.
I couldn't help but burst out laughing, I had never expected in a million years for Fluttershy to give such a comical reply.
"It's nice up here isn't it?" I asked, still chuckling.
"It's wonderful," she replied, "trees are beautiful, and you can get a wonderful view from the top. I'd quite like to be a tree..."
I giggled as she said the same quote from the show, it had seemed that Fluttershy had warmed to me, she had totally relaxed and was all happy, next step, Twilight.
"Well," I said, "let's go and tell the others you found me."
Fluttershy slowly climbed down using her wings for support, while I simply jumped. As I hit the floor I did a roll so I didn't hurt anything. I stood up to see Rainbow Dash staring at me with awe.
"Did you just jump from up there?" She asked.
I nodded, I didn't really want to show off about it, I had been taught parkour by my father, he had always taught me to take the fastest route, and if there was an obstacle in the way, overcome it.
"Ooh, my, I would never dream of jumping from up there." Fluttershy said.
"Why not? You have wings!" Dashie asked.
I interrupted, after seeing Cutie Mark Chronicles and Hurricane Fluttershy, I knew she was sensitive about her wings.
"So where are the others?" I asked.
"They're still looking for you I think." Rainbow Dash replied.
"I'll go look for them." Fluttershy squeaked.
I couldn't help but smile at Fluttershy's voice, it was just so adorable. When I hear it in the show, I get a feeling of joy and security, but hearing it in real life, it was the same feeling multiplied at least a thousand times.
Fluttershy trotted away as silent as a mouse, leaving me and Rainbow Dash alone.
"Rainbow Dash?" I asked, the blue mare turned to face me.
"What is up with Twilight?" I asked, "I understand she's nervous of being here, but I don't think she's telling the whole story. Do you know why she's being like this?"
Rainbow Dash sighed.
"I don't know, she's been acting like this before she came here, it was just after Princess Celestia gave us this mission. She had a private talk with Twilight just after, since then she's been really touchy, and always on edge."
So, whatever was getting too Twilight had something to do with Celestia. I'd have to get her to spill the beans, and I'd need the help of the others to do so.
"What do you think she said?" I asked.
She only shrugged, she was about to say more when the others came along.
"Where were you? We were searching everywhere!" Applejack exclaimed.
Before I could answer, Fluttershy proudly pointed to the top of the ironwood tree.
"I found him up there." She happily stated, she was delighted, I guessed she rarely won these sort of games.
"Nice one sugar cube!"
Applejack playfully got the yellow mare into a gentle headlock and ruffled her mane. We were all laughing and giggling until Twilight came along.
"Playtime over, can we get going to find the orb now?"
The others were speechless, and so was I, she's really pushing it now. Her behaviour was bang out of order, and it seemed Rainbow Dash thought the same.
"Alright, that's it! I've had enough of this Twilight! I don't give a flying feather what Princess Celestia told you, I am sick of you being so rude!"
Twilight glared at Dashie, she was livid.
"You have no idea what you are going into! Do you understand that you could die here and never go home? Our lives are at stake and all you care about is fun and games!"
I looked to Pinkie and Fluttershy, they both seemed terrified, Fluttershy tried to hide under her hooves.
Rainbow Dash and Twilight now were glaring into each other's eyes, their noses no more than a few centimetres apart.
"Just shut up Twilight! You're always so serious and up tight, I could deal with it before, but your being a rude, immature snob!''
Twilight crouched as if she were about to strike her friend, I feared a fight was going to break out if I didn't intervene, I rushed forward and stood between the two of them.
"That's enough!" I shouted, "I'm not having you lot getting into any fights over these petty little arguments! Twilight's right, you are here on a mission, and I am your guide. Tomorrow we will try to pinpoint the first part of the orb, then we find a way to fake my death, then we shall set off. Now will you two calm down? I don't want any more more hostility!"
All the ponies were speechless, I don't think any of them were expecting me to shout. Even Twilight was taken aback. Poor Fluttershy was shaking in fear.
Twilight stormed off to the shed, I took a long sigh. Applejack walked next to me.
"You've done nothin' wrong Callum, I'm not sure what the Princess has told her, but it's gone straight to that mare's head. I'll go calm her down, take the others inside, I'll be along in a bit."
She walked past me and trotted over to the end of garden to meet Twilight. The others stood still, unsure of what to do. I looked at Fluttershy, who was still upset, I walked over to her, and knelt down beside her.
"Hey," I said in a calm gentle tone, "it's ok Fluttershy, it's ok."
She looked up at me, she was shaking.
"Tw-Twilight said we're going to die!" She squeaked.
I placed my hand on the terrified pony's mane, I gently stroked it. I reassured her in a soothing tone.
"Twilight's wrong, she is afraid like you, and because she is afraid, she is coming up with the worst outcome, Fluttershy I will protect you, I will protect all of you from whatever danger meets us, no harm will come to you, do you understand?"
I never thought that I was good with words, but whatever I said it had done the trick, the yellow pony lifted her head and stopped shaking.
"Ok... I-I trust you..." She quietly stuttered.
I didn't expect Fluttershy to trust me that quickly, I thought it'd take days, I looked at the others, Pinkie seemed to have calmed down too, Rarity was smiling, while Rainbow Dash was absolutely beaming.
"What?" I asked, I couldn't help but smile back at that adorable face.
"Well," she giggled, "it's just that Fluttershy's never warmed to anyone that fast before, well besides some colt she met ages ago, but still I didn't expect her to get so close that fast."
As Dashie mentioned "some colt", I noticed that Fluttershy blushed and hid under her hooves again.
Fluttershy, a coltfriend? Surely not, I highly doubted that Fluttershy had those kind of feelings, but it's possible I guess... That's another mystery with the six I need to solve, along with Twilight's stress problem.
"Can we go back inside now?" Pinkie piped up.
"Yeah," I replied, "we need to discuss plans for our journey."
I headed towards the house, the others followed.
{What is up with Twilight? What has Celestia said to her?} I kept thinking to myself as I walked, Twilight is clearly the leader of this quest, I needed her trust, but how could I get it with her behaving like this? I'd have to do something pretty spectacular.
I opened the back door, and just like before, I held it open for everypony. As the others walked past I noticed Applejack appearing from behind the shed, hopefully she's managed to calm Twilight down.
"You four head upstairs, I'm going to wait for AJ."
The others did so, Applejack noticed that I was waiting for her and went from a slow walk into a trot, she went pretty fast for a pony. Then again they were all much bigger than ponies on Earth, they stood at about chest height, so they were all about five foot tall. So it made sense that she'd go faster than an pony from this planet.
"Y'all right sugar cube?" She asked.
"I'm fine thanks Applejack," I replied, "how's Twilight?"
The orange mare sighed.
"She's blowin' steam over there, I don't know what's gotten into her head, but it's sunk in deep."
"Is she coming over here anytime soon?" I asked, "We need to plan out this whole thing and I think she should be here for it."
She nodded, turned around, and began to head back to the shed.
"Wait," I said, "go indoors, I'll talk to her."
She turned around, her mouth wide open.
"You're kiddin' right?"
I shook my head, I was serious. I had some form of an idea of what I was going to say to Twilight.
"It's your funeral sugar cube..." Applejack sighed, she went into the house and disappeared out of sight.
{Right, time to enter the beast's cage} I thought to myself, I wasn't sure whether to smile or to frown at that.
I headed over to the shed, at first, it looked like there was no makeshift camp, then I noticed a glowing little ball attached to the shed wall, no bigger than a peanut, out of curiosity I poked it.
As my finger touched the small, gem-like object, three tents and a campfire seemed to materialise out of nowhere, it was amazing, it was like something you'd see in a sci-fi movie.
The camp had been really well set up, the tents were all perfectly stitched, and above each tent there was a water shelter. The camp fire, was perfectly built, with stones all around it to make sure the fire didn't spread, the fire was still burning, even though there was no wood in the pit, I guessed that it was magic. The whole camp was built to perfection, these ponies knew what they were doing when it came to camping, I was impressed.
Although I was fascinated by the camp, I was distracted by a strange sniffing noise, it took me a good ten seconds to realise what it was, it was the sound of crying. I peered inside one of the tents, to find Twilight sitting there with her back to the entrance, loudly sniffing.
"Twilight, are you ok?" I asked.
"Go away..." She sniffed.
Obviously I didn't, no matter of how much of a bitch she was currently being, I wouldn't have any pony upset if I could help it, even if it was Twilight.
"Twilight, tell me what's wrong."
"I said go away..." She sniffed again.
I knelt outside the tent, reached in and put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her, bad move. Before I could see it coming she whipped round and punched me right in the mouth. I fell back and lay there in disbelief, holy shit, she could punch hard, my lips felt like they were burning, and I could taste blood on my tongue.
"I said go away!" She yelled.
I sat up and wiped the blood off my lip. This was going way overboard now.
"I don't think I deserved that," I said calmly, "not one bit, that wasn't very nice you know?"
She seemed to be taken aback by my state of calmness after being hit, I guess I can thank my brother for that, his hobby of constantly hitting me can have its uses now and then.
"Twilight, I can see that a lot of stress has been put on to you," I continued, "I can help, but you have to tell me what Celestia said to you, nothing is going to be resolved until I know exactly what the matter is."
"How d-do you know that the Princess talked to m-me?" She stuttered as she recovered from her tearful state.
I shrugged before I replied, she must have thought no one knew about it or something.
"It's no big secret Twilight, after she gave you the mission she spoke with you privately, what did she say?"
"The others told you didn't they?" She asked.
I simply nodded. At this, she began to glare at me.
"It's none of your business, all six of you. It is between me and her!"
Although it was my business, as it was affecting her attitude towards me and everyone else, I didn't want to push it, I needed her to come inside the house to help make a plan.
"Suit yourself Twilight, tell me what it is or just keep feeling worse and worse, I'll leave it for you to decide. But for now we need you in the house, we are making plans on how we're going to find the orb." I said.
I stood up and walked out the camp, if there was one thing I knew about Twilight, it was that she could not stand being alone if there were no books around. As I headed towards the house I heard the tent zip up, the sound of the camp fizzing into nothingness, and then the sound of hoofsteps following me.
After that argument that had just happened, after her little episode, heck even after she had hit me in the face! There was something about her, even when she was being a total bitch...
I don't know why but, I couldn't help but smile, just a little...