-Chapter XXXVII- Ponies of the Past

-Ponyville, Equestria

-March 30th, 2012

-7:22 P.M.

-Nicholas

Once upon a time...in the magical land of Equestria...there were two regal sister who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn! The younger, brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects: all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful, the ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night...

One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn... The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young ones heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon! She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night! Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony!

Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since...

Elements of Harmony...why? Why do I know these? I thought as I read, absorbing the printed word as though my mind were a sponge, learning what the book told, and clinging on to every word as the history's familiarity struck me dumb. Like a man with a name forgotten, or words of a being that couldn't be placed, simply the words that described the Elements of Harmony seemed to be strangely familiar...and the Elements' names seemed all the more curious, for I knew that I had known of them before, but any memory of when or where seemed to evade me. From one of Max's teachings, perhaps? This thought wasn't completely out of the question, for only one other time before my unfortunate and involuntary visit to Equestria had I ever seen a pony from the land, years ago shortly after my swordsmanship skills began to finally take hold. I remember the face well, the face of a mare, whose large, crimson eyes sparkled as they beheld me, believing me to be the dragonborn, to hold conference with Max that apparently was too private for me to partake in. I thought they seemed weak simply from their appearance, and therefore, assumed their existence worthless.

I sighed, wondering what it was that could've been so important that a pony would have to take the unimaginable trip to Skyrim from it's homeland of Equestria, with distance inconceivable only to stay for a few minutes in the privacy of Max's room. I returned my attention to the book on the ground before me, and continued to read: It was this that took away the elder sister's power over the Elements of Harmony, leaving her at a disadvantage, if another attack on Equestria were to happen, and leaving her only to rely on her own magic. A thousand years had passed before Nightmare Moon made her return, and yet again tried to take over the land with her veil of night...but it was again the Elements of Harmony that saved the day! I looked at the picture of the six ponies below the text, depicting a purple unicorn, white unicorn, yellow pegasus, blue pegasus, orange earth pony, and a pink earth pony.

What the hell...? I thought to myself, thinking why these characters seemed so familiar already. I looked up from the book and where I sat in the corner of the large room where the party still continued, seeing Twilight reading and Pinkie jumping about to the beat of Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight". No way in hell... I began to think, but automatically dismissed the idea, thinking it was completely preposterous, seeing as how one seemed never to even leave the library, and the other foolish, and the two of them still had innocence that astounded me, and I myself would know just as much as any other major war hero that innocence is the first thing to go, right before you grow a pair. I chuckled at the mere thought of such simple and nonthreatening ponies such as these ever facing a deadly enemy in mortal combat. Ahhh...no.

"Nick." I heard outside from my mind.

"What?" I said, looking up at the being trying to catch my attention. My eyes widened and shivers were sent up my spine as I beheld Max standing over me, examining my pony body. "Yeah, haha, laugh it up, ghostygoo." I said irritably, returning my attention to the written text.

"Nick, come now, this is no time for games!" he said sternly. "Get up."

"Yeah, right." I said with a quick laugh. The thought occurred to me that that was, in a way, the second time I had ever denied Max's command.

"I am not a figment of your mind, and if you don't hurry, then-" I was shocked to find his words were stopped short. I looked back up and realized that...he wasn't where he stood just moments before.

My eyes traveled to one side of the room, across the massive throng of ponies, and to the other. "...Max?" I asked, awaiting an answer. "Max?" I asked again as I got up, about to return to my default two-legged position, but when I nearly fell over again, went back to my four-hoofed stance. I walked away from the corner, leaving the well-sized book where I had left it, my thoughts completely neglecting what had been my point of interest not moments before. "Max!" I called out again, my words getting lost in the loud music, that almost seemed mute in my focused state of mind.

Apparently one of the ponies heard me, because they turned around to me with an expression of confusion, "who's Max?" they asked with a curious tilt of their head.

A group of other Equestrians joined him, looking at me expectantly. "I uh..." I stuttered nervously, not knowing how to explain myself. A few more joined in, and I quickly quitted the scene, heading out the door with a loud band of the hardwood and hardwood making contact when the door smacked against the wall of the tree-building. The cool air felt good as it blew through my short, thick fur. I hadn't noticed just how overheated I was becoming, especially with the new fur coat that I now was adorned in. I took a few deep breaths, and tried to clear my head. Images...thoughts...ponies...actions...they all ran through my mind, but I knew not who they were or what it was they were doing. The single face of a mare with a crystalline texture across her bright-blue body flew past my mind, with eyes the exact same colour as mine, despite the fact that I hadn't met another being with the exact shade of blue that were my eyes, seeing as how they were so unusually bright. The strange thoughts were immediately replaced with Max's face, taken by fear and anger. Max? I felt as though something terrible had happened to him.

"Uh, Nick?" I jumped at the sound of another voice behind me, and I quickly turned around to see Twilight standing in the doorway to the library. "Are you all right?" she asked with large, concerned eyes that sparkled in the moonlight from the post-dusk sky.

I hesitated for a moment, "yeah, I just...got a little panicked there for a second."

"I...kinda figured as much. You burst out of your own party."

"Sorry, I just...I don't really know. I take it Pinkie is probably heartbroken because I ditched her party?"

"Actually, she's worrying about you right now, just like everypony else in there."

This caught me off-guard. "Worried...about me?" I asked in shock. Usually whenever someone "worried" about me it was either because I owed them something or I was extremely close to them, like Max or Seran-er...

"Nick!" Twilight called again.

"Sorry I uh, 'zoned out' there for a second."

"Are...you sure you're okay?"

I slowly nodded, "yeah...yeah, I'm fine now." I said with a smile.

She smiled back once she found the smile to be sincere, and turned around again, "come on, I think they're picking things up now."

Oh thank God. "That sure was quick" Thank you Lord sooo much "It's kind of a shame" No it isn't "that I didn't partake in it as much."

She looked at me, and cracked a smile "uh-huh, sure it is." she laughed, and began to trot back inside with me close behind.