Authors Note: Sorry for the delay in this one. I actually meant to have this one out several weeks ago. I wasn;t happy with the way it was written. Still am not, but it's postable. The next one wont be for a bit though, as I need to make sure that I have the next arc planned. The next few chapters are all going to be original work, before i get into the episodes again. That's probably going to be the format going forward. 2-3 chapters of original content, and then a story arc about an episode. There will be an overarching original story I will be trying to tell as well. Keep your eyes peeled for interessting tidbits that might point to this. :3 In other news, I will also be posting a new story soon. It's a completely original work, and I will not be posting the whole story. IT's actually going to be a few chapters into a book I have been writing for a while. The reason I started writing this fic, was to nail down my writing style and habits before attempting my book, as I realized some bad habits I needed to fix, such as tense shifting. look forward to that, I am hoping to get some feedback on that story to help drive the creation. Thanks for reading.
Chapter 7 - The Summer Sun Celebration...again.
The trip back to Ponyville was silent. I was pondering, perhaps too much, about that look that Celestia gave me as we were exiting the castle. Everyone else was perhaps too tired, or cautious of the pensive atmosphere to speak up. Shortly after we reached Ponyville, Twilight finally spoke up.
"Princess Celestia? Where have you been all this time?" Twilight asked quietly, as she trotted up along her mentor.
"My powers had been sapped when Nightmare Moon escaped her lunar prison. I thought as much would happen, and that is why I sent you to Ponyville. I knew you would be successful in preventing Nightmare Moon from achieving her goal." Celestia looked gently at her younger sister, who seemed to cower down at her gaze. I guess Luna is still confused and angry at herself for what happened. I'll have to see about talking to her to prevent the Tantabus...
"But you told me that it was just an old pony's tale. That I needed to stop reading 'those musty old books' and get out more..." Twilight started, confused.
" I told you that you needed to make some friends, and you did wonderfully. I knew you could not stop Nightmare Moon without letting friendship into your heart, and I knew Fawkes would be able to assist in making this easier, although I expected his help to make this go faster, not take a week." She replied, sending a cheeky smirk my way.
"Hold your horses there, Princess," I said, taking a moment to chuckle at my own joke, "I outright told you that my being here could throw a wrench into what I know," I responded, with an air of mock offence.
"Hang on, whaddya mean by that?" Applejack asks trotting alongside me. "I thought you know everything that would happen, a fact you've yet to explain, as promised."
There was a bit of venom in those final two words, but not enough to feel bad about.
"You're right, I did promise, but we have a Summer Sun Celebration to finish. We can meet back up at the library to explain it all before we all part ways for the day...night...whatever. I already told the Princess about my...situation. That's why she decided to send me here to help Twilight. I told her though, I don't know how much spoiling what I know, or just my being here might change things. "
As we stepped into City Hall, raucous applause erupted all around us, as the town, as we found out later, was gathered by the Mayor after we'd left for the castle, cheered at the sight of their returned monarch. Celestia walked up to the stage at the front of the venue and waved us up with a nod of her head. The group of us wander up on stage, and stood around sheepishly, clearly not used to the pressure of being on stage.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts. I come to you today, for two main reasons. One, of course, is the traditional Raising of the Sun, that usually happens at the Summer Sun Celebration."
She paused for a moment, and raised her wings, slowly at first, but higher and higher, as golden magic enveloped her horn. An orange glow from the windows high above us signalled the rising of the sun outside. Applause from the audience prolonged the pause for a short while. Once the cheers subsided, she continued.
"The second reason for you to all be here today, is for me to introduce, or I should say reintroduce you all to my younger sister Luna. She once stood beside me in ruling this fair country of Equestria, until an unfortunate accident ripped us apart. However, thanks to the efforts of my faithful student Twilight Sparkle and her friends, She has at long last been returned to my side and, once she is rested and ready, will once again take hold of her duty to raise the moon each night, and lower it in the morning, as well as guarding all her faithful subjects, as they dream, and sleep so they may wake up, knowing that they are loved, and protected. "
Celestia once again paused, as cheering erupted from the crowd once more, with calls of support to the young princess from many in the audience. Luna looked up to the crowd, as tears welled up in her eyes. She sat down beside her sister and wept into her wing.
"One last thing, I must say, before we take our leave. My student, Twilight Sparkle, seems to have learned much from her short stay here in Ponyville and has made many friends. It would be cruel of me to rip her away from them to study back in Canterlot and as such, I give her a mission, for the good of all Equestria! Twilight Sparkle. By order of Princess Celestia, you will continue your studies, here in Ponyville, aiding your townsfolk, and your friends, and report back to me with your findings. You shall continue to be assisted by your steadfast companion, Spike the Dragon, and the Human Fawkes, until such time as the mysteries surrounding his arrival in our fair lands, and the method to send him home is discovered. Fawkes, I also task you, with assisting and protecting my student, her friends, and this town, until such times as we can return you to your own home."
I stand at attention and give a salute, and a curt nod to the princess, to show that I accepted her mission.
"With all that said, I wish the very best for the upcoming year, to everyone in Ponyville. Go home, and rest, and put the terrible occurrences of the last week behind you."
Upon finishing her speech, Celestia looked down at her sister, and nodded, before spreading her wings and taking off, exiting through a balcony window, her sister following suit shortly after. I turned to Twilight and our friends, as I have one more task to accomplish before we all go home for the day.
"Alright guys, I owe you all an explanation, and probably a few apologies too. Lets all head to the library, and I'll explain everything.
"Now, now, Fawkes. It's been a terribly long and arduous night for the lot of us, and we're all quite tired. Lets put it off until we've all had a bit of sleep." Rarity says daintily, with the rest of the group murmuring their assent.
"As much as I wanna hear this, I'm pretty beat. Let's handle this after I've had some shut-eye" Rainbow Dash agreed.
With that matter temporarily handled, everyone went their own way, as Twilight and I made our way back to the library to get some rest.
Upon reaching the Library, Spike climbed into his basket to get some sleep, while Twilight stopped, and looked around as if trying to find something she dropped.
"What's up, Twilight? Lose something?" I ask quizzically.
"No... I just realized you haven't actually stayed here overnight. I don't have a bed for you. The only bed in the library, aside from Spike's, is the one I used, and it's pony sized." Twilight says, looking at me apologetically.
"Oh, that? don't worry about it. Give me a pillow and a couple of blankets, and I can rough it on the floor for a night or two. I'm sure we can put in an order for a proper sized bed. I'm sure that Celestia will have no problem in making sure the expense is covered for us. Isn't there a Sofa and Quill store in town? Perhaps they do custom beds too." I pointed out, thoughtfully.
"Rough it on the floor? I can't allow that. Celestia told me to take care of you, It would be rude, and unfair to you to make you sleep on the floor." Twilight responded aghast that I would even conceive of the idea of sleeping on the floor.
"Trust me Twi, I've slept on worse. I'd sleep on the floor all the time back in my world, whenever I had a backache or something. The hard surface is good for the back, occasionally. I'll be fine." I assure her.
With the matter settled and the beds ready for sleeping, we lay ourselves down for a few hours of sleep, even as the sun starts to shine dimly through the windows. Twilight magics out the remaining light in the loft, the only remaining light being the sunlight filtering in through the curtains, giving an air of twilight.
"Hey, Fawkes..." I hear from the direction of Twilight's bed, as I turn and bunker down under the blankets on the ground, "Thanks for your help with Nightmare Moon. I feel that despite the setbacks, we couldn't have figured that out without you. Also, sorry... for the misgivings I had for you before. You really seem like a good pon...person."
I turn back over to look in her direction.
"You really need to stop selling yourself short Twilight. You would have had no issue figuring that out for yourself. If anything, all I did was fix a problem I caused in the first place. That's not much to be proud of, really. Now get some sleep. You look positively exhausted."
With that said, and the silence that followed, the two of us faded into sleep.
"Soon...soon." A voice says in my head, and a red-irised eye with a scar flashes across my vision. A sudden shock rips me from my dream, and I realizes I'm sitting bolt upright in my 'bed'
"Fawkes? What's wrong?" I hear a voice coming from the stairs down from the loft, and gentle clopping reveals Twilight coming up to check on me. " I heard you shout suddenly."
Had I shouted? I don't remember... Wait. What was it I saw? I close my eyes and try to remember. Nope. Gone. Damn my inability to remember dreams.
"Sorry Twilight. Must have been startled awake by a dream. What time is it?" I ask, leaning over to pick my glasses up off the floor, a few feet away from where I was sleeping. Wouldn't have wanted to roll over on them in my sleep.
"It's a little after noon. You've been asleep for about five hours. I myself woke up about half an hour ago. I've already made plans for everyone to meet us here at about one o'clock, so make sure you're ready by then."
"Yes, Ma'am!" I say as I give a mock salute. I've only had the one set of clothes since I got here, but while I was in the hospital, I was wearing a gown that apparently Rarity was able to make out of two regular sized ones. Sorry clothes. You'll have to keep going a bit longer.
Soon enough, I had eaten (cucumber sandwiches, no complaints here,) and the others had just arrived, and gotten comfortable. I guess it's finally time for the big reveal. I hope this goes easier than I think it will...
"So. Here we are, guys. I made you a promise, and I'm going to keep it. no more secrets...well, I can't say 'no' more. There's probably a few points I'll forget or non-pertinent information I'd rather keep for myself, but here we go." I take a deep breath. oh boy. Stay calm. Getting flustered won't help anything. "As you already know, I'm from another world. Now, In my world, we have devices, like my phone (I feel a twinge in my chest, about my phone being destroyed) that run on something we call Electricity. It's kind of like Magic, is here. It powers devices like my phone, but more importantly, TVs. TV, short for Television, is a device we have in my world, that can receive images, broadcast out from a compatible source, that allows us humans to share information. It's also used as a form of entertainment."
"What does one of these here Tellervisions have to do with you knowing our futures?" Applejack cuts in.
"I'm sure he's getting to the point, Applejack, but He'd do so much faster if you DIDN'T INTERRUPT HIM" Rarity retorts, nearly shouting the last few words.
"Everypony settle down," Twilight interjects, "Please keep until after Fawkes finished to ask any questions. I'm sure he can settle up any confusion we have after he's done."
"Thank you Twilight," I say, once everyone settled down and the attention was on me again. " To answer your question, AJ, Everything. As I said, These TVs were used as a form of entertainment. People would record shows and broadcast them to TVs for others to enjoy. One of these shows was called "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"
Rainbow snorted out loud, as she broke out into laughter.
"Bah ha ha ha. That show sounds stupid. Why would anyone watch it? What was it even about?"
"You guys," I say, which predictably caused Rainbow Dash to stop laughing, as she choked on her laughter a bit, and refocused on me, as Pinkie thumped her back. Originally a show designed for young kids, primarily girls, as a way of promoting a toy line of the same name, the show gained popularity with both genders, and of people of ages well beyond the target audience. The internet is partly to blame for this. While this phenomenon started primarily as a joke, more and more people got addicted to the show's relatable characters, charming scenarios, and crisp animation. I myself, decided to see what all the fuss was about, and got hooked after the first 5 episodes or so, despite having...disdain for the people who claimed to like this show aimed at little girls."
I stop for a minute to catch my breath and observe the audience for their reactions. All 6 ponies and Spike were all waiting silently for me to continue.
"This show featured a Unicorn, by the name of Twilight Sparkle, who is sent from her hometown of Canterlot to a small town known as Ponyville, where she learns all about Friendship, and the magic it can bring into the lives of those involved. As you can tell, that's a little too on the nose for what happened here. What happened with Nightmare Moon, That was the first two episodes of the show. It would seem, that somehow, I was taken from my world, and brought into the world of this wonderful show. That's how I know whats going to happen. That's how I seemed to know you all so well, despite not having talking ponies where I come from. I've been watching you all for years, enjoying what I thought was just a bunch of fictional characters living fictional lives. At the time when I woke up here, six seasons of the show had aired..."
I trail off, looking at the confused ponies before me. when it's clear I wasn't sure what to say next, someone spoke up.
"So, what yer saying is, we aren't real?" Applejack says softly.
"OF COURSE YOU'RE REAL" I shout, standing up, causing Fluttershy to shriek and fall backwards off her stool. Realizing I had shouted, I quickly dial back my voice. "Sorry, Fluttershy. Of course you're real. You're here, aren't you? you live, you breathe, and eat, and sleep. I can reach out and touch you. You EXIST. Just because you're fictional in the world I came from, doesn't mean you aren't real. Think of it like this. In my universe, we have something called the multiverse theory. It basically is as such. Everything exists somewhere. If you can think it, it exists. There are millions, if not billions of possibilities out there, and each one has it's own universe. When someone makes a show or writes a book, that universe exists out there. We catch glimpses of it. reality merging, or crossing into each other, that some people can see, in dreams, or in deep thought. Everything exists. You, me, everything..."
I stop for a moment and realize I'm winded from talking so much. I drop back into my chair.
"So, like, lots of people from that 'interweb' thing watched the show right?" Rainbow Dash asks. "Did they have favourite characters? was I popular? Was I the most popular?" Rainbow gets more excited with each question.
"Everyone was popular. Discussion over who was everyone's favourite character in the show was had never been short of participants."
"Oh, and who was your favourite? Huh? HUH?" Pinkie asks, and she leans so far out of her chair towards me, I'm amazed she didn't fall.
"Well..." My eyes deceived me for a moment as they darted over to Twilight, but I hoped no one saw that. "I couldn't really pick a favourite. You're all such great peop...ponies. It wouldn't have been fair to pick a favourite... ha ha ha... Anyways, as I watched the show, that's how I knew what was going to happen. The show had been airing for about six years, so I got lots of knowledge. But I don't know how much can, or will change. I'll have to be careful about spoilers. I can't just outright tell you guys whats coming up. I will, however, try my best to make sure anything problematic is dealt with as smoothly as possible. No promises though."
As the afternoon went on, I ended up talking for hours about some of the differences between my world and this one. Pinkie for some reason seemed particularly interested in electronics and entertainment. I guess she does like entertaining people... Eventually, we noticed it was darkening out, and we decided to go our separate ways. before she left, Rarity took my measurements, and we made plans to meet up the next day to talk clothes for my stay. As she left, I saw a gleam in her eye that told me she was looking forward to the creative challenge this would pose for her. Twilight and I prepared for a proper night of sleep.
"Fawkes? I have one more question for you." Twilight says as we set up our beds for the night. I grunt in affirmation of her question, as I lay out my blankets. "When Rainbow asked about favourite characters, I could have sworn I had seen you glance at me before you answered. Mind telling me what that was all about?"
Crap...busted... oh boy... uhhh...
"Nothing in particular. I guess I was just thankful for your putting me up until we can figure this out. That tends to give points to me favouring anyone. pay it no mind. I'm sure with time, I'll give everyone the same favour." Whew. Nice save, Me.
She gave a little chuckle and turns over in her bed. "Goodnight Fawkes.
I do the same in my 'bed' and give a long sigh. "Goodnight, Twilight...Goodnight Spike." The dragon doesn't answer me. Must already be asleep. I lay in bed, going over the events of the last week in my mind until I eventually fall asleep.