private Shifted: The Remake

[Key Gear 6,663]

"Hi, to, um, you too," she added rather lamely, mentally kicking herself.

 

He didn't care that she didn't remember his name. To say that he was tired would be an understatement. His head sagged, his hooves dragged, and his tail drooped. He was still tired and he was still hungry. After the fight in the forest, the excitement outside of the forest, and the walk into town, his senses were dull and every bone in his body cried out for rest. His large size had helped him during the fight in the forest, but now it was hurting him.

 

Glancing around at the others, none of them seem to be quite as tired as he was. Numbers wondered whether his tiredness was due to needing sleep or a simple lack of calories. His stomach growled. Probably a lack of calories. At least I know that metabolism exists in this place and it is still my worst enemy. Even though he was tired, he still couldn't keep himself from continuing his observations.

 

"Um...shall we get going now?" she asked brightly, turning and bounding away without waiting for an answer.

 

Even though he was tired beyond belief, he didn't protest against going on a tour. His commitment to gathering as much information as he could outweighed his need for rest. However, as tired as he was, the best that he could do was lag slightly behind the rest of the group as they made their way through the town.

 

"Anyway," she continued, "there's supposed to be a lot of history behind this library. But, um, I don't want to bore you moon-ponies, so...do y'wanna stay here a bit or move on?"

 

A library… Numbers had zoned out for a moment.

 

“Moon ponies…” Numbers repeated the odd phrase out loud. His mind meandered back to the conversation with Ice Storm and all of her talk about planes and dimensions, Numbers droned out a strange question, “You know, we didn't study astronomy in my school. What planet is this actually?”

[Marcato 2,143]

Silver paused a moment when Aurora mentioned the tour. Tour? I do not remember hearing anything about a tour... Silver thought. He was beginning to wonder how long he had been zoned out in his thoughts. He wanted to go and relax really, since that would give him a chance to ask questions and possibly rest to think about everything. However he figured if he went with them then he might learn more about New Equestria in general. (As well as the new settlement.)

 

So he went ahead and followed along. He hoped the tour didn't take too long though. Surprisingly enough, after a thousand years of sleep Silver was quite tired... his body wasn't used to moving, so his body ached all over and had to remember how to move, react and use energy efficiently.

 

~----------------------------------------~

 

Silver was impressed by how many of the buildings were made. Some were quite complex and uniquely designed in ways only the rich would possibly be able to afford. The library especially surprised him. To hollow out an entire tree like that without it collapsing and rotting is incredible! Silver thought trying to hide his amazement. He was quickly memorizing the layout of the small village so he could remember where to go for everything he might want or need later, especially the library since that would likely have history books.

 

Silver's attention was turned away from the surounding environment when Aurora suddenly called them al Moon ponies. Moon ponies? Were they possibly discovered while I was away? Silver wondered. "Well, I do not know about the others but, I am not a moon pony. I am just a normal pegasus like any other... Well, aside from the years I have been here I suppose." Silver thought he would put that out there before there was any confusion. "Either way I would love to visit the library." He then said answering the question

Edited September 5, 2012 by Silver Arrow

[Ice Storm 1,020]

Ice Storm listened as everypony else seemed to want to go on the tour that was being spoke of by Aurora as well. It seemed that she was quickly becoming a very popular pony, and Ice was surprised that she had even remembered her name honestly with as many ponies that were all around her. She gave herself and Numbers a greeting though it seemed that she had in fact forgotten Number's name and it made Ice giggle. She then quickly remembered the tour that she'd mentioned and quickly apologized, saying that she was a bit absent minded. "I know how that can be sometimes," Ice said with a smile.

 

She followed as she lead them through the streets, and she had to admit, while the layout was similar, it seemed far too surreal for them to actually be in Ponyville. She was still half expecting to at any moment now wake up and find that all this was a dream and that no one was actually here and that he had just been knocked out again and was laying on emergency room stretcher once again. She really hoped that wasn't actually the case. Even if others discredited her for it, she did not want to go back to her human life.

 

She did notice that Numbers seemed to lag a bit behind everypony and that he seemed tired. Ice decided to hang back a bit with him to keep him company as she heard Aurora start mentioning the Library, and that he mainly checked out books on constellations and the like. She also said that the library had a very deep history as well which made Ice happy, and question if reading even existed where they were from. Ice nodded, "Yeah, except books were slowly becoming a thing of the past. We had advanced so far in technology that almost everything was powered by electricity. If this library has as much history as you say though, then we might be able to at the very least figure out what brought us here or what's going on based off of previous happenings. At the very least it could give us a premises to go off of," she said hearing another pony asking if they could move on and The gray pegasus stating he was okay with checking out the library. "If it's not too much of an issue, I would like to investigate the library a bit more before we move on. Any information we get now are less answers that we have to search for later," she stated politely.

[Flow 1,629]

Ah he got closer to her, he noticed that she was laughing. "We can't look that ridiculous can we?" He thought, now extremely curious to see what his own face looked like. He walked over next to her and peered into the lake at his own face. It was rather square-like and looking around the group, noticed that the other males where too. turning to look at Starr's face, he noticed that it was different, more rounded, which was true for the the females too. He looked back into the lake to ponder this."It must be a gender related thing" He thought. He then noticed his eyes. The closest colour he could think of was light green. "Their so... big though!" He thought, comparing them to human eyes.

 

He could hear Starry still laughing and the more he staired at his face, and especially his eyes, he couldn't help starting to laugh himself. "It's true!" He said without realizing it. "We do look ridiculous!" The realization of this only made him laugh harder until, he lost his balance and his footing to trip over the edge of the lake and fall in it.

Luckily, it was shallow near the edge so he was able to just to climb out but he was dripping wet now. He was rather annoyed at himself for being so clumsy but when he saw the look on Starry's face, he couldn't help falling over and bursting out into laughter again. "I must have looked so silly!" he thought amongst all the laughter.

 

When Daylight fell into the water, the splash got Starry wet, but even though she hated getting wet by splashes, she still laughed, "Ahahahahaha! Ahhhh, you know....I think having a bit of laughter is great, I mean, we can't be sad forever can we? Even in a sad situation like this, it's still good to have a time to laugh, yeah.....I think I remember someone telling me that, I'm surprised that I could remember that," She said while looking at the water.

 

Then she turned to Daylight, "You know.....I always think that....your the only friend I have in this...world, I'm glad we met each other, if we didn't, then...maybe I would be sad more often, you were there to make me smile, and....well....thank you. I guess I can call you...my friend." Starry said smiling while shedding a tear.

 

"Should we go back to Artsy now?" She asked, "I think she might need a little company after that quarrel,"

[Alex Night 870]

Aurora looked past the three ponies in front of her as she saw a few more scurry along the path towards the group. At the very least I know their names, she thought to herself, quite pleased at her menial accomplishment. "Hallo, Ice Storm, " she called to the familiar blue unicorn. "And, um..." Oh, come on, she grumbled as her brain whirred blankly at the sight of the gray earth pony, a name not popping into her mind. "Hi, to, um, you too," she added rather lamely, mentally kicking herself.

 

Alex looked behind as he heard another voice being called to see that it was the ice blue unicorn, who Alex just learned was named Ice Storm. "Ice Storm, huh? I should've figured as much." Alex thought. He looked further behind him to see the bright-gray pony as well as... "THE RED UNICORN?!! I thought she got digitized!" Alex thought in disbelief. Yet, there she was, slightly behind everypony with that same glare he had always seen her have. While Alex is glad to see that she is okay, he still wasn't particularly glad to see her, with today's events still flashing in his mind. However, now wasn't the time to be hung up on old wounds. Alex looked back to Aurora to confirm their answer. "Well, it looks like everypony here wants the grand tour. Lead the way, Aurora." Alex said with a happy grin.

 

"Oh, um, right. The tour! Ahaha, sorry...I'm really absentminded," she added hastily, blushing slightly, her angrily lashing tail the only telltale giveaway to her emotion. "Um...shall we get going now?" she asked brightly, turning and bounding away.

Alex saw the embarrassment on her face as well as the way her tail lashing out. He guessed it might be because she got distracted by the idea of the red unicorn still being alive. He couldn't blame her for thinking that. Alex followed closely along with the others as they made their first stop: the Library. However, this was unlike any library he had ever seen. Alex was standing in front of a library in the form of a giant tree! Alex saw this monster of a tree before while his little flight over the town, but he never imagined it was actually a library. Upon closer inspection, he could tell that it was in fact an oak tree. He could see the beehive with bees all at work in its home hanging off a branch from the right. On the sides of the tree, there were also windows allowing light to pour into the tree. The sight was just stunning to Alex. "Wow, it is amazing how this world is compared to back home... Wait, back home?..." Alex thought. Alex looked towards Aurora and his mind blanked out as another memory flashed in his mind.

 

It was a nice spring day at the school library and a boy was walking around the aisles of bookshelves. However, he saw that the boy wasn't alone; right next to the boy, there was a young woman with him. She had white skin, light-blue eyes, and black hair that was flowing and beautiful all the way down to her shoulders. She noticed the boy looking at her and smiled back at him. "Have you found a book you like, Sam?" she asked. The boy next to her answered. "Well, the topic is about the history of the Greeks, so yes I did find what I was looking for." said the boy named Sam. Finally satisfied, the two of them walked to the library's book check-out desk. The library was two stories with bookshelves all around them labeled with the topics they correspond from fiction to non-fiction. The librarian signed out the book that they were after and Sam and the girl he was with were walking out of the library and back onto the school campus. "I'm glad that you're my partner for this project, Sam. I couldn't think of anyone better to do this with." Said the girl with the black hair. "You? I'm the lucky one because you're pretty much my go-to girl when it came to history like this, Cheyenne." Sam said with a laugh. The two of them were slightly laughing at the comment he made, knowing that he was probably right. "Even still, you're my closest friend, Sam. You've always had my back ever since we were kids. I'm really glad that you are my partner." Cheyenne said with the same smile on her face.

 

Alex's mind flashed back to Aurora as she was speaking about the features of the library. "That girl again... Her name was Cheyenne. She must have been real close to me back in my world. Is Sam my real name? Why do I keep seeing her through Aurora?" Alex wondered. Alex had even more questions than ever in his mind now. His thoughts were interrupted however as Aurora asked a question to have his mind snap back to attention.

 

"Anyway," she continued, "there's supposed to be a lot of history behind this library. But, um, I don't want to bore you moon-ponies, so...do y'wanna stay here a bit or move on?"

"Moon-ponies?... Oh right, she doesn't completely understand where we come from. We'll just have to give her the full details after we get to her home during dinner. Right now, it is not the best moment." Alex thought to himself. He really wanted to continue exploring, but he noticed that Silver wanted to have the opportunity to learn more of its books inside the library as well as remembering that Ice Storm asked about the library before even coming here. Having Ice Storm explain her reason why to look made sense to Alex and it would be more beneficial to do so. Even though Electrobolt wanted to move on as well as him, Alex decided to join in the search through the library as well. "Well, I guess the group wants to have a look around the library for a bit first." Alex told Aurora with a satisfied smile.

[Dave247 568]

After having a good laugh, Day stood up and regained his composure. He looked at Starry, and realized he was getting along with her rather well considering they had just met. This was unusual for him as he didn't often talk with a lot of people so he didn't get to know that many people that well.

"Ahahahahaha! Ahhhh, you know....I think having a bit of laughter is great, I mean, we can't be sad forever can we? Even in a sad situation like this, it's still good to have a time to laugh, yeah.....I think I remember someone telling me that, I'm surprised that I could remember that," She said while looking at the water.

"Yes," He replied, looking into the water himself as well. "I am often too serious a lot of the time so it feels good to act silly sometimes and have a good laugh." He thought back to parties of co-workers that he would go to. He diden't want to go but his friend dragged him along so he could "enjoy himself", as he put it. There would be people there acting silly, cracking jokes and generally having a good time and his friend was doing the same, but he just stood in the same place the whole night and only talked with a few people that came his way. He couldn't think of anything funny to say and he was uncomfortable to act silly in front of all these people he hardly knew. It was not a enjoyable experience for him.

 

Then she turned to Daylight, "You know.....I always think that....your the only friend I have in this...world, I'm glad we met each other, if we didn't, then...maybe I would be sad more often, you were there to make me smile, and....well....thank you. I guess I can call you...my friend." Starry said smiling while shedding a tear.

Lost in thought, Day looked back to her and was taken aback by her reaction. Thinking back to all the time they have spent together so far, he realized that things had moved a lot quicker then he was used to. She was indeed his... friend.

The thought of this felt warm and relaxing inside of him. He had only ever had one friend that that he was this close to, but he was a male, and Starry was a female! He had never been this close with a...

 

"Uh oh" he thought, starting to feel quite nervous.

He swallowed, and could his heart pounding in his chest now. He tried his best remain calm, but that was never easy for him when he got nervous or stressed. He didn't want to ruin things this early on, but he had to say something...

"Your... your the only friend I have here too." He said slowly. "Even back as a human... I only had one friend... but he was a male. I never had a female friend before... at least not one that I... feel this close too" He then looked away from her, blushing. He had really put his hoof in it now.

 

Day then regained himself for the second time in only a short period of time, and looked back at her. He tried his best to hide what he was feeling but he was sure he was doing a poorly at it. "I was never good with girls..." He thought, trying his best not not blush for a second time.

"Should we go back to Artsy now?" She asked, "I think she might need a little company after that quarrel,"

"Uhh... yeah," he said quickly, forcing a unnatural smile on his face. "Let's do that." He wanted something that would end this awkward moment and take his mind off the thoughts he was having now.

[Nico 790]

"I don't know how we got here," Artsy said a little less awkwardly, adapting a more solid and calm tone. She had managed to force herself into acting like a normal person this time. Hopefully, that'd keep up. "I just... there was a crack, you see. It was all glowy and smishschmapply. And then like, I went into it. And uh... my boyfriend followed. And here the two of us are. We were having one of those visits we always have. It seems the crack is also another common theme. I think you saw one too?"

Listening to her talk for a while, he noticed that she seemed to be fluctuating between being extremely uncomfortable and relatively easygoing in her speech, though she seemed to always lean more towards the former. She mentioned a crack, and he spaced out for a moment, staring blankly at her, though his gaze wasn't necessarily focused on her so much as he was lost in thought.

 

He could remember a glowing crack faintly, but it was mostly a hazy memory. Seems like he couldn't properly remember things that had happened to him in his human form whatsoever. He was going somewhere... to visit someone. He couldn't recall who, and he wasn't surprised by that at this point. Noticing something glowing on the side of the road as he went along, he took just a moment to investigate it and... he couldn't remember what happened at that point. Next thing he knew, he was here, as a pony.

 

Realizing that for several moments he had simply been staring at Artsy without saying a word, he shook his head a bit and finally replied to her. "Uh, yeah. A crack. I do remember that vaguely, but to be honest I can't seem to remember anything clearly from before... ponyland here." A confused expression developed on his face after he spoke.

 

Looking back at his flank, Nicolas eyed the marking of quill, inkwell and scroll upon it. Something was written on the scroll, but he couldn't read it from where he was. The angle was just too sharp. "There's something written on my side here, but I can't read it. Could you perhaps read that for me? I know it's a strange thing to ask, but it's been bothering me for a while. I'm not even sure if we can still properly read as ponies, but I'd surmise that, as we are able to speak English properly, we should certainly be able to read, no? Oh, sorry, I'm starting to ramble now, aren't I?" Craning his neck, Nicolas tried his best to read his own flank, impatient to await his sister's reply.

 

"I'm sorry if I seem rude and abrupt, but this has just been really bothering me. Not like we can exactly reminisce on good old times we can't even remember, now, can we?" He became worried that he was seeming more and more rude sounding as he spoke, so at this point Nicolas decided to simply quit speaking and await her reply.

[Somebody 570]

When her lips came into contact with his, he couldn't control himself and he reached his arm around her neck, pulling her down closer, and rolling her over onto her side next to him, giving her a proper kiss filled with enough passion to keep three romances going for the next century.

 

Magenta was a bit surprised by how much emotion Klopp was putting into this moment, but she hardly minded. She gently relinquished all control and let her dashing stallion take the lead. With the way he made her feel, she could have easily stayed in this moment forever. Closing her eyes, she slowly fell into a trance, blissfully unaware of what was happening around them. Nor was she aware of the fact that they were the only pair of lovebirds who had found each other so irresistible, they were unable to keep their hooves off of each other.

 

They were a group of misfits suffering a bad case of body swap, and most were trying their best to simply learn how to walk. Yet Klopp and Magenta had somehow decided that the best course of action would be to start making out; they had to have looked positively ridiculous. In fact, one could actually see red hearts floating in the air--if there were previously any doubt as to the existence of a cartoon world, such doubt had now been completely shattered. Rolling around in the grass like two adolescents who had never experienced romance before, surely anyone who saw the pair would have either run away embarrassed, or fainted from cuteness overload...

 

Not that Magenta cared. She was having a ball in this new world, and she never wanted to go back. Her only hope was that such a time would never come; if they were ever forced to part ways, how would she find Klopp? Where could she possibly look for him on Earth? They wouldn't even have the same names anymore! Even if they were to somehow get separated in this new land of Equestria, finding each other would likely be a hopeless cause. Magenta only prayed to whatever force had brought her here that she would never have to endure such a thing...

Edited September 7, 2012 by Questio

[Klopp 2,050]

@,

 

In the midst of this glorious make-out session with his new girlfriend, Klopp completely lost all sense of everything. He was having a wonderfully Epic time, and he didn't care. After rolling around the grass with her for a bit, he decided they had probably been at it for long enough. Not to mention he realized there were other probably staring at the two right now. He had rolled up on top of her, opened up his eyes and pulled his lips away from hers.Somehow she was even more beautiful now than before they started kissing. He placed his hooves on either side of her, staring straight down into her eyes and gave her a gentle smile.

 

"I don't even care if you are a pony, you are beautiful and I don't even want to leave you. I hope this isn't just some elaborate dream, cause I don't want to wake up to find you aren't there."

 

His eyes became averted for a second as he spotted a familiar brown object out of the corner of his eye. He turned to spot his beloved Fedora on the grass just a few feet away, and he was suddenly felt a little bald... a sudden overwhelming feeling of sheer Zoopishness had just hit his scalp. How his fedora managed to stay on Magenta's head for the flight, yet fell off in a slight rustle in the grass was beyond him, but he figured it best he reunite it with his scalp before a sudden breeze decides to carry it away. He managed to scoop it up with his hoof, finally getting used to these damn pony bodies, and placed it firmly on his head where it belongs.

 

"There we go, now I don't feel naked anymore!"

 

He walked back over to Magenta and give her one final kiss on the cheek before turning to Artsy and attempting to get her attention.

 

@,

 

"Hey, Artsy! Sorry I got uh... distracted there... But, Jack is..."

 

Klopp realized continuing was pointless, as Jack was right there and had likely already informed Artsy of the strange happenings after he was thrust into the lake and had his glorious tongue-fight with Magenta.

 

@, @,

 

"...Right there! Well, um... Who's that brown pony there? Say, he looks kinda like you!"

Edited September 7, 2012 by Misso Klopp

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

@,

 

She snorted somewhat in irritation as her brother gazed ahead and rather inattentively danced around most of what she had said. Artsy had recalled liking this guy a lot... what was with him? Then again, she had taken a while to respond herself... she tried to give him the benefit of the doubt...

 

...Until she found out he had forgotten most everything.

 

"What?! You... you don't remember your own SISTER?!" The mare belted out rather shrilly, enough for most everyone else in the group to here. It didn't seem as though she had noticed how loud her tone was, as she proceeded significantly less timidly and awkwardly as she had before. "How... but I remember everything about you! And you tell me... you... you..." Her voice trailed off with a sigh. More and more, she was beginning to dislike this ridiculous world. Though she had acknowledged its benefits and adventures... so far, she could see nothing but bad. Her own brother, forgetting his sister! She just couldn't believe it!

 

"All right... lemme take a look here..." The unicorn attempted to crane her head towards his side, noticing that she felt a little wrong in doing so, and ended up bending her hooves. Feeling herself becoming lop-sided, she fell flat on her face into the grass and once again made tomatoes - no, not tomatoes, strawberries this time! - envious with the red-hot fiery blush that had enveloped her round equine face. She slowly foisted herself up, noting that she still had some... minor difficulties with this body. The tan pony moved closer to her unnamed brother's flank, hiking her glasses up with a hoof and managing to barely keep herself standing this time. She had noted that most of the sploches of water and fogginess had faded, rendering them as clean and clear as she had first come here. Good thing for cartoon physics. At least she could see better now.

 

"Uh... it says... 'Nicolas.' So... I guess you're Nicolas? Nicolas... Nicolas Quill? 'Cause there's a quill on your side right here. Nah, that sounds too fancy for you. I'm gonna call you... Nico." For some reason, the name seemed to ring a bit of a bell in Artsy's mind. Though she was not quite certain if either of those were his real name. Before she could respond to his apologies, she heard the voice of Fedoraman... erm, Klopp, calling back to her. Eager to have her attention taken away from a brother who had forgotten her, she obliged his summon.

 

@, @,

 

"Yeah, Jack told me! But it was really confusing... something about... binary? Jack, could you tell me more in detail what happened?" She ignored Klopp's question, not really harboring a particular desire to address that topic. But with as loud as Artsy had shouted before, he probably already knew the answer to it.

 

---

Carrot Top trotted further and further away from the congregation, her brilliant leafy eyes scanning the surrounding area. Where could those odd ponies be...

 

...Aha!

 

There they were, most of the ones she had remembered just standing in a group like that. They were slim for the pickings. But more and more, she could feel her heart pounding against her carapace. What if her disguise fell? What if they were not easy to turn as that tan pony was? She would have to take it easy. Already, her mind had formulated a plan to garner their trust... and she right away focused upon what she saw as the weakest link. The light blue icy pony, which she had observed as combating the tan pony and particularly liking this horrendous equine land that they so sought to leave. This one would be more trusting... and easier to deceive.

 

@@Ice Storm,

 

Addressing this unicorn only, she spoke in as soft and timidly harmless tone as she could.

 

"H-hello... I... I'm kind of... l-lost... and scared... around here... you see... I'm not from this place... a-a-and... I don't... I don't know... where I am... r-really... could you h-help me?"

Edited September 7, 2012 by Doggess Arylett

[Somebody 570]

He had rolled up on top of her, opened up his eyes and pulled his lips away from hers.Somehow she was even more beautiful now than before they started kissing. He placed his hooves on either side of her, staring straight down into her eyes and gave her a gentle smile.

As Magenta looked Klopp in the eye, she was perfectly content. So this is what heaven is like, she absentmindedly thought to herself...

 

"I don't even care if you are a pony, you are beautiful and I don't even want to leave you. I hope this isn't just some elaborate dream, cause I don't want to wake up to find you aren't there."

 

Nah, that couldn't possibly happen, Magenta thought, eyes half-shut in a state of paradise. "Believe me, this is no dream!" she whispered softly into Klopp's ear. The funny little stallion then got up, and after a few moments, Magenta's knight was once again reunited with his fashionable headwear. She figured she may as well get up, too. Shortly after standing up, she couldn't help noticing how wobbly she was. Clearly, she was still wonderfully high from all that lovey stuff they had been shamelessly doing...

 

Klopp returned to his damsel, saying something about his fabulous hat...

 

"There we go, now I don't feel naked anymore!"

 

He walked back over to Magenta and give her one final kiss on the cheek before turning to Artsy and attempting to get her attention.

 

Magenta's ears perked up as she was kissed again... Too much... It's too much... she thought as she realized what was coming. Wobbling left and right for a few seconds, she held out until Klopp was talking to Artsy before she fell over swooning. "Ahhhh...." she managed to smile a very goofy grin before she fainted, the smile still on her silly face...

[Flow 1,629]

"Uhh... yeah," he said quickly, forcing a unnatural smile on his face. "Let's do that." He wanted something that would end this awkward moment and take his mind off the thoughts he was having now.

 

"Ehehehe" Starry laughed joyously, "Okay, let's go!" she still thought that he's still being silly, she was too dense to understand what Daylight is actually experiencing at first.

 

While they trotted over to where Artsy is, Starry thought that Daylight was acting strange "Weird, It felt like....he's acting strange, what happened? Was it something I said? Hmm....." She pondered, then she starts thinking about what she had said.

 

"Should we go back to Artsy now? I think she might need a little company after that quarrel,"

 

"Hmm is it that? Nah...it can't be,"

 

"You know....I think having a bit of laughter is great, I mean, we can't be sad forever can we? Even in a sad situation like this, it's still good to have a time to laugh..."

 

"Nah, it can't be that one"

 

"You know.....I always think that....your the only friend I have in this...world, I'm glad we met each other, if we didn't, then...maybe I would be sad more often, you were there to make me smile, and....well....thank you. I guess I can call you...my friend."

 

Finally, Starry figured it out. "That? But....but ....Ehhh? T-this...this is......is this...what they call....l-...l-...No! Were just friends! I wonder why, but my heart is starting to beat harder....huh?!?"

 

Starry's face started to turn beet red, "Oh no!.....I'm blushing!...This isn't good!...I...I can't let him see my face!"

 

Just then, they were right next to the group, "Oh! Um....were here!" she told him as they arrived, but when they did, she was already sweating from what she thinks is 'infatuation'.

[Aureity 3,055]

Aurora smiled as she glanced around at the assembled ponies, each with an eager expression on their face. She glanced at the green stallion and gave him an apologetic shrug. "Sorry, Electrobolt, it looks like the rest of the group wants to go in," she announced, trotting up to the weathered old library door and turning the handle gently but forcefully. Instantly a wave of dusty air blew from the library past Aurora, causing her to shy away from the entrance for a few seconds, a look of dismay on her face.

 

She turned back to the group and gave them an embarrassed laugh. "That always happens," she said, "WIthout a librarian to spruce up the place, what else can anypony expect?" She took a second to clean a few flecks of dust from her fiery-red tail, before trotting back toward the library. Out of the corner of Aurora's eye, she caught a familiar-looking earth pony making her way towards the library. "Hallo, Carrot Top!" she called out to the pony, giving her a friendly wave before, finally, stepping into the library.

 

The Golden Oaks library was a grand place, and the vast, roomy interior seemed to defy the small exterior of the tree. Rows upon rows of books lined the sturdy shelves, which were crafted out of, of course, oak, and lent a colorful tone to the otherwise uniform-brown library. Even though Aurora had been here a few times before, each new experience never failed to amaze her, and she spent a good half minute gazing at the collosal shelves that seemed to soar up to the roof of the tree themselves, before remembering her group.

 

"Um," she said, turning her head towards them. "The books go alphabetically by subject...A is over there..." she flicked her tail towards the row farthest from her, "and Z is right here..." she nodded at the row closest to the group. "If you can't reach something, I'll be glad to help out, but for now, I guess it's free time, everypony!" Immediately she galloped over to her favorite place in the entire library, a battered notecard inserted into a far shelf that read Astronomy.

[Ice Storm 1,020]

Ice Storm waited patiently for Aurora's response to whether or not they could go into the library. If they were able to, it might shed some light on the situation and at least give them a hint or two as to what was going on. It seemed that some of the other ponies though, didn't want to go into the library. She wasn't sure why anypony wouldn't want to look into this situation, but, it was as it was. It seemed like Alex and Silver both wanted to go into the library as well which made her a bit happier that they would hopefully be getting some information.

 

Aurora had then mentioned that they were indeed going to go into the library, but as she spoke up she heard another timid voice behind her. It was a red-maned pony with a white coat and she seemed to be lost. Well, didn't seem to be she told her that she flat out was lost and that she wasn't used to the area and that she was scared. Ice felt bad for the pony, not only because she was lost and scared but she picked the absolute worst pony that she could have for help which made her feel even worse.

 

"Oh, um... I'm really sorry ma'am, but I'm afraid that I'm not from anywhere around here either. So I can't really give you any information about where we are other than the fact that we're in Ponyville, which I'm sure that you already know. That being said if you're looking for a particular place in Ponyville. Miss Aurora is giving us a tour, I'm sure that if you stuck with us, you'd find the place that you were looking for eventually," she said with a smile

[Dave247 568]

"Ehehehe" Starry laughed joyously, "Okay, let's go!" she still thought that he's still being silly, she was too dense to understand what Daylight is actually experiencing at first.

Day just stood there and blinked. "Is she really that dense that she did not notice how I was acting? Or... does she not... care for me?" He thought, as a feeling of dread and sadness rose in his chest. He shook his head and followed behind her with his head hung low. Although it gives him a free pass if she didn't notice, he did just put himself out on the line and possibly just got ignored. He always did jump to the worst possible situations though because... what if it was true?

 

As he followed Starry, his head began to swirl with depressing thoughts. He looked up to see Klopp and his companion who were just getting up from the ground with rather sheepish grins on their faces. "Seems like someponys had a good time doing something..." he thought. When he saw Klopp plant a kiss on her which then made her fall over and faint it confirmed his suspicions, only making him feel worse.

 

As they walked towards Artsy, her brother and Jack, Day noticed that Starry was now acting strangely. She was purposely trying to hide her face from him, which he couldn't get a good look at because he was walking behind her. His heart skipped a beat, the depression being replaced by hope. "I must get a look at her face" He thought as he quickened his walk and caught up to Starry just as they arrived.

Just then, they were right next to the group, "Oh! Um....were here!" she told him as they arrived, but when they did, she was already sweating from what she thinks is 'infatuation'.

Now she was talking strange as well. Short, quick breaths, and he could hear the nervousness in her voice. "Please let it be what I think it is..." he thought desperately, as he walked around to the front of her to get a good look at her face. "Yes!" he sighed. She couldn't hide her beetroot red face from this angle. A wave of relief passed over him as he quickly relaxed. Day just continued to stare at her blushing face, until he got a thought. He pondered for a bit, feeling uncomfortable and considering if he should act on it, and decided to go though with it and take a chance regardless of what his logic was telling him. He got closer to Starry, and nuzzled his face against hers. He could feel the sweat on her face from her blushing. "I like you too" he whispered, in the hope to comfort her. He wished this moment would never end.

 

"What?! You... you don't remember your own SISTER?!" The mare belted out rather shrilly, enough for most everyone else in the group to here.

Day got startled and quickly jumped back. He remembered that there were other around and that they could of seen what he was doing. He looked away from Starry blushing, and embarrassed of what he had just done. Edited September 9, 2012 by Dave247

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Aurora smiled as she glanced around at the assembled ponies, each with an eager expression on their face. She glanced at the green stallion and gave him an apologetic shrug. "Sorry, Electrobolt, it looks like the rest of the group wants to go in," she announced, trotting up to the weathered old library door and turning the handle gently but forcefully.

 

Electrobolt shook his head when Aurora had spoken to him, as he responded, "It's alright, maybe I can find something in there that interests me." As he watcher her opening the door to the library, he noticed a cloud of dust flew out of the doorway and as it ran past him, he let out a sneeze. "Ugh, dusty..." he muttered, his nose irritated from the dust cloud that attacked him. Afterwards, he overheard a pony nervously asking Ice Storm about if she could guide them around.

 

*Huh... Is she one of the humans-turned-ponies too...?* he pondered to himself, wondering who she was. *But I didn't see her anywhere when I woke up... Then again---* His line of thought was cut off as soon as Aurora greeted this pony, saying the name "Carrot Top". *So she must live in this world then... But why does she seem so lost, if she lives here then? Unless... She must be from somewhere outside of Ponyville! But hmm... Wait, I'm at a library, I can just look up a book with a map of this land and see what kinds of other places are out there!*

 

With curiosity in his head, he walked into the library just as Aurora began to explain the system at the library. As he looked at the shelves, he noticed there was a vast collection of books in shelves that seemed to touch the roof of the tree library. Needless to say, he was pretty impressed. *Hahah... This is a rather unique library, I must say...* he thought to himself, the whole idea of a tree becoming a library very interesting. Before forgetting what he was doing, he shook his head, as he began to think of which shelf the maps would fall under, browsing the M shelves first, thinking that would be the first, more obvious place to start.

[Alex Night 870]

As Alex followed behind Aurora, he caught a wind full of dust from the opening of the library. Alex wonders how the town keeps track of all of the books when there is nopony to attend to it. Before he went inside, Alex noticed hearing another pony speaking to Ice Storm. She had an orange mane and a yellow coat with a symbol of three carrots on her flank. Alex saw Aurora throw a greeting to this new pony as she was walking inside the library. "Is she a local too?" Alex brushed that thought aside as he entered the library. The interior was amazing to Alex. "Wow, it looks huge in here compared to how it looks outside." Alex said out loud. As Alex looked around the library with the same brown interior being betrayed by the various colors of the books, he started to have an attachment to this world, despite the rough start from the Everfree Forest.

 

"Um," she said, turning her head towards them. "The books go alphabetically by subject...A is over there..." she flicked her tail towards the row farthest from her, "and Z is right here..." she nodded at the row closest to the group. "If you can't reach something, I'll be glad to help out, but for now, I guess it's free time, everypony!" Immediately she galloped over to her favorite place in the entire library, a battered notecard inserted into a far shelf that read Astronomy.

Alex listened on as she spoke about the library before seeing her run off to an aisle labeled "Astronomy". "Wow, she must be really into the stars running off like that." Alex thought to himself. Alex thought back to what she said about a "Princess Luna" and "Princess Celestia". Those names got Alex curious as either one of them could possibly be the white winged unicorn that he saw in his vision. Finally deciding on what to find, Alex trotted off in his search, starting with the history books.

 

Alex walked down the alphabet in search of a book with the history of this world in it and sure enough, he found something a little better. It was an encyclopedia sitting on a podium on the other side of a book shelf labeled fiction J-M. Alex walked closer to the podium to get a better look at the book. It was very dusty as if nopony had used it in a long while. He reached in attempt to open the book and he remembered that he no longer has fingers to manipulate the pages. "Hmmm, I guess I'll just have to try harder at turning pages." Alex thought to himself. Alex reached with his front right hoof to open the book. "Let's see. L for Luna..." Alex said to himself. After three minutes of turning and accidentally skipping pages, he found the name "Princess Luna". "Let's see. Princess Luna is the ruler of the moon and the night, dating back to the birth of Equestria. She rules alongside her older sister, Princess Celestia." Alex read to himself. As he looked at the picture of Princess Luna, he saw that she had a dark blue coat with a mane as beautiful as the night sky which also looked as if it had stars in her mane and tail. She also wore a dark crown along with a black necklace of sorts with the crescent moon on the front. On her flank, she bore a blotched night sky with a crescent moon as well. She did look very impressive to Alex, but she wasn't the one he saw in his vision.

 

As Alex continued looking through the pages looking for the name Princess Celestia, he thought back to the young girl he saw in his vision. "I remember that day vividly. I noticed that the tan unicorn came into this world with her boyfriend, Jack. I wonder where she is right now and if she is looking for me?" Alex thought to himself. When he finally came to the C section of the encyclopedia, he went down the list for Celestia. When he finally found the name, he saw her picture. His eyes popped open at the picture. It was the same white winged unicorn he saw in his vision! All from her regal appearance to the sun on her flank. Alex looked to read her description in the book. "Princess Celestia is the ruler of the Sun and the day, dating back to the birth of Equestria. She rules alongside her younger sister, Princess Luna over at Canterlot Castle." Alex said to himself. He had an epiphany. The great castle that he saw off on the mountainside is where Princess Celestia is. Reading upon this, Alex knew that was where they needed to go tomorrow morning.

 

"She and Princess Luna were also the creators of the Elements of Harmony." Alex read to himself. "The Elements of Harmony? What are those exactly?" Alex thought to himself. When Alex read that last part, he turned to the E section to read more about them. "The Elements of Harmony are a collection of six supernatural artifacts which were created by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to help restore peace and order throughout Equestria in times of chaos or anarchy. The Elements are depicted as Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, and Generosity; leaving the final Element a mystery." Alex read aloud.

 

"Well, it looks like I have found everything I need to know on where to go next." Alex thought to himself as he closed the book. He doubted that he could check out the Library's Encyclopedia with him due to it being the only one here, so he trotted around to find Aurora by the Astronomy section of the library. Before he left the section, he remembered about how Silver doesn't know anything about this time period. "I gotta find a history book to take with us for him." Alex thought. He looked around to find the H section of the library and came after a minute of walking. He found the book titled "Equestria: A history", but saw it was on the top shelf of the bookcase. Remembering he could fly, he willed his wings to flap to a slow rise to the book and grabbed it with both front hooves. This time, he was able to land softly without hitting the ground hard. Satisfied, Alex tucked the book underneath his right wing and walked towards the A section in search of Aurora.

 

@@Aureity,

 

In a short time, Alex found the Astronomy section. This section looked almost as dusty as the section he was in where the encyclopedia was. "Aurora? Are you here?" Alex asked looking around the Astronomy section. Soon enough, Alex found her at the end of the section with books already in her possession. Alex walked slowly as not to startle her. "Hi, Aurora. I was wondering if it would be okay if I could check out a book from here to read back at your home?" Alex asked softly. He looked at the books she had next to her and remembered about her mark on her flank. It brought another question he wanted to ask, but did not get the chance to. "What is the meaning of these marks on us? What are they?" Alex asked Aurora.

Edited September 9, 2012 by Alex_Night

[Flow 1,629]

Now she was talking strange as well. Short, quick breaths, and he could hear the nervousness in her voice. "Please let it be what I think it is..." he thought desperately, as he walked around to the front of her to get a good look at her face. "Yes!" he sighed. She couldn't hide her beetroot red face from this angle. A wave of relief passed over him as he quickly relaxed. Day just continued to stare at her blushing face, until he got a thought. He pondered for a bit, feeling uncomfortable and considering if he should act on it, and decided to go though with it and take a chance regardless of what his logic was telling him. He got closer to Starry, and nuzzled his face against hers. He could feel the sweat on her face from her blushing. "I like you too" he whispered, in the hope to comfort her. He wished this moment would never end.

 

 

Day got startled and quickly jumped back. He remembered that there were other around and that they could of seen what he was doing. He looked away from Starry blushing, and embarrassed of what he had just done.

 

As she hid her face away from him, she was worried about how she would hide her feelings away from Daylight, the rush of blood around her body kept her sweating,

 

"Great, what am I supposed to do? How would he react if he saw my face? Would it scare him away?"

 

Starry was really nervous about it, and the next thing she sees is Daylight looking at her "Eeeeek! I-....It's not what you think!.....I...I-"

Before she could finish her words, he nuzzled at her face

 

"Aaah! P-...Please! N-...Not too close!" He whispered "I like you too,"

 

His words surprised her, but he turned away afterwards, tears streamed down her cheeks as she covered her mouth with her hooves,

 

"He says he likes me......and he knows that I like him....this is......love?"

 

she replied "I...I don't know what to say....b...b-but....I like you too.....I'm so happy..." If she were human, she would've hugged him, but as a pony, she has no idea on what they do, but it was clear that they like each other.

Edited September 18, 2012 by Narutardedscum!!

[Legendary Emerald 622]

Something hit the ground near Serah, causing her to wake up with a jolt.

 

 

“Hmm? What?” she muttered, looking around herself, front hooves positioned for a fight. She seemed to be in a library of some sorts, leaning up against a bookshelf. A book had lay haphazardly splayed on the ground. The cover read 'How I Learned to Stop worrying and Love the Offensive Spell'.

 

“Right... I was reading... looking at that.”

 

The last hour or so of Serah's memory was a blur. She'd followed the other ponies on the tour without speaking, eyes threatening to close on her at any moment; her half-lidded expression probably gave the impression that she was glaring at everyone, but in reality she was just dead tired.

 

“Fatigue was sudden... because I used so much magic earlier?” She thought to herself, looking back at the book she'd dropped. “Why the hell am I in a library anyways? Hate books.”

 

Serah didn't bother to place the book back on its shelf. Instead, her eyes caught another pony whom she hadn't yet met.

 

“Poofy orange mane, yellowish-tan body... even while sleep deprived, I would remember a pony like that.”

 

"Hi, Aurora. I was wondering if it would be okay if I could check out a book from here to read back at your home?" Alex asked softly. He looked at the books she had next to her and remembered about her mark on her flank. It brought another question he wanted to ask, but did not get the chance to. "What is the meaning of these marks on us? What are they?" Alex asked Aurora.

 

Serah overheard the question, and glanced backwards at her flank. She hadn't really examined it before then. It appeared to be a twisted pinwheel of some sort, burnt red and covered in sharp edges.

 

“Red. Dangerous. Almost like fire. Fitting.” Serah ran the characteristics through her head. Again, she looked at the orange pony. “Carrots. Shouldn't be surprised. Clearly a fascinating individual.”

[Nico 790]

"Uh... it says... 'Nicolas.' So... I guess you're Nicolas? Nicolas... Nicolas Quill? 'Cause there's a quill on your side right here. Nah, that sounds too fancy for you. I'm gonna call you... Nico." For some reason, the name seemed to ring a bit of a bell in Artsy's mind. Though she was not quite certain if either of those were his real name. Before she could respond to his apologies, she heard the voice of Fedoraman... erm, Klopp, calling back to her. Eager to have her attention taken away from a brother who had forgotten her, she obliged his summon.

"Nico? Why woul-" He stopped talking mid-sentence as Artsy turned around and talked to the white pony, no longer paying attention to him. Furrowing his brows, Nicolas waited on her to finish speaking to him before trying to get her attention again.

 

"Why would you call me Nico if my..." he tried to think of what word to use, "My 'rear end' says Nicolas? Doesn't that seem representative of who I'd be?" He inquired, his facial expression becoming a bit perplexed. Then, remembering what she had said before reading his flank, it switched from confused to pained in appearance. "Also, just so you know, I haven't forgotten you. I remembered you were my sister, didn't I? I just don't remember much for details, I'm afraid. Such as your name. Though I do recall you calling me... brobro, I think? I'm not completely certain, but I think you called me that. Sorry, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

 

@,

 

Looking over at the white pony she was talking to, he couldn't help but feel that he was quite a silly fellow due to his recent shenanigans. "Hey there," he addressed the pegasus, "My name's Nicolas, apparently. Though you can call me Nico, too, since it seems she'll be doing that. What's you're name, if you don't mind my asking?"

Edited September 11, 2012 by Prince Nico

[Klopp 2,050]

@,

 

While Artsy was responding to Klopp's question, he heard a sudden thud behind him and to his left. He turned to see his beloved Magenta on the ground where she was once standing. It appeared she had fallen over for some reason, and had collapsed onto the ground. Klopp rushed to her side and poked her in the back of the neck. "Magenta! Are you okay there? What happened?"

 

He checked her vitals and she appeared to still be okay, and Klopp came to the conclusion she must have fainted for some reason. He wasn't sure why, but he kissed her on the cheek once more before lifting his head up to see what else was going on, and the new brown pony he had yet to meet addressed him.

 

@,

 

"Howdy there, Nico! My name is... well, I still cannot remember my real name, but you can call me Klopp! That's such an awesome name anyways... I hope it is my real name, cause that would be cool. You're Artsy's brother, eh? I guess that explains why you two look rather similar." Klopp then took notice of the odd symbol which he had asked Artsy to read for him.

 

"Not that I'm staring or anything, but what's that thing you've got on your backside there, Nico?"

 

Klopp looked around at the others and noticed they all had the same types of symbols on their flanks, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had one as well. He twisted his head around to have a look and saw... Pheddie. His hat was plastered onto his posterior, and he had no clue how it had gotten there. And as if that weren't odd enough, there was a blue lightning bolt atop it. Just what the hell did all of this mean?

 

"Okay, can someone tell me why my hat is tattooed on my ass with a lightning bolt? I am going to need to find some clothes to cover it, cause it looks just flat out ridiculous."

Edited September 11, 2012 by Misso Klopp

[Key Gear 6,663]

@@Aureity,

 

Numbers lumbered after the rest of the group. While he was tired, his curiosity drove him forward into the library and through its shelves. He wandered over to the books that started with the letter E. He was rewarded with the site of several books on economics. He smiled and thought that perhaps he could get used to this place after all. He then turned and meandered towards the books that started with B. As he passed by some cookbooks, his stomach growled ominously. He was still hungry.

 

Glancing through the shelves, Numbers spotted a curious book written by someone named Filthy Rich - Business Secrets of The Wealthy. Absentmindedly, he thought to himself, The author is aptly named. This seems legit. Painstakingly, he took the book down from the shelves and opened it. “The first and most important secret to wealth is to become self-employed.” Numbers shut the book and stuffed it back onto the shelf. As if starting a business was as easy as selling copies of this book. Useless advice. Some things just don't change, even across interdimensional planes.

 

Numbers decided to head over to the section with the books that started with the letter A. His eyes were rewarded with rows of books on the subject of accounting. Yup, somethings definitely don't change. I wonder what the tax code is like over here. Numbers picked the book off the shelf and started reading. He had barely made it through the title page when his head collapsed onto the book and he drifted into sleep.

 

---

 

It always happened when he was tired. The more tired he was, the more likely that he would do something that he would regret later. In this case, he had been invited to an event. It sounded like some type of formal gathering and he was looking for investors, so he absentmindedly agreed despite how sudden and short on notice the invitation had been. He did think that her reaction had been quite strange. When he agreed to go, she had seemed abnormally excited. He was tired, so he didn't think much more of it into the next day.

 

What kind of gathering is this? The thought occurred to him while he was sitting in his office and rifling through papers. When he turned to his computer and punched in the address for the event, he froze. It wasn't a formal gathering all, it was a party at his old university. Fear gripped him. So many emotions, so much to analyze, too many people. He hated these type of events. Surely she had known that? Why in the world would she invite me to this?

 

He had known her for years. He considered her to be a good friend of his, but nothing more than that. It wasn't because there was anything wrong with her. She was an intelligent and well spoken person. If he ever noticed appearances, then he would've noticed that hers was definitely above average. The simple fact of the matter was that he just didn't have any time for anything more than a small handful of friends at the moment - nothing more. That was all he had ever had time for. He was busy. Busy chasing a dream. Or, at least that's what he told himself.

 

In reality, though he refused to admit it, his dream was collapsing. He had been working long hours for months and had very little to show for all of his efforts. In the beginning, he had approached things from the perspective of a realist. He had made projections and hired good people. He had budgeted prudently and set reasonable goals. But, over time, his vision enlarged. What had once been an achievable plan was now a pipe dream, and he was in denial. Completely in denial.

 

Dreams don't wait for relationships… He thought as debated whether or not to call her and cancel the event. He checked his schedule. Strangely, he had nothing major planned for either that evening or the next morning. Great, no reasonable excuses. He groaned. If he called and canceled without a good excuse and with just hours to go before the event, then he would end up looking pretty bad. He valued her friendship, so he decided to just go to the event and keep a very low profile. After all, she knew he hated these events, so she would probably be okay with that.

 

He had only one hour to finish getting ready and to drive out to the event if he was going to make it on time. He was rushing. He wore his father's shoes. They were at least one size too large, but they were the best that he could do. He didn't have any that were suitable for the occasion himself, and he was too broke to buy any new ones. He wore an energetically colored Persian blue button-down shirt. She had told him to wear blue so that they would match. Despite himself, he worried about whether or not he had picked the right shade of blue. His earlier fears were completely forgotten. He had to get ready, and he couldn't be late.

 

He sped to the party. It was late in the evening, so traffic was minimal. When he arrived, she was waiting for him out front. The dress that she wore matched his shirt perfectly. He was ecstatic. He smiled winningly as she introduced him to her friends. He had no idea what he was doing. As they walked into the event, everything was on autopilot. He effortlessly greeted some of his old friends from university. He disregarded their questions about his business venture. He just wasn't thinking about that right now; he wasn't thinking about anything.

 

They sat down for just a few moments as the party started. It was a semi formal gathering. Everyone was well dressed and the establishment looked quite refined. She spoke with him, nothing but small talk. She was smiling radiantly. So was he. After a few more moments, they ventured onto the dance floor. He didn't know how to dance, but she told him to just follow along so he did. For the first few moments, it was awkward as he clumsily attempted to mimic the movements of those around him.

 

He was a quick learner. Now they were gliding across the dance floor and other couples moved aside to watch. The music was smooth jazz. He knew the song well, he often listened to smooth jazz at work, so the rhythm came to him naturally. He stepped fluidly, gracefully matching her every movement. They were the center of attention. Then, he blinked and the action was both conscious and intentional. He looked down at his shoes… A cavalcade of thoughts rummaged mercilessly and noisily through his mind.

 

I'm going to trip and fall… The shoes are at least one size too big… Suddenly, he became aware of all of the people around him. A small group was arguing at one of the corner tables. A young lady was crying near the entrance. An older gentleman sat alone and watched the dance floor with sadness. Laughter and other noises of happiness seemed to boom throughout his mind. My shoes are too big… While he had continued moving normally and his face had betrayed no emotion, she knew there was something wrong.

 

She led him back to their table. She asked him if there was something wrong, if perhaps he was ill. He didn't say anything. He only looked at her face and reached inside himself for something. He didn't know what he was feeling and he didn't know what he was looking for, he only knew that he found emptiness. Finally, he spoke. “You know I don't like these kind of events, why did you invite me?” She was shocked. That wasn't what she had expected to hear. Now they were both at a loss for words. Suddenly, her facial expression changed from one of shock to one of pity and then sorrow. She looked away. He left.

 

He went straight back to his office and he worked through the remainder of the night and into the next day. He had to finish his project. It was the only way that he would ever be able to make a difference in the world. It was his dream, and, to him, that was worth everything. He worked diligently and made lots of progress. He was still working when one of the employees knocked on his office door. “How was the party?” Numbers looked up. He answered in a monotone “It was fine.” The employee looked confused, then said good morning and left.

 

Numbers stood up and slowly walked to his office door. Quietly, he closed it. He walked over to the window, opened it, and looked out. Outside, he could see countless people talking, walking, living. In a whisper, he spoke to himself. “For just one moment, for just one moment, I was one of them. I was normal and I was happy. Happy to just exist.” He thought about the party. He thought about the girl. Was I in love? Why didn't I feel anything? What was I supposed to have felt? What kind of monster am I to not be able to feel love.

 

He looked down at his shoes. They were at least one size too big. He stared. He took the shoes off and threw them at the wall. In the quiet office, the noise that they made was deafening. He didn't care. He shut the windows, all of them. He locked his office door. He turned off his computer and the light. He sat down in his chair, in the dark. And he wept.

 

---

 

Numbers awoke with a start and looked around. He was comforted by the sight of the other ponies in his group. His eyes were moist and he could feel that his coat was slightly damp with sweat.

 

He shook his head. He no longer felt hungry. He just didn't want to fall asleep again.

[Marcato 2,143]

Silver sighed satisfactorily as everypony decided to go into the library. He walked in after them all and listened intently as Aurora told them how the library was arranged. Well, it is nice to notice that ponies of this day and age at least know about organization. He thought to himself.

 

Naturally, he found himself marveling at the structural integrity of the building, (or tree.) It was clearly old, but it was holding very well. He assumed it was enchanted and moved on. It looked like almost all things were that way now. When he was young he was told to blame magic for the things that didn't make sense.

 

Well, there was a lot of stuff that didn't make sense, so 'New Equestria' as Silver came to call it was very full of magic. He wasn't sure if he liked that idea, since his time was a little more focused on being traditional and using magic for convenience of emergencies. Unicorn magic had clearly progressed since then though, and everypony seemed to depend on it.

 

Silver walked along towards 'H,' the area he expected to find all the books on histroy in. His dusty cloak was a little uncomfortable after being stuck the same way so long (much like his bones) so it didn't move as freely with him as he would have liked. He made yet another mental note to get that taken care of later.

 

Silver sighed as he realized he had a lot of things to take care of.

 

As he was walking however, he was suddenly stopped by a librarian. "Ahem, excuse me but I'm going to have to ask you to leave your weapon outside..." The mare commented, gesturing to his bow. Silver frowned in confusion. He had never been asked to get rid of his weapon before. His suspicious nature arose again and he hesitated as he took the bow off his back.

 

"My apologies, however may I ask why?" Silver questioned the librarian. "Well you see some ponies would feel a little unsettled by a dark pony carrying a weapon through a place meant to be peaceful and quiet." She said as if it was obvious. She glared at him and Silver almost glared back, but he thought better of it and walked off towards the entrance.

 

I wonder if I still have that knife in my cloak... Silver thought looking over his shoulder at the pony who had told him to put the bow away. He placed it up against the trees trunk along with his quiver and walked back in and back towards the 'H' section.

 

He didn't feel nearly as safe without his bow, and he found himself looking around nervously on occasions. A thought nagged at him in the back of his mind, telling him he was just paranoid, but Silver just couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong...

 

Everypony around him seemed to be enjoying themselves, well to an extent. One or two had fallen asleep, while others were intently reading or walking around. He began browsing and started reading titles of books in his mind.

 

Legendary Myths and Rumors, Great Battles of Equestria, Ancient Weaponry... Silver found himself instinctively drifting to a more violent array of history books. He thought the battles and weaponry were facinating, especially when it came to strategic design.

 

He tried to get himself back on topic so he could find a book about the last thousand years and what had changed. Unfortunately he was having difficulty focusing, so it was taking a long time to search thoroughly. His mind was all over the place, which was apparently a disorder of some kind. It was a difficult thing to deal with, but he just kept pushing through.

 

Silver let out a disappointed sigh. It is going to take a large amount of time to become perfectly aware of this new age... He thought.

[Somebody 570]

Klopp rushed to her side and poked her in the back of the neck. "Magenta! Are you okay there? What happened?" He checked her vitals and she appeared to still be okay, and Klopp came to the conclusion she must have fainted for some reason. He wasn't sure why, but he kissed her on the cheek once more before lifting his head up to see what else was going on...

Magenta lay in a happy little stupor, ecstatic to have just locked lips with the most dashing of stallions. Klopp woke her up from her spell as he poked and kissed her again, but she opted to remain motionless and bask in the moment for a while. What would be the point in ending such a blissful experience before it was necessary? Better to enjoy it while it lasted, or so she figured.

 

As she heard Klopp and the others talking, she tried to tune them out as best she could. She soon realized that it was a useless effort and opened her eyes to look out at the horizon. Without moving a single muscle, she peacefully gazed in the direction of a castle city on the edge of a distant mountain. It was quite a sight to behold, even from afar. It prominently featured fountains turning into waterfalls that descended to the foot of the mountain, and the towers were so elegantly perched in what appeared to be a precarious posture on such a steep cliff. Magic must have been what kept it all from falling off the rocks.

 

"Klopp..." Magenta whispered half-heartedly, assuming he would be unable to hear her. "Take me there someday..." She remembered royalty was said to be there, the grand rulers of the land would sit up there as figureheads. This place was obviously very peaceful, and could not possibly require any sort of protection, as there was no foreseeable threat...

 

Suddenly she felt something incredibly heavy in the pit of her stomach, as a horrifying thought made its way into her mind. But before she could finish her thought, Klopp spoke up:

 

"Okay, can someone tell me why my hat is tattooed on my ass with a lightning bolt? I am going to need to find some clothes to cover it, cause it looks just flat out ridiculous."

 

"Zombies!!" Magenta screamed in a panic, quickly hopping to her hooves. "I remember now! Up there, it's up there!" She frantically pointed in the direction of the castle city. "The Princesses watch over this place! But they can't possibly know about this! People are coming here disguised as ponies, murderous ones who turn people into zombies!" Having grown up in New York City, Magenta had always carried with her an irrational fear of crime, as well as the Boogeyman, Jack the Ripper and other such fables of the most evil kind of evildoers to partake in evil. While she may have had endless faith in her friends, trusting the human race in general was not something she excelled in. Having suddenly remembered that humans were here--in this peaceful place--greatly disturbed her.

 

"We've gotta let 'em know!" she yelled, trotting in place. "Um, uh, the Princess will know what to do, yeah! That place up there, everyone told me about it: it's called... um... C--Canterlot! We need to talk to the Princess of the Sun! Her name is... uhhh..." Now all she had to do was remember the Princess' name, whose name had now totally eluded her. An image of the Princess she had spotted a few days earlier flashed through her mind, but it was now badly distorted and rather useless. Still, it was all she had to go by, so she went off of it. "She's pink and--and has a big horn and wings like an eagle! Her name is... um... Princess Peach!" She shouted triumphantly.

 

"Yes, that's her! Though I don't know why she's pink," Magenta paused to ponder the peculiar palette picked by a particularly posh princess. "It really doesn't suit her... she must dye herself or something... But Princess Peach will know exactly what to do!" Quickly returning from her ponderings, Magenta jumped over next to Klopp and twirled him around to face the city with her. Putting her left arm around his back, she pulled herself onto her hind legs and pointed to the castle with her free arm.

 

"Who's with me!!??"

Edited September 13, 2012 by Questio

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Carrot Top noticed that she was attracting a bit of attention. Some of the others, including a reddish hostile-looking pony, were looking at her. Then the ivory unicorn addressed her, and she almost jumped. Aah! Her cover was nearly broken! Thankfully, the icy pony didn't seem to notice. But all the same, she would try to plug this hole up. Her mind was used to this sort of quick-thinking. It was the kind of thinking that she used to employ...

 

...Back in the past...

 

...Okay, don't think about that. Flashbacks were silly and pointless. She needed to stay rooted in the present, not in useless things that didn't affect the now. Right now, everything was different. And it would be better. If she succeeded on this mission. All their dreams awaited them...

 

@@Ice Storm,

 

From what she had figured, first of all, this Aurora was a native. So she was useless, and would have to be converted and kept out of the way. Otherwise, she'd break their cover. Now, let's see what she could invent...

 

"Oh no... no! Not her. N... not her. I... as you can s-see... we... I met her... first... when I came to this... weird... p-pony place... a while ago. And... she... she's... it's... I-I'd really rather not say. Just... keep your distance." Her voice shuddered fearfully and rather convincingly, as she widened her eyes and put her ears back to indicate a great terror of that unicorn. "C-c-can I stay with you...? P-p-please... you... I know you can help... so-something a-about you... I just trust you... I... I think... you're.. not from this... o-odd place... either... yes?"