//------------------------------// // The Mare in the Moon // Story: Welcome to Ponyville, My Foal // by CaleMcManus21 //------------------------------// I moaned and stirred on the ground. I sat up and raised a hand to block the rays of the sun. When I got to my feet, I found myself standing in the middle of a field. I looked around and saw that there was a village ahead of me. Before I could take step, I stopped myself. 'Ok, don't expect anyone to remember you' I thought to myself. 'And whatever you do, do not mention your family. You're in a different timeline! Pretend you are new here, GO!.' I began to walk a steady pace over to where the village is. Above me was a sign that read: 'Welcome to Ponyville'. I entered the town, ignoring the stares I've been getting. I could hear stuff like: "Is that a human?" "The last human that arrived went back home!" "But that was a long time ago!" "How did a human end up here?" I stopped walking and thought to myself. 'Wait a minute... I don't even know where to begin...' I lost my train of thought when something collided with me from behind. When I turned around, my eyes widened a little bit. In front of me was Twilight. Except she was a regular unicorn, and not an alicorn. Standing next to her was a baby dragon. It was Spike! But then I remembered, messing up the past and altering the future is a really big thing. And I'm not stupid enough to do so. Let alone try it. "Come on Twilight, say 'hi'. I'm sure he'll be glad to be your friend." Twilight nervously stepped up to me. "Uh... Hi?" She asked just as nervous as she approached me "Hey" I greeted. "Twilight, is it?" "It is" she answered. "And this is my assistant Spike." The baby dragon held out a claw and shook my hand. "What is your name, new guy?" Spike asked. 'Should I tell them my name is My Foal or Foalie?' I asked myself. 'No, because 'foal' means 'child'. Ah-ha! I got it. "My name is Foley" I said with a grin. "Foalie? I like that name" she said. "But isn't that what a baby horse is called?" "Yeah, and who cares? It also suits you" Spike said with a smile. The dragon looked down at the list. "Oh hey, Twilight and I are running errands, wanna join?" "Sure" I answered with a smile. As we walked down the street, Twilight stopped, causing me to bump into her, and Spike to bump into me. "What's wrong, Twilight?" Spike asked. "It may be easy to befriend Foley, but who's to say that the others aren't as friendly?" She asked. "Don't be silly" Spike said. I heard trotting noises and turned my head. 'Pinkie Pie?' The jolly pink mare was approaching us. I shook the fact that I know her out of my head and stuck with the act. 'First lesson, no matter what happens, act like you're new to this place. Changing the future is the last thing I want to do while I'm here.' "Maybe the ponies of Ponyville have interesting things to talk about" Spike suggested as the pink pony got closer and closer to us. Just then, she stopped and eyed us momentarily. "Come on Twilight" Spike urged. "You succeeded in befriending Foley, try befriending this one." "Uh... Hello?" She asked in the same nervous tone she asked when greeting me. The pink mare leaped in the air and gasped loudly. She then zoomed away. I knew what's about to happen and I decided to keep my mouth shut about it. "Well that was interesting all right" Twilight said in a disappointed tone. Spike and I sighed as she trotted away. "Eventually she'll be able to make some friends" I said as Spike and I followed her. "It's not her ability to befriend her" Spike explained. "It's the fact that she believes making friends is a waste of time." Well that was a giant kick to the ass. As we walked through Ponyville, I couldn't help but see Spike reading off from a list. Summer Sun Celebration? I remember having that explained to me, but in here, I decided to pretend I never heard of it. "What is the Summer Sun Celebration?" I asked. Twilight stopped and looked at me as if I asked her something offensive. "What?" She gasped. "Hey, I'm new to..." I began clicking my fingers. "What is this place?" I asked. "Why you..." She growled. Spike suddenly got in her way. "It's ok Twilight, it's always good to fill a new friend's head with information." Spike turned to me and cleared his throat. "This is Equestria and it has a long history." 'Well I know that' I thought to myself. "The Summer Sun Celebration is the celebration where Princess Celestia imprisoned her sister Luna, and restored the sun to Equestria." 'I remember comforting Luna after hearing about that' I thought to myself. 'Just by talking about it makes her almost miserable. Not to mention the fact that the comfort lasted overnight and I was only 10.' Can you imagine a 10 year old comforting a thousand year old ruler of Equestria? I sure as hell can't. The walk led us to some kind of farm. "Ah, Sweet Apple Acres" Spike said. He glanced down at the list. "And this is where we check the banquet preparations." The smell of fresh apples and hay hit me pretty hard. Just by smelling the apples made me crave some. "Yee-haw!" A Southern accented pony yelled. I turned my head and grinned. 'Hey! It's Applejack!' I shouted in my head. The mare charged at a tree and kicked it so hard, that all the apples fell off and landed in several buckets. 'Keep up the good work apple bucking!' Twilight sighed with misery. "Let's get this over with" she said. I held up a hand in front of her. "You were nervous last time" I said to her. "Let me show you how it's done." I approached Applejack and cleared my throat. "Hello, my name is Foley. The pony behind me is Twilight, and the baby dragon is Spike..." Before I could go any further, Applejack grasped my hand and began shaking it vigorously. "Well howdy do, Mr. Foalie" she said. "A pleasure making your acquaintance." "The pleasure is mine" I said, my voice vibrating. "We ponies at Sweet Apple Acres sure like making new friends." "Uh... Yeah, I can tell" I said with a forced grin and she continued shaking my hand, doubling the pace. After awhile, she let go and smiled. "So, what can I do you for?" She asked, giving me a wink that I wasn't so sure if it was suggestive or not. I was lost in thought because I felt like I couldn't feel my right hand anymore. Twilight stepped forward and explained her purpose of us being here. While she did so, I spotted Spike snickering at me. "You have no idea, how numb my hand feels right now" I said, gesturing to the appendage. "My hand has no feeling, look." I slammed it against a tree. "Ow! Hey look at that, the feelings returned." Spike snickered a little louder, but not too loud. I couldn't help but join him. Just then, I heard something like a bell. "Soup's on everypony!" Applejack shouted. Just then, a stampede of ponies tackled us and brought us in front of a table. "Now..." Applejack said as popped out next to me. "Why don't I introduce y'all to the Apple Family?" I looked at the number of ponies present. "Big family" I said in an impressed tone. Applejack began listing off her family members one by one. With each name said, the pony brought food to the table. I took note that the food they brought, was also their name. "This here's Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Friands, Apple Cinnamon Crisp..." She inhaled deeply. "Big Macintosh, Applebloom, and..." She ran up to me and Twilight with two apples in her hooves. She stuffed one into Twilight's mouth, and placed the other in my hands. "....Granny Smith." She gestured to a sleeping mare on a rocking chair. "Up and at 'em Granny Smith, we got some guests." The old mare awoke from what I think is a nap and mumbled something. "Well I say, they're already part of the family" Applejack said as she wrapped a fore hoof around me. Twilight spat out the apple she had in her mouth and laughed nervously. "Ok, well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way." Two mares looked at her with saddened expressions. "What?" I asked while holding onto an apple fritter. "Aren't you going to stay for brunch?" Applebloom asked, giving us a puppy faced look. "We'd love--" Spike and I said in unison, but Twilight cut us off. "Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do" she said. The Apple Family groaned with disappointment and I somewhat lost it. "Look Twilight" I said as took a bite out of the apple fritter. "This nice family has invited us for brunch, and when someone invites you for brunch, that is particularly the first step into making friends." I swallowed the piece I was chewing and took another bite into the fritter. After swallowing, I continued my rant. "So I say, we stay here, enjoy this nice brunch the Apple Family has to offer, and then you can get back to work. After all, a studious individual deserves a break once in a while and oh sweet Celestia this apple fritter is delicious!" I took another bite into it. "Fine" she said with disappointment. The Apple Family cheered loudly. "You enjoyed the brunch, didn't you?" Spike asked as we continued down the road. "Were you talking to me or Twilight?" I asked him as I held a half eaten apple fritter. "Because I sure enjoyed it." Spike glanced at the checklist. "Food is taken care of, now weather" he said. Behind us were groans. We stopped walking and turned around. "I ate too much pie" Twilight moaned. I took a bite out of the apple fritter I was holding. "Admit it, you enjoyed the brunch" I said. Twilight responded with a moan. "Hey Spike" I said. The baby dragon turned his head. I tossed him the apple fritter and watched as he caught it in his mouth. "Hmm" he said. "There should be a Pegasus named 'Rainbow Dash' clearing the clouds" he said as he glanced up at the sky. Twilight and I too glanced up. "Either she's lazy, clearing out another set of clouds, or..." A blur of cyan and rainbow crashed into me, and I crashed into Twilight. I was tackled so hard, that I landed on my back on the grass while Rainbow Dash and Twilight landed in the mud. Rainbow Dash got up and chuckled with embarrassment. "Um, excuse me?" She asked. The Pegasus chuckled again and flew off. She then returned with a gray cloud. And placed it over Twilight. She began to jump up and down on the cloud, making it rain on Twilight. I turned to Spike and sighed. "What's next on the list? I'm going on ahead." The baby dragon looked at the checklist. "Decorations. There is a unicorn named 'Rarity' and she should be in the Town Hall" he explained. "Alright, thanks" I said. I ran off, leaving the three behind. Thanks to my knowledge of the place, I made my way to the Town Hall which so happened to be five feet away from us. I entered the building and glanced around. "Hello?" I asked. "Be right with you, darling" a voice said. Ahead of me, using her magic to go through various ribbons was Rarity. "No, no, no, Oh! Goodness, no." The unicorn then levitated a ribbon and tied it around a pillar. "Ah, sparkle always does the trick, does it not?" "It sure does" I said with a smile. The unicorn had her back towards me. "My name's Rarity, and what is your name, good sir?" When she asked my name, she turned her head slightly around so we were facing each other. It was no use trying to go for the name I want, so I decided to stick with the one the others have been calling me. "Foalie" I answered. "But darling, Foalie is what..." She stopped and studied me. "A human with a name that means 'child'. Mind if I call you 'Foal'?" "If you want, Ms. Rarity" I said as I bowed in a gentleman-like manner. The unicorn squealed with delight. "Now my dear Foal, how can I help you--" she let out a frightened gasp. "What? Is there something on my shirt?" I asked. "No, not you, darling. The unicorn behind you! Oh! Look at her mane!" I turned my head and cried out. "Twilight! What happened to you?" I asked. Her mane and tail were as poofy as Pinkie Pie's. "I don't want to talk about it" she grumbled. I noticed Spike was looking at Rarity lovingly. "I'll wait outside" I said to him. "Goodbye Rarity" I said, waving goodbye to the unicorn. "Goodbye my Foalie" she said, waving goodbye to me. As I left the Town Hall, I couldn't help but recall what she said. 'My Foalie'. Nopony has ever called me that before. Twilight and Spike spotted me leaning against a bush, waiting for them. "Hey Foalie, what's--" I cut Twilight off by putting a finger to my lips and shushing her, while pointing behind me. As Twilight and Spike got closer, they could hear a number of singing birds. When the two joined me, we saw a yellow mare with a bright pink mane and tail. 'Ah, Fluttershy. The shy, quiet, and innocent Pegasus who has a thing for nature' I thought to myself. The three of us continued to listen to the birds singing. Twilight took a breath. "Wait, what are you doing?" I asked quietly as Twilight left the bush. "I'm going to try to befriend her" she said confidently. I tried to stop her from interrupting the Pegasus, but I lost my balance and fell on my front. I turned my head and saw Spike writing something on the checklist. "What's the final grade of my fall, teacher?" I joked, still lying on the dirt. From where we were, we could hear a soft shriek. I got to my feet and brought my hand to my face. 'She shouldn't have startled her.' "So that's Fluttershy, huh?" Spike asked. "I don't know is it?" I asked. "I mean, we could be talking to the wrong pony as far as I'm concerned." "Foalie?" I heard Twilight call me. "Foalie, can you come out here?" "Foalie?" I heard Fluttershy ask quietly. I stepped out of the bush, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Twi, you can't introduce yourself by startling a pony. It's just... Not right" I said. I heard Spike come out of the bush and stood next to me. Fluttershy gasped and widened her eyes. "A human! And a baby dragon!" She squealed. She charged forward and pushed Twilight out of the way. Fluttershy spoke to me first. "Oh, please forgive me for being excited, its just that, the last time a human showed up, I was just a filly and I haven't earned my cutie mark yet." When she said 'cutie mark', she gestured to the markings of the pink butterflies on her flank. "Cutie marks are markings that are obtained when a particular pony discovers a unique characteristic and it even shows what they're good at" Spike explained. Fluttershy then turned her attention to the baby dragon. "And also, I haven't seen a baby dragon before. He's so cute." "Well, well, well" he said, nudging me. "Don't push it" I told him. "Oh my, he talks" the Pegasus said. "Someone's popular" I said quietly to myself, trying to stifle a laugh. "I... I... I didn't know dragons could talk" Fluttershy said as Spike stood in a defiant pose. "It's so incredibly wonderful." 'Oh Celestia, he's going to gloat' I thought to myself. 'I just know it.' Suddenly, a magic aura engulfed me and yanked me back. I cried out as I skidded across the dirt. The same magic aura then grabbed Spike and yanked him away from Fluttershy. The latter gave us a worried look. "We better be going" Twilight said as she used her magic to put Spike on her back. "Come on, Twilight, I just met a new friend" I complained as I got to my feet. Twilight ignored me and trotted down the road. As I followed, Fluttershy hovered next to me. "Your name is Foal, right?" She asked. "Yes it is" I said with a grin. Fluttershy landed next to me and trotted. "What is the baby dragon's name?" She asked. "I'm Spike" the dragon answered before I could even open my mouth. "Hi Spike, I'm Fluttershy" she said in her unique soft voice. Without the two knowing, I quickened my pace and left the two to have a conversation. Afternoon arrived and a few minutes back, I had found myself listening to Spike's backstory. "And that's basically the story of my entire life" he said proudly. "Well, up until today. Do you want to hear about today?" "And oh what a story it is" I added with a smile. "Oh, he's please" Fluttershy said. Just then, Twilight stopped, causing me to bump into her. I cried out and staggered back. The unicorn turned to the Pegasus. "I am so sorry, but this is where I live." "Oh don't be such a killjoy, what's wrong with making friend?" I asked. Twilight used her magic to open the door and kicked me inside with her hind legs. Once I crashed inside, Twilight used her magic to close the door. Inside the dark house, I groaned in pain. "Why did she have to do that?" I asked. "Psst!" I heard a voice say. I glanced around the dark area. "Who's there?" I asked. "Come here" the same voice whispered. I got to my feet and followed the voice. "Down here." I crouched down and felt a fore hoof wrap itself around my shoulder. "You're that Foalie guy, right?" "Wait, Rainbow Dash? What are you...?" A voice from the other end of the room whispered loudly. "Quiet! I could hear them!" I stopped talking and heard the door open. "Hmph, rude much?" Spike asked, sounding upset. "I'm sorry Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Night Mare Moon is coming and we're running out of time" I heard Twilight say. "I just need to be alone so I could study without these crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time." Suddenly the lights went on and the two saw the place filled with ponies. "SURPRISE!!!" The party guests shouted. I also noticed that a group of the guests focused their attention to me too. Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie and I threw this party for you and the unicorn! Where you surprised?" "Very much so" I said as I stood up. "Oh! A human! The last time a human showed up, a lot of us were fillies! But unfortunately he left. So what's your name? Do you like it here? Are you going to stay longer than the last human?" I'm not surprised that she said this under one breath, but I acted like I was getting slightly annoyed but in reality, she is fun to be around. "Foalie, yes, and sure" I answered the questions she threw at me. "YAY!!!" She squealed and rushed over to Twilight. Spike approached me and handed me a cupcake. "Thanks" I said as I took it from him. "So how long will this party last?" I asked. "Don't know" Spike said as he ate his cupcake. "But I do know is that a lot of ponies stay up to watch the sunrise." 'Which I always did back in the universe I came from.' Hours went by and it was now time to watch the sunrise. The citizens of Ponyville gathered in the Town Hall and waited for Princess Celestia. "Can I ask you something?" Rainbow Dash asked me. "How did you get the name 'Foal'? I mean, it's a young horse." Oh Celestia I wished this question won't be brought up. "I... I don't know actually" I said. Rainbow Dash nudged me in the arm and chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't make fun of you." Just then, a fanfare blared and Fluttershy lead the birds to sing. A spotlight hit the curtain and lowered onto an old mare. 'Mayor Mare.' "Fillies, gentlecolts, and the human in the back." I want to learn more about this human arriving thing during my stay here, and why that me being here is a big deal for them, but right now, the rising of the sun is more important. "As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration." The ponies in the room cheered. "In just a few moments, the town will witness the rising of the sunrise and celebrate this, being the longest day of the year." Suddenly, a pain surged through my head. "Gah..." I winced as I grasped my head. I fell on my knees and began to groan in pain. "Foal? What's wrong?" Twilight asked me. I began to groan in pain as the feeling got worse. 'In the coarse of you being here, human..." I know that voice! Illusion! '...you will be haunted by the terrible memories involving you as a child. Not only that, but whenever danger is near, or when trouble brews, I will be the lurker in the dark, the shadows on the walls, the dagger in your back, and the nightmares in your pathetic skull!' His voice echoed. 'What the hell do you want with me?' I asked telepathically. 'I want to prevent your mission to get rid of me! I'll be watching your every move, and I'll make sure that you will fail everyone back home!' As soon as Illusion's voice disappeared, I glanced up and saw a black and blue mare. The mare stared at me. "A human. How long has it been since a human has appeared in Equestria?" I staggered to my feet and began to breathe heavily. "Oh? I hear that this human has troubling memories and nightmares" she cackled. "What say, I give them back to you?" A stream of dark blue clouds formed around me. And without warning, two streams entered through my eyes, and a third stream entered through my mouth. I began to scream in pain as I felt the terrible experiences I had surge through my head. While the streams continued to enter through my eyes and mouth, and as I continued to scream, I heard three things: The panicked cries of the ponies in the room The cackling of Night Mare Moon ringing through my ears And the villainous laughter of Illusion echoing in my head.