JOURNEY UNEXPECTED
Written by James Patrick Buchanan
In the ship’s forward observation lounge, Twilight and her friends are
busy reading books on Dream Valley.
Twilight: (After closing one of
these explorer books, and setting it aside with her magic, Twilight said with
frustration etched on her face and in a frustrated voice), I’ve had it with
reading all these fibs passed off as facts. Most of these books about
Dream Valley are filled with wild speculation, unsupported by evidence.
What is worse, most of these written descriptions and maps were written by
ponies that were born decades or centuries after the “Great Pony Migration” to
Equestria. After a seven day voyage to get here, I’m not sure how many
additional weeks we and our airship can spend wandering along this coast
looking for the empty valley with the tumbledown ruins.
With everypony reading, Spike is the only one who notices that the
airship is descending. As the airship sails below the clouds, Spike looks
out the room’s large windows using binoculars. Spike sees a green valley,
then structures in the valley, and then shiny, metallic ponies. Now,
Spike has been to the Crystal Empire and met the Crystal ponies. But,
Spike had never before seen metallic ponies. Spike has a puzzled look on
his face as he puts down the binoculars that hang from his neck on a
strap. Spike scratches the tip of his nose with his index finger and then
turns around to talk to Twilight.
Spike: Twilight, you said that
nopony lives in Dream Valley anymore? Well, you might want to tell the
ponies that live here that.
Wearing skeptical faces, the pony friends ambled to the huge
windows. They saw a green valley, with farms and forests. The asymmetrical
structures are made of concrete and steel, much like Manehattan rather than
Ponyville. They see canals, roads, and metal towers that to their eyes
had no apparent purpose.
While the landscape is beautiful and the structures are intriguing,
what the pony friends pay the most attention to are the native ponies that have
a distinctive metallic sheen in their coats and manes. Some ponies had
silver and gold coats, while others had more bronze and copper coats.
As the airship passes overhead, a pony pedal powered van stops.
Two mares jump out of the van, the first mare is a Unicorn named Newsie who has
a silver coat, mane, and tail. Newsie is dressed in a stylish blue sports
coat, a white shirt, and a red bow tie while holding a wireless microphone in
her magic. Newsie used her magic to tidy up her mane.
The second mare is an Earth pony named Panorama who has a polished
brass-colored coat, mane, and tail. Panorama is wearing work overalls
over a plaid shirt. On Panorama’s head is a plastic helmet. A
portal television camera is mounted on the side of her helmet, with a helmet
mounted display in front of her right eye.
Panorama: We go live in three, two, and one, now.
Newsie: (Said in a calm voice as if she was ordering a cup of
tea), Mare on the street reporter Newsie Newsworthy reporting on what appears
to be an alien airship that has appeared in the skies above Dream Valley.
Panorama, pan up!
Newsie, with a frantic wave of her foreleg, points up. Panorama
pans her camera up seconds before the shadow of the huge airship darkens for
several seconds the two mares, their van, and the ground the two mares are
standing on.
Newsie: (After an audible gulp,
Newsie continued her commentary by saying), Panorama and I will follow that
airship the best we can and interview whoever is controlling it when it
lands. For Dream Valley Television, this is Newsie Newsworthy and my
camera operator Panorama signing off.
As Twilight’s airship approaches a grassy sports field, ponies wearing
sports jerseys and playing a game of soccer see the airship. They then
run and hide under a sports grandstand with a canopy. Panorama pedaling
their van stops it before the descending airship.
By this time, Twilight and her friends had trotted their way to the bow
deck, to stand on their hind legs, looking over the sturdy wooden
railing. Rarity had the same over the top, happy facial expression she
wore when first told about the crystal ponies.
Rarity: Have any of you even
seen such beautiful ponies in all your life? Pony watching opportunities
here is going to be a dream!
Spike: (Standing beside
Rarity), Maybe, maybe I should get my scales gilded?
One pony that was not happy was Princess Twilight. The anxiety
and shock on her face told all that she was not expecting ponies to be in Dream
Valley.
Twilight: (With worry on her face
and in her voice), I never imagined, didn’t prepare for, what I am, what am I
supposed to do?
Noticing the look of confusion and panic of Twilight’s face, Pinkie
looked at Twilight with a sympathetic smile. Pinkie knew that dealing
with the unexpected was one of Twilight’s weaknesses. Pinkie then pulls
out a ukulele from thin air, and then starts singing a parody of the song “Tiny
Bubbles”.
Pinkie: “We never expected those
shiny ponies.”
The other ponies except Twilight:
“We never expected that shiny ponies.”
Pinkie: “To be living in Dream
Valley.”
The other ponies except Twilight:
“To be living in Dream Valley.”
Pinkie: “However, you can’t let
the unexpected.”
The other ponies except Twilight:
“However, you can’t let the unexpected.”
Pinkie: “Throw you for a loop.”
The other ponies except Twilight:
“Throw you for a loop.”
Twilight then blinks, taking on a startled expression, and then her
face returns to normal. Twilight puts her hoof on Pinkie’s mouth.
Twilight: Ok, I get it; you
girls, my friends can stop singing now.
Applejack: (Puts her hoof on
Twilight’s shoulder.) Don’t worry, sugar cube. I’m sure that these
shiny ponies are as surprised about us as we are surprised about them.
Twilight: But Applejack, I’ve
never met these ponies. Where’s my book “Diplomacy for Dummies”?
What do I say to them? What do we have in common?
Applejack: This is not the first
time we talked to unknown ponies. Now, fly down there and do what you did
before. (Applejack points with her hoof at the approaching news
mares.) Those two ponies look like reporters. Why not start the
conversations with them? Remember to take deep breaths Twilight, deep breaths.
Twilight: (She looks Applejack in
her eyes, saying after a sigh), Gals, wish me good luck.
With a sense of style taught to her by Rainbow Dash’s flying lessons,
Twilight jumps over the railing and then guides to a soft landing to stand on
the manicured grass of the sport’s field in front of the silver coated
mare. With a look of amazement on her face, Panorama the brass coated
mare starts up her camera and then steps into the background.
Twilight: (With a nervous smile),
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle.
That’s my airship, the Comet. I’m in charge of a research team to collect
pony history from Dream Valley. But, I never expected that there would be
ponies living in Dream Valley. What’s your name?
It took a few moments before the silver coated mare could speak.
Newsie: My parents named me
Newsie Newsworthy, but everyone calls me Newsie. You are in a suburb of
Unity City. If you don’t mind me asking this question, what type of pony
are you? I’ve never heard of anypony who has both Pegasus wings and a
unicorn horn. In fact, there are no Pegasus ponies in Dream Valley.
Twilight: There are no Pegasus
ponies in Dream Valley?
Newsie: You are the first
Pegasus pony I’ve ever seen or interviewed.
Twilight: I’m not a Pegasus
pony. The fact is that I was born like you, as an ordinary unicorn.
But, a short time ago, when I completed a difficult spell, I grew these
wings. (Twilight flutters her wings.) And then I become a princess.
However, two of my friends and all of my ship’s crew are Pegasus ponies.
Twilight points with her hoof at her friends and ship’s crew still on
the open deck of the airship.
Newsie gasps as the realization of what Twilight said sinks into
Newsie’s mind.
Newsie: Pegasus ponies have
returned to Dream Valley? It has been many generations since a Pegasus
flew above the skies of Dream Valley. This has to be the greatest news
story in the last one hundred years!
Twilight: (With a tilt of her
head asks), Can I assume that there are only Earth and Unicorn ponies in Dream
Valley?
Newsie: That’s correct!
There have been no Pegasus ponies in Dream Valley, not even one ever since the
Great Pony Migration. By the way, what’s it like to have wings?
Twilight: Let’s just say I’ve
experienced the thrill of flying victory and the agony of crushing defeat.
Newsie: Trying to learn how to
fly at your age must have been like learning to walk all over again.
Twilight: (She rolls her eyes and
sighs), Believe me, it was. Let me ask you a question. Do you know
how your Dream Valley ponies’ coats and manes got to be so … shiny?
Newsie: Pony documents say and
pictures depict that our ancestors’ coats were as dull as yours. But,
over many generations our coats become more metallic and shiny. Nopony
knows why or how that happened.
Twilight: That’s similar to what
happened to the Crystal ponies of the Crystal Empire. But never mind
that, how can there be ponies still living in Dream Valley? I thought
that all the ponies had walked out of our ancestral homeland during the big
freeze.
Newsie: Our ancestors did walk
out of Dream Valley. Yet, hundreds of Earth and Unicorn ponies lost their
way from the great migration. Frustrated, these few stragglers returned
to Dream Valley to find that the freezing cold had disappeared from Dream
Valley and that Earth ponies were able to grow food here once again. One
thousand Earth ponies and eight hundred unicorns started a new nation, the Dream
Valley Republic.
Twilight: Who is your leader or
leaders?
Newsie: An Earth pony mare
called Cameo Moderator is our president. President Cameo and the Dream
Valley Senators govern Dream Valley and all the land up to the near shore of
what we call River Canyon, several days travel from
here. The opposite shore is the Savage Plains
full of woolly mammoths, erupting volcanoes, and a chain of mountains made out
of pure salt. We Dream Valley ponies don’t spend much time there or the
civilized nations beyond the Savage Plains.
Newsie holds out her foreleg and after a few hoof taps, uses her Pony
Digital Assistant to show Twilight images of a river valley that are similar to
the Grand Canyon and the other animals and places she described.
Twilight: What’s that machine on
your foreleg?
Newsie: This is my Pony Digital
Assistant or PDA. I use my PDA to organize my research notes on the
stories I write for Dream Valley Television news.
Twilight: Wow, I’m sure a Pony
Digital Assistant would be very useful for my library research. Where can
my friends and I purchase these?
Newsie: Anypony can purchase a
PDA in an E-PUM store.
Twilight: (With a puzzled look
asks), “E-PUM?”
Newsie: Oh, that’s an acronym
for Earth Pony science and Unicorn Magic Corporation.
Without Pegasus ponies to control the climate, Dream Valley Earth pony
scientists and Unicorn ponies skilled in the magical arts often work together
in harmony to solve problems. E-PUM also makes shoe-gloves, like the ones
my camera operator or in this case my camera-mare Panorama is wearing.
Panorama stands up on her rear legs. Sliding out of her shoes
covering her front hooves are four mechanical fingers and a mechanical thumb.
Panorama: These shoe-gloves are
sure useful in steering our station’s van or holding things.
Twilight: Could you tell me
something about these shoe-gloves?
Panorama: Shoe-gloves were
invented two hundred years ago, to provide Earth ponies as well as Unicorn
foals that hadn’t mastered their horn magic yet, with a way to hold objects in
their hooves instead of in their mouths. Dream Valley historians have
written books describing that Earth ponies and Unicorn foals had a hard time
convincing adult Unicorn ponies to invest effort, money, and resources into a
technology that would have little benefit to adult Unicorns.
Twilight: Equestrian Earth pony
scientists and Pegasus pony scientists often conflict with Unicorn pony magical
researchers over funding from Princess Celestia’s government. To be
honest, I don’t know how my Princess Celestia keeps cooperation and harmony
between those two groups. I got off the right track again, a bad habit of
mine. Where is the nearest E-PUM store?
Newsie: I can walk with you to
the nearest E-PUM store. It happens to be located on the other side of
this pony sports field. Panorama and I covered the grand opening of this
sports field seven days ago. Quinn, the mare that owns the store has a buy
one get one free PDA sale for any Pegasus pony. I think that
smart aleck Quinn will now regret making that offer.
Twilight: There’s a Ponyville
saying, When in Manehattan, do as the Manehattanites do. If
wearing a Pony Digital Assistant will help my friends and I communicate with
the Dream Valley residents, then my friends and I will purchase and then wear
them while we are here.”
Twilight looks back to her airship.
Twilight: Spike, get a bag, no
make that a big bag of bits and then come with me. We have some serious
shopping to do.
Newsie: What are bits?
Twilight: Bits are what
Equestrians use for money.
Newsie: (Chuckled, and then
said,) In Dream Valley, you buy things with Dream Valley dollars. I’ll
walk you to a nearby Unity City bank to exchange your foreign coins for Dream
Valley dollars. Do you have any questions for me before we start walking?
Twilight: What are those metal
towers for?
Newsie: Those towers are for
wireless transmission of voice and pictures for our Pony Digital
Assistants. Go ahead, ask me another question.”
Twilight: In Equestria, I read
that an Earth mare scientist named Groningen Mareconi Marwari thinks wireless
data transmission is possible. I suppose your PDA proves she was
correct. So Newsie, do you think that my Pegasus friends will become
popular with Dream Valley ponies?
Newsie: I do believe that they
will become very popular. They might even get their own welcome to Dream
Valley convention.
(Dissolve to nighttime inside Twilight and Spike’s cabin.
Twilight is dictating a letter to Spike.)
Twilight: “Dear Princess Celestia:
“My friends and I have arrived at Dream Valley and it is nothing like
we imagined it would be. We didn’t find an empty valley. Instead,
my expedition of discovery has found an undiscovered nation of metallic
ponies. I’m doing my best to keep a clear and level mind. After
all, I am working to keep calm and cool when the unexpected happens.
“I’m sending you photographs of these metallic ponies. You might
know how or why their coats are metallic.
“Lastly, I’m asking your permission to act as your diplomatic
representative to the Dream Valley Republic. I’ll send you all the
information I can get my hooves on, so you are able to make the best choices
you can make about setting up diplomatic treaties, cultural exchanges, and
trade agreements with the Dream Valley Republic.
“I’d tell you more, but I need to get some rest after a long day.
“I will always grow smarter and stronger under the warmth of your
sunlight and the warm glow of our friendship,
“Your friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle”
After a few minutes, Spike burped up Celestia’s reply.
Spoken by Celestia’s off-camera voice as Twilight reads, “My dear
Twilight:
“Princess Luna and I read and reread your letter several times.
We are confused and somewhat shocked that an entire nation of ponies could
exist on the other side of the Western Ocean. Please keep sending us
letters on what your expedition finds in Dream Valley.
“My sister and I don’t have any idea how the Dream Valley ponies have
metallic coats and manes.
“We agree that you are the pony that should establish diplomatic ties
with these metallic ponies. We approve that you will take upon yourself
the duties of a diplomatic representative to Dream Valley, until our
experienced Equestrian diplomatic ponies can be assigned to the Dream Valley
Republic. You must also propose that we consider the possibility of
building embassies in each other’s capital cities.
“Always appreciate both the warm sunlight and the cool moonlight,
“The Royal pony sisters, Celestia and Luna”
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,
Copyright © 2010 Lauren Faust, Hasbro Studios, and DHX Media
No comments:
Post a Comment