Brave New World

A “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” fanfiction

        Preface: Confound these ponies, they drive me to write fanfiction! In all seriousness, though, this has to be one of the greatest fanbases I've ever called myself a part of. If you would have told me a month ago that I'd be a fan of anything “My Little Pony”, I would have called you crazy; however, now I can't imagine NOT loving this show. While the opening line was meant to be funny, there is some truth behind it. I have been on a writing dryspell for a while now, even with my original stuff. Then I discovered MLP: FiM and I've had ideas pouring into my mind, both fanfic and original. As weird as it may sound, this show very well may have been my muse, and this fic was one of the products. I'll admit, it's not your typical MLP fanfic, and I'm sure there are some people that will hate it, but I hope that most of you will enjoy it for what it is.

Prologue

        This story takes place in a world known as Estrios. Geographically, it is similar to the world that we call “Earth”, although the names of countries, cities, and towns are considerably different from what we know. Specifically, the story takes place in the country of Tairiku, a country that closely resembles what we know as “The United States of America”; however, while the two countries are geographically similar, they are politically opposite. While our USA is run under a democratic government, Tairiku—and all of Estrios, for that matter—is ruled by a monarchy. Tairiku's monarch is known as Queen Celestia, a woman known for being an intelligent, capable, and gentle ruler. Her family has worn the crown for ten generations.

        Our story begins in the town of Perryville, where our beloved ponies wake up not as ponies, but as humans. What's more, none of them—or rather, most of them—have no recollection of even being ponies.

Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land

        Sunlight streamed into the window, settling across Twilight's face and creeping into the cracks between her eyelids to slowly wake her from her slumber. She sat up and stretched as the last remnants of sleep faded from her mind. Like it or not, it was time to start a new day.

        Twilight slid her legs out from under the covers, planted them firmly on the floor, and then stood up, taking a moment to fully gain her balance. It seemed her body hadn't quite let go of its sleep state after all. Once her legs were steadied she proceeded to the bathroom, where she proceeded to do what every individual does in the bathroom after waking up. The final bullet on her daily morning agenda was to slip into her school uniform, which consisted of a light-gray, knee-length skirt, short-sleeved white blouse, and a long-sleeved blazer that matched her skirt. Her school's emblem—a pair of crossed swords with a palm leaf lying over the middle, all of which was lying on a shield—was emblazoned upon the blazer's breast. Supposedly the emblem originally belonged to the Perry family, who not only founded the town of Perryville, but also the elite, private Perryville Academy that Twilight attended. From what she had learned in history class, the Perry family had served under Celestia's ancestors as knights, and had helped her bloodline gain control of Tairiku's throne. Their reward was a handsome fortune, which they had used to construct the school and town. A quick glance at the clock told Twilight that she would not have time for breakfast, so she grabbed her backpack and exited her room.

        She was immediately greeted by the smell of books upon exiting her room, which was not at all surprising, considering the fact that her room was in the school's library. Perryville was an expensive school to attend, and even though she had been sent there under Lady Celestia's orders the school had not been willing to offer a complete tuition break. As a compromise, Twilight agreed to take up the long-vacated position of library keeper. While the librarians handled the tasks of book check-in and check-out, it was Twilight's job to make sure the books stayed in good condition, and that they were properly filed. Most people would consider it a mind-numbing task, but for a bookworm like Twilight it might as well have been heaven. She quickly made her way down the winding set of stairs that led from her room to the floor of the library, and from there she proceeded to exit the building all together.

        Outside the sun was shining brightly, and there was not a single cloud to be seen. The air had a slight chill to it, a sign that fall was just around the corner, but it was a nice break from the previous day's blistering temperatures. Twilight took a deep breath of the fresh morning air as she traversed the path that led to the school's main building, a three story structure that covered several acres by itself. Some people liked to argue that it was a colossal waste of land to have a school that big, but when those people were reminded that the school offered specialty eduction in pretty much any field imaginable they quickly clammed upon. Beyond the school's east wing, Twilight could see the dorm students filing out of their buildings and making their way to the school. That was another benefit of living in the library: there was no need to struggle her way through a crowd just to get to the building. In front of the school, cars were pulling up and dropping off the students who did not live in the dorms—these were the local rich kids whose family owned most of the businesses within Perryville.

        As Twilight made her way up the flight of stairs leading to the school doors, a familiar voice called out, “Twilight, how are you today?” She turned to find a girl with long, curled purple hair getting out of a limousine. Rarity's family was one of the richest in Perryville, and while that didn't seem to affect Rarity's personality too much, it did allow her to get away with a few things that most students wouldn't, such as modifying her school uniform. She had never been happy with the basic gray uniforms that the school required students to wear, so she made a habit of designing her own uniform based around the school's template. Her designs typically incorporated quite a bit of lace and frills, and her uniforms were never in the school's typical gray. Today's uniform was fairly simple, though: a baby blue color with lace added to the hem of the skirt. Other than that, it resembled Twilight's own uniform.

        “Good morning Rarity! I'm a little tired, but that's about it. How about you?” Twilight replied.

        “Oh I'm marvelous dear, thank you for asking,” responded Rarity as she made her way up next to Twilight.

        The two girls entered the building together, navigating the hallways to reach their respective row of lockers. As they rounded the corner to their lockers, they noticed three other girls standing right where they needed to be. Twilight immediately recognized them as her and Rarity's group of friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack, who most people simply called AJ. These weren't their real names, of course, but rather nicknames that they had picked up either throughout their lives.

        Twilight's nickname had been given by her parents, since she had the habit of studying well past the twilight hour. Rarity also garnered her name from her parents, who considered her beauty to be—what else—a rarity!

        Rainbow Dash stood out the most among all of them; it was hard not to with her rainbow streaked hair. She had come to Perryville Academy on a sports scholarship, and had been the school's top member of the track team since accepting the scholarship two years ago. The combination of her unique hair and her speed had earned her the nickname. She claimed that her hair color was natural, but some of her detractors argued that it was dyed in an attempt to distract competitors. Her body was very lean, a necessity for a runner, and a natural result for someone who spent most of her free time running.

        Next to Rainbow Dash was AJ, a resident of Perryville. Her family owned a large apple farm on the outskirts of town, and while they weren't rich per se, they were considered a valuable part of the town, so AJ had been accepted into the school with a heavily discounted tuition fee. Her freckled face seemed to always have a smile on it, despite the fact that AJ spent most of her free time working the apple orchards with her family. It was this profession that had ultimately generated her nickname among her family and friends. As usual, her long blonde hair was braided into a ponytail.

        The last member of the group was a girl with long, straight light-pink hair named Fluttershy. She was very short and petite, standing a full head shorter than AJ and Rainbow Dash, who were just about the same height. Twilight had never managed to get Fluttershy's story, since she rarely talked about herself—it was hard enough just getting her to talk! When she did talk, it was always with a meek voice that you had to strain to hear. This, combined with her overwhelming shyness, had been the cause of her nickname.

        Twilight and Rarity were greeted by the trio as they approached the row of lockers lining the wall. “Well, it looks like miss rise-and-shine is running late today!” Rainbow Dash heckled Twilight, who was usually the first one of the group to make it to school.

        “Aw, leave her alone. She was probably up late studying, which is more than can be said for some people,” AJ retorted in her thick southern accent. Rainbow Dash shot her an annoyed look before replying.

        “Who needs books when you're the fastest athlete around? I haven't met anyone that can beat me yet! Just you wait, I'll be on the Olympic track team one day!”

        Twilight tossed her backpack into her locker as AJ and Rainbow Dash bickered back and forth. It was almost a daily ritual at this point, with neither girl truly feeling any animosity towards the other. As usual, Fluttershy stood against the lockers, staring at her Mary Janes and wringing her hands nervously. A sudden realization hit her as she began extracting the books she would need for first period. “Hey guys, where's Pinkie Pie today?”

        Before anyone could even process Twilight's question, a loud voice pierced the already impressive volume of the hallway. “Giiiiiiiiiiiiiirls! Something's wrong! Something is really wrong!” a girl's voice shouted. All five of the friends looked in the direction that the voice was coming from to see a girl with pink, bushy, curly hair running straight for them. The other students in the hallway were hurrying frantically to get out of her way. She finally stopped her sprint when she reached Twilight and the others.

        “Well you have sure made quite the scene,” Rarity commented with a clear note of disapproval in her voice as she took note of all the stares being turned their way.

        “Um..Pinkie...I don't think the school likes yelling,” Fluttershy said in a voice so small it was barely audible.

        “We have bigger problems then yelling!” Pinkie yelled. “Don't you guys see what's wrong? I mean, what are these?!” She held up her hands, wiggling her fingers in Twilight's face. “Or these?” She said, stomping her feet on the ground. “And especially these!” Before anyone could stop her, Pinkie had pulled her blouse up and exposed her breasts.

        “Pinkie Pie! What's gotten into you?!” Applejack hollered, throwing herself in front of her friend before any of the boys could get a peep show. She pulled the resistant girl's blouse down and looked her in the face. “Calm down, ya hear?!”

        “I do say Pinkie, that was quite uncouth,” Rarity commented, shooting a disapproving look at her friend.

        “What's wrong with you guys? How can you not see something's wrong? I mean, what are we? What happened to our bodies?” Pinkie Pie fired her questions off on after the other, her eyes darting between all of her friends, looking for someone to share her sentiment.

        “What are we? Pinkie, how many times have I told you to pay attention during Biology class? We're humans, or to be more technical homo sapiens,” Twilight commented, shaking her head.

        “But we're supposed to be ponies!” Pinkie Pie retorted, nodding her head as though that would make everyone realize she was right.

        “Ponies? Uh, Pinkie Pie, I think you left a few apples out of your bushel this mornin',” Applejack commented, a concerned look on her face. “I mean, we're all used to you actin' weird and whatnot, but this is too weird, even for you!”

        “Besides, if you were a pony why would you have put on clothes?” Rainbow Dash asked, chuckling at the absurdity of the situation.

        “Some mean lady stopped me when I ran out of the room I was in and forced me to put these on,” Pinkie Pie replied with a pout. “They don't even look cute.”

        The five minute warning bell rang, signaling to all students that they needed to hustle to their classrooms or else receive a tardy mark. “Look, Pinkie Pie, we've been over this before. The “mean lady” is your dorm adviser, and whether you like her or not you should show her some respect. We don't have time to indulge your delusions right now; we need to get to class,” Twilight said, an air of finality in her voice.

        Pinkie's face dropped and she gave a weak, submissive nod as her friends filed past her, headed for their classroom. With no idea of what to do, she simply followed them, hoping she was going the right way. “You're supposed to be my friends, so why won't you believe me?” she said to no one but herself as she walked through the classroom door, closing it behind her.

End Chapter 1

After chapter notes: So I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter. I know it's not terribly long, but I try to keep my fanfiction stories that way. I can't speak for everyone, but I know my eyes get tired if I have to read a really long document from a computer screen. Feel free to leave comments here, or on my blog, which can be found at: realmenwatchponies.blogspot.com. I promise the story will pick up; I wanted to use this chapter to mainly introduce the world. Thanks for reading! Look forward to chapter 2!