Re: An Interesting Day [Private, ask first]

[Tida]

Looking at Hijinks incredulously for a moment, Tida quietly laughed.  She could have just picked out a random book from the start, and they would have been done quickly instead of looking through a lot of books.  However, if they left quickly, they wouldn't have met Ivan, who was a sergeant in the griffon military and was sympathetic towards the ponies.  He was also rational; thinking before making judgments or saying anything, unlike the majority of the griffons in Manehatten.  He very much enjoyed the company of Hijinks, as you never would know what would happen next, or who you would meet while with her.  It made things more interesting; a nice change of pace from the depressing and monotonous mood of Manehatten due to the griffon occupation.

"Could you wait a moment?" Tida asked Hijinks.  "I'm pretty sure that I saw another copy of The wonderful world of nature: A guide to the use and combinations of natural items for self - defense and the enrichment of life book.  I would like to buy it for myself, as a lot of the information in the book are very useful."  Tida went back to the place where he first found the book, hoping that nopony else bought it yet.

[Paradox]

Quantum's eye twitched. The filly could probably be declared a lethal weapon for her ability to shrewd logic and reason themselves.  He shook himself to release the tension then stood up to follow, taking Moste Potente Poisons with him.  He was about to tell the filly to pay for the book she grabbed but stopped himself. Instead he merely decided to keep an eye on what she would do as he went to pay for his own book.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks groaned as she moved back to the table. "Fine..." She said as she sat back down at the table. With nothing better to do, she followed Tida as he went to get another book. "So..." She said, trying to think of a conversation starter. "Nice weather today..." Hijinks mentally slapped herself. 'Stupid Hijinks, it's all cloudy' She thought. 

"So... What kind of name is Tida anyways? It sounds like a mare's name." She stated bluntly.

[Tida]

Going back to where he found the first copy of The wonderful world of nature: A guide to the use and combinations of natural items for self - defense and the enrichment of life book, Tida was thankful that the other copy was still there.  He picked it up and was going to return when he noticed Hijinks was talking to him.

"The weather is pretty good.  At least it's not raining or snowing" Tida mused.  Hearing Hijinks' other question, Tida chuckled.  "My name does sound like a mare's name doesn't it?  However, because I came from a country far away from Equestria, the language of my home country is different from the language of Equestria.  In the Equestrian language, my name means 'Sun', though it's used in a metaphorical sense.  In fact..." Tida thought for a moment "I could show you what my name looks like in my native language" Tida said as he made his way back to the tables they were at.

[Paradox]

Quantum trotted after them.  He had purchased his book and now would simply observe.  He was not terribly talkative in any case, but this situation made him even more silent.  Also, it would be interesting to learn about Tida's name.  It wasn't terribly often that you could learn such things from someone from such a faraway place.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks let out a exhausted groan. This was not the reaction she was looking for. All she could hear from the Kitten was 'blah blah blah blah'. "Yeah, that sounds really interesting." She lied through her teeth. "But, you know what would really be great?" She asked, "If you told me about what's outside of Equestria!"

She sat back down at her original seat. "What's it like out there?" She asked. "Are there any ponies? How about giant tentacle monsters? Tentacle monsters that eat cheese! Are there any donkeys? How about donkeys made of crystal!? Donkeys made out of jelly! no, no wait, donkeys made out of candy! And it's legal to eat them! And they have sky elevators to the moon and you can visit it and get moon popcornandadoptamoonbunnythatcandobackflipsinslowmotionwhiledrinkingwaterandsingingthegypsybardsong!" She stopped to take a deep breath.

[Tida]

Sitting back down at the table, Tida took out a piece of paper and a pencil out.  He thought for a moment, then started to write his name down in his native language.

Ti     da

太陽

"This is what my name looks like in my native language.  I won't go into the specifics of the meaning of the individual characters since it would probably bore you" Tida said, looking at Hijinks.  "However... I can tell you a little about the lands beyond Equestria.  For one, there are other ponies just like in Equestria; Earth ponies, Unicorn Ponies, and Pegasus Ponies.  However, it's said that there are also Sea Ponies that can be seen.  The plant life is different from Equestria, as outside of Equestria, a good majority of the plants can kill a pony, or a griffon, or pretty much any living thing.  As for monsters, there are quite a few sea monsters with giant tentacles that would rip apart boats if they got too close, as well as other monsters that I don't want to run into..."

Out of what Hijinks said next, Tida could only understand 'Moon bunny', as he couldn't really understand the rest.  "That reminds me.  There is a story that has been told to me when I was a colt about a bunny in the moon.  Would you like to hear it?"

[Paradox]

Quantum listens quietly.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks nods her head enthusiastically. She wanted to know how the bunny got onto the moon, or how her got by without eating all the cheese, but her questions could wait. For now, Hijinks sat there, waiting for Tida to tell his story.

[Tida]

Looking to both Hijinks and Quantum, he noticed that they both wanted to hear the story about the bunny in the moon, which was one of many stories that were told to him by his family, specifically by his grandfather.  He had a knack for making stories entertaining, while keeping it close and fairly accurate to the beliefs of the village.  Tida hoped that he could tell the story as good as his grandfather, though Tida just wanted to tell his stories to ponies that were interested in listening to them.  With that, Tida began to tell the story about the bunny in the moon.

---

"Long ago in Neighpon, before the imprisonment of Nightmare Moon because of what she tried to do to Equestria, there were 2 goddesses, one that controlled the sun named Suratimari, and one that controlled the moon named Tsukimui.  Like the princesses of Equestria, they both brought day and night and were loved very much: Suratimari raised the sun each day bringing light, which allowed the plants to grow, as well as providing warmth to all of the ponies.  Tsukimui raised the moon each night, bringing peace and quiet to the land after the activities of the day, as well as the beauty of the night.  In fact, many ponies stayed up to relax after a hard day's work, and to admire the work that Tsukimui put into making the night sky beautiful each night.  Unlike the princesses, they both lived in the things that they controlled: Suratimari lived in the sun while Tsukimui lived in the moon."

"Also in Neighpon, there is the belief of reincarnation: if a pony lived their life well, their spirit will ascend to a higher plane of existence when they pass away.  However, if one has done terrible things in their life, depending on the kinds of things that they did, they will come back as a plant, insect, animal, or things of that nature to try again.  Three friends were reincarnated into animals: a fox who was reincarnated from a pegasus pony, a bunny who was reincarnated from an earth pony, and a monkey who was reincarnated from a unicorn pony.  They were helping each other and performing acts of charity so that they could ascend to the higher plane upon passing away.  Tsukimui noticed this and decided to test their true character."

"One night, Tsukimui transformed herself into a weak, old earth pony mare and descended to the world below where the three friends lived.  She laid herself down on a path, pretending to be in severe sickness, great pain, and nearing death.  Soon enough the fox, bunny, and monkey passed by the seemingly dying old mare.  "Please help me... I have an unfinished journey in front of me, but I have been overcome by hunger and thirst... Anypony, anything, please help me..."  she begged to the three friends in a frail voice."

"Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to prove their determination to be good, the fox, bunny, and monkey searched for food for the old mare.  The monkey ran off into the forest and brought back fruits and vegetables.  The fox went to the graveyard and brought back offerings to the dead that ponies had left behind.  Being small and weak, and used to only collecting grass for food, the bunny was not able to find anything for the dying mare.  In great shame, the bunny went back to the old mare.  "I am so sorry, but I have not found anything yet, I will search elsewhere.  In the meantime, please make a fire and await my return" the bunny requested."

"Standing next to the old mare, the fox and monkey were getting impatient.  "The bunny brought back nothing, and now he tells us to make a fire and wait for him?  Useless!" exclaimed the fox and monkey in disgust.  Moments later the bunny returned, still with nothing.  He stared into the fire then jumped in, with the intention of using himself as a food source for the old mare.  He was not burned however, as Tsukimui was very impressed and touched by such a self - sacrificing act.  Because of that, Tsukimui reveled herself and proclaimed that the bunny would ascend to the moon so that ponies would remember the bunny and his selfless act forever."

"The bunny lived with Tuskimui in the moon afterwards, and he helped her by making sweets for good ponies below.  That's why, before the imprisonment of Nightmare Moon, you could see the bunny in the moon, making sweets."  Tida finished the story, hoping that Hijinks and Quantum enjoyed the story as much as he enjoyed the stories that his grandfather told to him.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks Listened intently to Tida's story. She loved the moon bunny. Ribbit. Or something like that.

"Woooow, that's cool. I remember hearing stories like that when I was little...er." She commented idly to nopony specific. Snapping her attention back to Tida, she asked, "So was the moral of the story: you have to cook yourself and offer yourself as food?" Hijinks not want to be foods. "I prefer being not food."

[Paradox]

Quantum noticed that a few things had been changed for them, contexts for which he was nevertheless grateful.  He chose the pause after the filly's chatter to speak up himself.  "A pleasant story, if a tad idyllic.  The one thing that puzzles me, however, from it is the idea of reincarnation.  How would anypony know?"  The single detail was of great puzzlement to him.  "How could somepony become what they are not?"

[Tida]

Tida was thankful that Hijinks and Quantum enjoyed the story, and chuckled when Hijinks asked about the moral of the story.  "Yes, I don't think that anypony would like to offer themselves as food... though that line of thought is part of what I think the moral of the story is.  What I think the moral of the story is that one should be kind and nice, without the need to be rewarded for being kind and nice, though, there could be many interpretations of what the moral of any story could be.  Also, you never know who could be watching what you do, so it would be best if one was kind and nice all of the time."

Turning his head towards Quantum, Tida thinks about the question that Quantum asked.  "Hmm... it would be hard for somepony to know if reincarnation is true or not wouldn't it?"  Tida thinks more before continuing "Though, this is just one belief that ponies, as well as other creatures believe in."

"To answer your question, I think that it depends on what, or who you believe.  Since nopony knows what happens when they pass away, they try to explain it as best as they can based on their beliefs and such.  I hope that my explanation has somewhat answered your question" Tida said.

[Hijinks]

Hijinks giggled. "Ponies are silly like that. I bet you could trick a pony into licking a statue of Celestia to get eternal life!" She laughed. Suddenly, she stopped laughing and raised a hoof to her chin in thought. "Hmm, that's actually a good idea. We should try it some time."

"Anyway, In all seriousness," She began. "I think it would be pretty cool to be a bird." She said with an almost straight face.

[Paradox]

Quantum considers Tida's answer for a few seconds then shakes his head. "Not completely.  But it's not something that I'd expect could be solved in an instant. I wouldn't mind talking to you about it sometime in greater detail.  It's such a fascinating topic." He ignores Hijinks's random comments for the moment.

[Tida]

Tida nodded towards Quantum "We should talk more about it sometime later.  I always want to have the opportunity learn things from others, as well as see what other pony's opinions are since it is an interesting topic of discussion".

Hearing Hijinks' comment Tida chuckled "I don't doubt that something like that can happen, since strange things happen more often than everypony thinks".  However, Tida was caught slightly off-guard when Hijinks' expression turned serious "If I may ask, why would it be cool to be a bird?"

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