//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 : As I Lay Dying // Story: The Long Road Home // by Nightwatcher //------------------------------// Celestia's eyes slowly fluttered open, her sense of the world around her following close behind. The first thing she realised was that she was floating about five feet above a metal floor, no magical glow covering her, she just floating like some invisible platform was holding her aloft. In a panic she attempted to right herself only to find that, much to her horror, her limbs would not respond and the only thing she could move was her eyes. Her sister in a similar state a small distance away, though she appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Celestia attempted to call out to her, but she could not make herself move her mouth to form the words. She heard an alien voice in the room, but she could not see what was talking, though she assumed it was another Human. After a couple of minutes of trying in vain to get her limbs to move she consented to her current predicament, the fact that her jaw was no longer hurting slowly made itself known in her mind. ‘If they wanted to hurt us, then they would have. But what are they planning to do to us.’ , She thought. With nothing else to do she began to look around, and to her confusion everything looked..... odd, too....detailed, but at the same time, familiar. She, and many of the ponies she knew, have had dreams where the world looked like this. Her senses were in overload, everything was so surreal, she could see every individual strand of fur in her coat, she could smell.... something in the air that burned her nose. She used her eyes to scan the room, before snapping to a familiar shape, the Human from when she woke up. He was standing a couple of steps away, in between her and her sister. She took the time to get a better look at the Human. The first and most obvious thing she saw was his height, the Human would have towered over Vigil, who was just as tall as she was, the Human had to be over nine feet tall, dwarfing her mere six foot height. The next thing she took note of was.... whatever he was wearing. It was some kind of two layered suit, the first and most disgusting looking was the first layer. It was jet-black in color and looked like bands of muscle. Whenever the Human shifted slightly she could see it contract and expand, the sound reminding her of the few times she had heard leather stretch. Over the first layer was a series of what appeared to be thick grey colored metal plates covering his chest, abdomen, arms, and legs. One its head was some type of helmet with two white slits running down the helmet, how he saw out of it she could not tell as they did not appear to be any different from the material used on the rest of its garb. All-in-all it reminded her of the plate armor used by her own guards. ‘Is it armor?’ She thought. Cradled in its arms, and pointed slightly in her direction, was a large rectangular piece of metal. Celestia was no fool, she knew that it had to be some kind of weapon. The way that the Human was holding it, the way one end looked to fit snugly on its shoulder, one of its hands holding a grip with a trigger. Even the way the Human was standing, a slightly hunched over stance, was telling her that this Human was dangerous and was ready to spring into action if need be. She looked at for a moment more before it moved its head and spoke in its gruntle language for a moment, another voice followed this one almost a polar opposite to its rough, low tone. This one was much higher, and even though she could not understand she found it much more appealing to listen too. After a moment she saw another Human come into view, the source of the voice. This one was much, much different. Like the other Human the first thing she took in was its height, but unlike the other Human who towered over her, this Human was much shorter at what looked like five and a half feet tall. The new Human was garbed in something much more recognisable, a simple long white coat. Other than this new Humans height difference, there were other anatomical differences. Unlike Vigil and the titan of a Human, this one had less broad shoulders, and instead had larger hips, and a pair of lumps on its chest.That information, added to the higher tone of voice told her that this Human was female, or at least what passed as a Human female. The male nodded in her direction and the female looked at her and began to walk over. The female placed a hand on her and spoke to her, a voice that she could understand overlapping the one she could not, “Celestia, it’s good that you’re awake. My name is Dr. Abigail, I know that you’re confused.... scared, but don’t worry we’re not going to hurt you. I’m just going to take a small blood sample for testing.” ‘Dr. Abigail’ then moved her hand to her neck, she pulled up her sleeve and Celestia could see that the back of the Human’s hand had a small metal circle on it, that circle connected to a metal line that ran up the arm of the female before being lost under the fabric of her coat. From the circle on her hand, what looked like grey sand flowed out, onto her hand, then onto her before being lost in her fur. Then, some seconds later, the ‘sand’ came back to the females hand, now tinted a dull red, and returned back to the circle; Leaving Celestia bafiled. “There, all done. That was not so bad, now was it? I’m going to let you speak now, but, if you do not stay calm I’ll block the nerves again. Blink twice if you understand.”, Dr. Abigail Said. Celestia blinked twice, her thirst for answers persuading her to comply for now. “Good, this will feel.... strange.” She said. It felt as though hundreds of pins and needles were poking her all along her neck, making her close her eyes in discomfort. Then as suddenly as it started, it stopped. “Go ahead, try and talk.” She said. “What...... what are you doing.” Celestia asked, her voice hoarse. Dr. Abigail turned and walked to her sister and placing a hand on her, “Running some tests, looking for muscle and mental degradation, anything ‘out of the ordinary’”. “Where are we?” Celestia asked. “Sorry Celestia, I can not tell you.... at least right now.” The Human said. “How do you know my name?” “Sorry, can not tell you that either. There is a lot I can’t tell you, but I can get you someone who can answer all your questions, just not right now. Right now you need to rest, your body is not ready for anything else right now.” “Luna....” “Who?..... Oh! Your ‘sister’, she’s fine. We're just keeping her asleep until your..... oriented.” Celestia found her eyes drift to the gargantuan male still standing still as a statue, the Doctor taking note of this, “Thats John, I know you two didn't have a good initial meeting, but he’s a good man.” ‘John’ spoke up, “Sorry about your jaw Ma’am,” He rolled his shoulder, “ but you did try to fry me.” “I’ve had worse.”, In truth she had. “Oh, have you? Well believe me, if I was trying to hurt you, you'd be dead.” “John!” Dr. Abigail said. “Are you threatening me, Human?” Celestia asked. “Yes, actually I am. Do anything like that zap before and you’ll be dead before your horn glows, you protect your.... ponies, Celestia; I’m doing the same.” He put his weapon on his back, it hanging there by some invisible force. “Do you know what I am-” Celestia started. He pointed a finger at her, “I know exactly who and what you think you are, trust me that line of thought will get you nowhere here. I’m not an unreasonable man Celestia, I understand you were... confused, still are. So I can put aside the fact that you tried to kill me, you in the other hand, need to get rid of that romanticised view of yourself.” He said, and walked out. His heavy steps reverberating across the floor. Then part of the wall became translucent, and the Human walked through it and it moved like water, before turning back to its original form. ‘Romanticised?” Celestia thought. Dr. Abigail sighed as she walked to a nearby table, “Sorry about John, he can be a little.... gruff, at times.” Celestia took some time to think about what james had said, ‘What I think I am? What did he mean?’ The Doctor spoke up once more, this time in her own language, seemingly to no one. Then right next to the Doctor, what appeared to be a floating group of embers appeared, and a faceless voice rang out seemingly from everywhere at once. Then the voice stopped and the embers vanished. Then Dr. Abigail turned to Celestia, “Celestia, John is on the way back with Doctor James Keyes. I’ll have to warn you to keep a..... level head, when around James. He’ll answer your questions, but you have to be respectful, he-” Her face adopted a sad, far off look. “we..... have.... sacrificed much because of your kind. I know you will not understand, or accept, what he will tell you; but please don’t offend him.” As she finished talking the wall went translucent again to reveal John, behind him, another Human. This one just as tall as Dr. Abigail. James, whom she presumed this new Human was, had greying blond hair, and a short stubble on his chin. He caught sight of Celestia and turned to talk to Abigail, occasionally gesturing to Celestia and Luna, Abigail in turn looked to shrink and pail in James’s presence. Then Abigail brushed passed James, their conversation seemingly over, who then turned to Celestia. He twirled a finger in the air, Celestia found herself hoof down, then whatever was holding her up stopped and her hoofs clanked on the metal floor. She almost collapsed to the floor under her own weight, but she forced herself to stay up. “Celestia,” He said with a smile, letting her catch a flash of white canines. “Sleep well?”