I woke up to see two Alicorns looking over me.
"Ah, you have recovered." Celestia said.
"Uh, what are you going to make me do, I'll just get it over and done with..." I said wearily.
"You must answer the questions I ask you truthfully, that is all." She said.
I looked at her suspiciously. Was this a joke, or was this all the Sun Goddess, who I was in debt to was making me do.
"Ok," I answered happily.
"Good!" Celestia also smiled, and gestured towards the exit urging me to leave the room. I walked out, into the building I had only seen briefly, whilst I was 'escaping'. There were windows every so often along the corridor, each displaying a glass-stain image. As we walked down the long corridors, I glanced at a few of the ones which stood out. There was a picture depicting what I assumed were supposed to be the two Princesses, surrounding a strange chimera-like creature. There was also a picture of a group of six ponies, surrounding the same creature, some of which I recognised from the chase in the forest. Especially the rainbow-maned one, and the smaller purple Alicorn.
As I began to trail behind Celestia, who had now taken lead whilst I was admiring the windows, I quickened my pace to keep up with her.
I decided to ask a question which I had been curious about. "What are those pictures on your - um - flanks?"
"Oh, they are our Cutie Marks, they represent our special talent. Everypony gets one." Celestia replied.
"Um, you all have a unique special talent?" I asked curiously.
"Why yes, although a few are slightly similiar, none are exactly the same." She explained.
I was still slightly confused. "But, wouldn't that mean you would need billions of different Cutie Marks?" I asked.
"Billions? Why would there need to be billions of different Cutie Marks?" Celestia questioned, confused.
"Oh, how many ponies are there on this planet?" I asked.
"Oh, there are currently about 10 million ponies, and rising every day." She said proudly.
I was very surprised. "Only 10 million ponies?" I inquired.
"Yes. How many humans are there on Earth?" She asked.
"Oh, about 7-8 billion about now." I replied.
Her eyes widened and she looked at me incredulously.
"You're -re, joking right?" She asked unsurely.
"No," I told her. "Why would I be joking?"
She paused for a moment, then attempted to calm herself down. "That's lots of humans compared to the last time we visited..." She muttered.
"What?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing, just step through here." She responded.
We had now reached the end of a corridor, and it was time for my interrogation. What would a pony want to know about me? I was sure I was about to find out...
I stepped through into the dimly lit room, and sat down in one of the chairs, facing Celestia who was sitting down at the other wide of the desk. Her horn shine briefly, and a large light shined in my face.
"Woah, you're really going all out with this interrogation thing aren't you." I said.
She looked at me irritated, and the interrogation began.
"What are humans like now?" She asked.
"Um, that's kind of a hard question, as there are so many different cultures and people. But I can tell you what I'm like. I'm twenty-seven years old, and I live alone. I suppose, I'm kind of an idealist, I am an atheist. Not much else, um, I work as the owner of a tile-making company, which is REALLY boring, but it pays fairly well." I told her.
She nodded, noting down what I was saying before looking back up at me. "How much have humans evolved, since I don't know, since 4000 years ago?" She asked.
I blinked in surprise at the odd question, but did as the all-powerful Goddess wished. "Well, that was a LONG time ago, so humans have evolved massively. For starters, we have cars; a vehicle we use for transport, the average car can travel up to around 120 miles an hour. We have planes as well, for transport; they are massive flying machines we use for transport." I was interrupted by Celestia.
"Did I mishear, or did you say you have flying machines?" She asked.
"Um yeah, we do..." I said.
She looked at me in shock. "How did you manage to create a spell which would allow you to do that without causing a Chaos rift?" She asked.
I looked at her. "Spell?"
"Yes, spell as in magic." She said looking slightly annoyed.
Oh, I should've seen that one coming. Of course they have magic here, I've seen them use spells enough. Damn it, why didn't you notice that sooner? I began to explain that on Earth, there was no magic.
About an hour later, I had gone through human history, and Celestia had managed to accept our technological advancements, without the use of magic."
"Can I see your eletic fon please?" She asked.
I sighed. "It's called electric, and this is a phone, not a fon, but okay." I told her.
She beamed.
I reached into my trouser pockets and pulled out my iPhone. Damn. Low battery. Maybe there's a spell...
I clicked the on button in the top right corner, and the Apple symbol flashed up on the screen. Celestia gasped, and tried reaching out towards the screen with her hoof. As she touched, she knocked it out of my hand, and it fell on the floor. She gasped again, and started apologising. I picked it up and checked that it hadn't broken, and then reassured Celestia that she hadn't damaged anything.
It flashed to the home screen, with my picture of a waterfall as my background. She looked at it curiously, before asking "Is that Earth?"
"Yes," I replied.
She nodded, and I unlocked the screen, and it switched to displaying my apps. I offered it to Celestia, and she gingerly picked it up of my hand, and held it in her hoof. Curiously she pressed the home button. It beeped and she dropped it again.
"Sorry, it made a sound!" Celestia complained "Are you sure it isn't possessed?"
"It's supposed to do that," I reassured her "And it definitely isn't possessed, it's just a machine."
She picked it up off the floor, and tried pressing the home button again. Beep-beep "How may I help you?"
She cried out on shock and strated screaming about it trying to attack her. My iPhone beeped again, as it tried to understand what Celestia was saying. "I found seventeen results for 'possessed machine is trying to kill me...'.
She cried out again, and suddenly the other Alicorn; Princess Luna burst through the door.
"What is wrong sister?" She asked fearfully.
"THAT OBJECT IS POSSESED AND IS TRYING TO KILL ME!!!" She screamed.
Luna looked angrily at my iPhone, and before I could do anything, my iPhone was a pile of ash on the floor.
I fell into my knees and started to cry. I can't even ask the deities of this world to help me, as they are my problem...
~~~~~
An hour later, after I had stopped sulking, and had explained what Siri was, Luna had apologised for vaporising my iPhone.
"I was going to show you Angry Birds, but no, you just had to vaporise it," I told her.
"What are these Angry Birds you speak of?" Luna asked.
"I guess you'll never find out, but they were ranked high in my world..." I replied.
"Politically?" She asked.
"Yes, but the Pigs were a big opposition..." I replied, silently sniggering.
"Pigs? What were the Pigs doing?" She asked desperately.
"Maybe, if you're nice to me, I'll tell you more about Earth..." I told her.
Luna grumbled, and shuffled off.
"So," Celestia said happily. "We'd better get you home,"
"Really?" I asked excitedly. "How can I get back, if we don't know how I got here?"
"Oh, that was easy to figure out." She informed me smugly. "You just broke through a fissure in reality, and entered at the right frequency to get to Equestria."
"Wait, what happens if you don't enter at the right frequency?" I asked worriedly, thinking of others on the plane I was on.
"Oh, you either get trapped in Limbo, return back through the fissure, or die. But the latter is very unlikely." She told me. "Was there anypony else with you?"
"Yes..." I said quietly. "I didn't know any of them, but I hope nobody died..."
"I'm sure it didn't end badly." She said reassuringly.
"Thanks," I said.
There was a short pause.
"Anyway, on a lighter note. Let's get you home." She said cheerfully.
There was a flash if light, and I felt a strange sensation, like a roller-coaster, but as if you're being pulled into yourself. The light died down, and I found myself in the forest I was in earlier. I looked around, and noticed that Celestia was also nearby, but she was standing perfectly still, and her horn was glowing. A few moments later, I heard a noise kind of like a plane taking off, and a portal opened up.
"This is the way home!" She said enthusiastically.
"Thanks!" I said. "But, what are you going to tell all the other ponies?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, they won't mind." She said calmly. "After all, nopony will remember you."
"WHAT?" I asked angrily. "You can't just take people's memories away..."
She smiled softly. "I'm afraid humans can't be made general knowledge. The least I could do, was make humans a myth. That memory spell took almost all my energy away... And, opening the portal, I almost have no energy left now." She said sadly.
"Okay, I suppose it's for the best. Nobody will see me again, and if keeping humans existence is that important to you, that you have to keep it a secret from everyone, then I suppose I can't disagree." I said.
She smiled, then motioned towards the portal. I stepped through and everything went black.
~~~~~
"I suppose it was for the best." Celestia said to herself. "Now, only I will remember this incident. The human also had to forget."
Suddenly Celestia felt another spike of magic, similar to when the human had appeared. She hoped it wasn't back again. She quickly used up the remains of her magic and teleported towards the area which the magic had been used.
She re-appeared in a desolate desert. She looked around, but saw nothing. Suddenly, a noise came from behind her, and she turned to see a group of cloaked ponies looking up at her. Each one had a symbol resembling a fireball on the side of its cloak.
One of the strange ponies began speaking in a deep, evil voice fille with hatred. "So, the pony princess is here to stop us..."
"Who are you, and what are you doing in Equestria?" Celestia asked angrily.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that we've returned. This time, our NEW boss helped us out of that hellhole you put us in last time." It said with disgust in its voice.
"Oh no, not you." Celestia said fearfully.
"Yes, it's us. The Cult of the Bleak Horizon has returned." It said maniacally.
"Who would be crazy enough to risk the Eternal Void to set you free?"
"Oh, Lord Kenrin has made a deal with us..."
"Kenrin?" Celestia asked in shock. "But, I thought he was a myth..."
"Yes, as are humans as I'm sure you know Princess." It said mockingly. "Unfortunately, Master said we weren't allowed to kill you yet, so we'll leave you here..."
They turned and walked off into the desert, whilst Celestia lay on the blistering desert surface, paralyzed with fear.
~~~~~
I felt the same sensation as the teleporting, except ten times more painful. "Aaaaaaggggh!l I screamed, as I felt as if my body was being ripped apart. Suddenly, I stopped moving, and a deep, emotionless voice spoke out in the darkness.
"I'm afraid it is not time to return human. I have plans for you. For the moment, you're staying in pony land."
I started screaming again, as I felt the same feeling as before. My vision blurred and I passed out.
~~~~~
Fluttershy went back into her cottage. She felt strange, as if she couldn't remember something, yet she could. Last night, she was sure sonething had happened.
"Do you remember anything Angel?" She asked her small white bunny.
Angel shook his head, and bounced off into the other room. Fluttershy shrugged, and went back outside to collect eggs.
Suddenly, she heard a noise from behind her, and something fell on the floor.
She turned to see a strange creature, lying motionlessly on the grass.
"Oh my!" She exclaimed before picking up the creature, and taking it inside to help.
As she picked it up, she gasped. She recognised this, it was a human from the myths. She wondered how this was possible, before realising that she had a patient to treat, regardless if whether they were mythical or not. She began to work, in attempt to save the human's life.