Strangers

The thundering of hooves on marble stirred King Solaris from his sleep somewhat, but it was the slamming of huge oak doors that caused him to jolt upright in bed.

"My Lord!" cried the unicorn mare which had burst into his room, "The captain of the Guard needs to see you at once!"

Quickly fumbling out of bed, the king grunted, "is it truly that important to wake me at this hour?" Though he clearly sounded irritated, the massive stallion swiftly donned his crown and moved out of his room, following the frightened yellow unicorn.

"It is! Captain Dawnbringer has brought in prisoners of some kind and doesn't know what to do with them!"

"Prisoners? Of what sort? We are not at war with anyone."

"That's just it," the mare explained as they hurried down the regal stairway to head into the courtroom, "he doesn't know who they are or even what they are!"

King Solaris pondered this for a moment; as there were not many creatures in the world he did not know of. "And nopony knows?"

"Nopony but you, we hope..."

It was at that moment they reached the courtroom. Guards on either side of the massive door used their magic to open it immediately, bowing their heads in respect to their king. Upon entering, the king noted that his usually level-headed guard captain was pacing about the room, a look of confused worry present on his face. Dawnbringer looked up to regard his king, bowing his head hastily before trotting over.

"My liege," the guard began, "we have found some odd creatures that we have brought into custody."

"Did you question them? Are they hostile?"

"No, my lord, they are... We cannot speak to them. One of them is wounded, and they refuse to allow us to assist." Concern and slight irritation wavered in his voice.

The king nodded; Dawnbringer was a kind-hearted pony. He would never have arrested someone for no reason. "Where have you brought them?"

Dawnbringer nodded towards two other guards in the room, causing them to swiftly trot off. "We had them brought to the castle. They were found near the Everfree Forest."

"How many are there?"

"Two, my king."

"And one is wounded- how badly?"

"We are not familiar with their anatomy, liege, but from what we could gather, it was serious. The other creature seemed intent on fixing it."

King Solaris' brow furrowed slightly. Whatever these things were, the did need help. "Instruct your guards to bring the creatures to the hospital wing. Do whatever is necessary to do so."

"As you wish, my king." The unicorn stallion bolted off instantly.

With a heavy sigh, the white alicorn turned and began to walk through the halls. He gazed at the stained glass windows which adorned the side, musing on each one a moment before continuing. Equestria had faced many threats, and each time one was conquered, it was presented on these windows. Whatever this new situation was, be it a threat or not, Solaris knew it could be dealt with.

After passing that hall, he turned to trot down the stairs which lead to the hospital wing. "So many stairs," muttered the stallion. Such comments he would never say in public, but he was alone, and it was late. He honestly thought that his castle was too big. Soon, however, the bright lights of the infirmary were present, causing King Solaris to squint slightly.

A brown earth pony male walked up to him. "My lord," he bowed before continuing, "we have received the prisoners. Our best scientists cannot identify them. However, we are treating what we are able. One needed to be restrained."

"I'd prefer you'd call them our 'guests', First Aid."

"Ah, well... My apologies, your Highness." Nervously, the doctor turned, swiftly trotting to a door and tapping it with a hoof. "The injured one is held here, and across from this holds the other one."

"Thank you, doctor. May I?" The king moved to walk towards a door, but the doctor shook his head slightly.

"I'm sorry again, my liege, but the injured one appears to be in critical condition. We are attempting to stabilize it."

King Solaris nodded in understanding, and instead moved to the other door. "I shall see what I can do about this one, then." Without waiting for a reply, the regal alicorn's horn lit, a spark of magic opening the door. Quietly, he moved in, shutting it behind him.

Inside the room was a strange-looking creature with a gnarled look of fury on what appeared to be its face. It was bound to a chair, but was rocking it aggressively and shouting foreign words. Upon seeing the king, its shouts grew in intensity and its fiery gaze became locked onto his.

The stallion first tilted his head. The closest thing he could compare this creature to was perhaps a monkey, but yet it was still completely different. Slowly, King Solaris stepped forward, using magic to free the creature from its bonds. First, the creature looked confused, and then angry. It lunged at Solaris, and the kind did not flinch. No blows connected. The creature had stopped, expression confused and almost hurt. It took a few steps backwards before hitting the wall, which it then slid down into a sit. Then, it sobbed.

Crying is universal. The white alicorn stallion knew instantly what it was doing, and though at first dumbstruck, moved towards it in an attempt to comfort the thing. It made distressed sounds at first, but after a minute, resumed crying as Solaris gingerly spread a wing over it in a soothing gesture. Soon, it seemed to realize that it was being comforted, and slowly moved to accept the embrace. And for a while, it sobbed quietly.

"Are you alright?" the king asked, his voice filled with gentle concern.

Clearly, his words were not understood, but the feeling and tone were conveyed. The thing shook, and moved closer to his wing. Its sobbing quieted, though it did sniff and whimper occasionally. It touched its face quiet often, seeming to avoid contact with much else. It had no hooves; and instead had hands.

Pondering for a moment, a small spark of an idea entered the mind of the king. His horn lit up in a flash of light, and briefly that same light encompassed the creature, who made noises of distress and shock. A blast of words assaulted Solaris' mind. It was almost painful, but it was brief. The light faded, and the king clicked his tongue almost absently. He knew so many languages; and a new one would only make meetings with diplomats more difficult.

"Is this... Better?" he finally managed, certain this was the right one.

The creature's eyes widened in shock. Slowly, it reached towards the king's visage. "Are you real?" The creature's voice was rough and masculine; so the king thought it safe to assume it was a male being.

The stallion nodded and moved his muzzle to connect with his hand. "I am very real, I assure you." They locked eyes for a moment; sky blue meeting brown. How plain, the king thought silently.

"W...What are you? Are you a horse?" The creature seemed bewildered as well as frightened.

"Of a sort," chuckled Solaris. "We are Ponies. I am King Solaris. And you are?"

"I... My name is Jasper. I'm a human." Suddenly, fear overtook Jasper, and he bolted upwards and wildly looked around. "Where did you take Eli? Where's my sister?"

"Calm yourself; she is fine. Due to her injuries, she is being tended to in a room nearby," gently explained the king as he stood. "I apologize about my guard needing to restrain you, but you could of put your sister's life in grave danger."

"You guys are ponies! How is a pony going to fix Eli?!" Tears began to well in the corners of Jasper's eyes.

Softly, the alicorn moved a hoof to the human's shoulder. He was certainly taller than a stallion, so it was a tad uncomfortable. "She's in good hooves, I promise."

"You guys can't even operate any medical tools without thumbs!"

"Indeed we can. Magic tends to concentrate-"

"Magic isn't real," snorted Jasper, turning away. "This has got to be a bad dream..."

King Solaris moved to the boy's side. "This isn't a dream, I'm afraid, though I wish it were for your sake. But if you just take a breath and try to explain what happened, perhaps we can help you."

"I don't know what happened!" Jasper nearly screeched, moving away and putting his back against the wall. "This is a nightmare, this is a nightmare, this is a nightmare-" He began to weep again, though this time muttering and speaking violently.

Faced with no other option, the king's horn alighted once more. It enveloped the boy briefly before fading, and a few moments later, Jasper's sobs and chanting quieted as he drifted to sleep.

"I'm sorry," Solaris whispered, levitating the human onto his back from his crumpled heap. A face of composure and assurance masked the alicorn's worry and distress as he left the room.

A pegasus mare named Heartbeat was waiting. "I heard the crying in there, is everything okay?"

"Not quite. I request you bring this boy to a guest room. Make him comfortable." While it was easy for the king to swap languages, he quickly realized he could not translate forever. Before levitating Jasper over to the nurse, Solaris reversed the spell he had cast earlier, granting the human knowledge of Equestrian.

Heartbeat shifted as the boy's weight pressed on to her, but she was strong. Determined, the mare nodded, trotting carefully up the stairs, using her wings to ensure Jasper did not fall. Solaris called his name after her, and she nodded in understanding. Satisfied, he turned and approached the door to the girl's room, which was cracked slightly open.

"Eli..." The king rolled the name in his mouth a moment. These humans had such interesting names... Though Eli was most likely short for something. Using his magic to open the door, the king stepped into the room as silently as possible.

The white room was empty save for the tiny huddled form on the bed, and quiet apart from her gentle breathing. Curious and concerned, the alicorn trotted closer, looking over the creature in the bed.

Like her brother, she was a human, but unlike him, she was much smaller. Bandages covered her arm and side, and her hands were tight against her. A peaceful expression remained on her face as she dozed.

With a warm smile, the king moved to nuzzle the sleeping girl. A sign of affection, and one he was certain she would feel although asleep. What he didn't expect was for her tiny hands to cling on to his muzzle, forcing him to remain in an awkward position with his head craned down towards the bed. It was adorable, and he did not want to pull away out of fear of upsetting her. Carefully, the king lowered himself, laying on the floor with his head on the bed and muzzle pressed firmly into the girl's hands.

A quiet snicker sounded from the door; and Solaris cast his eyes towards it. One of the doctors, Vital Signs, had peaked in and had watched the spectacle before him. The moment the doctor saw his king's glare, however, he clammed up, resulting in a chuckle from the alicorn.

The unicorn stallion entered the room, taking care to keep quiet. "I heard you spoke to the other one," he whispered, "did it say anything important?"

"They are called humans," King Solaris managed, though it was a muffled murmur due to Eli's grasp and cuddle. "This one is a female called Eli, and the other is a male called Jasper."

"Interesting," mused the doctor, and he turned to trot away. "Call if she experiences pain when she wakes."

Solaris nodded, and Vital Signs trotted out, quietly closing the door. At that moment, Eli yawned, letting go of the alicorn's muzzle. He took the opportunity pull away.

Slowly, the young girl's eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at the sovereign of Equestria in awe. "Pony!" she called, grabbing at the stallion once more. "You're a pony!"

With a sigh and a weary chuckle, the alicorn pressed back into Eli's hands. "Yes, yes, I'm a pony."

Eli grinned, and then tipped her head in confusion. "You talk? Ponies don't talk." Her emerald gaze drifted upwards, spying his horn. "Oh, you're a unicorn pony!" A gasp. "And a pegasus! You're a... A Pegacorn!" Thrilled, the girl clapped her hands.

King Solaris pulled away from her and rubbed his muzzle with a hoof. "Well, we call that an 'alicorn' here," he corrected softly. "And you are a human, correct?"

"Yes," giggled the girl, poking the stallion on the nose, "and my name is Elise!"

Crossing his eyes to look at the finger on his nose, the alicorn thought, so Eli is short for Elise. Still an odd name, but it seems I was correct. He shook his head and looked at the human. "Are you in any pain?"

"No, why would I be?" She looked around before her eyes set on the bandages. Her brow furrowed. "Did I get hurt? Hey, and where's my big brother?"

"Jasper is asleep," Solaris yawned before adding, "It's rather late, you know."

"Is it? Oh, did I wake you up? I'm sorry, Mr. Solaris!" Elise moved to hug him, wincing slightly, but seeming to ignore it.

Strong girl. "It's all right. Now, Elise, can you remember what happened? Anything at all?" He raised an eyebrow. "We'd like to help you two get home as soon as possible, so we need to know everything."

The little girl was distracted briefly, looking at the king rather oddly. "How did you ponies learn to talk anyways? Ponies at home-" his words caught up to her and she frowned, scratching at her chin. "Remember... Hmm... All I can remember are loud noises and yelling, and then waking up here and seeing you, Mr. Solaris."

King Solaris nodded along with her words, but his focus was escaping him. He yawned. "My apologies," he murmured.

"Maybe you should go to bed! You said it was awful late. Ponies need sleep too!"

"Perhaps, but is my duty as a king to ensure the well being of all of my subjects; as well as my guests."

"Well, I'm okay, I promise."

"It would be remiss of me to fall asleep while conversing with a guest."

"Remiss?"

"It would... Compromise my duties, as a king."

"You can sleep next to me, then!" She patted the bed. "Go ahead, climb up!"

The alicorn scrunched up his nose. "No, I'm quite all right... Besides, this is your bed."

"Then we'll go to your room," Elise insisted, crawling over to the king and clambering on his back before he could react. "Giddy-up, pony!"

Solaris flattened his ears, but sighed and relaxed. She was just a child. Deciding to adhere to her 'demands', he trotted out of the room, receiving snickers and glances from every servant that walked past. Elise laughed merrily the entire ride, hugging Solaris' neck. Irritation fizzling from her childish innocence, he broke into a canter and flew up the staircase, resulting in a squeal of delight from his passenger. He walked into his room, allowing the girl to dismount before removing his crown.

She jumped on to the bed, snuggling into the lush covers. "Ponies have such comfy beds!"

"Do humans not?" asked the king as he, too, climbed on to his bed.

"Well, we do, but they're not this comfy!" She giggled and burrowed further into the blankets.

The alicorn smiled faintly, lowering his head to the pillows. Elise wormed over to him, cuddling close.

"I'm glad I'm here," she said after a few moments.

"Wouldn't you rather be at home?"

"No. It's scary at home. I like it here." Her eyes shut and she smiled. "It's nice."

Confusion and concern briefly flickered into Solaris' eyes, but it faded at her peace. Shutting his own eyes, the king gratefully allowed his consciousness to fade.

Author's Note:

Whew, random 3 AM inspiration! I have only a faint idea of where this is going, so bear with me, and enjoy the ride! Comments and criticisms are welcome, given that this is my first-ever piece. I hope you enjoy it!

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