As was becoming the norm these past few days, Andrew sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast in silence. The only thing breaking the ever-increasing monotony of the act was the dull throbbing in his head, which served as a constant reminder of how much he needed to avoid alcohol in the future. Thankfully, the pain was quelled by an ice-pack that he held to his head. The blissful cold of the ice did wonders to drive back the pain from the hangover. According to Twilight, he had consumed enough liquor to give even a hardy Earth Pony a rough time in the hospital, but due to the lack of understanding regarding human physiology, and the inability to treat his body with magic, there was little that could be done besides making sure he was kept well hydrated.
Andrew winced from a particularly stinging throb of pain. He pressed the pack harder against the left side of his head as he ate with his right hand. A few minutes later, he finished his meal. Wiping the crumbs from his lips with a napkin, he stood and grabbed the now empty plate, taking it to the kitchen sink. As he dropped it off, he noticed Spike's absence from the room, which was strange, as he was usually in the kitchen around this time. He shrugged, thinking the little bugger deserved a day off with all the work Twilight has him doing around the library. You only had to organize bookshelves so many times before it became redundant to the point of stupidity, and that magic number was once.
Exiting the kitchen, he walked over to the corner of the room where Twilight sat patiently, indulged in a book as per usual. A notepad and quill rested on the table. Andrew had offered to indulge the mare with the Q&A session that she so dearly wanted. He didn't mind, of course; while he wasn't quite as obsessed with knowledge as Twilight, he definitely wanted to understand Equestria just as she did Earth.
Her ears perked up at the sound of his approaching footsteps, and she lowered the book with a smile. The anticipation was evident in everything she did, from the hungry look in her eyes to the subtle but constant shifting in her seated position. He pulled out a chair and took his place across from her. He opened his mouth to say something when Twilight cut to the chase.
"Alright, first thing's first," she began, "do I have your consent to publish everything I record here today?" She had already begun to write in her notepad. She wasn't even looking at what she was writing either, the quill's movements were quick, yet precise, moving as if with a mind of it's own.
Andrew raised a brow in confusion, the unspoken question immediately evoking a response from the mare.
"You said you wanted to travel around Equestria, right?" She began to explain. "Surely, you don't want to have to explain what you are, where you're from, and other 'human things' to everypony you happen to interact with, do you?" She grinned, then continued. "You can't blame ponies for being curious, but the least we can do is try to record as much information as possible and make it available to the public. This way, anypony that's even remotely curious about you," She giggled, "which, let's be honest, is probably going to be just about everypony in Equestria, will be able to read up on you and answer most of the common questions you would otherwise be bombarded with on a daily basis if you go through with your nomadic lifestyle.
Andrew frowned as he mulled over the words, then he frowned and gave a nod of agreement. "Yeah... kinda hard to argue with that, I guess. You have a point," She gestured with a hand, "go ahead then."
"Wonderful." She replied with a smile, only to then notice him applying force to the ice-pack. "Are you sure you're okay?" She asked in concern, "if you aren't feeling up to this, I don't mind waiting a few days."
He waved away her concerns, "I'm fine, it's just a headache, I can talk, and I can listen. So go ahead and start."
"A-Alright then," She said, though she didn't quite sound like she believed him. "I'll start with some basic health-related questions, for the sake of any medical care that may need in the future for whatever reason." The quill scribbled something in her notepad before he replied.
"Actually, " Andrew started, "now that you mention it, If it ever comes to it, how will I even pay the bills?" He asked skeptically. "Actually, now that I think about it, I doubt that I'm going to be making much money in the first place by just flying around Equestria." Sure, he could catch his own food with ease, and learning how to start a fire probably wouldn't be too difficult given his abilities, but regardless... It didn't matter what world one found themselves in, money was practically a necessity.
"An excellent question." Twilight agreed with a nod, sounding almost like a pleased teacher. "As far as medical attention goes, I'm sure that Celestia will make some sort of arrangement to make certain that you're properly cared for. And even in the unlikely event that she doesn't, I'm one hundred percent certain that no nurse or doctor in Equestria, regardless of race, would willingly turn away an endling. especially an otherworldly one at that."
Andrew creased his brow in confusion. "Ok, and what exactly is an endling?"
"Oh, my bad," Twilight apologized. "Endling is the term used when referring to a creature, male or female, that happens to be the last of it's kind." Her voice took on a more somber tone as she said, "They're called endlings because... well... their passing will mark the end of their race." She noticed the skeptical look Andrew was giving her and immediately continued. "Yes, yes, I know, you're not really an endling, but you are the one and only human in all of Equestria, so as far as the law is going to be concerned, you will in all likelihood be marked as the endling of the human race, again, as far as Equestria is concerned.
Andrew leaned back in his seat, taking a moment to digest the information. On one level, he clearly understood that it would be nothing more than some sort of weird legal title. But on another level, the realization that he was the only human in Equestria loomed over him heavier now more than ever before. It was true after all, he would never see another human being for the rest of his natural born life. By extension, he was also robbed of the chance of ever finding love. And on the day that he dies, as far as this world was concerned, humans would be forever extinct.
The first and only human being to have ever lived in Equestria... no doubt such a title would draw all kinds of attention, both good and bad. He pictured some stallion or mare, years after his death, writing about all the things the otherworldly traveler had done during his time in Equestria. There was no doubt in his mind that someone out there would want to cash in on the opportunity to write such a story, be it for the 'bits', or the simple desire of chronicling such a unique life, just as he enjoyed doing in the past few months. What would they write about? He mused to himself.
"Andrew," Twilight said, snapping him out of his thoughts.
He blinked away his thoughts and refocused on Twilight. "Sorry, just got lost in thought is all, ready when you are," he replied.
"Alright then," Twilight said with a smile before clearing her throat, "What is the normal core body temperature for humans?"
"Ninety-eight point six." He replied.
More scribbling. Then a pause.
"Ninety-eight point six," Twilight repeated in a curious tone. "You wouldn't happen to be using the Fahrenheit scale would you?"
"I am," Andrew assured.
"Interesting, that's the same scale that griffons use, and they're the only ones that haven't adopted Celsius."
Andrew furrowed his brow at that. "That perfectly describes my country, we're the only ones that haven't moved on to Celsius too. Well, the only big one anyways."
"Fascinating," Twilight said as her note-taking sped up some. "There are some similarities between our worlds that are outright uncanny. Anyways, what about your height?"
"Five feet eight inches."
"Oh wow, that's pretty tall," Twilight commented.
Andrew shrugged, "Average actually, there are plenty of people that are a little over six feet."
"Six feet? That's just about the height of a full grown minotaur." Twilight pursed her lips in thought before adding, "Then again, I suppose that's to be expected, considering you're both bipedal."
"What about you ponies?" Andrew asked. "From what I can tell so far, Celestia is the tallest of you, and I'm still like a head above her if we ignore the horn."
"Well," Twilight started, "most mares are around three and a half feet with stallions typically running a little bit taller at four."
"Hmm," Andrew mused, "alright then, next question?"
"Right, what's the normal blood pressure for a human male of your age?"
"No idea."
The quill began scribbling, then stopped abruptly as Twilight looked up at him. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
Andrew rolled his eyes. "You can't expect me to know everything there is to know about the human body like I'm some sort of doctor. Maybe if I was a med student in college, sure, but I'm not."
Twilight cleared her throat. "Right, sorry. In that case, just answer to the best of your ability, and let me know whether you are certain of your answer or if I should take it with a grain of salt. I have a fairly broad spectrum of questions, so it's only to be expected that you might not be completely knowledgeable on all of them." She may have been a little too presumptuous in her expectations of him, and she promised to regularly remind herself that she would only ever be able to learn what he already knew about Earth, and some of the information may be biased. After all, it wasn't like she nor Andrew had access to Earth books.
It went on like this for some time, long enough that Andrew's headache had subsided enough to no longer need the now mostly melted ice-pack. The questions had gradually moved away from human health, to general society. Twilight was both fascinated by the idea of people having the freedom to choose and cultivate a talent of their choosing, and sincerely heartbroken that there were those who found no talent, instead spending their lives at jobs they despised.
With every question that Andrew answered, she would do the same, answering the question in turn with regards to pony society instead of humans, though Andrew had declined her offer of a quill and notepad of his own. As they moved on to human education, Twilight commented on how much more in-depth human schooling was compared to the equestrian curriculum, which typically only lasted eight years, by which point most ponies would have already received their cutie marks and would go on to a related career path, unless their talent required further education, as is the case in medical or magic fields. There was also a marked difference in the number of languages, where Equestria only had a few dozen, Twilight was dumbfounded at the fact that a single race could maintain thousands of different languages without the overwhelming majority fading away to leave only a few behind.
As if they needed more evidence of the eerie similarities between Equestria and Earth, they apparently shared several languages and city names, such as French and Prench, Manhattan and Manehattan, among many others.
After several hours, the topic of notable conflicts came up.
"Conflicts?" Andrew asked, surprised by the question coming from Twilight. "Do you mean like wars?"
"Yes," Twilight confirmed, "even Equestria has had a few short-lived wars during the beginning of Celestia and Luna's reign. Griffons and diamond dogs have fairly frequent in-fighting, as do dragons." she gestured to him with a hoof, "And I thought since you're a predatory species as well..." She trailed off.
Andrew scratched his head in thought. "No, I get what you're trying to get at, and yeah, you're right. But we might have different definitions of war, soo."
Twilight caught the unspoken question and said matter of factually, "Violent conflict between two or more groups of ponies numbering at least four hundred in total. At least, that's our definition."
Andrew went slightly wide-eyed. "Oh wow, definitely different. Ours is a bit grander than that, it's typically when two or more nations or states instead of couple hundred people fighting each other." He shrugged, "Then again, I don't have a dictionary in my head. If you want to use your definition, then..." Andrew furrowed his brow and placed his hand over his mouth as he thought. "Ok, I'll be perfectly honest here, history is NOT my strong suit," he admitted. "But everyone and their mother knows about world war one and two." He ignored Twilight's baffled reaction at hearing the words 'world war'. "I'll spare you the details, mostly because I don't actually know them, but they basically involved most of the major nations and..." He paused when he noticed Twilight gawking at him.
There was a moment of silence between them as the utter shock on Twilight's face slowly morphed into one of sadness. While she was glad that he had skipped over the details, that only left them open to her imagination. She didn't know what she expected, the griffon chef's reaction, the way Fluttershy's animals practically ran over each other trying to get away from him. It might not have just been him personally that they were scared of, it could very well be the nature of 'humanity' as he called it, that they were seeing when they looked at him? Celestia's words rang in her head.
It's not just about cultural differences this time Twilight, Andrew is of a completely alien species, from a world where his kind are the only sapient race, on top of being apex predators of said world.
Her mentor was right. She shouldn't just judge an entire race for what was very likely the result of a few dozen greedy leaders. Humans were clearly capable of ingenious inventions, from the available information that Andrew has provided on human society thus far, she could infer that humanity's strength lied not in their raw physical capacity for violence like a griffon or a dragon, but their inventive nature and ability to adapt to almost any problem or environment they faced. And without any magic to aid them, it was no wonder that they would have to rely on their wits to survive.
So why couldn't they simply adapt to each other?
"How long ago were these two wars in particular?" She asked. " you said your technology advanced exponentially in the last several centuries, so I'm assuming they happened in this time frame as well?"
Andrew nodded. "Yeah, the first ended about a hundred years ago, and the second about thirty years after, both were pretty short, less than a decade each."
"What about now?" Twilight asked weakly, ears splaying slightly. "As of a few days ago, what state was Earth in?"
Andrew frowned slightly, the melancholy in Twilight's voice being almost contagious. "I don't really keep up with world news, I'm only aware of there being one conflict on the other side of the world. Besides that, I guess you could say most of the world is at peace." Or at the very least, relative peace, but he really didn't feel like going into any more detail.
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear, so besides that one conflict, all the different nations were finally able to put their differences aside and learn to live together in harmony then?" She smiled eagerly.
Andrew looked at her like she was crazy. "Harmony? Twilight, Earth isn't some magical fantasy land like Equestria, there is no magic, and that includes the magic of 'friendship', and 'harmony'." He accompanied the words with air quotes, and while ponies didn't have the necessary limbs to replicate the gesture, he assumed the meaning would be obvious from context alone. "And I still doubt that those two things are even real. Anyways, yeah, there are plenty of countries that genuinely like one another. But it's not so much that some of us like each other that's keeping us from going to war, it's more like all the bigger nations have the capability of literally wiping out millions of each other's population in only a few hours at the press of a button, and nobody is crazy or suicidal enough to start a domino effect that could only end badly for everyone involved."
Twilight set her quill and notepad down on the table. "I'm sorry, but... this is a lot to take in." Her ears were splayed against her head and she hadn't written anything since he. "Do you mind if we continue this some other day?"
"You don't have to get so bummed out about it," Andrew said. "Those things were only used once. After that, nobody is in a hurry to start something, and it's probably going to stay that way if that makes you feel any better." He was surprised that she seemed to care so much about a place she didn't even know existed just a few days ago. "Look, you like books, right? Why not help find some that'll help me get to know more about where the hell I am in the multiverse?"
The sincere request for knowledge snapped Twilight out of her somber mood and she smiled. "Absolutely," she said in a happy tone as she got down from her seat and pushed in her chair with her magic. "Follow me," she said as she walked around the table and lead Andrew to the nearest bookshelf to help pick out some long unread tomes.
It was night now, and Andrew had spent the day skimming through one of the books that Twilight had deemed important enough to pick out. Unfortunately, despite not even actually reading most of it, it would likely be weeks before he was even half done with the stack of books he was given, which was easily a foot taller than him. Twilight said they were stacked in order of importance, with the least being at the bottom, the dry, yellow hue of the pages betraying their age.
The book he was currently reading was simply titled The Rich History of Equestria, and was an easy enough read. It began at the earliest piece of recorded history—roughly two thousand years—with the age of the wendigos and explained how the three different pony tribes worked together to take the land back from the frozen beasts. Then came the eventual rise of Discord, who was eventually overthrown by the Alicorn sisters. He found it strange that Celestia and Luna's origins weren't so much as mentioned. Where before it would take teams of the most powerful unicorns alive to raise and lower the sun and moon, they could now be managed by Celestia and Luna. Due to this and their possession of magic from all three pony tribes, many believed the sisters were akin to goddesses, and while he didn't quite believe they were divine, given their ability to move the very heavens themselves along with their apparent immortality, he truly couldn't blame the populace for thinking so. Either way, Andrew did believe they could move the sun and moon, he had seen the act himself every night as the sun suddenly began to make its way down the sky in mere moments, the moon doing the same as it rose in the sun's place.
He paused in his reading when he heard the front door open. He set the book down on the table as he saw Spike enter the library and close the door behind him while holding a thin, long black crystal in his right claw.
"Hey Andrew." The young drake called to him as he eyed the stack of books next to the human. "I'm guessing Twilight felt like assigning some homework!?" He chuckled as he waddled his way over to the human. He stood in front of the stack, carefully examining the many titles before turning his head to glance at Andrew, "what're you reading there?"
"Just a book about Equestrian History," he gestured to the stack. "And I guess eventually all of those too, but I'm probably just going to skim through them, to be honest. Where have you been all day anyway? Did you leave right after making breakfast?" He bent the corner of his current page to mark his progress and closed the book. He softly threw the book back onto the stack, using his telekinesis to assure that it landed correctly.
"Oh, that's a decent read." The drake commented when he read the spine of the new addition, "And yeah, I had to leave right away to help Rarity out with the clothes she's making for you." He continued to examine the tall collection of books again, his eyes working their way down from spine to spine. "Hmm, take this one out." he pointed to the second book from the top with a claw.
Andrew complied, holding the top book in place with one hand as he slid the other out of the pile. It was titled Equestria: Through the ages. "Wait, isn't this the same as—"
"—Yes." Spike said before Andrew could finish. "Which is exactly why you don't need it, unless you want to become an expert historian." As he continued to work his way down the books, he pointed to the spine of a second book. "Take this one out too."
Since it was the fifth book from the top, Andrew opted to make things easier for himself and use his telekinesis to slide the book out from its space as he supported those above it. He set the two discarded books down on the corner of the table as spike pointed out a third, fourth, and even a fifth tome to add to the unneeded pile.
By the end of it, Spike had deemed roughly half of the original books to be unnecessary.
"Wow." Andrew commented as he examined the now massively reduced heap of texts. While he had his doubts, he didn't want to question the massive amount of literature that Twilight had picked simply due to the fact that he didn't know what was too much or too little since he had no knowledge of Equestria to begin with.
"Yup." Spike replied. "Twilight doesn't kid around when it comes to books, she could probably read this all in a few days, poor mare sometimes forgets that not everypony is like her." Spike snickered. "But hey, if you want to be a historian, biologist, botanist, scientist, and zoologist all at the same time, by all means, help yourself!" Spike spread his arms for effect, and Andrew caught another glimpse of the black crystal in the young drake's claw.
"What's up with the crystal?" He asked curiously, gesturing with a hand at the item.
"Oh yeah," Spike said as he raised and opened his claw for the human to see. Despite the color, it looked just like the one he was carrying around the day before. "It's an onyx crystal." Spike began. "There really cool since, unlike every other kind, these naturally draw magic from the air around them. Imbue them with a spell once, and you never have to charge it again. They're a bit rarer though since they can only be found around a Dragon's Lair, and it's pretty hard for ponies to get permission to scavenge for it over there, so they usually just have the dragons get it themselves and trade for it with gold." Spike shrugged. "But since ponies make such a big deal about wanting it, it makes dragons see it as valuable too, so they mostly choose to hoard it instead."
"Hmm," Andrew mused. "Alright, so they're basically a zero maintenance magic battery." He crossed his arms, a skeptical look on his face. "Let me guess, Rarity sent it with you because she wanted me to do something with it right?"
"Eeyup." The dragon replied, handing the crystal to the human.
The moment he gripped the crystal, it began to sizzle, exuding white smoke through the gaps between his fingers. Despite sounding like his palm was being fried, the smoke itself was actually pleasantly cool. He altered his grip so that he held it with only the tip of his thumb and index finger. The smoke lessened noticeably, but it was still coming from where it touched him"Well then," he said, twirling the crystal in his hand, the smoke and fizz continued unabated. "That's pretty neat." The crystal didn't seem to have any visible aura, but from how Spike explained it, it was likely that he was reacting with the magic that was concentrated just outside of the crystal before it was absorbed.
"You're telling me!" Spike said, admiring the thick wisps of smoke that extended about a foot above the crystal before diffusion spreads it into obscurity. "Do you think it's safe?"
"What? The smoke?" Andrew replied. What was wrong with the smoke?
"Yeah, I mean, It just looks like smoke, but it's almost like your powers... I don't know, eat the magic that it touches." Spike frowned, scratching his head in thought before continuing. "Seems to me like that smoke is the magic, but just broken down or something. What if it's not safe to breathe?"
Andrew huffed. "Oh come on, how could it be dangerous? It disappears way too quickly for it to actually do anything. For all we know, if it actually is magic that my powers broke apart, it could turn right back into regular magic just a few seconds later."
Spike outstretched a claw, and Andrew returned the item, the smoke ceasing as soon as it switched grips.
"Look." Spike started, placing the crystal in an unoccupied space on one of the bookshelves. "As far as we know, that smoke is a slow working toxin that causes all sorts of health problems. It might not be, but it could be. Besides, if it actually is harmful, nopony should know that more than you, since you're the one that's going to have to deal with it for the rest of your life. Rarity wanted me to report back tomorrow with how the onyx reacted to you, but I don't think that would be a good idea until we clear this up."
Andrew stood there silently before nodding with a sigh. "Okay, fine." He relented. "Let's go get Twilight, she's in her room reading." He had to admit that Spike brought up some good points. He hadn't really given it much thought until Spike brought it up, but if his use of his powers came at the cost of exposing himself to deadly chemicals, that was definitely a top priority.
Twilight curled her eyebrows, looking over the results given out by the machine. Her eyes scanned the page once, twice, thrice. She rubbed her chin with a hoof. "That's... odd..." She mused.
"Why? What did we find." The purple dragon next to her asked, trying in vain to look over the table at the parchment.
"Is it bad?" Andrew followed. After seeking Twilight, the three had immediately gone down to the basement. Due to the potentially serious results of such a test, everyone wanted to take care of it tonight.
Andrew stood by the bookshelf on the adjacent wall, one of the few spaces not lined with "science" equipment that looked more like metal boxes with randomly placed buttons and levers than actual machines. What kind of library even has bookshelves in the basement?
"No," Twilight responded. "It isn't bad... I think. Let's try a few more times. She pushed a few buttons and pulled a lever.
"Alright," Andrew said, not moving from his spot but looking toward the center of the room where a small round table sat. Atop it was a thick metal plate, attached to the machine Twilight was operating via several red and blue cables. On the plate was a glass lid wherein lied a red, plastic cube.
"Ready when you are," Andrew called.
Twilight nodded. "Ready in three... two... one... now!"
At the same time, Twilight's horn flared to life in a show of lavender as she and Andrew both exerted their will upon the cube. Andrew won out, his telekinesis instantly taking control of the cube and slightly levitating it off of the plate. The muffled fizz of their clashing abilities was accompanied by the constant production of white smoke. Twilight turned back to the machine in front of her, scanning the changes within the air-tight container in real time using the polygraph-esque machine that Andrew couldn't even begin to understand, all the while maintaining her own telekinesis. After a minute past, she looked back at the container. The cube wasn't even visible at this point, the perfectly transparent glass of the container showing only misty white.
"Stop," Twilight stated. She turned sideways so that she could quickly glance between the continuous stream of data coming out of the machine and the current state of the container. Almost immediately, she took note of how quickly the air-tight container began to clear up. She looked back to her data.
"Wow, that was fast." Spike quipped from the sidelines.
At his comment, Twilight glanced back at the container. Already there were only faint wisps of white rising to spread against the top of their prison before they too faded away. The cube sat peacefully in the container looking exactly as it did a few minutes prior.
She frowned, then checked her data once again.
"Sooo, is my smoke going to try and kill me or not?" Andrew asked.
"Umm, no?" Twilight responded as if unsure herself.
"Well that doesn't sound very convincing," Spike commented.
"Sorry, it's just that nothing changed. From before we started all the way up to when It was full of smoke, to when it all diffused. Nothing. The oxygen stayed the same, the humidity, everything. Absolutely nothing changed in there.
"So Andrew's smoke won't burn anypony's lungs?" Spike asked.
"N... No, it won't," she said simply, still frowning.
"You don't seem too happy about that," Andrew observed.
"I am!" Twilight protested. "It's just... strange..."
"Any stranger than a horse being able to move the moon?" Andrew challenged.
Twilight rolled her eyes and snorted. "Stranger than a moon that moves itself, that's for sure."
Andrew rolled his eyes. "Ugh, no, not really, but sure."
---Golden Oaks Library, Saturday, 9:30am---
Andrew leaned back against the railing of the library's balcony, although, the term leaning may not be entirely accurate. He was over the edge of the balcony, the palms of his outstretched arms behind him grasping the top of the railing in a bench dip position, except the rest of his body stood straight standing in the open air, the only thing stopping him from falling to the ground below being his telekinesis. Of course, that alone was more than enough.
He silently stared at the gold trimmed letter held aloft in front of him. All it said was that he should expect a chariot sometime after nine and that the location of the Equestrian Summit would be at the peak of the so-called Dragon's Rest mountain. According to Twilight, it was named such due to being used by traveling dragons to slumber every other century or so, much to the annoyance of the nearby Ponyville and Canterlot. He was more than a little surprised when he was told that Fluttershy of all people had been able to force a dragon to abandon it.
He locked eyes with a teal mare walking along the ground below. She smiled and waved a little too enthusiastically, only stopping when the cream coated mare next to her yelled something unintelligible to her friend. He waved back halfheartedly, but the mare didn't seem to notice as she now appeared to be in the middle of an argument. They walked off, both of them trying to speak over each other all the while.
It honestly felt wonderful not having to worry about hiding his powers in public. It may have started out as just a neat trick at first, but had become so much more. It was just as much a part of him now as the skin on his back. Like the muscles of a bodybuilder, it wasn't something to hide, but something to be proud of. Besides, for better or for worse, it would have only been a matter of time until he or Matt were recorded flying around all over Seattle.
The door opened behind him, the clopping of hoof steps indicating it was Twilight as opposed to the soft pitter-patter of Spikes stubby feet.
"How are you feeling?" She asked. "Nervous? Excited?"
"I really don't know." Andrew said with a sigh, then swung himself around and planted his feet on the wood floor of the balcony. "All of the above I guess."
"Well, I suppose that's to be expected," Twilight said a nod, "but I'm sure you'll be just fine." She smiled at him reassuringly.
"Hopefully, I'm just worried how different races might react to an alien. I know that there's supposed to be a dragon, a Griffin, and..." His voice trailed off.
"Well, let's see," Twilight started, "There's going to be Celestia for sure, probably Luna, but she does usually sleep during the day, so it can go either way with her, then there's Cadence. As far as races besides ponies that should be at the summit, dragons, griffons, diamond dogs, zebras, and..." She paused for a moment, then her expression turned sour. "Chrysalis." She practically spat the word.
Andrew could only roll his eyes. "Right, thanks." He said as he eyed the nearby mountains. "Alright, just so we're clear, that's Dragon's Rest over there right?" He pointed towards a mountain in the distance, far higher than those it surrounded and much darker in color, it's pointed tip glazed in white. If he didn't know any better, he would have guessed that the mountain was meant to stand out.
"Yes," Twilight confirmed with a nod. "After what happened with the latest dragon, the girls and I like to call it Mount Dragonshy. She giggled softly, and Andrew couldn't help but grin as well at the ridiculous name.
"Do you mind doing me a favor and letting the chariot guys know that I already left."
Twilight frowned at the request. "Well, I want to tell you to just wait for them, but you're probably going to fly off anyways soo..." She paused and they shared a look. "Alright, I'll let them know they don't have to worry about you."
Andrew wasted no time as he thanked her and immediately set off towards Dragon's rest.
Not two minutes went by before a golden chariot, headed by two celestial royal guards, touched down on the ground in front of the Library.
