Hmm. Finally we’re landing. I’m still wondering just how far away from civilization the portal appeared. Now that we’re here, the portal should be able to open near the pod, since there’s a tracking beacon inside and all...
Either way, from the looks of it, I’m pretty sure that we’re in Canterlot. Also, it--
“Gadget, you and your pony friend there are gonna have to provide identification for your permission to enter Equestrian society.”
I raised my brow. “What?” I replied, looking at the packet of papers that was now being handed to me.
“Identification, ID. It’s part of a new set of laws that the Queen sent through parliament. Rumor has it that she’s afraid of what the Lunar Republic might do.”
What.
I slowly shook my head, stepping back from the papers. “I--I’m sorry, but we don’t have any identification.”
“No problemo,” the copilot answered for Dusty, “We can just fingerprint you, and for the pony, we can run him through some bureaucratic crap and he’ll be in in no time.”
Dusty facehoofed. “For the last time, that bureaucratic crap is nothing but sitting a pony before the queen and letting her stare them down until they pipe up.”
“Well, either way. Even without proper IDs we can look at, you’re most likely gonna get in without a problem.”
This Equestria is getting stranger and stranger...
“Now, press your finger in the ink. Not too hard, mind you-- yes, just make the print on this sheet... nice and clean. Easy, right?”
Geez, I’m around eleven already. I’m not that young, lady.
“This’ll take a few minutes while we run it through the database for any matching prints. If it doesn’t, then you’ll just go join your friend now that he’s been outed from the system.”
“Outed?” I asked, raising my brow.
“It’s just our way around here to say that there weren’t any matches to him in our systems. He’s getting the stare treatment right now.”
I think that weird is gonna be normalized to me within this week. I guess I’ll just take a nap or something while I’m waiting.
Administrator Prof.D has logged into the system. Continue to root access?
Command entered: vi log_4143
Honestly, after a day or so of being an entirely different species, I think that I’m beginning to get around the idea of using my “horn” to manipulate objects over a long distance. In this case, I’ve remotely entered my old logging and database system that I’ve given to my somewhat-daughterlike figure, Gadget.
Now, where to start? Ah, the physical implications of waking to find yourself in a foreign body. I’ve tripped far too many times to count at this point, and I highly doubt that I’ll ever get used to quadrupedal motion.
As for my current thoughts on the political system of this new world, I have but a single word: strange.
The apparent parliamentary monarchy shows very similar structure to the former British Empire’s method of ruling, but at the same time appears to have a very... foreign way of operation.
Take, for example, the immigration. It seems that this nation doesn’t have very many immigrants entering, as unidentified individuals are met one-on-one with the very leader of the nation itself. I, as I enter this logfile, am personally being watched by the Queen herself, and honestly, I just find the whole ordeal rather strange.
Until next time, I now return control of the device to Gadget.
“Miss... Gadget?”
“Huh?” I mumbled, pushing myself up from the line of chairs I was laying on.
I rubbed my eyes, noticing a mare at the door, holding a clipboard.
“I’d like for you to come with me, please.”
“Um... what for?”
She made a gesture with her hoof. “Just... just come along with me... Zoey.”
...huh? Zoey?
The mare grew mildly frustrated. “We don’t have all day...” she mused, looking back to her clipboard.
Alright then...
“So, you see, your fingerprint matches up with this birth certificate. Does that make sense?”
I nodded slowly, eyeing the bright-eyed baby that I apparently once was.
“Do you know where your parents are?”
I shook my head. Though, she has gotten my interest now.
“Prison.”
“What.” I blurted.
“They’re serving time for providing refuge to a wanted criminal. Would you like to know what the whole ordeal was?”
Once again, I nodded, albeit slower this time.
She pulled a medical slate (or at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what it is) from a drawer, and began punching something in. It didn’t take long, however.
“Ah.” She said, tapping the screen one last time with a hoof. “Michael R. W., your father, hired a notorious mage of the dark arts to get you out of his life. He and your mother were high in the ranks of Canterlot nobility, and some of the only humans to be so, at that.”
“What.”
The mare looked back down at the tablet. Presumably scrolling through whatever article was archived in the records.
“Your parents wanted a male heir to the family, and neither would put up with a female end to the bloodline. Months after you vanished, they were found guilty of murder via dark magic.”
I looked down at my hands. Of which, honestly, I’m still not used to seeing. “But... I’m here right now, alive.” I replied, “How could it possibly be murder?”
“A far-removed descendant of Starswirl was hired by your father to expel you from existence. The stallion was quite well known for taking after his ancestor in the ways of reality manipulation, and to this day, we still have many missing people and ponies that have been traced back to him.”
“That still doesn’t answer my question.”
More scrollies. Yeeeeeeeesh, how much is there?
“Hmm... it appears that you are the only one out of them all that have ever returned, and so everyone, you included, have been presumed dead for years.”
...
So apparently my parents not only disowned me, but according to the existing records, killed me by sending me to Earth. Oh, and on more thing--
“How old am I, anyways?”
“Huh?” The mare asked, mildly startled by the change in subject. “Oh, here, lemme see... as of now, you’re just around eleven and a half.”
“And how many years ago did I disappear?”
“...It says here that you were last seen almost nine years ago.”
...
...
“And when’s my birthday?”
“Let’s see... September third, 1005.”
“And when’s today?”
“July eighth.”
“Year?”
“1017.”
“...”
So obviously, there’s a difference between Earth time and Equestria time, ‘cause I apparently disappeared for long enough to be around eleven on Earth, but at the same time, I’m actually eleven and a half, which means that I apparently disappeared both when I was half a year old and two?
My head hurts from this...
Second Author’s Note:
Can you guess where I got the name “Zoey” from?
Also, yes, I named Gadget/Zoey’s father “Michael Rowe Wayve”, AKA “Mike Rowe Wayve”. Why? Because I’m horrible at names that make sense, so I reuse old ones and make new ones out of puns.
Also, I’m too lazy to come up with an original calendar system for Equestria. I just finished my piano test, so I don’t exactly want to put too much thought into things right now.
