//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Mysterious Building // Story: Outside Reality // by The reluctant fan //------------------------------// A teenage boy, age seventeen, sighed and looked at the clock on his laptop. Reading 2:00 A.M, he decided it was about time to head to sleep. Shutting down the game he was playing and tucking the device under the bed, he undressed and yawned. “Another boring-ass day. I really need to find a job. Don’t know why I haven’t been hired yet anyway. I’ve applied to a shit ton of places and everyone’s begging for work. Maybe I’m not doing a good job.” Rolling under the covers, the teen shut off the light. “Alexa, shuffle my playlist.” The monotonous female voice droned out of his Echo, and a song started up. “Eh, can’t go wrong with Imagine Dragons. Thank god the kids are out too, I can’t stay up another minute.” The teen was home alone that night. His parents were out late on a date and his younger siblings were staying at their grandparent’s. He had the house to himself, which meant he spent the entire night in his room playing Terraria and gorging himself on mint Oreos. It wasn’t much different compared to what he usually did, but the peace and quiet was nice. “…Yeah, I REALLY need a job.” With that final thought, the teen drifted off to sleep. About an hour or so after he finally drifted off, light started to flash outside the window. Although the teen was a fairly light sleeper, thunderstorms had been common in the area that summer, so he slept right through it. However, the flashing got brighter and more consistent until it was a swirling mass of prismatic light just outside the house. Once again, unaware of the events transpiring, the teen slept on. “Alright, this spell requires COMPLETE focus! No distractions. Luckily, I’ve secluded myself in the quietest room in any building, the basement!” Twilight Sparkle had been living in Ponyville around three weeks, and had started to get used to her new surroundings and neighbors. One thing she had learned was that her new friend Pinkie Pie could and would pop up at the most unexpected of times. Which was why she had told the bubbly pink mare to stay away from the library until further notice. The lavender unicorn put on a look of determination.“Alright. Here goes.” She read the spell over one last time before taking a breath and starting to cast it. Her face scrunched up in intense concentration and she started to sweat. Eventually, her horn started to spark. “Almost… got it…” Just then, the door to the basement opened. “Hey Twilight!” “Gah!” The sudden interruption caused Twilight to jump and accidentally release the incomplete spell. If bounced across the room. Everything it touched disappeared only to reappear next to or above Twilight, burying her. The spell kept bouncing before flying out an open window. The pile of various Knick Knacks shook, and Twilight’s unamused face came out of it. “SPIKE! I thought I told you not to interrupt me!” The juvenile drake scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Sorry Twilight, I was just going to ask what you wanted for lunch. On another note, what does that spell of yours do?” “It was supposed to be a long distance summoning spell, but I messed it up when you startled me!” “Oh, should we… go make sure everything in town is alright? It kind of flew out the window.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “WHAT?! We have to stop it from hitting anything! Come on!” Twilight and Spike rushed out of the library to find the lingering spell flying though the sky. It bounced off of a couple of roofs before flying out of view. After a second, there was a huge flash of light and the ground started rumbling. The residents of Ponyville going about their day looked around frightened and confused. Somepony yelled ‘Earthquake!’, and then all Tartarus broke loose. Ponies ran around screaming, hiding under stalls, and generally freaking out. After a while, the rumbling stopped and the ponies slowly calmed down. Twilight stared in a mix of horror and confusion at where the spell had landed. “What… is that?!” “Twilight!” Twilight looked to see her friends and fellow element bearers running up to her. “What in tarnation was that?!” “It positively ruined my shop!” “And it spooked all of my poor animal friends.” “That was fun! It made my voice all funny!” The cyan pegasus Rainbow Dash flew in front of Twilight and waved a hoof in front of her eyes. “Uh, Equus to Twilight? You okay?” Twilight simply raised a hoof to point where she was looking. Her friends looked over as well and widened their eyes. “Where the hay did that come from?!” “It’s… so massive!” Right on the edge of Ponyville, a new structure stood. It was easily bigger than any house in the town. Twilight started hyperventilating. “Okay, okay. So there’s a huge unknown building in Ponyville now. That’s not a reason to panic. We just need to… oh who am I kidding we should absolutely panic!” Twilight started pacing around in a circle. “This is all my fault! What if there’s something in there? What if it’s hostile? Oh, I knew I should have waited to cast that spell!” Applejack tilted her head. “What are ya talkin about sugarcube? What spell? Are ya sayin ya’ll made this here weird building appear?” “Yes! I was trying out a new spell and then Spike opened the door and startled me and I lost focus and the spell went out of control and flew out the window and imploded and made the building appear! The princess is going to be so mad at me! She’ll banish me or send me to the moon or banish me and then-“ Applejack slapped Twilight across the face. “Calm down Twi! There’s no way the princess’ll do any o that. Ah’m sure if ya just send her a letter tellin her what’s goin on, then she’ll tell ya what course o action to take. B’sides, we’re here for ya and’ll help ya sort this mess out, right girls?” Twilight looked back to her other fiends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. “Of course darling! This building does look rather sophisticated. Perhaps if somepony is living there the local architects could learn a thing or two from them!” “Yeah of course Twi! I’d never leave ya hanging! And like Rares said, this building looks super cool! Almost as cool as my house!” “Oh, I hope somepony is living there so I can throw them a welcome to Ponyville party and then a ‘Sorry we accidentally teleported your house to Ponyville party and then a-“ Rainbow put her hoof to Pinkie’s mouth and motioned for Fluttershy to speak. “Oh, the building does look rather scary, but if you need me to come with you girls, I’ll help all that I can.” Happy that her friends were behind her, Twilight gave a calming breath. “Thank you girls, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Spike, take a letter. We need to let the princess know what’s going on. Ahem. ‘Dear Princess Celestia, a mysterious building has appeared in Ponyville after I… was startled while casting an advanced spell. I would like to know whether my friends and I should investigate or wait for proper help. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.’” Spike sent the letter away in a puff of green flame. “There! Now we wait!” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Boo! Waiting’s boring! I say we just go check it out already!” “Rainbow! It could be dangerous! We need to wait for the princess’s response!” “Ugh, fine!” After a couple of minutes, Spike’s cheeks puffed up, before he belched out a scroll. Twilight eagerly yanked it out of his claws and opened it up. “My dearest Twilight, I saw the flash from Canterlot. Normally, I would have the the royal guard handle something like this, but you and your friends have proved yourselves quite capable. I wish for you to go and investigate this odd building. Although I could not see it well from the castle, I will admit I have never seen a structure quite like it. If the situation proves too much for you to handle, report back to me immediately and I will handle it myself.” Rainbow pumped a hoof. “See Twilight? Even the princess thinks we can do this ourselves! So c’mon, let’s go!” “Rainbow, hold on! Even if we got the go ahead from Princess Celestia, we should still be careful. We don’t know who, or rather what could be living there!” “Fine, fine. I got it, caution and all that.” “Thank you. Now let’s just-wait, where did Pinkie go?” Twilight and the others looked around frantically for the pink mare before finally spotting her knocking on the door to the mysterious house. “Hello! Your new neighbor Pinkie Pie is here to give you a supertacular welcome!” Pinkie was abruptly tackled by the other five mares and silenced with their hoofs. “Shhhh!! Pinkie, what were you thinking?! Something dangerous could be in there!” “I was just trying to welcome them! I have to give every new pony a big Ponyville welcome!” “We don’t even know if it’s a pony that lives there. sigh, tell you what Pinkie. If there is a pony living there, you can throw a party for them once everything gets sorted out.” “Okie Dokie Lokie! I’ll throw them the most awesomest party ever!” Satisfied with that, Twilight looked up at the house. “Alright girls, let’s get to the bottom of this. Spike go watch the library until I get back.” “What?! How come I can’t come?” “Because it could be dangerous and I don’t want you getting hurt.” Spike sighed and walked away dejectedly. “Alright, before we find a way in, let’s check the perimeter first. Rainbow and Fluttershy, you two check the windows that are high up, the rest of us will scout the ground floor. If you find anything of interest, report back to me.” Rainbow gave a salute. “You can count on me Twilight! C’mon Flutters!” “O-oh. If you’re sure.” After the two Pegasi had flown off, Twilight looked to the others. “Alright girls, let’s split up. Let me know if you find anything, but do not, I repeat do NOT go inside until you’ve checked it over.” The others gave a nod and spread out around the house. Fluttershy was looking into one of the windows in awe. She had looked into it and found a hallway full of pictures of what she equated to a group of hairless apes. The only hair they had that she could see was on their head. They were also wearing clothing, so she assumed they were also at least somewhat civilized. “Hey Flutters, found anything?” Rainbow Dash flew up to her shy friend and looked where she was pointing. “Oh wow… snrk. They look ridiculous! Do you think that’s what’s living here?” “I don’t know, but they look so adorable! How could anything like that be dangerous?” “I don’t know Shy. Have you seen how tall the ceilings are in this place? They could be pretty big.” Fluttershy just continued to stare excitedly at the photos. Rainbow looked over and squinted her eyes. “Hey is it just me or is that room glowing?” The prismatic pegasus flew over to the window in looked in. Adorning the corners of the walls and draped across the ceiling were what appeared to be multicolored glowing crystals. “Oh wow. Rarity would get a kick out of this. Hay, even I think this is cool. Maybe I could get some for my house!” Dash stared at the lights for a while longer before flying off to check another window. Rarity looked through a window to find an expansive living room. There were table lamps next to rather large chairs. There was also a giant couch resting up against the wall that was facing towards an odd black rectangle mounted on the opposite wall. But none of that was what caught the white unicorn’s eyes. “My, that carpet is simply fabulous! Such and intricate design, and such neat threads! Whoever made such a masterpiece must be quite skilled! I simply must see if I can get a similar one for my boutique! Oh, and that loveseat behind the couch is quite luxurious as well! Simple, but elegant! Oh, I would simply die for the furniture in this house! And those curtains! They are just-“ Twilight looked in awe in the dark room she had found. “That’s the biggest carriage I’ve ever seen! How would anypony be able to pull that? Maybe it has an enchantment that makes it lighter?” Twilight couldn’t see into the vehicle, the dark room combined with the black tinted windows made that hard. But she did notice a strange metal pipe sticking out of the back, and many other things a carriage didn’t usually have. “I need to get a closer look! But we need to make sure it’s safe first! But it’s so intriguing! Oh, I need to go somewhere else or I might go in without the girls!” Twilight gave one last longing look at the odd carriage-if that’s what it even was, before she walked away to find something else. Applejack walked around the back of the house to find a black metal gate blocking an area. “Well I’ll be darned. That’s one tall gate. And wait, is that one of them fancy pony made ponds? What’d them fancy Canterlot ponies call em? ‘Pools’? Yeah that sounds bout right. Man, whatever pony lives here must have quite a bit o cash.” Applejack’s ears perked up. There was a soft humming coming from the metal box inside the gate. “Hm? What’s this here doohickey? Ah guess ah’ll just have ta see later.” “Hey Applejack!” The orange farm pony looked behind her to see Pinkie Pie jumping up and down. “This pony has a trampoline! A really big and bouncy one too! Look how high I can jump!” “Pinkie! Git offa that! What if the pony’s inside and sees ya?” “Oooh! They might feel jealous and want to come bounce too! We’re supposed to be sneaky though so that would be bad.” Pinkie bounced off of the trampoline and landed over near a pavilion. “Hey Applejack, come check this out! They have some sort of hot bathtub!” Applejack rolled her eyes and walked down towards Pinkie. She was dipping her hoof into the water, which was steaming slightly. Applejack dipped her hoof in and was surprised to find it was hot, but not uncomfortably so. “Huh. An outdoor bathtub. Nah, it looks like they’d use this ta relax. Though ah don’t know what this thing is made of.” Pinkie saw a bunch of buttons on the side of the tub and gasped. “Ooh! I wonder what this does!” She pressed one of the buttons and there was a rumbling from the tub. Applejack backed off until she saw that it just started bubbling. “Pinkie! Leave those alone! Ya don’t know what they could do!” Pinkie didn’t appear to register that and pushed another button. A light under the water turned on and flashed different colors. “Oooh! Pretty! Oh! Oh! I wonder what THIS one-“ Applejack pulled Pinkie away from the buttons grumbling. “Pinkie! You can’t just go touching other pony’s things! What if you broke it?” “Oh, well why didn’t you just say so?” “Ah DID-nevermind. Just try not ta touch anything else please.” “What about the ground? I HAVE to touch that!” “Pinkie, ya know what ah mean. Now c’mon. Let’s go meet up with Twi. Ah’m pretty sure we’ve seen all there is ta see out back here.” Pinkie looked over to the back deck of the house. “Hey there she is! It looks like she found a way in!” Rainbow Dash had looked in almost every window on the second floor and was getting bored. “Oh come on! I thought there would be cool stuff up here, but there’s just bathrooms and bedrooms! I mean sure the beds are huge and the bathrooms have weird toilets, but apart from that all I’ve seen are those lights!” She came over to the only window she hadn’t checked to find Fluttershy staring at it. “Hey Flutters, anything interesting in the-“ Rainbow was abruptly grabbed by her shy friend and had her mouth covered. “Shhhh! Look!” Rainbow peeked into the room and gasped. There was a pony. A lime green unicorn to be exact sleeping in the bed. “So somepony DOES live here! Well, it’s better than a dragon, heh. But why would they have so many pictures of those apes? Maybe it’s a photographer.” Fluttershy peeked in as well. As soon as she did so, the black cylinder on the bedside table started to glow on the top and a sound came out of it that they could hear through the window. The unicorn began to roll around in bed, appearing to wake up. Fluttershy gasped and pulled herself and Rainbow out of view. “We’ve got to let Twilight know that there’s a pony living here! Come on, before she finds a way in!” The two Pegasi flew around looking for Twilight until they found her, Applejack and Pinkie in a doorway in the back deck. “It was the only door that wasn’t locked. Go find Rarity, Rainbow and Fluttershy and tell them that-“ “Twilight, close the door, there’s a pony living there!” The three looked up to find Rainbow dash looking flustered. Fluttershy was catching up and also appeared to be nervous. “Oh! Whoops! In hindsight I probably should have waited for you to report back. I was just so exited! This house has so many strange and wonderful things!” Twilight went to close the door, but before she could completely shut it, a scream of confusion and terror rang out within the house. “WHAT THE FUCK?!?!!”