Chapter 5
The odd pony
The artificial pony crashed through the thick brush and broke through the Everfree forest, Nearby denizens of the forest scattered upon seeing the strange intruder. Their chirps and chitters shouting in anger. The inevitable was greeted with green rolling hills and a vast blue sky dotted with white clouds. To its right was a small cottage near the tree line, and ahead held a small village. Bright sunlight reflected off the metallic pieces scattered within the inevitable's body, reflecting sunlight in random directions.
As if noticing the blunder of being out in the open with a disguise, it shifted and blurred to replace itself with a disguise. Its creators either didn't bother or forgot to give details of how to disguise itself since the only thing it had available were images of equines from the Abeir-Toril, or the Cradle of Life. A intriguing planet known to hold resourceful creatures called humans. It noticed more information on the subject in its data banks, but it would have to wait. It wasn't important to the mission at hand, thus it was put on lowest priority.
The inevitable decided to take the shape and color of what was called a 'Palomino'. Its imitation clockwork form was replaced with a tan coat and white mane that hung to the side of its face, covering its right peripheral vision. Its eyes however still held the cold steely color, but with its new fake skin it could now make various expressions.
Next was voices and talking. It went through several tones of voice from deep and booming to high-pitched and whiny. Finally settling with a rowdy, yet friendly voice, it felt prepared to search for the plane-traveler, it stopped itself for a moment as it forgot to put one final touch that was missing that all equines had. It was now a he.
While the cottage near the forest seemed like a good spot to start, he decided to investigate the village first. Crossing over the small stone bridge that went over a small creek, he took in the sights of the town. Most of the structures were wood-framed with thatched roofs. A fountain sat in the middle of the square with several small benches around it. Various smells permeated the air as well, but his sensors couldn't point out specifics.
He noticed several ponies talking among each other far ahead. Taking a closer look, he found his disguise having several flaws. The first thing was how colorful they were. They didn't look anything like the equines in his memory. Of course he was in a different realm all-together so he had to take the information he had with a heavy pinch of salt. The other thing that distinguished him from the others was the symbols near their flanks: A lyre, an hourglass, and three wrapped candies.
If he was going to blend in well with this world, he conceded that one of these marks was crucial to his survival, but he wasn't sure which one to choose. His best bet would be to go along with his strengths and choose a symbol that marked what he does best. Following with the idea, his rump shifted to have a magnifying glass with a small cross-hair inside it. Satisfied with the change of his new form, he comfortably trotted down the road where he last saw those ponies.
Priority, his crafted mind whirred, Question creatures for information about target. Information about geography, lifestyles, and other ways to remain undiscovered is secondary.
It didn't take long for him to spot the three ponies since they were busy lounging on a park bench ahead of him. The one with the lyre mark and teal coat was busy enjoying a snack of some sort, making long licks against the colorful treat. Several more ponies were seen walking around as well, but were too busy with their own daily lives to notice the new-comer.
One pony almost ran into him and he apologized for not paying attention to where he was going. The mare mumbled something in response that he couldn't hear before zipping out of sight. The way she acted was quite strange to him. Was it possible she knew what he was? Was he that careless to miss something about his disguise? Before he could come up with an answer, another pony to his left softly gasped.
Standing in the doorway was a light-yellow mare with a two-tone mane of red that reminded him the color of raspberries. The mare's green eyes were currently staring at him wide-open, as well as her mouth partly open. The behavior these ponies were exhibiting was confusing the disguised pony, and he planned to find out.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked curtly.
The pony seemed to snap out of her daze after he had said that. When she realized her staring, a tint of red appeared on her cheeks. "I-I'm sorry!"
Before he could say another word, the strange mare bolted down a street and out of sight. The commotion had caught the attention of the three mares around the bench, and they were staring as well. If he had any sense of feelings, it would've been in anger as he trotted over to the bench and stared back at them. "What? Why are you all staring at me like I have-"
"You're hot!" the blue pony with the hourglass cutie mark abruptly shouted, earning a confused eyebrow raise from the Palomino pony. The other two mares nudged her sides for the outburst as well. "Ow! well he is," she mumbled.
"Don't mind Minuette, she just doesn't know when to use her inside voice," the beige coated pony said. "I'm Bonbon and my friend here is Lyra." The teal pony gave a friendly wave.
Unfortunately he was took busy going through a system's check for problems. Temperature readings are nominal and no sense of increase is evident, his mind deducted.
He couldn't understand what she meant by being 'hot'. Possibly a slang term or some sort or a compliment. Yes, that would make sense as they seem to be friendly towards me. He was programmed to be perfect at conversing with others. Compared to the other various inevitable builds, he focused on socialization and deception to get close to the target. Agreeing with such an obvious gesture, he decided to return it. "Well, I think you're hot too!"
If Minuette's jaw could drop any lower, it would've hit the bench. She quickly collected herself and a shy smile showed itself. "Y-you really think so? C-cause if you do..." she trailed off, making small circles in the ground with a hoof.
Now was his chance. His compliment seemed to get her on his good side and this would help him to extract anything about the invader. "Do you mind if I ask a question? It's very important." Bonbon and Lyra tore their glares away from Minuette who was too busy dreamily looking toward the ignorant stallion. Seeing that he had their attention, he continued. "I'm looking for a creature of sorts that isn't a pony. I believe he may be staying here and I was wondering if you know anything about it."
The question faded away the jealousy from the other two mare's eyes as they contemplated his question. Bonbon spoke up first. "Oh! You must mean the dragon who lives with Twilight." She tapped a hoof to her chin in thought. "What was his name again?"
"Spike," Lyra said flatly like it was obvious. She looked toward the stallion again. "He lives with Twilight inside Golden oaks library." She pointed a hoof toward a large tree that could be seen across one of the park's hills and behind a line of short houses.
The way they calmly stated that a dragon was in the town caused him to believe the dragon was of no harm. Possibly the pet of the one called 'Twilight', he mused. Satisfied with their answer, he gave a friendly thank you before beginning to depart toward the tree house.
"Wait!" He stopped mid-stride to look back. Minuette had a desperate look on her face and one of her hooves was half-way lifted towards him. "C-can I get your name? If that's alright..."
"Certainly. it's..." thousands of names generated in his mind in several seconds, yet none seemed to fit. Several clues about this theory was the three mares before him. Their marks each acted as a solid clue to their names in some way. Acting upon this idea, his mind switched to thinking of names corresponding to the mark he had chosen. One stood out from the others and just seemed to fit. "Hidden Aim. My name is Hidden Aim."
"Hidden Aim," Minuette whispered dreamily. The other two mares rolled their eyes at her.
Seeing that he needed nothing more from the mares, Hidden briskly trotted toward the tree house before they noticed his departure. A part of him felt a desperate need to get away from the awkward acting Minuette, causing him to break into a gallop upon losing sight of the three mares. He had a bad feeling that this wouldn't be the last time they would meet.
Looking behind him every several blocks, he was relieved to see no ponies were following him. Though he ignored the one's that stared and kept going until reaching his destination. The tree house was, to his surprise, an actual tree with rooms inside. How this was obtained eluded his cog-filled mind. He walked up to the door and made three firm knocks, hoping to speak with the one named 'Twilight'. After not getting a response, he testing the doorknob to find it was unlocked, so he quickly let himself in.
"Hello?" Hidden said to get anyone's attention inside the library. Books lined the shelves neatly and he noticed they were in perfect alphabetical order. Nothing seemed out-of-place inside the room. No dust could be seen present as well. Whoever kept this source of knowledge clean and tidy might have been from Mechanus itself. If he was an actual pony, or had tear ducts for that matter, he might have shed a tear of such beauty and order.
While skimming through several volumes about magic, the sound of footsteps came from above and near the stairs.
"Oh!" A purple dragon no taller than chest height was looking at him as he walked down the stairs. "Did you knock? Sorry if I didn't hear you. I was... uh, cleaning upstairs! Yeah, sorry about that."
Even if his hearing sensors were not working, Hidden could tell he was hiding something, but he let it pass. "It's alright young dragon. I'm actually here to see Twilight."
The dragon crossed his arms in annoyance for being called 'young'. "Name's spike by the way, and sorry, but she's away doing something with some friends. Apparently a strange creature was found in the Everfree."
Hidden didn't need to do it as he could hear just fine, but he perked his ears up upon hearing about his target. "Strange creature you say?" Keeping calm and doing his best to not shake the small dragon for every ounce of information from him. "I happen to be hunting it, and I would appreciate if you could give me any information on where I can find it."
"Are you some sort of monster hunter or something?" Spike said with wide eyes. "That sounds dangerous..." Hidden simply shrugged in response. "Not to mention you don't look exactly monster hunting material."
"What do you mean?" Hidden furrowed his brow in mock annoyance. He couldn't actually feel annoyed, but felt he had to play his part.
A chuckle escaped Spike's throat. "Have you seen yourself?" Getting a head shake from Hidden, he ran back up the stairs. He returned shortly with a small mirror in his claws, which he held up for him to see.
Standing in the mirror wasn't what Hidden expected. A tan pony with a white mane hung just above his chin. It shone brightly as if pampered several minutes ago. But what really caught his attention were his eyes. The two steel colored orbs held a fierce confidence in them due to his brow always slightly furrowed in concentration. Unsuccessfully, he couldn't see the beauty in his form due to the fact he wasn't a living being to begin with. His mind wasn't programmed to know what 'beauty was'.
"Looks can be deceiving," Hidden admitted simply.
Spike lowered the mirror to look at him with a brow raised. "Right... Anyway, if you really want to find more about the creature, Twilight is taking it to Canterlot as we speak."
This was it. This was the lead he needed for his search to find the interloper. All he had to do was find this Canterlot, and then he will then search every nook and cranny for it and finish his mission. There was only one problem. "I apologize if this sounds silly, but where is Canterlot located."
Spike gave him a "are you serious?" look for a moment. "It's in the mountain-side to the north-east, cant miss it.
As soon as Spike said that, Hidden was already leaving. "You have been a great help, Spike. Farewell!" Soon as he stepped outside, he bolted down the street and began his journey toward Canterlot. Unbeknownst to him how long of a trek it would take on hoof.
Meanwhile spike stood in the doorway of the library, watching Hidden run down the street and out of sight as he went over a small hill. He closed the door and sighed.
"Probably doesn't know what a train is either," he muttered.