//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Do you believe in magic? 
// by gcsmith 
//------------------------------//

House was sweating like a pig and had to look out of squinted eyes and yet he almost wanted to laugh. He couldn't imagine a more stereotypical interrogation scene if he tried. 

He was sat in a wooden chair with a hot, blinding light bearing down on him. Across a rather small table sat a small violet pony, the same one from that morning that had been walking next to the large white one. He couldn't see her now, she was hidden in shadow. But he had managed to see her quickly before the light had been turned on.

For the past five minutes, ever since the accompanying guards had magically bound him to his chair and had left him, the room had filled with silence apart from the sound of the grinding of teeth. Right now, this 'Twilight Sparkle' was making Tritter seem civil. Eventually, when it appeared she had left House to sweat long enough, she pulled back the light just enough for her face to not be incomplete darkness.

"So..." She barked. "Who, or should I say, what are you?"

House didn't answer, he simply shook his head and then looked her in the eyes.

"You will answer me. One way or another, you will. I have ways to make ponies talk."

"What kind of line is that? 'I have ways to make ponies talk'."

"Aha, see, I told you I could make you talk."

"Please, you can hardly expect me to stay quiet and miss that chance to mock you. I mean seriously, that's the line you use?" House sighed.

"What's wrong with that line?" Twilight quipped back before slamming her hooves against the table.

"For starters, it makes you sound like some cheap super villain from a comic book or spy novel. Secondly, if you really had ways to make ponies talk, I doubt you waste time and not straight up use them. Thirdly, do I look like a pony to you?!" Twilight flinched.

"Well... no, of course not. You look more like," Twilight rubbed her forehooves together. "Like one of the chimps my friend Fluttershy has looked after, only with less hair."  House's face formed into a frown.

"I guess that's a close answer, given Evolution anyway, but no I'm not a chimp. And I don't appreciate being called one."

"What are you then?"

"I'm a human."

"A humwhat?" 

"No, not a humwhat, a human. Seriously what do they teach you at school?"

Twilight sighed, a slight frown appearing on her face.

"Oh you know: advanced levitation; inanimate transformation; and time travel. All the usual's." Her tone was slick with sarcasm.

"And bitchiness?"

"Not yet, that's covered next year. Along with dealing with strange alien beings that come out of nowhere and try to ride the royalty, and your personal tutor, like a some sort of rocking toy."

House smiled.

"I'm impressed, I didn't think your species had developed sarcasm yet. From the prison your society looked so simple, magic aside."

"The feelings mutual."

House smiled.

"So I can rattle your chains, and poke me with a corner of the soft pillows. Where do we go from here?"

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"You're still here for interrogation." Her horn glowed for a moment and a zip appeared across House's lips, leaving him surprised and silenced. His shock brought a smile to her face and she leaned forward towards him. "Now, shall we continue?"





Three brightly coloured fillies crawled carefully through the long grass. Their heads daubed by with crudely made hats fashioned from grass. 

"Melody to Witherwings, I think I can spot the target."

"Where?"

"Where, what?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"Witherwings to Melody, where do you spot the target?"

"Over by the lake, Witherwings, over."

"What are you two talking about?"

"Sweetie Belle," Sweetie Belle coughed. "Sorry, Melody, decided it would be nice to have spy names."

"Really? Well what's my spy name then?"

Sweetie Belle rubbed her chin, deep in thought.

"Hmm, how about woodcraft?"

"Woodcraft? Since when does that describe me?"

"Alright, how about Stormbuck?" 

"That sounds much better, Melody, Stormbuck it is."

"Would you two be quiet, you're going to give us away." Hissed an angry Scootaloo.

Both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom looked down at the ground ashamed.

"Sorry."

"Sorry, Scoots."

"Fine, now, lets get closer. Lets see if we can get to that tree near the bench."





Wilson sighed as he awkwardly sat on a bench beside Canterlot's largest and only lake. Around him he could hear the sound of families playing and laughing together in the afternoon sun. Occasionally he would quickly glance other the happy sets of ponies before resuming his staring at the rippling surface of the water.

"All alone, again..." He muttered to himself. He shivered despite the heat of the day as he mulled over the events of the day. A very strange and depressing day. He was alone on an alien planet, stuck as a pony with no one, not even House at his side. 

On that note, where was his friend? Was House here somewhere, lost like him? Or, was he alone here in this strange world? Wilson lay back on the bench and sighed again as he thought about the prospects. While he didn't want to be alone here, he knew House wasn't suited to this environment. Everything seemed so happy and innocent, a far cry from the 'Everybody Lies' world that House inhabited.

"Where do I go from here?" he asked himself. "I have no money, no job, and if I tried to explain my situation to someone they would just think I'm mad." A small tear started to work it's way down his muzzle. "If I was a human, maybe I could convince them, but as a pony, I have no chance." 

Closing his eyes, Wilson began to cry, all afternoon he had tried to find someone he could start a conversation with and one who might believe his tale. Unfortunately, everypony he spoke too was busy working or unwilling to talk. Even his attempts to eavesdrop to gather information failed, all he overheard were conversations about the weather or the price of vegetables. All he ended up learning was that the currency they used was bits.

For what seemed like an age, he lay there quietly weeping. 

CRASH

Wilson fell off the bench in shock, quickly stopping his crying as he fell face first into the dirt.

"What on earth?!"

His eyes go wide after picking his face from the dirt when he notices a twitching, broken branch lying on the ground at the base of the nearest tree. For a moment, he stood in silence, before realizing that the twitching was being caused by three young ponies.

Getting to his hooves with a creek, Wilson made his way over to the branch, pinned beneath it were three rather familiar looking fillies, frantically trying to get out from underneath the branch.

"Hey mister?! Any chance you can give us a helping hoof? Please?" asked the adorable little white filly.

"Err, sure."

Clumsily, he placed his hooves against the branch and pushed. Several times he had to pause and reposition himself, he was still trying to get used to his forelimbs ending in stumps rather than digits and it made tasks feel more awkward than they should. Still, it didn't take too long to move the branch and soon the fillies were brushing themselves off.

"Are you three alright? None of you are hurt at all?"

The three of them quickly glanced over themselves and each other before shaking their heads.

"Nah, we're alright mister," said the purple headed filly whose name he remembered as Scootaloo.

"Yeah, thanks for the help. That branch would have taken us a while to move, and it was really scratchy."

"Ya know, you're a lot more like ya sister than ya think, Sweetie."

"Am not."

"Are too."

Both Wilson and Scootaloo stood awkwardly at the side as the two other fillies devolved into constant gainsaying.

"Um, are you girls always like this?"

She nodded her head.

"I guess so, although sometimes it can get a little more physical." Wilson chuckled.

"I know what you mean, I find it hard to think it's possible to have a friend without the average fight. At leas, it's hard not to have fights with my friend." 

She smiled up at him, "Your friend sounds interesting."

"Oh, 'interesting' is the correct word, alright." Wilson smiled briefly before quickly frowning again. "The problem is, I have no idea where he is."

"Oh, have you lost him?" 

"I'm not too sure," he sighed. "I mean, I know he isn't here right now, but I'm not sure if he's here, at all."

"He's not here and you're not sure he's not here? That makes no sense."

"It's a complicated tale. But enough about me, where's that adult pony that was looking after you? Applejack, was it? Why aren't you with her?"

"We snuck away from her."

"Why? To climb trees? Surely you don't need to sneak away to do that?"

"Well, in my defense climbing the tree wasn't my idea."

"Then why did you climb it?"

"Applebloom thought we might get a better view of you from up there." Wilson's jaw opened wide. Scootaloo looked at him, scratching her head in bemusement. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"You climbed that tree to get a better view of me?!"





Celestia stood on her balcony over looking the city, her lips curled up into a clear smile. Silently she faced out upon her city, her eyes closed and resting the front half of her body on the railing. It had been a weird day, she mused. Not only had her student finally beaten her at chess, but they had been ambushed in the gardens by a creature she had never seen before, an alien to Equestria it seemed. Although where he had come from and how he had got here, she couldn't quite be sure.

Not that it mattered where he came from of course, no, what mattered was what he was here for. The safety of her ponies was of her prime concern. She wasn't worried of course, he was safely locked away in the palace dungeons, her student interrogating him.

For a moment her thoughts drifted to Twilight, working hard no doubt in the cold stone room to pry any information she could from him. Celestia wasn't completely sure that Twilight would succeed, at least not fully, and it was likely she would have to finish it up afterwards. In fact, many would probably question her sending her student to do something so official as an interrogation. But those ponies didn't know what she knew, what was to come and how essential this experience would be for Twilight. Even if she didn't succeed, she would develop some understanding and hopefully some new skills that would aid her in years to come.

A movement below caught her eye, a orange pony that she recognized and a royal guard were walking up the path towards the palace, deep in discussion. Applejack had arrived for her meeting. 

Celestia smiled and got up from her position on the railing but paused as a sudden rushing sensation went through her head and her vision began to swim. She shook her head to try and bring herself back to her senses but that only seemed to make her dizzier. Suddenly the distance between her and the ground below looked far more dangerous as a bout of vertigo hit her hard and she turned towards cool safe interior of her palace.

As she turned however, her hoof slipped and she found herself moving backwards instead of forwards. She tried to stop her movement even as backed up against the railings but the dizziness and pain in her head seemed to stop her hooves from obeying her. 

What happened next passed in a blur for Celestia, one moment she was standing backed against the railing looking longingly towards the entrance to the balcony and the next she was falling towards the ground, the wind rushing through her mane and the cries of the ponies below sounding distance.

For a brief moment, she looked down at the oncoming ground wondering why her wings weren't working. The moment quickly passed and Celestia ended her descent with a sickening crunch.