(A/N: Edited by Stormscropion)
Early morning sunlight filtered in through the library windows, and illuminated the room with a soft glow. I was seated across from my host and apparent co-owner, who was furiously writing up a list of things that would have to be done today. From what I could see when I looked over at it, the list varied from medical check ups to a dental appointment and various other tests that would determine...well, a lot of things I guess I wasn't really in a state of mind to try and figure them out. Earlier that morning I had been awakened by a yelp of fear and a pile of books falling on top of my head. It was through this event that I met Twilight's number one assistant, Spica.
Picking myself up and rubbing my aching head I looked up to spot a female dragon pressed against the wall of the basement I had been sleeping in. The purple and green dragoness trembled in fear at the sight of me and her emerald green eyes. "OH um...hey.",I said lamely while offering up a wave. "SPICA? Are you okay down there?!" Twilights voiced carried down through the open basement door and broke Spica out of her stupor. She turned tail and rushed up the stairs, slamming the door behind her.
"Well, that's one way to wake up." I grunted while standing up and stretching out the kinks in my muscles. Satisfied, I picked up the dropped books and placed them on a nearby table before making my way upstairs. As I reached the top, the door opened revealing Twilight wearing a semi amused look on her face. "I see you met Spica, I apologize if she hurt you at all, she's very young and very excitable." I gave her a smile and rubbed my head gently while chuckling. "Nah, I'm all good, she just startled me is all. By the way, where is the restroom at? I could really use a shower and a mirror at the moment."
Twilight smiled and led the way to the second story of her tree house and showed me to the restroom. I walked in and shut the door. Sunlight entered in through a window that was set high up on the wall opposite me. To my left was the sink and toilet while a wooden shower occupied almost the entire right wall. Taking a deep breath I slowly turned left and got my first look at myself. Two golden orbs with flakes of blue returned my gaze and caused me to let out a small gasp of surprise. I blinked my gold and blue orbs a few times to make sure I was actually seeing it. Letting the shock fade away I raised my hands up and ran them over my face and through my short dark brown hair.
Next I turned to check on my outfit, making sure I was dressed properly. I was dressed in a pair of thick black pants and a forest green robe top that had obviously, to myself anyways, been home made. I removed my top and took a moment to examine my upper half. My body was muscular though I did not look like I had been carved from granite. I had a visible six pack and both of my arms bulged slightly whenever they moved. After a few poses I smiled and finished undressing before hopping in the shower. A few quick turns of the handles and the warm spray descended upon me, bringing with it a small moan of pleasure. A quick scrub down and I shut off the water, grabbed a towel from the towel rack which I quickly used, and redressed.
Leaving the bathroom I made my way downstairs to find Twilight seated at a table with stacks of parchment laying neatly to her left. Her right hand held a quill that quickly moved across a scroll that lay open before her. Finishing it, she rolled it up and handed it to Spica who had been hidden from my vision by the stack of parchment. I cocked my eyebrow when the little dragoness blew an emerald green flame on the scroll, turning it to ash that floated out an open window. "Seems counter productive to burn what you just wrote down.",I spoke up. Without looking up, Twilight pulled a piece of parchment from the stack and motioned for me to sit while ignoring my comment.
So I sat and waited. I must have zoned out at some point because I was snapped into attention by the sound of Twilight clearing her throat. "Well, today is going to be an exceptionally busy day. Seeing as how we know next to nothing and you are a male, we need to go out and make sure you have a clean bill of health. It would be disasterous if you had some kind of disease in you that could potentially wipe out all of pony kind. So, I'll prepare us some breakfast and then we will be on our way." I was given no time to think as a meal of apple slices and pancakes was practically shoved down my throat before being dragged out of the library and towards a day that, I felt anyways, would not end very well.
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Ponyville General Hospital was a two story building with a red cross mounted on above the front entrance. The outer walls were painted an eggshell white with windows lining most of the first story and all of the second. The two of us made our way inside and away from the group of whispering mares that had slowly come together over the course of our walk through town. I was pushed inside and up to the front desk where a pale blue unicorn with a forest green mane sat. "Hello, I would like to have my friend here put through a full examination please." The unicorn looked up from her paperwork and let out a gasp of surprise at the sight of me.
"J-j-just a m-moment Ms. Sparkle, Dr. Redheart is with another patient. If you will follow me,I shall lead you to a... more private room." The nurse clumsily shot up out of her chair, grabbed a few forms and led the two of us down a series of hallways and up a flight of stairs to a secluded room. We were quickly ushered in and I was told to have a seat on the bed. I quietly obeyed and sat down as the nurse left. "So Twilight, I've noticed that...well I seem to be the only male around,what's with that?" The purple unicorn sighed deeply and took a seat in a nearby chair. She took a moment to organize her thoughts before she began to speak. "Well, a long time ago, before the rule of the princess', who I will have to teach you about, the country of Equestria was ruled by two very powerful beings. The two were known as Queen Umbra and King Solaris."
"The two were said to have come from beyond the stars and discovered our world shrouded in darkness. At the time, pony kind was nothing more than a group of unintelligent beasts that cowered in their caves in fear of everything. Taking pity, King Solaris used his mastery of magic to create the sun and teach those of us that could how to unlock and use our latent magic. Queen Umbra, in her infinite wisdom gave to us the moon so that it's soft light would keep us from falling into a state of ignorance once more. The pair were worshipped and praised from bringing these gifts and for thousands of years they ruled over us, keeping us safe and guiding us."
Here Twilight grew pensive before continuing with her story. "One day though, Equestria was visited by something...evil. King Solaris and Queen Umbra engaged the being in battle in the heavens where all were able to see. It is said to have been both the most beautiful and also the most terrifying thing ever witnessed by pony kind. Even with their combined power though, the two were unable to defeat the being and were forced to use their very life forces to banish it to a plane unknown to us. Knowing they were going to pass on, King Solaris and Queen Umbra used the last of their energy to create two beings that all pony kind has come to know of as Alicorns. Since then the two Alicorn sisters have ruled over us in their parents stead which they continue to do till this very day."
"One day though, about thirteen hundred years ago, the being returned. It was, however, severely weakend and both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna managed to send it back to where their parents had banished it. Before they managed to finish, though, the being placed a curse upon all of the planet. Things returned to normal after that until five hundred years ago when the stallion population began to slowly die out. Nopony is sure as to the cause of the male extinction though some speculated it had to do with the enemy of the King and Queen. Regardless of what caused it,the amount of males on the planet has dwindled to but twelve. These twelve males are the last of their kind and are only able to sire female offspring. Regardless, they are protected fiercely by those that have them and most anypony would go to great lengths to get them."
Throughout her story Twilight had been growing more and more depressed looking until she looked up at me with a bright and hopeful smile. "Now though, we have you. The thirteenth male that is neither pony, griffon, zebra, or dragon. With you there may be a chance of siring males which could potentially save us." 'I knew something was going to happen today.' I wailed in my head while keeping a straight face. "So basically, I'm breeding stock?" My answer was interrupted by the door opening and a white earth pony wearing a doctor coat and with her mane in a bun walking in. "Good afternoon", she spoke in a chipper voice while looking me over like I was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.
"My name is doctor Redheart and I will be conducting your examinations today." She pulled a packaged tongue depressor from one of her coat pockets and unwrapped it. "Now open up and say ahhh!"
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The next six hours were filled with my being subjected to possibly every conceivable legal torture known to the universe. Needle after needle entered my body to draw out various fluids and,in the case of the allergy test, insert various fluids into me. After these were finished I was escorted to a physical therapy room and, once there, participated in numerous amounts of exhausting physical tasks to give the good Dr. Redheart a sense of my physical well being. When I was finally allowed to rest I flopped onto the ground and sucked in lungful after lungful of precious air. After taking a few moments to recover I slowly sat up to find Twilight offering me a glass of water which I gratefully took and emptied.
"Thanks Twilight.", I yawned while unsteadily getting to my feet. A purple hand took hold of my upper arm to steady me while at the same time leading me out the door and to another room. I was guided to a plain metal chair and made to sit down while Dr. Redheart and one of the hospitals nurses fiddled with a large machine in the corner of the room. "Hey doc, what is that thing?":, I asked in a voice laced with nervousness. Redheart picked up what looked like a blue vest with that zipped up in the front and had wires running out of the back that connected it to the strange machine. "This,", she said while holding the vest up, "Is used to measure a pony's magical level. Since we know next to nothing about what you are,it has been decided that we should test to see if you are magical in nature. What I need you to do is remove your shirt for me and put this on so that it can measure the amount of magic you may have and put you into a tier class."
At my confused look,Dr. Redheart elaborated on the subject. "All ponies that can actively use magic, namely the unicorns and alicorns, are apart of a tier number based upon how much magic they have and how strong It is. Most every unicorn you will meet in life is at tier one, meaning they can only use the most basic of spells and have low magical reserves. On the other hand you have unicorns like Ms. Sparkle here who is a tier six in magical prowess, meaning her magic can be used to cast and hold expert magic for a very long time." While listening to her explain I stripped my robe top off and placed the cold vest onto my torso and zipped it up. "Well, lets see where I stand in comparison to the Great and Powerful Twilight.", I chuckled, missing the flash of annoyance that crossed Twilights face.
Dr. Redheart suppressed a giggle and, with a series of switch flipping, activated the machine with a dull hum. I was unaware of my body hitting the floor, I did not notice the shouts coming from the two mares, nor did I notice the pain that came with head butting the floor. All I knew from the moment the machine turned on was the sun that had just been turned on in my body. Literally every single part of my body from my DNA to my amino acids radiated with the energy of a small sun that was hanging around in a lightning storm. The magic reader let out a loud warning wail as the lights on it's face flickered on and off at an unbelievably rapid pace before exploding in a shower of glass and energy. The machine began to violently vibrate and shake dangerously before making a loud bang and shutting down. Seconds later a small "Ting" announced the machine had it's results and printed out a slip of paper from a small slot on it's side.
Dr. Redheart and Twilight tentatively stepped out from behind the bed they had upturned and sought shelter behind. Seeing me on the floor with my hair standing on end, Twilight rushed to my side and began attempting to get a response from me. The last thing I registered before passing out was the nurses that practically blew the examination rooms door open was Dr. Redheart disbelieving voice saying. "Fifteen...by the King and Queen he's a tier fifteen."
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Princess Celestia and Luna sat on Luna's balcony admiring the night sky and drinking tea when,in a burst of green flame, a thick scroll landed on the table they had been seated at. "It seems awfully late to be sending a friendship report don't you think?", Princess Luna asked while her sister unraveled and read the her students neat and flowing script. As the minutes trudged by Celestia's eyes grew wider and wider while her jaw descended at the information she was taking in. Without a word she dropped the scroll and raced out of the room, leaving her sister in a state of confusion. Deciding to figure out what was going on she picked up and read through it before mimicking her sister and rushing out of the room.
None of the guards ponies on duty that night noticed the winged figure landing on Luna's balcony for just a moment before taking off with the scroll clutched tightly in it's talons.