"What are you?" The interrogator said gruffly. He was a unicorn stallion who certainly looked as if he didn't take any bull for answers. He seemed to be the toughest looking pony so far to Booker, which really wasn't saying much of anything. The detective and his companion, Elizabeth sat in an interrogation room similar to the one Booker knew of back in Rapture. In fact, this whole scenario he was in reminded him a bit of Rapture. He, Elizabeth and the Little Sister had been taken into custody without so much as any sort of explanation and the Little Sister had been taken away from the two of them to an undisclosed location. Yes, it was sort of like Rapture...just with ponies.
"We're humans." Booker said, looking tiredly at the interrogator.
"What the hay are humans?" The stallion asked, narrowing his eyelids.
"Man...Mankind...The dominant species of the planet." Booker said, trying to explain it to the interrogator. "No?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The interrogator said. "There are no...well...humans here. Just ponies. Ponies are the dominant species of this planet."
"Oh, well isn't that just dandy?" Booker said, looking at Elizabeth.
"Do you really not have humans here?" Elizabeth asked the interrogator. "I mean, where we come from, there are ponies...certainly not unicorns or pegasi...but normal ponies...But they don't talk...they don't build things either..."
"If you're referring to what you are...no." The stallion said. "We don't have any of...what you are here."
"Well, that sure eases my mind." Booker said, leaning back in his chair and sighing heavily. "Look, if you'll just give us the creepy little girl you guys took from us and we'll be on our way."
"I'm afraid we can't do that." The unicorn interrogator said. "Not until we know more about you."
"We've already told you everything we could." Elizabeth said. "Look, we just want to get out of here and get the monster we accidentally sent here."
"You see, we've received no reports of a 'monster' anywhere." The interrogator said. "For all we know, you're lying to us." Booker groaned and placed his forehead in his palm.
"Well then, since we're stuck here, why don't you tell us about this place?" Elizabeth said. "Where are we?"
"You are in the land of Equestria." The unicorn said, a subtle hint of pride in his voice. Booker couldn't hold back a small chuckle, which interrupted the unicorn in the midst of his speaking. "You find something funny about that?"
"Well you see, I find it witty, is all." Booker said, raising an eyebrow. "Where we're from, an equestrian is a man or woman who rides on the back of a horse...and equus is another word for horse...so I just find it witty...Equestria." Booker finished before giving off another small chuckle. The interrogator rolled his eyes before looking back at Elizabeth.
"Equestria is a peaceful land where ponies like me live. Here, we have three different kinds of ponies: Earth ponies, which are the kind without a horn or wings, pegasus ponies, which are ponies with wings that can fly, and unicorn ponies such as myself. We can use magic to do certain things, though it takes a lot of effort." The unicorn said with a small nod. Booker laughed quietly again.
"It's like a damn children's book." Booker mumbled quietly. The interrogator flashed Booker an annoyed look before continuing.
"The pegasi mostly live among the clouds, whereas the unicorns and earth ponies live on the ground. Long ago, there was a conflict between the three races of ponies, which went on for a long time. Finally, they all came to a pact of friendship that brought the races together and united Equestria into the land it still is to this day." The unicorn said.
"Incredible." Elizabeth said, a small smile forming on her face.
"Oh, I think you brought a tear to my eye." Booker said, furrowing his eyebrows.
"You know right now, we're being awfully nice to you." The unicorn said. "So nice it makes me sick in fact. What we could do is throw you in a dungeon. How'd you like that?"
"Bull." Booker replied simply. "For all you know, you'd be starting war with our world. We could come in through a million portals and wipe all of you off the face of this planet." The interrogator, taking Booker's words into account looked to the side and sighed.
"Fine." He replied.
"Why are we being treated so unfairly?" Elizabeth asked. "You're just keeping us in a dimly lit room. We might as well be in a dungeon. We don't want to hurt any of you. We actually want to save you. See-"
"I know, I know." The unicorn said. "You supposedly sent some sort of monster here that could cause widespread havoc if left unchecked. But I'll say again, we haven't gotten any reports of that kind and we would have by now if there was danger of any sort anywhere in the land."
"Instead of dancing around the question, maybe you should give the lady a coherent answer." Booker said.
"I was going to, you piece of-" The unicorn calmed himself and looked at Elizabeth. "When you came down in your craft, it crushed two earth ponies and their child to death. The large volumes of water from the portal injured several others. Now I know this isn't your fault, but we need to take precautions."
"Well, what about my wrist, huh?" Booker asked angrily. "I told you that it's hurt and you haven't done anything about it." The unicorn sighed heavily and looked at Booker.
"Fine, then. I'll send a physician in here to look at it. If only to shut you up." The unicorn said before moving toward the door. Booker looked at Elizabeth and raised an eyebrow.
"Pleasant guy, isn't he?" Booker said to her.
"We just need to get out of here." Elizabeth said. "Use that little sister to lure the Big Daddy away from any civilians into a tear."
"I'm still not used to the 'civilians' here." Booker said. "I keep forgetting that you're talking about ponies and not humans...I mean...Talking...intelligent...ponies."
"It's strange, I know." Elizabeth said. "I'm not used to it myself either."
"So how exactly do you plan to get out of here?" Booker asked Elizabeth, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat and sighed.
"If worst comes to worst...I can use tears and we can get out of here by force." Elizabeth said to the detective.
"Well screw it, why don't we do that now?" Booker asked. "I just wanna get out of here."
"We're only doing that if we have to." Elizabeth said.
"Elizabeth, they're animals." Booker deadpanned. "There's hundreds of ponies back home. Hell, I'll buy you one."
"No thanks." Elizabeth said.
"So under what circumstances will we...have to?." Booker asked. "I need to know so I can act fast if need be."
"If there is no other possible way we can get out of here and they refuse to cooperate, I'll wink at you and bring out a shotgun in a tear." Elizabeth said. "Remember, this is our contingency plan. Last resort. Got it?" Booker nodded at her.
"Got it." He said as an earth pony with medical garb entered the room. "I'm guessing you're the doctor." Booker said to him, placing his hand on the table. The doctor stared at Booker and Elizabeth for a moment before shaking his head, bringing him back to the situation he was in.
"Yes, indeed I am." The brown pony said. "I'm told that you have been injured and require medical attention." Without saying a word, Booker held up his wrist, which had in fact swollen some more. The doctor shook his head. "Ooh, that looks nasty, I must say." He moved a little closer.
"What do you think is wrong with it?" Booker asked.
"Well, just from the looks of the injury, I'd definitely have to say that it is at least fractured." He said. "Can you move it at all?" Booker strained a bit and grunted in pain before looking at the doctor.
"No, I don't think so." Booker said. The doctor clicked his tongue and began to examine the wrist some more.
"Well, I'll have to get you a cast." The doctor said. "But to determine what kind of cast, I'll need to get an Xray of the bones. Please come with me." Surprised, Booker stood up and looked at Elizabeth for a moment. The woman shrugged subtly, raising an eyebrow.
"So what, you guys are just gonna trust me now?" Booker said. "The interrogator said that we have to stay in here."
"We'll be accompanied by a guard." The doctor said. "So now if you'd please follow me, we can determine the extent of your injury." Booker sighed and left the room, walking alongside the doctor. The doctor didn't bother looking at Booker even once, but Booker couldn't care less. He was more enamored with the architecture of the castle he currently walked through. If ponies were capable of building structures like this in this world, he could barely imagine what else they could do.
"What is this place?" Booker asked the doctor.
"This, my strange-looking friend, is Canterlot Castle. This is the dwelling place of Princesses Celestia and Luna, two of the four rulers of this land." The doctor said. Booker couldn't help but crack a small smile at hearing the strange names. It sounded like something he'd read to a little girl before she went to sleep.
"Who are the other two?" Booker inquired.
"Princess Cadence is one of them, and she rules over the Crystal Empire, which is a good distance from where we are now. The fourth is a newly inducted princess. Princess Twilight Sparkle was formerly a unicorn when she was a student of Princess Celestia, but she has recently been crowned as a new princess, becoming an alicorn in the process." The doctor explained.
"What the hell is an alicorn?" Booker asked. The doctor raised an eyebrow at him, recognizing the unfamiliar word "hell" as some sort of profanity.
"An alicorn is a special type of pony with the horn of a unicorn and the wings of a pegasus. They possess a potential for magic unlike most other ponies in Equestria. What happened in Princess Twilight's case was an extremely rare occurence." The doctor said.
"And this 'magic'..." Booker said, taking note of the particularly well-made stained glass windows. One such window depicted what looked to be six ponies together, surrounded by what looked like some sort of power.
"Magic is the essence of a unicorn or alicorn's mental energy. They can use it to manipulate objects, teleport and they can even concentrate magic into focused offensive blasts to ward off danger." The doctor said.
"Well that kinda makes it seem like unicorns are above the other two. Earth ponies and uh..." Booker lost track of what to call the flying ponies as he gestured to the doctor for assistance.
"Pegasi. But Equestria was founded purely based on the equality of all three types. Magic isn't just something a unicorn can use effortlessly. It takes an intense amount of concentration. Spells can often backfire if the unicorn fails. There are certain perks and attributes to each pony type."
"Such as?" Booker asked as he struggled to register the fact that he was becoming interested in the subject of types of ponies.
"Well, earth ponies are the strongest of the three, physically. They possess a high endurance level for physical tasks. Most of the construction and farming in Equestria is done by earth ponies." The doctor explained. "Pegasi are the fastest of the three. They can fly through the clouds and even manipulate weather." Booker sighed as they approached the doctor's office. All of this was so much to register, but then again, there was no way in hell it would be easy.
"I just wouldn't have ever dreamed this place existed back when I was where I came from." Booker said.
"And I have never imagined anything like you." The doctor said. "Now please come in, so I can do the X-Ray."
"So you guys have X-Rays here, huh?" Booker said. The doctor looked back at the detective as he led him through the hallways.
"Why yes, we do." The doctor said. "Surprised?"
"Yeah, I guess I am." Booker said. "Where I come from...we have ponies, but they don't speak and they don't build. There definitely aren't pegasi or unicorns. They're just dumb animals."
"Well, I'm sure your time here has been a bit of a culture shock." The doctor said, opening the door leading into the X-Ray room. He dismissed the guard accompanying them to wait outside the room.
"A bit of one, yeah." Booker said as he looked at the complicated machinery. "Son of a bitch. Ponies are more advanced than we are..."
"What, you don't have X-Rays where you come from?" The doctor asked.
"No, we do...Just...not like this." Booker said. The doctor mused for a moment before gesturing to a small chair next to what Booker presumed to be the X-Ray machine.
"Okay, please sit in that chair and place your injured wrist where you see the red dot." The pony doctor said. "I'll move into the capture room so we can get this over with." Booker nodded and sat in the chair before placing his wrist underneath the beam of light.
"Hold your position, please." The doctor said. A sharp clunking noise came from within the machine and the doctor re-emerged from the capture room. "Very good. Thank you. Now if you'd please go with the guard back to the holding room where your companion is, you will receive further news on your injury as soon as possible. Until then take this ice pack and apply pressure with it for thirty seconds every two minutes. It should help with the swelling." The doctor gave him a nice smile as he handed over the ice pack.
"Oh, well...thanks, doctor." Booker said. "Look, I'll go back to the holding room, but I promise you, we're not here to hurt you...what happened to that family, it's a damn shame, but that's not our fault. We didn't know-"
"I understand." The doctor said with a nod. "And if it helps at all, I don't believe you want to hurt us, and I'll try to put in a good word for you. But I'm at a disadvantage insofar as I don't have very much influence." Booker nodded.
"Thanks anyway, Doctor." Booker said as he left the room. He looked at the guard, who didn't look back. "Well, they're not all bad, I guess." Booker murmured to himself.
_____
Booker and Elizabeth sat in the holding room for what seemed like hours. They were both completely bored and had run out of things to talk about. Elizabeth attempted to sit straight up in her chair and for the most part she succeeded, but she'd catch herself slouching and rectify it. Booker merely sat back in his chair, doing with the ice pack as the doctor had instructed him.
What looked to be a servant pony entered the room with what looked to be two salads.
"You both should eat." The pony said. "Here are your meals. They are artisan crafted garden salads with a specially made balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Please, enjoy." Booker grimaced at the salad. He'd always been a picky eater.
"Hey, uh...any chance you have a hamburger back there?" Booker asked the servant. The servant looked at booker and raised an eyebrow.
"A...hamburger?" He said. "I'm afraid I don't follow."
"You don't have hamburgers here?" Booker said before realizing again that he was in a world of ponies. "Well that actually kinda makes sense." He mumbled.
"Is that some sort of delicacy in your world?" The servant asked.
"Kinda." Booker replied.
"What is it?" The servant asked him. He looked genuinely interested in the subject at hand. Booker looked at Elizabeth, who raised an eyebrow at him cautiously.
"I don't think you'd want to know." Elizabeth said.
"Oh, but I do. Please tell me." The servant said.
"Okay, fine." Booker said. "Don't say I didn't warn you. A hamburger is ground up cow meat, cooked between two buns and often served with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and some onions." The servant looked nauseated for a moment.
"In your world, your kind eats...flesh?" The servant asked.
"That's kind of harsh, but yeah." Booker said. "But in our world, animals like cows aren't intelligent like I assume they are here. They can't talk, they can't reason...hell, they can barely think for themselves..."
"Booker, I don't think it's working." Elizabeth said. Booker saw that the servant still looked nauseated.
"Go on ahead and leave." Booker said. The servant left quickly and Booker sighed before looking at Elizabeth. "Well, if they didn't already think we were monsters before that..."
"I think we'll be fine." Elizabeth said. "We've proven to them that we're not hostile." The door opened once more and in walked the most astonishing sight Booker or Elizabeth had seen since they had arrived.
Two large and stately looking ponies walked in, their long legs giving them a graceful stride. One was white, one was dark blue. The white one was slightly larger than the blue. They both had long, flowing manes that seemed to glow on their own. They both possessed a horn and wings, so they were alicorns. They wore crowns, so they were most likely royalty.
"Greetings, travelers." The large white one stated. "I'd like to formally welcome you to Equestria."
"Uhh..." Booker said. "Thank you."
"I am Princess Celestia. This is my sister, Princess Luna." The smaller dark blue princess gave a curt bow.
"We have been informed of all the details of your arrival, including the death of that family. While it is extremely unfortunate, it is easily seen that neither of you meant to harm them." Princess Luna said.
"Even so, we're very sorry about that." Elizabeth said. "My name is Elizabeth."
"Booker." Booker stated as he sat up in his chair. "Booker DeWitt. Just call me Booker."
"Well, Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth." Princess Celestia said. "We would like to offer our sincerest apologies for your current conditions. Equestria has its fair share of threats, and we had to take precautions."
"You all seems so peaceful here." Booker said.
"We are." Princess Luna said. "But in the quest for peace one will always meet those who will attempt to deny them that peace."
"So now that we've introduced ourselves, would you kindly tell us why you're here?" Princess Celestia asked. Booker looked at Elizabeth, who offered him the floor. He took it.
"Well, the world we used to be in, it was our home, but we lived in a city...an underwater city." Booker said. The princesses looked astonished.
"My word...And I take it that your kind is very technologically innovative?" Princess Luna asked. Booker nodded.
"You could say that. Anyways, the city we were in may sound like the best haven for peace ever, but it was a hellhole if there ever was one. In this underwater city, people could genetically modify themselves. Whether it was their strength level, their looks, or even how much hair they had. People were genetically modifying themselves so much that they became addicted to it. It turned them into hideous mutated freaks. We call them splicers." Booker explained.
"Splicers..." Princess Celestia said. "How odd."
"But this city had a civil war brewing. A war that would have made it into a worse hell than it already was. So Elizabeth and I decided that we needed to get out of there. But on the way, we had to steal a key for the craft that crushed that family. We call it a bathysphere, and it was locked to everyone except certain officials who had that key. It would have taken us to the surface so we could get out of there. The head honcho we stole the key from knew that we did and sent some of his splicers after us. They chased us into an altercation with what we call a Big Daddy." Booker said.
"A Big Daddy?" Princess Celestia asked. "What exactly is a Big Daddy?"
"I'm getting to that. A Big Daddy is a man...or what used to be a man, genetically modified and fused to the inside of a diving suit to the point where he isn't human anymore. Strongest things I've ever seen. They were originally intended for construction, able to hold up fifteen ton steel beams like they were nothing and drill through solid rock like it was clay. But a problem came up with Splicers taking the Little Sisters, which are produced to harvest ADAM. Now ADAM is the lifeblood of that underwater city. Without ADAM, there's no genetic modifications. That makes ADAM worth more than gold." Booker said.
"Goodness." Princess Luna mused.
"So one of the head honchos in this underwater city came up with the bright idea to modify these Big Daddies to protect the Little Sisters from the splicers. It worked. A little too well. You mess with a Little Sister, you mess with her Big Daddy, and you do not wanna mess with her Big Daddy. Getting back to me and Elizabeth, we accidentally incurred the wrath of this Little Sister's Big Daddy. Elizabeth here can open what we call tears. Portals to other worlds." Booker said.
"Sister..." Princess Luna said to Princess Celestia. "You don't think...the mirror?"
"I don't know, Luna." Princess Celestia said, looking as if she was in deep thought for a moment. "I don't know...Go on, Booker."
"We were able to knock the Big Daddy through the tear, but Elizabeth had opened up the tear so quickly, she didn't know exactly where it went. So we decided to go through the tear ourselves and bring the Big Daddy back to our world."
"And this...Big Daddy..." Princess Luna said. "This is the monster you've been speaking of that is supposedly running loose?" Booker nodded.
"As far as what we can do about it..." Princess Celestia said. "We have not received a single report of any monster in Equestria. We can contact each city to make sure, but since there is no evidence that the Big Daddy is here, it does not warrant a full-fledged investigation." Booker quickly stood and pointed toward the white princess.
"Listen to me, Goddamn it!" Booker cried.
"Booker, sit down!" Elizabeth said to him.
"No, this has to be said!" Booker retorted. "We've been getting fed the same bull all day long! Wherever this thing is, there probably isn't anything to contact! It is genetically modified to kill!"
"I understand your frustration, Booker." Princess Celestia said, furrowing her eyebrows. "But we cannot waste resources on this when we have no concrete evidence. How do you even know for sure the Big Daddy was sent here?"
"Princess Celestia, with all due respect, I know for sure that it was sent here." Elizabeth said.
"Perhaps we should at least contact Princess Twilight, sister." Princess Luna said to her sister. "They seem to be genuinely concerned." Princess Celestia looked at her sister, then at Booker and Elizabeth. The woman nodded at her. Princess Celestia sighed and nodded.
"Very we-" She was interrupted by a member of the royal guard bursting into the room.
"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!" He cried. He was completely out of breath and looked terrified.
"Calm down and speak." Princess Celestia said. "What is wrong?"
"It's Ponyville!" He said. "There's been a changeling invasion! Queen Chrysalis has returned, and there's a monster on a rampage throughout the town. It doesn't look to be aligned with the changelings!" Princess Celestia looked at Luna, whose eyes widened.
"Prepare a detachment of the royal guard." Princess Celestia said.
"Wake every member of the night patrol as well." Princess Luna added.
"Send them all to Ponyville and engage the changelings. Luna and myself will be down to provide additional support." Princess Celestia said. The guard gave a salute and left the room quickly. A small messenger pony walked into the room seconds later.
"Message for you from Princess Twilight." The messenger said. Celestia took the message and read it, her eyes widening drastically before looking at Princess Luna.
"It's true." Celestia said before looking at Booker who smirked at her.
"Satisfied?" He said.
"I assume you have a plan to extract the Big Daddy?" Celestia asked.
"Yeah, we do. But we'll need that Little Sister you've taken from us." Booker said with a small nod. Princess Celestia nodded.
"Very well." She said before looking at Luna. "Luna, summon Discord. We'll need his assistance. I hope you and your companion are well-versed in combat situations, Booker." The princess turned around to see Booker withdraw a shotgun from a tear produced by Elizabeth. Elizabeth held a pistol which she proceeded to load.
"Your highness," Booker said before cocking the shotgun. "It's my specialty."