Illusion and reality, give me the blue pill
----- Outside Cloudsdale -----
Dust Devil built a small track to practice her maneuvers for the next ‘The Best Young Flyer Competition’, simple but effective, which didn’t remove how laborious was having to put everything in place, with his work as a weather patrol, her project had been delayed more than a week, but that no longer mattered, yesterday had already finished and she was willing to debut the obstacles prepared to force their maneuvers in flight today.
Departing from home, flew to his track and while flying, she fantasized the time when she would meet the judges, showing his great talent to be able to make turns so forced, the sound of all the ponies yelling and cheering her, the judges speechless by its flexibility in tight corners, getting the tiara for ‘The Best Young Flyer Competition’.
"All my hopes and dreams I will be able to make it possible after starting to practice on my new track, and become the best flyer of Cloudsdale!" Dust Devil said with passion as she watched in the distance his work in all its glory.
What she didn’t see was an object approaching quickly to her track, going through the center of the track and going to the same rampant speed with which it had entered, creating a strong current that hustle all the hard work of our best flyer aspirant.
Dust Devil was stunned while the last events were collected, analyzed and recorded by the small mind of the little pony, she saw his work was destroyed in a heartbeat, all those hours of planning, all the material carefully placed at strategic points, the help she had to ask so that the clouds weren’t going to fly away for some wind stream, the favors she had to do and must still pay for the help, all of that work vanished, and she had not even taken the precaution of writing it…
Meanwhile, Matt is trying to remove the white stuff that had stuck to his face, in the distance seemed a simple pair of clouds but at pass through them resulted they were somewhat solid, a rare combination of what felt like cotton and sand.
After left the house where Trixie was staying, Matt followed the railways, while he was still flying, noted strange things, the sun behind him, indicating that he would be traveling to east or southeast, just to be safe, verified a small compass he had with him, without success since it is only turned from side to side, also a strange atmospheric phenomenon in which the rainbows that 'dropped' from the clouds, and finally the mountain in front of him and his huge castle protruding from the side of the mountain.
"In what part of the frontier am I that there rainbows waterfalls and a castle in the mountains and didn’t know anything about it?", Matt questioned "I also have not seen another building since I left the apartment and I see no house nearby… or any communication tower or nothing to tell me where I'm going except those railways"
He was approaching the castle, or rather the city surrounding the castle of the mountain, at least he know how should proceed, first would come walking and then once inside would ask some indications and would come back to his travel.
After landing in the woods near the city, checked the sign of his mobile, "Eight-thirty in the morning, without service...“ complained, the only thing he used the mobile was to listen music and watch some videos, he would not risk making calls from it, learned that after making any calls on the mobile, a team of the army would be looking for the next few days, how they knew which was the new number he used each time he changed, that was beyond his understanding.
Approaching the edge of the forest, he saw some horses near a gate, despite the fact that he did not know this city, found it funny the Roman style helmets that worn one of them, on second thought they were too small to be horses…
"Ponies, ponies wearing Roman armor" he said while the phrase take a moment to understand it properly, then, began to laugh at the ridiculous sight, was most absurd that the pony in armor, had a horn, 'A pony with a horn, a unicorn' he thought while trying to calm himself, maybe the owners of these animals liked mythological stories or something.
Without leaving the shadows, he overheard the voices of those ponies, discussing something about prices or something like that, while the pony in armor that was in the middle of the group, seemed to have a face that showed fatigue and a desire to be left alone…
"Eh?, talking ponies?"
Matt looked more closely at the ponies, 'Yep, they are talking, I'm listening to talking ponies, discussing prices of the oranges...’ thought as he tried not to laugh maniacally.
After struggling to remain silent at the absurdity of the situation, he began to think "Okay, let's recap, was in the building when the soldiers entered, cornered in the bathroom, threw me a flash grenade, I escape from place, followed the nearest train tracks, flew for about half an hour, didn’t recognize the landscape, seems to be a different time that I have on my mobile, there are ponies speaking English, talking ponies… ok, I'm still asleep or went crazy or was killed when I tried to escape", Matt commented to himself "But I don’t feel dead, although for a moment thought I saw something like a sunny paradise but didn’t see the golden gates".
After thinking for a moment, Matt decided to leave the forest and walk towards the entrance, thought he was only dreaming and decided to play along to see what happened once inside in Wonderland.
----- Northwest Entry of Canterlot -----
Night Arrow, a unicorn wanting to be elsewhere that wasn’t arguing with the citizens, he likes his work as royal guard, really enjoys it, but having to be guard to protect a city that never was attacked, was assigned to report on his logbook the incidents that were reporting the citizens, It wasn’t a bad job, but most of his 'logs' should be attended by departments that were in the castle, a guard should not report the economic conditions of a market to another, but nooo, he had to be the mediator of a discussion that should be resolved in the High Council and not in front of him.
The only action that had the opportunity to live as guard, was the chaos caused by the beast known as Discord, and all he did was to escape from a bucket of jelly, of the size of a house and when he succeeded of get out of the cube, they say that Discord was already contained...spend more than two hours trying to find a way between so much yellow is not as simple as it seems and less if they are bananas when stepping on them, will teleport you to the center of the jelly.
But back to the current problem, which involves his least favorite fruit, wished that this discussion was ended and something intense happened where he could be a hero, or at least that would make take it away as mediator and go back to being a quiet entrance guard.
As if the same Princess Celestia would listen and and fulfill the petition, all the chatter stopped…
Sweet silence and a bit of shadow to cover the setting sun, 'shadow?, but isn’t time yet for nightfall' Night thought, also saw the ponies front of him, all with a look of terror facing his direction… more like, looking over him, turned his body and saw a large creature that he, huge and with all those jagged edges outlining its body, All he could think about how to describe this creature, it was walking on two legs and it was huge.
"Hello" he said with a thick voice, "could you tell me where I am?"
Night Arrow and the other ponies faces displayed lot of fear, enough to leave them in shock.
Matt thought that is it was the right way, just get to the point and ask them directly what he needed, now he was wondering if this was the best way to approach, the best thing to do now it was bend down to not be that intimidating 'After all, that's what they do in the documentary films, right?'.
"MONSTER!!"
'What a way to make a first impression' Matt thought, surprised by a cry of one of the mares, stepped back a little, this moment of doubt make Night Arrow react, who shot a beam of energy which make direct hit to the chest of Matt, causing it to fall on his back, despite the force field around, felt all the hit, which left him breathless.
"Heh, I did not expect tha..." Matt whispered hardly, began to feel heaviness in his body, make him understood that he was sleeping, tried to stay awake, yet the world was darkening around him, without much success, he faint.
----- Hallway to the Library, Castle of Canterlot -----
Princess Celestia, walked the halls of the castle towards the library for research, joined by Shining Armor, while discussing the upcoming events that would occur in Canterlot.
"Your Highness, you believed to be a really good idea that Twilight and her friends take charge of this matter?, I’m afraid that gets out of control, the time that this happened, Canterlot suffered the disorganization and were unable to send aid to Ponyville" speak Shining Armor, for his eyes, Twilight is the same filly who brought their parents to the world and every time she was brought in a conversation, Shining always showed the overprotective big brother attitude.
"Shining, I understand your doubt, but I can assure you that the girls are more than capable of reforming Discord, despite his nature, Discord is an element that can be guided to the common good" Celestia replied in her gentle and motherly tone, despite being talking about the spirit of Chaos, she can recognize that even Discord may have changed during his confinement, the prove was that during the escape from his prison, the damage caused this time were minor, very different when Equestria was in his power.
Shining Armor was about to rebut the comment when a jog was heard behind them, just down the hall, an earth pony guard, turned around the corner and slowing down, stopped in front of them and with proper reverence to the princess and saluting in an official manner to his captain.
"Your Highness, Captain, there was an incident at the northwest gate of the city, one of the guards reported that he intercept one of the minions of Discord" the guard firmly declare but showing some nervousness.
Shining Armor replied by questioning the guard "the guard who intercept the minion is alright?, this individual caused any damage?".
“The guard is well, I was informed that they intercept the creature with a spell of numbness which made it fall asleep at the time of contact, the creature did not cause any damage before that".
"Creature?", Celestia asked "were unable to identify the species?"
The guard, now more nervous about having to address the Princess, responded cautiously "The guards who encountered the creature didn’t recognize the species, the description they gave me, seems to be a Diamond Dog, but they say doesn’t have fur except for his head, and most of its body is covered with clothes".
"Anything else they have mentioned?" Shining Armor asked.
"Yes, Night Arrow, the guard who slept the creature, said it ‘spoke’ before he used the spell, but is not sure what said, although he believed that maybe it spoke in Equestrian" the guard finished.
Shining Armor look to the princess Celestia, which was thinking and then nodded, allowing the captain to proceed in the manner that it were correct, "All right, proceed to bring the creature to a dungeon, take it through the alleys to avoid causing commotion, prepare a group of unicorns if it wakes up and tries to escape” stated Shining Armor, allowing the guard revered the princess and saluted the captain, and then turn back and return with his colleagues to pass the orders commanded.
Shining Armor, returning his gaze to Celestia, said "Your Highness, if I may, I would like to make this interrogation to the minion of Discord."
Celestia took a moment to process the information received by the guard, about this creature and its connection with Discord, in a way, it was something that would Discord do, appear directly at the front door and casually let it be captured, just to show that it was more complicated than it seemed.
"...Shining Armor, you can take the interrogation, but we need to consider that it may be a new species, perhaps unrelated to Discord, before you do the interrogation, I would like more information about this creature that 'seems to be' a Diamond Dog".
"I understand your highness, how you would like to proceed?" Shining Armor asked.
"Locate and report Princess Luna about the latest events occurred, after this I need you to prepare a carriage to bring Twilight to Canterlot so she can inspect this creature" Princess Celestia answered.
"Bring Twily?!" Shining Armor replied alarmed, but regained his composure and asked "forgive the question, but why you need to bring my sister?, it would be dangerous if-” tried to continue but was interrupted by the Princess Celestia’s hoof, returning a gentle laugh.
"Calm down Captain, I assure you that Twilight will not be in danger at any time, I would not allow that, I can only say that Miss Sparkle would like to know that there is a creature that couldn’t identify in Canterlot, we will take security measures that are necessary to prevent any damage that may be caused".
Shining Armor still uncertain, try to think of an answer to dissuade the Princess, but he felt that it was useless, if it was Twilight decision, she would have accepted without thinking, not only because she appreciated that the Princess considered as a medium to help Equestria, but because knowing Twilight, would love to learn something new that would provide an unknown creature.
Celestia, after seeing Shining Armor didn’t comment anything else, end saying "If you need me, I'll be in my bedroom, writing a few letters" saying this, continued walking and decided that the visit to the library could wait, leaving the captain in the hallway.
----- Golden Oak Library, Ponyville -----
"Come on Twilight, we don’t need to rearrange the library a second time, the previous system was fine" the little dragon try to dissuade the unicorn mare who was levitating several books at once from a bunch were on the ground, and reading the titles of these.
"Oh Spike, as had mentioned before, we will receive a new edition of Doctor Bright and his new discoveries from the south of the Badlands, I must create a new section for the latest findings published in his books, a pony who is not afraid to get into areas considered too dangerous for ponies, deserves its own section for his efforts and courage in expanding the knowledge of the wildlife of Equestria".
Spike, exhausted of having to start another reorganization that would take the whole night, sat on the floor, trying to get some air, but the little air he got was expelled by belching a green flame, from which a scroll materialized.
When Twilight heard Spike, turned to him, as he held the scroll that once in the air, fall right into his claws.
"Twilight, letter of the princess" said Spike, as he unwrapped the bow that held the letter, unrolling and clearing his throat to read.
“Ehem…
My dearest and faithful student Twilight
I was pleased to read the latest report of friendship from your friend Pinkie Pie, bringing happiness through a smile is an enjoyable way to show how important friendship.
However, there is an important issue which I would like you to participate actively, an incident in Canterlot has shown a new creature that has not been identified by the guards who confronted him.
The guards reported that the creature has shown to have the faculty of speech and may have understanding of the language Equestrian.
Currently the creature is retained in the dungeons for security reasons in case it can be dangerous, but I am confident that if it can communicate with us, also can develop a cooperative relationship and give us information of their species.
I have to mention to you can also be a creature of Discord, perhaps a move of him that was not restored when he was imprisoned again, so it was decided that it be given an interrogatory.
The reason why I inform you, is mostly in case we meet a new species that has not been cataloged and be part of the discovery and in the potential case, to forge diplomatic links with a new species.
I sent a carriage so you can settle temporarily in the castle while the interrogation is performed.
Sincerely
Princess Celestia
...a new creature?, Oh no" Spike said nervously as he looked up and saw the face of ecstasy of Twilight who seemed going to explode like Pinkie Pie when accomplishment her mission with Cranky Doodle and Matilda.
The difference between the crazy Pinkie Pie and Twilight was that she somehow exploded with papyrus flying in all directions while jumping in circles screaming.
"YES, YES, YES, YES!!!, A new creature to MEET and LEARN from it, I'm so excited!, I must prepare scrolls, ink and feathers to take notes of everything that we talk, I can’t believe I have this great opportunity!" Twilight was still talking, increasing the speed of her voice, to a point that the author did not want to write everything the lively unicorn said it would offer this discovery.
While Spike started to collect the materialized scrolls and rearrange in the drawers of those must have gone out, approaching those that were against the bookshelves, he looked at Twilight and asked.
"Twilight, what will happen to the books that still are on the floor?"
Twilight without losing the smile that promised to break his face, replied "You're right Spike, so we'll worry about the reorganization when the books arrive the next month, meanwhile, I will personally sort the books in the old system"
"THE NEXT MONTH!?" Spike said about to collapse by the revealing truth in front of him, but before he could discuss the importance of planning at the right time, noticed the books began to glow in a purple aura and were raised from the ground, lined up so that will point to the gaps on the bookshelves, and Twilight kept her smile when launch the first book in a free space above the head of Spike, which only react in time to duck into a safer position.
Believing he avoid the didactic projectile smoothly, breathe out in relief, only to see another book went quickly and intense in another space some far from him, for some strange reason, the sense of survival was triggered in the baby dragon, when he looked back to Twilight, which intensely, proclaim.
"Reorganization Time!"
After the touching words, she began to throw books in different free spaces frighteningly fast, which left Spike in the middle the shooting range called bookshelf, unfortunately neither Mr. Anderson or Mr. Payne were available to teach him the secret of skill 'Bullet Time' and their application in the field.
----- A bit later -----
Matt woke up quietly from the cold floor which was already used to sleep, stretching and doing some pops of his bones "Wow, what a strange dream, the next time I buy food, will not take what is on liquidation promotion, God knows if some of the products were expired "
"So you ate something that could be spoiled?"
Matt stopped, someone was in the room with him, he quickly looked at the sides, his backpack wasn’t there, and did not recognize the place, was something like a prison cell, but old, there was not much light except for a torch that was embedded in the wall, only lit up where was Matt and the light of a window with bars of a wooden door.
His first thought was to leave, but found that his left ankle was shackled to the wall by a heavy chain.
"I recommend that you stay still, i’m just gonna ask a few questions about your arrival to the city" he heard again the voice, also couldn’t see him and was not sure if it was a woman or man who spoke to him, sounded somewhat distant, almost like a whisper, but without losing clarity and showing a serenity that bothered Matt.
"You must be a really coward if you do not dare to get in a place where I can see, you people, always in the shadows, come on man, show yourself!" Matt commented arrogantly to provoke this guy that like the rest, didn’t know what he was getting into.
A moment later began to hear a hard steps approached him, but the number of steps... there was more than one?, this doesn't matter anymore after their captors or rather his captor revealed himself of the darkness, something unexpected, a horse or pony if we're judging by height, and what appeared to be the forehead, a horn, a unicorn.
Matt immediately cleared his mind, remembering the latest events, the soldiers, his escape, the flight above the train tracks, the mountain with the castle, ponies who spoke the same language!... and now he was facing one.
"So, your kind refer to themselves as 'people' or ‘man’, very interesting..." the unicorn, which Matt could now see and hear clearly, its dark fur, hair or mane also rather dark and mainly the voice.
Male
The unicorn, showing a neutral expression 'for a pony' spoke firmly but politely "In that case, I inform you that I am a pony, let me introduce myself, my name is Star Bright, Doctor Bright".
Matt, like all persons aware of their language skills, chose the best possible combination of words for a situation like this.
“What. the.!?, you know what? whatever, I don't need to freak out".