//------------------------------// // Hysteria // Story: Six Standard Deviations from the Mean // by ArtichokeLust //------------------------------// The ponies stampeded hysterically. Roseluck clutched her head in her hooves and screamed until she passed out. Exasperated, Clair walked forwards into the crowd, and was surprised that the ponies seemed to avoid running into her. In fact, they seemed to be running away from her as well. "Well..." She shrugged and held her arms out. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" In came Rainbow Dash. Dom noted that she was definitely better at performances than combat. You don't charge your opponent while screaming at the top of your lungs unless you want to lose the element of surprise. "Switch with me..." Clair deadpanned. Suddenly, Dom found himself looking at his own body from Clair's position again. Clair raised her arm and backhanded Rainbow Dash. Dash bounced away from the blow as if she was expecting it, but it looked like she had been batted away an unbelievable distance. "Homerun!" Dom shouted. Clare burst into laughter. Rainbow Dash rose back up and flew at Clair. Clair was still having trouble breathing from her laughing session, but this was dangerous to drag out. She hit Dash in the kidneys as hard as she could. Dash's eyes bugged and she fell to the ground clutching her side. Pinkie ran towards town square. A while ago she had sensed something... dangerous. Not evil, just dangerous. She had just finished telling all her friends about it before running off to see what she could do about it herself. Then she saw Rainbow Dash. "Y- You big meanie pants!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and galloped faster towards Dom and Clair. Clair stood still while Pinkie climbed up her body to stare her in the face. "You can't just abuse ponies whenever--" "She charged at me. She looked like she was ready to kill me. I was acting in self-defense," Clair stared back blankly. Pinkie scrunched her nose, "Rainbow Dash would never--" "Perhaps," Clair stared back at Pinkie intensely, "but I had reason to believe I was in danger, and Rainbow Dash should still be--" Clair heard a rustle behind her. She jumped forwards than spun around to kick whatever was sneaking behind her. She was surprised when she hit Applejack in the face instead of Rainbow Dash. Well, Applejack was out cold now. "Now Applejack too!?" Pinkie hopped down and held her friend's/sister's head in her hooves, "Was she a danger too!?" Pinkie glared at Clair. "Yes," Clair answered. "What?" Pinkie stomped, "How!?" "She was trying to sneak up on me so she could buck my legs." Clare stared at Pinkie. Pinkie glared back. "You!" Another voice came from nowhere. Suddenly, Clair's vision was filled with blue eyes, yellow fur, and pink hair. "You think you can just walk into Ponyville and start hurting ponies!?" Clair felt a numb cold overtake her body. "Why, you ought to be ashamed of yoursel--" "Shut up." Clair fought past the numbness as hard as she could. "W- what?" Fluttershy practically whispered. The effects of the stare immediately wore off. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You can't just immediately assume someone is bad and start... subduing them... or whatever that was," Clair looked at Fluttershy cautiously. "Is that it over there?" Clair heard Twilight in the distance. "Switch with me!" Clair found herself back in the field. But she noticed that the grass flattened as she stood on it. "Yes that would be it," Rarity answered, "it's a pity about that law though. Humans can be so fashionable at times." "And murderous at others..." Twilight continued darkly. The approaching duo sat down in front of the human. "So," Twilight started, "You're the human I was told about?" "I'm actually a shaved minotaur," Dom lied. He overheard something about a law, and he wasn't taking any chances. Pinkie's ear's perked up. He sounded like a completely different person. "He's lyin'" Applejack picked herself up, "Minotaurs have hooves, not feet. You can't shave hooves into feet." "Actually," Dom spoke up almost too quickly, "You can." "Really?" Pinkie tilted her head, "how?" Dom thought for a second, then calmed himself. He made sure to look up left and not to the right, "It's not entirely shaving, but first you create a ridge on your hoof, then you can fit that into an oblong device." "Okay..." Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof, "But... why?" "I was always skinny as a minotaur, and sometimes enjoyed the finer points of life. Eventually I found myself liking what humans were said to like, so I started mimicking them," Dom shrugged. Twilight looked around, considering it, "...O- okay... but then, why are you here? Do you have business with ponyville?" "Yes," Dom nodded, "Thanks for reminding me." He had been remembering Iron Will the whole time. "A minotaur by the name of 'Iron Will' came here a while ago, correct?" All five ponies nodded. Rainbow Dash snored. "Well..." He sighed for dramatic effect, "Iron Will has been missing for a while now..." He sighed again, then paused to think about what to say next, "the investigators called off the search a long time ago, but as a friend of his, I just had to try myself..." "Oh..." Twilight paused, then looked down, "I'm sorry..." She looked up, "and I'm sorry about the welcoming we gave you, but you do know humans are banned, right?" "Yeah," Dom rubbed the back of his neck, "my bad." "And, I'm sorry, but I don't know where Iron Will could have gone. He left Ponyville after visiting Fluttershy from what I heard." Twilight looked over to Fluttershy, who nodded sadly. "I'm sorry..." Twilight repeated. Dom sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "A- Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. Dom nodded. Dom smiled, "You say 'I'm sorry' too much. Despite the warm welcoming--" Twilight cringed "--you answered the question I needed to know..." He looked at ponyville and back at Twilight, "if it's alright, I'd like to stay in Ponyville for a few more days, see if I can't find some clues." "Of course," Twilight smiled back at him. Dom walked off to the rest of ponyville, but Twilight stopped him before he could move a single meter. "I'm sorry," Twilight sighed, "Celestia would banish me if I didn't make sure... I have to make sure you're a human." a purple glow surrounded her horn. Dom sighed, "get it over with..." he held his palms out. He remembered a scene from MLP where Sweetie Belle flicked Rarity's horn... Twilight closed her eyes and started concentrating. Dom lunged forward and punched her horn. He made sure to continue his punch and hit Rarity's horn as well. Both unicorns spasmed and passed out. "Switch!" Clair was back in Dom's body. Clair spun and hit Fluttershy, Twilight, and the sleeping Rainbow Dash's wings at the base. A pink hoof obscured Clair's vision. Then she flew back several meters. "Good one Pinkie!" She heard Applejack shout as everything faded to black. Dom woke up tied to Twilight's bed. The room was darkened with blinds covering the window, fitting for an interrogation. (1) Twilight stepped forward, "the legends of your deceit and barbarism proved true," she glared down at him. Dom had an urge to rub his head, "what legends?" "You don't know?" Twilight asked, confused. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Dom growled, frustrated, "Humans have only been on Earth... and its moon... And I just walked into your village so I could live and get food until I could find a way back, and then a bunch of ponies freaked out and attacked me." Twilight glared at him, "That's not true: ...I don't know what landmass Earth is, but humans were here in Equestria over a thousand years ago." "In 756 A.C., a group of 122 humans came to Equestria. Immediately there were stories of villages being raided and ponies being killed. Wrong Badger was the stallion who ran to Canterlot to report the first tragedy, and by then several other towns were rampaged, with few survivors. "Celestia and Luna had the guard confine the humans with a dome of energy, and tried to reason with them. The humans acted like they were listening, but only tried to assassinate them when they seemed the most distracted. After a few attempts, she gave up, and reluctantly banished the humans to Tartarus. "17 years later, the humans escaped. They were fewer in number, but much more powerful. They destroyed several villagers without leaving any survivors. Celestia and Luna only found out about them when they encroached on Canterlot. And they almost took Canterlot too. The combined force of the sisters and their royal guard almost lost to the strengthened humans... Twilight paused, holding back righteous anger. "More than half of pony kind was killed thanks to you monsters... Luna created that law out of necessity, and it's theorized that battle and its outcome was one of the things that drove her mad. Twilight stamped the ground in anger. "You're the only creature in all of Equuis that deserves to be killed on sight," Twilight snarled. Dom cringed, waiting for something. "...Why am I not dead then?" He finally asked. Twilight glared at him. "My friends wouldn't let me," She answered. Dom let go of tension he didn't know he had been holding. Clair coalesced on the bed out of thin air, surprising both Dom and Twilight. "Can you hear me?" She asked Twilight. Twilight back-trotted, wide-eyed, "Y- yes. But how?" Clair shrugged, then stared at Twilight, "What year is it currently?" She asked. "3121 A.C." Twilight answered, still surprised, "why?" "Let's see that..." Clair thought "2365 years..." Dom realized something, "You're judging all of humanity by the actions of the human equivalent of Sombra." Twilight's eyes widened, "How long have you been here?" She asked. "A couple weeks," Dom lied, "I passed an old castle and skimmed a few of the books in it." Twilight stared at him, then accepted the answer. Then she considered what Dom said... "You're saying there are hundreds of Sombra equivalents within humanity?" She asked. "Imagine if instead of enslaving his subjects, Sombra tried convincing them to fight for him." Dom said. "And how would he do that?" Twilight asked. Clair answered, "think of things like a game. If you give people-- er ponies, incentive and status boosts for winning, and give them a clear goal and constant challenges, you will have ponies that are very eager to do work." Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof, thinking it over. "Maybe," she shrugged. "I'll let Celestia and Luna decide." 'Wait, what!?' Dom almost gasped. Twilight left the room. Clair immediately started untying Dom's ropes. Within a minute, Dom was standing up, rubbing at a few overly tight areas. Dom went over to the window, only to find that it was locked. He tried breaking the glass by kicking it, but it was incredibly strong. He tried a few more times. "Don't go," a calm voice pleaded playfully, "your meeting has only just began." Dom turned around, and his body shoved itself against the window involuntarily at the sight. Celestia and Luna were here. Celestia looked like she was trying to keep her calm demeanor, and almost succeeded, but her pupils were pinpricks. Luna only looked sad and guilty. Dom had the feeling his luck had just run out.