//------------------------------//
// Day 2: Education Is Key 
// Story: Phase Shift 
// by redtau 
//------------------------------//



	
Notes on a New World Day 2:


My captors have placed me upon a fair sized cart and covered my cage in a tarp. I must say that they are handling me with great care and, despite their attempt to drug me, must consider me valuable.

Already I have had to review my basic understanding of biology to reassure myself that I am not headed for a stew pot, though I fear a zoo is more likely to be my final destination. The fact that I am covered implies that either they want to keep me in the dark about where we are going or, more likely, to keep others from seeing my unusual appearance.







By pushing up individual pins in the lock and rotating the tumblers managed to partially pick this lock. I was nearing completion with the last tumbler when the cart came to a stop. Quickly, I noted down the combination I'd gotten so far and slipped my picks back in my bag before lying down.

A strange purple glow seemed to surround the cage, and it was lifted down with an ease and care that exceeded the care the farmers had used to load me. I could not see how I was lifted or by whom. Light and shadow moved across the canvas covering, and then it was drawn back.

I was inside some kind of library. It looked like the whole room had been carved from a single block of wood, like it was built into a tree. Around me were more ponies, in a variety of shapes and colors, along with a small purple lizard. 

The two farmers were joined by a bouncing bright pink stallion that had a grin somewhere between gleeful and manic. I grinned slightly as I watched the orange stallion yawn, the drugged apple he had eaten still wearing on his system.

"<Sorry Dusk, Ah'm a might sleepy. Guess Ah didn't rest well knowin' this thing was in my barn last night,>" the orange one said, stiffing another yawn.

A purple stallion approached the cage, and I saw he had a small horn protruding from his head. I hadn't noticed horns on the farm ponies. Maybe it was a mutation or mark of rank. The horn glowed, and I saw the same glow encase my bag.

"Magic, huh? That's going to make this interesting."

The aura disappeared and the purple pony stepped back. "<It talked!.>"

"<Yeah, it does that. Any idea what tha darn thing is sayin'?>" Orange asked.

"<Um, is it really dangerous?>" a yellow stallion asked quietly. I grinned at it and waved, and received a huge surprise. What I had taken for saddlebags or maybe just a deformation in their bodies opened up into large feathery wings. The yellow stallion then wrapped the wings around himself, using them, his long pink hair to try and hide from me.

"<I doubt it's dangerous, but I don't know how intelligent it is,>" Purple said.

"<Darling, you have only to appreciate its garments to see its intelligence,>" a white one with a horn said. "<It's not just some monster, even if that color is a little drab. The fitting is loose but the number of pockets are definitely there for utility.>"

"<A brand new creature from the Everfree, and we are the first ponies to see it!>" An excited voice came from overhead. I looked up to see a powder blue stallion with a rainbow colored mane hovering on big blue wings. "<This is so cool!>"

"<Can we throw it a Welcome to Ponyville party?>" the pink one asked, bouncing around the others.

"<We need more information about it,>" Purple said. His horn started glowing, and he picked up my bag. I reached out and grabbed it, holding it close. "<Come on now, let go,>" he insisted. I shook my head, hoping it would be clear enough that I wasn't giving it up.

Finally he gave up, dropping the bag. "<Ugh, fine. I'm too hungry for this anyway. Let's get some lunch and then see if we can't do a few simple experiments.>"

The ponies and little dragon trotted into the next room, and I was left on my own.

In the library.

In a cage.

I counted slowly to thirty, then pulled out my lock picks.





"Pancakes for lunch?" Elusive asked, eyeing the syrupy stack in front of Dusk.

"Hey, this is breakfast for me," Dusk said defensively, carefully cutting the stack into sections of equal area. "I got so excited over this new creature Applejack found that I didn't stop studying until just an hour ago."

"Ya haven't slept yet then ah take it," Applejack said, waiting for his own stack of pancakes.

"Nope," Barb responded, passing out two more stacks to Rainbow Blitz and Butterscotch, while lifting a bowl of oatmeal and fruit over to Elusive. "Dusk has been so excited I'm surprised he didn't rush out to the farm last night."

"I told you, Barb," Dusk said between mouth fulls of pancakes. "It would take too long to drag all the books and equipment over to the barn."

Barb set a stack of pancakes down in front of Applejack and got to work on another stack.

"Barb!" Dusk chided. "You already ate breakfast once."

"I know, but your other guest hasn't," Barb said.

Applejack sighed. "Ah'll give em mine, seein' as everypony else has already bitten into theirs." He got up, picked up his plate and shuffled out into the living room. 

"I can't believe I nearly forgot about it," Dusk said. "I must be more exhausted than I thought."

"Well, giving him food should help to build a bond of trust," Butterscotch said.

"And it was awful generous of Applejack to give up his breakfast for it," Elusive chimed in.

Applejack came back in chuckling and sat down as Barb finished another stack of pancakes. "Silly thing was fiddlin' with the lock. Won't be gettin' out without the key."

"Applejack!" Elusive protested, "it's not nice to laugh at another creature's misfortune."

"Yeah," Barry chimed in. "It looks kinda upset about that."

"What do you mean it looks-" Applejack startled as something reached around in front of him and pulled away his plate of pancakes. 

Everypony jumped up, except for Barry who was busy emptying a can of whipped cream onto his pancakes. The creature stood next to the table with a stack of pancakes in each hand. It set down one set and took the other back into the other room.

"Um, you did lock the cage, right Applejack?" Elusive asked.





I smiled and waved at the ponies from inside my cage, biting into another fork worth of drug free pancakes. Purple pulled at the lock to test it and, finding it locked, started to examine the rest of the cage.

"<How in tarnation did it git out?>" Orange asked.

"<And why in Equestria did it swap breakfasts with you?>" White inquired.

"<Um, if you fed it drugged food before, it might resent it and be suspicious of any food you give it.>" Yellow said quietly.

Purple picked up my pancakes and set then just outside my reach beyond the cage.

"What, you want me to do? Tricks?"

"<Come on, boy, show us how you got out,>" Purple coaxed.

"<Dusk, it's not just some simple animal,>" Yellow chided.

"<Oooh! I got to see this,>" Pink said, pulling a bucket of popcorn out of seemingly nowhere.

Realizing I wasn't going to get any more food without giving away a few of my secrets, I pulled out my lockpicks and got to work. I'd already memorized the combination, so setting it was a snap. A few minutes work and the lock popped open. I pulled it off, then swung the cage door open and picked up my pancakes.

"<It popped the lock?>" Purple asked confused. "<It must have some amazing dexterity with those fingers.>"

"<Cool, it's like a super smart monkey thing!>" Pink exclaimed.

Purple picked up my picks and held them close, studying them. I finished my pancakes, picked up the plates and took them to the sink. A lot of this world, doors, sinks, tables, all fell into easily recognizable forms for me. I washed and dried my hands, dodging around the skittish purple lizard and came back out to find Purple trying to pick the lock using my picks.

Realizing that he could break them if he wasn't careful, I came over and plucked them and the lock from his magical grasp.

"<HEY!>"

"You don't use them like that. Here, let me show you." I set the combination and showed it to him, then put the tension bar in, pushing down on it slightly and showing how it rotated the tumbler just a bit.

"<Oh, ok, so you have to knock the pins and turn it at the same time.>"

He picked the lock back up and tried again, and instantly I saw my education had been somewhat lacking. Instead of applying tension and pushing the pins up sequentially, he was pushing up a pin, releasing and then trying to turn the lock.

I took the lock and picks back again and tried to show, but without three hands it was difficult. Applying torque with the tension bar wasn't easy without something tied to the lock to resist. 

"<It sure seems ta be strugglin' with that now,>" Orange said a bit smugly.

"<Perhaps it needs something to turn the lock against?>" White offered.

Purple pointed to the lock and then to the cage, and I nodded, surmising he was going to reapply the lock. He ushered me into the cage and closed the door.

At which point Orange slapped a completely different lock on. This one had no combination, no key hole, nothing but smooth metal and a single gem.

"<Applejack! What did you do that for?>" Purple asked upset.

"<That thing was just wanderin' around free as ya please. What if it's dangerous?>"

"<It wasn't hurting anypony,>" Blue said. "<Why are you so frighted of it?>"

"<'Cuz the only thing to come outta the Everfree that hasn't lead ta near destruction of Ponyville has been Zicoro. Everythin' else from hydras ta parasprites have been bad news.>"

After looking over the lock for a bit I dug a rock out of my backpack and started to hammer at it, hoping to break it.

"<I don't think it's>" *BANG* "<happy about>" *BANG* "<being locked up>" *BANG* "<again,>" Yellow called out between the banging.

"<NO KIDDING!>" Blue shouted.

"<Let's get outta here!>" Orange added, leading the way outside.





The constant banging from inside the library drew more than a few concerned looks from passersby, but Dusk simply waved and mumbled something about renovations.

"Ah think ah may have made a mistake," Applejack said.

"Really?" Dusk asked, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "You think you might have made a mistake? What is wrong with you?!"

"Dusk, try to understand it from his side." Elusive said. "The last thing that was nice and cute that came out of the Everfree ended up eating all the food and most of the town."

"OK, yes the parasprites were bad, but Barry got rid of them," Dusk said. "I'm sure he can handle this one, too."

"What? I've never even seen one of those things before," Barry said. "Not even in my Ponyfinder Beastiaries."

"Um," Butterscotch said.

"What if it never calms down, or has a monster form, or eats dragons?!" Barb cried, slowly working herself into a panic.

"Um,"

"I wonder how fast it can run," Blitz mused. "I mean, it's not too strong, but it might be fast."

"Um,"

"Blitz, I can't believe you are concerned over its speed," Elusive scoffed. "And while I do recognize your concerns, Applejack, you have to see its clothes and equipment. It's not just some wild animal."

"Um,"

"Well I'm not going to let it out unless we can calm it down!" Dusk said. "We can test it's speed once it's stopped banging on the cage."

"Um, it has stopped."

The ponies and dragon were quiet for a moment. It was true, no more banging could be heard from inside the library.

"It couldn't have picked that lock," Dusk said. "It's a magic lock, only a unicorn can unlock it."

They peeked in through the window to see the strange creature relaxing in it's cage, flipping through a book. The door was closed.

Dusk stormed into his library and right up to the cage. From there he could see that the creature had a small stack of books from all over the library. History, fiction, science, math, even a few children's books. He poked the lock to find it battered but intact and still locked.

"Ok, how did you get those books," he asked, pointing at the stack.

"<I can't understand you. I can't read your writing either. Took me looking at the children's books to figure out progression for your sentences. I was worried everything here would work like manga.>"

"I didn't understand any of that, but you are going to put those books back right now!"

"Dusk, perhaps yelling at it isn't the best idea," Elusive said in a calming tone, laying a hoof on Dusk's shoulder. "We don't even know how it got out this time."

"Maybe it just pushed right through the bars!" Barry said, trying to squeeze through the bars in the door. "No, they are too close together."

As Barry pulled back, the hinges shifted. With a curious look, Barry pulled more. The door swung on the lock like a hinge. The real hinges now lacking their pins simply detached and let the door hang slightly crooked and wide open.

Silence filled the library as the thing reached into a pocket and pulled out a hinge pin.

"Oh," Dusk said, "that is clever."