Daniel crashed to the ground, gasping in the murky air. He found himself in absolute darkness, he waited for his eyes to adjust, but no shape or contour appeared.
He felt as if he were on the verge of breathing his last breath- that's when he saw a feint blue shimmer.
His weakened body was pulling him to the floor, but he slowly pushed himself towards it- fresh air filled his lungs as he approached the glimmering light.
As he reached out and closed it in his hands, he could feel all of existence pour into him, then, he fell.
He heard the voices of men pulling him to safety- and could feel the shards of a most peculiar relic in his hands.
----------------------------------------
His vision was in a haze as he opened his eyes to his familiar surroundings. He was in his room back at the castle, laying on the floor. He rubbed his eyes slowly and using his arms, carefully pulled himself up and into his wheelchair. There was a knock at the door before he got up, and the door opened.
"Daniel- I got you some antibiotics-" It was Twilight, she was holding a bottle with her magic. She saw Daniel as he slowly pushed himself into his chair.
"...Did you fall?" She asked, Daniel nodded.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Daniel had a dead-blank look on his face.
"I had another flashback." He said, Twilight's eyes went wide.
"Are you okay?" She repeated, Daniel looked down at her.
"...Yes. Let's not worry about this-" he turned his head away only to be interrupted.
"Daniel, you could've injured yourself!" Twilight said, Daniel looked down at her again.
"Miss, I am fine. Something you could really do to help me is not worry to much about my problems."
"But-!"
"I need to handle this by myself. Can you respect my wishes?" He asked, Twilight just stared.
"Look, I can get through this, but I seriously think that your intervention is unnecessary. They aren't harmful, you shouldn't have to worry." He said, trying to sound uplifting. Twilight's ears flattened to her head and she gave a half-adorable and half-pitiful frown. Daniel felt his chest tighten at how begging she looked.
Oh, come now, how is that in any POSSIBLE way fair!? Daniel thought, he exhaled.
"All right, if it is really that important to you, then would you mind helping me find a book that might teach me how to control them?" Twilight immediately lit up.
"Sure!" And she bolted off.
Hmmm... strange... wait! I just remembered!
"Twilight!" Daniel called, she came bolting back towards him.
"Yeah?" She asked, Daniel tilted his head to look at her back- sure enough, a pair of wings.
"What- my wings?" She asked.
"I was told you were a... princess." He said.
"Well, yeah, actually." She said.
"Hmm... why didn't you tell me?" Daniel asked, curious.
"Well, I just like being treated like everyone else. I mean, I haven't had much of a normal life lately..." she confessed, Daniel gave her a small smile.
"Well, I don't have much of a life to remember, so I can't say I have a normal life, myself." He said, Twilight smiled, and walked out.
-------------------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash walked down the hallway towards Daniel's room, then knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Daniel called.
Rainbow Dash opened the door and trotted in.
"Rainbow Dash?" Daniel asked,
"Call me Dash." She said, Daniel smiled.
"Dash it is, then." She walked up to him.
"How are your legs?" She asked.
"I...I think I'll be able to walk soon." He said.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Yes, I'm fine..." Daniel answered, Rainbow Dash tilted her head and saw that Daniel had drawn a rather impressive sketch of a Victorian-styled city.
"What's that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I had a flashback earlier about my home- this is a sketch of it." Daniel explained.
"It looks kind of..." Rainbow Dash stopped.
"What?" Daniel asked.
"Well, kind of peaceful, yet, it looks like a lively place." Rainbow Dash explained.
"From what I can remember, London was quite an active city. There was a decent amount of products being made at the time in the city, and it was somewhat of a trade center... I'm pretty sure my father was an artist... and that he sold a lot of his paintings. I guess his artistic skills got passed down to me." Daniel said.
"Hmmm... London, huh? Cool name... what was your Dad like?" Rainbow Dash asked, Daniel smiled.
"From what little I know... he was a great man." Daniel said.
"And your mother?" She asked, Daniel went pale.
"I'd rather not speak of that. What I've seen is rather..." He couldn't finish.
He felt something warm wrap around his shoulder- Rainbow Dash had put a comforting wing around his back.
"Hey, you know you can trust us, right?" She asked, Daniel gave her a quizzical look.
"What?" She asked.
"Why do you keep asking me that...?" Daniel asked.
"Huh?"
"You and the others have been rather... well, continuous about that subject." Rainbow Dash took her wing away.
"Well, you've been through a lot... and, well, the way Celestia acted towards you..." She stopped.
"What is the matter, miss?" Daniel asked.
"Well... it just gives us the feeling there's something you're not telling us, I mean... not to be judging or anything..." She explained, Daniel's eyes shifted.
"N-now come on, I've told you everything that I know." Daniel said, Rainbow Dash gave him a smug look.
"Come on, what is it? Your love life?" She asked, giving him a sly grin, Daniel's face went beat-red in embarrassment and anger.
"I-I-I beg your pardon! What!?" Daniel asked, giving Rainbow Dash a heated glare.
"I knew it! What a dirty rotten liar!" She said, half laughing.
"Now hold on just a moment-!"
"What a Dirty-! Rotten-! Liar!" She said, laughing, she nudged Daniel in the shoulder.
"Oh come now, I never said that was it."
"You liar!" She said, still laughing, Daniel did a facepalm.
After Rainbow Dash stopped laughing, she noticed Daniel was relatively annoyed by her exploit, and realized her mistake.
"Come on, I'm just teasing!" Daniel looked up at her, still relatively annoyed.
"I never said I had a love life to begin with." Daniel said, still glaring at Rainbow Dash, her ears flattened and gave a half-pitiful and half-adorable look. Daniel's chest tightened again.
"Oh, god, not again..." Daniel said, Rainbow Dash smiled.
"Very funny." Daniel said, still annoyed, Rainbow Dash then realized that maybe he wasn't in the best of moods. Oops.
"H-hey... I'm just trying to lighten the mood for you." She said.
"Hmmph."
"D...Daniel." Her ears flattened in shame.
"...Sorry." She said, Daniel put his hand on his head.
"You all right?" She asked.
"My head hurts." He said, Rainbow Dash gave him a look of sympathy.
"Sorry, buddy." She said, Daniel ruffled his hair.
"Oh- I just remembered- word about you being here has spread like wildfire- the whole city's talking about you right now." She said, Daniel looked at her rather surprised.
"Really?" He asked.
"Yeah- You're the guy everyone's talking about right now! You should see- you made the headlines!" She said, she bolted out of the room and came back with a newspaper. On it, a title in bold print:
"New Race Discovered! The First 'Human' in Equestria!" It said, Daniel looked up at Dash.
"I'd do anything to be in you're place, Daniel! Seriously! You're the talk of the town!" She said.
Daniel was dead-silent.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"...Does it sound strange that I don't really want this?" He asked, Rainbow Dash rose an eyebrow in confusion- but then saw he looked very nervous.
"...Oh... You don't like crowds?" She asked, Daniel nodded.
"No- I'm just somewhat claustrophobic... half of the time I was creeping through Brennenburg... I don't do well in tight spaces." He remarked, Rainbow Dash gave him a small smile.
"Hey, cheer up! Better then getting chased around by those things at that castle!" She said, Daniel cringed.
"...Don't remind me." He said, but he then smiled.
"Oh well... Uhm, miss, if I may- I don't mean to be of a bother- I think I actually can walk now. Would you mind...?" He asked, holding out his hand.
"That was quick." She remarked, she held out her right hoof while hovering in the air, and helped him to his feet. His legs only were minimally irritated from the pressure. He exhaled.
"Thank you." He said, and he walked out the door.
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He walked down the hallways filled with guards, carrying his orb.
"Hey, Danny!" A squeaky voice called, Daniel turned around to find Pinkie Pie bouncing towards him.
"How ya' doin'?" She asked, Daniel couldn't help but have a smile come to him from her comical personality. It was almost as if she was spreading euphoria.
"I'm doing fine, thanks." He said, still smiling.
"Heydidyouhearaboutthennewsaboutyoubeingasuperdupercelebrity?" She said, Daniel's eyebrow raised and he repelled slightly as Pinkie Pie took in a huge breath. He struggled hard not to laugh.
"Say that again? A tad slower, maybe?" He asked, smiling.
"The news! Did you hear about the news? You made the newspapers!" She said, holding up an identical newspaper that Rainbow Dash was holding earlier.
"Yes, in fact I did." He answered.
"Well, there are other ponies outside crowding around the castle- they wanna' meet you!" She explained, bouncing up and down, Daniel found himself being -rather comically- being pushed by Pinkie Pie to a window to see a huge crowd outside.
"Huh."
"I know, right?" She asked, nudging him.
"I didn't even say anything."
"Exactly!" She said, Daniel looked extremely confused.
"Your too up tight! Loosen up!" She said, nudging him again. Daniel looked at her quizzically; if any one of these curious characters made him thought he was losing his mind- it was her.
"...You my friend, are perhaps the most random person I have ever met." He said, Pinkie Pie smiled.
"Meh, I try." She answered, and she bolted off.
Daniel did a face-palm before looking out the window at the crowd again- they hadn't noticed him. He backed away from the window.
He let out a minor chuckle.
-
He walked down the hallway to a large door- Princess Celestia's chamber.
"Enter!" She called, Daniel pushed the door open to find the Princess and Agrippa talking.
"Daniel?" Agrippa asked.
"Yes, it is me." He answered, Celestia got up from her chair and walked over to Daniel.
"...There is something we must discuss." Celestia said, Daniel sat down in a chair, Celestia followed.
"Now. I called you here for a reason. Can you guess what that reason is?" She asked, Daniel shook his head.
"It's your flashbacks... you gave my student quite a good scare." She explained.
"Now- Agrippa and I have been talking. And we think it would be best if you took a potion to try and suppress them. They are not exactly helping your health- if you fall at a not so... lucky time, you might injure yourself." She said, her horn glowed and a vial of an opaque blue fluid was levitated.
"Now, this is completely your choice... but if you don't want to have any more flashbacks- this potion we've prepared will help you stop them." Agrippa explained, Daniel took the vial.
"Drink it in moderation- only half of the vial per day. Okay?" Celestia said, the vial stopped glowing.
"...Very well..." He answered, he began to leave the room.
"Daniel?" Celestia called, Daniel turned around- Celestia was tilting her head towards Agrippa.
"Agrippa knows." She said, Daniel looked terrified, but, upon seeing this, Agrippa laughed.
"Calm down, now. You aren't even the same person after you drank that mixture! If you hadn't told me, I would have thought you were just a passerby! Don't worry, Daniel. Celestia's told me everything." He explained, Daniel sighed.
"Scared the life out of me." Daniel remarked, he turned and left the room.
"...He's becoming somewhat irritable, don't you think?" Celestia asked.
"Ah... well, comes from adjusting from a horror story to a land of peace I guess... I wouldn't call it irritable. I wouldn't blame him if he was nervous about people knowing his secret..." Agrippa said, Celestia smiled.
"Fair point." She answered.
"Now- as for our experiments- you said you had met with Weyer before I got back?" Agrippa asked.
-------------------------------------------
Daniel opened the door to his room and entered, he sat down on his bed and looked at the vial. He wondered what to do- drink it, or not? His thoughts trailed back to his memories from Brennenburg... much of the things he knew was horrifying. Memories of being given lessons on how to torture. At first, he wanted to down the potion in that instant... but then memories of his father and sister came to him. He wanted to know more...
A tear rolled down his cheek- he couldn't even remember his sister and father. Up until this point, if they had run up to him, he wouldn't have known who they even were... it didn't sit well with him. He looked over at the orb on his desk- and realized he didn't need flashbacks- he could just use the orb to peer into his past... right?
He looked at the potion carefully... was he really doing this? Would this truly benefit him?
Celestia and Agrippa seemed rather honest about their intentions...
...
He slowly brought the vial to his mouth... but the moment the glass touched his lips, before even a drop of the potion passed his lips, his body gave out from under him.
He began to twist and contort in a violent seizure. His eyes flung open to show electricity flying through his eyes, and electricity could be seen shooting through the walls of his mouth. Arks of stray bolts flew from his body and struck the walls- then, he stopped contorting, and rose five feet into the air, weightless on his back. Then, he passed out- but not after he saw a vision of flying back towards the Girls' home- and seeing another human, badly injured, lying near the edge of a forest. A single name came to his mind:
Wilhelm...
He crashed to the ground, and shot up. He then ran to go get Princess Celestia's help- and a shout of agony could be heard coming from the opening of the Everfree forest.