A glare that suddenly appeared in the cockpit slightly roused Leos' attention, becoming ever so bright that he had to switch off the eye to avoid going blind for a few minutes. The small enclosure became dark once again for a brief moment until it was pierced by an outdated, but still useful motor-powered flashlight pointed at the ceiling. He continued back to his book, Justice: The Monster of a Cannon, nearing the end of this long book. He reached for his compartment while still reading, reaching blindly for another book that would be his third. He found a good grip on one somewhere in the middle and pulled it out, finishing the sentence he was on the read the title of this new work of literature.
The outer covers were red with a black border lining the edges of the block of paper. A very recognizable emblem adorned most of the front cover, be it a black ball emblazoned with a fire-red "9" and slightly blurred with a white glare on the top left part of the sphere. Above it read "Nine-Ball: The Mystery-Enshrouded Raven". The bottom of the cover read a name of a friend he knew well: Elan Cubis. The scientist of PROGTECH, Leos' Arena sponsor, had somehow written a biography of the Raven, given how busy he was, and published it to the underground colony. He gave Leos a copy free of charge. If only he knew.
Klein returned to his previous book about Justice, a massive orbital cannon that threatened humanity into the underground world should it have fired a devastating beam of death from its perch atop the world. It was destroyed by another Raven as elusive as Leos himself and only mentioned by one name, that of which being-
A knock behind him interrupted his thoughts, loud clanking echoing slightly around the little space it had to move around. He had expected their arrival, but was still annoyed by the fact that he was denied the option to finish the book that he never bothered to put it down as he pressed on the eject button. The seat's platform lurched backward once the compressed air escaped their confinement, and the Raven stood up, eyes still affixed in the book. A light breeze blew past, flipping the pages that Leos had no grip on whatsoever, his hand positioned below the spine.
He groaned in annoyance as he shut the book with a thump and looked up. The perch he had now was astonishing. The sunrise beamed off rays of various oranges and reds that reflected off the snow-coated mountains in the distance with their dull blue surfaces. The view across the landscape was just absolutely stunning. A small town below was alive with activity, as with the city nearby. An odd forest stood on its own, cut off of topside view and harbored clouds unlike the rest around it. A swamp lay nearby, and vast plains rolled on past that. Leos could see a desert in the distance, but it seemed close enough to travel to quickly. Shadows shrank quickly as the fire in the sky raised at an equal.
Leos felt a poke at his arm, turning to see the two princesses again flanked by a guard unit consisting of pure white pegasi and gray unicorns, all sporting golden armor. Great, he thought sarcastically, something to either keep me watched or protected. Can't say I trust them completely.
"There's no need to worry about us, though we have to say the same about you," Princess Luna stated as if in a reply to nothing. Leos just looked at the dark alicorn, shifting expressions ranging from confused and surprised. She just merely smiled coyly. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself and only mouthed "No".
The white princess stepped closer, failing to shake off the smile she had on. "We need to take you in for questioning," she simply stated. "I know you may not trust us, but as Luna said, we don't trust you either." She notioned for Leos to follow with a turn of the head, "Come with us."
"Hold on for just one second," Leos interrupted, putting a finger in the air. He sat back down and began pulling out the various books he had on him. All twelve of them, some fictional, but mainly factual. He got back up, load in hand, "Alright, now let's go." Princess Celestia merely raised an eyebrow, if there was one, but just simply hopped off with her sister. The Raven stepped onto the core when the books somehow levitated from his grip and flew away from him, leaving the human with a very bewildered expression. He looked at where the stack was headed towards, the dark princesses direction whose horn was glowing the same color as the aura surrounding the books.
"I'm not going to question it until later, but thanks," he said, reinserting the cockpit into the armored core and making his way down. Once he reached the majestic ponies, he made an attempt for the works of literature, met with failure as Luna kept pulling them just out of his reach. She was having fun with him, almost breaking out into a full fit of laughter.
▬♦▬In The Castle Halls▬♦▬
The walk was long, but interesting. The newcomer was gazing around, trying his best not to stop and admire the gold decorations against marble walls. It was very elegant, maybe too elegant as he almost walked into a wall whenever they turned a corner. To his front were the two princesses, one of which having already read the titles and started reading one, obviously very interested in history. Behind him were the guards and their emotionless expressions.
Highly disciplined. Must've been tough to do that.
"It was actually easier than you might think," Celestia broke the silence that lasted too long since their entry into the castle itself.
Leos just wide-eyed her. "Would you please stop doing that? It's disturbing," he joked slightly. The princess just laughed and stopped the convoy at a large gold-bordered double-doorway with what seemed like red velvet covering the middle of each. A yellow aura encased both doors, slowly opening them like a drawbridge from before the "Great Destruction".
What it revealed was a very elongated room lined with giant pillars and stained glass windows depicting various scenes. A raising of the floor at the opposite end held two more-than-elegant thrones with seemingly useless arm rests. A long red carpet as wide as the doors that had opened spanned until the thrones themselves, crafted of more velvet. Light poured in from one side of the room through the stained windows, tinting the light on the ground into intricate shapes of different colors.
The royal alicorns and human entered while two guards stood watch one both ends of the entrance. The princesses took the place on the thrones that seemed too comfortable for Leos, Luna not taking her eyes off the book she was reading.
Leos chuckled, turning both of their attention to him.
"What do you find so funny?" Luna asked.
"A space cannon capable of wiping an entire race from the face of a planet must be very interesting to you, isn't it?" he replied with a smile.
"It is! I never knew something like this could even be created. Ironic that it was destroyed by a mere Raven," Princess Celestia peered over to take a peek.
"I'm a Raven, but not the one depicted in the book," Leos added, "Anyways, we had some 'interrogation' to do, remember?" he said, using two fingers to mimic quotations.
"Ah, right. Let's get to it shall we," Celestia righted her self, Luna putting down the book and placing it on the stack next to her. "First things first. You said you were a human. What are these 'humans'?"
▬♦▬PROGTECH Labs▬♦▬
"Is this the subject for our latest experiment?"
"Yes. Her papers say she was a Raven."
"Hmm, so she took the usual routine."
"Except she volunteered for this."
"Must've heard about this after dashing her dreams. But she asked for this, so let's not disappoint her."
"That is, if she lives. Then there won't be anything to be disappointed about."
"Hmm, you have a point there."
"I have our engineers working on her unit. The usual upgrades for our test subjects."
"Like an everyday routine. Let's get started."