As it turns out, I was in a dungeon. A medieval style dungeon, complete with iron bars and unused chains on each cell wall. The corridor we are walking in is lined with them, all illuminated by the small lights in the ceiling. They flicker on and off as our group passes, apparently motion activated. The sound of my boots on the floor echoes in the long hallway.
The ponies are chatting ahead of me, occasionally glancing back to make sure I am still here. Where else I would go is beyond me, but I just keep following at a respectful distance. While I walk, I am blinking through files on my helmet, always keeping one eye on the small blue arrow on the bottom.
I growl as I flick my eyes to the side, opening another one of the armor’s settings as I silently thank the man who taught me how to look through my suit’s dumb A.I. (Smart A.I. are sapient). The folders hold no hints on how the mysterious objective made it into my helmet, except for the occasional scramble of Forerunner letters. The blue file I have open is as useless as the rest, and I dismiss it, abandoning the hope that I can find out what happened. My only option now is to follow the arrow to see where it leads.
The group of ponies nears a large door set at the end of the hallway, and Sparkle’s horn lights up, the door groaning as it opens. Bright and cheerful light floods the gloomy hallway, and the ponies all quickly go through. I follow, stooping as to not hit my head on the top of the door which is only about six feet tall. A set of stairs leads upwards, and I follow the ponies, still hunched over.
The new hallway we enter is a polar opposite from the one we just left. Instead of concrete, every surface is made from shining purple crystal, from the walls and the floor to even the large chandeliers that hang suspended from the high ceiling, shining from the abundant light in the room. Large windows flank one side of the hallway, and sunlight pours through them, painting bright patterns on the delicately designed rugs that line the floor. The windows show nothing but a peaceful grassland, with sparse clouds floating in the sky.
I look around, stopping at the head of the concrete stairs as the ponies continue to walk and chat quietly. Holy crap, is this where these ponies live? It is easily the most lavish and expensive place I have ever been in, and I acutely smell the blood and dirt that encases my armor. I make a note to clean that as soon as I get the chance. I take a step onto the crystal, and freeze when a huge cracking noise echoes off the walls. I look down, raising my foot. The floor where I had stepped has splintered from my weight, the cracks spider webbing out for about a yard or so.
The ponies’ heads whip around, staring at me. I point downward. “It broke,” I explain simply.
Sparkle hums and trots over. “I guess it wasn’t made for something as heavy as you. One second,” Her eyes narrow and her horn flashes, and the crystal is back into perfect condition, shining as if it had never been broken. “Try it now,” She motions to me.
I take a slow and careful step, gradually putting my weight onto to floor. Seeing and hearing nothing, I lift and place my other foot onto the crystal. When there is not sound of protest at my weight, Sparkle smiles.
“That should do it! Just put a little strengthening spell on the floor. You should be okay to walk around now,” She boasts.
“Thank you,” I answer.
“No problem,” She chirps, making her way back to her friends. I follow again, still taking in the splendor of the hallway. My boots clink against the crystal, a different sound than I am used to. I notice that everything in this place has been carved with a pattern similar to that of the tattoo on Sparkle’s flank. Does she live in this place?
If she does, than I am glad I caught myself before killing her. She must be royalty of some kind, and killing her would have had all sorts of negative ramifications. Better to befriend the leaders of a world than kill them. Especially if they could do “magic”.
The ponies turn into another door, all making sounds of relief. I stoop once again, preventing my helmet from making another crack in the crystal of the building. I enter a large kitchen.
In this room, a few things are made from other things than crystal, thankfully. I see a large metal stove and oven, as well as other cooking appliances that could be found in a human kitchen. All of the cupboards were still make out of crystal, but I would take what I could get. The brightness of this place is started to get on my nerves.
“Spike, could we have a bit of tea?” Sparkle asks the occupant of the kitchen.
“Sure thing Twi. What for-” The creature turns and its eyes widen. I assess it.
I estimated the ponies to be about four feet tall, standing to my stomach area. This thing is two thirds that size, standing to mid-thigh. It is bipedal, with two thick legs that support its body. It has arms as well, each ending in in a hand. Each finger is tipped with small claws, and each toe as well. Most of the creature is purple, though its reptilian eyes are green, as well as spikes that run from the top of its head down its back and tail. I classify it as some sort of lizard, though nothing I have seen before.
The lizard gazes up at my visor, before shaking his head. “I guess I know why I wasn’t allowed into the dungeon,” it speaks under its breath. I estimate it to be around eleven years old, a good number of years younger than I guess that all of the ponies are. It is also the first male I have seen in this place.
“Hello,” I say. The small creature jumps in surprise, and Sparkle speaks from where the group of ponies had been standing, a few feet away. They seem to be watching the exchange between me and the small lizard with interest.
“Michael, meet Spike, my little brother,” She says fondly. I look to her, and raise one eyebrow, though I know she can’t see it. “He’s adopted.” She clarifies.
“You’re big,” Spike blurts, and I chuckle.
“Yes.”
“What are you?” He asks, the pot on the stove forgotten at the moment.
“I’m a human,” I look to the ponies, but Sparkle motions to me to keep talking to Spike. I sigh softly and oblige, eyeing my objective tracker arrow.
“Really?” Spike leans forward, and I have a feeling he is going to fall off the small stool he is standing on if he goes any further. “Like, a real human?” Spike looks to Sparkle who nods. He looks back to me. “Awesome,” He pauses. “I didn’t think you would look, or smell like that.”
“That smell is not what I usually smell like, and this is armor,” I rap on my chest plate with a fist. Speaking of the smell. . . “You wouldn’t happen to have a wet rag that I could borrow, would you?”
“Oh sure,” Spike turns, opening one of the crystal cupboards with is claw and sifting through it, before pulling out a brown rag. He twists a nob on the sink, soaking the rag in the stream of water before handing it to me. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” I nod.
“Spike darling, I think you should watch that pot of water,” Rarity hints.
“Oh!” Spike jumps, quickly turning to the steaming pot which is rattling on the stove top. “Oh, sorry! I’ll have the tea ready in a minute,” He grins sheepishly, showing sharp canines. “Just head on in to the table.”
The ponies walk through an adjoining door. I take one last look at Spike before shaking my head and following. The door leads into a huge dining room, once again in the complete crystal style. The table seems to have grown straight out from the floor, and is large enough to seat twenty or thirty people, or ponies in this case. Once again, the tattoo that Sparkle has is in the center of the large table.
The ponies take up the seats around the large table, in huge crystal chairs more akin to thrones, and I make to do the same, before seeing that the size of the remaining empty throne. I decide to not subject the chest high chair to my weight and sit on the floor instead.
I drop cross legged a few feet away from Fluttershy, who happens to be on the seat nearest to me. I take of my helmet, and start to clean it with the rag, scrubbing off the layer of blood and crime that had accumulated on it. I make sure to do the visor especially well, as anything on the outside will be annoying when I am looking through it.
“So, I have sent a letter to Princess Celestia about this,” Sparkle waves a hoof. “Situation. She will be here tomorrow.” I perk up a bit, setting down my now clean helmet and moving on to the top of my chest plate.
“Princess? So I assume this place is a monarchy,” I say.
“This place is Equestria,” Sparkle informs me, and I stifle a snort. What a name. “And yes, we have royalty here.”
“Of which Twilight is one, so you better not try anything, buster,” Rainbow speaks up from across the large table. I wave my hands in a placating gesture before looking to Sparkle. I am surprised to see her blushing a bit, sending a look to the multi colored pegasus, who shrinks down a bit.
“Yes, I am a princess,” She seems hesitant to admit it. My guess earlier had been correct. I am now even more grateful that I caught myself before killing her. Murdering a princess? That could have had devastating repercussions, both for me and the ponies. That does bring up questions though. If this is a castle, where are all the guards, the staff? Not to mention the king and queen. Did they send their daughter to deal with me instead of doing it themselves?
What Sparkle says next interrupts my musings. “The Princess of Friendship.”
Wait, ‘Princess of Friendship’ is a title? Maybe her family rules over a kingdom that is super friendly to all of the other nations or something. Interesting.
“When can I meet the king and queen?” I ask, scrubbing the now dark and red rag over a section of my shoulder armor. “Maybe they can help me with my situation.”
“Oh, we don’t have king and queens,” Sparkle answers, and I look up, surprised. It must show on my face, because Sparkle takes a deep breath and launches into a history lesson. I can tell this must happen a lot, by the groans that I can hear from the rest of the group, besides Fluttershy, who looks like she wants to say something but doesn’t have the courage to.
“The last queen we had was Queen Platinum, over a thousand and five hundred years ago,” Sparkle begins. “She ruled over the unicorns before Equestria was founded. When the three races were combined and Equestria formed, she stepped down so that the Princess’ could rule. The reason they don’t use the title ‘queen’ is because they feel that it would imply that they are here to rule, instead of to watch over and protect,” she finishes, and Rainbow mutters something along the lines of ‘at least this one was short’.
“So you rule Equestria?” I ask, setting down the now useless rag.
“No, that would be Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Sparkle replies.
“Oh,” I frown. “So what are you the princess of?”
“Friendship!” Sparkle beams.
So the “Princess of Friendship” is an actual, literal, title. I actually feel bad for Sparkle. She seems perfectly content to be the princess of nothing. At least she got this castle, though her fake title does explain the absence of guards or staff. Why protect a useless princess? Maybe Spike is her butler . . . thing, and is the only servant she has.
At least she said I would get to meet with this Princess Celestia tomorrow. Maybe she can help me, though from what I’ve seen so far, I doubt they have interstellar travel. But maybe the Forerunner aspect of this place does. I once again eye the blue arrow on the bottom of my visor.
“Tea’s done!” The large door is slowly opens, as Spike uses his small back to push on it while balancing two trays in his claws. He goes around the table, setting down small cups to each of the ponies, who all thank him in kind. I notice that he beams at Rarity’s comment.
“I didn’t know what tea you like or, even if you could have tea,” He coughed upon reaching my sitting position on the floor. “So I just made chamomile for you. Is that okay?” He offers a small cup.
“That is prefect, thank you,” I answer, and Spike bustles back into the kitchen with a nod. The tiny cup is dwarfed in my hand, though I notice it is bigger than any of the ponies have. I take a sip, humming as I swallow the warm liquid. That’s good tea. The soothing drink also helps me gather my thoughts, as well as the relative silence as the rest of the ponies drink as well.
“When can I go outside?” I ask Sparkle. She thinks it over, looking at each pony in turn. I can sense the silent conversation going on.
“After the meeting tomorrow with the princess,” Sparkle answers. “But you will have to be with one of us,” She adds hurriedly.
That long? Though I suppose it will give me another night to build back my strength and to get to know this world more. I also assume that the entire group of ponies will be staying near me tonight, not giving me a chance to escape quietly even if I wanted to.
“That is fine. There is something I have to do,” I say, finishing off the tea and carefully setting the cup on the table. There is a second of uncomfortable silence, that I am happy to let stew. Rarity finally breaks it with a hurried question.
“Why did you pick those colors on your armor?” She blurts, before shrinking back a bit.
“Black and blue?” I turn my helmet around in my hands absently. “They blend in to shadows, help me stay hidden. It’s part of my job.”
“What about in the day time?” Fluttershy asks quietly.
“There are shadows, even in the day,” I shrug. “Even if there aren’t as many. I also find that black is a good intimidation color. Most people won’t be very calm if a dark, armored giant is coming at them.” I look to Rarity, whose eye is twitching sporadically. “Why do you ask?” I hedge slowly, warily watching the twitching mare.
“Well,” Rarity starts, taking a deep breath. “It’s just that it well, doesn’t match your skin tone,” She states.
I lift one eyebrow. “I am aware of my pale skin,” I respond. After all, I do live in this armor. “Your point is?” I shift on the ground as the eye twitch starts up again.
“I am somewhat of a fashionista, if you will,” Rarity states. I see Rainbow look at me with something akin to sympathy. I catch the same look on Applejack and Sparkle’s face as well. Strangely enough, Pinkie has her head buried in a large stack of paper, and occasional giggles can be heard. What she is planning will have to wait for later.
“And I make it my job,” Rarity continues. “To improve the fashion situation of all of my friends.” She looks pointedly at me.
“You don’t like my color scheme?” I guess. I honestly don’t know where this conversation is going, or when Rarity and I became “friends.”
“No, no,” She waves her hooves at me in flat denial, though her eyes say otherwise. “I think it could use some, improving is all,” She hints. “I happen to be an expert in this field.”
“Nope,” I say flatly. The other mares gasp at my denial of Rarity’s offer.
“But dear!” She grins, her one eye still twitching. “A nice light blue would match perfectly!”
“I must decline,” I answer. “Sorry, but you aren’t touching my armor.” I look to Sparkle. “What will we do all day?” I ask, terminating to conversation officially. Rarity narrows her eyes at me in a half glare, apparently taking my denial as a challenge. Well, she will be disappointed in this regard.
“Well,” Sparkle pauses. “We could, um,” She looks down at her cup of cooling tea, troubled. “How about . . .” She looks to the rest of the ponies for ideas. “Well, we can’t take him outside yet. What do you think, girls?”
Pinkie started hopping up and down madly. I blink, taken aback. The huge stack of paper she had been sitting in has disappeared somehow during my conversation with Rarity. I look around, not noting any hints as to how or where it went.
“No, Pinkie,” All of the other ponies say in unison. She flops back into her chair, disappointed.
“I have an idea,” I say. “I need to learn about this place’s history and culture, if I am going to be staying here for a while,” I talk mostly to Sparkle, who starts to smile happily.
“You sure you don’t want to reconsider, Michael?” Applejack asks, eyeing the purple mare. “I’m sure the rest of us can come up with something, less . . .” she trails off, but Rainbow picks up where she left off.
“Boring!” She shouts, and Sparkle’s head snaps to her. The glint in Sparkle’s eyes makes the pegasus shrink back down.
“Studying is not boring, Rainbow,” Sparkle says slowly. Rainbow nods fearfully, and Sparkle turns back to me. “Not boring at all!” She chirps, suddenly chipper. “I’m so glad you are interested,” She tells me. “I have so much I could tell you!”
I am suddenly rethinking this idea, but I stick to it. It seems to be the best option available, especially if I am stuck in this crystal building.
“We are going to have so much fun!” Sparkle exclaims. “I’ll tell you all bout Equestria-” She pauses. “But why start there? We’ll go all the way back to Discord’s reign!” She seems lost in her own little world now, staring into space while talking excitedly. I see Spike poke his head in the room out of the corner of my eye. He takes one look at Sparkle and backs out again, shutting the door quietly.
I point at Sparkle while looking at Applejack. She nods, and I shake my head, before motioning them towards the door. Rainbow takes the opportunity as soon as I offer it, speeding out, with Applejack on her heels. Pinkie bounces out next, with a cheerful “Bye Mr. Michael!” Rarity mouths “Good luck dear,” Before following. Fluttershy gives me a shy smile as she stands.
“It was nice to meet you, Michael,” She whispers, barely audible over Sparkle’s ongoing one sided conversation.
“You too Fluttershy,” I answer with a smile and a nod. With an answering nod, the yellow pegasus says farewell to an unnoticing Sparkle, before closing the door behind her as she leaves.
I shift on the floor, clearing my throat to get Sparkle’s attention. She looks over and blinks, as if she forgot I was in the room. “Shall we get started?” I ask, keeping the sigh from my tone.
“Yes! Spike!” Sparkle yells, and I nearly chuckle as I see a regretful purple and green head poke into the room.
“Yeah?” He asks, shooting me a glance.
“Get my blackboard! And my chalk!” Spike nods and vanishes through the door. Sparkle stands, flourishing with her front hooves in the air. “To the library!” She freezes in this position, as if expecting something to happen.
After thirty seconds or so, I shift on the floor, looking around the room, before attaching my helmet with a hiss of air and standing. I glance around again, but still see nothing but Sparkle, who is in the same position as before, but glaring at the door to the kitchen. I follow her eyes right as the crystal creaks and the door opens.
Spike backs through the doorway, obviously struggling to pull a large blackboard with one hand while holding various supplies, including chalk and a board eraser, in the other. “Sorry Twilight,” He gasps. “This stuff is a lot heavier than what we had at the old library.” He stops as the blackboard clears the doorway, leaning his back on it and breathing heavily.
“Come one Spike!” Sparkle admonishes. “We have no time to lose! Education is at stake!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Spike grabs the blackboard again, but I stride over and interrupt him.
“Here, let me,” I rest one hand on the top of the blackboard’s wooden frame, which only reaches up to my chest. Spike nods gratefully, and moves his other hand to the load of supplies he is carrying. I lean down to put a hand under the main part of the board, lifting it to a relatively comfortable position.
“This way!” Sparkle’s voice calls, already sounding distant as she skips out another door that leads deeper into the castle.
Spike rolls his eyes and follows, and I choose to walk with him instead of the energetic pony. I shift the load in my hand, and Spike glances up at me as we turn through the doorway Sparkle had gone through out of the throne/dining room.
“So,” Spike hedges nervously. “Where, um, did you come from?” He winces, as if expecting me to bite his head off. I chuckle at his nervous demeanor.
“It’s a bit of a long story,” I tell him, shifting the load in my hand as I carry it a foot or so off the ground. “But I’ll give you the short version.” I summarize the basic events of my arrival, as well as the answers to some of Sparkle’s questions. This castle must be huge, because after the summary I still have no idea if we are closer to our destination. We just keep following a skipping Sparkle who is always a few yards ahead. Spike struggles to keep up with my stride, since my legs are larger than his whole body, so his next question is a little breathless.
“So, you are a soldier, right?” He looks up at me, and I nod. “Why are you so loud then?”
The question takes me a bit off guard. “You mean when I walk?” The sound of my boots gets more pronounced to me as Spike points it out.
“Yeah,” Spike answers, looking at my feet. “It’s not the quietest thing I’ve ever heard.” I hum thoughtfully. I guess after three years of the constant sound, I’m used to tuning it out most of the time.
I shift my stance instantly, and my footfalls turn as silent as a ghost, and Spike starts. “How do you do that?” He asks in awe. “You said your armor weighed over a ton!”
“Training, and electronics I can’t explain to you,” I answer. “As for the why,” I interrupt the question I can see on his face. “I walk noisily because people generally don’t like it when they turn around and a person like me is standing behind them who they never heard coming,” I shrug. “It’s more of a courtesy than anything.” I shift my stance back to normal and the sound returns.
“Oh,” Spike said simply. A silence settles over us, one that thankfully only lasts a few seconds before I see that Sparkle has finally stopped in front of another large crystal door, which she is opening with her magic. She makes an impatient gesture at us, before grinning and prancing into the room. I motion to Spike for him to go first and follow, letting the large crystal door swing shut behind me.
When Sparkle had flourished upon announcing our destination, I had been expecting a big library. This was a castle after all, and as the old saying goes, knowledge is power. What I had not been expecting, though, is a library the size of a destroyer hangar bay.
I instantly decide that this is my favorite room in the whole castle so far. The shine and annoying glare of crystal has been replaced by deep colors of some dark wood that my helmet can’t identify. The floor is covered in a plush carpet that my feet immediately sink a few inches into, colored in a deep purple, as I probably should have expected. The room is lit by what seem to be intricate gas lamps, which line the walls and hang from the ceiling, casting comforting and warm light through the entire room.
The bookshelves, made of a lighter shade of wood, reach nearly fifteen feet high in spots, more than double my own height. They stretch back for at least forty feet, and each is filled to the brim with colorful books of all shapes and sizes. Tall ladders that hang from the top of the shelves wound grant easy access to any pony who used the library. A whole section of floor in one corner has been devoted to reading and studying, with chairs circling a few tables and even a few plush couches in front of a large open patch of carpet.
I breathe deeply, enjoying the musk of old paper and ink. I can see Sparkle do the same, before she leads me and Spike, more calmly this time, to the couches I had noticed. I again let Spike go first, shifting the blackboard into my other hand as to not bump the bookshelves on my right.
As we walk, I notice that each shelf has small golden plagues attached to them, and I note the familiar Dewey Decimal System, although each shelf has an incredibly specific number in the system, as there are so many bookshelves to make it through the whole thing. I see Sparkle’s horn flash, and I instinctively tense, but I relax when I see that she is just picking books off of shelves as she passes, compiling a floating stack next to her.
We reach the chairs, and Spike dumps his load onto the ground and hops up onto one, sinking into it with a sigh of pleasure. Sparkle motions at me to place the blackboard down opposite the couches at the end of the small floor clearing, and I do so before sitting cross-legged next to the couch that Spike is occupying.
“Now,” Sparkle’s eyes are shining. “Let’s begin.”