As you sleep, the next morning has already come, but with all the activities of the day before, you’re just exhausted. An older teenage girl and an older woman walk into the jail, they talk to the guard at the front and walk up to your cell. You had gotten up once in the middle of the night to adjust yourself. You have your hands crossed over your stomach and you ball cap draped over your face while you head hangs low. You didn’t even notice they two women walk up.
“Uh… hello?” asks the younger woman.
You are so lost in your dreams you don’t hear her.
“Hello?” she says a little louder.
You open your eyes slowly and blink them a couple of times, you raise your head to its normal position, but instead of seeing who said hello… you see the inside of your ball cap. You slowly adjust your head by tilting it back, you see that little purple girl from the other day, but next to her stood slightly taller female. She’s covered in white fur, has long flowing hair… like seriously… it’s flowing. Her horn and wings appear to be pretty large, and she has these light pink eyes, they appear to be full of wisdom, she’s also wearing a long white dress and has a tiara on top of her head. You quickly grab the bill of your cap and place it on top of your head.
“Uh… can I help you?” you ask.
You sit there in awkward silence for a second.
“My name is Princess Celestia,” says the white woman, “And this is Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she points to the younger purple girl.
Your eyes go wide and your jaw goes slack.
“Uh…” you trail off.
“We just want to ask you a few questions,” says Twilight.
“O-okay…” you say hesitantly.
“So what is your name?” says Twilight.
“Anonymous, but everyone just calls me Anon,” you say.
“So Anon, how did you get here?”
You look down at the floor and start talking.
“Uh… I don’t know, all I remember is that I was out hunting,” you pause for a moment and rub your face with your left hand, “I was tracking a monster buck, but I slipped and fell and hit my head… next thing I know, I wake up and I’m lost.”
You look at the two women; they just look at you and wait for you to continue.
“I decided to try and find my bearings, but when I didn’t see anything familiar, I looked down the valley, I found a nearby town and began walking toward it… after sometime I heard wolves howl in the distance. I tried to ignore it but they kept getting closer.”
Twilight and Celestia look at you wide eyed with anticipation.
“I was walking along when a rabbit jumped out in front of me… scared the shit out of me.”
Twilight and Celsetia give off a light chuckle at your remark.
You give them an angry glance and continue.
“Anyway, next thing I know a wolf made out of wood jumped out in front of me…and two more jumped out behind the first one. The first one attacked me; I fought it off as best as I could, but… it got lucky and grabbed onto my arm,” you raise your arm and point at it, “As I struggled with it I noticed a rock hit it in the head… I looked over to see a shadow, whoever it was, threw another rock, which caused the animal to release my arm. I shoved it off of me and ran like hell… thankfully I was able to kill all three them.”
You begin to breathe heavily as the images funnel back into your mind.
“And then… I wrapped my arm in my scarf trying to get the bleeding to stop, it wasn’t the best, but it held, that’s when I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder… and what I saw, startled me. I slipped and fell… which hurt like hell, and that’s when you and your friends came running up, then you took me to the hospital,” you look at Twilight when you finished, “And now I’m here for assault.”
Twilight stands there, her ears are folded back and she’s covering her open mouth with her hand. She gives a glance at Celestia, who’s just standing there expressionless.
You begin to cry, “Look… I never meant to hurt anyone, I… I just want to go home.”
As you sit there, you bring your legs up to your chest and grab your face.
You hear Twilight say something, “Princess?”
You look up for a moment and scream, “Whatever you’re going to do with me just please end it, I… I don’t want to live anymore!”
You know that the life you had is over, you’re in some strange land with a bunch of anthropomorphs, you don’t know how you got here, or how you’ll get home. By now, you know that search and rescue back home is most likely beginning to look for you, and the one friend you told about where you were going is probably worried sick about you. And you know full well that that storm has covered your tracks, everyone’s gonna think your dead. Well you’re already a dead man… might as well make it reality.
You didn’t even notice Twilight run off and grab the cell key. She comes back and unlocks the cell; she runs inside and grabs you in a warm hug. You gasp at the feeling of her warm body embracing you. She pulls back and holds you by your shoulders.
“I would never let anyone hurt you, you’ve been through so much,” she pulls you back in for another hug, which you… gladly return, you lean into her shoulder and continue to cry.
A minute or two passes as you hold your new friend. You don’t know what it is but… you just feel safe in her arms. You gain your composure and pull away from the hug and look Twilight in the eyes.
“Thank you,” you say while giving off a light smile.
“You’re welcome,” she says while giving you a rather large smile.
You and her rise to your feet, you let off a few sniffles and wipe the tears away. You give Celestia a glance, but look away quickly when you two lock eyes.
“So uh… what now?” you ask.
“Let’s get you home,” says Twilight.
You furrow you brow in confusion and say, “What do you mean? I mean… I don’t know how I got here, and I don’t have anywhere to stay.”
“You can stay with me at the castle,” Twilight says while looking back at you.
“Are you sure, I mean I’m still considered a convict,” you tell her.
“It’s okay; I know you didn’t mean to hurt Nurse Redheart.”
“…okay,” you say hesitantly.
You bend over and grab your clothing; you follow Twilight out of the cell and walk past Princess Celestia. You don’t feel very safe around her, she hasn’t done a whole lot, and it makes you very nervous… or at least more nervous than you already are.
You walk out to the front where you see your gear. You bend over and grab your back pack, but Twilight decides that you need help.
“Here let me get that for you,” she says.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” she says.
“Uh huh,” you reply
You turn your back for a moment while you adjust the straps. You get the waist strap buckle and tighten, next you move to the chest strap. Once it’s clicked tight you start to adjust the chest straps, you were so distracted that you didn’t even notice Twilight pick up your rifle and start looking at it.
“What is this?” she asks.
Upon hearing Twilight ask you something, you turn around to see what she’s talking about, when you do; you notice that you’re staring down the barrel of your own rifle.
Your eyes go wide at the site as you scream, “WATCH WHERE YOU POINT THAT THING!” you throw your arms up next to your head as your duck out of the way.
Twilight jerks the weapon to her chest as she screams, “SORRY!” in a very apologetic tone.
You stand up straight and stick your left arm out, “It’s okay… just… give me the rifle.”
She slowly hands you the weapon, you close your fingers around its wood stock and pull it close to your body. With your right hand pointer finger, you grab the charging handle and pull it back halfway revealing the hidden magazine, you notice that it’s empty and release your finger.
You take in a heavy breath and let it out slowly, “I’m sorry, but… there are four major rules that we follow when it comes to guns,” you look at Twilight and give out a light chuckle, “And you just violated all of them.”
“Sorry!” she says once again.
You give her a light smile and say, “It’s alright, it pretty obvious that you’ve never handle a gun before.”
“Y-yes,” she says with embarrassment.
“Look, I do that to everyone, it’s just… it’s a pretty intimidating site when I’m looking down the barrel of my own gun.”
“What is a gun?” asks Princess Celestia.
“Well this is,” you say while holding up your M1.
Celestia and Twilight look at the weapon while you start explaining what it is.
“A gun is a very powerful weapon, it fires a bullet made out of lead from a self-contained cartridge,” you shoulder your rifle and pull out a clip from your rifle case and hold it up, “This is called a bullet,” you point toward one of the 30-06 rounds, “This goes into the gun, when the trigger is pulled it releases the firing pin, which hits the primer on the end of the casing, causing the black powder inside to ignite, which causes the gasses inside to expand, causing the bullet to be pushed out of the barrel.”
Twilight reaches out and grabs the bandolier in your hand, she holds it up to her face and looks at the eight rounds… it’s kind of a funny site. Celestia looks more angry then interested.
Twilight looks at you with interest, “Could I see how this works?”
“Not in here, if we can find somewhere a little more secluded we can,” you tell her.
“Oh… okay,” she says with a smile.
A moment of silence passes.
“Uh… so now what?” you ask her.
“I guess we’ll head back to the castle,” she says.
“Okay,” you say, “Oh before I forget,” you reach down and grab your handgun off of the chair and place it on your leg, strapping it on tightly, now you’re ready to go.
Twilight begins to leave the room while you follow, but unfortunately Celestia is right behind you. You approach the front door, but before you step outside you slip on your sunglasses. You don’t feel comfortable letting everyone in this town looking at your eyes. Twilight holds the door open as you… and Celestia step outside.
You went from feeling happy, to scared once you step outside. Twilight steps past you as you follow her once again. Your head hangs low as you stare at the ground. As you get farther away from the jail and farther into town you can see the towns folk looking at you. Many would stare, others would start to whisper things.
“What is that thing?”
“I heard that it attacked Nurse Redheart.”
“What is it doing with the Princesses?”
“Should we be worried?”
“I heard that it killed three timber wolves while it was bleeding to death.”
You scrunch your shoulders and try to make yourself as small as possible, but you know full well that you’re not invisible. You can feel the moistness form once again in your tired eyes. A few tears sneak their way out and onto your cold cheeks.
‘Why did this have to happen?’ you ponder to yourself.
You do your best to ignore everyone, but you still feel the looks that everyone is giving you. Twilight happens to take notice of your posture and speaks up.
“Hey it’s okay.”
“I’d question that a little,” you whisper.
You keep your mouth shut as you walk. Who knows what people might do if you start talking. But the next thing you know… your standing in front of a large, tree shaped castle made out of solid crystal. You look at it in awe as your jaw goes limp and your eyes widen. It’s a pretty impressive site.
Twilight lets off a light giggle before she says, “Here let’s get you inside and warm you up.”
You look at her and mumble, “Okay.”
The horn on the top of her head glows purple; you notice that the door handle on one of the massive doors glows too, it opens to reveal the inside of the massive structure. Twilight steps inside, you follow, and… so does Celestia, she hasn’t said a word since her greeting, and it just make you more and more nervous.
But you ignore it once you realize how warm it is inside. You’d think that something made out of solid crystal would be freezing, and how would you even begin to try and duct a place like this?
Anyway you take your rifle off your shoulder and place it in a near be corner, next you take your pack off and hold it in your hands. Twilight gives you a glance while she’s taking her jacket off.
“Here I’ll take that for you,” she says.
She reaches over and grabs the bag by the handle, she stands there and watches you while you place your sunglasses on your hat and take off your hunting vest, and place it on the nearby coat rack, once its hung and set you unbutton your wool jacket, but you stand there and look around in confusion for a second, until you speak up.
“Uh… where should I put this?” you say while holding up the bloody garment.
You don’t want to get your blood all over the princesses clothing.
“Oh here,” Twilight steps over and takes the jacket, “I’ll get it to my friend Rarity and have it cleaned and fixed for you,” she says while placing it in a nearby chair.
“Thank you,” you mumble.
“You’re welcome,” she says in a cheery voice, “Here follow me.”
You do as you’re told and follow Twilight into a nearby room. It looks like a den… or is it a living room? You don’t know a whole lot about castles to understand their layout. You notice that the room has a couch, a few chairs and a couple of tables. You stand there for a second until Twilight says,
“Just grab a seat anywhere.”
You quickly look around and head straight for the couch. You sit down and watch Twilight as she sits next to you. Celestia grabs a chair and sits in front of you two.
You sit there in awkward silence until Twilight speaks up.
“What’s the matter?”
“Uh… it’s just… that…” you trail off.
“What?” asks Twilight.
You look at Celestia and say, “Uh… no disrespect your majesty but… you’re making me a little nervous.”
“Oh, how so?” she asks.
“Well I feel like you keep giving me the stink eye… I mean, you haven’t said a word since you introduced yourself.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen your kind before, I’m just thinking about the safety of Twilight and my subjects.”
“I mean you no harm your majesty, I’m just a lost soul caught in an unfortunate situation,” you tell her.
You sit there yet again in silence, Celestia continuing to make your nerves stand on edge.
Twilight speaks up trying to break the tension, “How about something to drink?”
“Sure,” you whisper hesitantly.
“We can talk over tea,” says princess Celestia.
“SPIKE!” screams Twilight.
You can hear what sounds like toenails hitting the hard floor, as you listen to the noise the first thought that runs through your head is, ‘Did she just call her dog?’
But what walks through the door isn’t a dog; it looks a lot like a dragon. That’s when you recognize him from earlier.
“Yes Twililiiiii-” he trails off.
You sit there and look at the creature as he stares back at you.
“Uh… hi,” you say hesitantly while raising a hand to give off a mock wave.
“Uh… hi,” he says in response, he walks over to Twilight and whispers in her ear.
“Twilight what is he doing here!?”
“Well I just couldn’t leave him to rot in a jail cell!”
“Twilight, are you sure this is the safest thing to do?”
“He just scared and alone, and since I’m the Princess of Friendship, I might as well be his friend in his time of need.”
‘The Princess of Friendship? Is there even such a tittle?’ you ponder.
But it doesn’t last long.
“Spike could you please make us some tea?” she asks.
“Of course I’ll get right on it,” he answers.
He leaves the room as you sit there in silence once again.
You give Twilight a glance and look into those large purple eyes.
“Thank you, Twilight.”
“For what?” she asks while furrowing her brow.
“Everything,” a smile crawls across your face.
She lets off a warm smile that makes your nerves settle. You suddenly hear toenails… no their claws… hitting the floor once more. Spike walks in the room carrying a tray with three tea cups and a tea pot on it. He walks in and places the tray on a nearby table.
“Thank you Spike,” says Twilight with a smile.
“Your welcome,” he answers.
He leaves the room but gave you a questioning glare before walking out. You swallow the lump in your throat before turning back to Twilight.
She’s… levitating the tea pot? How is that possible? Then you think back to the door.
‘How did I not notice her do that?’
She fills all three cups and levitates one to Celestia, herself, then you. You sit there and look at the cup for a second.
Twilight furrows her brow and looks at you, “What’s wrong?” she asks.
“How are you doing that?” you say while pointing at the cup.
“It’s just a simple levitation spell,” she tells you.
“You mean… like magic?” you say while giving her a confused look.
“Well… yeah, don’t you have magic where you’re from?”
“All our magic is just smoke and mirrors,” you tell her.
“What do you mean?” she asks.
You grab the cup and hold it, “You have a coin I can use?”
“Sure.”
Her horn glows again, you sit there and watch as a small purse appears in front of her.
“That’s so cool,” you whisper to yourself.
She grabs it with her hands and opens it, she reaches in side and pulls out a small coin and hands it to you. You put your cup down and grab the coin and hold it in your hand. You hold the coin up between your thumb and index finger.
“Okay,” you say before you put it in the palm of your right hand. “So… a simple coin right?”
Twilight nods her head.
You begin to play with the coin, “Well that’s where you’re wrong,” you say with a smile.
You place the coin back in your right palm, then you place your left hand over the coin and rub your palms together.
“Now, if I concentrate hard enough this should work,” you say.
You rub your palms together and feel the small coin pressing against your skin.
“Alright,” you say felling a little more confident.
You press your hands together and begin to move the coin to the ends of your fingers. You start to cup you fingers and make sure that you have the coin securely in your left hand. Once it’s in place you pull your hands apart and close them into fists.
“Okay now if this worked the coin should have disappeared,” you say knowing full well that the coin has simply swapped hands.
You hold up your balled up right hand and put you left hand down at your side, trying to be as nonchalant as you can.
“Alright,” you say while shaking your fist in front of your face.
You do that for a few seconds until you slowly rest your hand out and open your closed hand, revealing nothing.
Twilight looks at you and says, “So you used a disappearing spell.”
“Oh, did I?” you say with a stupid smirk.
You begin to raise your left hand, “But unfortunately this coin has a nasty tendency to…” you bring left hand up to her ear and begin to move the coin between your fingers. “Show up in peoples ears,” you say while revealing the coin and pulling your hand down to Twilights face.
She immediately grabs her right ear and looks up at you with a bewildered look. A smile crawls across your face.
“How did you do that?” she asks out of confusion.
“A good magician never reveals his secrets,” you say sarcastically.
“Oh come on, please?” begged Twilight.
You let off a light chuckle and say “Okay, okay, do you really want to know what I did?”
Twilight nods her head up and down.
“It was just a simple sleight of hand trick,” you say with a smile.
“Huh?” responds Twilight.
“All I did was make the coin swap hands, and while you were distracted with my right hand I placed my left hand out of sight, and while you were thinking about the coin I simply brought up my left hand and acted like I pulled the coin out of your ear.”
“Wow... that was pretty good,” says Twilight giving you a nice compliment.
“Thank you!”
“Eh –hem,” says Celestia.
You turn to look at her, your joy and smile immediately fade.
“Yes?” you mumble.