Entropy

by PseudoBob Delightus

4 - Gone

Chapter 4:
Gone

I didn't realize how much I had needed uninterrupted sleep until it actually ended.

The cloud cover moved to reveal a pink-orange sky, and quickly changed to a standard blue one when the sun, presumably, moved further along its path up from the horizon. I could only see that sky, yet the harshly lit walls told me that the sun was out, low angle. Surmising that it was early morning, I checked my watch. It said '23:48'. I kept forgetting that it was broken, yet it was on my wrist anyway. I planned on getting it fixed as soon as possible.

I wondered if it had run out of batteries, at first, almost wishing that it really wasn't broken. Then I remembered that it wasn't electric – and, obviously, that I had no extra batteries. I wound it up until there was a good amount of resistance, and waited what I could only guess was a few minutes. No dice.

My metal collar was still there as well, and I still didn't like it. I had an inkling on where it came from, but just barely out of reach. Almost like adding insult to injury, I thought. There was, however, a silver lining: the collar supported my neck in my sleep, and I had no cricks or pains afterwards. I could be at peace knowing that I had no minor inconveniences in the middle of a goddamn war of the worlds that I just then remembered.

I resisted the urge to slap my face, frustrated at forgetting such a big event, and remembered that there was probably no war going on, and there wouldn't be one if I could help it. But there the problem was, I thought. I was the sole influence on how humanity was viewed by an alien race. It wasn't going to be fun, I thought. I was right, but I could never have imagined how not fun it would be.

The cave was extremely dark and cold, at least I thought it was, so I put my dusty sweater on and got up. I grabbed the stick-cane that was left on the stone floor and walked out, past the narrow opening, to the warm air. I used both legs effectively and didn't even need the cane, and wondered why that was. Ten hours before, my leg was - felt - broken. When I stepped out of the cave, it was fine.

Once the sun had started to wake me up, I began thinking more clearly; I noticed my ex-broken left leg tingled with a strange pins-and-needles sensation when pressure was put on it, or when it touched something. There was no residual pain, no feeling of shifting bones or even any sign that my leg had even been broken.

I slapped myself. Of course, I thought, it wasn't broken! I was injured, but it was nothing serious; at that moment I decided to pull up my pant leg and check. I never got a chance to check before that, what with being on the run from hostile aliens, and honestly I was a little scared to find out what had happened down there. That fear came from back when I thought it was broken.

The pant leg curled up and I saw some disgusting purplish-brown coloration, but, other than that and a little swelling, I was fine; just bruised.

The absence of a small worry allowed the topic of aliens to come up once again. Looking at the facts, I could form a basic understanding of them: They were a group of six (I had no way of knowing if that was small or large for them) mythological horse-like creatures capable of human-like speech and some other wildly improbable powers. They were possibly internally led by the purple unicorn – Twilight – or by the orange vanilla-horse – Applejack. The only external leader I heard any mention of was called "The Princess" but it was only mentioned by Twilight.

The purpose of the group as a whole was unclear, but Twilight – and "The Princess", by extension – was trying to find me specifically. The others, if the group was multipurpose, probably had tasks or goals that did not involve me, or at least viewed me as less important than I was for Twilight. Some of them were even worried about what would happen if they found me, or if I found them. Remembering that made me laugh but the humour faded off as I started thinking again.

They were between me and the town. Even if they weren't in the town itself, and I ended up having to risk a hike up to that mountain castle, they managed to find or follow me in the thickest parts of the forest. And there was no cover where I was headed.

I would have to meet with them eventually; there was no way around that.

What I was worried about was which one I would find, if I looked for them, and how the first contact would play out. Twilight would be preferable since she was the most involved with trying to find me. But, I thought, but she was also by far the most dangerous. That consideration meant Applejack would be a better choice; the group followed her more actively than the others, so I would only have to gain her trust to improve my chances of surviving. Also, she seemed to dislike Twilight's 'magic', which was what I was worried about.

Then, I thought, I could use that as leverage for any formal contact with Twilight, or, possibly, The Princess. I was going to meet them and explain to them that humans were a good species as a whole, and if I said the wrong thing or found the wrong one I would probably die. So I thought about it.

I really didn't have a choice about which one I would find. And that, as I have only found out recently, was predetermined in itself. Someone thought it all through before it even happened. And I was left in the middle of it.

I have recently acknowledged that things don't often go my way.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ferns and low shrubs bent easily to the stick-cane as I made my way through the set path, in the direction of the forest barrier. I still needed it out of consideration for the unbroken leg and because I was tired as hell. Not a bad selection of reasons, I thought to myself.

I was forgetting things. A small thing like whether or not I had batteries on me was totally excusable. A big thing, like whether or not there were aliens invading earth, was a little more worrisome to pass off. Especially since it almost happened twice.

The reasoning behind walking towards a town that might be filled with aliens was lost on me, after I fuzzed out for a few minutes and lost track of time.

Thinking it was some sort of subconscious repressing of memories, or some other product of my loose knowledge of psychology, I trudged onwards and further out of the forest, hopefully towards the town. I assumed it was still east.

I briefly considered that, since I obviously wasn't in North America, the people in the town probably wouldn't speak english. Or believe me when I told them there was an alien invasion. The town was probably more than a kilometre away from my position, giving me an awful lot of time to think about that.

My leg started to hurt again as I came still closer to my destination. The town was a good sign that I was not stranded, at least, but an itch on my neck reminded me of something. I had been strung up at a fence on the outskirts of the town, with the collar.

My hearing had apparently gotten better during my time in the strange place, yet I didn't hear any screams or shrieks of terror when I was captured. That meant that the occupants of the town were aware of the alien presence and hiding, they were unaware and somehow didn't notice anything amiss, or something was done to them before I got there.

I shuddered. I would go with the first option out of three, since the other two were horrifying to think about. I convinced myself that they were ridiculous, instead, and moved on.

Fact: I made a lot of noise the day before. The town should have heard that at least once, so it was stupid to think they couldn't have noticed. Fact: The aliens didn't show any signs of definite hostility. They didn't seem to have any reason to do anything with a whole town of people.

Then, I thought, what reason did the aliens – or, at least one of them - have to do something with me? I could only imagine, based on the facts again, that I was just a curiosity to Twilight and The Princess.

I was happy, then. That conclusion meant they had not seen many – or any – humans up close before. The town I was wandering in the general direction of was not a bustling city, but it wasn't too small either. I could see, the night before, that it covered much of the valley it sat upon. And at that there was a large farm of some kind to the west, I remembered.

I thought back to the earliest explanation I thought of for winding up there, and shook my head in the reminiscent hindsight. No farmer would be yelling at the guy that warned his town about an alien invasion.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There was a reason for why I felt lost, stuck at a blackened tree with a mask on it. I thought about that reason.

In the forests of Quebec, I remembered, there was a town that the soldiers and I had to get to. It was more of a training camp, slightly larger than the one we had started out in, but the Lieutenant called it a town so I did the same.

Before getting to the town, there was vital 'intelligence' that my team needed to get. There was an 'enemy movement' - for lack of a better term - and we were to spy on them. They ran to the west, shouting that they were running west. Jokingly, a fellow WO asked the Lieutenant which direction the enemy was moving. After a round of laughter, spread around our small team, we all moved back into the forest.

That was when things got hairy. We were meant to report back to the General in teams of around 20 - with different 'intelligence' reports on the 'enemy movement' per team - within a day. Several of us were lost for four days after being funneled into a ravine and stopped by a thick wall of trees that we had to back-track to get around. My Lieutenant’s team was one of them.

We were lost until some communications officer in another team had sent out a signal that let the helicopters find us, and we left with shame. Most of those guys were sent to different units. We never had many training exercises after that, at least not many involving forests.

I knew that it wasn't the same thing. I knew that, at the moment, I was not lost; I knew that the town was so close; I knew that if I failed it would mean so much more than just some recruits washing out. That was why I knew I couldn't get lost.

Yet, at the blackened tree with a skull-mask on the trunk and blue flowers at the roots, I felt lost. Even at the known landmark, I didn't remember which way to go. And there was the reason.

The path back to the town revealed itself to me, after a few minutes. I was thankful that I could no longer worry about the crazy blue flowers, and relieved to finally find my way back. I couldn't shake the feeling, however, that I could have easily stayed lost there. Even after knowing absolutely where to go I could imagine a possibility where my mind would just shut down and I would forget where to go or what to say. There were no communications officers to send out tracking signals, and no helicopters coming to find me.

In that situation, I would likely die - there in the forest, anywhere really, without a clue as to where I was.

I skipped around the mental wall that I found myself encroaching upon and tried to convince myself that it wouldn't happen. I could conclude that easily, but the phrase always seemed to complete itself. No, I thought, I wouldn't die...

...I probably wouldn't die.

I was overreacting, really.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The forest was thinning out for a few dozen meters. It wasn't as subtle as most forests I had been in – in fact it was almost comical how quickly the forest ended. At least, I thought, I could still tell where to go.

There was a dirt path leading out of the forest and going past a wooden fence. I immediately recognized it as not being the fence I was tied to the day before, so I wondered how I managed to follow the wrong path. However, I thought, unless I'd managed to walk over the mountains in an hour and a half, I was moving towards the first town I spotted.

Part of the town, I suspected, was in front of me right then; I was approaching an elaborately landscaped house on a hill. Except it wasn't a house per se. The construct that I saw was more of a giant house-shaped bush, only defined by the windows and barely-visible framework. It fit perfectly with the landscape, I observed, though I couldn't see the front yard. There was even a river running through the property, with a few small animals around it. I ignored them.

I started walking towards the house, relieved to finally find one. The path went through the fence, up the hill and turned right, continuing around the house. I followed it, checking around for any sign of the aliens. I wasn't going to ignore the possibility that they had already been here, and thinking back I realized that possibility was extremely high. But I was distracting myself. I reached the top of the path, the house was to my right. The front of the house was forward, a few steps.

The house looked more like a wide-branched tree than a bush from a close distance. Almost as if it was built around an existing tree. That would be a pretty eccentric design, I wondered-

I slapped my forehead when I realized how distracted I was getting. Be realistic, I thought. I turned the corner, and was walking towards the house when I stopped in my tracks.

One of the aliens was in front of the house, looking away from me.

If that wasn't enough to get me thinking seriously, I was destined to be a comedian. Luckily for me, it was, and I began trying to think of what the hell I was going to do.

Logic. I backed away quietly and hid myself around the side of the house. With luck, the alien hadn't seen me - but I had seen it. It was a yellow pegasus with pink hair, and I recognized her as Fluttershy - part of the search party. Or, whatever they were. And for a moment, all hope was lost.

The aliens were in the town.

But - I thought - I still had to make an effort to save the town. From what? Anything. It was not my duty, at that point, to wonder what had happened. So I took my knife out of my bag, and put it in my right pocket. Then I stepped around the corner.

Fluttershy had seen me, and was almost rounding the corner herself. My appearance caused her to stagger back, whimpering, lightly flapping her wings. The reaction was not what I thought it would be, but I didn't do anything differently.

"Stay where you are!" I almost shouted, putting a bit of force behind the words. Fluttershy's wings collapsed and she appeared frozen, allowing me to run up to the front of the house and rap on the door. "Anyone in there?"

The first clue that something was off was the size of the door. It was less than 5 feet high. Next thing I noticed was that the doorknob didn't work. The door provided some resistance, but just opened on a push. Thirdly, I heard Fluttershy whisper an answer to my question, as to if anyone was in the house.

I put my hand on my knife and approached the yellow, shivering pegasus. She visibly retreated, but I managed to get within arms reach and slowly asked, "What did you say?"

She whispered again, and I barely caught it. I leaned closer, careful not to make contact, and she seemed to know what that gesture meant when she gave her answer again. "I live here." It was barely a whisper, but I managed to hear it that time.

"What? You live..." I gestured to the house, and I really couldn't understand that an alien would be living in a house; a house with a front door too small for a human to use without crawling. I drilled my mind, trying to make sense of it. Fluttershy was an alien.

"But... You're a... Aren't you an alien?"

"Alien?"

I wondered, did she even understand the term? "Alien." I addressed her. "You can't live here. This is Earth." I started to lose trust in that statement, even before she replied. I knew I didn't know where I was, but to think I wasn't on Earth... I couldn't understand it. Not until she told me.

"I... oh, sorry, I didn't mean to... I thought it was Equestria." She was beyond whispering at that point, but I didn't pretend to know what she meant.

"You thought it was Equestria?" I asked, incredulous. I had heard that name before, used in horse racing. It didn't yet strike me as funny, given the situation I was in. Fluttershy continued.

"Everypony here calls it Equestria... please don't eat me!"

I ignored the last part. "Everypony... you mean the others, like you? In your group?"

She nodded.

It finally sank in, and I was struck dumb. My hand slid off the knife and, dazed, I sat down. I stayed silent for quite a while, and Fluttershy didn't seem to be the one to take the initiative. So she stayed where she was, silent as well.

I spent a few minutes thinking about what I'd just heard. I was on... no, in a place called Equestria. I wasn't sure if I wasn't on Earth at that point, but it didn't really matter. I was in the territory of the aliens - I would then-on call them 'ponies', as Fluttershy had punned - and definitely not within reach of any sort of human authority. On the slim chance that there was, there was a more-than-slim chance that they wouldn't feel the need to do anything about it, since I had never heard of that place, or the ponies, before – since anyone with a right mind would spread the word that aliens were on earth. Or that Humans were on alien planets.

That left me to finding out where I was (without just saying 'Equestria'), and how to get back. Any information I gathered up to that point would be delivered to the people that could handle it properly, and I would be out of the equation more quickly.

Fluttershy hadn't moved at all, but was staring at me through my inner monologue. I tried not to look into her eyes after remembering what happened the last time, but I couldn't help but feel that it wasn't doing anything to help me. I kept my eyes on the brightening horizon and decided to break the silence by trying to clarify what I was thinking of.

"How many of you are there?"

Fluttershy made a squeaking noise when I began, but after a few seconds of silence managed to get over the shock, and answered. "There are... lots of ponies living here." She whispered. It wasn't what I would define as 'helpful', but it was a start.

"This place, you called it Equestria?”

She waited quite a while before answering, as if afraid to interrupt me. "Yes... and this town is Ponyville." Again she was just barely beyond whispering, but at least she could see where I was going with the questions.

“Equestria... where is it?” I asked. I didn't know what to expect as an answer, so when Fluttershy didn't provide one I didn't press further. I was already feeling all sorts of bad about the situation.

I looked over the hill in front of me, in front of the house, and saw the tops of houses; A lot of them looked like thatched roofs. But the walls were brickwork, sometimes wood. The houses were old.

That meant they – the aliens, ponies – had been living there for quite some time. I was almost thinking myself in circles; but really, I didn't have anywhere to go from there. Physically it could have been possible, I thought, but I didn't know how to get back to Canada – or Earth, for all it was worth. I didn't know if there were any other humans in Equestria; I was too exhausted at the moment to think of any alternate plans.

It was then that I began feeling the heat of that place, of 'Equestria'. It was the middle of winter in Canada, but there it felt like late spring. The warmth and humidity didn't help me think, either.

After simply sitting in the sun and contemplating how meaningless my progress had been, I started to hear some strangely rhythmic noises. There was some sort of trotting noise behind me, mixed in with folding grass. I looked towards it to see the nearby hill where the footpath led into the town. I turned back to see Fluttershy stealthily crawling to her house.

“What are you doing?” I asked dumbly, confused and not very perceptive anymore. The pegasus just shrank down, whimpered again, and looked at me with sad eyes.

I had one last, fairly important thing to ask her, that I had forgotten until that point. “Why were you chasing me? You and Twilight and the other ones...” I trailed off. It looked like Fluttershy was about to answer, but something behind me caught her attention and she dashed into her house, slamming the door.

I would have to do without any helpful answers. After finally realizing she was going home, I decided that it wasn't such a bad idea. I got up, intending to just head back into the forest and try another direction.

There was another noise, same as the first, coming from over the hill, but I had lost the motivation of curiosity and just went to the side of Fluttershy's tree-house to grab my bag, and my cane. I didn't realize I had left them there, caught up in the moment. I shuffled over to my stuff.

I reached down to pick up my stick-cane.

“Halt!”

I froze, unaware of who said it or where they came from. I was also shocked out of my confused state and finally figured out what the hell I was doing. More or less.

“You there – put down your weapons!”

I immediately dropped the cane and stood straight up, holding my hands above my head. I wondered who was behind me, but not enough to question their authority. If I considered what I had just learned about the place I was in, maybe I would have been more skeptical.

After a brief pause, with what sounded like six people walking towards me, I slowly turned to meet them. I was utterly disappointed when they turned out to be ponies.

Three large, white pegasi wearing legionnaire armour, to be exact. I didn't know how they found me so quickly, unless that was the first or many search parties sent out by Twilight or Princess Celestia. As far as I knew there could have been a whole damned battalion of them, all looking for me.

But I didn't have to let them capture me. Or, imprison me, or whatever they were going to do. I couldn't know. And I preferred not to.

“These aren't weapons,” I answered, trying to take a diplomatic approach as opposed to just sprinting out of there. God knows it wouldn't have worked with pegasi, given how quick the Rainbow one was. “And I'm leaving anyway.”

“Stay calm,” The one at the front of the formation replied, in a gruff voice I recognized as male, “and come with us.” Evidently, the excuse wasn't sufficient for them.

And by telling me to stay calm, it seemed we both knew how trying to run would turn out.

From what I could tell, they looked like guards. Or soldiers. They had authority, sure; but not over me. And the one doing the talking wasn't convincing me to go along.

“No.” I told them. I lowered my hands slightly. It occurred to me that the 'raised hands' gesture might have been lost on them, what with none of them having hands or the capability to make that gesture otherwise, but I played it safe and kept them up. And I stood my ground.

“We are bringing you to the Princess,” the first one stated, as if it would happen no matter what I told them. “You should be honored; not many are blessed with the privilege.”

I could have argued all I wanted, especially since I knew it would be less of a 'privilege' for me than it would one of them, but the fact that the immediate destination wasn't a dungeon or an operating table made me a little more open minded. I didn't let my objections fall just yet, though.

“Where is the Princess?” I hoped the question wouldn't fall flat and just offend them. I was not experienced with addressing royalty so the concern was out of the obvious cultural differences. They were aliens. Or, locals on an alien planet. I didn't care at that point.

The leading pony guard pointed, quickly, at the mountainside castle. “Canterlot Castle.” He explained. “She's waiting. This does not have to be difficult.”

“How'd you find me?” I was still letting my stubbornness get to me. And maybe something else.

Heat and physical frailty was irritating me, I discovered. The edge of shock from hearing the guards for the first time faded, and what I originally tried to justify as a fever of some sort returned with a vengeance. It was enough to barely ignore, like the pains in my leg and general aching of my whole body, but still taxing.

I relaxed slightly, after knowing what was clouding my mind.

The leading guard nodded and backed up, seemingly knowing what my next move would be. He still answered, “Word travels fast to The Princess.”

Lines of communication. I started to imagine that if I did something regretful, it would soon be made even more so due to fast reports back and forth among their military. Or was this politics, I wondered? And I had no immediately conceivable way out of that place. So, my questions exhausted, I stepped forward. I had no way out of it.

The three guards visibly tensed, preparing for a fight. Or flight. I took another step, then kept walking up the hill to meet where they were standing. The guards parted and surrounded me as I reached the top, arranging to an inverted V pattern in front and around me, and I tried to keep walking without bumping into any of them.

I faltered when I saw their mode of transportation.

A carriage. I was going to be put into a wooden carriage.

As I was led up to it, the flanking officers split off and attached themselves to the reigns. The leader turned to me and raised a hoof, seemingly motioning me into the carriage, and I got in. The carriage was a tight fit and I pretty much had to press my neck into the ceiling to fit on it. The leading guard got in and sat diagonal to me.

For that I was thankful, as I didn't have to make contact with him, but I panicked and lost the sentiment when the vehicle lurched and started to rise.

“The hell? We're flying!?”

“Fastest way to Canterlot.” The leader answered. It was like he ignored my lack of wings. Or the lack of any way a carriage (even one pulled by two pegasi) could fly at all.

“There are no doors!” I voiced my concern more directly, and he picked up on it. It still wasn't a significantly calming assurance when he answered with...

“We won't fall out.”

I had no choice but to sit there, hunched over, for the entirety of the 'flight'. I refused to let myself look out of the open space where a door should have been, so instead I looked at the bench where some sort of safety harness should have been.

In retrospect, it wouldn’t have fit me anyway. But my collar still itched, and I began feeling the weight of my broken watch.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I suspected that it had been roughly 15 minutes, though I couldn't tell for sure, and I sure as hell had no idea how far the carriage/magical flying machine had gone. What I did know was that whatever odd, sharp, burning pain was assaulting me had had time to manifest. No way out.

Through most of the ride thus far, I had said nothing to the pegasus guard sitting across from me, nor had he addressed me. But he had no objections to staring at me with those (huge!) creepy blue eyes.

I pretended he wasn't there and, getting over my minor fear, looked out the open space where something, like maybe a door, should have been between me and the open air. Based on the low angles of what I could see, especially visible when the carriage banked and I nearly passed out, we were pretty damn high.

Wait, I thought. Why was the carriage banking? The pegasi pilots should have had a clear path to the castle. God forbid we were taking the scenic route.

Two pilots, and one leading guard. I couldn't help but think there should have been more of them, especially since I didn't think they had any way of knowing exactly where I was going to be. But, if that was true, maybe the banking was caused by returning groups going faster than us. They didn't have any cargo. Still, it was possible that they had pinpointed me and this was the only group sent out. Or there were constant flights to and from the castle, this one just being the only incoming vehicle not involved with business as usual.

Either way, that meant the guard was understating when he told me word could travel fast. The world I got caught up in was getting more complicated by the minute. The guard didn't seem intent on telling me very much.

“What are you?” I inquired, addressing the leading guard in the cabin with me. “What's with the armor?”

The legionnaire pegasus straightened up, to his credit, and said, “I, like the two pegasi drawing this carriage, am a member of the Royal Guard of Canterlot.” He paused, like he was about to add something, then just remained silent.

I started to ask what his name was, but motion caught my eye outside the carriage and I knew why the Royal Guard had stopped. We were landing. I didn't recognize the area outside the cabin as the castle I had seen on the horizon, but I had only seen it from very far away. And I didn't use my glasses.

The guards in the front unhitched themselves and rounded the carriage, meeting up with the leader (though I wasn't sure what his actual rank was, I assumed he lead them) and waited in formation for a few seconds. The leader (?) turned back to me. “We will accompany you to the Castle.”

I shuffled out of the cabin, my muscles and bones aching more than ever, to take my place in their familiar inverted V formation. Then we started walking. Well, I walked; the pony guards trotted.

The castle I originally saw from my cave was much bigger and more intact than I thought at first. It was impressive, but I was put back on track by the sickness that had befallen me so suddenly. It felt like some sort of reaction to the heat, but that wasn't right. It was colder and fresher on the mountain side, yet I just kept burning up.

I didn't show it in front of the guards, though. If I slowed, or acted sick, there was a good chance one of them in the back would prod me along – making physical contact – and then the problems would really start. I stood straight, walked at a brisk pace and kept my eyes facing forward all the way to the castle doors.

I wasn't completely sure if contact with these ponies, in particular, would cause the same shocking/burning as with the first six I had met, but I couldn't take any chances. Not when I was about to meet the Princess.

The large doors were opened and I, again, didn't stop to bewilder at their size or design. I just pushed through, after a pair of guards from somewhere else opened them, trying to forget the growing discomfort as it turned into a faint, sharp pain. It was all over me, knives piercing my nerves and making it harder to stand. I should have stopped there, but... I couldn't have known what was happening.

I could only keep trying to push the pain away. It would work for a few seconds, dulling the feeling slightly, only for another, stronger wave to come back in.

So we walked through a long hall, me and the three royal guards. At least, it seemed long, and I remember there being a red carpet; I almost fell over at one point, close to losing control of my limbs. I was trying my hardest to keep upright and damned if it didn't work longer than I expected – next thing I knew we were at a second door. I couldn't tell what it looked like.

“...will ...majesty as... Celestia, at all times. Bow when in her presence. And do not... her... any...” Sounded a voice, clouded and muffled. The only thing that was clear to me was my goal to remain standing in the well of darkness and pain, and perhaps make a few steps forward once the door was opened.

Infinite pain washed over me, and my vision pulsed with red. My head was about to explode. The thing at the head of the room was the source, I was told. The voice eluded me. There was white; some diluted colour; stained windows.

I took it as an obvious sign that the door was open.

It's a fog even now, remembering the events. But I know what I felt. I have to relive it.

There was pain and darkness. I could only feel it, my vision and hearing and minor senses cut off before they could register. Almost like radio interference, but I knew it wasn't exactly like that. How did I know? I wanted to scream, but it was held in. I was getting a lot of practice at controlling pain, and soon I began to have short – but clear – glimpses of what was happening around me.

I was told to rise, but I couldn't. Before I could react my limbs collapsed and I was plunged back to darkness. It was like that until something grabbed me up and I was standing, but only with its support. There was more infinite pain, and another brief lapse allowed me to think: It felt a lot like when Twilight used her 'magic' on me... A stronger form of whatever happened when I made contact with them. Similar to what I had been feeling constantly for at least a half hour by then.

My senses were cut off – all of them. How could I see, hear, or feel anything? How did I know I couldn't see or hear? I could barely tell the difference.

There was another short, real glimpse of what was happening.

I realized, then, the source of the pain; the paralysis; the 'sickness'. The Princess was causing it. I only had one option – to stop it. I forced the pain out of me and took a step forward, then another. I don't remember seeing anything, but I knew there was a force pressing against me. I kept on moving, and it shattered like glass.

More barriers rose and dissolved in front of me as I pressed forward.

I knew the Princess was the source of... whatever it was. I didn't know at the time. All I knew was that I had to stop it, to keep moving forward. And I did. Nothing stopped me until a familiar feeling took hold – the burning sensation of my collar. I could see again, for a brief moment.

Princess Celestia was more horse-like than the rest of them, but a better comparison would be Pegasus of legend. Brilliant white, wings and a horn, but also a flowing mane of green, blue and pink. Some jewelry as well.

I got a good look at my path, as well – even though it was behind me. Three unconscious guards were on the floor, and the large stones that made it up were severely crushed and cracked. I didn't actually look at any of it, I just knew it was there. Somehow.

I stayed looking at the Princess. I saw her face. It was unnaturally emotive, for a horse's face. Only one (huge) eye with a pink iris was visible, the other one occluded by the flowing mane, but I saw fear in that eye. The Princess trembled, and the emotion changed. It was almost apologetic. The horn grew brighter, my collar heated. Pain.

Then I was gone.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

For the longest time, I didn't know where I had popped up next. But I was in a dungeon cell. All I could think of at the time was a variation of the tried-and-true 'how did I get here?' I felt confused. That I was getting used to.

It was the feeling of being gone that I never got used to, though. It wasn't a sentiment of being lost, or not being in one particular place. The best I could describe it would be a part of me not being anywhere, ever. Like the sense that I'd forgotten something.

But now, in my current state, that feeling was terrifying.

Back in the past, I didn't know that the greatest coup of known history was beginning to take shape around me. I just sat in a dungeon cell, starting to understand what happened on a very basic level. I screwed up. I failed at probably the most important thing any one human had ever done – meeting the leader of an alien race – and I hadn't the slightest clue as to how it happened.

The last thing I wondered before I slipped into a fitful sleep was how meaningless it all seemed.

Myself, meaningless. I've forgotten what that feels like.

[A/N]

Sorry about the Art Evolution.

Comments

[Happy Thoughts]

Looks good to me. MOAR!!!

[PseudoBob Delightus]

985249 Is it a problem that you don't know?

985473 Be patient. I do a lot of stuff besides this.

[PseudoBob Delightus]

986905 Why? Maybe that's foreshadowing to something. How? He did it. That's how.

Sorry if this is frustratingly unhelpful, but there are some things the main character can't know yet in his recollection. And having the future main character (doing the narration) just tell the reader all about it would ruin the surprise. Also a lot of plot elements are based around nobody knowing how it happened because why would they?