chapter 01: "indiscernible"
The Price of Wings
Written by Arcict Gray
Chapter: 01, “indiscernible"
Dusty Legend did not like his job, oh the pay was good enough, the hours were fine (he could all but choose his own) but there were certain aspects of the job he just couldn't stand. The location of his office was one of them.
Down one of the old forgotten corridors of the Canterlot Royal Palace was a stair that led down to the lower levels, down one of the offshoot tunnels laid the wing of forbidden archives. After showing the guards his ID Dusty walked past several locked and sealed alcoves and chambers, the contents thereof a mystery even to him. Indeed, he rarely heard anything except the occasional guard coughing or, on rare occasion, one of the corridor’s doors opening. Through a small door that led to one of the minor chambers, where nopony would bother him and where he could work in private, that was his office.
Dusty had once compared it to something that only wished it could be as big as a broom closet. He had graduated from not one but two prestigious colleges with considerable honors, he was well versed in customs from all across and beyond Equestria, and he was the most knowledgeable about his own job. Certainly these things merited a bigger office.
No such luck, Dusty resigned himself yet again and slumped into the only chair in the office, immediately in front of the only desk in the office.
Dusty sighed and levitated his saddle-bags over to one side, simultaneously removing a wrapped parcel from within as he did so. Dusty hesitated, looking the parcel over, it was bigger than he’d had expected, had the slacker actually fulfilled his latest request? More likely he'd just gone and written even more in his typically abysmal hoof-writing just to spite the overworked unicorn's request.
Unwrapping the parcel, Dusty lit a nearby lamp and was surprised and pleased as he read the first few lines of the first page…
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Report: October 18th 1375 FE (2012 back home)
To: The Equestrian Portal Project Authority, Sr. Administrator: Dusty Legend.
CC: The US Stellar Psychic Alien Macrocosms; Admin.: Brian Majors.
CC: My family, address on file.
CC: Myself, for my own records.
From: Cobalt Skies, Interdimensional Experiment; Subject Number: 01
As per the orders I received earlier this week, I shall again set quill to ink to rewrite the reports that I have written over the course of the past couple of months since my landing. While my aching hoof would complain yet after re-reading them myself I have found them to be horribly illegible and almost unreadable even to me (which is saying something, I'm usually pretty good at reading my own writing) to the point that I actually desire to rewrite them.
Thus, wanting to make these things both official and useful (not to mention my own desire to please the powers that be) I comply with the orders.
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Dusty Legend brought the lamp closer and set it up on a small shelf. He also levitated out the bag that held his lunch, finally he was going to be able tell what the little twerp had been writing all these weeks.
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Re-written Report: September 24th 2012
To: The Equestrian Portal Project Authority, Sr. Administrator: Dusty Legend.
CC: The US Stellar Psychic Alien Macrocosms, Admin.: Brian Majors.
CC: My family, address on file.
CC: Myself, for my own records.
From: Cobalt Skies, Interdimensional Experiment; Subject Number: 01
It has been five weeks since I landed in this strange land and assumed a native form. I know this is my first time trying to write but I have been given all day to practice so I hope sooner or later -indiscernible- will get easier. While I find it -indiscernible- that nobody asks me what a word means anymore when I ask that it be written down yet the lack of scribes from moving to Ponyville (I still laugh at that name) means -indiscernible- have to write these myself now.
For the record, as I know that my previous entries would -indiscernible- yet I want it stated anyway, -indiscernible- first time I could request a copy of the records being sent back to me (see above). I make a repeat of my -indiscernible- thus.
It was -indiscernible- ago when those six strangers came to my house and implored entrance. They -indiscernible- with their stories but the things their leader performed, basic telekinesis and -indiscernible- incredible. I knew enough about illusions and "magician's tricks" from a little history and such shows like "The Masked Magician" to know that they couldn't have been faked, I spent over an hour puzzling them over when I first -indiscernible-.
I wish I could say I know every trick in the book, but I do know enough to know that a stranger couldn't have set up levitating a book without -indiscernible- preparation ahead of time. I checked for everything I knew of to prove it wrong, magnets, strings, I even tried to pull it away. Nothing worked, it held firm against my strength and weight.
While my family was -indiscernible- yet I admit that I was enthralled. They said they were looking for someone and they gave some -indiscernible- of the qualities they thought were necessary to go through the portal. I admit, they seemed to describe me well enough though there were some -indiscernible- I disagreed with. After they concluded that I was likely the one best suited for exploration they began explaining their mission. They were looking for candidates to act as -indiscernible- for our world as part of starting up an outreach program meant to bridge our two worlds. Effectively a “first contact” person, -indiscernible- that’s the impression I got.
I was shocked, I am no diplomat, no agent -indiscernible- nor am I a highly trained -indiscernible-. I supposed the most I could do was to simply stay on my best behavior and let hope things worked out. They seemed adamant, the more we talked the more they seemed convinced that I should go and be an ambassador to their world. I admit, I let my curiosity get the best of me and I started asking details about the immediate future, why and how, as much information as I could get. It grew late and they wanted to return to “the portal” as soon as they could. Indeed, knowing what I know now I realize just how anxious they must have been to return here.
I do not regret traveling with them back to the place where they said the portal was. While I know I was not surprised to see that the portal was actually there yet I was surprised to see so many official looking -[-indiscernible-. It took at least another hour's deliberation with the authorities from my country before they let me through. Honestly, I don’t think they were the ones running the show. Though now that I think on it, to be an ambassador means to work for the President of the U.S. directly since he’s in charge of that department. But he wasn’t there, either to appoint or even look me over or anything. That if anything makes me really -indiscernible- wasn’t running the show as far as the portal was concerned.
Another thing that worries me though was how little they seemed to care about my background and such, the guys from my home that is. They seemed to be relieved at my political neutrality and lack of any extremist motivation. I can't remember all that was there, agents of some kind, a lot of them, but I do remember meeting Brian Majors who told me about the project. At first I thought that having the acronym S.P.A.M. was just a -indiscernible- but he told me that it was intentional. Anybody that looked into it deep enough would get a bunch of crap info that meant nothing and didn't lead anywhere, spam, in other words.
I thought at first that this might be a fairly flimsy kind of security but then I realized that a project of this magnitude is probably going to have a lot of people if not operating it than at least studying it in some way. As such the odds of someone hearing or receiving something they shouldn't are probably higher than the odds of the project being deliberately hacked into or spied upon. I feel like a test subject now, expendable. If it weren't for the replies I get from home, I'd have to wonder if these reports were even -indiscernible-.
This unnerves me some because it means that the relationship between both sides has been going on for some time, long enough for it to reach an organized balance like this. But at the same time, it feels so haphazard to just send some random non-initiated civilian through the portal just because six explorers from the other side say so. Something is going on here, something I’m not seeing and I would like to know what it is. Someone acted, and I suspect it was not part of the plan.
Finally they let me see the portal itself, it was fairly unimpressive, green, glowing, spherical, but unimpressive. I said my goodbyes and promised to write, a promise I have managed to keep ever since I left, scribes notwithstanding. *(see following attached note)
Some might wonder about the -indiscernible- concerning spheres as a portal and the angular -indiscernible- going through one. I recall a video I watched online some time ago about how to turn a sphere inside out. I suspect something along those lines is -indiscernible-.
True enough, even as the six had claimed, neither they nor I am human on this side. The change, for me, occurred as I went through. I stepped into it in one form and stepped out of it in another, as fast as stepping through a doorway.
I was honestly not expecting such a big change and I know I shut down for a few minutes in shock and everything shortly after I arrived. I feel kind of embarrassed about it though. I thought that I had a mind that could handle just about anything and yet changing bodies like this shocked me so much more than I had expected it to. I thought it would be all "Cthulhu can choke on my mind" and instead... I folded like wet tissue paper.
Sometimes I think the only thing that snapped me out was when I heard someone mention "wings". This was something I guess I wanted to hear and so, it helped me to awaken from my stupor.
There are so many things for me to report on though, as much as I know I insisted on writing my own report, but now that I’ve started I think I will take up the offer to have this dragon "Spike" (I believe that's what his name is) to transcribe it for me instead. Then again, I have to wonder how long his little hands can last with how much I want to have written. I admit, simply seeing a real dragon is one thing I would have wanted just from coming here. True enough though, if I had my way, I'd rather simply BE a dragon... but whatever, I've got my wings now and that's good enough for me. Spike is smaller than I (-indiscernible- anybody else from my world) expected but apparently he's a baby so that's cool, besides as a Spyro fan -indiscernible- too shocked, surprised but not shocked.
I'm still not entirely sure why everybody made such a fuss over my gray-tones when I first got here, they cleared up and gave way to my colors quickly enough but they still haven't told me why they made such a deal over it in the first place.
Looking back, I feel that some have misunderstood my initial report. I did not arrive in Canterlot, I arrived in Ponyville, the library to be exact. If I recall (-indiscernible- hazy) we took an overnight train to Canterlot. It was a very tiring day afterwards. I think that's where the confusion -indiscernible-.
Though I admit Canterlot seemed too stuffy and definitely way too -indiscernible- for my tastes yet -indiscernible- never complained about it. Was it something I said? Why was I moved back to Ponyville after so short a time in Canterlot? Nobody will tell me why I was moved out here. It makes little sense to me to have myself moved to an inn in a small town separate from (if relatively close to) Canterlot. I humbly request to know why I was moved to Ponyville.
For that matter, I never got to do much “ambassador-ing” or anything while I was in Canterlot and I doubt I’m going to be able to do much here either.
I was given two assignments with my relocation. The first assignment was to start researching Equestrian customs and traditions as well as its history. The second was much more enigmatic, I was told to try and make some friends while I was here in Ponyville.
This seems quite odd to me as my existence is still somewhat unbelievable to just about everybody here. But to try and actively go out and specifically get to know somebody would all but require letting them in on my history, which would get awkward really quickly. To further complicate the matters, I don’t have a cutie mark despite obviously being an adult. On top of all this, I am apparently forbidden from mentioning anything concerning the portal or my origins to anyone not already in-the-know about it.
Good luck me making friends then. I'll be too busy saying "classified" to half of their questions to make any friends.
The simplest solution is to simply forgo the second assignment until an appropriate opportunity presents itself and focus on the first assignment until then. It’s not like I don’t know how to work alone.
I prefer the solitude. Talking to oneself is not a sign of madness, it's a sign that that's the only way one can get intelligent conversation.
While I find the people here are generally friendly, I also find myself once again torn between navigating social nuances and simply wanting to... well, study everything. It's all so new, it's like stepping onto campus for the first time all over again. It was suggested that I try simple social interaction by getting to know the same six that originally came to my world at least gives me a place to start but I still consider it of lesser importance for the moment anyway.
When I mentioned this to the librarian (Twilight Sparkle) she went practically ballistic on me. I tried several times to made a decent argument but I don’t think I convinced her. While she makes some good counter-arguments herself, yet I still find myself too socially awkward to really bother with it right now. I don’t want someone to be my friend if I’m just going to leave them or something, it’s too painful. And I’ve already been forced to leave Canterlot, what if I’d already made friends there and then left?
As such I can’t focus on that until I know where I am and where I can stay. I can’t focus on finding and making friends until I know I’m going to be able to keep them. She still doesn’t like it, like the fate of the world might rest on it or something but still, it’s just the way I am, I’ve had too many times where I could have made a friend and then they left and I was alone again to just go up and change now, it’s too painful.
And it’s not like I haven’t been doing things my own way for several years now anyway, why she made such a big deal out of it I shall never know.
As of today though, I regret nothing, I complain about nothing, at least nothing that’s happened since I’ve come to this world. I've said my good-byes and my hellos and as soon as I get better at this hoof-writing thing I will write home.
Already, my arm, or rather foreleg feels weak from all the writing I've done tonight. A pitiful excuse compared to the number of notebooks I've burned my way through back home. After finishing this I'm told I need to get to the new room they've set me up with at the inn.
I request to know more about the importance of the commands I was given. I do not believe that I was allowed to come through strictly for my own research nor do I believe that making social relationships is of any major significance other than for my own psyche but I will not know until I ask or otherwise get more information, hence I am now asking, duh.
I also request knowing more about the excitement concerning my monochromatic syndrome and the subsequent “coloring” of my body within those first few minutes after I arrived here. While I have no complaints about my color yet everybody was making such a big deal over me not having any when I first stepped through and nobody's told me why as of yet.
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Dusty had to admit, when he'd read the original report he'd never made it past the second paragraph before giving up. That request near the end stunned him though, the little colt had actually thought to question the orders he'd been given, and even tried justifying defying them. Though not appalled by this, Dusty found himself considering whether they had really made a correct choice in allowing Cobalt to come through that portal. Even so, he couldn't help but feel more enlightened by the additional information this recently re-written report gave him. The insights into their first explorer since the nasty business with that disastrous trio was more curious and observant than he'd expected. Even so, Dusty feared that too much curiosity and observation from this one could spell the failure of the project.
Dusty noticed a tiny note that was attached by a small clip to the corner of the last page.
“have you been sending on my notes to my family or are you waiting for me to re-write them before doing so?”
Dusty swallowed, feeling guilty, while it was true that they couldn’t send on the notes without being able to read and copy them first yet he still wondered how Cobalt would take it when he found out.
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Re-written Report: September 28th 2012
To: The Equestrian Portal Project Authority, Sr. Administrator: Dusty Legend.
CC: The US Stellar Psychic Alien Macrocosms, Admin.: Brian Majors.
CC: My family, address on file.
CC: Myself, for my own records.
From: Cobalt Skies, Interdimensional Experiment; Subject Number: 01
Despite my practice I am still bad at hoof-writing, and all of these weird horse words and stuff still trip me up. I shall ask for a copy of this transcribed with better handwriting. Sorry, hoofwriting (actually claw-writing since I think I'll ask Spike to transcribe it later). I think I might have to promise that it's just a small list, I don't think he's quite forgiven me for the epic report I asked -indiscernible- for me last Friday.
A few words I have noticed that would be helpful for future explorers or those seeking to know more about this world.
Nag - a derogatory word, used effectively the same as the proper word for a female dog. Though using the term "nagging" is not as bad as the “-ing” of said word and is instead used more like it’s used back home, it's still considered a rude word in some instances.
Pluck - strictly a pegasus word (I still can't believe I am one, Eeeeee!) that, though it is roughly negative it is also flexible in just how negative it is. For Example, "Pluck me" is relatively equivalent to "bite me" while "pluck-that" is more like the phrase "forget that" or “get rid of that”.
Stag - fittingly enough, used to describe a male of the equine (or in some cases, any) persuasion, though its use is a little more complicated than just that. It is mainly used similar to how we would use the word "dog" or "stud" either as a compliment or as an insult, or both. "you stag!" turns into "you dog!" or "you stud!"
Magic – Magic, or what I prefer to call “extended ability”, is usually only referring to an extended ability that extends beyond the physical frame. For instance, a Pegasus’s “extended ability” to walk on clouds is not considered magic but a unicorn’s ability to make their own horn glow or that telekinesis thing of theirs is considered magic. Apparently there are others that can do magic but when compared to the humans, everything’s got at least some kind of extended ability here. This extended ability seems to permeate all intelligent creatures and even some non-intelligent ones, even to the point that when someone starts singing and everyone else agrees with the song, they’ll start singing in too, even if they never learned the words! It’s strange, like it really is magic, or at least some kind of emotional resonation of some kind. When asked about it they seem to think it’s simply a natural aspect of life! Reminds me of when my little sister saw “High School Musical” and mom had to tell her that people don’t just start singing like that in school (she’s homeschooled).
Ley-line - this appears to be a natural kind of energy that occurs in just about anything that lives around here, like the blood vessels. Apparently these connect with the body's physical capacity somehow and allow for the "extended abilities" for lack of a better word (I still refuse to call it magic) of just about every intelligent creature here. Apparently the ley-lines in a pegasus is what allows them to fly as well as for a unicorn to do whatever the heck it is they do (still not calling it magic).
Hay - while hay is common enough on farms back home (I get reminded so many times how glad I am my allergies are gone) the hay that is here is slightly different. Sometimes it refers to really REALLY cheap (like Ran Cossack cheap) bundles of semi-random grass and other edible plants and other times it's a bit more complicated, like the word "ruffage" back home (Spike says I'm spelling it wrong, I don’t care, looks good to me). Both of which indicate only a semi-random assortment of edible greens. Hay does not always contain grass but when it doesn’t it tends to be more expensive, not that anybody seems to care much.
Sometimes a large collection of plants of the same kind or even a collection of mixed greens with no grass (or alfalfa or anything) included is also called "hay" Hay itself, is eaten by just about everybody everypony I mean, and when it is sold it is almost always sold in bulk. This body has such a high metabolism that without having something to eat every now and again I'd apparently likely get an ulcer or something, I know I certainly feel weak when I can't get something to eat. Hay solves this by providing a REALLY cheap thing to chew on until they can get to something more nutritious later on at actual meal times.
Hay-fries - finally something I can really relate to. Despite the name, they’re basically French fries! Ironically enough, the reason they call it "hay-fries" isn't because it's made from hay but because they guy originally wanted to call them "straw-fries" because of their yellow color but forgot the difference between straw and hay and mixed them up! Think about that, even HERE where they EAT THE STUFF that kind of mix-up can still happen. The biggest difference is that there isn’t any salt put onto them, there’s a reason for this.
Bit - A thin gold coin used as the basis of their currency. I still have NO idea as to its actual value, sometimes I'd estimate it at about 50 cents but other times I'd guesstimate it at nearly 5 dollars! Part of this is due to the lack of written prices. Back home if the price is written down then that's exactly what you pay for it (except for taxes) no more and no less. Here there is more of a weird kind of haggling system sometimes, especially for the "outdoor" vendors that don't own any permanent structure for their ships, indoors it is much more stable (no pun intended, eesh) but there can still be some haggling involved sometimes.
Spur - a silver coin, exactly 1/20th the value of a Bit. Strangely, they started using them some time ago, then, about 50 years ago or so, they stopped, and have only recently started using them again, though given the value of the bit, use of it is fairly rare.
Favored - a pony's favored side is also their handedness (figures, they keep saying "hoof" instead of "hand" or "foot" or anything) so I am "right-favored" rather than "right-handed".
foal - while a foal is generally considered a really young horse back home here the term is used more like “kid” or “child” and they use the term “newborn” to indicate one that is less than one year to six months or so.
hoof - the hoof is basically a foot but also considered a hand to the people of Equestria. Effectively the fore hooves are considered both hand and foot while the rear hooves are considered to be just feet. The hoof (vernacular) itself is made up of three main parts, the upper part called the fetlock, the hoof proper which is a bony fingernail like structure wrapping around both sides and the front and finally the third part is a thick rough bulge that makes up the center and rear that the “hoof” grows around and is called the pad.
Grabbing things with the hoof is accomplished in one of three ways. First, you can wrap your hoof around an object or hook it into an opening like the handle of a mug. Second, small or thin objects can be fitted between the hoof-wall and the frog, the middle pad of the hoof. This must be done with some caution, it's a bit like holding an object by jamming it between your finger and finger-nail, too much pressure and... OUCH! Third, there is a kind of... almost magnetic... hoof-gravitation power, earth-ponies are especially good at this. I suspect that, as a pegasus, I might get decent at it... eventually. Unicorns generally don't need to be good at it because they can just use telekinesis. All ponies can use their mouths for... well, to hold just about anything really.
Both the "wall" and the "frog" of the hoof leave unique signatures behind like fingerprints.
I knew there some were more I wanted to list but this being the first time I could actually write them all down, I seem to have forgotten some of them for the moment. Ah well, I'll add to them and write them down when I remember them. As it is -indiscernible- is definitely short enough that Spike should have no trouble transcribing it if I ask him to as I mentioned earlier.
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Re-written Report: October 3rd 2012
To: The Equestrian Portal Project Authority, Sr. Administrator: Dusty Legend.
CC: The US Stellar Psychic Alien Macrocosms, Admin.: Brian Majors.
CC: My family, address on file.
CC: Myself, for my own records.
From: Cobalt Skies, Interdimensional Experiment; Subject Number: 01
This report is more for home then for Celestia or the portal authorities. Many of the holidays seem to correspond to a variety of holidays back home. I can't help but wonder why such connections would exist though. What is really weird is how many names they use that we do too. Months and days are all the same here as from back home. This leads me to believe that there are connections between this world and my home world that we have been completely unaware of thus far. For the most part, everyone I ask about (which isn’t very many considering how few know about the portal in the first place) seems to be unaware of any connection other than the portal itself.
An interesting thing to note, one "moon" is 5 days. Apparently there is never a "new" moon, there is right-crescent, right-side, full, left-side, left-crescent, and that's it. Though astronomical things are... a whole can of illogical worms I do NOT want to get into.
My own theories cannot agree with the idea of any truly parallel dimension, let alone why there would be so many similarities in a dimension that is so different. It is odd, the one thing that is the most common in fiction is the one thing that my theories dislike the most and yet here we are, with a dimension that seems so similar and yet, so different at the same time.
This brings me to another very VERY startling discovery about these people.
They call this planet, Earth.
I have some fairly startling and mind boggling theories about that. I'm being serious, my typical theories are such that nobody wants to hear them, they just stare blankly and don't want to bother with them but this is one that baffles even me, and that doesn’t happen very often.
I shall try asking somewhat about this world's history and see what I can find out.
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Dusty cringed as he read the last parts of that last report. He knew from the dates what they were approaching. When the subject had started showing signs of being too curious and too inquisitive they had opted to put a stem on the amount of free information he'd had access to. He also cringed because he knew the backlash they'd gotten for it. If only these reports had been better written to begin with they might have had more time to deal with the situation.
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Re-written Report: October 5th 2012
To: The Equestrian Portal Project Authority, Sr. Administrator: Dusty Legend.
CC: The US Stellar Psychic Alien Macrocosms, Admin.: Brian Majors.
CC: My family, address on file.
CC: Myself, for my own records.
From: Cobalt Skies, Interdimensional Experiment; Subject Number: 01
I can't get a straight answer out of ANYBODY!
I tried asking around about the world's ancient history but Twilight keeps making excuses about most of the books being unavailable because supposedly the local school has checked them all out.
I don't believe a word of it.
And that's it, real lengthy report here.
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Dusty cringed again, he now knew just how much Cobalt had been holding back in his reports. He also knew that Cobalt must still be feeling sore about it, this report was one that had not needed rewriting, so he knew that the only reason Cobalt had to rewrite it was because he'd wanted to. Dusty hoped that the sheer desire to have an excuse to rewrite this one wasn't the reason he'd rewritten the rest of them.
He’d begged and pleaded and there were reports from others that he’d done a few sneaky things to try and get the information anyway. Ms. Sparkle had actually reported that, despite the fact that he couldn’t fly he’d somehow managed to enter a restricted wing of the library from a high window. She’d had to telekinetically throw him out, which for some reason he seemed to enjoy, despite his failure, apparently taking pleasure in even a brief simulation of flight.
Later, as Dusty was aware, Twilight had put a shield around the historic sections of the library to keep Cobalt out and inform her of whenever he tried to enter. What had surprised them was that other than when he touched the thing to see "what the shiny wall was" Cobalt hadn't even bothered trying to get past it.
Despite this, the main reason why Dusty cringed this time was because he saw now the missed opportunity they’d had. Cobalt had dropped the issue but had also stopped wanting to talk about it, cutting them off from that part of himself, and his reports had become... colder, shorter, more detached. The interpretation was clear, Cobalt didn’t trust them anymore. If only his reports had been written better they could have known much earlier how serious this was. Being given mere minutes to come up with a decision was guaranteed to be much worse than if you had days or even weeks to do so.
Inwardly, Dusty even felt sorry for him. Cobalt, despite being obviously angry and having no allegiance to Equestria and they, having lost his trust, had still calmed himself and apparently had deliberately chosen to bite his tongue and bide his time rather than risk offending anypony.
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Re-written Report: October 7th 2012; 1375 FE (Founding of Equestria)
To: The Equestrian Portal Project Authority, Sr. Administrator: Dusty Legend.
CC: The US Stellar Psychic Alien Macrocosms, Admin.: Brian Majors.
CC: My family, address on file.
CC: Myself, for my own records.
From: Cobalt Skies, Interdimensional Experiment; Subject Number: 01
I got to meet Princess Luna yesterday, last night actually. I got to see the moon do a little jig, then it melted and turned into a lake on the ground.
That's right, she was in my dream. This wasn't some fantasy dream either, I was fully aware and remembered it later. I even received a letter this morning from Celestia confirming that the dream was indeed real, Princess Luna can access my mind through my dreams. Whether doing so requires me to be aware of it or not I do not know.
Trying to process all the stuff I thought of last night gives me a bit of a headache but at least it's not as bad as it was when I was seeing it happen. I admit, I went a bit crazy trying to figure it out, it's like giving an engineer a problem they can't solve with ducktape.
I made a deal with Luna, if I manage to achieve full Equestrian citizenship then I will be allowed to know about the deep history, the times before Equestria was founded. That’s the information that I was being kept from. At least now I know what the information is if I really want go looking for it, but having a deal like this seems better to me. I don't think there is anything wrong with me merely knowing something, nor do I think that knowing such would alter my thinking in such a way as to ruin why I’m here or something.
Can a deal made during a dream still be legally binding?
This is kinda bittersweet because the U.S. probably will not recognize Equestrian citizenship. So what do I do if I want to purchase land? Run a business? Get married? Will the guys back home just up and say "we don't recognize this" and... I don't know, declare it illegal or something? I know I'm in Equestria so they don't have much say here, but they do have international policies I've got to worry about.
So many legal land mines.
Though this led me to another question, why am I here? No one, not even Luna would give me a straight answer as to just why I am here, instead of some well-paid diplomat or an daring explorer or an astronaut, or a ragtag group of adventurers or something. It's just me (that I know of) and that doesn't make much sense to me.
Luna also told me of why I was sent to Ponyville (ugh, that name, I mean, come on! There's literal and then there's just pushing it) or rather, why I was sent away from Canterlot. I admit that it makes sense now that it got explained to me.
Canterlot, being the capitol of Equestria, is often visited by rich and powerful people from all around the world (usually just from neighboring countries but still) and that if any of them saw me or overheard something about where I am from it could raise some unpleasant questions or worse spark an unpleasant incident or even lead to a war of some kind or something.
The idea that I could be anyone important, even if it's just because of where I'm from makes me glad for the retreat to Ponyville, fame and fortune is pain and torture as far as I am concerned, not that I’ve ever been popular but still. I learned back in high-school that the easiest way to avoid getting stepped on is to be as invisible as possible.
It kinda makes it easier, being here. If anybody from Earth (my Earth) came through the portal they wouldn’t recognize me and I could just fade away from them without ever needing to talk to them, just another pegasus walking away from you. Of course if they knew what to look for they’d recognize my blank flank in a heartbeat.
I cried again, writing this just now when I realized that I don't even recognize my own face. I managed to hold it off better than usual this time, it only lasted for several minutes or so.
Though this brings me to another problem, Luna told me to obey all commands given to me, including the one to make friends.
She also told that I will be leaving Ponyville soon, I don't know where they're going to send me or why. I hope it isn't back through the portal. I’m sorry about how adamant I was trying to figure out about the history thing and beyond that I've done everything I can in order to obey every rule and order I've been given, even if I haven't learned how to fly yet.
That's the real cruelty, I really wanted to learn to fly but my wings are still a little well, I don't know what's holding me back, they're not
"too small", they're not "too weak", maybe I'm just too fat and out of shape. I guess that's what I get for being bred, born and raised in the third most obese state in the country. Despite my attempts to go trotting around I still haven't lost much weight nor gained much muscle. My back hurts when I run too much though, I've gotta see someone about that if I can.
This is depressing, on to another topic.
The world is governed by those with the greatest amount of magical power. Arguably, if a pegasus had enough power they wouldn't just fly, they could simply command lightning to strike and it would, they could control entire weather fronts on their own, extend their powers even beyond all that! But apparently the overall power of any pegasus is typically much less than that. Oh well, I’m not greedy, I mean, I want to fly, but ultimate power? No I just don’t care for it.
Each nation achieves stability typically through the magic of a single powerful being or source, the holder of which is also typically said nation’s ruler. Sometimes though national stability it is achieved by a court or council system, a collection of semi-powerful beings. The rulers must establish more than just cultural or national stability; they need to achieve temporal and atmospheric stability as well. The reason for this is because, apparently, the world doesn't want to live. The world they live on must be made to live, magic wants to be neutral, non-active, or otherwise doing nothing, and the rest of the world wants that too. Places of too much magic, like the Everfree Forest are too wild for most ponies or other natives, but for the rest of the world, if they want life to grow there, it's going to need some magic.
Even the day--night cycle relies on magic in order to work properly.
Typically the more peaceful and prosperous nations have either a single (hopefully benevolent) ruler that takes care of most or all the magic necessities, or have some other organization to keep things in order, using a kind of "collective magic" to keep their lands alive. In many ways Equestria follows the former, the two sisters take care of the temporal but they don’t argue and squabble over issues, they might as well be one single ruler. Some weaker or smaller nations rely on having stronger neighbors to take care of large necessities. The day-night cycle the princesses provide doesn't just affect Equestria.
While this means that many nations can seem tyrannical in nature yet I also know that several weaker beings, banding together, can and sometimes do topple more powerful leaders, creating either permanent or semi-permanent council based rulerships. This often results in a kind of balance between the power of the ruler itself and the power of the subjects. Slavery does exist, especially with beings that are either too weak or too few to manage their own escape. From what little I could glean before I was cut off from the early history books, some groups of the early pony civilizations were forced into slavery, long before Equestria was formed. In any case my information on that is sketchy at best.
Naturally, nations that can simply “get along” tend to have the most stable borderlands.
To complicate matters more, some rulers like having things be eternally dusk or always dark or always shining or whatever. Sauron would love it, or at least his orcs would. And there are plenty of other creatures and beings here, griffons and minotaurs and dragons and all sorts of beings! I wonder if they’ll let me take out a book describing the various creatures that are on this world.
In this country the most powerful beings are the alicorns. There are four Alicorns that I know of; Celestia whom I met when I first came here and multiple times since then; Luna whom I technically met when I first met Celestia but whom I never got a chance to actually talk to until last night; Princess Mi Amore Cadenza who lives in the far north known as the Crystal Empire with her non-alicorn husband who also happens to be the brother of the fourth alicorn, Miss Twilight Sparkle herself, a simple librarian.
Although, given what I know of Miss Sparkle, both her attitude and her being an alicorn, I can say one thing is still a truism, “You don’t mess with angry librarians”. :P
The alicorns are a bit of a mystery, some of them are super powerful and apparently immortal, like Celestia and Luna, while others are merely more powerful than average like Princess Cadenza (Twilight calls her Cadence for some reason). Then there is Twilight herself, not the most powerful of beings but apparently trying to discover and study “the magic of friendship” as she calls it. This might explain why she was so adamant about me following the command to make friends.
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Re-written Letter: October 13th 2012
To: The Equestrian Portal Project Authority, Sr. Administrator: Dusty Legend.
CC: The US Stellar Psychic Alien Macrocosms, Admin.: Brian Majors.
CC: My family, address on file.
CC: Myself, for my own records.
From: Cobalt Skies, Interdimensional Experiment; Subject Number: 01
Dear mom and dad,
I wanted to write this though I know my writing still isn't very legible yet, I am still practicing with this whole -indiscernible- thing.
I am sorry I haven't written much since I went through the portal, at least not directly to you but honestly, I haven't been confident enough to try until now. I hope you aren't too worried about me. Things are going well, despite all of the social differences that surround me every day here. In some ways, the people are so friendly it becomes a bittersweet reminder of my own social awkwardness while at the same time I actually do feel welcome.
Despite these things, I still have not achieved much while being here. Oh I work hard and do what they tell me to, they even pay me for sending in those reports if you can believe that. I may not have learned how to fly yet but at least I learned how to walk. That is what was causing my back problems before, I wasn’t walking right and it was straining my back.
Technically I am a quadruped but this body is MUCH more flexible than just that. As an Equestrian my body has a kind of "natural" body position and several ways in which it can move “unnaturally”. Very unlike horses and ponies from home my legs are actually thicker near the "hoof" than they are at the base. This I believe is due to the body's need for extra flexibility. In some ways, I'm more like a cat than any kind of equine.
Despite the fact that everybody here is basically equine in shape (and in their nomenclature) I find it reassuring that nobody, and I mean NOBODY grazes. It'd be as weird as a human grazing (grass is edible BTW, even back home, it’s just useless for nutrition) or something but here it is considered demeaning at best, like begging or something, only done if you are absolutely destitute and desperate for food. Everybody buys or grows their own food. Because of all the flora that are now more edible to me (Milkweed is apparently only poisonous if you eat too much of it now) I almost feel like I'm actually more omnivorous than I was before.
Mom, I know I took for granted getting certified as a Phlebotomist but I can honestly see the merits now. Not as an occupation, as a way to get me used to blood.
I believe that, due to the lack of carnivorous tendencies (they're herbivores after all) that that is the reason why there is such a high rate of hemophobia around here. Apparently about 1 out of 20 or so are quite hemophobic
While technically they are all herbivores yet there is a strange observation I have made about them that would result in some people back home definitely calling them NON-herbivores! They do eat animal matter, though not meat exactly. I know that there are some that think that milk is taboo to vegetarians but not to these guys. Milk, cheese, even butter is sold, bought and consumed here. As for being herbivores, well they’re all ponies and that makes them mammals so they’re all going to end up drinking milk sooner or later anyway.
Most startling though are the eggs. Eggs are also consumed here at least as often as they are back home. In some ways it’s like the only kinds of animal products that they’ll consume are the animal products that are meant to be consumed. With eggs this seems a stretch but it makes sense to me because the yolk and stuff IS meant to be consumed, it’s just meant to be consumed by the chick, not an outsider.
Also, I’ve already asked, despite having feathers, pegasi are born, not hatched. We’re ponies with wings, not birds with hooves.
Not that I expect it, but if we ever meet on this side you'll know me because I'm one of the few that isn't a tint or pastel. My color is something of a deep ocean blue with a white mane and tail and, both of which feature a green stripe and, as you already know by now, I’m a pegasus. My fur color is also not completely solid, near the hooves, the tip of my nose and the tips of my wings (tips of the feathers) the blue slides toward a deep amethyst.
You'll also be able to recognize me because I'm one of the few with turquoise eyes. You'd think that with so many different eye colors here (seriously, from purple to yellow, green to liquid-blue and all in-between) that there wouldn't be so much fuss over simple turquoise but apparently I remind them of some alter-ego Princess Luna used to have or something a few years ago. Apparently during her "bad-girl" days (sounds like a goth-teenager phase if you ask me) she had some really turquoise eyes or something like that.
Some of the mannerisms around town are weird. For instance, sometimes it's perfectly okay to just bury your head into your food and chow down. You should be proud that I generally don't do that. Oh I'll try just about anything once, but still, and no, before you ask, no, they don't do "breeding" or such here. They get married like any intelligent being and are generally expected to stick together that way so yeah.
It is uncanny how like us they are, as well as how different they are. I think that is one of the things that I should be a truism, nothing will startle you more than to know how different and the same they are.
There are so many things to investigate, so many buildings and places, even those that I already recognize, that still demand that I explore them... there’s even a mental hospital. I think I'll pass on that one, too many horror stories from back home of people getting locked up even when they're not really crazy. It's small though, with their abilities to see into your mind or maybe even probe into it and poke at it a little I guess most mental disabilities are relatively workable, if not curable.
It would probably be fun (if I had the time) to compare the kind of mental diseases that they have that we don't like comparing the social based mental disorders from different countries in like Japan or China or something which as I recall, don’t have Dissociative Identity Disorder. But even more interesting will be seeing what kind they DO have that we also have but that they can cure and stuff.
Humor and good feelings are very important to these people. Parties and other “feel good” kinds of activities are commonplace and sought out, even more so than back home. I'm kind of a party pooper in that regard. I don't participate as much as maybe I should but I still feel embarrassed sometimes so I just stick to my well-practiced wall-flower techniques.
Eesh, now I feel like a Naruto ninja or something, sticking to the shadows with weird sounding techniques. Speaking of which, one oddity I never got to the bottom of, just about everybody here owns a full-body black suit or something. Despite their determination to be "good" little ponies there sure are a lot of opportunities for sneaking around and stuff. Weird.
I know my name, and I know it is a good name, but it stands out WAY too much. I mean, everybody has considerably literal names, in some cases these are personally selected nicknames rather than real ones. So I have decided to come up with one. I mean honestly, Twilight Sparkle? Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash?! No parent back home would name their kids this and yet these guys see the names not as embarrassments, and not as things to flaunt either but as names, plain and simple. It's when you have a name like mine, with a meaning that isn't immediately apparent that stands out and makes me look weird.
I suspect it has to do with their cutie-marks. Apparently, when you get one, you have a special party and can change your name. It'd make sense to me if, when that tradition got started, the youngsters (you get your cutie mark when you're pretty young) started picking progressively more and more literal names for themselves. Making the practice commonplace now.
Everybody around now calls me Cobalt Skies. I like it, it gives me hope that someday I will be able to fly and it goes with my colors too.
I hope that you are well and I hope that I can hear back from you some time soon.
Sincerely
Simon Carbuncle Baker (AKA, Cobalt Skies)
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If you are reading this then you have come to the end of my re-written notes, please hit the rewind button or keep playing the tape to the end and the tape will automatically rewind, thank-you.
- - - - - - - - - -
Dusty Legend sighed as he sat back in the chair, reading through all these re-written reports had taken over two hours. Even though they had been re-written to be more legible some parts were still difficult to discern, better than they were before but still hard.
"Carbuncle" Dusty said to himself as he levitated the papers, re-wrapping them up so he could fit them back into the saddlebag. "Not a bad name, I wonder if Clear Waters would like that as the name for his new foal. Eh, I bet his wife would probably never go for it though."
Sitting back, Dusty began the arduous task of refiling these reports so they could be copied and redirected appropriately. It would be at least another day before the next report came in but Dusty didn’t want the paperwork to start piling up any more than it already would with all these new reports.
Looking up at the clock he kept on a small shelf above the desk he sighed, at least another hour before lunch. Still, that gave him the time to get these papers sorted at least and then he could get started on the real work of refiling them after lunch.
- - - - - - - - - -
Report: October 19th 2012; 1375 FE
To: The Equestrian Portal Project Authority, Sr. Administrator: Dusty Legend.
CC: The US Stellar Psychic Alien Macrocosms, Admin.: Brian Majors.
CC: My family, address on file.
CC: Myself, for my own records.
From: Cobalt Skies, Interdimensional Experiment; Subject Number: 01
As per command, I make one last report before relocating. I have spent a considerable amount of time around Ponyville trying to learn much about the culture of both of the small town and of Equestria itself.
I almost fear that this is all happening too soon. While I am anxious to get to somewhere smaller than Ponyville yet I also fear that it will limit my opportunities to learn more about Equestria and the rest of the world. I was in the middle of making another list (Spike still hasn't forgiven me for the previous one, despite how short I thought it was going to be) for terms that I feel I need to remember. I also fear that, without access to some of the materials at Twilight's library that it will be harder for me to make reports like these, she's always got the materials for writing stuff there.
I have taken the liberty of observing all of the six that went through that portal, doing so mostly as a form of curiosity as to why they were there at all. Of these six, few of them would qualify as genuine explorers of other worlds for they are each too tied to this world in one way or another. Oddly enough, it appears that the main reason why they went through was to accompany Twilight because they thought that if Twilight got cut off on the other side of the portal that she’d need them. While this kind of dedication I can definitely appreciate it still sounds reckless to me.
Eh, who am I to talk, I practically leapt through it once I got the chance.
Here are a few observations I have made about the world and about Ponyville.
-While there is an apparently high number of females (mares) to the number of males (stallions) in this town, yet this is something of an illusion. This illusion is mostly due to the ruling powers all being female. I do not feel "less" as a male for it, but I find it interesting and curious.
-Despite this, I have not found any female that “stands out to me” per se’, I guess I’m just too busy with the whole study and learning thing going to really care about such matters. If I were "in the market" as it were, I would need someone that would understand me and, thus, I fear I might be limited to someone that was also from Earth... my Earth. The most painful thing I keep running across is that I can't make one reference, no movies, no books, no television shows, no internet memes, and definitely no videogames, nothing that has come from Earth that does not also exist here can be referenced to because nobody will get the reference.
-Most of the guards and such are both stallions and monochrome and while many seem to be pegasi (with a few unicorns and even an earth pony or two) yet I have been unable to hold even short conversations with them. (Think, "British royal guard" or something) Honestly if I didn’t know better I’d say they were just golems or mobile statues (robots?!) or something. Rumor has it that the only reason why they are guards in the first place is that they are from some noble line or some warrior clan or something and the princesses have nowhere else to put them so they just stuff them all into the royal guard and let them sort themselves out. That, makes way too much sense. The guards apparently have no real skills or abilities that couldn’t be outdone by the very alicorns that they are guarding and very few earth ponies have any kind of royal or noble lines, also most unicorns are more focused on magical study than noble lines, so yeah, where would they put them all?
-Along with females, another illusion presents itself. In Ponyville, it appears that earth ponies outnumber the pegasi and unicorns by at least 10 to 1. Apparently this is also an illusion, I noticed a considerable preference for unicorns in Canterlot.
-Despite all this, the Ponyville residents all do seem to have at least one common redeeming feature. Everypony in this town is crazy. I’ll actually be a bit sorry to leave this town. :P
For some time now I've managed to hide my lack of a “cutie mark”, though I have also managed to use it to excuse myself from a few unpleasant things (like Pinkie Pie’s constant insistence that we FINALLY have a party for my arrival in Ponyville). I fear that if she keeps this up I won't be able to stop her from throwing me a party before I leave. While the right kind of party I don’t mind I really hate being center of attention and not having a cutie mark would only make things all the more awkward.
She apparently caught wind that I was leaving and made me “pinkie promise” (whatever that means) that sometime in the future I would allow her to throw a party for me.
I mention this because of another incident that happened to me. I had the unfortunate instance of running into some young fillies that immediately noticed the fact that I don't have a cutie mark. They noticed it because they are all so young that none of them have their own cutie marks either, a fact that seems to bug them incessantly.
These three fillies have formed a kind of club dedicated to finding their cutie marks and supposedly for helping others find theirs as well. Their initial reaction to seeing me was that of utter fear and nigh panic, apparently they worried that they could turn out as old as I am and still not get theirs. Their next reaction was to try and help me to get my cutie mark. I was shocked when I started hearing some of their suggestions. I can barely manage to write very well, let alone perform some of the feats they started suggesting.
I had to exaggerate and leave out many details of my life but I eventually was able to convince them that the reason why I didn’t have my cutie mark was because of how confining my home was. When I heard them talking about leaving their own homes to find their cutie marks I was shocked and I had to talk fast to head them off. I made up a history on the spot and told them that, while I could fly, my home did not allow me to do so, forcing me to stay indoors and not even use my wings. This seemed to help two of them but the third, the pegasus, didn't seem too thrilled to hear it.
This third, the pegasus of the group, cannot yet fly, which is surprising, because she can move herself and others on a scooter with enough strength that I'd expect her to be capable of flying to the moon if she wanted! I reiterated that I didn't fly because I wasn't good at it due to a lack of practice. With the mention of "practice" she seemed to perk up a little and I used that to continue steering the conversation away from what I couldn't do and towards the future... towards hope. I honestly don't remember what all I said, but I hope I left them in a better state than they were in when they saw me.
I told Twilight about all this when I made my daily check-in to write this report before returning to the inn. She seemed to take my concerns seriously but she mentioned something that surprised me. All three of those fillies have at least some kind of relation to the same six that came through that portal. Applejack is a sister to one of them as is Rarity a sister to another, and thirdly Rainbow Dash is practically idolized by that same pegasus filly that couldn’t fly yet. I am relieved that she took my concerns seriously because it means that they'll keep an eye on them to make sure they don't do anything dangerous.
All told, we seem to have lucked out, that is, I seem to have lucked out.
Tomorrow I leave for a small farmstead to the west that has agreed to take me on for the winter while I'm still adjusting. I guess this makes sense, I can't keep dodging everypony forever. I have a lot to learn and I need more time to do it. The farmstead is closer to the portal facility than Ponyville is.
As much as I don’t think I’ll like moving at least they're not sending me back through the portal. There's really nothing for me over there other than my family I guess. I have written to them again before leaving but I haven't told them even a fraction of everything I've learned since I got here. I might need to go over it all again just to make sure I remember everything!
I have to go now, it's late and I need to get to sleep so I can start (trying) to pack up tomorrow, not that I have anything worth packing really but still.
- - - - - - - - - -
Cobalt slowly returned the quill to its place next to the bottle of ink and replaced the bottle's lid. He was tired and breathed slowly as he rested his eyes a bit, they were nearly as sore as his right foreleg was, the latter from the long report and the former from staying up so late. It was nearly a minute later when he slid from the stool and bid Twilight and the rest of her crew goodnight before leaving.
The walk back to the inn was fairly short and the dark meant it would be easier to prevent people from staring at his blank flank. The inn keeper didn't like it when Cobalt came in late but as it was he didn't care much at the moment, he was too tired. Cobalt slunk past the inn keeper's front desk and rose up the stairs toward his room where he promptly went about the night's ritual of getting ready for bed.
As he began drifting away to sleep he found himself thinking aloud…
"I am a pegasus in the magical land of Equestria, and one day I am going to fly."
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As I read this, I can't help but feel this would've benefitted from a little more world building before it got to the letters. The letters could happen in the first chapter still, but they really ground everything to a hault for me, because I couldn't decern why I should care emotionally about them. They are effective, but it's all exposition and exposition alone doesn't make a story.
I don't mean to be harsh, and I hope that helps.