• Published 23rd Dec 2014
  • 8,904 Views, 410 Comments

The Equestrian Chronicle - Souldrainr



Slain by his best friend, Andrew Detmer now finds himself in a world of myths and legends made reality. A world where the Apex predator of Earth is but a candle compared to the raw power held by the dragons and almost god-like entities of Equestria.

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Chapter 6

“Andrew!?” Twilight yelled, as if scolding a foal, “get away from the window before they start throwing things! And why did you mess with the spell!?"

Ignoring both the advice and question, the curious human took a moment instead to peer out at the crowd. Dozens of ponies were yelling over each other incomprehensibly, a few seemed excited, most were visibly angry. There were several guards along the front and sides making sure they didn't get out of hand. Looking back at the lavender unicorn he replied with a shrug, “honestly, I just wanted to see what would happen.”

Twilight rolled her eyes dismissively. With a glow of her horn, a notepad and quill popped into existence before her. She had to admit, the shields reaction was definitely noteworthy and she just had to put it to paper while the details were still fresh in her mind.

Celestia observed the exchange silently. Curious or not, the fact that he could negate magic with such ease, as well as his apparent telekinetic strength, was cause for concern. She cleared her throat to get all eyes on her. “Well Andrew, see to it that you keep your curiosity in check. It was difficult enough for my guards to keep the spectators in control before they saw an alien at the window. Let us wait until they disperse and my carriage is prepared. I believe it would be for the best to take you to the Castle for the time being.”

Luna frowned, “Are you sure about that Tia? Shouldn't our priority be to make Andrew as comfortable as possible as he adapts to our world? Wouldn't the castle be too confining and the residents... hostile... towards him? In Ponyville however, I know first-hoof how quickly the locals can get used to newcomers. Why, they even welcomed me with open hooves shortly after I terrorized them as Nightmare Moon! That is not something we can expect from the city, least of all for an alien such as him. And we mustn't forget about Twilight Sparkle, who is arguably more qualified to study his abilities than any Unicorn we have at the castle."

"We can even do our tests safely at the edge of the Everfree!" Twilight added earnestly.

"Come on Princess! He'll be safe with us!" Rainbow dash pleaded. She straightened her back and took a pose that emanated confidence, "we're the elements of harmony after all!"

The alabaster alicorn shifted her gaze between her sister, her pupil, Rainbow Dash, and the human in question. Unsure of the situation. Her sister seems to be confident that Andrew means no harm... and she did come to such a conclusion after having a look into his very mind, despite being reticent about her findings. For now perhaps, she could make do in placing her trust in her sister's decision. "Very well," she stated, "I shall allow Andrew residence here in Ponyville for the time being. He is to stay in Golden Oaks Library with Twilight. I shall make arrangements for the delivery of goods that will satisfy his dietary needs as soon as possible."

"Yes!" Rainbow exclaimed silently with a celebratory hoof pump.

"And Twilight," the princess continued, "I expect a report detailing all tests conducted, their results, and what you can conclude from them on a weekly basis. My sister and I may be able to add to your findings should you come across anything me may have knowledge of. Besides acclimating him to Equestria, our top priority should be finding the origin of his powers, seeing as such a thing is supposed to be impossible on his world." Twilight, Andrew, are you both satisfied with these terms?"

"Yes," Twilight said with a smile and nod, eager to please her mentor. "I won't let you down."

"I guess," Andrew stated nonchalantly, seemingly preoccupied with his thoughts.

Celestia nodded. "Then it is decided. Andrew, do you have any further questions?"

The Human opened his mouth, only to immediately close it again in thought. ”...If everything on this planet is supposed to be magical, doesn't that include everything that's alive too?” He didn’t give her a chance to respond before continuing, “doesn’t that pretty much make me immune to any disease? Wouldn't that also..." he paused, putting his hand to his head. "Do any of you feel that?” he asked, only to receive looks of confusion that slowly turned to concern. “Do you really not feel that?” He repeated. Something was wrong, the air was... He couldn't adequately describe it, the closest thing he could think of was the feeling of being watched, yet knowing that your were alone.

Celestia frowned, perplexed by his sudden uneasiness. “Andrew, everything is fine, perhaps this is just some sort of side effect of your power.” She suggested.

“Oh dear... I suppose stealth is meaningless to Andrew boy here,” quipped a voice coming from the bed.

Everyone looked at the bed expectantly, moments later an antler poked out from under the covers, followed by none other than the head of the spirit of chaos himself. He brought out his paw and claw to grasp at the covers, looking like a colt that had just snuggled into bed. “Heeellooo everypony, or body, whichever you prefer really. I just wanted to drop by and give our little guest a friendly welcome from one being of chaos to another."

Andrew narrowed his eyes at the draconequus, Celestia doing the same, though to him instead.

“Explain.” They both ordered in unison.

He wasn’t too concerned about how Discord managed to get into his bed without anyone noticing. Being the god of chaos, there was no doubt he could do things that couldn't be explained, let alone the fact that he didn't really know what magic was even capable of. There was something else about him that caught his attention, It was the same feeling as before, but it felt almost like it was coming directly from Discord. He took a mental note to ask about that later. For now, however, he was more concerned about what Discord had called him as, a fellow being of chaos...

The god gave the pair a toothy grin. "Well, what's to explain? Surely Andrew boy here has given you all insight into the workings of his race? Sure, they don't have as refined a taste as I, nor are they very chaotic individually for the most part, but as a whole, when it comes to pure, unadulterated calamity, they put me to shame. But enough about that, I'm sure I am not the only one wondering how in Equestria you could sense my presence."

All eyes were on Andrew, as if that question was somehow important. Still, he wasn’t sure how to explain it. But he tried his best to explain what he felt, he wanted to understand it just as much as they did after all.

“I see,” The white alicorn nodded. “And did you sense anything at all from my sister and I?”

The human shrugged, “No… I've never felt anything like it before or after getting my powers."

Discord gave a small chuckle. “Oh, I suppose that makes you quite special doesn’t it?” He commented. "Not even the princesses can do that.” He mocked as he slithered out of the bed and stood up.

“And why is that?” Andrew asked, trying to ignore the mismatched amalgamation of animal parts he was looking at. He was intrigued at the idea that the princesses of this world could apparently move the sun and moon but couldn’t .

“Because,” Luna began, “everypony has a certain magical signature that is unique to them. Through the use of scrying spells one can search for nearly anypony. Though the spell’s downside is that the mana consumed is exponentially proportional to the range of the spell. Discord’s signature, however, is constantly changing and shifting, making it impossible to track.”

“Changing chaotically!” Discord stated.

Luna sighed, “sure Discord, changing chaotically,” She corrected mockingly.

"Ok," Andrew replied, grasping his chin in thought. “and I’m guessing you already checked me for this signature thing?”

“I checked you this morning,” Twilight pointed out, “I just pulled a hair from your arm and scanned it since you dermal shield wouldn't let me scan you directly.”

“Weird though," the human commented. "I never knew that my force field worked without me actually trying to use it.”

Twilight scrunched up her nose in thought. "Hmm, you said that you acquired your powers, which means you weren’t born with them," Twilight's eyes visibly dilated, a frightening smile spreading across her face. "Maybe this shift from an active to a passive effect is the result of your subconscious adapting to and understanding it, and then instinctively taking advantage of its defensive capabilities. And you said you've only had it for a few months, so if this theory is correct, then who knows what it could grow to beco-mph”

Twilight was interrupted when her lips mashed themselves together and refused to obey her attempts at speech. She splayed her ears back and blushed in embarrassment, fully aware of her to-be rant.

”OK ok, I get it,” Andrew asserted as he let go of the mares lips. Her explanation made perfect sense as far as he was concerned. He knows he hadn't reached the limit of what he was capable of; assuming there was any at all. Maybe these experiments could help figure out a way to unlock some sort of latent potential? It was worth a try at least. He glanced over at Discord, who had been oddly quiet thus far. He was still sporting his mischievous grin, as if entertained by what was transpiring before him.

"Well then," Celestia began, "It is about time that Luna and I return to the castle. We shall alert you should anything of importance occur, and we expect as much in return. I recommend waiting until nightfall to return home to avoid as much unnecessary attention as possible. I will have word with Mayor Mare about about organizing some sort of event to formally introduce Andrew to the town. If he is going to be living here, he shouldn't need to be in hiding any longer than necessary. Most of the crowd don't seem to be pleased with Andrew's appearance, so I will also have several guards staying in Ponyville for the foreseeable future. At least until we can be certain that nopony means him any harm."

"Don't worry Princesses, We'll take care of him!" Rainbow assured.

"We are certain you will." Celestia replied happily.

As the princesses made their way out the door, Luna paused and looked back at the Human. He was clearly deep in thought, oblivious to his surroundings.

----------Golden Oaks Library: 9:00pm----------

Wide-eyed and silent with awe, Andrew looked around in amazement. His mind denied the possibility of what awaited him when he initially saw the structure, yet here was inside an actual home that doubled as a library forged from a hollowed out Oak tree. "How!?" He exclaimed, looking quizzically around at the beige walls indented with several bookshelves. "How did you even get this thing to grow so huge? How is it not dead!? Why do you... live in a library?” Once stricken with awe, his expression quickly degraded into one of confusion.

"Magic, magic, and why not? Twilight answered gleefully as she closed the door behind the human. "Like i said before, so long as your up for it, we can begin those tests first thing in the morning, starting with some practical applications at the edge of the Everfree Forest before moving on to the complicated stuff in my lab. That's where we can try and figure out what makes your powers tick, first things first though, I need to actually observe you using it."

Andrew nodded wordlessly, still admiring the living building, pink walls aside. According to Celestia, he is to try his best to familiarize himself with this world while working with Twilight to study the root of his powers. Of course, he had no qualms with this arrangement seeing as he was already interested in what this world held, let alone his powers.

Hearing footsteps coming from the second floor, Andrew looked at the top of the steps to find a small, purple, bipedal lizard wobbling it's way down the steps. It was looked directly at him through slitted pupils within emerald irises. Twilight had mentioned having a dragon assistant named Spike. Though as the drake hobbled his way over to the pair, his hopes of seeing a full fledged dragon sank further and further until Spike got right in front of him, coming up to barely knee height.

"So, you must be the alien I've heard so much about," the baby dragon stated, looking up at the human unblinkingly.

"And you must be the mighty dragon of Ponyville I was told about," Andrew replied, only slightly sarcastic in tone.

Spike closed his eyes and hummed thoughtfully before turning to Twilight with an approving nod, "ok, you can keep him," he stated before promptly making his way back to the stairs.

Twilight followed him with her eyes for but a moment before calling out, “Wait!"

At this the baby dragon paused and swiveled around on one heel.

"Aren’t you going to ask where he came from!?" She asked, sounding almost desperate. "Or what he is!? How he got here!?” How could you act so calm when you have a live alien in your house!?

“Really Twi…? Seriously?" Spike asked before beginning to count with his claws. "One, you stopped a maniacal mare from plunging Equestria into never ending darkness, something that only Celestia had done before. Two, you successfully defeated the spirit of Chaos, something that took both princesses to do. And let's not forget Sombra." He grinned slightly at that, "though it was kinda me at the end there that saved the day. I live with one of the elements of harmony for crying out loud, the only thing that could possibly surprise me at this point is if you suddenly sprouted wings, as if that would ever happen.”

Twilight stared at Spike’s back as he continued on his path to the second floor, a bemused expression on her face.

"Please tell me dragons get bigger than that..." Andrew pleaded.

Still focusing on spike making his way to bed, Twilight's ear twitched at Andrew’s voice, she rolled her eyes before replying, "VERY much so. And considering the rulers of the major kingdoms are more than likely going to hold some sort of meeting here in Equestria at some point in the coming weeks due to your appearance, you're probably going to be able to see first-hoof just how big they can get.

'Hand', he mentally corrected. While amusing at first, these puns were beginning to get annoying. "Fair enough,” the human responded. If he still hadn't read about them by then, he wouldn’t mind the surprise of meeting a real, full-sized dragon. He began to feel the same uneasiness from before, a shiver made it's way down his spine. Alerting him to the arrival of a certain someone. He shook the sensation away, “He’s here again…”

“Hm? Who is?” Twilight replied.

“Who else? Who is the only person that I can for some inexplicable reason, tell when their near?”

“Discord?”

“Yes…”

An audible THUMP was heard, coming from the kitchen.

Making their way over to the room in question the pair found the refrigerator wide open, inside it, sure enough, was a tangled draconequus. Discord was coiled around himself, his head squeezed in between his thigh and the bottom. He was stuck...

Discord looked at them pleadingly. “Umm, could I get a little help here?”

The human and unicorn shared a look before the draconequus was engulfed in lavender and levitated out of the fridge before being plopped onto the kitchen floor.

As he was placed down Discord immediately compressed himself like a spring and uncoiled himself, somehow now sporing a lab coat and holding a beaker. Craning his neck forwards until his face was eye-level with the human. “Thank you for that dear,” he began “now how soon can we do we start practicing Human 101!?”

Twilight gave him a quizzical look. “We don’t start the tests until tomorrow, if that’s what you mean.” She narrowed her eyes. ”That can’t be the only reason you’re here though.”

Discord bright his arms to his chest, as if accused of a crime and looked down at the unicorn. “Oh come now Twilight! A god of chaos can’t visit his FRIEND’S home just to say hello!?”

“No!” She replied sharply.

“Oh that hurts…” Discord said with a grimace, “although you are most definitely correct, after a little talk with Celestia I managed to get her to call off half a dozen of her guards that were going to be stationed here in exchange for me. Andrew!" he took a modest bow and materialized a foam sword in his claw hand, promptly extending the blade to the air. "Consider me your full time body guard and watcher. After all, I am just as interested in your... talent as everybody else, so I get to have a front row seat alongside Twilight while we figure it out!"

“Great..." Andrew stated with a yawn, covering his mouth. "We can deal with all this in the morning."

Twilight yawned immediately after, “agreed, let me go get the guest bed, are you ok with sleeping in the living room?”

“Mhm,” the human murmured.

Discord rolled his eyes and sighed heavily “you mortals and your sleep… Very well then, I will return first thing in the morning, for SCIENCE!” He exclaimed before teleporting away with pop.

Andrew remained standing in the kitchen for a moment, He wanted to see if he could try and feel for Discord's presence again, but didn't even know where to start so he perished the thought immediately. Making his way back to the living room,he found Twilight adjusting a mattress against a corner. The bed was twin sized, light blue, with equally colored sheets and a single white pillow. He supposed it was roughly the same size as his old bed.

"Sorry about this," Twilight began, "the guest bedroom is a mess at the moment. I'll have spike clean it up tomorrow and you can start sleeping in there."

"Ugh, sure. That's fine," he replied. Twilight turned off the lights and made her way up the stairs, her horn shining the way with violet light.

Halfway up the stairs she looked over her shoulder and called out, "good night Andrew!"

"Umm, yeah," he replied weakly. "Night..." Twilight gave him a smile and continued on her way, disappearing from view. He was alone again...

He put his arms behind his head, pulled a half dozen random books from their respective shelves, and began twirling them in a spinning ring above himself as he let his mind wander. How exactly did Luna enter his mind If his power is supposed to somehow cancel out magic? He remembered clearly how he kicked her out with minimal effort on his part. He would need to remember to ask her when he had the chance.

And what about this Celestia figure? He could understand not trusting him, he was an alien after all, let alone the fact that Luna was hiding something about him from her. That alone is cause for suspicion. He could even understand keeping him under guard here in Ponyville for a few weeks. Definitely much better than how humans would treat a talking pony that's for sure...

From the way she acts alone he would never have guessed that she was anything less than benevolent. The way she speaks, to the way she looks just screams 'good'. And then she's supposed to be able to move the very sun itself! If that was supposed to be true then what could possibly have prevented her from defeating Discord and Chrysalis herself? For that matter what the hell do they have against the Changelings? What did they do to deserve mass starvation? Did she personally make sure that all of Equestria come to hate changelings? Jesus Christ, the more he thought about all of this, the worse the princess seemed.

Andrew stopped rotating the ring of books and proceeded to shove them back into any random shelve that they happened to fit in. He was in the same clothes as before, and so chose to forgo using the sheets as it was quite warm enough without them. He shifted himself, now lying on his right shoulder, facing the stairs.

"What the hell am I doing here?" He whispered as he shut his eyes.

Author's Note:

Changeling master race