The Thirteenth Day (The Unlucky News)
I opened up my eyes. I darted around in a panic. After all, the last thing I remembered was my body hurtling toward the ground at high speeds. But instead of me hurtling towards the ground, I was in a familiar looking room filled with many different looking books. It was a room that filled me with a sense of nostalgia...or at least it felt familiar in an indirect sense. This is where Twilight spent a good amount of her time studying, learning and discovering different aspects of friendship.
And yet at the same time I knew that those memories were completely foreign to me and that this was from the mind of someone else. It was strange seeing this room as both a warm and inviting place and also a place I had never been to before. I was starting to understanding Twilight more and more and I had the feeling she was starting to understand me the same way.
Speaking of Twilight, I looked around to try and see where she was at. As if hearing my mental wish, Twilight appeared in front of me in a burst of light. I yelped a bit at seeing someone appearing in front of me. Sure, I had just learned how to that same technique but seeing it be performed in front of me was still a sight to behold.
Twilight turned around to look at me. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry if I startled you.”
“Ah...no no, it’s alright. I’m not hurt or anything.” I responded. “Though I'm still a little shook up from what happened. I was so certain I was gonna get hurt. What happened? I knew I was falling to the ground after that teleport went haywire but after that I have nothing.”
“Well, I realized you were in danger and I stepped in to help.” Twilight explained.
“Whoa, did you take over my body or something?” I asked defensively.
“Ah! N-no no, nothing like that!” Twilight exclaimed. “No, it was more like, I poured my power into you in order to save us both. I didn’t realize that getting exposed to that much magic would make you start teleporting around like crazy.”
I thought back to before that situation occurred. I had gotten exposed to that crystal that Julius had on him and then I got whisked away to different parts of the facility before getting flung into the sky. I’m just glad that I was apparently unharmed. It’s either that or this is a really weird purgatory.
My thoughts shifted to magic in a more general sense. I didn’t want my magic going haywire again, so I would need to get it under control. I have Twilight here so maybe I could talk to her about how to use magic. She IS a magical unicorn and all.
“Say Twilight,” I began. “I was wondering...could you possibly teach me some magic? I only learned some basic things about magic and I would like to know more.”
Twilight eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree. “Oh gosh, I would love to!” Twilight beamed as she waltzed over to go grab a book off one of the bookshelves.
She levitated it over and dropped it unto the table with an audible slam. The weight of the book caused the table to shake ever so slightly, causing me to hesitate a bit. I kinda felt like I just opened Pandora's box and now I was in for a whole lecture about magic.
“Alright, let’s get started!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Aha, alright then!.” I chuckled awkwardly.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Twilight mercifully only grilled me on the basics of magical spells and magic technique since she knew I was a complete novice when it came to magic.
“There’s a lot more I’d like to teach you but given that I’ve been studying magic for years, we can just leave it at the basics for today.” Twilight nodded.
“Funny, usually when I’m in class in my dreams it’s always because there’s a test I’m supposed to be taking that I haven’t studied for.”
“Oh my gosh, you get those dreams too!? Ugh, those ones are the absolute WORST!” Twilight yells.
“Uh, yeah. The worst.” I played along. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know about that giant fossil we encountered when I was blinking around like crazy?”
“Hmm, well, I can safely say that it wasn’t an alicorn I readily recognize. The body shape wasn’t like Celestia or Luna. Er, that is my Celestia or Luna. I realize that James might be different from the Luna I’ve known. But no, this alicorn looked to be bigger than either Celestia or Luna.” She explained.
I nodded. There was still a lot I didn’t know, but I knew that whatever was going on, that fossil was the epicenter of everything. I knew deep down that if I learned more about that thing, I’d be able to answer all the questions that have been hounding me since this all began. I needed to ask a lot of questions and I know who exactly I needed to talk to.
“I’m gonna talk to Franklin and make him tell me about all the things related to that fossil.” I proclaimed with a firm nod.
“That sounds good. Just remember the most important thing.” Twilight said.
“And that is?” I replied.
“The strongest magic is friendship!” Twilight exclaimed.
I sat there in silence for a solid three seconds before throwing myself unto the floor. “Really? You gotta admit, that’s pretty cheesy.”
Twilight giggled. “Maybe to you, but it’s the truth all the same.” She trotted over to me and offered up a hoof to me.
“Well, at least I can say that your friendship has been pretty great at least.” I smiled as I grabbed her hoof and she pulled me up and-
I woke up.
The Thirteenth Day
I was definitely not back in my normal room. In fact, I looked to be in an office of some sort. It was actually an office I remember seeing before. The memories came flooding back of me teleporting around and I jumped into an office that looked just like this. I remember seeing Franklin there and looking none too happy that I just happened to appear on his desk.
I had a feeling I would get to have that conversation with Franklin a lot sooner than I had expected given that I was now inside his domain. I pulled myself up from the makeshift cot that I was placed on and looked around the room. It was a pretty fancy looking office with a very expensive looking desk complete with a name plate and everything.
There was a shelf next to the desk with several different pictures on it. One was a picture of Franklin smiling for the cover of a big magazine and another showed him shaking hands with a former president. I looked and saw yet another one that seemed to feature him and what I presumed was his family. However, the picture that stood out to me however was the frame that was purposefully placed face down. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to lift it up to see what was being hidden.
I lifted it up to see a picture of Franklin standing right next to another man. Both of them were smiling and wearing sharp looking suits. I remember seeing the face of the other man before but I couldn’t place a hoof as to where I had seen it. I racked my brain for a minute or so before shaking my head in frustration. I couldn’t seem to figure it out so I just put it on the back burner for now.
I placed the picture back down and looked around the room some more. There was a laptop sitting on the desk currently on the lock screen and next to it was a file filled with documents and papers. The label on the folder had...my name on it! He must have been looking at stuff related to me. I wanted to open the folder, but a series of footsteps approaching made me rethink my idea. I moved over back towards the cot just in time for the door to open.
Sure enough, it was Franklin coming in. He saw me awake and moved over to greet me. “Ah, you’re awake Penn. How is everything?” He asked.
“Ah...I’m fine.” I say neutrally. “I suppose I have you to thank for getting this sleeping cot out for me?”
“Yes, I had the staff bring that up for you.” Franklin explained as he took a seat at his desk. “You caused us all a bit of a scare when our cameras caught sight of what happened. Still you exhausted a lot of energy with that last teleport so we were concerned with what had happened to you. But it seems you’re just fine.”
“Yeah. I am.” I say moving over to the chair directly across from Franklin. “So, I’ve got a few questions for you and I want them answered.” I state bluntly. I wasn’t in the mood for any of Franklin’s sidestepping today.
“You mean that fossil you found during your ‘trip’ around the facility?” Franklin responds, unfazed by my direct questioning.
“Ah...yes, that’s exactly what I wanted to talk about.” I shook my head slightly. I wasn’t expecting things to go this smoothly when talking about him.
“Well, given what you’ve seen, I don’t see any reason to keep the truth from you any longer.” Franklin explained, his face taking on a somber expression. “That fossil you saw in there was something one of my companies discovered several years ago. It was obviously a stunning surprise for everyone involved when it was found. An equine creature from millions of years ago that looks similar to a unicorn? That alone would have been an amazing find.” Franklin clasps his hands together and looks away momentarily before continuing.
“However, there was more to that fossil than we had anticipated. We found an energy emanating from it that was unlike anything we had ever seen. It was some kind of unknown radiation, though not a dangerous type like normal nuclear radiation. It was a type of energy with functions and properties that our scientists had never seen before. Though, you probably know it better as ‘Magic.’” He admitted.
I finally had heard it from the mouth of the head guy himself. I always had a feeling in the back of my mind that Franklin must have had something magical at his disposal given what had happened to everyone but it was finally nice to hear it from the man himself. I turned my focus back on Franklin as he continued.
“Now, you’re probably wondering how this fossil’s magic comes back to you and the vaccine. Well, in our research we had come across a property of the fossil that allowed for amazing regenerative properties. It was able to accomplish things in the medical field that people could only dream of before. So, when the world started to fall victim to a new deadly virus, we felt it necessary to try and get this vaccine out and help the world deal with this crisis.”
Franklin typed something up on his computer and continued his story. “You remember me telling everyone at the meeting that this went through animal trials with horses, correct?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I figured that might have something to do with why some of the patients were turning into ponies.”
Franklin shakes his head. “It’s partially connected, but probably not in the way you’re thinking. We did those trials with the horses and things went very well, though there were minor side effects.” Franklin looks back to his laptop and then turns the screen towards me so I can see the image being displayed on there.
I take a look and at first glance it seems to be an ordinary horse. However, Franklin zooms in on the face and I can see the difference. The horse had a change in eye color, just like the patients who took the vaccine. I looked over the image for a solid minute before turning back to Franklin.
“So the vaccine worked, but it caused a side effect of eyes changing color?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. We suspected it might have something to do with the inherent nature of how magic worked and the fact that both the fossil and the test subject looked similar biologically. However, we figured that even if the eye color change would crop up in humans, it was a small price for getting cured of the virus. The horses had no other biological hang ups so everything was approved for human trials. But as you can see, that part didn’t go so well.” He finished.
“Okay, that answers one question but I have another.” I retort.
“Shoot.”
“Where did the fossil come from? It doesn’t seem likely it originated from Earth, so do you know where that alicorn comes from?” I asked.
“Hmm, you’re pretty perceptive. Yes, this creature was not from Earth. Where it comes from exactly is another mystery entirely. Normal archaeological techniques are ill-equipped to handle winged unicorns. However, we’ve speculated that this being might have had a power similar to teleporting but used it to cross into different dimensions.”
“D-different dimensions!?” I replied, baffled at where this conversation had gone.
“Yes. I know it sounds far fetched but we built this on top of the things we were able to deduce from the objects we found along with the creature itself. Whatever this creature was, we know it was intelligent and thinking like us.” Franklin moved back to his computer.
“And how do you know that exactly?” I asked.
Franklin grinned as he turned his screen back towards me once again to show off another image he had dug up. “We found something else that got preserved with the fossil. Namely, we found a book bag and inside it was a journal written in a language that doesn’t correspond to any Earth language.”
“That’s...wow.” I stood there, dumbfounded at the revelation. “So, have you had any luck translating it?”
Franklin shook his head. “No, as I said before it doesn’t really correspond to any known Earth language. We were able to catalogue a character set but we’ve been stuck trying to figure the language out and since we’re now caught up in the vaccine, the translation ended going to the backburner.”
“Ah, I see.” My ears droop in disappointment.
“There’s...one other thing I want to discuss with you. It’s in regards to your little fiasco.” Franklin explained, shifting to a much more serious tone.
“I’m guessing I’m in trouble and you’re looking to punish me, huh?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Punish you? No. No, I wouldn't do that. But your problem did cause some trouble though not in the way you think.” Franklin explained as he hooked his laptop to the TV behind him.
As the computer’s display was mirrored up there, he pulled up a news story. The first frame of the entire thing caused my heart to skip a beat. It showed a short video of me as I was falling outside of the facility shortly before I had teleported back inside. Unlike other shaky cam affairs with “bigfoot” and other such found footage, I was actually very clear and visible, though from somewhat far away. The headline “IT’S RAINING HORSES?” was emblazoned below.
“People saw me falling?” I muttered in disbelief.
“Yeah, they did. I’ve been trying to hold back the media as I knew that could devolve into a massive quagmire if they saw talking ponies, but it seems the cat’s out of the bag on that one.” Franklin sadly explained. He didn’t even seem mad at me, just frustrated with the general situation.
He sighed and scratched the back of his head. “Now people have been hounding me with legal actions and at this point, I’m not sure if I can hold everyone off. I know I probably haven’t been the best host for all the patients, but I fear of what exactly might happen if other people get a hold of you in this current climate of fear and paranoia.”
I felt something churn inside my stomach. I didn’t want to think about what the outside world might think about me and my friends, but now it seems I have no choice but to face that problem now.
I sighed and looked back up at Franklin. “What’s going to happen to me and my friends?” I asked.
“Well, we’re working on that. You’re still on schedule with observations for one more week and then theoretically you should be able to be released. We’ve got no reason to keep you here after the observation period since the ponification isn’t deadly nor is it contagious. However, thanks to this wrinkle...well, let’s just say that things have gotten significantly more complicated.” Franklin let out a heavy sigh as he closed the news story and shut down his computer.
Franklin then turned toward me. “I’ll explain what exactly has been going down. Shortly after that story broke, there have been calls to expose what we're doing here to the public and the primary effort is being led by a man named Hayden Argus. He used to be a business associate of mine but we had disagreements about how to use the fossil and we broke ties. It’s something that I don’t think he’s been able to let go since he’s been doing everything in his power to shut us down and take over.”
Franklin pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. “And now I’m afraid he might have been given the ammo he needed to get his wish. He’s tried some underhanded tactics to try and get the edge on me. He was on the news a few days ago attacking our company and pushing for us to reveal everything.”
“A news report, huh? Wait…” I suddenly realized something major after hearing Franklin talk. The person in the photo he had placed face down...it was the same man Franklin was talking about! I had seen him on the news before! Things were now falling into place.
“Is he that guy in the photo you have facing down?” I asked.
“Heh, snooping around the office?” Franklin said in a joking matter. “Yeah, he and I used to be close business partners but we clearly had different philosophies in regards to what to do with that fossil we found. But I’ve already gone on about that. If I know Hayden, he’s not going to stop until he gets what he wants.”
I furrowed my brow and sat up. “Alright, can you answer another question?”
“Yeah?” He responded.
“How long was I out asleep? I felt like I had slept a lot given how...groggy I felt.” I said. The real reason it felt so long was because I had gotten an entire crash course on magic from Twilight without waking up so it felt longer than I had expected.
“Well, you were asleep all day yesterday and for a while today.” Franklin explained.
“Wait, WHAT!?” I exclaimed, realizing that I had slept through an entire day.
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10368295
Don't Asian mythologies see alicorns as evil?
A new chapter, huzzah! It almost corresponds with the Discord PONID one too. Always excited for more chapters. That skeleton brings up a lot of questions...
Hmmm, most of the conspiracy is revealed. Wonder what happened to the horses?
How convenient someone see able to get a clear shot at a surprise event like that. Almost like someone is trying to spy on them...
Wonder if Twilight could be brought out to the conscious and provide insight on that Journal...
Keep going! ;)
So from what Twilight said, I’m thinking that the fossil is either a Fausticorn, or some original alicorn with power over dimensional magics.
I also expect Twilight to help translate that journal, teaching the language to Penn.
Ah, so you think it might Olde Ponish? Ie would make sense.