A Stranger to the World

by Perceptive Key

A Field Day

Chapter Eleven
A Field Day

Alex had finally been able to relax, nearly seven hours since he first began his attempts. Sleep was slowly beginning to overtake him, and R.E.M. wouldn't be too far behind.

*BLAM*

Alex's head whipped around. "What was that?" he thought aloud. He was thrown off by the fact that he was standing in an infinite white room.

*BLAM*

The burst sounded like it was coming from a gun.

*BLAM* *BLAM*

Two more shots followed in rapid succession, and Alex searched for the noise.

"I'd say that I was surprised to see you, but that would be a false statement. Wouldn't it, Mister Harper?"

Alex turned in search of the voice, but was now greeted by some other physical location. He walked forward, stepping toward the tall, white, sectioned rows of a firing range. As he walked, dirt manifested on the ground and crunched under the combat boots that he was suddenly wearing, but he paid it no mind as he continued his approach. Walls began to form and the metal structures surrounded the room. Alex looked around. He recognized this place.

A tall man in a red suit with black pinstripes stood at one of the stations, holding a pistol out at a wooden target shaped like Princess Celestia. He fired off a couple rounds into the head portion and asked, "This place look familiar, eh?" Devilin turned to look at Alex without removing the pistol from its angle. He fired more shots, each of them finding their mark in the wood.

"Yeah..." Alex said like he was half awake, "this was the range that my dad would take me to..."

"Where you learned to fire twelve rounds out a of a bolt-action in ten seconds?" Devilin asked with a smirk before turning his attention back to the Celestia cutout. "Target practice is quite fun when you shoot those whom you despise," he mused, then emptying another four rounds into the image. He set the firearm down on the table straightened his tie. "Now! On to business. How are you liking your new accommodations so far?"

"You mean the room or this reality?" Alex questioned.

"Either. I really don't care, I just felt like asking something so that I could dismiss it like a used tissue."

"Yippie for you."

Devilin cleared his throat, "I understand that this pony, Witt, asked if you wanted to live or die, correct?"

"Why the sudden subject change?" Alex asked, giving him a suspicious glance.

"Just answer the question."

Alex walked past Devilin and stopped at another one of the firing stations, picking up the, ironically placed, Colt pistol. He felt the weapon and checked the magazine, sliding it back in and chambering the bullet. He fired a couple shots in the direction of the Celestia target, but each of the bullets missed their mark. "Yeah," he finally replied, "he did. What about it?"

"I want to tell you to stay away from him," Devilin walked up behind him, clasping his hands behind his back.

"Why?" Alex asked, taking another shot and missing, again. "You think he's going to teach me how I can get rid of you?"

"No."

"Kill you?" Alex elaborated.

"Definitely not."

"Then what?" Two more failed shots. "Damn it." He turned back to look at Devilin, keeping the gun aimed at the target.

Devilin sighed. "I know that he's going to help kill you."

Alex pulled the trigger in surprise and heard the wood splinter as the bullet made contact with the cutout. He looked back at the Celestia cutout, expecting to see a small hole in the wood. What he saw shocked him. Instead of the Princess of the Sun, there was a small hole that tore right between the eyes of his own image. Alex dropped the gun on the table, "What the hell?"

"Now, that was unexpected," Devilin said, genuinely surprised.

"Why did you do that?" Alex, full of rage, turned on him quickly.

"For once, that wasn't me," Devilin stared at the image, copying Alex's confused expression.

"I find that very hard to believe!"

"It's your subconscious!" Devilin said in defense.

"This is coming from a guy that's been screwing with me, lately," Alex shot back. "Now, I don't know what your problem is, but-

"WAKE UP SLEEPING BEAUTY!!!"

"Holy shit!" Alex shouted as he fell of the side of his bed, landing in an uncomfortable heap on the floor. "What is it, now?" he groaned in pain. A loud voice echoed in his eardrums, possibly deafening him for a couple seconds. He expected Witt or that pink pony

A multi-formed horse/deer/goat head with misshaped yellow and red eyes poked around the top of the bed and smiled jovially. "Ah! You're awake!"

"Who the hell are you?" Alex asked sleepily. "And why are you waking me up?"

The creature gave a throaty chuckle, "I am Discord. Spirit of disharmony and chaos, former enemy to the Equestrian crown, as well as former king."

"Well, pardon me for not bowing, Your Former Majesty," Alex grumbled, adjusting his position and standing back up. He dusted his shirt off and looked at his trespasser more clearly. He appeared to be a mix of snake, lion, eagle, dragon, bat, pegasus, and his facial traits that were previously noted. "I'm going to move from who the hell you are," Alex pointed at him, "to what the hell you are."

"Ah!" Discord snapped his taloned hand and disappeared briefly, reappearing next to Alex, with his lion paw wrapped around the human's shoulder. "I am a draconequus! Last of my kind, actually."

"I'm sorry for you loss," Alex said, brushing off Discord's paw. "Now, please leave."

"Alright, then." He snapped his eagle talons and the room was engulfed in a blinding, white light.

Alex felt something ram into his chest and he moaned. "Oh... What the hell happened?" He blinked the little, white stars out of his eyes and shook his head. He placed one hand on the ground to steady himself and the other hand on his temple, sitting back up on his knees. "Discord..." Alex noticed that the ground felt more rugged under his palm, and he focused on the area in front of him. "What... grass...?"

"Oh, pardon me," Discord's voice echoed around, Alex's hearing distorted slightly, "I should probably warn anyone when I'm about to teleport them. It could lead to a nasty headache."

Alex let Discord's words sink in, though it at least explained the grass. "You teleported me?!" he fumed.

"Oh, calm down. It wasn't just you."

"Who else, then?!"

A male voice came from somewhere to his left, "What just happened." A loud thump and a groan followed the mystery voice. Alex turned to get a better look and was greeted by the sight of Hart, lying on the grass and holding his head. "Mother of Celestia." the stallion complained, "What warrants somepony to take me from my research in the early morning?"

The slight crunching of grass underfoot, or... hoof, informed Alex that someone else approach the trio. From his point of view, Alex noted four brown hooves standing directly in front of him. "Tsk, tsk. I told you to wake him up gently, not to bloody screw up his senses," Witt's recognizable British accent scolded.

"My apologies," Discord said, but his tone indicated the opposite.

"Of course you are, as you were with the lake," Witt mocked.

The draconequus frowned, "Those fish were itching to experience a hot tub."

"Of course they were." Alex watched as Witt's hooves shifted slightly and the unicorn lowered his face to his. Witt's appearance was mainly the same: slicked-back black and brown mane with his mirrored goggles obscuring his eyes and reflecting Alex's own image back at him. "My... apologies for Discord's behavior, Alex. I was not aware that he would try to teleport you and Hart simultaneously, as it stimulates nausea."

The human scoffed, "Easy for you to say."

"Of course it is. Can you stand by now?"

Alex thanked the shift in conversation and gave a nod. "Probably." He pushed up with his hands and got to his feet. Witt stood by and offered his body to lean on, just in case. Alex steadied himself and finally earned the chance to further examine his surroundings. They were standing in what appeared to be a sort of courtyard, with what Alex assumed was the castle's walls surrounding it. The grass they stood on was cut short with precision that continued across the entire area. Alex noticed that the patch he was standing on was colored white, and stretched out from both his left and right sides. "Where are we, now?" he asked Witt.

"The training fields," Hart replied, trotting up beside Alex, "and it appears that you have an audience."

Hart, Witt, Discord, and Alex all turned around in unison. Behind them, dozens of stallions of varying colors, earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus alike, stood by in silence. One stallion, a white colored unicorn with a two-toned, blue mane, stepped through a gap in the crowd. He was clad in dark violet armor with solid gold trim, and the symbol of a red starburst was engraved on a medal around the collar. He looked to Alex and then over to Witt, shaking his head. "What did you do, now, Witt?" he chuckled.

Witt turned his head away, slightly, surveying the grounds behind the new stallion. "Did you receive Celestia's message, captain?" he asked.

"I did," he replied, glancing at Alex. Alex lifted his hand and gave a small flick of his wrist to signify as a wave. "I assumed that you wanted to intimidate the new recruits," the stallion continued, "but I have to admit that this was the last surprise on my list. The second to last was you wearing a dress," he stated.

"Actually, I was going to train our new friend Alex, here," Witt indicated. "Any other questions, Shining Armor?"

"I assume that Hart is here to make sure that you don't kill yourself?" the stallion, Shining Armor, asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd find that funny, but no. Celestia assigned Hart to Alex upon his arrival at the palace."

"Good morning, Captain Armor," Hart greeted him with a smile. He held out his hoof, and Shining shook it.

Shining gave a nod and turned to Alex. "Why did Witt need to bring you here?"

Alex, at last given the chance to speak, shrugged. "He didn't tell me, necessarily. He only asked me if I wanted to live or die," he said.

"For good reason," Witt added.

Shining Armor thought about it for a moment, continually shifting uncertain glances between Witt and Alex. He sighed, "Alright. I'll section off a portion of the field for you to use."

"I'd like to take the Rathon Rectangle," Witt requested immediately.

"Easy enough."

Alex turned his attention away from the two and looked out over the crowd of ponies before him. He noticed that many of the stallions were giving him impassive glances, while others appeared to be suspicious. There was one pony in the back, wearing silver armor with a helmet that covered their face, who just stared at him. He leaned over and whispered into Hart's ear, "Why are they all staring, other than the fact that I'm a completely different species?"

"That's actually the only good reason I can give you right now," Hart answered.

Alex watched the crowd followed Shining Armor as he led them away. The pony in armor watched Alex for a couple more seconds before mimicking the group and following behind. Alex turned to Witt, but found that the unicorn was gone from his side.

"Come along, both of you!" Witt called from further down the field, "We haven't got all day! Then again, I could ask Celestia to keep the sun up for a couple hours more," he considered.

Alex and Hart looked at each other and then back at Witt with confused expressions. They both shook their heads and followed Witt wordlessly.

---

They followed Witt for quite a while until they reached a unique section of the grounds. A rectangular sector of grass was outlined by the generic white paint, but a second outline, made from a pale blue substance, enclosed the white. As Alex crossed over both lines, he noticed that the blue substance reflected some light, making it sparkle slightly. He was intrigued and bent down to examine it, taking some on his fingertips. He examined it and rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger, feeling the texture and watching the sparkling bits fall back to the grass. As he smeared the dust, he felt something akin to touching a metal doorknob after rubbing your socks across a carpet. He recoiled in surprise, cursing under his breath.

"Don't touch the powder," Witt said.

"You're a bit late on that," Alex replied. He looked at his fingers and the small, pale mark that was forming on their tips. Just what he needed, another minor injury that would eventually lead to a brief death. "What is this stuff?" he asked.

"Rathonite powder," Witt explained. "Discovered in 473 by a stallion called Phillean Rathon. Named it after himself, as most scientists who discover new materials do. It is meant to amplify a creature's natural abilities, be it strength, will, intelligence, constitution, fortitude, dexterity, or even magical capabilities. This particular field is surrounded by it," he motioned his hoof in a small circle, "encasing us within an invisible force field meant to take advantage of those enhancing properties and increase the power as the energy bounces off the insides of the... container, for lack of a better word. It's precise definition is a Rathon Rectangle."

"So... they're like magical steroids?" Alex figured, interested with the idea.

"Eh," Witt opened his mouth, but contemplated Alex's statement. "I suppose that it could be counted as a form of enhancing drug, but any direct contact irritates the cells and causes permanent damage unless magically treated. Hence, the new scar on your hand."

"Good thing I didn't eat it, then."

"Indeed," Hart chimed in.

"Any way you could heal it?" Alex asked Witt.

Discord overheard and chuckled at him. "If he kills you, then you won't need any healing."

"Cut it, Discord," Hart frowned.

"Shut up, both of you," Witt said coolly. He turned to the pair, the only indications of anger being his slanted eyebrows and frown. Discord and Hart huffed at each other, but left it at that. "Are you prepared to start your training, Alex?"

"As ready as I can be."

"Excellent," Witt trotted to the opposite end of the rectangular field. "Discord, you can leave if you want to," he addressed the draconequus.

"No, no!" he shook his head. Discord snapped his talons, and small bag of popcorn appeared in his paw. "I'm watching this."

"And you, Hart?"

"I'd like to record any observations," he said, "though it would have been better if I could have taken my supplies before being rudely teleported."

"Simple enough," Witt said, his horn glowing grey. A stack of parchment and three freshly sharpened pencils appeared in the grass beside Hart. "Anything else?"

"That will be all, thank you."

"Now then, Alex," Witt turned the the human.

Alex looked back at him, "Yeah?"

"Hit me," Witt said casually.

Alex blinked at Witt's strange request. "Um... what?" he asked confusedly.

"I told you to hit me," the unicorn repeated.

"Why?"

"Just do it," Witt said impatiently.

Discord chuckled, scooping up a pawful of popcorn, "I have twenty bits saying that he can't lay a finger on you."

"I'll double that and bet that I'll be in the infirmary by the time we leave," he smirked.

"You're on."

"I'll tell you ahead of time not to ask me," Hart spoke up, "because I don't want any part in this foolishness."

Author's Note:

More transitioning and an abundance of dialogue. This is part one of the chapter that I've ben wanting to write, and I had to break it up or else it would've been about 6k words. I'm trying to make my chapters at least 2,700 to 3,500 words long, from now on, so expect some longer waits. Also, I'm heading back to high school, soon, so that's going to slow me down, as well.
EDIT: Noticed that the chapter title in the page didn't match with the chapter title in the description.

Comments

[Maeroon]

GO ALEX!!

reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/you-can-do-it-.gif

[Perceptive Key]

3100937
Discord: I'm still betting he'll lose.
Me: Shut up, Dis! We have to see him try!
Devilin: Yes. We must.
Me: WHERE THE #^@% DID DEVILIN COME FROM?!?!
*End Transmission*

[Mr Skeleton]