> Smoke & Mirrors > by Doctah WAAwee > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Not-So-Dark Magician. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sound of cheering people saturates the room. The screams of shock and amazement almost reach a point where they form into a viscous liquid, a sea of surprise, astonishment, and wonder. The man center stage drinks this non-existent liquid. It is something that thrills him, that feeds his very soul. His tan skin sweating because of the euphoria of the crowd, his brown eyes pinpricks because of the stage lights, his jet black hair matted to the back of his neck, forming hairy, sweat laced stalactites on the back of his head. The looks of shock, confusion, and utter bafflement to him is better than any five star meal this planet can offer. As he bows and the crowd goes silent, he prepares his final trick for the night. He kicks a pair of handcuffs to the crowd and puts a feather in his pocket. A man catches the cuffs and cheers. "Don't let your wife catch you with those." The magician said. The crowd laughs. "Alright ladies and gents, time for my final trick of the night! May I get a volunteer?" Most of the crowd raised their hands. Ranging from innocent, but ironically the hardest to trick children to old men that could either bore you, or fascinate you with tales of their glory years. The magician decided to challenge himself. "How bout..." he threw a card he had stashed away to the crowd, and it landed in between the middle and ring finger of a 10 year old girl "you?" The girl squealed and ran, much to her parents disapproval, towards the stage. "Now now little one, slow down. You wouldn't want to get a scrape out would you?" The magician waved his index finger and made a 'tsh, tsh, tsh' sound. "Sorry mister, I was just so-" the girl stopped when she was met with the same finger that was waved. "Don't fret none, now-" with a flick of his wrist three lollipops appeared between his four fingers, the girl gasped "grape, lime, or cherry?" she snatched up the cherry flavored treat. He chuckled "We think alike, you and I, cherry is my fav too." The girl smiled. But the man frowned. "Oh no..." The girl became worried "what's wrong mister?" she asked. "I just wondered...what if we're...too alike?" The magician gasped, and so did the little girl and the entire crowd, because the magician... Just spoke in the little girls voice! "Oh, oh no! Where's my voice!?" "I'm over here! Next to the table!" The original voice of the man said. The magicians lips didn't move at all, and the voice sounded like it emanated near the table. "Quick little one, as nice as your voice is I wouldn't want to have it forever!" They both walked over to the table. The magician cupped his hand, opened his mouth, and moved his hand towards his mouth. He pretended to swish something in his mouth and then swallowed. "*Ahem* testing, testing one two...okay we're good!" The crowd clapped once more in awe of what he did. "Okay, now-" the man took his sleeves from his tux and ripped it off "nothing up my sleeves" he folded them and put them on the table. He then took the table cloth and quickly slid it off, the sleeves stayed "nothing under the table" he took his sleeves off the table to reveal a pack of cards, it was a black box with a hazy looking S, and a clear, mirror like M combined into each other, the girl was still sucking on her lollipop. "How did that get there?" she asked. "Magic." The man took the cards and shuffled them...to put it lightly, the tricks and things he did with those cards cannot be put into a one word summary. After he did that, he spread the cards face down and stated the magician's catch-phrase, and a very effective pick up line. "Pick a card, and don't show it to me" The girl picked a card. "Now, memorize it and put it back into the deck." The girl did what she was told, she finished her lollipop. "Need somewhere to put that stick?" The man asked. The girl nodded. He took out a nice silk handkerchief that had the same S&M logo on it that the cards had and put it on the table. The girl put the little stick on the handkerchief. "Now..." the man shuffled the deck and spread them out face up the table... "It isn't there!" The girl exclaimed. "Are you sure?" the magician asked. The girl looked at the cards again. "Yes! It isn't there!" She affirmed. "Well, let me think for a sec-" he clapped his hands together "I know were it is!" he took the stick that the girl put on his handkerchief and began to peel it. The girl and the crowd gasped in shock... The card was in the lollipop stick! "Ha...how-" The girl started, but she was interrupted by the card suddenly bursting into flames. "Oh...looks like that card didn't have long for this world...a moment of silence for the lost..." The man said. The lights in the room where starting to act weird, the man smiled. "That card is in a better place though...look up." The girl and the crowd looked to see... The ace of spades formed out of the lights of the stage! The crowd was ecstatic, the cheers threatened to deafen the poor magician. "AMIAS DOLUM LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WASN'T THAT AWESOME!?" The announcer screamed his praises to the magician, he took his final bow and left the stage. The magician left and headed straight to the bar, he ordered a sarsaparilla and began his after show cool down. 'Another day, another trick, another smile.' He thought. "To me!" he raised his cup and began to drink the oh-so refreshingly cold drink. "I can drink to that." Said a feminine voice. He turned to see a...VERY attractive women. She had a tight black dress on, on the verge of skimpy and moderate. It showed enough to make someone interested, but not enough to judge her off the bat. The simplicity of it all was what made it so sexy. She had light caramel skin and her lips had this subtle shine to them. "You were impressive out there." "I can say the same to you." The girl laughed "cute" she held out her hand "the names Eve." Amias raised his eyebrows. "Ohh, the temptress" he met her hand with his, gave it a shake, and left a little surprise in her hand. She smiled and looked at the card he left in her hand. "Amais Dolum: Smoke and Mirrors Inc." She read out-loud. She looked to him, piercing him with her deep hazel eyes. "I didn't even feel you do that." "That won't be a problem if we get to know each other." The women laughed again. "Someone's got lines, okay I'll bite." "Want to have a little dinner? I know this great restaurant down the road, and after that I'll bring you home." She raised her eyebrows "how did you know I didn't use my car?" "You just told me Eve." She just stared at him. He laughed, and she smiled. "Don't think your gonna get lucky tonight." "I'm a patient man. I've come to respect the fruit that takes time to ripe, makes it that much sweeter. Let's just hope that this fruit doesn't make God cross with me." They exited the building and went towards a sleek black Corvette, it also had the S&M logo on its hood. "Impressive." "I agree." Amias opened the side door for Eve "after you, my lady" he said. "And here I was thinking Chivalry was dead." Eve said with a smirk. They both went into the car, Amais started it up, and they were off. Eve saw a brown card on the floor. Curious, she picked it up and flipped it over... "Dark Magician?" She asked. Amias nodded. "A few years back I was a yu-gi-oh nerd, one day I grew out of it and sold all my cards...except that one." "Why?" "Ehh, just couldn't let him go. Won too many duels with the dude, so I keep him around...I usually have him on my person during shows as a good luck charm. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me on the ass." The conversation ended. The only sound that was heard was the road passing them by. "Did anyone tell you that you have a uncanny resemblance to Beyonce?" Amais asked, breaking the silence. "Many people, but I-" She stopped when a bright flash of light blinded both Amias and herself. The car started to go out of control, the light was getting so strong that they couldn't even see their own hands. "W-What's happening!?" Eve started to panic. "I-I-I Don't know!" "This better not be some trick to impress me!" "I-I-It isn't I-" Darkness... Pain... That was the only thing going though Amias's mind as he regained consciousness. He was laying down, his clothes shredded, his body weak. He was fading in and out of consciousness, but he managed to perceive the fact that he was in a forest. On the exterior he was almost still, but in his mind he was panicking. How did he get into a forest almost naked and possibly bleeding? What happened to Eve? Is she alright? With all his might he tried to turn his head, hoping to find the woman he met at the bar. After what felt like an eternity of searching, he found her... His heart dropped. She was a mess, bleeding profusely, her dress non-existent, blood caked her beautiful dirty blonde hair... He wanted to scream her name, but his chest and lungs hurt too much to utter a word. "Well, isn't this our lucky day!" His thoughts were interrupted by a voice that sounded a little too excited to find two possibly mortally wounded people in need of critical care. "Gals, we got a live one here!" The voice sounded again, Amias slowly turned his head, expecting to see boots because of the weight in this girls footsteps... What he got though was a...horse. A yellow, blue maned, rosy-eyed, horse....wait. With a HORN. A unicorn, a talking unicorn. Before he had a chance to scream, a gag was found in his mouth. He squirmed, tried to get away, but the horse somehow made him still. The horn on her head producing a blue aura. Several other ropes found their place on his body, within 3 seconds he was completely immobilized. "And what a LOOKER it is too, that skin color sure is a rare find. That outta double its price! We'll get a FINE lump of bits in Canterlot. Seems to have quite the muscle, it'll be able to survive without food for some time..." Amias's eyes grew wide, 'price', He was gonna be sold!? "What about this one? It's alive, but barely." Another voice said. The yellow one turned her head. "Put her out of her misery, we got enough females on the caravan, don't waste your magic on it, just give it a good buck." Silence...Amias knew that they were gonna kill her, the only good thing was that his line of sight was- *CRACK!* The sound of something being struck was heard...and the gurgling that followed with it will forever scar Amias. "It ain't dead!" The murderer said. "Hit it harder then!" the yellow one said. *CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!* ... The silence was deafening. "We don't want this one here to be spooked, we might have just killed it's mate, blindfold it." Yet another voice said. "Yes ma'am!" They blindfolded Amias, and started hauling in his immobile form into the caravan... "Starlight! Make sure you wash your hooves before going inside! Don't want any human staining the hallways!" "Yes, Miss Rainsuger!" The voice dubbed Starlight said. None of the mare's noticed the tears pooling on Amias's blindfold. > Manipulate > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The newest addition to the caravan of humans was unceremoniously dumped in his new cell. It smelled of rusty nails and misery. "Wow, I think we just hit the jackpot Star. I've never seen a human in that good of a condition before!" said the only unnamed voice, the yellow one. The horse who killed Eve replied "yeah, none of the others can even hold a candle to this one. It's last master must of been one HECK of a breeder!" The voice of Rainsugar was heard, "Alright girls, stop your gawking and carry out your duties. I don't pay you to ogle them." "Yes ma'am." The ropes and blindfold were taken off, but the gag and the ropes on his hands where still securely in place. "How long will it be until we get to the market?" Asked Starlight. "About two months. By then it'll be nice and obedient...isn't that right?" Amias was still in shock, so all he did was stare blankly into space. Rainsugar chuckled. "C'mon girls, we got work to do. Get the hose and wash it down." They all left, leaving Amias to his own devices. The shock he was feeling slowly turned into something else... "Hit it harder then!" *CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!* His fist clenched behind his back. The whites of his eyes, ever so slowly, became a solid jet black. 'They killed her...and they don't even feel bad for her...Starlight.' His anger fortified his willpower, he looked around to see many other humans...these were different. There eyes looked...animistic...feral, they looked like they were beasts. And...they were pretty ugly, not 'middle aged fat guy' ugly, more like 'hairy gorilla sex face' ugly. The two next to him were lying down on the floor doing nothing. 'It's like she was putting down a...animal.' His eyes widened in realization...but then his mind, tempered from years of learning his trade, made another realization. 'They think i'm an animal...a dumb, stupid animal.' He started to chuckle...his dark brown eyes slowly became a creepy off-white color. 'I can use this.' He remembered that one of the ponies was going to come back to hose him down... Perfect. The clip-clop of hooves was heard, and the sound of a hose going off was soon followed. "Alright, bath time!" It was Starlight again... An almost evil smile spread across the lips of Amias. With almost no effort, he freed himself from his pathetic excuse of a binding. 'As long as they think i'm an animal, they're going to constantly underestimate me...' As the pony came closer to him, Amias set his plan into motion. "Alright new guy, time for your-" "Is this all your are?" Amias was throwing his voice, mimicking Starlight's voice. She stopped and looked around in fear. "W-w-who said that?" "You did." She slowly started to panic, hearing your own voice from out of nowhere would do that. Amias started feeling a sick pleasure in the utter confusion she was in. "N-no I didn't!" "Stop lying to yourself, you know why I'm here, why I'm talking to you, to myself." "W-why?" "Your pathetic state right now, did all your dreams and aspirations lead up to you hosing down and feeding a bunch of animals?" "N-no but thi-" "Is only temporary?" Amias looked directly to her face, by looking at her reaction, he knew he was right. It's those extremely huge, expressive eye's these ponies have, he can read her like a book. She didn't notice the 'animal' staring at her, she was to busy talking to 'herself'. She felt a chill run down her spine. Amias's suddenly changed eyes boring into her. "How many years have you been telling yourself that?" He made it sound like a rhetorical question. Her ears went down to her skull. "F-f...five..." "And in those five years have you even made a lick of progress? Your still taking care of dirty, malnourished animals. Your still under the hoof of some tyrannical bitch who tells you how to do your job even though you've been at it for five years...you killed that human because your co-worker was too lazy to give it care, your nothing but a doormat. I bet any stallion can just ask you to spread your legs, you FILTHY whore." She started crying lightly. Amias smiled. "Your nothing but a pawn in the hooves of everyone you know. No one actually likes you, they just can't believe how easy it is to get stuff from you." Her facial expressions said it all. "Everyone? What the hay-" "Yes, everyone. Every organic life form that has come in contact with you, even the humans in these cages are taking advantage of you. You work for horrible pay feeding and washing them while they sit there and do nothing but eat and crap all over themselves. The new one, whose mate you killed, will be better treated and respected because of his worth." Her fear gave way to anger as she looked towards Amias. He was staring at the ground, doing nothing. "It will get everything handed to it, it will get all the mates it wants. All it has to do is sit there and look pretty for some buyers in Canterlot. It's entire life will be nothing but content, while yours is a pathetic cycle of submissive-" "SHUT UP!" She screamed. She grabbed the keys that she had on her person (pony?) and opened the cell door of Amias's cage. 'What are you doing? Abusing an animal won't make it any better.' "I don't care! You!" She raised her hoof up to strike him... Only to receive a palm to the face. Her head went back and she became completely still. "How did you not see that coming? Oh wait, you think i'm a dumb animal...huh, funny how that works." Amias used his regular voice, it was full of cold hatred. 'I never thought I'd stoop so low as to use hypnosis on someone...well there's a first time for everything.' "You will give me your food for the remainder of the time I'm here...is that understood?" She nodded "Yes." "And when I snap my fingers, you will wash me with the hose and bring the mare who ordered you to kill the female human you found me with. Make it seem like an emergency, understood?" "Yes." He chuckled darkly "now go, my pawn." 'I can feel the curly mustache.' He plucked two feathers from one of her wings. 'There are pegasi here too...*sigh* it feels like I'm in a storybook.' *Snap* She snapped out of her trance. "What the...OH! Almost forgot, time for your bath human!" She grabbed the hose and began to lightly apply water to him, instead of drenching him with a quick burst of water. When she was done she went back out of the cage, closed the door, and proceeded to subconsciously follow out the instructions that were given to her. She left with a smile on her face and a skip in her step. Amias redid the knot that he took out, to avoid suspicion. "I have to get Sunshiny (actual word) back to the new humans cage, it doesn't look to good and she's our human expert..." Starlight said to herself. She went to the cafeteria and started looking for her, she found her eating a daisy sandwich. The cafeteria itself was an extremely stark contrast to the dirty section where they store the humans. There was ample lighting, clean floors, and it smelled of food...glorious food. "Sunshiny! Quick, you have to come with me to the new humans cage! He doesn't look to good and can use some meds." Sunshiny dropped her sandwich. "That human is our ticket to the high life! We cannot let ANYTHING happen to him, I'll get my kit!" She barreled to where they stash the medication, and other human related things. "Celestia darn it! Rainsugar and her cheap flank didn't stock up on enough supplies! There's barely enough here to feed the humans for seven days, let alone the two months we're going to have them!" Starlight nodded "I think she's using the money for her own needs...but that can all be solved when we sell this human, we can retire early and finally stop this before we get caught on our code violations." After Sunshiny stocked up on her medications they rushed over to the cage to treat the said human. Amias could hear the clip clop of hooves on the dirty floor of the caravan. He smiled and waited. He lied down on the floor. The jingling of keys could be heard, then the sound of the door opening, and then the clip clops came closer and then stopped. "Alright you cash cow, lets see what's-" Amias's palm found it's way to her forehead, carefully avoiding impaling his hand on her horn. She adopted a blank look on her face. *Snap* Amais snapped his fingers and Starlight did the same. 'Time to know where the hell I am.' "First, you will tell me your name ." Sunshiny nodded slowly "my name is Sunshiny." Amias snorted "Sunshiny? Really?" She nodded "Yes" Amias shook his head "Moving on. Where am I?" "You are in Rainsugar's human caravan, he had plans to go to Canterlot and sell you for a substantial amount of money." "Humans are sold in this land for what reason?" "They are commonly used for hard labor. Some ponies keep them as simple pets, among nobles a well groomed and maintained human is a sign of high stature. Most humans do not have the looks that you do, so finding one is extremely rare." "How much do you think I would go for?" "The highest price ever put on a human was about 4 million bits, you could easily be triple that." Amias's eyes widened. A plan started to formulate in his mind 'Looks like I fetch quite a pretty penny...hmm...instead of escaping into the wild unknown, I'm going to let them sell me. I wouldn't be put to work, just paraded around to stroke some rich ponies ego. I could hypnotize them and live a life of doing nothing...' "What is the name of this country?" "Equestria. Ruled by Princess Celestia who raises the sun, Princess Luna who raises the moon, and the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle." Amias sat there in shock, processing the information he was just given. 'WHAT THE HELL!? RAISING THE SUN AND MOON!? THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS!' Amias took a deep breath...actually several, in fact. 'Magical talking ponies that can raise the sun and the moon...if it isn't for that fact that I can feel pain I would think this was a dream...or a nightmare.' "What are they like?" "They are extremely nice and benevolent ponies. All three of them have a horn and wings and are capable of extreme amounts of magic. " 'Hmmm...maybe if I play my cards right, which I always do, I might be able to get home.' "Are these conditions present in all Equestria for human care?" She shook her head. "No, there are extreme violations in codes for the treatment of humans here. The greed of the owner of this caravan is to blame." "Rainsugar?" "Yes." 'Looks like I just got unlucky...and so did Eve...' Amias got angry when he remembered that he grit his teeth in anger. Then something strange happened. Starlight and Sunshiny stared to look like they were in pain. Before long they were on the floor and clenching their heads with their forelegs. Amias noticed this and was shocked. 'Am I causing that?' "Y-y-yes." they both answered. Amias's eye's widened, he was at a loss for words. If they can hear him in his mind... Amias took a deep breath to calm himself. Both of the mare stood up again and had the same blank look they had before hand, still under his control. He noticed that he had some cuts and bruises from the 'arrival'. 'Tend to my wounds?' He thought. Sunshiny opened her medicine pack and began to tend to Amias's wounds. He was ecstatic, to say the least. 'Mind control powers!? When did this happen!?' He couldn't believe it! He already had a way to make someone do something against their will, but now he can do it with his mind! He's going to have to develop this... But since he didn't want to risk making their brains explode, he decided to stick to what he knew for now. He needs information from these ponies, not their brain matter spattered all over the walls because he got distracted. Amias started to chuckle, what else could have changed in him? He looked around to the other cages... Most of the humans were severely malnourished. They sat in the cages with a dead look in their eyes, like they gave up any chance of living. "Who are you going to sell these humans to?" Starlight replied "you were going to be sold in Canterlot as a pet human, but the other's are being sold for their meat in the griffon kingdom...though the consumption of humans is completely illegal throughout the entire world." "So, she's dealing under the table?" "Yes, actually we were on our way to a black market deal outside of Equestria. Griffons don't care about the state of humans, all they care about is if they're meat is not rotting when they're sold." He had to fight to keep his anger under control, he's never preoccupied himself with animal cruelty and the like, but now that he is seeing it from the other side of the cage...well if he ever got home he would donate to his local pet shop, he promised himself that. "What is the closest town we can go to?" Sunshiny answered this time "it is a town called Ponyvillie, two weeks journey from here as I recall. We were going to go straight towards the griffon kingdom with no stops." Amias raised his eyebrow "Why?" "Because it is equestrian law that if a caravan or any other means of transportation involved in the selling and transaction of humans stops at a town, city, or checkpoint to resupply, then all humans in the care of the said means of transportation must have a physical. It was a law passed by Princess Celestia herself to limit any mistreating of humans during transport." "...So you and your colleges were just going to let them all starve for two months until you reached the kingdom?" "Correct." He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a second to calm down. "...What is the average life span of a human?" "That all depends on the owner. A wild human's life span is about 10 to 15 years, a well cared for and maintained human can life up to 25 years, and the humans on this caravan were going to be sold for their meat." 'Wow...i'm 25.' "How old do you suspect I am?" "About 5 years old." 'So...I'm basically a child in this world.' "Where is Rainsugar at this moment?" "She is currently in her private chambers in the lead car." "Can you bring her to me?" "We cannot, she does not deal in the affairs of human care. She hates them and would not step foot in the containment facilities under her own power." "If she hates humans, why does she own a caravan full of them." "Human sale, whether it be legal or illegal, is the most profitable market in Equestria today." "...So she did it for the money?" "Yes." Another plan started to form in his head...he couldn't let these humans get sold to be eaten, sentient or non-sentient, they are still his brothers and sisters in a way. "How many peop-...ponies are in this caravan?" Starlight replied to this question "there are forty staff hands right now, most of them consisting of unicorns. Wild humans are generally stronger than ponies, but harbor no resistance to magic." 'I'm no ninja...i'm gonna have to find a opening.' "Where are they now?" "They're having lunch right now." "Where is Rainsugar?" "She always has her food brought to her private quarters." 'Spoiled bitch...' "How could I get to her quarters?" "You would have to unlock the door leaving this caravan, and find a way to get to the front car without getting spotted, or wait until everypony is asleep." "...Okay, you can leave now. Lock the door and go." They both walked out the cell, locked the door, and left. 'Looks like I'm going to have to wait a while...' A couple of minutes passed until Starlight brought not only...gruel of some kind, but a tray with a very delicious looking sandwich. "I realize that your our one way trip to the high life and out of this dirty hole...I might get hungry, but it'll be worth it." She put the food on the floor, took of Amias's gag and left. When she was out of sight, Amias went towards the food and took a decent bite out of the sandwich... And promptly spit it out. Gagging and wiping his tongue with his index finger...several times. 'Ugh! Ugh! Eww, eww, eww! What the hell IS in this sandwich!?' He peeled back the bread of the disgusting sandwich to reveal... Daffodils. Daisy's and daffodils. 'How the hell am I supposed to eat this!? It's like they think i'm a-' He stopped his mental ranting for a second, then he face-palmed...hard. 'This is a lunch made for a pony...not a human. Why didn't I think this through, I should of asked her to bring something a HUMAN could eat...I'm an idiot.' He looked to his left to see a guy lying there doing nothing...he looked very starved. 'Maybe humans in this world can digest plant matter...or something.' He reached across the cage to try and put the food next to him. 'I really hope this guy doesn't have rabies or something.' He poked him with the sandwich...nothing. Poke... Poke... Goddamn poke! Amias looked to see that the human had flies all over him...and he wasn't doing anything about it... Amias suddenly felt colder...he was dead. He looked to the right, and the human in that cage had flies all over his body too... His heart started pounding. His entire life he has regarded human life as...well human life. The life of another sentient being... Now seeing humans literally starved to death in cages...on purpose made him want to vomit. The reality of what Starlight revealed to him finally set in...these humans were nothing but meat and money to these ponies. They spent the already HIGH amount of money they got from selling humans on themselves, and not even buying enough food to tide over the humans until the next deal. It made him want to cry, it made him want to be held by someone... '...How can they be so cruel to them?' He scolded himself for once thinking of a plan that only benefited himself. He would never be able to live with himself if he just let this continue on while he was being spoiled by rich people...ponies. He knew what he had to do. He had to bust out of this cage, sneak into Rainsugars quarters...and 'persuade' her to make a stop into the town called Ponyville... He wouldn't let this go on...his humanity wouldn't allow it. After what felt like a few hours, small window outside told him it was night time. He once again got out of the bindings that were restricting his hands. He stood up and walked towards the lock that was between him and justice. "This lock is pathetic. Rainsuger is a cheaper bitch then I suspected" he took out the feathers he plucked from Starlight, and started fiddling with the lock. 'Starlight, Rainsugar, Sunshiny, Twilight Sparkle...what the hell kind of names are these? Geez, try something original.' *Ta-click!* 'Too easy.' The door opened, and he stretched out his body. He hasn't stood up in a while. "Time to poach these poachers." > Penance > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The only sounds in the car that stored the humans was a faint clicking sound, and the sound of buzzing. Amias silently strode across the cages that housed his non-sentient brothers and sisters... Each one of their rib cages could be seen. Some of them were covered with flies, the faint buzzing sound they produced was the only thing that penetrated the silence that was present in the car. Amias sniffed the air, there wasn't even an inkling of the smell of decay. ALL of the dead human bodies didn't even have signs of rot, decay, or anything on them. 'That's strange...it should reek of death in here.' That thought alone sent chills down his spine. 'did they have a way to preserve dead bodies for months on end? They were going to sell these humans as meat...did they have a way to do it that didn't involve chemicals? That would mean that they wouldn't have to keep them alive to sell them, to make profit...' He almost wanted to vomit at that realization, but after he held back the bile that rose from his stomach, he became even more determined to stop this from happening. The one's that are alive still have a chance to survive and live through this. He continued through the dirty dank hallway until he reached a door. It was big, solid, and rusty. *Kla-click!* It took about two seconds to unlock. Looks like Rainsugars greed is coming back to bite her.The door itself had a little resistance to it because it was rusty, and the hinges could use a good oiling. The car was shrouded in darkness. Clean marble floors are the only thing Amias can discern. The caravan had stopped moving for the night. As he went through the halls, the sound of light snoring could be heard throughout the car that he passed. One room had its lights on and the sound that was coming out of the room... Was defiantly not snoring. Moving on, he passed that room and unlocked the door that led to the next car. They're were five cars ahead of this one, the one he was in now was another living car. The names of the ponies occupying the room were labeled on the door. He really didn't have time to look at every individual label. After that car he encountered the cafeteria. *Growl* 'Looks like I'm still hungry, and since I'm not desperate enough to eat flowers...' He went into the kitchen to try to find something to eat, There was a section that said 'Human' so he tried to see if anything was in there... Well if you count rat crap and unidentifiable bags of goo as food...well there you go. He checked in the 'regular' food supply to find some prepacked fruit salads, fruits, vegeta-bles, and other healthy food. He looked over to a crate of apples labeled 'SAA' and took one, the last one actually. He looked at it and took a bite... He promptly devoured the poor apple a la cookie monster. 'This apple...it's like Jesus himself was an apple farmer...this is by far the best thing that has happened to me in this crazy world.' After he finished his apple that was baptized by Jesus Christ, he went ahead in his journey. "Who's in the kitchen?" Amias stopped dead in his tracks, then he realized what an idiot he was for doing that, and hid behind a sack of potatos. "Rayshine, if you took the last Sweet Apple Acres apple I swear I'm gonna buck you senseless!" 'Finally! A male voice!' The clip clop of hooves was heard, it was coming closer and closer to the fridge were his potato bag of concealment was next to. 'Maybe I should've found a better spot.' The sound was getting louder, Amias had to do something quick before he was caught, he could have just hypnotized the dude when he came close enough, but Amias was panicking and that little fact didn't go passed his mind. 'C'mon focus what do I...huh?' The reason for Amias's confusion was that fact that black smoke covered his body for some reason. He looked at his arm to see that...he was invisible! 'WhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-' The sound of a fridge being opened broke him out of his 'episode'. "Damn it Rayshine! I told you that was my apple!" The voice said. He ran towards the exit of the car, leaving Amias alone... He didn't look behind the potato bag...there was no reason to become invisible... Redundancy, you're a bitch. 'So the first time I go invisible...I don't even need it...wow.' The next three cars were all residential, so nothing special there. The Car before Rainsugars personal quarters was a little weird...the doors were white and had no labels, none at all. And also the locks were WAY more advanced than anything he had his before in this place. 'Maybe if I focus...' Amias calmed his mind and imagined disappearing, he looked at his arm to see that it worked. 'Just in case...' It took a lot concentration to do this, so he picked the lock as quick as he could...it took him a whole twenty seconds to do it. 'MAN these locks are hard! Rainsugar spared no expense!' After he was done, he opened the door... It was dark...very dark. Amias got a very bad feeling about this car, something wasn't right here. Something so unholy and disgusting that it produced an aura of dread and doom. 'What did I just find?' As he went deeper into the room...he found it. Everywhere...about two to three spaces apart... Were cribs...holding a little human baby in each one. Amias couldn't even breath, a deep rock formed in his stomach. His invisibility wore of because of the shock he was in. He looked over to one of the cribs, the baby was quietly sleeping, alive. There was a clipboard in the front of the babies crib. Male, 20 pounds. To be sold to: Galus. Location: Break Beak Point in the Griffon kingdom. ... 'What?' The sound of a clipboard hitting the floor echos through the room. 'They...sell...babies?' Amias vomited all over the clipboard. Something in Amias broke out...he was angry, more angry then he ever was in his entire life. Smoke started to form and leave Amias's body, his body slowly disappeared behind the veal of smoke. Amias continued through the car until he reached a door. It wasn't white like others, it was blue, fancy, and reminded Amias of the monster that caused this place to exist... 'Rainsugar...' The door opened and the smoke continued on, the car was one big, fancy room. There was a desk with a big book and a map on it, but Amias ignored it for now, all that is on his mind is finding Rainsugar. And she couldn't be anymore easy to find, she was sleeping on a queen sized bed in the middle of the room. Amias now had knowledge of what he could do...his rage unlocked things in his mind that he never knew existed there... He knew what he can do to her...to make her pay... Rainsugars dream was a recurring one. It was of her, living in the lap of luxury, after finally selling that human in Canterlot. She drank the finest of wines, had the best clothes, she was personal friends with the princesses themselves, she could get any stallion she wanted by just a wave of her grey mane...it was perfect. That is...until it all started to become shrouded in black smoke. "Enjoying the high life?" A dark voice said. "W-w-who said that!?" Rainsuger screamed, she was just attending a royal party with the princesses until they disappeared in a miasma of black smoke. "Your newest addition to the caravan of course." That black smoke started collecting, beginning to form into arms, legs... It was Amias...but he was different. He didn't form completely. His legs were still smoke, his body floating in the air, black tendrils of darkness forming from the smoke that covered his being. His eye's were still black and off-white... "Wha-what-...what are you!?" She screamed, she tried to run away but black tendrils shot up from the ground and held her still. "...I am the result of your greed and cruelty." Amias disappeared in his smoke and then reappeared right next to her. "I could end your life right now...beat you, crush your skull in, strangle you..." Black tendrils wrapped around her neck. Not choking her, just reaffirming the fact that he could choke her. She started to cry. "P-p-please! Don't kill me, I'll make it worth your while! I'll give you anything! I can give you money, I can give you...my body-" Amias laughed "You would stoop so low as to have sex with a human? Wow...I actually expected that.' Rainsugar's eyes widened in confusion "H-h-human?" she got a closer look at Amias's face, then it hit her. "Y-your...the new human we caught..." She said. Her eye's couldn't get any wider, but her mouth opened to it's widest. "Surprised?" She started to violently shake her head, blinking over and over again "This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening..." she whispered. She opened her eyes to see that she was in her room...she was drenched in sweat, and there were tears coming from her eyes. She sighed. "Whew...it was just a nightmare..." "Are you sure about that?" Rainsugar screamed and jumped out of her bed, she opened the door leading out and started to run down the cars. She ran, and ran, and ran...but she never got closer to the door leading to the next car. "Kinda cheesy, but you get the point." She looked back to see Amias, slowly coming towards her. She tried to run faster, but it didn't work. "There's a door leading outside right next to you." She went to the left...and promptly slammed into a wall... "How did you not see that coming? Following advice from a giant shadow nightmare monster?" "You can't be real! Humans can't talk, their just dumb animals!" She screamed as she tried to slide back. "That is a very poor choice of words given the situation you are in." Again his shadows wrapped around her, binding her. Amias moved his face directly into hers. His black and white eyes meeting her blueish gray ones. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I know why your like this...shh" he stroked her mane, gently "shh, it's alright honey, the monsters gone now." Rainsugar looked up to see...her mother, stroking her mane and trying to comfort her. "Mommy?" "Yes my dear...it's alright, just a bad dream my girl..." Her mother was a beautiful mare, she had a cyan coat, with a grayish-yellow mane. "But...it seemed so real...and he was-" "You actually believed that?" Rainsugar looked up to see Amias looking down at her. Her eyes widened in shock. "How...how...did-" "I know who your mother was?" Amias finished, he started to laugh "I know...everything about you...you want to know how?" She didn't react. "When I was put into this world, I started to find that I have these...gifts...and when I stumbled upon your dirty little secret...well let's just say that those 'gifts' became fully developed." "Dirty..little-" "The fact that you sell human babies as food for the griffons!" He screamed, cold righteous anger flowing though is every word. "The ANGER I felt when I found out...took over my mind and unlocked the skills that would've taken me YEARS to learn, or even find out I had!" His anger gave way to a dark smile as he started laughing. "And now...i'm going to use those skills on you..." An image popped into existence in front of them. It was a picture of a human. He wasn't very good looking by Amias's standards, but in Equestria, this guy was very good looking. "Before this human came into your life, your parents handed everything to you. They bathed you in love, money, and everything you could ask for..." he chuckled "But then he came into the picture. They started to love and care for the human they bought, and in your twisted little mind you thought that every second they catered to the human could have been used on you...you grew jealous of the human, and your parents started to buy you less and less stuff." Then another picture came up...it was a picture of a griffon. "Then one day this griffon confronted you, saying that he would give you a VERY generous amount of money in exchange for your families human...in the middle of the night, you led the human towards a designated drop off site and he gave you enough money to start your new life. You never saw your parents again and you didn't care." Rainsugar was shaking like a leaf, this only made Amias smile. "Pretty soon the money you got from the deal was almost about to run out. You could have lived an entire lifetime with the bits you got, but no, your insatiable appetite for the newest and greatest trends quickly burned a hole in your wallet...so, you began to sceme." The picture of the griffon was replaced by a first person view of... "You were only 14 at the time, so you couldn't get an actual job...so you became a 'whorse' as it's called. This little video here is your first time...too bad your race doesn't have hymens, it didn't really sink in that you lost your virginity to a random stallion twice your age." That was replaced by a picture of a stallion. "You worked as a 'whorse' under the hoof of a stallion named 'Chrome Cane'...your name isn't actually Rainsugar, it was Time Rend, that's just your 'professional title', because of your knack to...'make it rain' when things got exciting in the bedroom...or an alleyway, a classroom, anywhere really." The image got replaced again with a picture of a bag of bits being held by a pair of blue hooves. "After you saved enough money, you got your human trading license and bought your very first caravan, where you illegally hunted wild humans and sold them on the griffon black market. You used your special talent of preserving either inanimate objects or dead organic matter to preserve the humans who died of starvation, saving money on human maintenance and hoarding all the money for yourself..." Then another picture came...it was the baby that triggered Amias's rage. "Then...you met a griffon willing to give you 10 times what you already receive from selling adult humans to capture and sell human BABIES to him...something about the meat being even more delicious then it already is." The image dissipated into smoke. He turned to Rainsugar, he gave her the 'Super Saiyan Glare' and spoke "you ransacked human nests...swindled human adoption agencies, defiled honest and hard working stallions and threatened them with black-mail, you went to every low there possibly is in this world...you are the most evil being I have ever seen in my life." He put his hand out in front of her "what I'm about to do to you is something that I hope I will never have to do again...you will feel the pain of being hunted, killed, skinned, cut up, cooked, eaten, digested, and expelled, for EVERY human being you sold the cycle will continue on...and after this I will personally make sure that this caravan will go to Ponyvillie, where your team will be arrested...and the humans who have survived your neglect will be saved." She was crying so hard that she could barely even form a coherent sentence "p-p-please! I'll change, I-i-i'm sorry! Please have mercy!" "Oh I am showing mercy. After you go through this process, your memory of me, and your evil life will be erased. You will have a clean slate and 10,000 bits to start a new life in Ponyvillie..." He glared at her...his eyes started bleeding. Then... "Don't mess it up this time." Everything in Rainsugar's view became negitive, and she collapsed. Amias opened his eyes, feeling the blood pour down his face. It hurts...so much. Rainsugar was writhing, and screaming in pain on the bed...but no one could hear her, Amias made sure of that. He turned around to find Rainsuger's personal bathroom, he limped to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror... This was the first time he saw his own eyes since they changed. He gave them a good look before commenting. "That's creepy." He took a towel and cleaned off his bloody face. He had a splitting headache, so he tried to find something to cure that. He did, it was a green bottle that said: 'I-live, magical relief from headaches, migraines, and hangovers'. "Wow...let's just hope it actually IS magic..." He popped one and, true to it's label, his headache was a thing of the past. "*Sigh*...sweet relief." He took a crap (very awkwardly, since the toilet was very close to the ground) and left to look at the papers on Rainsugar's table. The book was a business ledger. It had the names of clients, repeat clients, monthly income, the works. The map on the other hand had routes upon routes upon routes. "Rainsugar was thorough, I'll give her that." He sighed. "Now that Rainsugar is taken care of, I'm going to have to hypnotize the stallions that haul this caravan, the cooks so they will feed the humans who are still alive...and basically every one of these ponies..." He looked up towards the ceiling "God, if this is some sick way to make my dream of being an ACTUAL magician a reality, then bravo...but I could really use a hand here." > Blind Angel > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sound of laughter, cheering, and screaming filled the cafeteria as the ponies on the caravan partied and 'whooped it up'. Finally after 'two months' of traveling the caravan reached the griffon kingdom, it was one step closer to becoming the richest ponies in all of Equestria. Starlight raised her cup and cheered. "Everypony! Just a few more weeks until we finally get the coin we deserve! No more working with filthy ugly humans! No more diving in hot nasty forests looking for our next paycheck! Soon, we retire early! And stuff our faces like royalty for THE REST OF OUR LIVES! CHEERS!" *YEAH!* ... Ponyvillie was just a days journey away, the sign that signified the proximity of Ponyvillie was past about five hours ago. Amias was getting Rainsugar ready to go ahead of the caravan. He made sure to erase all traces of Rainsugar from the minds of all the worker ponies in the caravan. "Now...I want you to...to...take this sack, and walk towards the town of Ponyvillie...don't stop until you've made it *cough*...is that...understood?" Amias rasped out with quite a bit of effort. The mare known as Rainsugar nodded. Amias wiped her entire life, all except her speech and motor skill functions. "Now go...make a new life for yourself..." She started walking, the stallions who hauled the caravan were inside for the party celebrating the arrival at the 'griffon kingdom'. Blood dripped from Amias's eyes as he limped towards his cage... The last two weeks have been very destructive to his body. Even though he knows the magic and can cast the spells, his body was severely unprepared for the actual strain using the magic applied to his body. Blood occasionally seeped out of his eyes, his entire body was sore to the point of collapse. He would occasionally cough up blood in the middle of sentences, and that's only the inner problems. His appearance has...morphed into something more fitting a magician who practices the manipulation of the mind. His eyelids have become jet black. Curved, fang-shaped triangles formed above, and below his eyelids, originating from the eyelids themselves. His fingernails have become long, sharp, and black. His hair became near shoulder length and constantly covered his eyes. His weight before he came to this world was a healthy for his height of 6'3 200 pounds, but since he decided to give up his food for the starved humans, who needed it much more than he did, it dropped to an anorexic 150 pounds. He could barely stay conscious and was at his limit. 'I don't even think I'll survive long enough to get to Ponyvillie...' He coughed some more blood out, his eyes became extremely heavy and his legs gave out. 'I...have to hold on...just until we get to Ponyvillie...' He watched Rainsugar walk away until she was out of sight. 'I wonder what name she'll give herself when she arrives...I just hope she doesn't mess it up this time...' He slowly walked back to the caravan, hearing the cheers and cries of the ponies inside, he smiled. 'At least these scumbags will get whats coming to them, and the humans that survived will finally get the care they deserve...' Thinking of the humans who survived dampened his mood some. Even with his help, 15 humans died, and only 47 remained out of the 300 humans they have stored in the caravan. 'I can't be thinking of that...I did my best...did I?' He went to the cages and sat in his own cage, getting ready for the final push towards Ponyvillie. The party simmered down some and the caravan began to move... It started raining, but that didn't deter the stallions from moving towards their 'fame and fortune'. Amias didn't even have to 'motivate' them to push. ... Amias could barely breath right now, the 24 hours it took to get to Ponyvillie was horribly taxing on him, he was afraid that if he went to sleep he might never wake up again, and his magic would dissipate. Cheers, hollers, and many other things were said as they finally stopped the caravan... Amias was barely hanging on as it is, it took all that he had left to smile and say one word before he stopped the magic...and pass out. "Heh, heh...Psych." The sound of the storm raining down their thunder and lightning was the only sound that was heard in the humble little cottage of a golden yellow pegasus... Usually the sound of her favorite little bunny would be heard hopping through the house, demanding some nigh impossible dish to sate his gourmet level taste for food...but the house was empty today, as the mare commonly known as Fluttershy was standing next to a pile of rocks. The rain that poured down masked the tears that ran down her face as she, and her other animal friends put down at least something on the rock pile in remembrance of the picky rabbit they all came to love... "Oh Angel..." Fluttershy said between sadness induced hiccups "You will always be momma's favorite little bunny..." The bunny died a thankfully peaceful death, surrounded by his many...many...many family members. Angle was just that age now, over the weeks Fluttershy saw the signs...the 'hip' in his hop was slowly fading, he became much more docile when it came to matters of the stomach, he would snuggle up to her before bed...and the final clue was when he 'asked for forgiveness' for all the times he's been a bad little bunny. Fluttershy knew more than anypony that this could not be cured, avoided, or stopped...it was his time. Angel bunny passed away in Fluttershy's hooves...the same hooves he was held in when he was born and he looked up for the first time to see Fluttershy's almost angelic smile...that was his last sight on this world also. Fluttershy had many months to emotionally prepare herself for this moment, surrounded by her friends, family, sisters, you name it. An orange pony by the name of Applejack came to her side and patted her on the back "Hun, ah know what it feels like... before Winona was born, her mother, Sally, and me where inseparable...ah had her for almost mah entire fillyhood before she passed...ah wouldn't leave mah room for three days, not tah eat...not tah work...nothing. Ah finally bucked up and moved on, because like you ah had a mighty long time to see it coming..." a tear ran down the farm ponies face " but that hasn't stopped me from thinking about her every-time ah see Winona..." Fluttershy looked to her friend. A mare with a rock solid foundation built upon trust, hard work, and friendship crying over the same pain she was feeling...with a surprisingly strong grip, she hugged Applejack and began to express her sadness by crying in her embrace. "There there hon...we're all here for you." After she said that, four other mares joined in the hug. They all did their best to comfort the grieving mare, they were friends until the end, this same friendship was so strong that it saved the land of Equestria countless times... But this is easily the hardest thing they had to do. ... Days after the funeral, Fluttershy finally recovered somewhat. She knew that she couldn't neglect the other animals in her care, so she had to go into town to resupply in animal food. As she was walking towards town, she noticed a definite lack of ponies. 'Strange...this is suppost to be the busiest time of day...maybe Pinkie is throwing another 'Busiest times of the day' parties.' As she was walking over to the vendors to purchase a bag of animal feed...she noticed that the vendor wasn't there either. She heard a giant ruckus somewhere over the center of town, and decided to see whats happening. The crowd was huge. "Ummm, excuse me...pardon me...uumm." She couldn't be heard over the crowd, she was about to give up until she remembered one tiny little detail. She was a pegasus... So, she went into the air to get a birds eye view of what got Ponyvillie so intense. There were royal guards hauling away ponies, they were kicking and screaming all they way into the transport facility. Or specifically they were screaming 'THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! HOW!? HOW ARE WE HERE!?' and...more colorful language. Fluttershy was shocked to say the least, but she was also confused. To get the royal guards here, this must have been a SERIOUS offense, she looked to the caravan the guards were taking the ponies out...she almost had a heart attack. One by one, on stretchers, out of the caravan they were carting away... Humans...so many humans. Most of them had a white blanket over them, signifying that they were... Only a handful of the humans carted out of the caravan were actually alive...if you can call being starved almost to death as alive. At speeds that could make Rainbow Dash jealous, she raced over to the human wing of the veterinarian facility, where most of the humans were being carted to. When she touched down, she went into the wing to see about 47 humans on beds. They were all being treated for extreme undernourishment. She knew the pony in charge of this wing, so she moved around and finally found her. "Lyra...how...how are they?" Fluttershy shakily asked, tears spilling from her face as she looked around the room, almost all the humans where unresponsive. They had IV's strapped to them, and other medical equipment. Lyra looked over to Fluttershy "Ah Fluttershy, just the mare I wanted to see..." Lyra sighed. "These humans have been through Tarterus and back...we can only hope that if they survived however long they were in that caravan...then let's hope they survive a few more days so they can stabilize." "But...if you don't mind me asking...why did you want to see me, do you want my help? Because I would gladly take some of your hooves." "Actually...I was going to ask you to take one human off our hooves..." "Only one?" Lyra slumped "Yes...but it's the most...duanting case we have. It's being treated at the Ponyvillie hospital...it's 'unique'." Fluttershy was confused at the reason why a human would be treated at a hospital for ponies, but she didn't argue and flew over to the hospital. 'How...could somepony be so cruel to humans...to animals...why?' To say that this experience threw her for a loop would be an understatement. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost slammed into the Ponyvillie hospital's wall a la Rainbow Dash. She landed and went in to the receptionists desk. The unicorn manning the desk had a grey coat, a darker grey mane, and her eyes were a crystal blue. "Umm, excuse me?" Fluttershy asked. She looked up from the papers "yes, how can I help you?" she asked politely. "I'm looking for the human that was sent here...If its alright...can you tell me where it is?" "Third floor, second door to your right." "Ummm...thank you." Fluttershy left the receptionist and followed her directions towards the humans room...and when she got there... She almost fainted, under lighter circumstances she would have, but she steeled herself. Two doctors were there, and when Fluttershy came into the room they both looked to her. "Ah, Fluttershy, Lyra said you would come." Said one of the doctors. Fluttershy looked at the human on the bed... It was the most expertly bread human she has EVER laid eyes on...it was strapped to an I.V and its eyes were heavily bandaged...blood stained them. "Your probably wondering what your looking at right now...to tell you the truth, we barely even know." "What...happened to it?" She said, shakily staring a the human before her. "In all my years of the study of ponies and humans alike...I have never seen such a perfectly bread human...This human's existence shouldn't even be possible with our technology and limited knowledge of humans DNA..." The other doctor spoke "This human must have taken YEARS to make...and it's aliment only furthers the impossibility of its existence...It's suffering from EXTREME magic depletion, and contamination..." Fluttershy just looked at them in a confused manner. "Magic depletion is self explanatory, your magic is depleted...but magic contamination...is a bit more difficult." The other doctor continued. "Magic as you know is living energy, the energy found in all being on this world. When a unicorn casts a spell, they're converting their magical energy to the magic they are casting...but when the magic they are casting is stronger than the magic they have within themselves, that magic converts some of the magic inside the pony into itself. It doesn't have any adverse side affects, the magic is still there, but it might lead to some changes in the pony, you understand?" "I...think so?" "Good...other than the starving, it's injuries can only be obtained by ponies...we contacted the scientists in Canterlot to see what they want to do with this...occurrence...they said that they want to study the human, but only when it has made a full recovery...the contamination will always be there, but it won't have any physical side affects...this human must have been heavily experimented on illegally by a group of high class scientists, the pain it must have felt..." The doctor slumped and sighed "That is why we called you in Fluttershy. Physically, it'll make a full recovery...but MENTALLY, it needs something more than a sterile bed and medication to assure its mental health...it needs love, care...it needs kindness." "Say no more doctor, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I sat by and let this poor human suffer like this, I'll do my absolute best...if that's okay." The doctors nodded "We'll bring a team here to transport it to your house...good luck, Celestia knows this human deserves it. You will be compensated and funded for all your expenses." ... The team of doctors carefully transported the human towards her house. The animals looked over in curiosity as the human was gently placed in the room used for slightly larger sick animals...Fluttershy thoroughly cleaned the room before he came in, Mr. Bearington left quite a hairy mess. After they left, Fluttershy looked over to the human, he ran a hoof over it's hair. "Don't worry sweetie...I'll take care of you." She moved to take off the gauze that covered his eyes, they had to be replaced...and she was just the tiniest bit curious, the doctors mentioned something about its eyes. She was surprised when she saw them, they were closed of course and had a crescent moon like black mark over them, she didn't want to agitate them, so she put new bandages over his eyes and stared at him. 'I don't even want to imagine what horrors those mean ponies put you through, but don't worry...me and my friends will make sure you get better...I've already lost one friend, I don't plan on losing another potential one.' > Recovery > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- '...Ow...' That was the first conscious thought that ran through the mind of Amias as he finally woke up from his self induced crash. 'Oh my head...' Amias noticed two things. One, he wasn't on a cold hard slightly damp floor anymore. It felt soft and cozy and all that good stuff, it was a bed... And two, he couldn't see. 'Crap, crap, CRAP! Please tell me I didn't blind myself!' As he was in mid panic, the sound of hooves came closer and closer to his location. "Oh my, your awake!" Amias stopped his panicking for a second to focus on the voice that just spoke...and that is a feat in it of itself, because one does not simply stop panicking. The voice very soft, soothing almost. It was OBVIOUSLY female. 'HOW many girls am I going to meet here!? I've literally only met three guys in this world!' "Don't worry my little human-" Amias felt a very cold chill run down his spine for some apparent reason "your safe here in my home, the mean ponies that did this to you and your friends are all in jail now. And since your so special, they want you to stay with me so I can help you heal." '...It worked...it actually worked.' *growl* His thoughts are interrupted by his stomach, that has been severely neglected for two weeks. "Oh dear, you must be starving! I'll go get you some soup." She left Amias to go fetch him some food. When she was gone, Amias finally calmed down enough to notice the the strange pressure on his eyes. 'They must have bandaged my eyes because they were bleeding...' Amias breathed a sigh of relief when he figured that out, then he yawned. He took off the bandages over his eyes. 'Being passing out isn't the same as falling asleep...man I'm sleepy.' Suddenly, Amias's nose caught a VERY alluring scent. It was good to know that the food you are smelling is going to be eaten by you, and not going being fed to someone else. His mouth started watering and his stomach felt like it was doing sit-reps to warm up for the food. The yellow pony came back with the most DELICIOUS looking bowl of soup he has ever seen. In retrospect ANY edible substance would look amazing after two weeks of no food. Hell, he even gave that old bag of goo he found in the caravans 'human section' some pretty hungry looks after five days. "I know how hungry you are, but you have to-..." Fluttershy saw Amias's face, it was littered with leftover soup, and he was looking to the side with his cheeks puffed up with what most likely was soup that he didn't have time to swallow yet "...pace yourself." Fluttershy giggled when she looked at his face again "wow, your a sneaky one, aren't you? You even took the bandages off." The sound of Amias swallowing the rest of the soup was his response. Fluttershy took a wet rag that she apparently had hidden somewhere and started to clean his face. "The doctor said that your eye's would be all healed by time time you wake up...but it looks like you need your sleep, don't you?" She said as she saw Amias's had a really hard time staying awake. 'Man...I never noticed how cold it is...' '"Oh dear, your shivering! Now you just rest your sleepy head and I'll go to my friend to see if she can make you some clothes." She gently push Amias back into the seductive embrace of the blankets, he didn't resist. She kissed him on the forehead and tucked him in, she left the room and closed the door behind her... 'I feel like a five year old...oh wait.' Amias quickly fell asleep. As Fluttershy closed the door of the humans room...she couldn't help but let a tear run down her face... The human was much smarter than an average human. When he took the bowl of soup without her noticing, and the expression on his face when she realized it took the soup... The human reminded her so much of Angel Bunny...his mother died after she gave birth to him, so she practically raised him as her own son. When she was wiping his messy face because he ate the soup so quickly, when she tucked him in...she distinctly remembers many occasions when she did the exact thing with Angel... 'I take care of animals besides this human and I still don't get this...heartache. Why do I feel this way with only this human? I know he's special in a way but...why him?' She shook her head to get the her thoughts under control, she had to see if Rarity would make some warm clothes for the human. Winter started yesterday (yeah, it happens) and she didn't want her human- 'Did...I just think of it as my human?...' She was shocked that she felt like that in the 3 days the human was here, after tending it's unconscious body...she grew attached to the human. She loves all the little critters that she cares for, but...this one feels special for some reason. 'I better go to Rarity before I lose my train of thought again.' Fluttershy left her house and began the trek towards Rarity's boutique. The air was a little nippy, even for a pegasus like herself. Granted she didn't stay in the air much like a certain rainbow haired friend of hers, or an average pegasus really. For her it didn't escalate to needing to put on a jacket or something, but to a human, this is really cold temperature. "Hay there Fluttershy!" Said a voice from behind the mare. She 'eeped' and looked behind her. "Oh, hello Applejack..." "Sorry if'n ah scared ya, but I was gonna buy the seasons feed for the animals at the farm. And I happened ta stumble on tah you! Anyhow, hows that human a yours been doing?" The moment Fluttershy was asked about something pertaining to animals...well you know. "Oh, he's dong fine. Just woke up today...although after I fed him he fell right back to sleep again. I'm going over to Rarity's to see of I can get him some clothes for the winter." "Your...going tah buy tha human PJ's?" Fluttershy blushed a bit "well...if you word it like that, yes...is that bad?" "No not at all sugarcube, ah know that humans don't have a coat of hair like we do...actually, I'm a might curious as tah what this human looks like, if'n its alright with you." "Okay, when I'm done with Rarity...would you like to come with me to see him...if it doesn't take up to much of your time that is..." "Well, sure! See ya! I'll meet ya over at your house when ahm done with tha feed." They went their separate ways and Fluttershy went towards Rarity's boutique. The bell chime signaling that the door has been opened announced Fluttershy's arrival. "Just a second~." said a very posh voice from inside the shop. The the white fashionista herself came to address the pony who came into her shop. "Welcome to the Cara- oh hi Fluttershy! To what may I owe this visit darling?" "Ummm...well you know that caravan of humans that came about a week ago?" "Yes, darling. Nasty business that, those poor humans." Fluttershy looked a little down. "Yeah...well, there was this special human that...intrigued the scientists at Canterlot, but the doctors suspect it didn't have the best life. So they gave him to me to give it some TLC before they take a look at it." Fluttershy started to kick the ground, and avoid eye contact "and...I was wondering if you could make him warm clothes for when he's sleeping?" Awkward silence... "You want me... to make Pajama's...for an animal?" "Oh your right... it's a silly idea...I should-" "BRILLIANT!" The sudden outburst caused Fluttershy take refuge under Rarity's coffee table. Rarity blushed. "Terribly sorry my dear, I was just excited at the possibilities of what you just suggested! NOPONY by my recollection dabbles in making humans clothes! Basic insulation, maybe, but not actual FASHION! My dear I would be ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED to help that poor human look as fabulous as it can!" "But...ummm." "Ah yes, we'll deal with that 'warmth' thing too." Fluttershy looked at Rarity in horror. "Oh my, that sounded terribly cold-" "No pun intended. You actually caught me at a very good time, I just finished an order and my schedule is cleared up for the day." "Oh, that's wonderful...Applejack wanted to see the human too, so she'll be joining us-" Fluttershy is interrupted by the sound of a door opening and a filly falling to the ground with an audible *thump* "...Sweetie Belle, what did I tell you about eavesdropping?" The filly know as Sweetie Belle stood up from the position on her floor. "I'm sorry Rarity, but...I'm was just curious about this human your talking about...I was gonna ask you if I could go with you." Rarity thought about it for a second. "Sweetie Belle, did you do your homework today?" "Yes." "Did all your chores?" "Yes." "Clean out the gutters?" "Yes." "Repaint the living room?" "Yes." "Alphabetize the sowing machines?" "Yes." "Bring in that bucket of steam?" "Yes." "Replace the roof shingles?" "Yes." "Get that decorative glass hammer on that precariously unstable mount over the most busy part of the boutique?" "Yes." "...I suppose you can, but be on your best behavior, this human from what I've heard has been through a lot. Okay dear?" "YAY!" Amias woke up with a start. The sleep has done wonders for him, but he can't seem to stay asleep for some reason. 'Might just be that I'm hungry.' Amias contemplated the risk of standing up and looking for the kitchen. If the mare that that lived in this house were to see him...he really doesn't know what would happen. His stomach felt like it was constantly uppercutting him in the throat, so he decided to just go look around for something to eat. 'Wow...this house feels...humble. Nothing like mine back home...man I miss clothes.' Before he left the room he was in, he took the sheet he was sleeping with and covered himself with it. 'Ahhh, college...I haven't worn a toga in years.' He walked through the house, admiring the beautiful simplicity of the house. It felt very 'homey' for some odd reason, he felt comfortable here. 'Man, I could seriously see myself living a life here...why is that?' His thoughts are rudely interrupted by another wrenching feeling in his stomach. 'Oh yeah, food.' The size of the home really weighed in his favor, he found the kitchen in about 5 minutes. Though the length of the time needed to find the kitchen could be the fact that he was being gawked at and touched by random animals that happen to live here also. 'Please God let it not be a crazy animal lady...well the fact that it doesn't smell like crap here goes in her favor.' He looked around to see the fridge, smaller and closer to the ground then fridges back in his house...his fridge though, was a behemoth. "Alright, lets see what you got in here..." Vegeta-bles, copious amounts of Vegeta-bles. Amias ground in frustration. 'I understand why because she's a pony and all but DAMNIT I'M A MAN! I NEED MY B12! PROTEIN! MEAT! CARNE! SOMETHING THAT ONCE HAD A FACE! I WANT A GODDAMN AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER WITH FRIES AND A DOCTOR PEPPER!' Amias was fed up with the constant veggies he had to endure during his 'stay' here in Equestria. He dug deeper into the fridge until he found something that peaked his interest. It was a jar of blue jelly. And there was a picture of a stallion covered in jelly and smiling...and looking straight at him. "'Hue Jelly'...well that isn't creepy." Amias was afraid that the guy on the jar was going to burst out and scare the crap out of him, but his hunger overpowered his fear. He found bread and peanut butter in the cupboards above the sink, his mouth was watering at the mere thought of creating a PB&J. 'Even when I'm in a different world, I can still make myself a PB&J...yes.' He took three slices of bread from the bag the held it, opened the peanut butter jar and found a butter knife in the drawer next to the sink. Making sure to not get his 'toga' dirty with any peanut butter. He...slowly opened the jar of jelly, and thankfully, a jelly covered psychopath didn't erupt from the jar and start slathering him in jelly. "Thank God, I don't think I could take that..." He smeared the jelly on the other piece of bread and put them together, then he started with the third piece. He smeared peanut butter on that one and spread jelly on the top of the sandwich he already made. He eyed his masterpiece for a second, before picking it up, and taking that first bite... He could hear the angles sing, more specially he heard this. He started crying, this was the most delicious sandwich he has ever eaten. Sure that soup was good, but this sandwich...this. Sandwich. Rufus Wainwright was singing his heart out in his mind, the tears picked up in speed. He slowly savored the delicious sandwich he with his bare hands created- "GASP!" Amias slowly turned his head around to see the yellow mare that owns this house, an orange regular pony with with a stetson on, a white unicorn, and a smaller white unicorn next to her. Their mouths where so low that he feared they would swing in the breeze. Amias swallowed the bite he had in his mouth, and bit into his sandwich again. > A Walk Around Town > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- '...Crap.' Amias was frozen in place as the mares continued staring (Surprised Patrick impression) and Amias was chewing on his sandwich. He had about 5 minutes of sandwich, and the same amount of thinking time, to figure out how do deal with this. 'C'mon brain! THINK! What do I do!?' He swallowed his second bite, and slowly bit into the sandwich again. 'I don't know if I can use my magic yet. Dammit, I should have tested it before I left the room! Maybe by not doing anything, I can get out of this!' 3 minutes. 'But wouldn't that be what someone would do if they were caught in an awkward situation? Maybe if I just non-nonchalantly eat this sandwich and act all innocent like, maybe that would work?' Swallow, bite, chew. 'Maybe if I stopped staring at them this would work!? C'mon man! You've been caught doing worse things then eating a damn sandwich! Stop acting like you got caught watching Brazilian Fart Porn!' He was almost done with the sandwich, he had a clear plan of dealing with this, AND he got to finish his sandwich! Win-Win. He bit down on the last of his sandwich and chewed. He looked at the group with that 'innocent dog' look. Tilting his head slightly to the side, making his eyes wide, but not too wide...he felt like he was belittling himself, but he swallowed his pride, and the last of his sandwich, and kept a straight face. "...Wow Fluttershy, when you said that he was a special one, you weren't kidding my dear." The white pony said breaking the silence. She still had a surprised look on her face. The little pony was stuttering like crazy, trying to form a coherent sentence but having just the tiniest bit of trouble with that. 'I really hope I didn't brake her.' Amias thought. Though he loved the looks of 'wtf' he got from his performances, he really didn't want to feel the emotions someone gets when their dog uses a toilet while reading the newspaper. However...the reaction he got from the yellow and smaller white one really caught him off guard. A 'Squee' sound came out of nowhere before he was tackled by said mares, and given a hug that threatened to rip him from his well earned sandwich. "He's. SO. ADORABLE!" They both screamed coupled with a girlish squeal. Now his sandwich wanted to pack it's bags and leave this place as soon as possible. He almost gagged when they said he was 'adorable'. The little one was rubbing up against his leg and the yellow one was nuzzling against his cheek. "Aww, he can make a sandwich, he's so smart! Yes you are! Yes you are!" The yellow one said while rubbing his head...and you know what? It felt good. Deep down inside, he was actually liking the attention he was getting from the mares...and he was disgusted for liking it...but it felt... 'Is...is this what a dog feels like? But...I'm not an animal!' Fluttershy got a paper towel from the rolls in the kitchen, put some water on it, and cleaned his face of crumbs... 'This is so demeaning!...Just bear it man...' After she finished emasculating him. She looked over to her friends. "Didn't I tell you he was special?" "...Ah don't know Fluttershy...them eyes ah his seem pretty shifty tah me...I don't feel right about this human." 'Crap, the orange one is on to me!' "Don't be preposterous Applejack! While knowing that a human can make and eat a sandwich is...jarring, its still an animal, just...a very well trained one." "...Alright...if y'all say so." '*Whew* white pony for the save.' "Awww...isn't that precious, he covered himself in a blanket. How cute." Rarity coo'ed. '...Nevermind.' "I really like his mane! And his eyes are...different." The smaller white pony said. "Ah can say this...that human there is the best bread human ah have ever seen. Ah have a friend that dabbles in breeding humans...she would be greener then mah families hooves if she saw him." 'I'm not THAT impressive. Well, maybe in this world I am. He he.' "Can I play with him!?" said the squeaky voice of Sweetie Belle. "After I'm done with his measurements, If Fluttershy allows it, you can have all the fun you want with him Sweetie Belle." 'So...the yellow one is Fluttershy I'm guessing, and the little one is Sweetie Belle...awww, that's so cute!' Sweetie Belle looked up at him with those huge green eyes of her and flashed him the biggest smile he has ever seen. "You hear that boy! We get to have fun later!" 'I...can't resist. Testosterone levels rapidly diminishing!' Amias slowly went down on one knee, much to the surprise and excitement of the young filly. He reached behind her ear and started scratching it. Her eyes went wide before she smiled and nuzzled into his hand before jumping and wrapping her tiny little hooves around his neck while nuzzling into his cheek. He wrapped his arms around her tiny marshmallow like body and returned the hug. "AWWWW, this is so precious! Camera! I need a camera!" Rarity screamed. Fluttershy flew upstairs and came back with a camera. Rarity used her magic to take hold of the camera and started to take photos of the completely adorable scene. Fluttershy had a tear in her eye, Applejack looked on with a smile, and Rarity was busy taking runway model amounts of pictures of the scene. Sweetie Belle unwrapped her hooves from Amias's neck, and he let go of her body in turn. "Can I show him to my friends! Applebloom and Scootaloo would love to see him!" "Of course you can Sweetie Belle, in fact today I was planning to walk him throughout town. Its not good to keep humans locked up in houses, they get antsy." 'That was by far the best experience I've had in this world, maybe its not so bad...' "Well we just HAVE to introduce this human to our friends! They would simply LOVE it!" Rarity exclaimed. 'Well, looks like i'm getting the town tou-.' *Click* The sound of something clicking on his neck was heard, he put his hand on his neck to find out... It was a leash... They leashed him. '...Why didn't I see that coming?' "Now lets get him over to the boutique so I can work my magic on him!" They pulled on his leash and they started walking out of the house. 'Wow, this place is beautiful! Though, I would enjoy it more if I wasn't leashed.' The walk to town was very pleasant. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and all that good stuff. Amias breathed in the fresh air, much better then stale caravan air. "Who should we go see first Rarity?" Sweetie asked. "Well, I don't have any pressing matters to attend to at the moment, so taking those measurements can wait. Maybe we can go see Applebloom, since the farm is actually very close?" "Ah think tha family would like to take a gander at this human as well. He's pretty cute." 'Again with this cute business.' He was blushing slightly but none of them seemed to notice. These ponies constantly calling him cute was getting to him. After a couple minutes of walking, they started to pass by an increasing number of apple trees. 'Wait...apple trees...she owns an apple farm?' "Well we're here. I'll get tha family together" Applejack went into the barn. "I wonder how they'll react to him?" "They'll love him I'm sure of it...by way Fluttershy, did you ever get around to naming him?" 'Oh no.' "No...actually I never thought about that until now...what would be a good name for him?" "Well, he's very smart, smarter than the average human-" "I got it!" Sweetie interrupted. "And what is that Sweetie?" "Hogi!" '...What?' "You know! From that cartoon! The human who can talk and always steals the pic-a-nic baskets?" Amias's eye started twitching. 'No...they...no!' "I watched that show when I was a filly my dear...but I don't think that would fit." "What about Spider! You know, from that show 'My Little Human: Friendship is Magic?" Amias felt the urge to slam his head against the nearest hard object for some apparent reason. He shrugged it off. "He actually looks a little like him." "...Sister...are you a Human-Lover?" Rarity blushed when Sweetie Belle asked that question. "The show is...quite entertaining, even though its for little colts." "I'm not judging you sister! I just...was surprised that you never told me! Who's your favorite!" 'Why does this feel familiar?' "Actually...Spider is my favorite." "Mine's Jiminy Carrey! He's so funny!" 'This feels so strange...' "Ummm...I like the name Spider...even though spiders are a little scary." Fluttershy said. "So its settled! His name is Spider!" The sound of hooves coming from the barn was heard. Then out came a BIG red stallion, finally, a yellow filly with a big rod bow in her mane, and a old green mare. "WOW sis! Y'all weren't kidding when you said he was different!" The smallest of the group ran up to Amias and started walking around him. "Wow, he's tall! I've never met a human this close up before!" She stood in front of him and slowly brought her hoof up. "Can it do cool tricks?" 'I'm not a damn dog.' He detested being talked to like an animal, but those HUGE eyes of the red bowed filly melted his heart. So, he decided to humor her, he went on one knee and shook her hoof. She squealed in excitement. "Isn't this awesome!?" She squealed. "Eeyup." said the big red one. "You try it Big Mac!" She stepped away so that the big dude could move in. He came up and brought his hoof out too. Amias stood up and shook it. "Wal, yo' wasn't jokin' about th' hoomin bein' special Applejack. Shet mah mouth! This hyar ones eyes is sumpin t'behold, cuss it all t' tarnation!" said the green one... 'What?' "Yeah, them eyes a eyes are pretty cool." Applejack said. "Eeyup." 'Is this guy gonna say anything else?' "Whats his name?" Applebloom asked. "Spider!" Exclaimed Sweetie Belle. "OH! Y'all mean like that human from that show!" Applejack added in. "You watch it too!?" Screamed Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. "Erm...yes, ah watched it once with Rarity..." 'Why can't I shake this familiar feeling?' "What were y'all going to do with him?" Applebloom asked. "We're going to show him around Ponyvillie, and take him to visit our friends." "Can ah go!?" "Ah doesn't knows yo'ng one. Ju does all yer cho'es?" said the old mare. "Yes." "Feed th' pigs?" "Yes." "Oil th' crop dester?" "Yes." "Slap th' bull?" "Yes." "Make a barnyard identical t'th' one in th' field fo' no apparent reason?" "Yes." "Wal, okay. Have fun wif th' hoomin, now git along yo'ng gal." "YAY!" '...What?' The town of Ponyvillie was pretty chill. Straw roof houses, bunch of ponies ogling Amias, lots of physical contact in the form of petting and snuggles, a few ponies avoiding him because of the eyes, and sunshine, lots of sunshine. A buzzing sound was heard heading straight towards the group that was walking though the town. "Hey Scootaloo! Check out this human Fluttershy got!" Sweetie said. Scootaloo, how was riding a scooter, stopped in front of the group. She had bags on her side filled to the brim with what looked like flyers. "Wow, never met a human in person before...can it do cool stuff?" "Applebloom asked that same question!" Sweetie said. "Well, it can shake, hug, and it's named after the human in MLH, Spider!" 'Why do I feel like gagging?' "Really? I would have named him Rad Daredek, he's best human!" 'There's that uncanny feeling again...' "That's because you have a crush on him." The other two said. "I do not!" "Your helmet says otherwise." The helmet in question was blue, with really cool and wild designs on the side, and in the middle was the hand of a human, the thumb and pinky were out in the 'hang loose' fashion. Every finger was a different color, and the palms color w were the colors of the fingers in their order. "It's just a helmet!" "And the scooter?" "It's a very high quality scooter!" "And your lunchbox?" "Its a lunch- whatever! I'm bringing flyers for Pinkie's latest party. A new mare showed up with no memory and she decided to throw a 'Let's welcome miss no name to Ponyvillie' party. Everypony's invited." 'Wait... Amias remembered what he did to Rainsugar. 'So she made it?...And this Pinkie character is throwing her a party?' "Oh darling, that would be a...way to introduce the human to Pinkie, and possibly the rest of Ponyvillie...but I don't think the Cakes allow humans in the store..." "Oh...maybe we should wait until the party is over and then introduce him to Pinkie?" Fluttershy suggested. "Dear, you know how she gets when we miss one of her parties, maybe we can keep the human outside for the time being?" "Ohh...okay, maybe that will work." A brief walk to Sugercube corner. Music was blaring inside the shop, cheers and cries of joy were heard, everypony was having a blast welcoming the new mare. Amias could hear it all... From outside the shop. And the only source of fun that he had was a pebble that he found on the ground. 'It sounds like they're partying like its 1999 over there...' Amias sighed, he was tied to a bench. and he had nothing to do but talk to himself. 'Maybe now is a good time to see if I can use my magic. Something basic...a hat.' He thought up of a hat and used his magic to make an illusion of one. 'No pain, no headache, well what do you know!' He made the hat vanish..now he was bored again. 'When am I gonna tell them that I'm intelligent? If this is what I have to look forward to then I might as well go in there and ask if I can have a soda or something...' Of course that wouldn't be a good idea, so he just decided to wait... And wait... And wait... And wait... It was getting dark. 'Man, this Pinkie girl sure knows how to throw a party.' A tap on his shoulder took him from his thoughts. It was Fluttershy, and she had a plate filled with... 'Oh...my...God.' Cupcakes, candy, sweets, dulce, yum yum. She put the plate on the ground and moved it slowly towards him. "I'm sorry, Pinkie's parties are always crazy...I got you some swe-." And for the second time, Fluttershy was looking at an empty plate. Amias was looking straight at her, he had no crumbs or anything on his face. He licked the side of his lips. Fluttershy giggled and wrapped him into a warm hug. "You're getting better at that." when Amias started to hug back, she tightened the hug. She breathed a sigh. "Although I do love Pinkie with all my heart...her parties are a little too...wild sometimes. To me almost nothing compares to spending time with my animal friends..." 'This...is nice...is it bad that I don't mind being called her animal friend?' Neither of them noticed a certain rainbow colored pegasus watching them. "So this is the new human I heard about." Fluttershy jumped in Amias's arms, let out the cutest 'eep', and looked behind her. "Oh...hi there Raindow Dash..." 'Fitting.' "I just came here to feed him a little something, he's been out here for quite some time." Rainbow Dash flew, yes flew, closer to Amias. "Those eyes are pretty cool." She flew closer... And closer... And closer... Amias's 'me bubble' was popped at this point. 'Uummmmmm...' She rose her hoof up and rustled his hair a little bit. "Your the best looking human I've ever seen." she turned her head over to Fluttershy "how old is he, 5?" 'I'm gonna get you back for that...' "Sorry, but I really don't know the correct age...is that bad?" "No Shy, don't be so apologetic-" When she looked to Amias again, he had his tongue out. He was staring directly at her. "What are you gonna-" Amias didn't let her finish her sentence. He licked her on the nose, prompting her to move back and give him his breathing room again. "Awww, he likes you Rainbow!" Fluttershy said. Rainbow rubbed her nose dry, "I guess he does...so, you have a name for him?" "Sweetie Belle called him Spider..." "You mean from MLH?...I actually see the resemblance. And let me guess, Scoots wanted to call him Rad Daredek?" 'I'm just gonna roll with it.' "Yeah...she told us about the party while we were walking with Spider...how did she get the money to buy all that stuff? HLP stuff costs a lot of money." "She's been doing some odd jobs to get the money to buy all that stuff...man, she really likes Rad." "Yeah...I myself never watched the show...but I would give it a try...I just don't have tv." "Well, the party's over and everypony is leaving for the night." Rainbow looked over to Amias again. "Twilight is going to have a field day when she meets Spider..." "Yeah...I hope she can take it well." "Take what?" Fluttershy 'eeped' and looked around to see Pinkie Pie, smiling as always. "Who will take wha-" Pinkie stopped and gasped loudly when she saw Amias. "A HUMAN!" 'So this is the-' his thoughts were stopped when a pink blur smothered him. "Who a cutie humy? You are!" Pinkie was snuggling and nuzzling and any other word used to describe cutesy body contact Amias. 'She smells like candy...wait, what is she-' Pinkie started tickling his belly, calling him names that are more reserved for grandma's. "Who a good human, who's a good hu-" Pinkie stopped her sentence when Amias did the one thing they never expected... He smiled and started laughing. That didn't deter Pinkie though, in fact she got excited. "WOWEE! This human can smile! And LAUGH!" She moved some of the blanket that was covering his belly and... Blew a raspberry in his stomach like he was some 5 year old, oh wait. "Awww, he's so CUTE! Is this the 'special human' you got Fluttershy!...Fluttershy?" Rainbow and Fluttershy were doing a 'Surprised Patrick' impression. 'Oops...I dun goofed.' "...They said he wasn't like normal humans right?..." "...Yes." "...I think that was an understatement." "He...he's so pony like I...can't even." "I don't think we should show Twilight today." Rainbow suggested "Yeah..." "Oh, and before I forget, we have to get ready for a trip to the Crystal Empire tomorrow...the Equestria Games are starting and they gave us all V.I.P tickets!" Fluttershy gasped. "Oh my, I completely forgot! I was so busy caring for Spider that I forgot!...And we forgot to get his measurements." "Don't worry, Spike did a great job taking care of the pets last time, so he can take care of the human too...we'll just bring him tomorrow to Twilight's library." "But...well, he is very smart...he's healthy...okay." "Don't worry Fluttershy, Spike already agreed to it when we got the tickets in the mail, he'll be in good hooves." Rainbow looked over to see Pinkie feeding his copious amounts of sweets, which Amias didn't resist to at all... He was smiling throughout the whole feeding. "I just hope that Spike can handle him and his...'uniqueness'." Fluttershy said. "Yeah...me too." > Spike is a Wierdo. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Spider..." 'Mehhhhh....' "Spider~. Wake up honey." 'Whaaaa...' "Today Twilight's good friend Spike will take care of you while I go to the Crystal Empire, and you'll get to meet my good friend Twilight before we leave." Amias opened his eyes to see a smiling Fluttershy gently stroking his head, he yawned and stretched his arms. Something was cooking down in the kitchen, and it was good. "I made you an omelette, come downstairs. We have to leave in about 20 minutes." Amias got up from his bed, donned the traditional frat boy attire, and followed Fluttershy to the kitchen. The omelette was on a plate on a table. Amias smiled. "I know your smarter then the average human...so I gave you a spot on the table...though I don't think I can get used to you smiling." Fluttershy had a mildly disturbed look on her face. 'I'm gonna have to tell her after she comes back. ' Amias decided to not freak her out further and eat with his hands. The omelette was amazing, Fluttershy could sling a mean huevo. After they were done with the delicious breakfast, Fluttershy put the leash on Amias's collar. The collar itself was a very professionally made one, he wasn't into that kind of stuff, but the collar was very comfortable... Still, it was degrading to have one on, but it was bearable. Fluttershy and Amias took their time walking towards the place Twilight lived. Fluttershy was getting worried, Spider's eyes alone were going to get some attention from Twilight. If he were to smile, or laugh, or do anything that isn't normal for a human, Twilight would not REST until see she knows why he can do this...or breakdown. It can go either way. They were getting closer to the library. Since it was early in the only sounds that could be heard were their footsteps. As they came closer to the library, Fluttershy's nervousness increased. She did not know how Spike would react. But since he agreed to this, she hoped that he knew what he was up for. "We're almost there, do you promise to be on your best behavior?" Fluttershy asked Amias. He nodded. The sun was barely out. It created a wonderful painting of oranges and purples in the sky. There was barely a soul in the street. The sunrise was beautiful as it always was. The library was getting close. Amias saw a purple pony with wings AND a horn. She had a couple of bags with her and was outside, it looked like she was waiting for something. When the pony saw Amias for the first time, her eyes widened. Whether it was from shock, excitement, or fear he couldn't tell. Her horn shine a bright purple, before she disappeared in a flash of light. 'Not bad, she could have held back on the light sh-' "Amazing!" A very loud voice screamed. "EEEP!" Fluttershy exclaimed in surprise. Amias flinched and looked next to him. Now he got a REALLY good look at the purple wing-horn pony. Her eyes were bright with excitement, curiosity, amazement...it was a little creepy. Also due to the fact that she was VERY close to him. "So THIS is the human that is going to be sent to Canterlot for study! It's eyes are...astounding, I wonder what else it can do?" 'Wait...study?' Twilight was feeling at Amias like he was a new toy, lifting his arms, touching him profusely, looking at his eyes, and generally being a creep. "Ummm....Twilight?" A soft voice said from behind. Twilight looked behind her to see Fluttershy pawing at the ground. "Yes?" "Ummm, don't we have to get to the train station for the games...if its alright." "OH! I'm sorry, but I was just so...intrigued by this human you have here...I heard that they found a genetically altered human on the caravan but...he looks so much like the humans in the world I went to retrieve the crown from Sunset Shimmer. It feels like he can talk at any moment." "Yeah...well, I think we should introduce him to Spike, we don't have a lot of time left." Twilight nodded. "Spike! The human is here!" "Just a sec, Twi! I need to beat Mario!" "Beat who?...If you don't mind me asking?" Fluttershy asked. "Ever since the whole Sunset Shimmer ordeal, this Equestria and the other one have been trading goods any chance we got. So, they gave us television, and other advances in technology. Spike is playing a game from the other Equestria called 'Mega Brawl Bros. Melee'. 'If my hunch is correct...then that is an alternate version of SSBM!...I'm going to mess with this 'Spike' character.' Just as Amias was done contemplating how he was going to mess with Spike, a small purple dragon with green eyes came out. And he didn't look to happy. "Stupid Mario with his cape..." He muttered to himself. Amias chuckled inwardly, he was best with Mario, and he knew how much of a troll you could be with Mario's cape. "So this is the human that Fluttershy got..." Spike said. The way he was looking at Amias was of shock, awe and... something else. Amias couldn't tell what other emotion he was exhibiting, and that's saying something. Amias was trained to basically read minds through the muscle movements of the persons face. But this wasn't a human, it was a baby lizard thing. Ponies and...whatever Spike was had these HUGE eyes that made it easy to see what emotions they were saying. So maybe what was hidden behind his eyes wasn't intentional. "C'mon boy." Spike took the leash from Fluttershy, "let's get you cozy." "Umm, are you sure you can handle him Spike? I don't want to be a burden on you." "Don't worry Shy, I got this." "He's...different from other humans Spike." "His eyes already tell that fact." "Just...please keep an open mind, he might do things that are...weird." "I keep cool with Twilight around, I think I can handle one human." "Hey!" The group shared a laugh. After the two mares left, Spike led Amias to, by Amias's guess, was a T.V and next to it was a purple cube-like thing... 'I'm really staring to love this world.' "I really need to beat Mario...maybe this human will be my good luck charm." He picked up a controller, and turned on the 'gamecube'. He let the intro video play, which was basically a slightly different version of this: 'Ahhh...childhood. Even though I still have the game.' Spike was getting pumped, I started talking to himself. 'today's the day' 'your going down, Mario' and other words of self encouragement. When he went to defeat lv.9 difficulty 'Mario', he picked 'Link' as his character. 'One battle of epic proportions later...' "HORSEFEATHERS! HE GOT ME WITH THE CAPE AGAIN!" Spike screamed. It was pretty funny. 'Mario' caped link just as he was doing his spin recovery, and to add insult to injury, he meteor smashed him into oblivion. But when the screen said to Spike 'You are a loser.' Amias couldn't hold it in, he snickered and snorted like crazy. Spike looked to him, imitating 'Surprised Patrick' just like his friends. But strangely enough Spike's shock soon changed into annoyance. "I'd like to see YOU do better!" He said, he dumped the controller into Amias's lap and looked away in a huff. Muttering something along the lines of 'dumb human'. 'Alright.' Amias picked up the controller and started going through the motions of setting up another match. Spike slowly turned around and looked at the screen, when Amias started to thoroughly school lv.9 Mario, Spike just looked on with orgasm eyes. "GAME SET!" The sound of the automated voice declaring Amias the victor. It only took Amias 5 minutes to beat him, and he had three lives left. Amias decided to mess with Spike even more by looking at him, smiling, and holding out the controller from him to grab. Spike was frozen in place until the sound of fanfare was heard from the game. 'Stage unlocked: Townsvillie Tower!' "Wait...this can't-" 'New Challenger: Bubbles!' Spike shoved the controller back into Amias's chest. "Go on boy! Beat bubbles, unlock her!" '...This could be fun.' And just as Amias predicted, a slightly different version of Bubbles from PPG started attacking Mario... It was the hardest battle Amias has ever fought. She was fast, she hit hard, and her projectiles (laser eyes, FIRE BREATH, sonic screech) did a number on him...but. "GAME SET!" Amias won out in the end. Spike started cheering, jumping up and down like he just got a Christmas present. Spike surprised Amias by glomping him, and rubbing him all over. "I don't know how you did it boy but THANK YOU!" 'Ohhh...my.' Amias thought, doing a very good impression of Fluttershy. Spike went behind him and started rubbing his back, he laid down on the floor as Spike continued to scratch him. His mind shut down and he just enjoyed the feel of Spike's claws on his back. "You like that don't you boy?" Amias nodded. "You can understand me?" He nodded again. "Oh your a smart one, much better than the other human I met." Spike started rubbing the base of Amias's spine. He almost fainted from the sensation. "Twilight has a lot of books about humans ever since we came back from the other Equestria. I met a human version of a pony that I really like...she was beautiful." 'Haaaa....ahhh.' Amias was putty in Spike's hand. "Ever since I came back from there...I started seeing humans in a different light. None of the humans in this world even came close to the beauty of human Rarity...I met a human who was as close as you can get...but you. Your smart, your the best human I have ever seen in this world. Your hair is long enough...I could style it in Rarity's fashion, would you like that?" Amias nodded as Spike pressed deeper into his back tissue. "Good boy..." Spike...took a deep whiff of Amias's back. His eyes used their internal eyelids to blink and a long, serpentine tongue came out of his mouth. He licked Amias's neck and let out a deep, animalistic growl. Spike started to grow ever so slightly. "Oh the things we can do together...I finally have you Rarity, right?" Amias nodded. The feeling of his long slender tongue on his neck was amazing. "Now...let's take off this sheet and-" "SPIKE!" a familiar voice was heard. Spike looked behind him to see Twilight, she teleported, evidence being the black ring on the wood floor. Spike hissed and used his body to wrap around Amias's body. He snuggled into the grip. "Back off Twilight...she's mine. You WON'T take Rarity away from me again!" "Spike please. Your not well, the dragon inside you is taking control! Remember what happened with that other human you thought was Rarity!...Please Spike, I don't want you to be put in jail..." She was crying. Something inside Spike was trying to reason with his primal desires. Spike slowly started to shrink back to regular size. "O-...I'm sorry Twi...I thought that I could resist because the human was a boy...I-" Twilight shushed him with a hoof. "It's alright Spike...it's not your fault." "...How did you know..." "When it happened the first time, I put a spell on you that would notify me if it would ever happen again...I guess I have to renew it." They hugged each other and stayed in a loving embrace, the library was silent... "Ohhh...what happened?" Twilight and Spike slowly turned to see Amias sit up and stretch. "Man I feel...amazing for some reason." Amias looked around and saw Twilight and Spike stare at him, eyes bugged out and mouths open. "Ummmm...hi?" Their screams were heard throughout Ponyvillie. > Discovery > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "AHHHHHH!" Amias flinched at the sudden shouts that came from Twilight and Spike. "Okay, I know this looks ba-" "AHHHH! IT TALKED AGAIN!" "Okay, I know this looks crazy-" "AHHHHI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYPLEASEDON'TEATME!" Spike repeatedly screamed. Crying and hugging onto Twilight so hard that he probably drew blood. "...So here's my number-" "AHHH IT'S A SPAWN FROM TARTARUS! RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE HUMANS! PLEASE DON'T CONVERT US!" "...And call me maybe?" "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" "All right! Stop whatcha doin' 'cause I'm about to ruin the image and the style that your used to!" "FJTJRBJFJGDJSDDDDKFKBAHHHH!" "I look funny, but yo I'm making money see, so yo Equestria I hope your ready for me!" They started foaming at the mouth. "Now gather round, I'm the new fool in town, and my sounds laid down by the underground!" Amias started clapping to the beat of the song he was singing. When he started clapping, Twilight and Spike somehow got into the beat, their hearts slowed down some. Spike, still looking very confused, started clapping with Amias. "I drink up all the Apple Cider ya got on ya shelf. So just let me introduce myself my name is Humpty!" They both got into the swing of things, Twilight started clapping her hooves her look of utter fear and confusion slowly turning into a smile. Their heads started bobbing as Amias continued. "Pronounced with a Umpty, yo mares oh how I like to hump thee. And all the rappers in the top ten--please allow me to bump thee!" "I'm steppin' tall, y'all, and just like Humpty Dumpty you're gonna fall when the stereos pump me!" "I like to rhyme, I like my beats funky, I'm spunky. I like my oatmeal LUMPY. I'm sick wit dis, straight gangsta mack! But sometimes I get ridiculous, I'll eat up all your crackers and your licorice!" As the rap continued, Twilight and Spike started jumping up and down, dancing and swinging. Twilight did this...movement that almost broke Amias's concentration, it was HILARIOUS! Twilight opened her eyes to see that she was in front of Spike and the human, he was staring blankly at them, while Spike was looking around in a confused stupor. "Huh?...I could of sworn..." Twilight rubbed her head. "I think the girls are right, have to lay off the studying just a little bit...seeing humans sing and rap with Groucho glasses on might be a sign." Twilight looked at the human and smiled. "You have a very good singing voice." Twilight chuckled at her own joke. She trotted over to him and petted the human on the head, Amias responded by rubbing his cheek against Twilights hoof. She 'awwed'. "No wonder to ponies up in Canterlot want to study you. I almost want you for myself!" Twilight walked away towards Spike. A stern glare seeped into her facial features. "Don't let 'that' happen again alright? I'm still paying off that mare to keep quiet about what you did to her human. And what if Fluttershy found out you...were 'doing the humpty hump' with Spider?" Spike paled. "Exactly, so keep it in your sheath Spike." 'Where did 'humpty hump' come from?...Oh yeah...that dream. The humpty dance is your chance to do the hump...' *POOF!* And she was gone. "Twilight!? Why did you go and run off like that!?" Rainbow asked. All her friends were waiting for her at the train station before her sudden teleportation. The train was almost here and Rainbow Dash was doing the Pegasus equivalent of pacing around in circles, flying around in circles. It got so bad that a miniature tornado was starting to form and Applejack had to hog tie her just to keep her still. "Ummm...why are you hog tied?" Twilight asked. "Don't try to change the subject!" The sound of a train stopped their argument before it grew into a complete casserole of nonsense. Applejack untied Rainbow and, unsurprisingly, she completely forgot her questions and flew to be the first pony on board. Twilight drew a sigh of relief, she really didn't want to explain her panic attack at the library...or the Spike incident. But she did giggle at the memory of dancing while a human wearing gazpacho glasses was singing some sort of song. "Watcha giggling at?" A voice abruptly said from right next to her. The sound of Twilights head smashing against the ceiling could be heard throughout the entire train. "OWW! PINKIE! Don't scare me like that!" "Okays, but what were you giggling at?" She asked again, the smile of hers almost reaching her ears. Twilight hesitated at first in telling her about the hallucination, but she remembered two things: 1. She could trust her friends with anything... 2. She was Pinkie Pie...she probably would dance with the human and sing along while riding on it's back shooting strobe lasers from her eyes. "Well..." She told her everything (minus the part where she caught Spike molesting the human), the dancing, the human wearing Groucho glasses, the one time Twilight started beatboxing (even SHE didn't know she could do that) and she somehow acquired a giant solid gold clock necklace and sunglasses. And when she found Spike in the corner floating in the air, spinning rapidly and what sounded like machine gun fire was coming from his arse. (Even though Twilight didn't know what a machine gun was, so she just described it as rapid popping noises.). When she was done retelling her tale, she looked over to Pinkie to see the she somehow acquired a notebook and pencil (another gift from the other Equestria) and was writing furiously. "Pinkie...what are you writing?" "Oh nothing...just the GOLD that you just described to me! Next time, I'M babysitting the human!" "Ummm....Okay?" Spike drew a sigh of relief. And looked at Amias. "That's the last time I'm doing that...I'm going to bed." Spike went upstairs, he hoped that what he saw wouldn't happen again in his dreams. He knew it was impossible for humans to talk, let alone start singing and dancing with gazpacho glasses on. That was more up Pinkie's alley...but just to be sure he wasn't going to touch this human in ANYWAY. Amias was alone in a library...the only thing to entertain him was the 'gamecube' Spike left out. And books...copious amounts of books. It would be a no-brainer, awesome otherworldly video games, or dusty old books? But the fact was that Amias was completely in the blind here. Sure he knew HOW humans are treated...but...why? He had a gut feeling that things were not all they seemed, he wanted to know more about humans in this world... so, he went against his inner child and started to look for the 'humans section' or the 'H' section of the library... There was none. 'VHAT!? Y U NO DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM!?' He was completely baffled as to the order of this books, 'Daring Do' was next to 'The crystals of the horsehead caves'... And he didn't know what either of them were! It took him HOURS of careful searching but he finally found something. It was a book filled with descriptions, first sightings, and histories of many animals. And unlike Twilight this book was in alphabetical order! "Hallelujah!" Amias screamed in joy. He quickly closed his mouth and looked up...Spike didn't wake up. 'Whew...got to control myself.' He skimmed through the book until he found the pages where humans were described. No known logs containing the explanation of the name 'human' though. 'Weird...' After he read the section pertaining to humans, even more questions raised. Turns out, ponies don't really have a solid story as to where humans came from. The most widely accepted theory is that humans are from the Griffon Kingdom, the griffons would hunt them for food. Sooner or later griffons started to overhunt the humans and Celestia had to intervene to save the species... they say her anger made the sun RED for three weeks and the griffons would have to either illegalize the consumption of humans or... The Griffon Kingdom would go the way of Sodom and Gomorra... 'Will that be Original Recipe or Extra Crispy?' Amias didn't have much love for griffons, not that he would LIKE them all to burn under the wrath of a super mega SUN Kamehameha, but this was about 2,000 years ago.... 2,000 years ago... Equestria's current ruler is Celestia... "DOES NOT COMPUTE! 011111010000! HOW OLD IS THIS RELIC!?" Again he checked upstairs...nothing. "How heavy of a sleeper is this dude?" "WHO SAID THAT!?" Spike suddenly awoke to the sound of Amias's previous sentence. 'CRAP, CURSE YOU CARTOON LOGIC!' He quickly put the book back in the place he found it and, since he had to think fast, did the best thing he could have done in this situation... Leap belly first onto the floor and hope Spike thinks he's asleep. "I'm warning you, I've been practicing my breathing! I can shoot fire!" Spike 'warned' to whoever he thought he was there. All he saw when he went downstairs made him freeze, and that's not good considering he's cold blooded. Amias's 'master plan' messed up his toga on the fall...and Spike was just at the right angle to see his... There are a lot of slang words to describe it. The Washington monument, the pocket rocket, the sticky grenade, and the hot pocket, just to name a few. So whatever you want to call it, he saw it. Spike's breathing started to quicken, his eyes dilated, his mouth began to dry. He couldn't stop staring at it...he didn't want to stop staring at it, he wanted to do more than stare at it. But Twilight's warning rang true, there would be Tartarus to pay if he so much as breathed on him wrong... So he did when almost every member of the male species did when they saw something they liked but couldn't have... He ran into Twilights room, grabbed her bottle of lavender scented lotion, a box of tissues, ran into the bathroom, and locked the door. He was going to be busy...for a long time. Using his 'Emerald Sword' to issue the 'Cry of the Brave'. Amias heard his scrambling and deduced that the coast was clear. He stood up and tried to find more books, slightly curious to what that light thumping sound is in the background, but his search was more important. He could of sworn he heard someone say the words 'human' and 'rarity' in the same sentence. But he shrugged it off. By the time he combed the entire library, the thumping sound was STILL sounding in the background. In fact, it got louder! 'What the hell is that thumping noise?...And what's that smell?' His curiosity was about to get the best of him until he noticed for the first time a door, it was completely covered in shadow a couple hours ago, but his extensive searching moved time along enough for the sun to move so that the doors corner was barely visible. His wariness and experience with horror movies was immediately quashed by the overwhelming smell of...whatever that was. He walked over to the door and opened it, there was a single light showing from the bottom of the stairs, the overwhelming mystery smell and thumping was almost immediately replaced with the 'basement' smell and complete silence. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he couldn't believe what he saw, it was some sort of... machine. and strapped to it was a helmet and to cuff-like things on a podium.... 'Lets hope this mare isn't some mad scientist or some crap like that.' There were rolls of paper, and tubes fill with some mysterious liquids. One in particular caught his attention, it was a darkish blue and had a picture similar to a troll face on it. It had a note on it that said 'grape soda!' Amias looked at the bottle in question, it does look like a soda bottle...and he was a little thirsty... but on the other hand he found it in a secret laboratory on a random table...but it WAS grape soda... He took the bottle and gulped it down, true to the note, it DID taste like grape soda. When he was done with the bottle, he put It down and continued on... not reading the rest of the note that was covered by the bottle 'potion perfected, safe to use on ponies without side effects, changes gradual and permanent rather than exponential and temporary. Tastes like grape soda!' Amias was in for a surprise...later on. He continued into the basement lab when he remembered something... Celestia's reaction to humans almost dying. Why DID she almost kill all the griffons because of their over hunting of humans? Was she an eco-nut or something? His thoughts were interrupted when he almost slammed his head on the wall...there was a button staring him right in the face...his curiosity getting the better of him, he pushed it... Dust landed on his head as the sound of ancient gears turned in the walls of the library's walls...the wooden walls of the library started falling, sounding almost EXACTLY like the sound that the Ancient Nord puzzle doors make in Skyrim...he can almost HEAR the cave exploration music inside his head. He cautiously entered the hallway in with the doors gave him excess to...and what he found in the darkest bowels of that ancient tree... Would forever change him...and forever change Equestria. > The Box > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darkness. It was dark in the cave that Amias 'found' in the basement of the library he was supposedly being 'pet-sitted' at. The walls were not stone, as almost all of his memories of playing Skyrim as a ninja cat made him assume. They were made of wood, which was the logical second choice due to the fact that he was under a tree. But something else was off about this wood. . . It was all one piece. It was smooth, and no matter how long he felt the weird walls, there were no signs of the start of another piece of. . .wood. There was a faint sound. . .the sound of wind blowing, the darkness made his ears that much sharper due to his loss of sight. 'What am I doing?. . .Going into a dark endless tunnel with no end in sight. . .with CREEPY blowing sounds coming from behind me.' The blowing sound was getting louder. . .Amias knew from playing Slender. . .or ANY horror game that looking behind you was the WORST thing you can do. He did it anyway. . . Nothing. . .not even a change of perspective from the darkness. 'Venite. . .' Some strange voice in his head told him a word he didn't even know the meaning of. . .it sounded familiar, heck the voice sounded familiar. He continued on into the darkness, after what felt like an eternity of walking into the unknown, pressing his hands against the walls for guidance. His eyes finally catch glimpse of the first source of light in what felt like forever, his feet were aching, his eyes hurt a little adjusting to the light. . . His hands felt bare all of a sudden, he groped around to find that there was a curve. Left turn. . . . . . 'Bonum, sequere me vos venistis . . .' The light said as Amias made the turn. Amias's eyes widened as he took in what was in front of him. It was a blue, ghost like. . . Human. He had his entire form covered by cloth or smoke and, in shock, Amias stood there. He was frozen, he couldn't believe- The ghost was gone. Instantly, like someone turned off its light switch. Amias blinked a couple times. '. . .What. . .who was that?' Amias was tired, scared, lost, and now he was seeing ghosts. . .though a part of him was somewhat happy to see a human that can actually talk. . .another part of him wanted to scream 'ZOINKS!' and run in place for a couple of seconds before running away. But he kept on going anyway. . .something in his mind wanted to know what was going o- 'Reliquit.' Amias stopped in his tracks, and this time, he actually spoke. "Who are you?" He said. . .with the slightest crack in his voice. 'Ah,quod vobis loquor enuntiabo. . .very well. Left.' Amias felt the left turn coming. He took it and noticed immediately that the soft, smooth wood that he was so accustomed to turned into stone. Cold, hard stone. The voice kept on giving him directions, and reluctantly, he followed. These passages were long and 'branched' out to many other hallways (Ba Dum Pshh). What felt like HOURS of trekking finally led to a light, the same light that led to the human ghost. . .another light was coming also- The sound of. . .bells chiming struck his ears. A blue ball of light suddenly popped from the walls, its light briefly illuminating the wall from which it spawned. The ball came to Amias's leg, it 'snuggled' his leg. . . It was so warm. Its light made him happy for some reason he bent down and as soon as he did, the ball jumped onto his shoulder. "Awww. . ." He continued walking with the ball of happiness on his shoulder, its warm, happy light keeping him great company. The light came closer, and so did more balls of light, they all seemed to want Amias's attention. And attention they did get. They were like energetic little children, always jumping up, moving around, and instilling happiness with just there own. Amias blindly walked toward the light, the balls floating and giving him the best feeling he had since coming to this world. A sense of peace that he had known since his arrival was blinding him to the possible danger of walking through a mysterious dungeon without paying attention. A cold rush of air chilled Amias to the bone, the only thing he had on was a bed sheet, it really didn't do a very good insulator of body heat. Before he could even address the problem, all the balls of light covered his being. Their warmth was something that touched him on a physical, and spiritual level. He felt so happy, so calm, he felt. . . Safe. And as soon as that safe, warm feeling arrived, it left just as quickly. . . Amias felt a deep. . .chill run down his spine. It wasn't one caused by a sudden drop of temperature. . .it was one of fear. Because right in front of him. . .was a box. A black, ominous, box. It had a simple latch to it that could easily be opened. No lock, no key, no security. The chest could be opened with a simple flick of the wrist. But. . .this box didn't need any security. The utter, spine-freezing, paralysis that Amias was feeling was enough to deter even the bravest, or stupidest of robbers. A constant stream of whispers brushed against his eardrums, so quite. . .yet loud enough for him to question whether his mind is playing tricks on him, or the same voice as last time was talking to him, uttering silent nothings into his mind. Testing his mental fortitude, to see if he would dare look back. The whispers sounded like someone was talking in his ear. . .right behind him, mocking him, as if the person was about to either slit his throat, or surprise him as if they were friends. The ambiguity. . .the lack of knowledge, the feeling that something is behind you. . . Breathing on your neck, standing over you, silently waiting for you to look over your shoulder for it to strike. Fulfilling some sick, twisted pleasure. Watching you squirm inside your mind as you debate whether to risk your life to sate your curiosity. The box was just a box. . .right? Even though it is just a box, Amias's Fight or Flight reflex was blaring at him. Asking him to make a decision already. But how could he fight a box? And, if he were to choose flight, were would he run off to? He didn't have the slightest clue how to navigate the winding tunnels of this ancient tree. He assumed there were winding tunnels, it was so dark that he didn't know. Again, the lack of information terrified him, was he in an infinitely complex maze of roots? Or was he in a simple corridor that only needed a couple minutes of wandering until getting out? Open. . . Something. . .some force was tempting him to open this unholy box. Like something was gently taking his shaking hand, guiding him to his possible doom. He didn't resist, he couldn't resist. His fear gripped him like the coldest of winters. The force slowly, ever slowly bringing his hand toward the deceptively simple looking box. Open. . . His hand, guided by the mysterious force, approached the box. He curved his index finger to grasp the latch that held this box closed. when his skin touched the metal . . . The amount of fear he had was nothing compared to what he felt now. The whispers turned into moans of despair and agony. It was like listening to the cries of the voices of the evil souls cast down by God into the deepest bowels of Hell. The infamous lake of fire was too nice of a punishment for these souls. They were sent to satan's cage, for their bones to be forever grinded and chewed on by the evil one's hellish maw. Amias started to cry at this point, yet nary a whimper left his mouth, his fear had stripped away the ability to use his voice a long time ago. His mind overloaded by the screams and wails of the assumed damned. The worst part is he could actually understand there wails of agony. they only said one coherent sentence. . . Avenge us! His hand started to slowly open the box *CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK* The sound of a centuries old box opening could only be heard by the terrified man opening it. As the boxes top slowly open...the screams of torment and utter agony got louder. . . And louder. . . And louder. . . Dawn the cloak of the dark. . .once again Inside the box was complete darkness. . . light seemed unable to escape this box. and if the fastest thing in the universe had no chance against this box. . . What chance did Amias have? He reached into the box...waiting for his body to be sucked into a singularity. Only to physically grasp the darkness with his hand. The agonizing moans seemed to quite down, he lifted the darkness to see that it was a cloak, its feel felt so. . .familiar. The cloak seemed to spring to life as it slowly slivered up his arm. The feeling felt very familiar, like it was a second skin. It wrapped around his neck and cascaded down. It looked like a wizards cloak, but it absorbed any and all light. It felt warm, despite the utter contradiction of a cloak that absorbed all light giving warmth. Avenge the souls whose bodies were stolen and defiled. . . Inside the box was a set of armor. . . it was almost as dark as the cloak that now darkened Amias's form. The voices were still hollering there pain in his mind. He still couldn't control his own body. The armor was a solid black color, no fancy ornate carvings, no razzle-dazzle. The armor glowed a faint red. Bring justice to us. . .our trust thrown away, our lives ended because of ignorance and fear. . . He started to put on the armor. . .he knew how to put on this armor perfectly. It was like putting on clothes to him. Then. . . Came the mask. When Amias's hand touched the mask, the screams of agony intensified almost one thousand fold. The source of his pain, his torment, his fear. It was a mask that was a shade of black so dark, the mask itself couldn't contain it all. A miasma of dark vapor poured of the mask in faint quantities. The mask had two white spots for eye holes, like the spots of Venom. Wear the last remnants of our kind, brother. . . The mask. . .Amias tried to resist this time, his fear turning into desperation. But, this force had a strong grip on Amias, and it was all in vain. The mask was on. . . His face covered. . . But his eyes open. The force had to do nothing to Amias now, he knew the truth. Inside the box, all that remained was a knife and its sheath. The knife had a double edged blade, they both curved inwards. Take this Razor. . .let its black metal taste the blood of our murderers. He twirled the blade around like a professional, the screams turned into anger laced encouragement. . . and they all said, chanted one phrase KILL THE SUN TYRANT! Spike was in pain. . . and a lot of it. furiously masturbating to a peek at Spiders goodies led to him bringing out his. . .stash. Basically, Spike was one of the biggest fans of 'My little Human: friendship is magic alive. . . And not because it was a good show, fun for the whole family, and had one of the most charitable fanbases ever. . . No, Spike was a fapper. And now that he exhausted all his MLH porn. He had to do something else. . .there was always THAT video. . . Spike still had one round left inside him, so he had to resort to one of the sexist video he has ever seen. He went towards Twilights computer, the Big Mac v2, who know the red farm pony was a computer genius? Spike got his lotion ready, his legs spread, and clicked the play button. . . And when the castle exploded, so did Spike. "Whew...that was awesome, time to go check on Spider." > Tears > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The hallway was cold. The steps Spike took as he walked to the main room of the library were loud and squeaky. The old floorboards making a distinct creaking sound every time his feet made contact with the old wood. It was strange, the weather schedule that Twilight, and every other pony in Ponyvillie, gets from Cloudsdale says that this was the peak of summer...which reminds him that he has to get a new schedule. 'That teaches me to -use Dragon Rush- in Twilight's room...' The hallway was unbearably cold! It was like he was walking through...that tundra that separated the crystal- 'Screw it, I can't remember the name.' He couldn't go on like this. He went to his room, got a winter, a winter coat, and put it on. Now, dressed and insulated, he descends the stares to check up on Spider. He wonders what humans do when they're alone. Creak... Creak... Creak... The stairs made their district creaking sound as Amias walked up the stairs. His dark robe dragging across the floor ever so slightly due to its length. He opened the door of the libraries basement to once again return to the main library room. It was a mess. When he opened the door to the underground cave, a fierce wind blew into the library, dropping the temperature of the old tree to a chilling degree. Amias didn't feel it because of his robe, and his mask was extremely well fitting and snug, so no facial cold whatsoever. He sensed a familiar presence coming closer to him, descending down the stairs to meet him once again. He looked around to see that the library was still a mess... "Hello boy!" Spike cheerfully said to the bed sheet clad human with a smile, "how was it all by yourself?" Amias smiled and stared at him like a curious doglike tilt of the head. Spike went up to him and hugged his leg. Amias must've registered that he was cold, despite his huge coat, so he went on his knees and gave him a hug. "Awww, you like me! I don't know why it's so cold, it's the middle of the summer!" Spike snuggled into Amias's warm form. "Sweet Celestia, it feels like your wearing a silk robe! How good are these bed sheets!?" A small growl escaped Amias mouth as he wrinkled his face in anger, he squeezed Spike a little. His true form showing for just a moment. "Awww, you hungry boy?" Spike asked as he mistook his angry growl as one of the stomach variety, and his squeeze as a friendly one. Amias quickly regained his composure and let go of Spike. He smiled and nodded enthusiastically. Spike lifted his arms to point them both at Amias, looking like a baby wanting to be held. "Dragons don't really do well with the cold...can you carry me to the kitchen?" Spike asked. Amias bent down and picked the little dragon up. Spike led Amias to the kitchen, where he put the little dragon down so he could whip up something special for the both of the- "You can make your own sandwiches!?" Spike said in surprise as he watch Amias make a PB&J right in front of him, his long black finger nails not even encumbering the process of said sandwich making. Spike was about to make one for himself, but was again caught by surprise as Amias suddenly produced another sandwich and presented it to the young dova. "You made me... a sandwich?" Spike asks. Amias only nodded as he smiled and held out the sandwich. Spike took it and started eating the delicious snack as Amiss was happily eating his own sandwich. After the sandwiches were eaten, Spike went into the fridge and produced a pitcher of lemonade. He smiled when Amias already found two cups and put them on the table. "I've never met a human so special... I really wish that Twilight got to keep you, It would be so awesome to have you here forever..." Spike admitted as he poured the lemonade into the glasses, "It would be so awesome to have you as a pet!...Heh, I say 'so awesome' a lot." Amias took a sip of his lemonade and smiled. "Want to go outside boy? I don't know why, but it's really cold in here! I-" Spike looked to the side in some annoyance. "I also have some chores on my to-do list. Twilight can go to the Equestria games with all her friends, but me? Noooo, I have to 'make sure stuff doesn't pile up.'" Spike looked at the bread loaf still on the table and smiled. His eyes widened as a devious smirk ran through his face. "Spider, let me tell you a story. Come closer." Amias scooched a little closer to Spike, curious as to what this story was. When Amias was close enough, Spike snickered and composed himself. "Kay. One day Twilight got a new shipment of spell books from the royal Canterlot archives as Celestia's birthday present to her. She spent hours reading those books, one time I almost hit her with a frying pan because she started hallucinating due of the lack of sleep." Spike snickered again and almost lost it, but he kept himself under control. "So, one day, Twilight got real interested in one spell. It was an spell that animates objects, anything that isn't already alive and stuff like that. So Twilight, being the smart one, decides to animate something harmless..." Spike grabbed two slices of bread from the bag that held them. He puts them on the table. "So she decides to animate... a PB&J." Spike let out another snicker. "At first, the sandwich just laid there, doing absolutely nothing. When Twilight moved her head closer to it..." Spike performed an uppercut to the air. "POW! Right in the kisser!" Spike laughed out, "the sandwich stood up on two legs and started wailing on her. I was too busy laughing to help her! It screamed 'you won't take my jelly!'" Spike couldn't hold it any longer and burst out laughing. "Th-the sandwich threw jelly everywhere when it said that! Twilight was so confused that she couldn't even get it off! When she actually tried t-to do something..." Spike held his stomach as another round of laughter came on. "It flipped her! It just took her hoof and blam! She was on the table!" Spike started crying as the laughter increased. "When she was on the table, it jumped into the air and elbow dropped her! Then it went into the cupboards and rushed Twilight with two spoons! Two spoons! It dual wielded spoons! Spoons!" Spike couldn't even stand, he was rolling on the floor. Amias was laughing hard too. After a while, Spike calmed down and brushed a tear from his eye. "It escaped into the wild. Twilight never used that spell, or ate another PB&J after...that. Spider, are you okay?" Amias was laughing and rolling on the floor because of the story; but that wasn't the reason he was worried. His laughter was... strained. Amias stopped laughing to address Spike. He tilted his head in confusion as to why Spike was worried of his well being. He felt something warm and wet on his face, like something was leaking from his eyes. He felt his face to discover that... He was crying. These tears were not ones formed from laughter, as those would have stopped with the laughter as well. The tears that were plaguing Amias's eyes didn't stop, they continued in their formation, as if the human had sprung a leak. Spike grabbed a paper towel from the roll next to the sink, but due to the height difference between Amias and himself, he had to stand up on the table to reach the humans face. He started drying the humans face with a glint of worry in his eyes. He knew about humans from the books in the library, but he was no Lyra Heartstrings when it came to the human body. Regular humans aren't even suppose to smile, their intelligence and behavioral habits are on par with dogs. They're fiercely loyal when you get to know them, they somehow can sense the emotions of their masters, and comfort them with a level of kindness and intimacy only a handful of ponies can muster. A human's hug is suppose to be the ultimate sign of love and kindness from their species. Some respected ponies in the field of anthropology suggest that humans have the potential to actually become sapient. But those beliefs led to some experimentation from the...less than loving percentage of ponies in Equestria. Spike knew that Spider was not a regular human. He could smile, understand pony speech, respond with a level of intelligence he has only seen in either ponies...or Angel. He shuddered at imagining what sick and twisted magical experiments they did to him...the pain and abuse he must have felt in the caravan that stopped at ponyvillie for some apparent reason...the pain of all the other humans that were going to be sold as meat to the griffins... Amias wasn't the only one crying now. As he finished cleaning Amias's face, lost in his thoughts, Spike started shedding his own tears of sadness. Even though he had a lecherous side of his affection to humans, he still loved them...he still loved Spider... A warm, comforting, embrace surrounded Spike's small form as he shed his tears. At first he was confused as to what was causing this feeling. But when he finally opened his eyes... it became clear. That warm embrace was Amias giving Spike a hug. He held the baby dragon in his arms, rubbing his head spines and looking down to him in way a mother would comfort a crying child... That's what Spike was. The tears only multiplied as Spike wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. Burying his head in the humans chest as his tears picked up in strength. Amias's smile never left his face as he held Spike, but his tears never stopped as well... A stunning contradiction. Spike sniffled as he regained his composure, "c'mon boy, let's go outside for a bit." Three knocks were heard from the door. Flip. The district sound of a books pages turning could be heard. Amias sat down and started reading a book that he found on the floor while he was cleaning up the mess in the library. The little baby dragon known as 'Spike' was busy in the kitchen with an illusion he made to buy him time to clean... He felt the bond that the illusion and Spike were making in the kitchen. Somewhere deep down, there was a part of him that wanted to be that illusion. Having the grandest time doing something as simple as making a sandwich... 'We had that with the ponies... but she cast it aside: like it was tantamount to trash...' Flip. The book that once caught his interest had lost its luster when the voices of the dead started talking. Countless centuries of unrest can make sadness fester just as well as hate, and anger. Countless happy memories of humans interacting with ponies were flung around in his mind, as well as the cries and wails of the souls that had them. He put the book aside and began to clean up the library in earnest. Placing each book in their corresponding order... When he was done with the cleaning, he decided to go upstaires to the bathroom... Creak. Creak. Creak. Every step he took caused a creak in the floor of the ancient tree. He reached the bathroom and did only one thing... He looked in the mirror. A dark, terrifying form greeted his gaze. He saw a man robed in pure darkness. An eerie mask that spat out a haze of black mist replaced his face... What was he? He didn't even know anymore. What he learned in that cave changed him, morphed him into something... dark. His individuality was taken from him. He became an idea, a thirst for vengeance from a fallen race of humans from long ago... He wasn't himself anymore, he wasn't anyone anymore, he wasn't the successful up and coming magician Amias Dolum anymore, he wasn't a smarter than average Equestrian human anymore... He was many. A vessel for the souls of those slaughtered and defiled so many years ago... He took off the mask and put it to the side, what greeted him were eyes that were never still, his pupils looked like they had fire in them. The white fire of an ocean of angry souls, the corners of his eyes released a steady steam of darkness... Drip. Drip. Drip. The sound of water dripping into the sink was heard as Amias looked at the only thing that hadn't changed since the cave... His tears. He was crying. He watched as his crystal clear tears drip into the sink, the only thing that hasn't changed about him. Small whimpers of sadness left his mouth as his tears picked up in strength. His voice wasn't even his anymore, it was many at once, like all the souls inside his body were crying at the same time... It sounded terrifying. His crying continued for a good ten minutes. His tears stained his face as he expressed his sadness. He dried his face off with a towel, and he picked up his mask and put it back on... 'She will pay.' *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* Loud knocking sounds echoed through the treehouse in quick succession. "Do you think he's home Scoots?" Said a muffled voice from behind the door. "Duh! They have to be! They don't let humans into the Equestria game! Somepony had to stay behind and take care of him, so who else but Spike?" > Playtime > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunshine. If any word could describe the outside of the tree library. That word would be "Sunshine." Spike, true to his word, brought Spider outside to have a walk around town. Though, three little fillies insisted that they come along for the ride. They stopped at the post office so Spike could get something. "Having fun up there?" Sweetie Belle asked Applebloom, who was currently sitting atop of Spider's shoulders. "Yer siree! I'm happier than an apple in apple pie!" chirped the young voice of Applebloom. Her two friends looked like ants from the view she had. An unimpressed scoff sounded from Amias's left side. "Oh please, you think that's impressive? Try getting a personal V.I.P flight from Rainbow Dash! Then talk." "Oh come on Scootaloo! Think of it from our perspective: we don't have wings. Flying isn't really a boon we have. We don't have a natural sense to the prolific heights pegasi deal with on a regular basis." said Sweetie Belle from Amias's right side. Scootaloo only looked at her with a blank expression, "you lost me at "perspective", whatever that means." Sweetie only sighed. She brought her head down to her hoof and rested it on her forehead for a couple seconds. "...We can't fly, so we're not used to heights." Sweetie reiterated. "Oh. Well why didn't you say that?" "Force of habit." Another blank look greeted her answer. "...I do it a lot." "You really gotta stop hanging out around Twilight so much." "I have to start learning about magic somewhere." "And besides" a new voice sounded from above the two, "we all know you want to be here more than ah do." Applebloom joked from her position on Spider's shoulders. "Pshh!" another scoff came from her, "yeah, right." "Yes you do~" added Sweetie Belle, "we all know you think it would be "Rad" to get a ride from him." "Ha!" exclaimed Applebloom. Scootaloo looked towards her friends direction with a annoyed expression, "that's not funny!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Hit a nerve?" Sweetie asked. A smug look on her face. "I'm not even gonna try to understand that!" "Come on!" Applebloom said between fits of laughs, "even Spidah thinks it's funny!" after she said this, Applebloom moved so her chest rested on Spider's head. Her face was completely upside down and looking straight into his eyes, "Isn't that right, boy?" Spider only let out a playful snicker before reaching behind Applebloom's ears and scratching. Her response was a cute little giggle before giving him an Eskimo kiss and moving her head back to the top of his. Nuzzling the top of his head while he scratched. His long nails proving to be quite useful. "Why can't all humans be like you..." Applebloom said drearily as the scratching started to lull her to sleep. Her eyes growing heavy as she used his head for a pillow. 'Oh, they will be...' Some ponies who passed by couldn't help but "daww" at the scene. A very select few had humans accompanying them. They huddled closer to them at the scene of adorableness in front of them. Some of the humans responded by wrapping one arm around their masters. "Spike was right about Spider being special. But...something's bugging me a little..." Scootaloo said as she watched Spider smile and scratch behind Applebloom's ear. "What?" Sweetie Belle asked as she watched the same thing. "This is the first time I've seen a human smile...but it feels like this is natural for them." Sweetie arches her brow (that popped into existence just for that specific facial expression) and looked around to the other humans surrounding them. "I...I feel it too!" Sweetie exclaimed. "You...you do? I thought I was being crazy or something." Sweetie pointed her hoof to a random human, leashed to a bench. The human looked male, had brown eyes, black hair, and white skin. He looked at ongoing ponies and other humans that passed by him, nothing special. "Imagine that human smiling." Sweetie said to Scootaloo. When she heard that, she instantly imagined the humans face in her mind. Then she imagined him smiling... "That's...that's freaky!" She exclaimed. The human in her mind changed from a random animal...to something more pony-like. That simple smile made him look...sapient. Like you could hold a conversation with him about how the weather was, or how awesome Rainbow Dash was, or how awesome the Wonderbolts are, anything actually. "What's freaky?" A voice sounded from the post office they waited at. Spike came out of the building with a rolled up paper in his hand and a curious look on his face. Scootaloo turned to him and pointed to the human she imagined smile, "Imagine that human smile." Spike looked to the human in question and squinted his eyes, "yeah..." he says. "And does that smile seem...out of place?" Sweetie asked. Spike's eyes widened as he thought about Sweetie's question. The human's smiling face reminded him of Spider, and how he would smile like it was natural for him... "No...it seems like it belongs there. I thought that Spider was a special case, but now that I see another human doing it-" Spike's sentence was cut short as he locked eyes with the human he stared at during his thinking. Spike sheepishly smiled before slowly raised his claws and waiving them. The human turned his attention from the dova's eyes, to his waiving hand. He followed the claw waiving left and right, before looking down at his own hand. "Weird..." Spike said as he stopped waiving at the human. He turned around, only for his line of sight to be turned towards the top of Spider's head, "Is...Applebloom asleep on top of Spider's head?" Both Sweetie and Scootaloo looked up Spider's form to see Applebloom peacefully snoring atop of his head. "How did that happen?" Spike asked as they started walking away from the post office. The three fillies had school today, so Spike decided to just walk them to school with Amias in tow. Sweetie tried to regale Spike on the groups interesting conversation before Spike came in, but a glare from Scootaloo turned that into a "oh, it just happened." "Shouldn't we wake her up before we go to school?" Scootaloo asked. "Ehh, let her enjoy it." Spike said as they walked to the school. It wasn't a very exciting walk, the only sounds that could be heard came from the other residents of Ponyvillie, getting ready for the day. Opening up shops, saying hi to neighbors, throwing away yesterdays trash, and other mundane things. After a couple of minutes walking, the group finally saw the school coming into view... And the colts and fillies who mingled outside of the school caught a view of Spider. Soon, a horde of multicolored miniature ponies swarmed the group. "Is that your human!?" asked one of the many schoolkids in the group. "Umm...well technically he doesn't have an owner-" Spike tried to answer. But he could barely get the response out before another question was asked. "So he's a stray?" "Well...no-" "Can we have a turn on him like Applebloom!?" "Uhh-umm-" The rapid barrage of questions was halted when another older, mature sounding voice came from the inside of the school. "Now, now kids. It's time to go inside, you can talk to them later." The kids looked back to see Cheerilee walking towards the group of amassed hyperactivity. The kids groaned and obeyed. Sullenly walking into the school with heads drooping like malnourished flowers. Spike brushed the sweat he seemed to have accumulated during that debacle, "whew, thanks Cheerilee. I don't think I could have handled anymore of that." A giggle from the school teacher rang out, "anytime Spike...would you care to introduce me to your new friend that Applebloom is resting on?" "She's still asleep?" Scootaloo asked as she looked up to Amias's head. Applebloom was still snoring atop of the humans head, "boy, she must be a heavy sleeper." As soon as she said those words, Murphy decided to rear his ugly head. "Huh-what! Who said that!?" Applebloom shouted out, suddenly waking up from her deep slumber. Her sudden movement threw off her balance, and she started to fall off Spider. But before anyone could try to catch her, he suddenly turned around and caught her moments before she hit the ground. "Thank goodness..." Cheerilee said as she walked over to Applebloom. Who was still confused as to what actually happened, "Dear, are you alright?" she asked. Applebloom looked around for a second in a daze. Before she looked up to see Amias looking down at her in worry. She smiled and hugged the human, "Thanks tah Spidah ah am!" "Way to go bro." Spike congratulated the human. He put out his tiny fist in Spider's direction. What happened next both amazed and terrified Chreerilee at the same time. Amias brought his fist up to Spike's performed the sacred bro fist. They then rubbed their palms together, intertwined there fingers, then separated. Performing a "dap." Spike snickered when he saw the look on Cheerilee's face when they finished. Her mix of amazement and terror looked like she reached orgasm and witnessed a murder at the same time, and her face reciprocated that. "So, the rumors are true. He is..."special."" Cheerilee said with a nervous laugh. "Oh, don't be like that. He's really nice once you get to know him!" Scootaloo said. Cheerilee just gave the human an uneasy look. "I'll take your word for it. Anyway, we have a special guest coming to class today. I want you three fillies in here." "Who is she?" The three fillies asked in unison "Why do you automatically assume the pony's a she?" Spike asked the CMC. "Well...it just slipped out." Sweetie admitted. The other two nodded, agreeing with her. "Oh." "Well, it's a surprise. Come inside and find out girls." Cheerilee said to the group as she walked inside the schoolhouse. The CMC said their goodbyes to the group, and gave Spider a big goodbye hug. After the girls hugged Amias and went inside the schoolhouse, Spike grabbed his leash and started walking. To where, he didn't know. Amias looked around to see the towns residents. A few smiles here and there, some waves in Spike's direction, and a couple of ponies looking at him in amazement... Or, what they thought was him. In reality, Spike was grasping at nothing. During the entire walk to the schoolhouse and post office, he was walking throughout the town. Watching and observing the current "humans" that resided in Equestria. Seeing how the world has changed since... Something deep inside of him felt bad that he refrained from actually interacting with the little ponies. Again, the connection with his illusion sending him the happy interactions the little ponies had with "him." But he had other things to do. 'How do humans still exist in this world? None of the books in the library even mention the possibility, or ask the question of where humans come from...' The ebony cloaked being pondered as to what his next course of action was, he needed information... Then, an idea struck him. There must be human medical ponies in the town. He probably wouldn't be standing here if one didn't exist in this town. He decided to find the hospital that took care of him and his brethren when he "convinced" the handlers to bring them to this town. Amias's body suddenly morphed into a billowing cloud of black smoke. The cloud moving through the mass of ponies, sifting through the minds of the blissfully ignorant ponies to find the location of the medical center. When he found the location, he made his way towards the "vet." *Chirp* *Chirp* Birds sang in the trees as Spike and Spider enjoyed a cold snow-cone on a bench. Spike got Ruby Red Cherry--with actual rubies in it, and for Spider Spike got plain Blueberry. "Kinda missing the cold in the treehouse, y'know?" Spike said as he munched on a cold ruby. Spider licked his snow cone with delight. Spike rested the side of his head on Spider's hip, careful not to poke him with his spines. Most of the ponies looked at the scene with happy smiles on their faces. Some ponies though looked at the duo with confusion. Word travels fast in the little town. They knew of Spider and his "special" condition. That doesn't mean they're used to it yet. "Twilight almost never goes out anymore. Ever since she turned into an alicorn, it's always "royal duties" this and "work" that...she never has time for me anymore." Spider wrapped his arm around Spike's back. When he looked up, he saw Spider's kind smile radiating from his face. To which Spike returned. "At least I got you. Maybe I could convince Twilight and Fluttershy to let me keep you..." The sound of a school bell ringing in the distance caught Spike's attention. "Oh hey! The girls are out of school! Promised them we could have some more time together after school..." Spike stood up on the bench and hopped off. He didn't have to tug at Spider's leash, the human stood up and followed the dragon back to the school house. "Almost forgot Spider, I have to tell you the time Pinkie volunteered to ring the school bell..." Lyra Heartstrings. This name is synonymous with everything human related in the town of ponyvillie. Amias flipped through her profile, stored in the hospitals archives. Sneaking in was child's play for the dark specter-like being. '4'3 standing on all fours, blood type: AB+, date of employment: 12/13/01. Degrees: Masters in...' *Flip* *Flip* *Flip* 'A lot' 'This pony will be useful for our plans...Get her.' 'Yes..we will get her.' "That'll be thirty Bits ma'am" the humble store owner said to his latest customer. The mare put the thirty bits on the counter, picked up her human food, and bid the kind stallion goodbye. "Say hi to Dex, alright?" the clerk added. "Will do Brown Bag!" the mare replied. *Dingalingaling!* The sound of the entrance bell sounded as the mare trotted out of the store. When she walked towards her human to untie him from the bench, she saw him stare at his hand for no apparent reason. "Dex?" she calls out to her human. When she did, his attention shifted from his hand to his master. "Dexy what are you-" her sentence became lodged in her throat as Dex did something that...baffled her. Dex started waiving at her.