Chapter 1: The Greatest Scientific Discovery of Magical Forces

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"I'm telling you, this could be huge! Think about it; a brand new galaxy may have sprung up right in view of our own! Radiation or asteroids or, or, anything could come raining down on our little planet Dad. This is-"

"Maverick!" my father nearly shouted into my phone. "I understand that you are exited about this. I can see it from my window at the office. I am literally the only one on my floor doing work right now. Everyone else is piled against the windows with their phones out snapping pictures. But do you really need to call me at work? It's almost eleven o'clock at night, son."

Yeah, it's late, but seeing this new thing pop up in the sky got my blood rushing. You see, I'm kind of a little bit of a tiny part of a nerd. Really, not so nerdy. I love astronomy. Just love it. Love the idea of space. Always have been, really.

Growing up, I was always a bit different. While other boys my age wanted action figures, or Legos, or video games, okay, I had a lot of video games too, but that's beside the point. While other boys wanted those, I wanted only one thing; an astronaut's helmet. I wanted to know firsthand what it was like to view other worlds from space. My dad did get me a novelty space helmet for my ninth birthday, but I'm seventeen now so it mainly sits on the top shelf in my bedroom, along with my model spaceships and other science projects from school.

So, when I was staring at my ceiling about an hour ago and saw this big ball of light flash in the night sky from my window, being the space lover that I am, I grabbed an orange T-shirt and slipped a pair of weathered jeans over my red boxers and zipped out to the balcony of my dad's apartment without bothering my shoes of socks. I was home after all. I had spent the last few minutes yelling at my dad, basically, reciting the notes of the anomaly in our atmosphere.

"Maverick," my dad says, exasperated, "please, go inside and get some rest. It's a school night."

"But Dad!" I whine back. "This could be huge! I need to get more information on this!"

"You have a basic model telescope-"

"A model E-x zero-zero-four-point-seven Geonet Telescope with custom zoom, bridge, and handle," I correct.

"Whatever," Dad answers. "You have a tiny telescope. What could you learn from staring at that thing all night?"

"The composition of the possibly new atoms created in the vacuum it required-"

"No!" Dad yells. "Don't start with me soon. Now, I want to hear you walk into the bathroom, right now."

"Dad!"

"Now, Maverick Garcia."

He only uses my full name when he's agitated. Mom used to, well, she still does, but I barely see her, or hear from her. She's over seas on a research project about whales or something.

"I don't hear any footsteps, mister," Dad hollers.

"Okay, okay... I'm going..." I open the sliding glass door and step inside and make an immediate right into the bathroom. I click on the light and step into the tiny room. We have a bathtub, grimy white and small, a toilet, same as the tub, and a sink, which is actually pretty clean, all within about a four by seven room.

"Are you in front of the sink?" Dad asks.

"Yes," I groan.

"Good, now look into the mirror."

I do what my dad asks. I see my reflection. I see everything about myself. My autumn brown hair, which hangs down into my eyes in the front and spikes up in the back, my matching brown eyes, my small nose, prominent cheekbones, pointed chin, which has a little bit of stubble growing back from my last shave, the large scar under my right eye that stretches from the bridge of my nose to my earlobe that I got from falling onto the edge of my bedframe when I was fourteen, my thin-lipped mouth, my white skin. I get out into the sun every once in a while, but I know I should do it more often, so I'm a bit pale. I see all that I can see.

My phone talks at me. "Do you see yourself?" Dad asks.

"Yes," I reply.

"Now... Ask yourself. What am I doing?"

I wait a bit before doing so. "...What am I doing?"

"You are up past your bedtime on a school night staring up into the sky, that's what you're doing."

"Dad!" I yell into my phone as I turn towards the opposite wall, "I'm seventeen! I don't have a bedtime! I just normally fall asleep around ten p.m."

"You are a growing boy with straight A's, perfect attendance, and my son. And that's really all you have going for you, since you won't go out for sports. You know you have the body for it Maverick," Dad says.

"Dad," I say sternly, "strength can't go everywhere in this world, you know. You need to make your living with your brain! Besides, it's too late in the year to try." Dad knows that it's the middle of December, but he still tries. I do have a bit of strength with me, but not a lot. I can easily defend myself or throw, but I'm not muscular or anything like that. I'm just that wiry tall kid in school, after all, I'm six foot two and a hundred and forty pounds or something like that.

"I just care about your health.," Dad says softly. "So please... go back to bed?"

"Ugh... Okay, Dad."

"Thanks Maverick. I'll be home in the morning to see you off to school."

I hang up and slip my cell phone into my pocket. "Off to bed I guess... Right after I get a few more notes on that thing in the sky!" And with that, I dash back out onto the balcony.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

For the next hour or so, I spend my time going through my notes and gazing through my telescope up at the sky. The anomaly looks so... unique. Bright vivid colors, crimson, salmon, cyan, sparkle in and out of focus in the sky, giving the astral entity a sense of life. It pulsates and shines with a power I've never seen before. It's so beautiful, so beautiful.

I grab my pad of paper and take some physical notes, then grab my tape recorder. "Space Shine journal, entry twenty-three: After numerous changes in intensity of light levels, I can make the following influenced hypothesis: due to the amount of change in such a short time, there is a strong possibility that the anomaly has, in fact, created a vacuum that is pulling nearby asteroids and or satellites closer to Earth, creating the changes in light by reflecting the shines and colors created by objects entering our atmosphere. The anomaly dubbed Space Shine is experiencing another change in light. A-holy crap! Wow! A new color has appeared within the anomaly! A bright green has come into view! That may mean that Space Shine may have absorbed or contained a large amount of Sodium Tetraborate or Cupric Sulfate Pentahydrate, which may have been from a satellite. Wow!"

I put down my tape recorder, still recording, and grab my telescope. Focusing the lens, I zoom in on the sky to see the changes of color. "Would you look at that! There appears to be a bit of an electrical storm within Space Shine! I can colors bolt across from one section of the anomaly to the other!"

A spectral storm like this is extremely rare, something that many scientists must search for extensively to find, but this, it's happening right in front of me! I gaze through my telescope once more and scan the lights for any more lightning.

"...Space Shine journal, entry twenty-four. After a short amount of time, numerous electrical disturbances have been seen. Anomaly is now a possible threat to any orbiting space crafts. Lightning strikes appear to be increasing in both power and range, seeming to strike through the atmosphere." I look up from my telescope and gape. "... Uh, the anomaly has increased in mass, or, more likely, has moved closer to Earth."

Space Shine had indeed gotten bigger or closer, whichever. This got my blood running a bit colder. Something of this magnitude could cause damage to our planet. More lightning fires within the storm

I grab my recorder again. "Electrical strikes are continuing to get stronger. If they electrical strikes continue to increase in power, they may-" I'm cut off by a large thunderous crash. "Holy crap!" I grab my balcony railing and lean forward, seeing the carnage that has just been created a few blocks down. "Oh no, the electrical properties of the anomaly have grown powerful enough to strike the planet's surface!"

Another boom fills the air and shakes the ground. Now all my excitement turns to dread, panic, and fear. I stumble over my feet as I turn around and dash to the glass door. I take another look back and see a bright green bolt strike an open field a few miles away. My phone begins to go off in my pocket. I take it out and flip it open.

"H-hello?"

Static answers me.

"Okay, that's enough research for one night." I return quickly to my notes and gather them up. Piling my papers in one arm, I grab my tape recorder in the other and speedily walk through my sliding glass door. I walk down the hall, past the bathroom, and into my own room. A simple blue covered bed and a window stare back at me. I place my stuff on my bed and gaze at me shelves. Some of my figurines have been knocked over, and my space helmet is on the ground.

"This is bad."

I rush back into the hall and out onto the balcony for one last thing; my telescope. I grab the telescope's triangular frame and fold it up, and hold it outward so I can throw it over my shoulder. I'm about to do so, but a glowing light stops me. Turning my head slowly upwards, I stare back at the new astral entity. Its lights are shining brightly, it's stormy being ablaze with electricity. And then I feel it. The pain. The excruciating pain. It feels like my arms have been ripped apart fiber by fiber. I feel it first, and then my brain begins to register what happened. The light, the pain, my arms, my senses...

I have just been struck by a bolt of lightning.

The force of the shock throws me back and over the railing of my balcony and I plummet like a rock. Falling. I'm falling for what seems like an eternity. I look over and see my telescope falling with me, it's frame and body melted and warped. And then I can't breathe. I'm going into shock, I know it, because I didn't feel when I hit the ground.

My body isn't mine anymore. It's moving on its own, driven by the instinct of survival. It needs to get away from the storm. I don't even know where my legs are taking me. It's almost pitch black out, but my legs keep moving.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

Feeling is beginning to return to my body, and so is my control. The pain, it's all I can feel, all I can think about. My arms feel like they're on fire, my spine feels like I'm carrying two tons, and my ribs ache when I breathe. I force myself to keep walking, but I do begin to think about my situation. I need to call Dad. I reach into my front pocket with my right hand, and the pain flares. My voice breaks and I yell out, but I get my phone out and open it... only to find it broken in three pieces.

I drop the phone and continue walking. If I keep going in one direction, I should hit a building and be able to call for help. I'm lost... This whole ordeal is terrifying. Besides the fiery pain in my upper body, fear creeps its cold tendrils into my heart. I need medical attention, I know it. A massive electrical shock can have lingering effects, like heart palpitations or extreme burns, which I know I have.

I keep walking, but My shins catch something and I fall forward onto a cool slab of cement. The sudden fall hurts so bad, I just... I can't explain it. My chest feels like it's crushed. I roll onto my side... and fall into cold water. The shock of the temperature freezes my body, then makes every joint and nerve I have left scream in pain. I follow suit, letting my lungs empty in a fit of yelling and screaming. The pain in my arms intensifies and spreads to my chest, my neck, my face, my whole body. It hurts so much. I want to die right there on the spot, it hurts so bad, but I don't die. I simply pass out.

Chapter 2: I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore

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My head is swimming. All the events that happened earlier in the night... They all... They all play back. Whilst my body rests, my mind recaps everything that happened. The space storm, the balcony, all of it. It's like a bad dream, and I can't wake up. My memory replays that horrific night over and over. I'm so glad I can't feel it anymore....

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

...I believe I may be somewhere safe. Every now and then, I gain enough consciousness to hear sentences. Mostly things like "We are trying our best," or "Life signs appear to be stable." If anything, I think I'm in a hospital. Sometimes I can hear beeping. Sometimes I hear plastic being crumpled. I'm safe for now, and Dad will be here to come and get me. I'm not ready Mom, I'm not ready to go yet...

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

My hearing is the first sense to return to me. I can hear more machines beep, more dripping, people talking. I can hear them clearly now.

"...-ject is still comatose. We're not sure if it will be responsive to any tests if it can even awaken."

"Regardless, this discovery must be preserved. Keep the subject alive. I want the Princess to hear of this."

Princess? I think. Where am I? I try and open my eyes, but I have little control over them. The people who were talking leave, I think. They sound like they are wearing tap shoes. I try to open my eyes again and am more successful this time. They slowly peel open, letting me see my surroundings through blurred vision. I wait a few minutes for my vision to clear.

The room I'm in looks a bit odd. It has white floors, white walls, and a gray ceiling with two hanging lights as my source of light. There is a green curtain to my left that is strung onto a rounded metal bar over my head. I look down and see myself covered with a white sheet. An IV line goes down from a bag on a pole on my right and under the sheet. I think it's, no, it is in my arm. I'm positive. Using my left arm, I throw over my covers. My shirt is missing, but my jeans are still on, though they are covered in burn holes and are more black than blue I can see my singed boxers through some of the holes in my jeans. Look down at my body, I see that my skin is red, charred, and peeling in some places, mostly my chest. I look at the IV line in the crook of my right elbow and...

I nearly scream.

On the back of my forearm, about two inches from my wrist, is a large crystal. It's almost as thick as my arm and is sticking out of my skin at I think is a thirty degree angle aimed towards my elbow. The crystal is yellow in color, and is jagged and rough looking. It almost goes up to my elbow, and I.. I don't know... I reach over with my left arm and gasp as I find out that a second crystal is sticking out of my left forearm as well.

Slowly, I run my left hand over the crystal on my right arm. It's warm. Rough in texture, like it would scratch me if it pressed too hard on it. My skin seems to grow up into the lower parts of the crystals. I touch it, and recoil at the slight pain. I then start to touch the rest of my charred body. My burns look bad, but they are doing... better? They hurt, like hell, but still better than before.

I reach back with my left arm and scratch the back of my head. Crystal formations growing out of flesh? That doesn't make any sense. As I'm scratching, I hear clinking, like glass. Looking over, I see that my shoulder is covered in crystals too. So is my other shoulder. These ones are smaller and less rough than the ones sprouting from my arms.

My head falls back onto the bed and I cover my eyes with my left arm, being careful to position my arm so that my new structure doesn't gouge my eyes out. I test my throat by clearing it, and I find it dry. "...Okay, okay, calm down," I say softly to myself. "You're in a medical facility with unusual protrusions and burn marks, possible head trauma. Think slowly and clearly..."

I don't get much thinking done before I hear more tap shoes. My door creaks open a bit and I look up at it. The voices are back.

"The Princess will be down shortly to see that thing." This voice is different than the one from before, its rougher. "What do you suppose it is anyway?"

"I'm not sure," the other one says in a more feminine tone. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"It's tall, I'll give you that. Anyways, do you need any trash taken out while I'm here?"

"Oh, yes, actually. One moment."

My door creaks open the rest of the way and someone walks in... Wait, what the-? It's not a person, it's a freaking horse! It's only four feet tall and its wearing a white coat over its light pink fur. The horse's tail and mane are both a bright blue, and its, ew, overly large eyes are blue too.

The small horse, no, that's not right. The pony walks into my room and over to the corner. It grabs a trash bin in its mouth and turns around to find me staring at it. We both freeze, well, I've actually been frozen since it walked in, but regardless. We both stare at one another for a long time, a few seconds at most, but it feels like so much longer. The bin drops from its mouth.

"Guard, it's awake."

My eyes widen further. I think... I think it just talked. Oh God, the miniature animal in clothing just talked... I close my eyes and lean my head back and groan.

I hear more tap shoes, no, those were hooves clip-clopping on the hard floor. I hear them again and the pony leaves. I may have just been struck by lightning and grown crystals from my appendages, but I'll be a monkey's uncle if I stay in this place with talking animals. I must be hallucinating. I must be. I pinch myself hard and try to wake myself from this unusual dream. It does nothing; I'm still in this stupid bed. It may be against every logical thing that I can think of, but I'm not staying here to wait for an encore of weird crap.

I sit up and groan again as my back pops about a dozen times. I wait a moment before I reach over and tug the IV out of my arm. I begin to bleed a bit, but it's not really what's on my mind right now. I hear more hooves coming down the hall to my room. My mind begins to fog a bit in fear as I throw my legs over the edge of the bed. I slip down and nearly collapse. I feel so physically weak. My groans and grunts are filled with exhaustion, and they continue to escape my mouth as I try my best to walk. It's like I'm a toddler again, trying to learn how to walk.

My efforts work, however, as I'm able to make it to the doorway. The hall is long and seemingly endless. The ceiling is nearly forty feet up and the walls are spotted with stained glass windows. The stone used to make the hall look aged, almost giving the place a medieval look.

The clip-clopping stops and I look to my right, seeing the pink pony from before and... Oh God. There are four other ponies with it, all of them gray with lighter gray manes and tails. What has me really scared is that they are wearing gold armor and carrying spears with their forelegs. The spears look pretty sharp.

The pony with the white coat on steps forward. "It's okay, Stay there, okay?" Her voice is soft, which freaks me out even more.

Talking animals with weapons... Not normal. Sweat beads on my forehead and my heart pounds blood painfully through my veins. The ponies step forward, and I bolt down the opposite end of the hall. I feel stronger now, a surge of adrenaline coursing through my body.

"Stop," a male voice calls out. "After it!"

"This isn't happening," I say to myself. "This isn't happening!" I turn down a smaller hallway and keep running. The red carpet beneath my bare feet is soft, but it gives me a good grip for better strides. I look back and see my pursuers turn and bolt down the hall after me. I'm about to look back, but I end up running into a wall and knock the breath from my lungs. I collapse on the ground and clutch my chest and trying to heave for air. My pursuers catch up to me and quickly surround me, their spears pointed at me like I'm some wild animal. Finally, I catch my breath and begin to push myself up from the ground.

"Don't move!"

I freeze. Looking up, I see the mare from before trotting over to the group. She slips between the two armored ponies in front of me and begins to slowly inch her way closer to me.

One of the armored ponies sways his spear. "Doctor Hurts, please stay back."

"But it's hurt," the mare says without taking her eyes off me. "Let me just try to calm it down." She inches even closer until she's about a foot away from me. "Hey there," she says quietly. "Are you okay? Let me..." Hurts, I think that's what the other one called her, reaches forward with her foreleg and tries to come closer. I back up a bit. "See?" she says. "It's just scared."

But a frightened animal is dangerous.

I know this is probably a bad idea, but I've seen enough news shows to know this may work. I throw my arms around the mare's neck and bring her close to my body, turning her around so that her back is against my stomach. I stand quickly and bring her up with me and put her in a headlock. She squeals and the two guards in front of my raise their spears to my face.

"Stop, stop!" Hurts shouts. "Don't move!" I move back and dig the new-found crystals on my left forearm into her neck. "Don't do anything rash!" she shouts at the guards. "Just let it do what it's doing..."

I slowly back up against the wall with the mare in my arms, and all four of the guards step in line to block my front path. I look to the left, then the right, trying to decide where to run at this T-junction. I begin to move towards the left exit in a slow crawling pace. "Don't do anything," the mare says to the guards. They look at one another, then back at me. I continue to walk backwards with Hurts in my grip until I'm about twenty feet ahead of the guards, and then I push the mare forward and cheese it.

My bare feet push me further into the depths of this... building. As I run, I constantly scan for a way out that- I stop myself from running and stare at my obvious option. I look around and end up ripping a torch, bloody Hell, a torch, from the wall and throw it at one of the many stained glass windows. It shatters nice and loudly and I rush over to the jagged opening and grab the ledge. My hands are bleeding from the broken glass, but I don't care. I'm almost out!

Until I see that the window led to open sky with no ground in sight...

I lean forward and look all around, up, down, left, right, the works. I see that I'm in some sort of a large stone building. I can't see any details from here, just that its really big. Apparently it's been built into the side of a cliff too, because of the missing ground below.

More hooves echo through the hall. My time is up. I begin running again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

My panting sounds ridiculously loud in the silence that surrounds me. After running for so long without stopping, my heart is pounding, my blood pressure through the roof, and my feet are aching. I've finally found solace in a dark room in one of the far halls. Multiple times I've heard those armored horses run past my room, but so far I've remained undetected. Good thing too, I'm not sure if I can run anymore. My adrenaline rush is done, and I can feel the fatigue seeping back into my body.

My heart beat begins to slow, my pants getting quieter with every breath, and my mind is clear. I'm seventeen, a great student, a simple kid, and I'm stuck running for my life in some strange unknown place with armed talking horses after me. I don't really know what to do now. I'm lost in this place. It's too big. It's too much...

I pull my knees to my chest, rest my forehead on them, and begin to cry.

I sit there against the door frame and weep for a few minutes, trying to keep quiet. I don't want to alert any passing guards to my presence, but it's so hard to hold in a sob. I let a few more out before trying to hold them in again, and then sob harder when I'm reminded that I've turned into some sort of freak when I try to wipe my eyes with my hand and scratch my face with the crystals on my arm. I quiet down after a bit more crying.

But it was already enough. The door next to me squeals on old hinges as it opens, and I snap my head up and look. Another pony is there in the doorway, staring at me. But this one isn't wearing armor, or holding a spear. It's just clothed in its purple fur, that's it. It has an unusual mane and tail, both a deep dark violet with stripes of light pink and purple that match its eyes. This one is very different though; it has a horn and wings.

I don't really care what it is. I stand up and push past the thing and begin running again. At the next T-junction I turn left, then right, then left again. The hall I'm in now is long, so long that I can't see the other end clearly. I sniff, wipe my face, and keep running.

Only to skid on my heels trying to stop when three armed guard ponies come into view and block my path. "Oh, fuck me."

"We have it in our sights!" one of them calls out.

I turn tail and begin running the other way, but now there are two guards behind me. I'm cornered. I feel like crying again. "...Fuck me sideways..." Looking back and forth as they close in, my ears begin to ring, my throat goes dry, and my legs cramp up. So this is it, this is where I die... But I don't want to die. I'm not ready yet. Not by a long shot. I'm weak, tired, scared, and defenseless, but that doesn't mean I can't fight!

The guards circle me now, staying about seven feet away from me. One of them holds a pair of shackles in its mouth from the chain, an actual pair of shackles, like from the times with dungeons and castles and whatnot. They all get closer, and closer... The one with shackles steps forward and I put up my fists to defend myself, even though my hands hurt from the broken glass of my fail escape route earlier. I throw a punch at the guard, which it easily ducks against, and that sparks the anarchy.

Two other guards tackle me to the ground and begin to wrestle me into submission. He tries to hold my arms back while the other grips at my legs, tearing the left pant leg of my burnt jeans off above the knee. I struggle to my back and wildly thrash my arms, smacking one of them in the side of the face with my crystalline forearm. It recoils and another steps up to take its place. I knock the other off of my and get to my feet throwing my arms in random directions. I never really knew how to fight.

And I think because of that, I didn't get too far. The last guard steps up and swings its spear at me. The blade catches me square in the forehead, cutting me deep. Blood rushes from the wound and stuns me enough for the others to tackle me again. I fall forward and smack my face on the floor, and I feel blood pour from my nose as it squishes against the cold stone. I yell out as the guards pin me down and pull my arms behind me. And then the feeling of cold metal around my wrists right below the crystals on my arms. I struggle and thrash as they pull me back up to a sitting position, and one of them backhands me. The fight leaves my soul. I know I'm beat.

I lean forward and let the blood ooze from my face and onto the ground in front of me. I see streams of crimson stain my chest and it speckles my jeans. I'm a bloody mess, beat up by a bunch of ponies.

One of them huffs. "Put it in a holding cell," one of them says. "I don't want a repeat of this..."

The others nod. They pick me up, or force me up, and keep me at spearpoint. Slowly, I walk with them down this long hallway, certain I'm going to perish within these walls. I hang my head low as the blood drips from my chin in a slow manner. If I'm going to die, I may as well make as much of a mess as possible. But in the end... It's a useless effort. I've had a good, if not short, run in life. I sniff as we continue down the hall, then hack the blood from my mouth as an empty threat to the guards. They ignore it as we walk to my "cell," as they said.

What kind of world have I been brought to?

Chapter 3: I Never Thought I'd End Up Like This

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Honestly, looking back on my life and how I spent it, I would never think that I would end up like this; bruised, battered, and bloody, sitting in some jail cell with my arms shackled behind my back, imprisoned by talking animals. Yep, never thought I'd end up like this...

I shift uncomfortably on the thin hay that lines the floor of my small cell, trying to find a position so the crystals on my arms don't dig into my back. The shackles are making that very difficult. Worst of all, since my hands are bound, I can't rub my face. The blood from my nose and forehead have crusted over and feels horrible on my skin. At least my nose isn't broken, it's just bloodied from my fall.

Looking around for the thousandth time, I just can't believe the situation. I'm stuck in some seven by four jail cell with no bed, just a small pile of old hay and a low platform toilet. I rest my head against the cool stone wall and stare between the bars of my jail door, just waiting for some animal to come in and slit my throat or something.

From outside the field of vision my small jail cell has, I hear the loud sounds of locks being turned. Looks like my waiting is over.

"—derstand your confusion, but this will be the first time I lay my eyes on the creature myself." The voice is extremely feminine.

"Yes, but why me? Why not call one of the more known—"

"Because, my pupil, you are one of the most intelligent minds in Equestria, so surely I called you in case you may know something of this."

Two horses come into the dim light and stare into my cell. I return the stare. The purple pony thing from before is here, and the other one is... similar. It's about two-in-a-half feet taller than the other one, with a much bigger horn and a pair of wings. Its coat is a brilliant white and its mane and tail... kinda looks... like space. A light, colorful space filled with blue, green, and pink that constantly flows like the wind. It's also wearing gold shoes and a matching breastplate.

The white one speaks first. "...Hm, yes. This is most unusual." She sounds like she has a powerful... uh, power, behind her simple form.

"That's the animal that ran from me when I cornered it in one of the resting rooms earlier," replies the purple one.

"Twilight, did this creature attempt to attack you?"

She shakes her head. "No Princes Celestia, it just ran."

They lean forward a bit to examine me. I sneer at them and they recoil ever so slightly.

"Mm," The white one, Celestia, says. "Quite the personality this one possesses."

"It seems angry," Twilight states openly.

"I would think so, after all, it went through a brawl with my guards."

Twilight leans close to the bars. "...It's injured. Why haven't any nurses been sent in?

Celestia turns around and begins to walk out of sight. "We are afraid that it may attack them. One of my guards is missing a tooth because of the fight."

Twilight follows the white one out of sight, but they remain in the room and continue to talk. I scoot as close to the bars as possible and try to listen.

"So, Twilight... Do you have any idea what it may be?"

"Well, it's bipedal, lacking much fur, not really. Perhaps a shapeshifter?

"It may be possible, but we think not. It seems to possess too little magical abilities to replicate a different form, or so the doctors say."

Magic? I have magic? What the hell kind of place am I? It sounds like I may be in some sort of bad movie.

"No powerful magic then. Hm."

I try to listen closely, but I suddenly feel a breath on my cheek and take my face away from the bars. The violet one, Twilight, is standing right there on the other side staring at me. I return her gaze. We look into each others eyes for a bit of time, holding completely still.

"Twilight Sparkle, please do not get too close," Celestia warns.

"...Poor thing," Twilight says softly. I'm kinda taken aback at her remark and lose my concentration. I scoot back to the corner and turn my back on the two. "...Princess Celestia, the gems... on its shoulders and arms..."

"Yes, I see them. Our doctor's have no idea what purpose they serve."

"...What are you going to do with it?" Twilight asks.

"Well, there are many questions we need to answer before doing anything really. If it's dangerous, if it does have some certain ability we need to watch out for. If it's safe, then we'll begin our tests, like seeing what species it closely resembles, what its diet consists of, and... really, what gender it is."

I turn my head and open my mouth to yell at them, but a thought crosses my mind. They think I'm just some animal. If I reveal that I can speak like them, I could help myself or I could royal fuck myself over. I think staying in the dark would be the appropriate plan of action for now.

"More importantly," Celestia resumes, "we need to know how it will react to being in the company of others. If it's anything like with my guards, I'm not sure what we'll do."

"It was probably scared," Twilight says. "...Where will you keep it for the time being?"

"Well," Celestia says quietly, "here. It attacked my guards so I need to pace a training program, see if it is truly violent in nature."

"Have you fed it?"

Celestia looks down at Twilight. "Um, no, not yet.

"May I have a piece of bread and some water then?" Twilight asks.

"To feed it?" Celestia inquires.

"Yes."

They walk out of sight for a minute or two, but return with the needed items. The bread is fresh, I can smell it from here, but its scent is distracting me from the very, very strange thing happening in front of me. The bread and the small metal cup are floating in midair! They just hover there, like some sort of gag prank someone might pull, but I don't see any strings, just a faint violet glow from the objects. They float down between the bars and land about a foot in front of me. I reach for them, but my arms clank against the resisting chains of my shackles.

"...Princess Celestia, I have a bad idea," Twilight whispers

"What is it?" she asks.

"I think I know how to test if it's dangerous," she quietly says. "May I have the keys to its restraints?"

Celestia looks at the other pony, mortified. "Twilight Sparkle, are you insane? You are asking me to put you in harms way!"

"Just please, trust me?" she pleads.

I continue to stare at the food in front of me. I lean forward to see if I can stretch my back enough to get at the bread, but the sound of my cell door opening draws my attention. Twilight steps inside my cell and closes the door behind her. I straighten up and try my best not to look scared or intimidated.

She comes closer and that's when I see a key floating next to her. It swivels in the air and shoots toward me, I flinch, thinking it's going to hit me, but instead the metal around my wrists comes off. I quickly bring them out in front of me and rub them, glad to have the metal off of my skin.

Twilight then moves closer still. She sits down nearly two feet from me. Even though she's only four feet tall, when we are both seated Twilight is a bit taller than me. All I do is stare at her, my hands frozen on my wrists. And then, she slowly reaches forward, picks up the bread with her forelegs and gingerly hold them outward. I look at her, then at the bread in her hooves. Slowly, I reach out with my left arm and inch closer to the tasty looking morsel in her possession. My fingers touch the crisp crust and I take the bread in a fast manner. Twilight just smiles.

While I bite into the food she's given me, Twilight returns to the cell door and exits. "Princess," she says, "I think I would like to help you with your studies."

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

Based on what I heard Twilight and Celestia say while discussing their plan, I was to stay in the castle under constant surveillance. I'm in a castle... with a princess pony ruler... I've gone back in time to a terrible world... Anyways, I'm under lockdown after sundown, and I'm not allowed to go anywhere without Twilight to guide me. Apparently, we were to stay in the same room as well.

And that's where we're heading now. I have no idea what Twilight said to Celestia that convinced her to let me go free (to a certain extent), but I'm secretly grateful, not to mention that just an hour earlier I knocked some stallion's tooth out. I guess these crystals on my body are harder than I thought.

With Twilight in front of me, and two guards behind me, we all silently walk to my, no, our room. The décor in this never-ending hall is the same; just gray stone and red carpet. The walking is beginning to take a toll on my aching feet, and by some random show of mercy in this unusual world we reach the great double doors that behind lies our new sanctum. Without even touching the door, Twilight opens them and walks inside.

"Guards, you may remain outside or do as you wish," Twilight says in a bit of a commanding voice. "I won't be requiring your services until further notice."

"Yes Princess Twilight," they both say. Another princess?

Twilight motions for me to come in with her, so I do. The room inside is huge, like, ridiculously large. There is a king sized bed in the middle of the back wall, and it also has a glass door leading to a balcony. The bed is covered in a red blanket with gold trim and has four large posts rising above it with sheets flowing down like a ceiling of some sorts. The carpet here is a regal white, the curtains on the windows are gold, and there is a large pile of blue, pink, and green pillows in the middle of the floor.

Twilight moves over to the right side of the room and opens a door that I can barely see, since its painted the same color as the walls, a milky white. She slips inside and after a moment, reappears to call me inside. Once again, I follow.

I step into a large bathroom Its smaller than the room outside, but damn it's still big! There is a large tan bathtub on the far wall, a white sink and toilet on the right wall, and on the left wall is a smaller tub, a hot tub I think, I don't know for sure. Twilight is near the larger tub and motions me closer. I'm not entirely looking forward to what I think is coming next.

Slowly, I walk over to her and sit on the side of the tub. Once I'm seated, Twilight loses no time in checking me out. She pulls at the ragged remains of my jeans, checks my body for any serious injuries, and then leans in close to look at my face. She shakes her head.

"Poor thing. You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

I simply cock my head to the side in an attempt to look cute. I guess it doesn't work due to of all the blood on my face because Twilight grimaces.

"Let's get you washed up." Water begins to spurt from the nozzle of the tub and it makes me jump to my feet. Twilight gets up too. "No, no! It's okay, it's just the bathtub." She sits back down on the tiled floor and waits for me to do so as well. I wait a moment before I copy her, going down as well and crossing my legs.

That's just not right, her being able to turn the knobs like that without actually touching them. I watch her a bit as she leans forward and tests the inch-deep water with her hoof, then the knobs turn by themselves... again. Wait a minute, is she doing that? An orange bottle of liquid soap floats past my face. Like the key in the dungeon, its veiled in a violet aura of some sort... And so is her horn. Telekinesis? We humans are the most advanced creatures on our planet, and we've barely begun to unlock the more cognitive functionalities of our own DNA, but these creatures, these horses...

I lean forward and put my head in my hands, my mind just basically blown asunder from what I believe I've just realized. We sit there in silence for a number of minutes, though is seems like seconds until I realize how sore my back is when I stretch.

"There, that should be good." I look up at Twilight and she smiles. "Do you know what this is?" she asks while pointing at the sudsy water.

I make a scratching motion with my arm.

"That's right, it's a bath."

She stays where she is as I stand and move a bit closer to the water. My jeans are stiff and the burned edges of the holes begin to crumble as I stand. Humidity does unusual things to burns. I notice that Twilight is still sitting next to the tub, although her smile is gone. I cross my arms and stare at her, waiting. She returns the stare.

"...Do you... want to be alone?" she asks.

I don't move.

"...I'll, uh, be right outside then." She flaps her wings to flex them, then stands and quietly exits the bathroom.

I sigh and relax. Trying to be intimidating is very tiring. I'm not used to it at all. Normally I would avoid confrontation, stand aside, or walk away. But here, I can't do that. Not if I want to survive. But this one, Twilight Sparkle, she doesn't seem too bad, I guess. I look at the bath, then at the door, and take a deep breathe.

The door is silent when I open it and peer through the crack. Twilight is on the other side of the room, speaking to herself as she writes in a small journal. I poke my head through the doorway to hear better.

"-and appears to be, if anything, a bit bashful. This animal is unlike any others I've seen, as it seems to possess a much more complicated personality than the rest of the animals around the continent. Other than its unusual build and strange fur placement, I cannot truly hypothesize as to what it may be. However, it has only been an hour into my new assignment, and thusly I should gather more data before anything else. I have reason to suspect-"

Before I could do anything about it, the tickle in my nose elicits a sneeze form me.

Twilight whips her head around to see me peeking at her. She smiles and returns to her book. "-Have reason to suspect," she continues, "that the animal is just as curious about us as we are about it."

I huff and close the door. Turning around and sitting on the edge of the tub, I try to think. MMy mind is too hazy, too shaken to really do anything right now. My back and ribs are killing me, and the blood on my face isn't getting any cleaner. I stand up and unbutton my jeans, or at least what's left of them, and let them drop. Looking down, I see that my red boxers have escaped most damage, just a little thread sticking out here and there, probably from the hard contact earlier today. I slide them off as well and quickly immerse myself in the tub of hot water and bubbles.

The water is a bit warmer than I would like, but how would Twilight know that, but it feels so good on my crystals. Unusual to know that a rock formation can have feeling, but I don't care right now; I'm in a castle with talking, flying, telepathic miniature horses, the mysteriously-appearing yellow crystals on my arms and shoulders are the least of my problems. I sink down to my nose and begin to rub at my face and chest as hard as my tender flesh will allow me to. I need to get these crimson stains off of my skin. If I can look cute and innocent, then my survival could boost a few percentiles. I search the edges of the tub for something to scrub myself with, and I think I may have gotten lucky, I'm not entirely sure, but there is a small green rag. I grab it, dunk it in the water, and begin to work.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

It's been a while now. The water in the tub is beginning to get cold, and all the bubbles have popped. I'm leaning against the far slanted side of the tub staring at the ceiling. The cut on my forehead is stinging from the soap. I don't want to get out, but I know I must, so I sit up and rub my neck. I'm clean, finally, but still a bit sore. I pull out the bath plug and stand up. Being careful, I slide my butt on the edge of the tub and grab a nearby white towel. After a few minutes of drying off and slipping on my boxers and jeans once more, I leave the bathroom.

Twilight is asleep on the massive bed, and a translucent bubble surrounds her sleeping form. I don't even want to think about what that may be, but on the other hand... I sneak past the bed and over to where she was before, the desk. Her journal is open and just begging me to read it. I scan through and start where I last heard her. I don't want to wake Twilight, so I simply read in my head.

"It's curiosity may have been what brought it to our kingdom in the first place. The animal is obviously not a native to this section of Equestria, as our records show no data on anything even similar to it. Its physical appearance of both flesh and stone suggest a possible underground species, perhaps one that is close in genealogy to the Carbonic Canis lupus, more commonly known as the Diamond Dog. At any rate, I have decided that in order to earn its trust, I must trust it myself. There is, however, a thin line in this experiment that I do not want to cross, and to prevent myself from proceeding past that line, I have taken safety precautions and cast a protection sphere spell as I sleep. If the animal attempt anything, I will be awakened and ready to defend myself."

It's nice to see that I have made myself a force to be reckoned with. I close the journal and take another look at Twilight. I already know where I'll be sleeping tonight, so I head over to my spot. The spot with the dozens of pillows. I rearrange them into a small den for myself and find a comfortable place to lay down. Pilling the extra pillows on myself as a makeshift blanket, I put my hands together on my chest and close my eyes, all while trying to ignore the pain of my cut.

I do not dream that night...

Chapter 4: And At The Top of The Hill, All I can See Is Down

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When I open my eyes, the room is still dark. The ceiling looks so far away. My body feels hot. Looking down, I see the shine of my chest. Light is emanating from the crystals on my body, and they feel warmer than before. I'm sweating so profusely. I sit up and crack my neck, then look around. Still here, in this strange room with that purple pony. Taking my time, I stand and slowly walk over to the wall, using my forearms as a sort of dim lantern.

I make my way to the glass doors that lead to the small balcony and slip through them. The sun is still asleep, but the moon is wide awake, as are the stars, shining down on the little stone fixture. The stone barrier fence is pretty thick, and it's a bit low, but I lean on it and cup my chin in my hands. The air is crisp, fresh, and cold. It feels good.

You know, looking over the rails and down at the misty abyss below, thoughts begin to run through my head again. Is this all just a dream? But then I reach up and gingerly touch the cut on my forehead, which stings in response. Dreams aren't supposed to hurt, but a more alert state of mind may be entered and outside forces could elicit a type of pain, such as smacking your arm on the nightstands and feeling like you've been hit in your dream. I look back over the rail and contemplate on jumping, but I'm too scared to act on it.

I must have been out there longer than I thought, or maybe it was just hiding right below the horizon, but after a few more minutes the sun begins to rise. It is a beautiful site, I'll admit it. The radiant sunlight just cresting over the mountainous background that erupts from the Earth... Earth? Am I still on my planet? I laugh at my thought. Impossible; no other planet has been found that can support life, at least not yet. But then again, the Universe is a big place. Perhaps I somehow... I don't know.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I turn my head and look over my shoulder. Twilight is standing in the open doorway, her mane a frizzy mess. It's weird, I think, that most of these ponies are only about four feet tall, while that one white one is a bit taller than me. Size is unusual here.

Twilight walks closer and hops up on the railing with me. "I got cold, so I got up and saw you out here." I must have left the door open. "I bet you feel a bit better after your wash, right?" I don't answer. Twilight shifts and a brush flies out and begins working on her mane. I just stare at the brush, watching it float in midair. She does possess telekinesis... Now I'm a bit more frightened by this whole situation. My fear must have shown, because Twilight stops and looks at me. "It's okay, it's only a brush."

I straighten up and walk back inside the bedroom. My feet fumble over the carpet and I almost fall over, but I'm able to catch myself on the bed frame. Slower this time, I make my way over to the dresser in the far corner near the door. It has a mirror so I use it to examine my forehead. It's a bit red around the cut, but it's not as deep as I had feared. I see Twilight step up behind me in the mirror.

"Hmm," she says, "we should have that looked at."

I turn around and nod, then grimace at my mistake. I just showed that I understood her, and that showed a sign of intelligence. I think I may have made a huge mistake.

Twilight just seems to stare at me, observing me closely. "...Yes, we should have you checked out. Come along." Twilight walks to the huge doors and pushes them open. I warily walk towards them as well. "Guard!" she yells loudly, making me jump. I poke my head out of the room and look at the guards stationed outside the room. One is still asleep hanging onto his spear in his dream world, while the one Twilight is speaking to is rubbing his eyes. It is still pretty early.

"Guard," Twilight continues, "do you know of any medical personnel awake at this hour?"

He yawns. "I'm sorry, Princes Twilight, for falling asleep. Yes, there should, he-AHHughhh, should be medical staff awake at all times in the castle. Why? Has this thing injured you?" He eyes me with a stare that could melt ice and yet freezes me on my feet.

"No, no, I'm fine, Twilight replies. "It, however, is injured. Not me."

"...Okay then," the guard says softly. "Allow me to escort you."

"Thank you." The guard begins to walk, and I follow Twilight as she follows him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

These freaking halls are enormous. We've been walking for... I don't know how long, but the sun is already past the horizon and is shining brightly. I yawn as we turn down yet, you guessed it, another bloody hall. This is annoying. Very annoying.

"Here you are Princess Twilight," says the guard as he turns around. "Will you be needing me to—"

"No, you've done enough," Twilight says, cutting him off. She walks past him and continues down the hall. I hurry after her.

Looking around, this hall seems to have a lot of doors. Each door is about fifteen feet from the other, suggesting that these may be living quarters. Twilight stops by one that has the door wide open and pops her head in.

"Excuse me, are you awake?"

"Yes, yes, come in," replies a happy voice.

We both walk through the door. Twilight makes her way over to the desk in the corner, where another pony sits. I look around the room, thinking that it looks just like all the other rooms. Same walls, ceiling, bed, everything. I turn my attention back to Twilight.

"—was wondering if you could take a look at it," she asks politely.

The pony she was talking to walks up to me. This one is built similar to the guards around here, the square chin and broad shoulders. He's a pale blue with a black mane and tail, and is a bit taller than Twilight. He, unlike her, has no horn or wings. He looks me over rather quickly.

"Just the forehead?" he asks.

"That's all I can see," Twilight answers.

"...Is it wearing something, or did it...?" The stallion walks closer. "...Pants? Princess, did you clothe this creature?"

"No," Twilight replies, "I didn't. Come to think of it, it was wearing that when I first saw it." Now they're both examining me. My plan to stay cute and unintelligent is falling apart faster than I had hoped. I back up a step and brace myself against the wall.

The stallion walks even closer, eyeing me up and down. He puts a hoof to his chin, rubbing in a gentle manner. "...What, uh, type of creature is it? If I'm to help with the wound, I'll need to know what strength of threat to use."

"If anything," Twilight answers, "in my opinion, it resembles a primate."

Close enough, I suppose. So I'm a monkey.

"Is it aggressive?" the stallion asks.

"It hasn't shown any violence since it's scuffle with the guards yesterday."

The stallion looks at the violet pony. "...I'm not exactly a vet, but I'm pretty sure I'm the best you'll find at this hour." He walks over to a glass case next to his desk and opens it.

"Why are you up so early?" Twilight asks him.

"Can't sleep. Just an hour earlier, I had to treat a guard for mouth pain." He continues rummaging through the case. "No, that's not it. Anyways, you said that this animal had an encounter with the guards? I assume that I may be awake because of that same situation. Ah, here we go." He pulls out a blue flashlight that looks pretty close to an inhaler. "Princess, can you get your, uh, friend to sit on the bed for me?"

Without a word, she walks back to my side and tries to guide me over to the bed. Trying to keep my dying ruse alive, I sit on the fabric and hold my knees. Twilight backs away and the stallion takes her place. He lifts up the flashlight to my face. How does he do that with no fingers?

"Open wide," he says calmly. He waits a few seconds before asking again. And again. He opens his own mouth wide and then says again, "Open up."

I do what he asks, and when I do the stallion grips the tool and I get a mouthful of something awful. It tastes like hairspray, or perfume, something artificial and horrific. I nearly gag as I cough, and end up beginning to heave. That was no flashlight.

"What was that?" Twilight yells at him.

"A mild sedative," he replies as I scrape at my tongue. "It's better to have this than some needle, though it's not quite as quick."

Sedative... He drugged me, and I played right into it. I don't know if that was... was smart... Ugh. I put my head in my hands.

Someone pats my back. "It will take a bit to take effect," says the stallion. "Just make sure it isn't sitting like this in a few minutes, otherwise it'll fall."

"Right." I feel someone pushing on my shoulders. I look up and see Twilight on her hind legs trying to push me back. "Come on, lay down," she coos. I just stare at her and scrape my tongue against my teeth. "Come on," she says again, pushing harder. Twilight looks back at the stallion, who's at his desk rummaging for something. The edges of my vision are begin blur and darken. The pushing continues. "Lay down, please." I close my eyes and ignore her. I don't like this feeling.

"I know you can understand me." I don't like that even more. I look up at Twilight, who's gained a bit of a serious look. "...You understood me in my bedroom, on the balcony. You are a lot smarter than you're trying to let on. I know it. So please, lay down before something happens?"

Our staring contest lasts for another few seconds, but I break first. I lay down on the bed and hear the wax paper under the sheets crumple under my weight. I writhe and squirm, trying to get comfortable. My vision is failing, my legs feel numb, but I'm calm... And then I do something really stupid.

"Try not to leave a scar."

My senses leave me, and I drift back into darkness. Before I'm completely enveloped, I can make out Twilight's voice. "...I knew it."

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

Like finding out it's Monday, my awakening is slow. I hear the artificial hum in the room made by a fan. I open my eyes, but I can't see anything. I blink a few times to make sure I really can't see. And then, with a soft click, light shines down from above. A single light bulb hanging from the ceiling with a pull chain. Yeah, like that's not been done a thousand times on Cops. I look around, though there isn't much to look at. A simple black painted wooden table sits in front of me, and I'm seated in a matching chair. My arms are bound behind my back to the chair, and one of the crystals on my forearms is digging uncomfortably into my other arm. The fear begins to creep back into my body. And then, it begins to grow as I see who is seated on the other side of the table. The head honcho of this whole thing, the white horse from before. I think her name was... Celestial or something.

She has that look in her eyes that I've seen a few times before on the Animal Planet channel at home, the look that shows little fear and a lot of will to hurt that other creature outside my nest. Her rainbow space mane is still flowing, even though the breeze of the fan is pointed at me.

She clears her throat. "...You can understand what I'm saying, correct?" I don't do anything, so she continues. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, in the short time she has spent with you, has come to some interesting conclusions. You can speak, can you not?"

I swallow hard. "Y-yes, Sir—uh, Ma'am. Uh... Yes. I can."

She leans in closer. "...My name is Celestia. I have been the ruler of this land for a few millennia now, and yet I have never seen anything like yourself."

"Yeah, you see—" I start, but she cuts me off.

"Pretending like you did, acting how you acted, it all seems very, very suspicious." Celestia leans back in her chair. "Your miniscule magic reeks of foul decent. It was hard to detect at first when you were in my dungeon, but while you are sleeping you have these..." Celestia moves her hoof in a circular motion, "...outbursts."

"Magic doesn't exist," I say curtly.

Celestia looks at me, dumbfounded for a moment, but she regains her composure. "Ahem, yes, of course it does. It is the birthplace, birth point of all life. In a large magical burst, it dispersed itself into the land, and into the many creatures that thrive here. Even the earth ponies have magic, though not usable by normal standards."

"That's called the Big Bang," I answer, "where all life and matter in the universe was created by one solitary burst of antimatter, compressive gravitational properties, and-"

"You are not here to lecture," Celestia says quickly. "You are here because your actions spell out certain criteria that may prove dangerous. You may be a spy."

"For who?" Then I take the question back. "Oh for fuck's sake, I'm arguing with a damned horse." To that comment, I'm rewarded with a death stare. I quickly change the subject. "So these outbursts?"

Celestia's look doesn't change much. "Your presence was putting out the torches in the castle. Only something of foul and malicious origin can trigger our censors like that."

"You have torches," I repeat, "that can sense threats...?"

She nods. "And they all responded to you while you slept. And so, here you are."

"Did I at least get my forehead looked at?"

Again, she nods. "It has been stitched up, should be back to normal in a while... What are you anyhow? I've never quite seen a creature like you in my kingdom."

"I'm a human," I say curtly. She nods and we sit in silence for a moment. I cock my head and clear my throat. "You sure don't sound like a ruler of a whole planet."

And the death stare returns. "Firstly," Celestia starts off, "I am ruler of Equestria. Not the planet. There are still other continents with separate rules, regulations, and lifestyles to which we do not associate with. Secondly, how should a ruler sound like, hm?"

I reach up and scratch my head. "I don't know, regal? Surely not like a bad cop in some B-rated movie." Celestia is away from the table now, in a defensive stance. Then I realize that I did scratch my head with a free hand. I put both of them up and see the cuffs hanging off of my wrists. "Relax," I say. "I am not going to do anything. I'm not sure how I did this though," I grumble to myself.

"What you are doing here is not helping your case," Celestia says calmly.

I'm fidgeting with my cuffs. She doesn't like that. I notice immediately. "Sorry, I'm kinda twitchy when I'm scared."

Celestia raises an eyebrow. "Scared?"

"Of course I'm scared," I reply. "A few days ago I was at home. I was a perfect student in my school, a bit of a nerd. I loved learning, I loved having a perfect record. I loved it all. And then I get struck by some lightning storm and the next thing I know I'm here with an IV stuck in my arm, my clothes a mess, and talking animals all around! Oh, and I have these things," I say while waving my arms at her, "sticking out of my arms! Of course I'm scared—no, I'm terrified!"

Celestia has taken her seat again and I go back to trying to get the cuffs off my wrists. She nods to herself, eyes closed and horn glowing yellow. More telekinesis. I just stare at the aura emanating from her horn, and then Celestia opens her eyes, catching me. I look down and continue fidgeting with the metal around my arms.

"...You were at your own home..." she starts, "...when you were struck by lightning... and ended up here?"

"Yes," I answer, "that's what I said."

"And you didn't think that waking up in one of our infirmaries with active medical care was a good thing, so you decided to attack one of the nurses and guards?"

"I didn't do that!" I exclaim.

"One of our nurses is treating herself for bruising around the neck, and one of my guards is missing a tooth. You did not create these injuries?"

"I'm completely justified!" I yell back. "I woke up in a strange place and when I tried to leave your guards chased after me with fucking spears! Spears, you know!? Fucking sharp metal on the end of a stick used to disembowel people? Of course I would fight back!"

"It's a serious crime to attack the royal staff," she calmly states.

"It's a serious crime to abduct someone," I counter.

"So finding a wounded individual and deciding to help is now defined as 'abduction?'"

"Technically, yes! I was held against my will in an unsu—"

"You were found unconscious, face-down in a fountain, covered with burns, which I must say you seem to have recovered from very quickly, and alone at that. Do you call it abduction when paramedics rush you to the hospital from your home on a tip of a neighbor? Is it abduction when an individual's life is on the line and we take them to a safe place to help?"

Her last statement took the wind out from under my words. I acted rashly, stupidly, I suppose. I give up on my cuffs and cup my face in my hands. "I just wanna go home."

Without a word, Celestia stands up and walks behind me. "...A guard will come and contact you when a verdict is reached. You will stay in this room until further notice."

"And if I leave?" I ask.

"If you try, you can have your old cell in my dungeon again." With that, she leaves the room and the door shuts tight behind me. Locks click in place a second later.

I put my head on the table and carefully position my arms so I don't cut myself on the crystals. I don't cry. I don't heave. I don't moan. But I do curse myself for acting so stupid. In two days I've gone from student to apparent-war criminal. Great fucking job Maverick, grrrreat job.

Chapter 5: From Prisoner To Pet To Prisoner Again

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"Start from the beginning, please," says the gray mare sitting across from me. Her black shirt is perfectly smooth, even though she's sitting at an angle, and it really complements her dark brown mane. A pen and pad of paper float near her left side enveloped in the same blue aura that surrounds her horn.

As soon as Celestia left the interrogation room, this mare came in with a plate of donuts. I know this trick, I've seen it on television before. Sometimes, when the police are questioning a suspect, they'll bring in a plate of food. If you've done something, guilt prevents you from eating. If you haven't done anything wrong, or are a truly terrible person, then you can normally eat without a problem. I bite into my glazed éclair.

"What do you want me to say?" I speak around my mouthful of sweets. "I was on my balcony at home, I got hit with what I believe was a bolt of lightning, and I woke up here, disoriented, confused, scared, went on a bit of a brawling frenzy in what I call self-defense, got thrown in jail, and then you came in." I finish my pastry and reach for another one. "These are really good, by the way."

She nods all the while the pen and paper move and write by themselves. "Can you give any information about yourself?"

"I'm a human," I say for starters. "My name is Maverick Garcia, I live in Cheshire, England, I'm seventeen years old, great with astronomy and whatnot" I take another breathe to continue, but the mare puts up a hoof to silence me.

"We know that you've said that before, but we have never seen, or heard of any record of a creature such as yourself."

"Most humans don't have these," I say, pointing to the crystals on my arms. "These things are new." I feel something on my tongue, then lower, so I clear my throat. "Mm, sorry. Those sweets are a bit too sweet." I pound my chest to try and quell the sugar rush I'm feeling behind my heart.

The door behind us opens, so I spin in my chair and look up. It's a guard, though this one is dark gray with blue armor. "The Princess has come to an answer for your holding."

"Really?" I say with heavy false enthusiasm. "Great. Tell me, what cell number am I to rest in tonight?"

He comes in and shuts the door. "We are unfamiliar with your species. Therefore, we do not know anything about you, your abilities, powers, anything. But, to be civil, you will not be residing in the dungeon." The stallion shifts. "To show a bit of courtesy, you will be escorted to a private chamber. One bed, one bath, no balcony. The windows are enchanted to prevent escape and the door will be guarded. You have not been granted any permissions to leave the castle's interior."

"So I'm still a prisoner," I state.

"To a point. You will be given two meals a day, and have been limited as of choices of requests."

"Requests?" I re-ask.

He nods. "You may ask for certain items, but not all will be answered."

I look down at myself and my charred jeans. "Can I get something to wear?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

I sulk as I walk down another one of these freaking halls. Looking down at the garment they gave me, it's not much better than my scorched jeans. They gave me a poncho. A damn blanket with a hole in the middle for my head, black in color with a red trim. It was obviously made for a pony seeing as the front hangs down to just below my ribcage and the back touches the back of my knees. Escorting me are two guards, one gold armored and one blue armored, and both are a bit intense. We abruptly stop and I'm shoved forward into another room. The door closes and locks behind me.

I grunt at the door behind me, then turn and look at my new room. The bed is fairly sized, I think its a queen size. It's sitting on a low dark wooden frame. A large blue blanket overs it and sitting on that are three blue-cased pillows of differing sizes. There are two large windows, one on each side of the bed, covered by blue curtains with gold rings and rods. I look down and see the plush blue carpet. A lot of blue here. To my right is the white door that leads to the bathroom, so I head over there and check it out. The whole room is fitted with white and tan tiles, creating a checkered pattern. A large tub sits to the left of the room, the sink in the middle of the back wall, and next to that is the low-seated toilet. A mirror hangs over the sink, and I move closer to it.

I lean in over the sink and turn my head. The cut on my forehead is stitched up with thick black thread. It's red, a little swollen, but overall much better than before. Then I really look at myself. I have dark rings under my eyes, and my hair is an unkempt mess. The sigh escaping from my mouth is long, exasperated, and filled with annoyance. This shouldn't be happening. I should be at home with Dad, talking about what I think I should look for as a job or something manly. I don't know for sure, but what I do know is that I shouldn't be stuck in some castle as a prisoner to talking horses!

I walk out of the bathroom and rush over to the bed, then just do a complete face plant onto the covers. The door opens behind me and someone walks into the room. I hear the clanking of their armor and guess it's a guard.

"Is everything comfortable?" asks a light, sweet, but strong voice

I pick my face up and look at the guard who just spoke. She's just like the others; brilliant white coat, copper tail and mane, golden armor. Her eyes are a bright blue, and they match the gems that sit in the middle of her breastplate and hoof cuffs. She's got a horn sitting on her forehead like a lot of them as well.

I sit up and nod to her. "Yes, this room is very nice."

"The Princess like to keep their guest rooms in nice condition," she replies. "I have been assigned to see that you remain satisfied with the conditions of your holding."

"Do all foreigners get this sort of treatment?" I ask.

"Only when they act a suspicious as you have." She has that 'follow the rule or else' tone in her voice, just like all the rest of the guards.

I feel my eyebrows twitch. "...So, what did you mean by you being assigned to me?"

"Princess Celestia wants top security on you at all times, but also wishes to keep a show of civility. If you find something that you do not like within reason, I will be here to help." A few seconds pass before she speaks again. "As such, any request you have will go to me, as well as—"

"So you're my nanny?" I put my hand up to my mouth and gently cough.

The mare doesn't break her composure. "In no such way. I am merely here upon orders to confirm that everything is to your liking, as much as the Princess will allow, that is." She shakes her head. "Before anything else, I must know of any important information about yourself. Please answer these questions truthfully. Are you allergic to anything? Food, plants, animals?"

I shake my head. "No. I get a little Hay Fever when Spring comes around, but no, no allergies."

"Do you have night terrors?" she asks.

"Wow, you just get right into it, don't you?" I put my face in my hands. "No, I don't have nightmares on a regular basis."

"Do you have any daily activities you absolutely need to preform?"

"Besides a little cardio to keep in shape, no."

We keep at this for a little while. She pops me questions and I reluctantly answer. They are mainly about me and if staying in this room all day for a while would impact me. More questions, more answers. Her tone begins to harden as she gains my replies.

"Now," she says sternly, "be careful answering this one," she warns. I look up at her. "Lying about this type of subject can be catastrophic for you. What type of powers do you possess?"

I look at her funny, I think. Her face doesn't move so I don't really know if my facial expressions are getting to her. "Um... no?"

"That sounded like a question," she says, her eyebrows twitching. "Do you have any powers?"

The walls around her flash red. I shake my head, then reach up and rub my neck. "Well, everyone has a type of power, so to speak. What do you mean?"

Her eyes narrow. "You're avoiding the question."

"What? No, I'm not avoiding anything!" Another flash of red.

"I seem to have struck something sensitive here," she says.

"No, you haven't struck anything," I say quickly.

"You're nervous," she states.

"I'm not," I state back. Another flash

"You're hiding something."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"Yes, you are."

Red.

"No, I'm not."

Red.

"Yes, you are."

So much red.

"No, I'm not!

It's all red.

"You are."

All of its red.

"I'm not!!!"

The door opens behind her and the two guards who escorted me poke their heads in. The mare either doesn't notice them or doesn't care. I stare at her while sweat begins to bead on my face. "You have some kind of power coursing through your body," she says. "We all do. And whatever is coursing through you alerted our security torches, and only something truly odd can do that. So I'll ask you again, last chance, what are your powers?"

I look around the room. The carpet is muddy-looking. The ceiling looks like melted chocolate. The bed beneath me look like rotting wood. I go to put my face in my hands again, but.... My hands, they're red, blotchy, lumpy. I look over at the guards. Their fur is covered in red spots, their eyes just hollow holes with beads of white in the center. What the hell is this?

"Answer the question," commands a voice.

"Answer it." I look around again, at this horrible place.

"Answer it," commands the voice. I'm shaking my head, my ears pounding. Fear floods my heart.

"Answer it!"

"I don't know!" I shout with all my might. And then I do it again, and again, and again. I just keep shouting that I don't know. Time seems to slow down as I yell. A pain begins to overtake the fear in my chest, and I clutch at it. I stop speaking and bend over my knees, threatening to vomit the pastries I had eaten an hour ago. The sound of my panting fills my ears, and I try to come back to myself. "...I don't know if I have any powers," I whisper. "I don't know."

"Wow chief, I think you broke him," says one of the male guards.

"Did you have to be so brutal?" asks the other one. "I mean, I don't like the idea of that thing, but—"

"Brutality is necessary when speaking for the greater good," the mare states harshly. "If he needed a little persuasion to give an answer, then I will give it." Her horn sparks for effect. "It was just a simple and harmless mind trick."

Mind trick? She was in my head? Oh God, I feel... I cup my right hand over my mouth and rush over to the bathroom door.

"Doesn't look to harmless," says one of the guards as I shut the door behind me. I'm instantly on the floor with my face in the toilet bowl, dry heaving my guts out. My body keeps trying to push, but my stomach won't give. The spasms scratch at my throat and make me cough, which only increases the pain in my torso. My throat is burning, my tongue is on fire, my teeth feel like heated metal. I hurt all over and inside.

I pick myself up and almost throw myself in the bathtub. My hand finds the cold water spigot and I turn it on to a fast stream. The cool water pours onto my face and neck, and I open my mouth to let it in. I swallow mouthful after mouthful, and I choke on my drink, which makes me cough again. I curl up as I cough violently, a heated force coming out with my breaths. I cough a bit more and lay down in the tub with the water falling on my face. After a bit, I turn it off and lay there in my sopping poncho.

My breath is moist. The room is humid, almost as if I'm breathing water. I pull myself into a sitting position and look at the door. Still closed. I look around the room, and the mirror is all fogged up. Like I was taking a shower.

The door opens and I hear metal hoof cuffs on the tiled floor. "So you don't know, eh?" I pull myself up into a sitting position and look at the mare. She shakes her head. "That's a shame. Seems really suspicious that you can't even remember your own powers."

"I don't have any—I don't know if I have any powers." I shake my head, and she shakes hers again. "I don't know, okay?" She leans in closer to the tub's edge, and I scramble away as far as I can. "No, nononono, you stay there."

"You don't like me?" she asks in a mocking tone.

"I don't like you one bit right now. What the hell happened back there?"

She smiles. "There is a reason I'm head of security in the west wing. I have the strongest magic in the royal guard, and it doesn't seem like too much trouble to make you see something to talk."

"What?"

"I can make you see things. Want another preview?"

"No!" I stand up and sway. "Ugh, who do I talk to about my 'requests?'"

"Me."

I look at the mare. "...What's your name?"

"Silver Star."

"Really?"

She takes one more step closer. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, I don't." I cross my arms, then look down at my sopping wet self. "Okay Silver, I have five requests right now, is that okay?" She nods. I put out my hands and use my fingers to illustrate. "One; I want a roll of paper towels. I don't want to be unprepared here. Two; I want a box of tissues. Three; I want a book to read. If I'm gonna be stuck here, I may as well pass the time with something that isn't talking to you... Four; I want a change of clothes. Thanks to you, these are gonna get me sick if I stay in them. And Five; I want you the hell out of here! Nothing else, got it?"

Silver's Expression doesn't change or falter. "...Okay, those are reasonable." Her horn begins to glow blue and I start to float.

"Hey, what the hell? Put me down Silver!"

"You wanted a change of clothes... Because these ones are wet, right?" I nod. "Well then," she says calmly, "I'll just swap you out of these." The poncho is violently pulled over my face. I struggle with it for a second before it flies off my body. And then my boxers come off with the other garment. The force around me vanishes and I fall back to my feet. Immediately, I cover myself as well as I can with my hands and arms.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I yell. "That is—"

"Getting you out of wet clothes. Why do you even need these?" She asks while holding out my boxers with her telekinesis. "Nevermind," she says, still looking at my underwear. Then her glance shifts to me. "...What's wrong with you?"

"I'm naked with some stranger holding my undergarments... a female stranger."

"Got something to hide?" she asks.

"Get out!"

Silver Star rolls her eyes. "I'll see if we have any clothes that can... fit you." With that, she turns and exits the bathroom, leaving me in my naked glory.

"...Bring the book as soon as possible!" I yell after her.

Chapter 6: Complications, Complications...

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Since there's no clock in my room, I can't tell how long I've been in here. The only clue I really get is by looking out the window. The sun is beginning to set, so I guess it's about seven or so. It was bright out when Silver Sun came in and mind-fucked me, so I believe she's taking her sweet time with my requests just to bug me. But annoyances like her are of no importance. The real thing I must be focusing on is convincing these ponies to let me speak with Celestia again. Maybe I can convince her that I'm just a little threat and she could help me get back home. I can just imagine my father reacting to a seven-foot-tall talking horse with a horn and wings, explaining where I've been for the past few days.

With Silver Sun taking so long to return with my book, and more importantly my clothes, I've just been preoccupying myself by staring at the ceiling and tracing out figures. The bed is soft, a bit too soft for my liking, but I don't want to really push my luck. The blanket I have strewn across my lap to cover myself just in case Silver Sun comes back is very smooth. Its some sort of material my father and I could not really afford to splurge on.

"...Rabbit... ...Uh, duck maybe? ...A diamond..." The last shape I trace out makes me look over at my gems. It's easy to see why I look so intimidating at times. The smoother plate-like gems on my shoulders look like they could easily be used for defensive properties, while the more angular protrusions on my forearms could be seen as a weapon.

My thoughts are interrupted by the door unlocking. I sit up as they swing open and cover my eyes in an attempt to look... I don't know, more annoyed than I am? "I take it that this place doesn't have a library?" I ask mockingly.

"Yes, it does, actually," Responds a different voice. Uncovering my face I see that it's the smaller of the princesses.

"Oh, Princess Twilight," I say, trying to sound friendly. "My apologies. I thought you were someone else."

"Yes, yes," she says, distracted. "Anyway, you are probably wondering why I am here. Well..." She rubs the back of her neck, messing her mane in the process. "How should I say this...? Chief Executive Silver Star has—"

"Silver Star is just the Chief Executive?" I blurt out. "She said that she was the leader of the her branch. Oh-Hoh, this is just great. If she's as powerful as she is now, I can't wait to meet with one of your Generals or Admirals..." I notice the waiting look on Twilight's face. "I'm sorry. Go on?"

She nods. "Silver Star returned to the throne room and explained to us what had happened."

"That she completely freaked me out, nearly made me physically ill with her little mind trick she did, and made such a bad first impression?"

"She did what?" Twilight exclaimed exceptionally loud. "We are trying to make ourselves seem tolerant to—"

"Foreigners?" I ask.

"Nevermind. I'll straighten things out with her once I'm done here." Twilight walks a little closer. "Anyway, I've come down to give you something. Well, more like 'enforce' than 'give.'" Her horn glows again and I wait for something in the room to move. Nothing happens. I begin counting the seconds, just to preoccupy myself further. Around twenty-three, a small brown paper bag floats into the room. "This is a special artifact that has been stored in the castle's treasury." A small red and gold chest flies out of the bag and lands on the blue carpet at the foot of my bed. Twilight opens it, but looks up at me as I move closer to look. "Please turn around."

I roll my eyes are I gather the edges of my blanket to cover myself as I shift and turn on the bed's edge. "Just a bit of a warning," Twilight says, "I'm going to put this around your neck. Do not attempt to move until I am done, okay?" I nod and wait, but not for long. Something hard and cold wraps itself around my neck and pulls back. I make a noise that's somewhere between a grunt and a cough, but Twilight keeps doing what she's doing. "...There."

I immediately stand up, with the blanket around my waist, of course, and walk over to the bathroom. I open the door and walk over to the mirror. On my neck is some sort of collar. It's the same brown as my hair, but the material looks like its made of chiseled stone. A bright silver buckle sits on the middle of the front, right over my Adam's apple, and smaller silver lines cover the center of the collar all around.

"They're runes." I turn and look at Twilight, who's posed at my bathroom door. "They nullify most types of magic. You've been ordered to wear this for the time being. Silver Star's report stated that you were unsure of your powers, so Princess Celestia wanted no risks."

"Don't I get a say in this?" I ask bluntly.

"No. Not really."

"...At least it isn't completely hideous."

"You're taking this well, I presume?" Twilight asks.

"Taking what well?" I ask back.

"Well, the fact that I've just restrained your magic so now—"

"Okay, first; magic isn't real," I state while I try to wrap myself better with my blanket. "And second, I don't know what type of powers you guys think I have, so it's better to just wear this thing than to fight. I'm not gonna win anything if I keep fighting, so the sooner you guys release me, the sooner I can get home, see my Dad, and get back to school." I wait a moment to continue. "And where is Silver Star anyway? She took my clothes a while ago and I'd be very happy to get them back."

"And why is that?" Twilight flatly inquires.

"Gah, humans, well, most humans, tend to wear clothes regularly. Right now, I'm standing completely naked under this blanket, your highnessssss."

"So? We ponies are almost always nude, save for special occasions."

"You really have no idea about my species, do you?" I realize I sound a bit... racist? Is that the term I'm looking for? "Of course you don't; I'm the first human you, hell, this whole bloody world has ever seen. We humans are very different from you ponies. We do not have horns, or wings, or castles... anymore. We don't have castles anymore. We have planes, hot air balloons, trains, cars, bicycles. We have small suburban towns, tall cities, and numerous technological advances that so far, I have not seen anything in the castle that is even remotely close to. We have gazed deep into the galaxy and discovered various planets, we have sent a man to the moon and watched in awe as he made the first footprints in the extra-terrestrial soil. We are a strong species, and we will continue to advance, continue to believe what we believe, continue to live how we live, and so on and so forth. So, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I ask of you. Where is Silver Star with my clothes?"

My speech has silenced her. As it has me. Did I really say that? A fire is brewing behind my heart, and is only getting more intense. I cough and rub my hands together. Twilight stumbles out of her state of silence.

"Um... yes... Silver Star is most likely to be in the lower levels of the castle with the rest of her squad right now. I'll send word down for her to return."

I cross my arms. "Thank you very much Princess Twilight. My apologies for my tone of voice." I reach down just in time to catch my blanket from falling off of me. I'd rather not have my being exposed to royalty, however far from human said royalty may be.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

Boredom is the biggest threat here. Princess Twilight Sparkle left an hour ago, and a few minutes ago, my meal for the night was delivered. A bowl of fruit and vegetables, I guess. They sent in a small guard whose armor was two sizes too big with the bowl and he skittered out as quickly as possible. Not much variety though, for the food I mean. They gave me two apples, one red and one green, a banana, two stalks of celery, and half a small head of lettuce. Well, actually, that's five things, so I guess there's a bit of variety. The banana disappeared almost instantly when I got my hands on it, and so did the green apple. I'm currently knawing on the lettuce, clutching it in my left hand and scratching the skin under the gem on my left shoulder with the right one. These things are weird.

I hear voices outside the door. I actually hear them for quite a few seconds before the door opens, and then I really get an earful.

"—Had absolutely no authorization to use magical interrogation methods! No authorization! Do you understand what I can do to you for disregarding conduct?" Through the door walks a tall, brawny guard pony in silver armor. His coat is a dark gray with a black mane and tail, and his eyes are glowing orange with rage. For once, this pony doesn't have a horn or wings. Behind him walks in Silver Star without her helmet. Her mane is longer than I thought. Her head is low to the ground as her scolding continues. "I can easily have you suspended from duty! Look at him. Look at him!" He grabs her chin and thrusts her face in my general direction. "Does he look like a threat? Does he look like the arrogant type that would defy a guard? Does he?"

"...No," Silver Star mews quietly.

"No, what?" says the bigger guard.

"...No, General Sir."

So he's a general, and she's a cheif executive. There's definately a difference in power here.

The General lets go of her face and pushes her forward. "One more abuse report like that, and I'll have you demoted. Understand soldier?"

Silver Star turns around and weakly salutes. "Understood, General S-sir."

"Good. Now kiss and make up. And you're not leaving this room until you do." With that, he walks out the door and cloes it behind him.

I've been sitting in my bed, half-covered, with my mouth open for the whole conversation, so I finally close it around a bite of the lettuce. Crisp. Silver Star is still standing there, facing the door, and it takes a while for her to turn around and face me. I finish my mouthful before saying something.

"...Do we really have to kiss?"

She scowls. "Shut up." The door opens and a small white bag is thrown onto the carpet. Silver Star looks at the door as it shuts, then moves a bit towards the bag. Upon opening it, another look of distaste spreads on her face. "...Here," she says while tossing the bag up onto my bed.

I put down my lettuce, open up the bag, and dump out the contents. My red underwear falls out, as does the black and red poncho they had given me. And two books, score! "A Budding Flower is Always Beautiful", and "Preen Me Up, Scotsdale". I chuckle as I read the title. "Well now, this is a pleasent suprise."

"What?" Sliver Star questions rather irritably.

"I got what I requested, thank you." I grab my underwear and pull them on underneath the covers. Looking at SIlver Star to find her staring at me, I get out of bed and pull on the poncho. "You know, this was obviously made for a pony," I state while holding out the sides of the poncho. "It's more of a cape for me than a shirt. And speaking of clothing, can I get a pair of pants too?"

"I'll process your request when they let me out of this damned room," Silver Star growls.

"The General said he'd let you out when we made up." All I get is a huff. "...So," I continue, "you lied."

"What?"

"You lied."

Silver Star stands up at this. "What do you mean?"

I laugh. "You're not the head of the west wing of the guards, are you?" She doesn't answer. I cup my hands around my mouth. "Hey, can I get a little help in here?"

The door opens and one of the guards pokes his head in. "Is something the matter?"

I point to Silver Star, who's looking back between me and the guard. "She's the Chief Executive, right? What's the order of soldier ranks around here?"

"That's none of your concern," replies the guard.

"Come on, I just wanna know the names and what order they go in."

The guard rolls his eyes. "We have recruits, soldiers, executives, lieutenants, captains, genre—"

"Why are you telling him this!?" Silver Star basically shouts. "Just go guard the door!" With a shrug, the guard closes the door and resume his post. Silver Star huffs in frustration. "Dumbass, telling the prisoner our ranks. What in Tartarus is wrong with him?" After another moment of grumbling, she looks over at me. "What are you looking at?"

I hold my hands up. "I'm just listening."

Silver Star basically growls at me, like an actual animal, and moves towards the door. "Whatever, I'm outta here. Call me if you need something, but do me a favor. Don't need anything." She tries to open the door. "...Come on. Come on! Hey smart-ass! Unlock the door!"

"You heard the General," answers one of the guards outside the door. "You are not to leave that room until you make nice with the human."

"Are you shitting me!?" Silver Star pounds on the door another time. "Let me out, or so help me—"

"You'll be demoted to a lowly soldier, as you say, if you disobey the General's orders again," says the guard. "Remember that?" His words only fuel Silver Star's rage, but she doesn't do much but sulk at the door. "You'll get out when the human reports that you two have put your problems behind you." I pick up the lettuce again as the silence creeps back into the room. Well, sort of. Silver Star is mumbling to herself about how she's going to make him pay, something with a bucket and a cricket bat. I'm trying my best to be quiet as I peel little bits of lettuce off the remaining chunk and munch on them. Her mumbling soon ceases an we're left in the eerie and the awkward void of sound that I should call my room.

I end up finishing my green treat and pick up one of the books, "Preen Me Up, Scotsdale", and read the inside of the cover to get the summary. I thought it would be funny, a comedy novel, but from what I'm reading it looks like a young pony with wings, a Pegasus as the book calls them, is recovering from some sort of accident and has to go through a lot of emotional turmoil. Yadda yadda love interest yadda yadda cousin breaks them up yadda yadda—

The pillow I'm resting on is yanked out from behind me and I hit my head on the wall. Grimacing, I rub my head and look at Silver Star, who's got my pillow under her left foreleg and making her way to the bathroom. She doesn't go in, just puts the pillow down near the door and halfway lays down on it.

"Guess you're staying in her with me tonight?" I ask.

All I get from her is a grunt.

I twiddle my thumbs a bit before picking up the book again. "You know," I say while turning to page one, "if you're not happy, why not quit?"

"Quit?" Silver Star repeats, half-lifting her head off the pillow.

I stuff the remaining pillow behind me and continue. "Yeah, quit this job. My Dad's gone through a few jobs before."

"You can't quit being a royal guard. That's almost as bad as desertion."

"How bad can it be?" I ask.

"You spend the rest of your term in prison," Silver says as she lays her head back down. "I've still got two years left in my term."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

The next few minutes are quiet. I begin my reading.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

"—And even though you've gone through all of this, the accident, the rehabilitation, the re-training, you just want to let it all go down the drain just because your cousin captured the eyes of a mare who didn't even knew that you existed? Pathetic, just pathetic." My brother walks out of my room, fuming over me. I just stay where I am, right on my bed, and listen to the sounds of my clock and my own sobbing.

I fold the corner of the page just a bit to mark my place in the book, the end of chapter seven, and put the book back on the nightstand. "Preen Me Up, Scotsdale" is a pretty interesting book, considering that I replace the ponies with humans in my mind. Still, the wings thing throws me off when I do that. I reach over to click off the lamp and accidentally push the book off the nightstand with the crystal on my arm.

"Damn it. Stupid gems." I get out of bed and reach down to retrieve my reading material, when my eyes pass over Silver Star's sleeping form. She's curled up like a puppy, and still in her armor, which I find a bit weird. I wonder if the guards will bring her helmet back in, or give it to her when she leaves tomorrow. She is leaving tomorrow. Silver Star's already on my list of people, or ponies, or whatever the fuck it is now. Anyways, she's already on my list of living being to avoid contact with.

Still, the way she's curled up... I walk over quietly and lean close to her. She doesn't snore, which I like since we're sharing a room for the night. I know it's against my better judgement, and if she wakes up and find me doing this Silver Star will probably rip me in half, but I reach out and feel the edge of her armor. It is cold to the touch. Gently, I do the same to her fur on her neck. Just as cold. One side of my face scrunches up as the goodwill in my soul drives me back to my bed and I yank off the top blanket. I fold it in half for a double layer and retun to Silver's side. As softly as I can possibly try, I lay the blanket down on top of her, armor and all, making sure that all of her hooves are covered as well.

I nod to myself and return to bed. The secondary blanket is thin, and the sheet underneath is even more so, but it's still plenty. Now, I reach over to turn off the lamp again, only to find out that I didn't pick the book off the carpet. I throw my hands up in silent rage and uncover myself again, get out of bed, grab the book, return to bed, and put it on the nightstand. My feet are cold now.

But I'm still happy when I turn off the light, at least until the gem on my arm catches the book and knocks it to the floor again. I sigh and just stretch over the edge of my bed and grab it, then carefully place on the nightstand again and slowly retract my arm. I find a comfortable position and close my eyes, hoping that tomorrow when SIlver Star leaves, I can get a word with Celestia about all this confusion and misunderstanding.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the wait. My new hard drive arrived and my Mum fixed up my laptop, but for obvious reasons the hospital doesn't allow digital devices to be used in the vacinity. But now I'm home and back to work. With a titanuim plate holding my ribcage together, my heart removed and replaced with someone else's, and my remaining valves cleaned, nothing should be keeping me from typing up more chapters except when I occasionally pass out from my medication. I'm hoping this surgery won't impact my writing too much.
Ich hasse blutigen meiner Familie medizinischen Aufzeichnungen.

By the way, both of my brothers are now my proof-readers. They will let me know of any imperfections before I post any chapters. They better, too, because I just found out that this computer does not have a spellcheck application, or if it does I don't know how to turn it on.

Oh, and it's Tag vor Allerheiligen, so as the Americans say; Happy Halloween, or Nightmare Night as celebrated by the hooved ones. Whichever floats your boat.

Chapter 7: Regal Needs and Submissive Actions

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I wake up, feeling decent. My back is a bit stiff because I didn't move the pillow from behind me last night, but other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. I open my eyes and sit up, noticing that I had slept in my poncho. Not that it really matters; the sheet kept me warm enough last night. Speaking of being warm enough...

I look over at the bathroom door. The blanket is still wrapped around Silver Star's sleeping form. I don't know what time it is, but I apparently wake up earlier than the guards. Either that, or Silver Star is lazier than I am, which still wouldn't be very lazy as I don't particularly care for standing around and doing nothing. But, the reasoning of laziness aside, I find it a little odd that she's still asleep. If every living thing in this castle perceives me as a threat, then why is she so calm around me? ...Calm is the wrong word. Why is she so unintimidated by me? Aside from Celestia and Twilight, Silver Star seems to be the only one who, bluntly stated, doesn't give a rat's ass about me or what I can do.

And speaking of Celestia... I need to talk to her. And speaking of speaking of, I need to re-word my thoughts better. I don't like repetitiveness, even in my head. It sounds unprofessional.

Anyhoo, with my goal fresh in mind, I swing my legs over the side of the bed and touch down on the soft carpet. I force myself to stand and stretch, popping my back and shoulders in multiple places. At the end of my stretch I raise my arms up over my head, which is a bad idea, seeing as how the gems on my forearms clink together in a painful manner. Quickly recovering, I bring my arms down and rub the gems, my touch soothing the crystalline structures. Weird, these things have nerves. I'll dissect them when I get home, with real hospitals, and human staff.

Getting back to my goal, I walk over to the door and softly knock. It opens almost immediately.

"Can we be of service?" speaks the guards in unison.

"Yes, I'd like to speak with Princess Celestia," I ask calmly.

Whispering ensues. "... We'll speak to her. We'll get back to you on your request."

"Alright, thanks." I close the door and return to my bed. Flopping down on it as unceremoniously as possible, I moan into my pillow. Actually, now that I think about it, the wait is to be expected. After all, I'm... uh... I guess I'm what they would call a political prisoner.

"You probably won't be getting that request for a while." I look over at the bathroom door, where Silver Star is sitting up and yawning. "...Mehm... As part of her work force, I know her schedule. And you aren't gonna be able to do diddley sqaut until she gets back."

"Back?" I ask. "Back from where?"

"She's gone to a meeting with some other rulers of other continents." Silver Star wads her blanket up and throws it at me. "Her sister, Princess Luna, will be taking over until she returns."

"When will that be?"

"A few days, maybe." She smirks. "You popping out of nowhere really put a spin on her to-do list."

"So I'm stuck here in this room with you for a few more days?" I throw my hands up. "Great, just great." I sulk a few moments more before grabbing the book off the nightstand. I open to the page I left off on last night and continue reading. "There wouldn't be a chance I could speak to Princess Luna instead, would there?"

"Not likely," Silver replies.

I roll my eyes and continue my reading.

Time passes slowly when you know someone is watching you, but based on the amount of light beaming through the windows and the fact that the guards outside delivered my breakfast, I'd say it's about ten a.m. I'm casually munching on a pear, trying to be careful not to drip any juice on myself or my book, and thinking about what I am going to say to Celestia when she returns. I sneak another glance at Sliver Star, who's been eyeing me the whole morning.

"...If you're hungry, then just say so," I state a bit louder than I should have. Before she can respond, I toss a green apple towards her. It stops in midair and gently floats to her feet. "You're welcome."

"You don't have—" Star begins, but I cut her off.

"Oh blah blah blah. How much longer are you going to be here? Locked in my room, I mean."

"Like my commanding officer said; until we make up."

I put my book down. "Are you serious?" I look at the door. "Okay then... I forgive you."

"For what?" she asks.

My mouth hangs open at her. "...For being a crazy bi—For assaulting my mind with that ludicrous telepathy of yours."

Silver turns her head. "I was just doing my job."

"You went overboard."

"It was just."

"I was physically sick."

"No, you weren't."

"Almost."

"Almost is still no."

I grunt. "Whatever. Just go and let the other guards know we "made up," I say using my fingers as literal qoutes, "so you can go back to work."

"Being your nanny is my job," Silver states plainly.

I sit up and look at her. "...You can be a serious pain in the ass, you know that?"

She scowls at me. "Same to you, you little ingrate."

"Ingrate?" I throw my arms up and gesture to the room around me. "I may be a damned prisoner here, but this is very hospitable. This is much better than any jail at home. And even though the food doesn't have much variety, it's still healthy, clean, and damn-well tasty. I may be here against my will, but I still appreciate the fact that Celestia is still treating me like a human being, not some animal."

Silver cocks her head at me. "What?"

"Maybe that wasn't the best choice of words," I say quietly. "I meant; Celestia shows a decent amount of humanity, no wait... integrity? Is that the right word? Whatever. She treats me like a guest, not a prisoner... Sort of."

The mare rolls her eyes. "Whatever you say."

I lay back down and begin reading again. "Just go tell them so you can leave."

Before she can even move, the doors open and the two guards stationed outside step in. "Garcia, come with us," they instruct at the same time. I open my mouth to object, but just sign and get out of bed. I don't even mark my place in my book, mostly because I didn't get very far, before tossing it over my shoulder onto the bed and walk over to the guards. Silver Star tags along for... reasons unknown. We walk in silence for a while, turning when needed, but its a pretty straightforward route.

I lean back and whisper to Silver Star, noticing that she somehow acquired her helmet again. "Where am I going?"

"Beats me," she replies. "Maybe you're being moved to another room."

As we walk, I start to hum a song I've been thinking about. A simple rhythm, but I can tell the guards don't like it when they look back at me. "Heh, sorry." This place may be full of color, but it's a real downer being here.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

"If you guys wanted me to exercise, I could have stayed in my room and did a few pushups or something," I huffed as we continued down another endless hall. I don't know how long we've been walking, maybe forty minutes or so, but I tuckered myself out trying to keep up with the guards. They may be shorter than me, but they have a much larger stride. And don't get me wrong, I'm not unhealthy or anything, it's just that I was the type of guy who sat around gazing up at the sky most of my childhood, so my endurance is a little low when it comes to physical exertion.

"This has nothing to do with physical fitness, Garcia," both of the guards say simultaneously. We all pause as they stop and look at each other. Only one of them speaks this time. "We're almost there, anyway."

"Where are we going?" I ask.

The guards continue walking without answering. Silver Star just shrugs, I guess, her head lowered when I looked at her. Is thaT a shrug? It must be for these ponies. Anyway, she shrugs and walks forward, leaving me behind. And my thoughts go for a second. They are all in front of me, waiting for me to follow like an obedient pet. I could easily run the other way, get out of the castle with nothing but a spear in my ass.

"Hey, come on!" Silver yells back at me.

I hurry along, sulking at my behavior.

We turn another corner and my ears pick up on a lot of noises. Banging wood, hoofsteps, chirps, clattering metal, pinging glass, barks, and a few other sounds I can't really make out in the soft volley the hall is making. One of the two gaurds guiding me steps into a room, while the other positions himself outside the doorway. I walk into the room with Silver Star and hear a gleeful gasp.

"Ah, so you did bring it back, thank you."

"Princess Twilight's orders," states the guard.

I look over the gaurd and see the pale blue doctor pony with the black mane and tail who stitched up my head. I absent-mindedly run my fingers across the stitches on my forehead.

"Ah, so it seems to remember me," the doctor says happily. "And how are you doing today? Come by for a check-up, eh?" He grins like an idiot.

We make eye contact for a long time. After about a minute, I break the silence by leaning over to Silver Star and saying, "He doesn't know I can talk, does he?" I say this loud enough for the doctor to hear, but he doesn't really react. "Is he a real doctor?"

"Veternarian, actually," he says happily.

"You guys took me to a vet?" I ask in a slurred manner.

Silver Star blows a few hairs out of her face. "Doctors here know the anatomy of their patients. We don't know jack shit about you."

"Now, now Missy," the vet pony says sternly. "Let's watch our mouth in this office."

"Whatever," Silver replies.

I walk over and sit on the bed the vet is sitting next to. "So, uh," I stutter, "...What should I call you?" I ask the vet.

"Doctor Bytes," He says with a hoof outstretched.

I look around the room and wait a bit, but end up bumping my fist against his hoof. "Uh, I'm Maverick Garcia. Nice to truly meet you, I guess?"

"Let's get to work then, shall we?" Bytes says in his happy tone. "Robe please?"

"Huh?" I ask.

"Your robe, please?" he repeats.

"Oh, I get it." I slide my poncho off my head and fold it into a large triangle, then set it on the bed next to me. I wait for his next instruction.

"...Can you continue undressing?" he asks bluntly.

I look down at my boxers. "No."

"Fair enough." Bytes moves to the other side of the room for a moment.

I look at Silver Star. "You should take a lesson from this guy. He gets it."

"Gets what?" she says with a smile.

"Shut up."

All of a sudden, Doctor Bytes has my face in his hooves. He forces my head to move slowly. "Hm, nice healing. No visible infection. Stitches are grafting well. Redness and swelling are at a minimum." He backs away. "Your cut is doing very well."

I take his hooves from my face. "Next time, ask me before doing something like that." I take my jaw in both hands an turn violently to the left, cracking the vertibre in my neck. I repeat the process in the other direction, getting much louder pops this time. When I relax and open my eyes, I can see everyone's disgusted expression. "...What?"

"That was horrific," both the guards behind Silver Star say. "Abolutely grotesque."

Bytes returns to his desk, but scoots back to my side on an elevated wheeled stool with a pad in his hooves a moment later. He has with him a small sketch pad. I think he's drawing a diagram of me to document my being. After all, I am the first human in... whatever place this is apparently. Every few seconds, Doctor Bytes flips a page and asks me to hold up a limb and flex it so he can document how my joints move. After nearly half an hour, Bytes flips to a new page and asks me.

"Are you sure about—"

I shake my head. "I'm not taking my underwear off. Final answer."

Bytes flips the sketch pad closed and wheels himself back over to his desk. A second later, he returns to my side. "Arm out, please." I hold out my arm and he instantly wraps the pad around it. In matter of seconds he has me wrapped and is pumping some sort of ball. Oh, he's taking my blood pressure. "... One hundred over sixty. How does that sound to you?"

I open my mouth, thinking about anything I can remember from health class my freshman year. "...Um, I think that's a little low."

He unwraps my arm and spins around on his stool a few times. When he stops, he has a different tool in his forelegs. A stethescope this time. Bytes plugs it into his ears and leans forward, touching my bare chest with the cold tool. "...Healthy sounding pulse." He waits before speaking again. "Around... seventy beats per minute I suppose."

"That's normal," I answer.

The vet backs away and does his spinning trick again. This time he holds up a thick thermometer. I nod and open my mouth, which causes him to chuckle. "No, no, Mister Garcia. Other end."

My eyes widen. "...No."

"Mister Garcia, please le—"

"There is no way I'm letting you shove that thing up my ass. Get me an oral thermometer and we'll get down to business." I cross my arms, only to immediately uncross them and point at Silver Star as she snickers behind a hoof. "And you, shut it." I look back at Bytes. "Sorry Doc, no dice. Oral or nothing." More snickering. "Shut it!"

"You're so uptight!" Silver Star says while trying to control her chuckling. After a few seconds her eyes go wide and she starts hacking up a lung.

Now its my turn. "Ha! Looks like someone choked on their own spit!" I silently laugh, my chest puffing as I smile. Bytes come close and shoves something in my mouth, then backs away. An oral thermometer, like I had asked, or rather instructed. I nod. "Thah's morwe lwike ih."

"No talking," Doctor Bytes says quickly, his grin never leaving his face. "Keep that under your tongue for a few minutes."

"I nohw theh dwill," I mutter the best I can without the glass tube falling from my mouth.

"No talking," Bytes says again.

Silver tar smiles, obviously having recovered from her coughing fit. "You could take a lesson from this guy," she says smugly. I respond by flipping her off. I don't know how effective the gesture is in this world, seeing as how the ponies don't have fingers, but maybe monkeys or something with opposable thumbs have something similar.

We all sit in silnce for a short while. After some time, Bytes pulls the thermometer from my mouth and looks at it. For the first time, I see his smile falter. "Hm, a bit wierd." He looks at me, or more specifically the yellow gems on my arms and shoulders. "You are... a mammal, correct?" I nod. His smile returns, though its much smaller than before. "Let me get you a reptilian model."

"What's a rep—" I'm cut off as Doctor Bytes shoves a much larger thermometer into my mouth. It's big, about seven inches long and half an in thick. I feel stupid with this thing under my tongue. I rest my chin in my hand and wait.

Looking around, nothing is really any different from a human doctor's, er, veternarian's office. Supplies and tools on glass shelves, a small collection of kennels in the back of the room, charts and diagrams all over the walls. It feels weird to be here. Fuck, it all feels weird. The gaurds are talking to Silver Star, and I keep hearing something about a "report" of hers. Withher as my nanny, I guess she'll be reporting my actions every day.

Bytes removes the thick glass tube from my mouth. "...Hm, not very normal for a mammal."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

He holds up the thermometer. "...Your temperature is one-hundred and thirteen degrees Fahrinheit."

I smirk. "Sure it is. Humans can't survive if their internal temperature rises about one-hundred and seven. We're technically brain-dead then."

"Well, you are one-thirteen."

I stare at Bytes for a minute. Even the guards go quiet with their mumbling. "...What is the normal temperature for any mammal here? You ponies, seals, dogs, what is it?" I inquire.

Bytes looks back at his desk. "About ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit."

I lean back. 'About the same as my world,' I think to myself. My attention turns to the crystalline growths on my forearms and shoulders. "...What about these things?" I ask bytes while holding out my arms. "These yellow things are brand new."

Bytes shrugs. "I've never seen a human before. Sorry, but I have no idea what those things may be doing to your body. But if they're new, we should keep you under observation."

"What do you think she's here?" I ask, pointing a finger at Silver Star.

You will see me here daily," Bytes states like he has all the power in the world. "Every day, at... How does one pm sound?" He doesn't wait for my answer. "Well, this concludes your checkup. You are in decent health, as far as I can tell," he mutters. "See you tomorrow then."

With that, the guards leave the room. Silver Star leaves as well. I get up to join them, but throw one more suspicious look at Bytes. He stands there with that stupid smile of his for a second longer before waving at me. I close the door and hurry to Silver Star's side, lest I incur the wrath of the guards for not doing so.

Chapter 8: Proper Research and Recording

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With the visit to that annoying veterinarian out of the way, the two guard ponies, who I've yet to learn the names of, and Silver Star proceed to escort me to our next destination, much to my dismay. My legs are cramping, I have a thin sheen of sweat on my brow, and I'm beginning to stink. And everyone knows whatever you smell off of yourself is amplified tenfold to someone else... Not that I care... Okay, I care, but it's not the biggest concern on my mind right now. I need to talk with Princess Celestia and see if anything is coming up with a way to get me out of this hellhole and back home. Not to mention I'm a little tired of walking around this palace nearly nude and—

"Shit! I left my poncho back with that vet!"

My party stops and turn their gazes towards me. Silver Star rolls her eyes. "We'll get it back when we're done with... Whatever it is we're doing today." She looks back at the two guards in front of us. "Speaking of which, what are we doing?"

"We are escorting Garcia to labs throughout the palace," states guard number one.

"That's all we really know," finishes guard number two.

I sigh. "We didn't go very far. Can we please go back to the vet's office and pick up my poncho?"

"Why do you care about that thing so much?" SIlver Star asks as we begin walking once again.

"I don't!" I exclaim. "I fucking hate it. But I need it."

"Why?"

"Because I like feeling... clothed." I gesture to myself as I say, "After all, I do have a sense of modesty."

"Modesty, shmodesty, suck it up Garcia," Silver spits at me. "You still have your shorts, don't ya?"

I cross my arms as I walk. "Walking around in my underwear is something that should only happen in the confines of my own home or at a motel. This is neither."

"Geez, you whine more than a classroom of foals."

I huff. "Yo Silver Star, I've got a request for you." Her ear perks up as I continue. "Pucker up and kiss my ass."

She looks back at me, stopping in my path. "Go ahead and turn around, big boy. My back hooves would love to oblige."

I squint my eyes. "Is that a challenge?"

She squints back. "Maybe it is, maybe it's a response to you being a dick. What are you gonna do about it?"

I hold her stare for a moment longer before breaking. "Nothing. I don't want to get in anymore trouble."

"Coward," Silver says as we begin walking again.

"Psycho," I shoot back.

"Wimp."

"Furbag."

"Pasty biped."

"Arrogant megalomaniac."

"I don't even know what that means, you hairless ape!" she yells back without breaking her stride.

I smirk. "Miniature beast of burden."

"Will both of you shut your traps!?" both the guards ahead of us yell simultaneously.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

Since our little fight, the group has been walking in silence. These halls seem endless. Every once in a while, I opened my mouth to ask something, but I always stopped myself. This walk is just a bit too stressful and I'm thinking if I make another sound, one of my escorts would slap me.

I'm brought back to reality when my escorts stop at the entrance to another hall. They motion for Silver Star and I to proceed, so we do, although I begin to have second thoughts about this whole trip. Every door has a guard stationed in front of it, some in gold armor, and a select few in blueish-violet armor. The third guard one the left side of the hall sees us and motions us closer. He's one of the guards in the purple armor. I notice that he seems a bit taller than the golden-clad ponies, and also that his coat, as well as the other dark-themed guards, is a dark gray.

"Part of the Night Gaurd," SIlver Star says, answering my questions before I can ask them. "They're normally nocturnal, but we have a few guards out at the moment dealing with the season right now."

"What's the season?" I ask with the same enphysis Silver implied.

The Night Guard speaks up. "A large portion of our female troops have gone into heat. They'll be back in a little over a week."

"Heat?" I reiterate. "You mean like breeding season?" He nods. I look down at Silver Star. "Why are you still here?"

She frowns and ushers me inside the room. "Not every mare in Equestria has the same cycle, you know."

"No, I don't know," I say moving ahead of her. "We don't have ponies like you from where I'm from."

"Griffons go into heat too, dumbass."

"Dafuck's a griffon?" I ask as she pushes me into the center of the room.

"So, this is the creature that has the Princess knotting her mane." I tear my gaze from Silver Star pushing her head into my back to find the room full.. Well, maybe not so much as full, but it's pretty cluttered in here with all the equipment and tables. Beakers and vials of brilliant colored fluids sit in racks lining the right wall, papers, surgical tools, and various other instruments I don't recognize have made fine homes on the wall to my left. Charts and diagrams colonize the back wall, and even the ceiling is covered by some sort of giant list, but the characters used in the text are unfamiliar to me. My eyes scan the room again until the two ponies standing in front of me catch my eye. The one to my right, a pink unicorn mare with a red mane and bright magenta eyes, has a smile on her face, but her partner, a pale green earth pony stallion with a black mane, doesn't share it. His stony brown eyes pierce my soul, and I immediately feel a sense of respect for him, for some reason. They're both wearing white vests, and the stallion has a pair of goggles around his neck.

"Pretty tall thing, isn't he?" asks the stallion.

"Yes," the mare agrees. "Almost as tall as the Princess herself." Before anything else, the mare shoots forward and grabs the waistband of my boxers in her mouth and tries to pull me forward.

"Woah! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" I scream at her as a yank my underwear from her mouth. The stallion moves forward with a hoof in the air, but I wave my hands at him. "Nonono, both of you stay away from me."

The stallion keeps his composure. "... My apologies for my associate's behavior. She can be a bit... rash." He nudges her with his foreleg, and her demeanor changes as she mumbles a swift apology. The stallion rolls his eyes. "Anyway, allow me to sweep this under the rug. I am Professor Breaking Ground, and this is my, ugh, mentor Chief Researcher Wild Berry." Like an idiot, Breaking Ground holds his hoof towards me.

Like a bigger idiot, I reach out and shake it, though I'm reluctant to move much more. "...Maverick Garcia, human." The mare, Wild Berry, perks up again and moves towards me, but I back up and step and hunch down. "No, you... stay right there. You already have me on edge with that little stunt you just pulled."

Breaking Ground rolls his eyes again. "Ignore her. Wild Berry can be a bit...

"Rash?" I say, using his previous term.

He shakes his head. "Moronic."

"Excitable is a better word," she mutters.

Breaking Ground ignores her, as do I. "Come," he says, beckoning his way as he backs up. "Have a seat."

I toss another glance over my shoulder, or rather under it seeing as how I tower over these ponies by a little under two feet, at Silver Star, who has a neutral expression, before I step past Wild Berry. Three steps later and I am already across the room. Breaking Ground motions towards the table against the wall and I take a seat on the edge.

Wild Berry hops over to us like a kid in a candy store with a huge sale sign outside.

"Alright, let's get you out of those rags and get to work, shall we?" She asks in a happy tone.

"Wild Berry! Knock it off!" Breaking Ground hisses at her as she bounces in place. "You are three years older than I am, so act like it!" He looks at the floor and rubs his eyes with a hoof. "You're supposed to be my mentor, for Faust's sake."

"And as your mentor, I'm teaching you how to cut loose and enjoy life!"

"All you teach is unprofessionalism and stupidity." Breaking Ground shakes his head. "All you mares are insane."

I smirk. "Okay, I like you."

The stallion looks me in the eye and nods. "Thank you." Breaking Ground moves under the table and brings out a measuring strip. A lanky piece of yellow fabric with numbers and such. "May I ask you to hold out your arm?" He asks in a very polite and professional tone.

I nod and extend my arm. Holding the tape in both hooves, which I have no fucking clue how he does that without any fingers, Breaking Ground places one side on my shoulder and extends it to my fingertips.

"...Thirty-three point seven inches." As he says this, Wild Berry has a small notepad floating next to her, a charcoal stick scribbling on it. Breaking Ground taps the large crystal on my forearm. "I must say, I've never seen this type of crystalline formation on a living being. Where are you from?"

I rub the back of my neck with my free hand. "I'm not from around here, that's for damn sure."

"Care to elaborate?"

I stare up at the ceiling as Breaking Ground moves to measure my shoulders. "Um... Ah, let's see... Well, where I'm from, there are no talking hors—ponies! There are no talking ponies where I'm from."

"Sounds like you're from another continent then," Breaking Ground replies casually. He moves to my legs, stretching the measuring tape tight across my thigh. "Any particular reason you're wearing such... unique pants?"

"These are my boxers, my underwear," I answer. "My jeans were too scorched to really do anything else but crumble apart. And I don't even know what happened to my shirt."

Breaking Ground nods understandingly. "Care to enlighten us why you don't just, well... get rid of them then?" he asks while motioning towards my boxers.

I cross my arms, wincing as the crystals on them clink together. "Care to enlighten me why every living thing around here wants to get into my pants? Damn, seriously." Glancing back at the two researchers, I say, "Where I come from, clothing is required by law. In public anyways."

"What about at home?" Wild Berry asks, her tone starting to die down.

"Even then, it's nice to be clothed around my family. I mean, sometimes when I'm home alone, I get away with striping down to my boxers, but no. I'm only completely nude when I bathe.

"What if you go swimming?" Silver Star pipes up.

I look over the two ponies in front of me. "Even then, we humans wear swimsuits."

"Your species if weird," Wild Berry says quietly as she writes down the next series of my measurements.

I look down at her. "Your species is weird."

She looks up at me, smiling. "You mean unicorns?"

"No, ponies in general." I gesture to Silver Star. "Look at that one. I've been here for... I don't know how long exactly, a few days maybe? I've been here a few days and already she's—"

"Watch it human!" Silver Star warns. "I've already had enough problems with you, I don't need you—"

"You don't need me to tell them how annoying, deranged, and outright crazy you are?" I throw up my hands, causing Breaking Ground to drop his measuring tape. "And what about Celestia? I know she's the ruler of this place, and I acted pretty suspicious when I found myself surrounded by miniature talking horses, but come on! I just wanna go home! I have school piling up, and I really don't want to go through summer school."

Breaking Ground puts a hoof on my leg. "You're an unknown species to us. The Princess does not know your intentions."

I re-cross my arms. "My intentions are to get back home and catch up on my schoolwork."

"Nerd." All eyes land on Silver Star. "...What?"

"Do you see why I don't like her?" I ask the green stallion before me.

" I can see," He replies. "Can you lift your leg?" I do and he wraps the measuring tape around it. I lean back against the wall as he and Berry talk.

For the next good while, I stay seated on the table as Breaking Ground and Wild Berry examine me. Numerous times I have to adjust myself so Breaking Ground can get a good measurement, but all in all, its pretty boring here. Peaceful, even. Silver Star is still at the door, a medical pamphlet in her hooves as a way to pass the time. Not that she's reading it though; making a paper airplane is much more appealing to her. Wild Berry hops up on the table with me and begins to examine my head. She has the measuring tape floating next to her. I'm still not fully comprehending this whole 'magic' concept, or that act that even if magic is real that these small creatures can handle it with no negative consequences.

I'm brought back from my thought when Wild Berry basically plops down into my lap. Her legs are spread over mine, essentially straddling me, all the while with a small smile.

I feel my face heat up. "...What the fuck are you doing?"

"Can you open your mouth, please?" Wild Berry asks while trying to seem even cuter.

"W-why?"

"So I can get a look at your teeth," she says, the smile not leaving her face. I swear, some of these ponies are just straight-out weird.

"Uh, I guess so." Through my uncomfortableness, I manage to stammer, "J-just don't do anything stupid."

"I'm supposed to be the one saying that," Wild Berry says, chuckling. I open my mouth and she leans in, only to recoil a second later. "Do you brush your teeth?"

I nod. "I haven't done it lately. I guess me being a prisoner in a royal castle filled with four-foot talking ponies kinda got my off my daily regiment."

"Do we really surprise you like that?" she asks.

I look away from her. "Truthfully, yes. Ponies don't talk where I'm from. And they certainly don't have magic." I sigh. "I'm kinda hoping that I'll wake up soon, or realize none of this is real, or something. I'd much rather be stuck in a mental hospital than be here any longer." Wild Berry and Breaking Ground exchange looks. I raise a hand. "Sorry, don't let me get in the way with any of my personal thoughts."

Wild Berry puts a hoof on my chin and pushes downward. I open my mouth in response and once again, she leans forward. A small flashlight floats up from under the table and click on. "...Tongue up please." I obey and hear more scribbling. "Hm... Twenty-eight teeth in total. Elongated canines, sharpened insizors." She leans back and I close my mouth. "What types of food do you eat? Anything considerably tough?"

I rub my chin before I answer. "...Normally, I eat a balanced diet. Grains, fruits, dairy, the works."

"What's your main source of protein?" Breaking Ground asks.

"Meat."

The room goes quiet. Even Silver Star has stopped in her attempts to make her paper creation take flight. I look over all three of their faces, then make the connection. Ponies don't eat meat... Should have seen that coming.

I clear my throat. "Yes, yes, We humans are omnivorous."

"What, eh..." Wild Berry tries to say. "...What types of meat do you usually eat?"

"There's a few..." I look up at the ceiling. "...Let's see... Pork, fish... beef... occasionally poultry... I think that's it for me. Just pigs, cattle, birds, and fish."

"Interesting," Breaking Ground says as he moves about the room. "We'll alert the princess about this, see if we can't get you a more friendly form of meal."

"Woah, woah," I say with my hands in the air. The motion causes Wild Berry to lose her balance on my lap and start to fall back, but I wrap my arm around the small of her back to catch her. "Sorry about that." I look over her shoulder. "Celestia isn't going to go batshit crazy once she finds out that I'm a carnivore, is she? I really don't want to go back to the dungeon." I look back at Wild Berry, then trace my eyes down her body and find the whole situation unnerving. I feel my face flush again. "Can you please get off me now?"

"No, at least, I hope not," Breaking Ground answers as Wild Berry climbs off of me. "If anything, this should interest her."

"Which would do me good or bad?" I ask.

"Depends on who you ask," he answers. "Anyway, we've been at this a while, how are you feeling?"

I glance down at myself. "Okay, I guess." My gut gurgles at me.

"Good." Breaking Ground turns to Silver Star. "Miss, I believe our session for today is done. I can expect the Princess to be pleased with our findings, so do not be surprised if she schedules another visit."

"What time is it?" I ask. "My belly is starting to talk."

"A little after four pm," Silver Star says flatly.

"How can you tell?" She points to a clock on the right wall. "...Oh. Wow, we have been here a while." I get up and walk over to SIlver Star. She nods at me and opens the door.

"Well," Wild Berry says behind us, "it was a pleasure to meet you Maverick. We'll see you next time."

I wave back without turning around. "Yeah, same to you two as well." The door closes behind us, leaving Silver Star and I alone in the hall. Well, as alone as we can get with a guard stationed outside every door here. We begin walking.

"...So, you're a meat eater," Silver Star says in a way that felt more like a statement than a question.

"Yes, I am," I answer quietly. We walk in silence for a few minutes. "...Silver Star? I have a request..."

"What is it?" she asks softly.

"I would like a toothbrush and some toothpaste. I need to start brushing again."

She looks up at me and I look down at her to meet her gaze. Silver Star has a small smile on her face. "Want to smell nice next time Wild Berry shoves her face in your mouth?"

"Shut up."

Chapter 9: Caught Red-Handed... Red-Hooved... Whatever

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I turn another page in my book, Preen Me Up, Scotsdale, starting chapter thirty-two. So far, it's been an interesting read. A bit short, what with each chapter being only a few pages long, but still, interesting all around. Not to mention that it's a good learning experience for me. I may have to confirm this with other books, or maybe Silver Star, but according to this the winged ponies, pegasi, can stand on clouds, manipulate weather, and have a lighter bone structure. I also read that preening, the process of cleaning the feathers of their wings, was a very casual thing. However, it was seen as rude to preen in public, and when letting someone else preen for you... well, let's just say that it is a very intimate thing. Undoubtedly the quickest chapter in the book, seeing as how I skipped most of it.

The walk back from the research lab was uneventful. Any form of conversation I tried to start with Silver Star ended in a sexual innuendo that involved me and the unusually hyper research pony Wild Berry, so I stopped all-together. The guards that had left us had returned to their posts outside my door, and they welcomed our return with little more than a nod or two to acknowledge us. When we were led inside, I immediately noticed that a maid or cleaning pony has made her rounds through the room. The curtains were open, letting the evening sun shine its orange rays through the windows. The bed was made; the sheets and blanket neatly tucked and smoothed. Needless to say when I discovered this, I unceremoniously dived onto the mattress, wrinkling the fine work back into my regular messy means of slumber. What caught me by surprise was the large round aquamarine mattress near the bathroom door, replacing the pillow I had given Silver Star to sleep on. Seriously, it was just like a dog bed. By my first canine joke, she was out the door, grumbling something I would rather not repeat.

I scratch at my collar as the door opens. Looking up, I see Silver Star with another white bag. Even though we haven't truly made up yet, she's being allowed to leave my room. Not that I'm complaining.

She tosses the bag onto my bed and sits down on her 'bed' near the bathroom door. "There, I got you your dental tools."

"Dental tools?" I chuckle. "All I needed was a toothbrush."

"And toothpaste," Silver Star reminds me.

I nod. "And toothpaste." Almost as if on cue, the door opens again and a metal tray is pushed in. On it are two bowls full of fruit and vegetables. "And would you look at that," I say as the door closes again. "Perfect timing." I get up and walk over to the tray, hiking my boxers up as I do. Bending over, I loudly say a thank you through the door, and then pick up the tray. "So Silver Star," I ask as I walk over to her, "what flavor of toothpaste did you get me?"

"Citrus," is all she says.

"Thanks," I say as I bend over and place her bowl. "There you go."

Silver Star shifts on her bed. Nods at me. Rubs her chin.

"You okay?"

"Fine, fine," she says, dismissing me.

I return to my bed and pick out a banana. Using my teeth to cut a small notch near the stem, I begin peeling it. "...So Silver Star... When was the last time you brushed your teeth?"

"Not since I was assigned to you," she says curtly.

"You should start back up on that," I reply.

She bites into an apple. "Wha doh you cahre?" she asks through her mouthful of fruit.

"I don't know..." I break off a piece of my banana. "Just making idle conversation, I guess."

"Her-rumph." I swear to God, she actually said that. She didn't make a noise, she said that. "Since when is dental hygiene a topic of idle conversation?" she asks.

I shrug and pop the banana chunk into my mouth. "You okay?" I ask around the food. "You seem a bit more irritable than usual."

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now drop it."

I shrug and break off another bite of my banana. "Whatever."

We eat in silence, for the most part. Every few seconds Silver Star makes a noise; a small one, the same one, over and over. Something between a sigh and a whimper. Looking over, I see her with her left hoof in her mouth, her eyes closed. A second later, my guard pony removes her appendage and spits into her now-empty bowl. A single tooth. I hear her mumble something along the lines of "stupid something" before she lays down. I'm not even finished with my banana and she's already done. Silver Star's basically a bottomless pit, I figure. Something is bugging her, but then again, I just saw her pull one of her teeth out, so I'm not too willing to try to get her to talk about it if she doesn't want to, and there were way too many 'to's in that sentence...

I pick up an orange and lift it to my face, inhaling deeply. But I don't smell orange. I put down the fruit and sniff again, and again. This scent... its smooth, creamy... Almost like sandalwood, but with a salty offensive odor riding it, kinda like sunflower seeds. It's weird, but at the same time... I'm not sure which word to use for it. Pleasant, I suppose?

I begin peeling my orange. "Pretty unusual, you using perfume," I say loud enough to get Silver Star's attention.

"Whaah?" is the response I get.

"I didn't know a pers—pony like you would wear perfume."

I look over at Silver. Her eyes are alert, but aimed towards the ground. "Sorry, I don't."

"Candle maybe?" I don't get an answer; Silver Star just shifts on her bed. "Well, whatever it is, I like it."

I take my time eating, savoring every bite of the delicious fruit before gently tearing into the crisp and fresh celery stalks. Could use a smear of peanut butter, but hell, I ain't complaining. That plain, yet distinctive taste that only celery has... Mmm. All the while, that pleasant scent is wafting around the room. Soothing. I still can't find the candle it's coming from; the maid must have hidden it somewhere in the back corner of the room. And speaking of smells...

Instinctively, I lower my head and smell myself. Not too bad, but a noticeable oily musk has clouded around me. I finish my meal and grab my book, as well as the white bag containing my toothbrush and toothpaste. Silver Star brings her head up as I walk in her direction.

"What's up?" she asks.

"Gonna brush, then take a nice long bath," I say as I open the bathroom door. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"A long bath?" Silver Star drears. A small and casual grin paints her face as she waves at me. "Nah, go right ahead."

"You're weird." I close the door behind me before she can speak up again. I lock the door behind me, as I don't want a repeat of last time I tried to bathe. Or drown the fire in my chest, if I remember correctly.

First thing's first. I walk over to the sink and empty the bag onto the counter, along with my book. The toothbrush Silver Star got me is already out of its plastic wrapping Surprisingly, it looks a lot like the ones from home, with the only difference being that this one is a bit bigger. Its white with orange and red bristles, and a red cap at the end of the handle. The toothpaste is just an orange tube. I uncap it and squirt a decent glob of the toothpaste onto my brush, and stare at it. White paste with orange gel, really sophisticated looking. I roll my eyes as I jam it into my mouth and begin brushing. As I do, I can't help but look at myself in the mirror. Stubble has begun to grow on my chin and cheek again, and my hair is, well... greasy. I don't like it. I always tried to be clean cut at home, shaving every other day and bathing daily, but I haven't had the chance to do so in a few days.

I few minutes later, I lean down to the faucet, suck up a mouthful of water, and rinse. I didn't ask for a cup to rinse with, so I suppose this is my own fault. With my teeth out of the way, I turn to the bathtub. I begin walking over to it, but stop as a thought crosses my mind. I immediately go back to the door, unlock it, and poke my head into the other room. Silver Star has her back to me, but at the sound of the door opening, she goes ridged.

"Hey," I call out to her, "this 'magic-inhibiting' collar Princess Twilight gave me won't shock me or something if I get it wet, is it?"

Without turning to face me, Silver Star shakes her head. "No, it shouldn't."

"Okay, thanks." I close the door and lock it again. Now then, where was I.

Ah yes. I hop over to the bathtub and sit on the edge. Plugging the drain and turning the hot water handle, I wait a moment before turning the cold handle. I test the water with a finger, setting the water temperature a bit warmer than I would like. Always do this, because you're going to lose heat when you wait for the water to fill the tub. And this would be a perfect time to read. Which is what I do. Read some more. Words. Typewriter. Cheeseburger. Oh, now I want a cheeseburger. Mmm...

I laugh at myself, thinking these ridiculous things while trying to read. Whatever, the bath is almost ready. I stop the flow of bathwater and strip out of my boxers. I'll wash, then read some more. Yeah. Good plan. More words... I'm Batman.

More of my laughter echoes throughout the room as I slide into the water.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

"Whatever you're facing, you don't have to do it alone. I'll always be here for you, no matter what." Does it make me a terrible pony that when she said that, I felt nothing but pain? Or confusion? My cousin, my bucking cousin, makes a better mother figure than my own? That makes no sense, but in a way, it makes nothing but sense. She's caring, she's strong, she's willing to do anything to help me. Perhaps I can fight these demons, and maybe, just maybe, with her help, I'll be able to understand how I was able to think straight enough to use real words when talking.

What? My eyebrows arch when I read this. I have no clue what's going on anymore in this book. Closing the cover, after marking my place of course, I decide that I've soaked long enough; I'm starting to prune, not to mention the water is turning lukewarm. I let the water out of the tub and begin drying off with one of the white towels hanging on the rack near the sink. They're a bit small for me, but then again, I'm two feet taller than their intended users. In the end, I've soaked two towels, but I'm clean and refreshed. With one towel back on its rack hanging to dry, only one because the other caught on the gem on my forearm while I was drying off and promptly ripped in two, and my boxers back on, I unlock the bathroom door and walk back into the main room.

My eyes react first, seeing Silver Star in the process of manually flipping her bed over. Then my nose begins to work again. I'm bombarded with the scent of Sandlewood. For a split second. Sunflower seeds and sea salt instantly overpower the soapy smell. Its strong, and there's a heated force behind it as well, something that makes my nose wrinkle. Something foul, something primal, something familiar...

Silver Star catches my gaze. She's not in her armor; her white coat matted on its left side, and her coppery mane is slicked back behind her head. She looks up and sees me staring at her. We hold this contest for a few seconds, all the while I'm trying to breathe through my mouth.

"...What?" she asks.

"What is that stench?" I say, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Hm?"

"Don't act like you can't smell that?" I walk past her. "Damn, what is that?" I walk towards the door, the smell fading. It's more powerful in certain spots of the room, and subconsciously I'm starting to gauge it. I go back to my bed and sit down with my hand clamped over my nose.

Silver Star is still seated next to her bed, reluctant to move.

I motion towards her with my other hand. "Where's your armor?"

She points to the far corner of the room. I follow her hoof and see her helmet, chestplate, and hoof guards sitting in the corner.

"Why aren't you wearing them?" I ask.

"Can't a mare be comfortable?" She retorts.

I squint at her. "...Normally, in my opinion, a guard who's been assigned to a potentially dangerous person would like to be armored, wouldn't they?" I stand up and walk closer to her, and the smell gets stronger. "...Why would a guard take off their only means of protection?"

"It's not my only means," Silver Star says quickly. Her horn glows a familiar and fear-inducing blue, but I reach out with a hand and flick the appendage. My finger collides with her horn, creating a loud thwack and her magic fizzles out. She lowers her head, grasping her horn in her hooves. "Oooww..."

"You're not thinking straight," I state.

"You're acting like a detective," Silver Star shoots back.

I inhale again, look at her. I then look at her bed. Then at her. Silver is still staring at the floor. My hands grip the underside of her bed, and I flip it over. I notice the stain in the middle of it almost as soon as I do. "Did you spill something and not want to get in trouble?"

"What?"

I lean closer to the bed, my nose being assaulted with every inch I take. Then, a faint memory from the back of my head comes to see the light. The smell of sunflower seeds and sea salt. No, the smell of sweat, passion, and shame. A scent I should have recognized immediately, seeing as how I used to clean my keyboard at home on a regular basis to get rid of this particular scent.

I bolt upright. "What the fuck!?"

Silver Star is on her feet. "What? What!?"

"Don't 'what' me! You know!" I rub my hands together. "Ugh, really? You couldn't have done this somewhere else? For Christ's sake, I was in the other room!" I rush over to the windows and try to push them open. I'm rewarded with a small shock that sends me on my ass. "Gah, I can't even open the windows!" I turn back to Silver Star. "You!" Her horn begins to glow again, but I flick it once more and get behind her. As she's stunned, I slide my hands around her barrel, under her forelegs, and lift her up. Silver weighs, I'm guessing, about eighty pounds or so, but I heave and get her in the air. "You should be ashamed of yourself, you know that?" I swing her over to the door.

"How else was I supposed to deal with my heat?" she yells at me.

"You are in heat?" I set her on the floor and spin her around to face me. I wag a single finger in her face. "Then you should have left! Gone home like all the others!"

"I have too many responsibilities to do that!"

"So the solution was to stay here and suffer?" I ask.

"No!" she shouts. "I've been slacking off lately, then you appeared as my next job. I can't just up and leave for a week! My commander would hoof me my flanks on a silver platter!"

I put my hands on my hips, then grimace as the gems on my forearms dig into my sides, but I keep them there. "So, instead of going home like a smart person would do, you decided to stay here..." I pause to swallow my pride and disgust, "and masturbate? In my bedroom?"

"Everypony does it!" she yells at me, stomping her hoof.

"Not with strangers in the next room, they don't!"

"You're not a stranger! You're my responsibility!"

"Doesn't matter. I think your commander would have completely understood that you needed to take time off for something like this." I turn her around, open the door, and lift her back into the air. "You should have left with the... rest... of them..." My voice dies in my throat. I'm left there, a prisoner, with his guard, out of her armor, in my hands, thrust out like one would do with a bad puppy, and staring into the eyes of Princess Celestia herself. Her mane and tail flow in a non-existing breeze as always, but her expressionless face is what scares me. The malice in her magenta eyes sends a chill down my spine.

My mouth opens, then shuts, then opens again. "Eheheh... This looks bad, doesn't it?"

Celestia blinks. "Very."

Chapter 10: Wrath, Embarrassment, Compromise

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The temperature could have easily dropped ten degrees. In fact, as powerful of a creature Celestia is supposed to be and with this level of a bone-chilling stare of hers, I think it did. My body freezes up, completely resisting any movement I try to will into it. My arms are burning from continuously lifting Silver Star's weight, but Celestia's glare is preventing me from moving. My breathing becomes labored, and I swear to fucking God, I just sweatdropped big enough to fill a fishbowl. To make things worse, Celestia is not alone; Princess Twilight Sparkle stands on her right side, a worried expression on her face and aimed towards the larger alicorn. Celestia's face is completely blank, but her eyes say it all. Wrath. And fury, don't forget about unbridled fury.

Celestia chews on the inside of her cheek before speaking. "Put. Her. Down."

My mind instantly complies, sending impulses down my body and forcing it to bend down and release Silver Star onto the carpet. I put my hands up. "Princess Celestia, I-I can explain—"

"You are not to speak," Celestia says, anger dripping off every word. She inhales deeply, trying to compose herself, but stops herself. Another sniff, and another. Her eyes settle on my guard, then she squints at me. "...Twilight, close the door."

"But Princess—" Twilight begins, but the larger pony cuts her off.

"Either you can stay and bare witness to what is about to happen, or you can leave. Pick one, and close. The. Door."

Twilight nods, fear spreading across her face. She steps inside the room, as does Princess Celestia, which sends me scrambling backwards. I do not like anything that she has just said, and her tone spells possible death. The door closes, locks, and all eyes are on me. I take another step back as Celestia begins walking towards me. My heels hit the side of Silver's bed.

Celestia stamps her hoof twice. "...Chief Executive Silver Star. Front and center."

Timidly, my guard does as commanded. Silver Star stands a few feet from my side and salutes. "Y-yes, Princess?"

Princess Celestia's gaze never leaves my face. "...Why is she not wearing her armor?" she asks me.

I lick my lips and swallow. "Sh-she, um, t-took it off."

"Why?" Celestia asks, her tone collected and calm.

"I, uh..." I look over at Silver Star. "...She said she removed her armor... for comfort?" I squeak.

Celestia narrows her eyes. I step back again, but my foot catches the edge of the bowl sitting next to Silver's bed, and it flips over, sending the single item resting in it sailing across the room. Four pairs of eyes follow the object as it tumbles to a stop at the far side of the room. Princess Celestia's horn becomes enveloped in a golden aura, and the tooth Silver Star removed during dinner flies between me and the princess.

"...What is this?" she asks, knowing full well what it is.

Silver Star speaks up. "That is mine, your Highness. A tooth; I pulled it out while I was eating earlier."

"And why, pray tell, were you forced to remove it?" the Princess asks whilst glaring daggers at me once more.

Silver Star looks down at the floor, rubbing her ear with a hoof. "Well, you see, I was out getting Garcia's toothbrush, and, well... I kinda... went to see the guard physician, and he, uh..." Her voice dies when she looks up at the princess, seeing her shake her head.

Celestia inhales again, letting the tooth drop. "...Silver Star, this whole situation does not look good. Not for you, and not for you," she repeats, gesturing to me this time. "I have lived many millennia, and there are certain things that have burned their way into my memory, many things I have been forced to see, many things that I know." She looks down at Silver Star, whose ears are splayed flat against her head. "When I opened that door, I was on the receiving end of a very unpleasant odor, as well as seeing one of my subjects in the arms of a potential threat," she says while nudging the tooth on the carpet with a hoof. The princess waits a moment before continuing. "...My little pony... have you attempted sexual intercourse with this creature?"

Twilight 'eeps' and covers her mouth, and Silver Star's eyes widen. "N-no, Princess," she replies. "I have not."

"Did he force himself upon you?"

Silver Star, Twilight, and myself have our jaws hit the floor at the princess' accusation. "What!? No!" Silver Star and I yell in union.

Celestia purses her lips. "Then, do you care to explain how you, a professionally trained member of the Royal Guard, allowed yourself to be in physical contact with the human, without your armor?"

"Your Highness, it's not what you think," Silver begins.

"Yeah," I say quietly, "this is all a huge misunderstanding."

Celestia glances between us. "Explain."

I look down at Silver, and she looks up at me. "Do you want me to tell her?" I ask her. Silver Star doesn't reply. "Alright then." I return my attention towards the angry alicorn. "Princess Celestia, if I may, and if you would allow, I would like to properly explain the circumstances we currently find ourselves to be in."

The princess seems to look me over, but she's doing a very good job hiding her movements. Her horn sparks, and I step onto Silver Star's bed, much to my dismay. I look down, seeing my right foot on that one spot. Celestia doesn't seem to notice. "...Very well," she says, "but you have one warning; do not lie to me."

I hop away from the bed, clutching my wet foot in my hands. "Okay, but please, can someone open one of these windows and let this foul stench out? I don't wanna get shocked again." A second spark from Celestia's horn sends the windows jolting open, a fresh evening breeze blowing in. I sigh and wipe my foot on the carpet. "Okay, thank you. Now then, I guess I should start from the beginning... And my apologies up front if I say anything you may find offensive."

I begin to tell Celestia the details of our situation. Silver Star returning to the room with my dental needs, her attitude change, ec cetera. Some details are small, but enough to poke a response from Silver Star, her stepping in and saying what she needed when she needed to. When I get to the section of my tale regarding Silver's questionable antics, her face turns cherry red and attempts to hide in her mane. Celestia's expression seems to soften somewhat during the recollection, and every so often through the story her horn would spark. Eventually, she wore a face of sorrow and mild disturbance instead of her hate-mask, which seemed to be a good thing for me. With a little under twenty minutes killed, I end my tale and hug my arm.

"—and then when I was trying to get rid of her, well... You know the rest, your Highness."

Princess Celestia's horn sparks once more, this one a bit louder than before, and she nods. "...I see." We sit in silence for a moment for obvious reasons, Silver's being embarrassment, Twilight's being shock, and mine not wanting to be obliterated for speaking out of line. The quietness is strong, but tension is almost non-existent. Eventually, the lavender alicorn steps forward and positions herself next to her elder.

"Princess Celestia?"

The white alicorn returns her attention to me. "You speak the truth. But one thing bothers me." Celestia rubs her chin with a gold-clad hoof. "Well, several things bother me with this tale, but regardless..." She turns and looks down at Silver Star, who's recovered from her initial humiliation but still retains her reddened face. "...Chief Executive Silver Star, why did you not return home at the beginning of your estrus cycle?"

"Well, Princess Celestia, I did not... I didn't want to seem like I was shirking off."

Celestia's form slackens a bit upon hearing the pony's misplaced dedication. Her large wing extends over to Silver, and the princess lifts her chin with her wingtip. "My little pony, nearly every mare in the castle is at home, riding this ordeal out. As is instructed. While I may not be sure if your cycle started a day later, or if you thought you could power through it, it was not wise to stay."

"I-I-I tried to get my medication!" Silver Star protests. "But the guard physician said he couldn't administer it!"

"Because we are out of stock, my dear pony." Silver's mouth closes at the princess' observation. "We almost always run out of suppression meds in the early spring, you know that. Midsummer and early winter as well. You should be home. Nopony is going to think you are 'shirking off' just because you needed to take time off for your cycle."

Ruining the touching moment, I lean over to Silver Star and nudge her flank with my foot. "I told you so." Three sets of eyes glare at me, and I rub my neck. "Sorry. So, Princess Celestia?" I wait a moment and she nods, allowing me to ask my question. "May I pleeease be excused so that I may boil my foot?" Celestia's face contorts slightly with confusion, but a glance at the stained mattress on the floor behind me turns the expression into a grimace.

"By all means," she says calmly.

I bow my head and rush into the bathroom.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross." The same word just spills from my mouth as I hold my foot under the steaming water falling from the bathtub's faucet. I didn't bother with the cold spigot at all, but I suppose I may have used all the hot water seeing as how it was turned to full blast and only shooting out water that felt warmer-than-warm. Regardless, I may have to burn the rag I'm using... Okay, I take that back; that was mean and uncalled for, even if I'm the only one who heard it. While it is fairly disturbing to step in someone else's bodily fluids, it wasn't completely Silver's fault. In fact, it was more mine than hers, seeing as how I was the one stepping backwards and such.

I turn off the water, and rub my foot vigorously inside the cloth cocoon I have just wrapped it in. The skin pinches as the towel scraps against it, and eventually I lose feeling in the limb. I really want to go home right now. Not to just get away from these ponies, but to go home and just feel the comfort of my Dad's presence. I've been gone for a few days, I hope he's not too worried. Mom shouldn't be back from her trips her job makes her take for quite a while, so hopefully I can convince Celestia to let me go before she gets home. That is, unless Dad called her home to help search for me.

That's right. I'm a great student with loving parents, perfect attendance, amazing grades, a few friends... I had no reason to leave, so why would I? Someone must have contacted the local police about my disappearance. Oh man, oh geez... I need to get home, and soon. Or at least send a letter telling them I'm safe.

My eyes glance over to the door. Maybe if Celestia's still out there, I can talk to her about it. In fact, I need to talk to her about this whole ordeal. This could be my chance!

Not bothering with the towel wrapped around my right leg, I slowly open the door.

"—do hope that you understand the responsibilities you are volunteering for," the princess says in a stern manner. I exit the room and see Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, and two other ponies. One I recognize immediately; Silver Star's commanding officer, the General. The other... not so much. The stallion standing next to the general is clad in similar gold armor like Silver Star. His coat is a faint gray, almost white but not quite there. Very dark green eyes stare straight ahead as he's being briefed by the princess. His long black mane pokes out from under his helmet, matching the color of his tail. I also notice that, unlike most of the other guards, that the stallion is a pegasus; gray feathered wings sit folded neatly at his sides. A tattoo on his flank depicts a dark cloud shooting lightning onto a dark blue shield.

Come to think of it, all these ponies have those weird tattoos, even the princesses. Twilight has sparkles on her flanks, and Celestia has... some kind of roman sun on hers? The general's tattoo I can't see due to his flashy armor covering most of his body.

"I understand completely, you Highness," the pegasus says while saluting with his wingtip. "I will not fail you."

I clear my throat to announce my presence. All heads swivel to look my way. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything," I say casually, as if the unnerving confrontation with the princess that occurred minutes earlier had not even happened.

"Well, speaking of your duties," Celestia says while moving a wing to point in my direction, "here he is."

The pegasus moves into my line of sight from behind Celestia's massive wing. He salutes. "Swift Lightning, reporting for duty." He sits right where Silver's bed used to be. I guess they got rid of it. Another similar mattress, this one a dark red, sits close to the foot of my bed. The replacement for the stallion, Swift Lightning, I guess.

Celestia no longer looks at me with any type of dislike, but she still has a wary glint in her eyes. "Swift Lightning will be taking over for Silver Star until she returns."

I look the pegasus over. "...Fine by me." The princess nods, then turns to her general and Twilight. Nodding at them as well, they make to move to the door. "Wait, wait a minute," I call after them. Celestia stops and looks back at me. "...Um, Princess Celestia," I ask with rubbing the back of my head with my hand and shaking my leg trying to dislodge the towel from my leg, "I know I'm, well... a prisoner, here, under your rule, but... Do you think it's okay if I send a letter to my family?"

Celestia tenses as she turns to face me. "...Why do you want to send a letter?" she asks, her horn sparking again.

"I wanted to let them know that I'm relatively safe and alive." I pause before continuing my short explanation. "...I don't want them to worry too much. I've been here for a few days now, and I haven't been able to let them know anything. I've never been away from my father from more than a single night, because of a school field trip to a college campus, and I don't want to cause alarm." I finally shake my leg free from the towel. "Plus, I'd like them to start gathering homework for me for when I get back. I have grades to keep up in school."

The princess' horn sparks once more, and we engage in another staring contest. This time, I don't back down. Princess Celestia faulters and glances down at my feet.

"...Fine," she answers. "I see no problem with that."

Before I can stop myself, I ask "You seem to be a bit more trusting towards me. Any reason why?"

"Because you speak the truth," is all she says as she leaves the room. The general follows her out, but Twilight linger's a moment more.

"...The collar..." she says quietly, "...It doesn't bother you too much, does it?"

I wave her off. "Not at all. But listen, Princess Twilight..." I chew on my lip for a second before I speak again. "...I wanted to say... I'm sorry for deceiving you before."

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"The whole 'pretending to be a stupid animal' thing. It was a half-assed plan that tumbled downhill and it wasn't right, and I'm sorry for that. I didn't mean to, well, I kinda did, but—Argh." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I'm sorry about that whole thing."

"It's no problem." Twilight flashes me a smile before closing the door behind her.

I look down at my feet, then reel back. The top of my right foot is covered in a thin layer of yellow crystal, just like my shoulders and arms. It's platelike, smooth, thin. Thin enough for me to see through it and into the inner workings of my foot. Flexing my toes causes the muscles to stretch and contort under the crystal's surface. It's strange, being able to see your body work from the inside out. Not only that, but what's stranger is that I'm not as shocked or scared as I think I should be... Or I'm just getting used to weird shit happening.

I bring my eyes away from my foot and look at the pegasus a few feet to my left. "So..." I start off, getting his attention. "Swift Lightning. My name is Maverick Garcia," I say sticking my hand out to him. "I suppose we'll be in each other's company for the next few days."

He extended his armor-clad hoof and I shake it. "It seems so. Under other circumstances, it would be a pleasure to meet you. But it still is." He takes his hoof from my hand. "You can call me Swift, everypony does." His voice is inexperienced in this type of conversation. He must be a hard worker. "I gotta say, I've never seen anything like you."

"I could say the same."

Swift's gaze scrutinizes me from head to toe. Eventually, his eyes wander to the open windows. I look over as well, wondering why they're still open. But then again, maybe Celestia realized I'm not about to jump out of them and plummet to my doom.

"Mind if I smoke?" I look down at the pegasus. He's already taken his helmet and hoof guards off, and has a hoof stuck under one of his wings. Seeing him without his helmet, his name makes a bit more sense; a thin zigzag of dull yellow streaks through his black mane. I shrug and he pulls out a small case. I lean forward as he opens it, curious about what type of 'smokes' he keeps with him. Holding the case in one hoof and opening it with the other, the lid flies back on a hind and reveals ten slots on one side and a brass flip-top lighter on the other. Seven of the slots are filled with slender hand—or rather, hoof—rolled cigarettes.

"I know we're not s'post to smoke on duty, but so long as the general isn't around, you know?" he says as he takes one of the cigarettes out of the case, as well as the lighter. With a flick of his wrist—or is it still an ankle on the foreleg?—a flame appears on the open end of the lighter, which he brings up to his face and promptly lights his smoke. He holds the case out to me. "You want one?"

I shake my hands at him. "No, thanks. I don't smoke."

"This ain't a normal smoke, you know," he says, casually puffing. "Just a smidge of tobacco for flavor, but the rest is natural incense and flower extractions." I look at him with a questioning face, but he just shakes the case. "It'll help ya relax~"

With a sigh and a single-shouldered shrug, I reach down and pick out one of the cigarettes. I wordlessly put it in my mouth and bend over to let Swift light it for me. I take a short breath, wait a moment, then suck some more of the smoke into my lungs. It feels... unusual. I've never smoked before, but when I asked my dad about it, he says that he should have never started. That those things were evil and terrible for your health if you smoked too often. That the first time he tried he nearly hacked up his entrails, it burned so bad.

But this wasn't burning, wasn't uncomfortable, just... flavorful. Almost like strawberries. Can smoke have a flavor? Well, this taste like strawberries. I let the smoke out of my lungs. "...Not bad."

"Atta boy," Swift says as he chuckles, smoke trailing from the sides of his mouth as he does.

"Won't you get in trouble for being the casual?"

"Not if they don't find out," Swift says calmly.

I walk back and sit on my bed. Another puff, another plume of smoke. Holding the cigarette between two fingers like I've seen my dad do, and take a small break from the experience. "Lemme ask you something Swift." He looks up at me. "From what I heard, Princess Celestia said that you volunteered, right?" Swift nods. "Any reason why?" I ask.

"Well, from the way Silver Star was talking about you when she was coming back from her first encounter with you, you sounded interesting."

"You mean when she forcibly stripped me down and left me in the bathroom?" I get a raised eyebrow from Swift, but he nods. "...Do you know Silver Star?"

"Of course I know her." He takes another drag on his cigarette. "...She's my step-sister." My turn to raise my eyebrows. Swift chuckles at my face. "My mom met with her dad at one of the recruitment rallies. We both signed up, and our parents hit it off. Been happily married for three years now."

"That, uh, must be interesting," I say quietly. "How old are you?"

"Twenty three years." He puffs again. "And to answer your other question, Silver's nineteen."

"Silver Star enlisted when she was sixteen?" I ask, a genuine expression of disbelief on my face.

Swift rolls his hoof. "Fourteen, actually. Our parents may have hit it off, but they didn't rush down to Las Pegasus to get a quick marriage certificate."

I look at the floor. "In the guard since she was fourteen... Why?"

Swift scuttles closer to my bed. "Well, you can't just become a guard, you have to go through training. Silver Star took the training courses and became a full fledged guard when she was sixteen, and immediately started her first term of service." He nods and cuts me off before I can ask my question. "A term of service is five years, and with that term, you get paid. Her dad and she needed the bits so she signed up and trained."

"Oh," I say, deflated a bit. "...Is Silver Star... Is she ever nice?"

"In her own way," Swift responds. "You don't like her, huh?"

"Am I that easy to read?" I ask.

"Kinda, yeah."

I nod. "How does it feel? To suddenly gain a sister like that..."

Swift Lightning rubs his chin. "...Well, she didn't like it at first. Silver Star, I mean. She disliked my mother as soon as she saw her at the rally, mostly because I was with her and we were hitting it off with her dad. Once they got married, and I recovered from the initial beatdown when we moved in under the same roof," he said that last part with a friendly chuckle, "we discovered how much we really had in common. Granted, we still annoy each other, but it's all in good family fun."

I mull this around in my head, think that there's a side to Silver Star I haven't seen, a side that's not completely and utterly disturbing or crazy.

"One more question." He looks up at me again, ready. "...This isn't gonna get me high, is it?" I ask while waving the cigarette in my hand.

Swift shakes his head. "These are just to ease your nerves." He takes another drag. "It's a stressful job; being a royal guard. One of these can help that stress go away," he says as smoke pours from between his teeth. "Silver doesn't like me smoking them, though. Even though her dad handles a pipe pretty well, she doesn't like it."

"So... no high?" I ask again.

He shakes his head. "Nope." Then he leans closer. "Those ones are in my locker," he says with a smirk.

I smile, my chest huffing in a silent laugh, and take another drag. This stallion isn't so bad. Not bad at all.

Chapter 10.5: Reading The Morning (Research) Paper

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"And there starts another day." Celestia smiles to herself as she finishes up one of her many duties as the Princess of the Sun; raising the sun for the populace. Her horn flickers as she judges her work done, the smile never leaving her face. Princess Celestia looks down over the railing of her balcony, watching the low-hanging clouds crash and waft around the mountainside. Her gaze lingers before a shiver runs down her body caused by the brisk morning air. Once the spasm subsides, the alicorn returns inside and gently closes the doors leading to her balcony, shutting out the cold. A moment later, she wraps herself in a white bathrobe that was hanging on a nearby hook.

All she could ever need resides in her room. A large round bed with a beautiful pink canopy sits in the center of the back wall, and right beside it sits an impressive light wood dresser. A circular mirror clutched in decorative wooden claws hangs on the wall just above the dresser. On the far righthoof side of the room hangs a white curtain the separates her private bath from the rest of the room.

Celestia frowns as she looks at herself in the mirror. Magenta eyes stare back at her as she moves them up and down her robed figure, her reflection's eyes mimicking her actions. "Perhaps Lulu was right; I should lay off the sweets a tad," she says while absent-mindedly rubbing her covered flank with a hoof.

A knock at her doors brings the large alicorn back to reality. Putting on a smile, she concentrates as a golden aura surrounds her horn and the doors click open. "Princess Celestia," greets a voice behind her. In response, Celestia turns and beams a smile at her visitor.

"Ah, General Sleet, what a pleasant surprise." The gray earth pony salutes, bringing a silver cart carrying a domed platter and a thermos. Celestia waves her hoof. "At ease, General." At her words, Sleet visibly slackens. "So," Celestia continues, "what do you think of this whole situation?"

"Are you referring to the prisoner, Ma'am?" Sleet asks. Celestia nods her head. "Well, he doesn't seem dangerous, not at first."

"How do you think Silver Star handled her responsibilities?"

"Poorly," he deadpans. "However, seeing as how she entered her cycle almost immediately after her last check-in, I believe I can overlook her poor decisions. Blame them on her chemistry."

The princess nods again. "And how do you think her replacement will do?"

"He is loyal to a fault, your Majesty," the General says swiftly. "Lightning will not let you down."

She smiles. "...Not to seem rude, General Sleet, but may I ask... why are you here? Has something happened?"

"No, your Majesty," Sleet replies hastily. "I have just recieved the research division's notes on our prisoner, as well as the cobbled story our veterinarian Animah Leon Bytes has out together regarding his short encounter." He salutes again while bringing multiple papers out from inside his armor. "Another will be acquired upon the prisoner's daily checkup today, as are your orders."

"Very good, very good." Princess Celestia pauses for a moment, then yawns rather loudly. Once she's finished, she brings a hoof up to her mouth. "Oh, excuse me. I must be more tired than I thought."

General Sleet motions towards the cart. "Coffee and breakfast, your Highness?"

This earns him a smile from the princess. "You are too kind, General."

He bows, then retreats from the room, the doors closing behind him with a soft thah-klunk. Celestia grasps the papers the general deposited on the cart, as well as the thermos, and returns to her bed. Carefully crawling back into a cozy position on her side, she unscrews the cap of the thermos, inhaling deeply as the bitter aroma of the miracle liquid inside awakens her brain. A small sup flies to her side from one of the many hidden compartments around the room. While pouring herself a small cup of coffee, Princess Celestia looks over the papers given to her.

"...Hm-hm-hmmm... Unusual fur displacement, not fit for colder environments... Lean muscle mass, decently thick bone structure..." Celestia skims over the notes for anything vitally important, rereading anything that catches her interest. She's properly read the entire report once she's better acquainted with her morning coffee. She takes a decent sip from her cup and refills the missing portion of her drink. "...Crystaline formations on the subject's forearms and shoulders seem to radiate miniscule amounts of magic. Unable to determine type of magic. No negative effects are being caused due to said magic...

"Subject's teeth are abnormal. ~~Unneccesary length on the canines, sharpened front teeth. Perhaps artificial.~~ Slighty larger, sharpened canines and incisors used mainly for cutting and tearing of flesh, while back teeth used for grinding. Omnivorous diet..."

Celestia's eyebrows crawl up her face, intrigued by this new information. Ideas float behind her eyes, most of malicious intent involving a certain bipedal creature and her little ponies. Celestia shakes her head, trying to rid herself of these wretched thoughts. Nothing that evil could slip under her nose, and in her own castle, no less! She'll up security around the prisoner, perhaps some lanterns to gauge the human's magic.

The silver platter floats off the cart, wrapped in a golden field of magic, and settles beside the princess' laying form. She pauses in her reading to lift the dome and discover her breakfast. A small frown touches her face. A light, fluffy, expertly-made slice of the most delicious Devil's Food cake sits on a thin white plate, a small silver fork sitting beside it. Celestia looks back at her lower end, still covered by her white robe, then back at her normal morning snack. Luna's opinion flutters in her mind, and soon enough the white alicorn is debating with herself.

Before she knows it, the slice is gone. She never could resist the dessert's temptation.

Chapter 11: I'll Never Understand What Just Awakened

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As I stare forward into the pair of pink eyes in front of me, I just couldn't help but notice all the things happening behind them. Almost like stars floating in the cosmos, different specks lighting up in different ways. Very beautiful, very spacious, very... empty.

"Ditz," I say curtly.

The eyes in front of me blink, stirring up the galaxies within them. Then suddenly, they pull back, their owner giggling.

"You know," Wild Berry coos, "it's really fun to be kinda out of it."

"Tell me about it," Swift Lightning murmurs behind us. "What I wouldn't give to be in my bunk right now, just staring off into space." He goes back to reading the copies of the reports the research ponies had put together last night. "You are a real anomaly, you know that Mav?"

Speaking of research ponies... Right now, I'm back in the Research Wing where I had the pleasure of meeting the well-mannered Breaking Ground and the goofy Wild Berry. Doctor Bytes is here as well; once I had arrived in his office for my daily check-up, he trotted out of the room, beckoning me and Swift to follow him. A short while later, Bytes barged into the room with me in tow saying that it would be easier to report back to Celestia if they were all taking the same note in the same room at the same time. The fact that Celestia had the three ponies in the room reporting every bit they could about me back to her made me feel... well, it gave me some mixed emotions. I was a bit irritated because it seemed that she didn't like my presence in the castle, but also content seeing as how she was making sure that I wasn't much of a threat. She seemed to be running a good kingdom.

The room was somewhat renovated after my first visit; some of the clutter was taken away, leaving a lot of room for the current five occupants of said room to move around in. At the moment, Wild Berry has me sitting on the floor, staring into her eyes as some sort of hidden game, as Breaking Ground examines my spine. My right foot is currently outstretched and my toes are being played with a blue hoof; Bytes got real excited at the sight of my new crystal on the top of my foot, and was taking full advantage of the transparent crystal to see how my muscles move when he flexed or forced my toes. I can't help but notice that when I have my ass planted on the ground, the ponies around here are slightly taller than I am. Even when they sit on their haunches, they're still taller. Oh well, can't beat them at everything. I still tower over them by just under two feet when standing.

"That's not what I mean, silly!" Wild Berry says as she waves a hoof at Swift, continuing her conversation. "I mean, if your head is empty—"

"Like hers," I interrupt, but it doesn't phase her.

"Yeah, like mine!" she says with a large grin that would make the Cheshire Cat jealous. "If it's empty, that means you can fit so much inside!" Swift snickers at this, and I groan.

"Geez, you're just as bad as your sister—Ouch!" I swivel around and glare at the green stallion behind me. "Be careful back there! If you paralyze me or something, I'll give Celestia a reason to put me back in the dungeon!" I turn back to Wild Berry, grumbling. My temper is kinda short right now, seeing as how the two stallions currently prodding my back and pulling my foot have hit a few sensitive spots once or twice or seven times.

"Awe," Wild Berry says in a soft tone, "is somepony grumpy?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a kid."

"Speaking of which," Breaking says as he sticks his head over my shoulder, "there's another question we need to ask you. How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen. Eighteen in September."

"September?" All three ponies ask me.

"Yeah, September." I look at them all on at a time. "...The month after October." More studious looks. "Halloween? Carving pumpkins, trick-or-treaters? You know, giving candy to kids in costumes?"

Wild Berry smiles warmly. "You mean Nightmare Night?"

"Yeah, I guess." I look over at Wild Berry. "It's early spring here, and back home, it's the beginning of April. So... It's the fourth month here?"

"Yeah!" Berry squeals.

"Now, hold on there Berry," Bytes says in a bit of a professional tone. "Maybe where he's from things run a bit differently." He nods to himself, drops my foot, and then walks out of the room. Through the open doorway, I can see him walk across the research hall and open the door on the opposite side. He chats with the pony who had answered, then nods and waits.

I look over my shoulder at Breaking Ground. "What did he mean by that?"

Breaking ground gives me a blank expression. "Well, you said that Nightm—sorry. Hollow Wean, did you say?"

I nod. "Yeah. One word. Halloween."

"Right," he says. "Halloween happens during some period of time for you as well."

"October."

"Right," he says again. Breaking chews on his lip for a second. "Well—"

"You humans must have a different way of keeping time than we do here in Equus," Bytes interrupts loudly and happily as he waltzes back into the room. A fluid motion of his hoof sends a thin pad of paper over to me. "We use a calender to keep track of the cycles of the moon."

I pick up the so-called calender and flip through it. It has thirteen pages, kinda like the ones back home, but each page is almost the same; thirty squares mark out the days showing when the moon will be wane, wax, gone, or full. All the pages have this, all but the last page, which just has five days. "Equus, you say? Never heard of the place." I hear the gang shuffle their weight. "...Must be in Africa or something. The explorers always seem to be finding new shit on that dried mass of a continent." I turn back to the last page of the calender. "What's with the last five days here?"

"Oh!" Wild Berry scooches in real close to my crotch and leans forward to look at the booklet in my hands. "That's the new year being born!" I look up at Wild Berry, but she's so close that when I do I get a face full of her mane. She backs up a smidge and continues. "When the twelve cycles of the year are done, Princess Luna keeps the moon full for the next five days!" In a quick motion, Wild Berry stands up and turns with enough force to whip my face with her tail in a painful manner. She then dashes over to the other side of the room and ducks her head under her desk, her tail wagging like an excited puppy. I feel my face flush as I catch glimpses of something I probably shouldn't behind her moving tail. Wild Berry then appears back in front of me with impressive speed, and a single gem clatters to the ground between my outstretched legs. A large ruby the size of a baseball, raw, jagged, cloudy, and uncut. "The oceans rise," Wild Berry resumes, "trying ever so hard to reach the moon, and renew their minerals from their sandy bottoms! The minerals are then absorbed into the shore and spread throughout the land, making new gems and crystals!" Wild Berry closes her eyes and cocks her head to the left. "And the dragons love the new year! Gems are a good part of their diet, so at the first cycle of the new year, there are always new mines being opened!"

I will my eyes back from their widened state. What the hell had she told me?

"...Princess Luna?" I ask.

"Yeah!" Wild Berry cheers. "She's Princess Celestia's little sister! She's also the mistress of the night, just like Princess Celestia is of the day! Luna raises the moon at night, and calms the dreams of the sleeping world, while Celestia raises the sun in the morning and tries her best to keep peace throughout Equestria!"

A sudden coldness springs to life in my chest. "Bullshit."

I feel four pairs of eyes lock onto me. I can even feel Breaking Ground's eyes on the back of my head.

"Earth orbits around the sun," I say when no one speaks up. "Celestia can't raise an entire star. Same with the moon, except it orbits around us."

"Nuh-uh!" Berry replies in a childish manner. "Their magic is the most powerful on Equus! Almost nothing can beat them!"

"Magic isn't real," I say bluntly. This causes the whole room to go silent. I roll my eyes. "A great man once said, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic to those who do not understand it,' and I am no exception. Even though I don't see any conceivable way for any of you ponies to manipulate matter like you do, there is still a logical explanation behind every action and possibility that any of you can make or think of."

The ponies exchange glances with one another. Swift returns to the papers he was reading, Breaking Ground resumes prodding my back, Bytes lowers his head and starts messing with my foot again, and Wild Berry... just sits there.

Her red mane poofs up, almost like static electricity makes a human's. Her horn fizzles for a second, pink sparks falling onto the ruby between us. "...Magic is real, Maverick," she says slowly. I look her in the eyes, and see for the first time that her smile has completely abandoned her face. "It may not be strong where you're from, but it's there. It's everywhere."

I chew on my cheek for a moment. "...Believe what you want. The way I see it, magic is not real."

"Then explain this!" Berry says loudly. Her horn begins to glow and the ruby floats up from the floor. "How would I be able to do this without magic?"

My eyes lock onto the floating red stone for a long while. "...Behind every action, there is a probable explanation, be it logical in a sense of understanding or not. When I look at this stone, logic flies out the window, and the whole ordeal becomes fiction." I reach out and grab the ruby between my thumb and ring finger. "Your magic may be normal to you, but to someone like me who has never seen anything like it... I'm not sure. But my brain refuses to believe that a false notion, after all the time we humans have spent making things happen for ourselves with technology, is real." My head cocks to the right, and my eyes meet Wild Berry's. "Only unicorns and alicorns can actively control magic, right? Then maybe you evolved beyond the normal sense of comprehension. Perhaps you have unlocked the complete structure of your brain, allowing you to utilize telekinetic powers thought to be gifts from the gods themselves." I close my fist around the ruby. "The pegasi, from what I've read and have been told, are able to manipulate weather. They can actually stand on clouds, which are nothing but condensed water vapor floating around in the breeze. Perhaps they too possess this gift.

"But what of the ponies without horns nor wings?" I half-look over my left shoulder at Breaking Ground. His calm composure is utterly shattered, leaving a wide-eyes stallion behind me. "What about your race, Breaking? Have the earth ponies any powers? Sure, you are stronger than the others when it comes to brute strength, but what else?"

"They can grow." I turn back towards the voice. Swift Lightning is on his hooves and walking closer. "They are the farmers of Equus. Maybe not the whole planet, but earth ponies are a strong and proud race. Without them, there would be little vegetation. Little food for the herbivous species. They harness the magic of every living thing on the planet and use that to bring life to the surface." Swift stands within arm's reach, ready to spring. "Magic has impacted our way of life since the dawn of time. It is real to us. And that is all that matters."

I lean back a bit and scratch at my collar. "...Huh."

Swift notices my hand. "And if magic isn't real, then why are the princesses forcing you to wear that inhibiting collar?"

"Because they don't understand this power they think I possess," I say before thinking.

"And what power do they think you have?" Swift asks coldly.

I turn my head slightly upwards. "...Something they aren't used to."

"And what is that?"

My face contorts into a small smile. "...Change."

I rise to my feet, knocking Breaking Ground back on his haunches. "Swift, take me back to my room. We're done here for today." With that, I walk to the door and open it, startling the guard posted outside. Swift quickly takes lead and slips in front of me, and we begin our long walk back to my room. He looks back at me with a blank face, and I can't tell if he's thinking about what I had just said or how to explain that I may be wrong. Maybe both.

We walk in silence. The only sound we hear are Swift's hoofguards softly clinking when they hit the floor and the faint slap of my feet as they do the same. I shiver every so often, the coldness of the floor seeping into my being. Or perhaps it's the fact that I'm walking around a stone castle in nothing but my boxers.

Eventually, the silence is broken.

"Care to explain what in Tarturas just happened back there?" Swift asks in a very faint voice.

I keep my head facing forward as we walk. "Nothing happened."

"Something happened," he says. "What did you say back there?"

"You heard it all," I reply. "I was merely stating my thoughts about this place. About you ponies."

"That's not what I sounded like to me."

This time I stop and look down at the pegasus. "I merely said what I thought. I gave my view of this world words and spread them. Magic is not real, not to me. I cannot accept it."

"Why not?" Swift asks me. His voice has softened a bit.

"Why?" I repeat. "Because magic is nothing more than a fairy tale." I begin walking again, and Swift follows suit. "We humans do not use magic. There was a dark time in our history where people did believe in magic. They were naive, weak, and stupid." I cough into my hand. "We humans fear what we do not understand. It is our nature. Back then, we had little technology. We had to work by hand, walk everywhere. Now, we have machines that can do the work of a hundred humans in a fraction of the time. These machines can travel across land at a hundred miles an hour, even more. We have broken the sound barrier with machines, and we have walked on the moon because of our machines. Technology is a part of the human race's life as magic is to yours. So, when unexplainable things began happening back then, like a very long drought or a sickness that killed many, what do you think happened?

"We sought explanations. We latched onto whatever we could, and hoped that it was right. And magic was an easy concept to latch onto. A thing of myth with the ability to do anything, yes, it was very easy to believe that. It was an evil thing, they said, and they would blame completely innocent people for actions completely out of anyone's control." I stop walking again and turn to my guard. "The people of old wanted to purge that evil, so do you know what they did?"

I lean down and whisper, "They would capture any so-called 'magic users' and kill them." Swift's eyes widen dramatically at this, but I continue. "Thought to be the children of the devil himself, the 'magic users' were killed. Decapitation, dismemberment, locked away and forced to starve to death. The innocents were drowned, they were stoned, and much more commonly... they were burned alive."

I bring up my hand and show Swift the ruby I had enclosed in my fist. "We humans fear what we do not understand. And more times than not..." With strength I never knew I had, I close my hand and crush the stone in my grip. "...We kill what we fear."

I open my hand and let the shattered red gem fall to the ground. Shards and sharp edges cut the inside of my palm, leaving thin lines of blood that seep between my fingers. I bring my hand to my mouth and run my tongue across my wounds, letting the metallic taste fill my mouth. "This mind is human, Swift. This body is human. And both fears you. Fears Celestia. Fears this world... This is not a threat, Swift Lightning. This is fact." I let my hand fall and straighten up. "But even with this fear, I will not kill you. I will not kill anyone. I would never forgive myself for taking the life of another intelligent being." I turn away from my guard and resume walking. "I do not wish to cause harm. I do not wish to cause trouble. I only want to go home... and forget this ever happened."

"Do you mean that?"

I stop walking. Slowly, I turn on my heels and look back at Swift Lightning. He hasn't moved from his spot, still looking at the broken ruby on the floor.

"Do I mean that?" I ask him back. "...Yes."

"How do I know you aren't lying?"

The side of my face curves upward in a half smile. "Because if I wanted to kill anyone," I say in a deep, unfamiliar voice, "then that would mean that I would feel nothing about taking a life. And if that was true..." I look over to one of the many windows overlooking the vast ground below. "...I would have killed myself the first day I was here." My bloody hand lifts itself in front of my eyes. "...It was hard, Swift Lightning. It was very hard being taken from my home and thrust into this place. Given a shell that I do not know how to control, having my form altered," I say as I drag my palm over the crystal on my other forearm, leaving a crimson trail on its surface. "It was very hard, and it still is. I wish to return home. That is all."

"And what if you had to kill somepony?" Swift shoots at me. "What if you had to kill me to get home? Or Wild Berry, or anypony else? Even with your fear and your unwillingness, would you?"

I look him directly in the eyes. Even with this slight distance between us, I can see him tense for the answer.

"...If I had to kill you to get home?" My gaze breaks from his eyes and returns to my injured hand. "...Then I'd have to find another way back."

"What if it was the only way?" Swift asks. "Would you kill somepony then?"

"Would you?" I ask back. He doesn't answer, but I already know the answer. "I will not kill anyone or anypony. I will fight if my life is in danger, but that is it. All I wish is to return home and live my eternal life in peace."

"What?"

I wave a hand at him. "Nothing. Come, let us return to my room."

Once again I begin walking. A moment later, Swift Lightning begins walking along side me. He looks up at me. "...You frighten me, Maverick. Yesterday, you were a completely different pon—person. I didn't see this side of you when we were talking yesterday."

"You talk as if I am not me," I state curtly.

"You aren't the guy I was smoking with yesterday. This is different... It scares me."

"Good." I turn my head and crack my neck loudly. "Embrace the fear, Swift. Emotions are present within every living thing, intelligent or not. But what separates you from a frog is not what you feel, but understanding how you feel." My neck cracks again, and the coldness in my chest suddenly vanishes. "Besides," I say as I look down at the pegasus with a friendly smile, "fear is the same as courage in all but one way."

"What's that?" Swift asks me, completely lost.

My smile shrinks a bit. "Fear can make you do stupid things, just like courage. But courage can make you do the right things, stupid or not."

Swift Lightning holds my gaze for a short while, then purses his lips and nods. He looks forward once more and says two words. "We're here."

I look ahead of us and notice that stationed outside my door are the same two guards from day one, but also two more. Night guards at that. Dark gray coats under violet-blue armor and piercing yellow eyes. The night guards look as though they could be twins. At the moment, the guards in gold armor are standing on their hind legs positioning some some kind of lamp on each side of the double doors. The lamps are made of a dark metal, so dark it's almost black. Four panes of glass keep an orange flame bellowing inside them from escaping, and they're capped off with a cone of dark metal. The guards finish their job at hand and return to their posts.

I casually walk past the guards and give them a wave, which all four of them return with a nod of their heads. I open the door and Swift slips inside before I do. I give the lamps a final look. The flames flicker and extinguish when I do. Shrugging, I return to my room and shut the door behind me.

Swift is on his bed with another one of his calming smokes in his mouth and is trying to light it. His lighter won't hold a flame.

I smile. "Having trouble there?"

"I need to have the thing refilled," he answers.

"Maybe it's a sign for you to cut back."

"These aren't bad for you," he replies. "All they are is flower fragrances and soothing chemicals."

"Whatever floats your—" I pause and clutch my left eye, trying to steady myself as a fit of lightheadedness comes over me. "Ooohh, that sucks."

"You okay?" Swift asks me. He rises to his feet and walks over to my side. "Hey, Mav, you okay?"

I look down at him, blackness smearing the edges of my vision. "I'm fine, just a little woozy."

I try to give him a smile, but it falters and falls. I reach up and rub my chest as a coldness sets back in, but it lasts just a second before a roaring fire ignites behind my heart. My vision flashes black, and the next thing I know I'm falling. Swift jumps into my line of sight, talking at me, but I can't really make out anything he says. I smile and close my eyes, feeling oddly happy and sad at the same time. And then the darkness takes me.

Chapter 12: I Think It Was Me That Just Awakened

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I wake up with a start, my breath heavy in my lungs and sweat pouring off my face. Immediately I sit up and grab my face, scared. I try my best to calm myself, try my best to slow my drumming heart. After a minute of holding my face, I wipe my forehead with an arm.

And nothing hits me.

I look down at my arm and see nothing. No yellow crystals, just skin. My fingers find themselves running over the skin of my arm, feeling it softly before pressing harder. Nothing but flesh. I bring my hands to my shoulders and feel the same thing. No pauldrons of crystal, just bare skin. Shocked, I look down at my feet, finding hem covered. I throw off the blanket and stare at the smooth skin on my right foot.

No more crystals.

I manage to bring myself back to the situation at hand. But there is no situation. I look around and take in my surroundings. And my heart begins to race once again.

I'm back in my room. I'm sitting in my bed at home. The plaid sheets underneath me are drenched in sweat, but that hardly matters. I look around again. My stuff is all here. My action figures of Neil Armstrong and his space set are still on the shelf across the room. My authentic space helmet, my posters, my books on astronomy, the hole in the wall from when I tripped on my own feet trying to tie my shoes and head butted the drywall... It's all here. I swing my feet over the edge of the bed and feel the dirty green shag carpet underneath.

And there, at the far side of the room, is the sliding glass door that leads to my balcony. Sitting right there with my chair is my telescope. I get out of bed and walk over to the door and unlock it. It slides open easily, so I move outside and stand before my most prized possession. Gingerly I reach a hand out and touch the edge of the scope. Cold. Metal. Real. My tape recorder and notepad are still sitting on the small deck table I have out her as well.

A loud buzzing makes me jump, and I spin around. But it's just my alarm clock. A smile grows on my face as I waddle over to it and turn off the alarm. A second later, a loud banging noise makes me jump again. I look to the door.

It creaks open enough to let a thin strip of light flow through from the hall. "Maverick, come on, it's time to get up."

The gruff voice brings tear to my eyes. I walk over to the door and open it all the way, showing a large man in a blue bathrobe. His slim bit tall figure gives him an athletic look that he doesn't possess. His angular chin matches mine, though you can't see it through his finely trimmed blond beard. His yellow hair is wet and dipping into his eyes, covering the mole he has right above his left eyebrow.

I can't help the tears that slide down my face. "...D-dad."

"Who else would it be Mavie?" my father says with a smile. I wipe my eyes with my hand before stepping forward and pulling him into a hug. "Woah there Mav, what's this about?" he asks, but it doesn't prevent him from squeezing me back.

"Nothing Dad," I say into his robe. "Nothing... J-just a bad dream I gueh-hess."

My dad rubs my back for a second. "There, there... A dream can't hurt you."

"T-tell me you won't ev-ever leave me."

My dad puts his hands on my shoulders and pushes me away for a second. He looks me in the eye, and I can't help but stare back into his. "Maverick, I'll be around as long as I can. And while I am, I will never leave you or your mother." He brings me back into another hug as I start to sob again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

I don't tell Dad about my dream. It seems so far fetched now. But I mainly don't tell him because I don't remember much. And I'm also afraid that if I tell him what I do remember, I'll remember more, and I don't want that. Right now, I just want to forget about the whole thing and get on with the day.

At the moment, I'm sitting at the kitchen table and Dad is at the stove cooking flapjacks. It's a rare thing to see his special flapjacks, but after holding me while I cried my eyes out like a baby for almost ten full minutes, he thought this would be a good way to bring me out of my stupor. A moment later, Dad brings me a plate with three of his thin and rubbery masterpieces, as well as two small bottles of cherry and maple syrup.

"That must have been some nightmare to get you like that," Dad says as he sits down with his own plate. He takes a sip from his coffee the same time I do. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Yeah Dad, I'm sure. I just wanna forget it and move on."

"Alright then," he says before sipping his coffee again. A second later he snaps open a newspaper and lays it in the middle of the table. "It's Friday today, you remember what that means, right?"

Friday is the day that my music class at school walks around the school perimeter practicing our march like band class does. And yes, music and band class are completely different. Every Friday, my dad comes out to watch us in the parking lot, since Friday and Saturday are his days off. Not to mention, it's perfect that he does because music class is my last period of the day, so I go directly to him when we're done, head down to the malt shop and grab ourselves a shake while we talk about the week.

"Yeah, I know Dad." I look down at the flapjacks before reaching for the cherry syrup. "Thanks for making breakfast Dad."

"No problemo Mavie."

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

The bus ride is slow as the weather outside drears on. It started raining as soon as I set out the door, so I hurried over to the bus and hopped on. Like usual, I was greeted with "Hey ya wanker!" and I took my regular seat in the rear of the bus next to my friends Richy Goldman, a tan skinned, golden haired fella with a knack at water sports, and Dierdra Renminsky, a dark-haired, pale-skinned girl who loves her poetry. The three outcasts all bundled up. I was never popular, what with my liking to stare into space and nothing else. Richy was 'too cool,' as he said, for those stuck up kids at the top of the food chain, but in reality he rambled a bit too much for anyone to really like him. And Dierdra... well, let's just say that no one in England is as pale as she is. Kids left her alone 'cause they didn't want to catch whatever she had. She's not sick or anything, Dierdra is just a bigger shut-in than I am.

The quietness of our group puts the three of us on edge. Richy starts picking at the seam of his white tank-top and Dierdra tries to smooth an imaginary wrinkle out of her black dress. "So Ricky," Richy says as he claps me on the back, "what's been going on? You've been quiet today, Rick." Richy likes to call me by the last part of my name so that we sound like brothers. Richy and Ricky.

"I've only been on the bus for a few minutes Richy," I counter.

"Yeah, but even then you say something."

"I said hello."

"He's right, Richy," Dierdra chips in. "He did say hi."

Richy rolls his eyes. "Whatever." He turns his attention back to me. "So, mind if I borrow your homework today? I need to study real quick for the biology test in third period."

I sigh as I reach into my backpack and pull out a few papers. "You're hopeless, you know that Richy?"

He snatches the papers from me. "Yeah, well, that's what I got you guys for," he says as he pulls Dierdra and me into a hug. "The mermaid, the vampire, and the alien! One big happy family!"

I snicker. "Wouldn't you be a merman?" Richy lets us go and puts a finger to his chin. He then closes his eyes half-way in friendly amusement and slaps me in the back of the head. "Ow..."

"Yeah," Dierdra says as she pulls Richy's arm back around her, "and who are you calling a vampire? I don't bite... Much."

"Whatever you say Dreary Dee," Richy replies as he leans his head back to stare at the ceiling. Dreary Dee is his nickname for Dierdra, and she hates it. If no one knew she doesn't like being called that, then her socking him in the gut right now would make it obvious. "Jeez Dee, how can a scrawny little thing like you have such an arm?" Richy complains as he holds his stomach.

She huffs at him. "Just because I don't go outside doesn't mean I don't work out."

"Tell me about it." He groans again, but straightens up. "So, what about you Rick? What's been going on since we saw you yesterday?"

I look out of the window and up at the cloudy gray sky. "...Nothing. Nothing at all."

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

First period flew by. Writing was always a boring subject, but at least all we did was read. Second period... not so much. Gym is not my strong suit. Running laps around the gym because it's too wet outside to go out on the track. After my tenth lap, I was ready to collapse, but the gym teacher, Mrs. Herdlon, wouldn't have it. Straight to the floor to do fifty push ups. I hate gym.

So, after a quick shower, I slunk into third period with a wet mess on my head. I never dry my hair after gym 'cause it helps me cool down. Mr. Smith, my engineering teacher, doesn't like it when I come in with wet hair. He says it smears my papers when he hands out assignments, but he's never been able to not read my handwriting, so he let's it slide.

Right now, the lights are off in Mr. Smith's room as we watch a movie on the overhead projector. I'm not paying much attention to it. I just keep thinking about this morning, all what happened to me in my sleep. The lightning, the castle, the crystals... It all seemed so real. It felt real. The cuts, the scrapes, the fur on those...

I shake my head and return to the movie. Even though I can't focus, I'm still taking notes on it. Like I'm supposed to. Like the class is supposed to. I look down at my notes and continue writing. And every so often I pause and erase what I had just written and try again. Eventually I give up and doodle at the bottom of the page. All the doodles turn out the same; a crescent moon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

"Thanks for letting my use your notes Ricky. I feel like I aced that test." Richy, Dierdra, and I are all siting together at the lone table in the corner of the cafeteria right now, enjoying lunch. Friday means mashed potatoes and gravy, chicken strips, corn, and a small gelatin cup. With his food gone in an instant, Richy is taking the time to chat us up. "What can I do to repay ya?" he asks as he steals a chicken strip from Dierdra's tray.

"Just let me have them back before lunch is over," I answer through my mouthful of corn. "Biology is my fifth period you know, so I need them back."

"Lunch just started and you can only think about class?" Richy leans so far back that he falls off his seat and ends up on the floor. Instead of getting up, he puts his hands behind his head. "You are a grade-A nerd."

Dierdra looks down at him. "If he wasn't such a nerd, you wouldn't be getting such good grades from mooching off of his homework."

"Good point," I hear from the floor. A second later my homework slides onto the table. "Still, we have twenty minutes until fifth period and that's all you can think about."

"Hey man, I have a B average to keep up," I say back at him. "I have to do good in school."

"For Faust's sake, dude. You need to relax." My head shoots up and turns downward to look at my friend.

"What did you say?"

"I said you need to relax, dude," Richy repeats. "You work too hard."

"...Right." I return to my lunch, chewing silently as Dierdra and Richy talk to each other.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

I hurry along into seventh period, happy to have the day so close to being over. As I shuffle into the large music room with the rest of my class, I notice the white board is clean. Normally our teacher Ms. Mundie has the thing covered in black marker explaining what our plan for the day is. I shrug and take my seat. There are no desks in the music room, just plastic chairs with metal legs that allow for easy moving to clear the room when we need. All our instruments are locked in the other room, but since today is Friday, we normally pack them up and take them home with us for their routine cleaning.

Having to buy the instrument you want to play was a bit expensive, but totally worth it. I am not putting my mouth an another instrument's mouthpiece if I don't know where it has been. But still, having a case for it and everything, even a special cleaning rag, it makes my instrument feel like it's truly mine. I can't wait to take my—

My thoughts are interrupted by the bell ringing. And right as it ends, a woman walks through the door and shuts it behind her. She's a bit on the tall side, having to duck slightly to enter the room. Her hair is died blue that's so dark it's almost black. Her blue button-up shirt looks freshly pressed. Same with her blue skirt. Dark blue slip on shoes cover her feet, and she's wearing a pair of pantyhose. That's really uncommon for such rainy weather today. A pair of short gold-rimmed reading glasses sits on her nose. A gold chain hooks from the hinges of her glasses and makes a complete loop around the back of her neck so if they fall off her nose, they won't be on the floor. Honestly, she looks like a cross between a secretary and someone in the military.

She gives us a warm smile. "Good afternoon class. Ms. Mundie is home sick today, so I'll be filling in for her." Our substitute walks over to the white board and pick up a marker. In bid cursive writing, she write out her title. "I am Mrs. Knightly, and I shall be teaching you today."

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Knightly," says the whole class, myself included.

Mrs. Knightly smiles again and walks over to the podium in the front of the room. A chair is behind it, and Ms. Mundie always sits in it so she can stand when she needs to compose. Mrs. Knightly picks up the small packet thats resting on the podium.

"Hm... Well it says that every Friday is the day that was march around the school while playing our music, am I correct children?" The class nods and answers accordingly. "Alright. Seeing as how it's so dreary outside, I don't think we'll be doing that today." She looks back up at us. "Well, seeing as how that is the case, why don't we have some sort of a free day?" She reaches underneath the podium and brings out a stack of paper. "Why don't we all take a page from this stack of sheet music and practice a bit on our own, eh? You can group up if you want, or you can work solo. Just make sure to have fun."

After that, everyone got their instruments from the room as soon as Mrs. Knightly unlocked it. The rest of the class paired up in teams of threes and twos, so I find myself in the corner with my sheet music alone again, sitting next to the marimbas and the piano. I caught a music stand on my way over here, and right now I'm trying to adjust it to where I can see the notes on the sheet without having to turn much. Satisfied, I turn back to my instrument case and flip its latches open.

Inside the black case, sitting on red velvet lining, lays my most expensive possession besides my telescope, but that's besides the point. The brass of my instrument still holds a shine after a few days of being man-handled. Delicately, I take my saxophone out of its case and test each on of its triggers, and give it a test puff. A low note emanates from the pipes, and it makes me smile.

"Why are you over here all alone?" I look up from my sax and see Mrs. Knightly standing next to me.

I look back down at my sheet music. "I always practice alone, Mrs. Knightly."

"Well that's no fun," she says. Mrs. Knightly pulls up a chair and sits next to me. "What's your name?"

"Maverick."

"Well, Maverick, why do you alway practice alone?"

"I don't know... I just do."

Mrs. Knightly shakes her head. "Well, you can't play a duet by yourself." I look over my sheet music again. "What page numbers do you have?"

"Um, pages sixty-three through sixty-five."

She nods and stands from her seat. Mrs. Knightly walks over to the podium, grabs a few papers, then returns to my side. This time, she moves her chair over to the piano. "How about I start, and you follow?"

I look at the music in front of me. "Um... okay?" I take another experimental toot on my saxophone, then return to the sheet music. I've never seen this song before, but that has never stopped me before. I silently hum out the notes to myself for a second, then nod. Licking my lips, I take a deep breath. Mrs. Knightly takes that as a sign and starts to play the first notes. I follow her after a few notes.

Her fingers gently press down the keys of the piano while mine do the same to my sax. Our notes combine and echo off of each other, making us seem slightly louder than everyone else in the room. I try my best to hit the right notes as my instrument takes over lead, and all the while Mrs. Knightly provides the perfect backup. I quickly take another silent breath as I begin the next string of notes.

Time seems to stop as we play, and I can feel myself relax at the sound of our harmony. The note just fly from my saxophone, reaching for the ceiling where they mix and mingle with the gentle sounds the strings of Mrs. Knightly's piano makes. The rest of the class stops their own music to listen to ours. It makes me feel... good. Very good. Playing my sax always makes me feel wonderful, but now, as Mrs. Knightly and I play together, it feels so much better.

My fingers press down, and more notes escape. Mrs. Knightly does the same, but her glasses fall from her nose and come to a rest on her bosom, hanging from the gold chain around her neck. It doesn't impede her music-making. We play together in perfect harmony almost as if the music is coming right from our souls. I put a bit more force behind my breaths as we reach the next part of the song, making my notes a bit louder. Mrs. Knightly follows my lead and presses down on the keys with more force to match my change in volume.

We play out the rest of the song as one heart, her piano complementing my sax in such a way it starts to make my eyes water. I'm having a hard time seeing the notes on my paper through my tears, but I keep playing. This music is so much different from when I played alone. It sounds happier, even though the song is more soothing than exciting.

Our duet comes to an end, and I take the mouthpiece from my lips. I look back at Mrs. Knightly, who smiles warmly. And then the applause comes. I turn back around and see all the other student clapping their hands, all smiling at us, at me.

Mrs. Knightly take my cheek in her hand and turn my head to face her. "You don't have to be alone, Maverick. You have so many friends... You just have to see them for yourself." She let's go of my face and puts her glasses back on her nose. "We are working hard for you right now. We are worried about you."

"Why?" I ask.

"Because you are unique," she answers. "By the Maker, I've seen so much of you in such a small time... It's hard to believe you could hurt anything." Mrs. Knightly puts a hand on my shoulder and brings me into a hug, which I gratefully return. "I've looked into your heart, and I see you wish no ill will on anything. You have a loving home, good friends, and a wonderful life. And regardless of where you stand right now, you still have a good life. Don't let go of that."

I nod into her shoulder and wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. "...Thanks Mrs. Knightly. I won't."

Mrs. Knightly smiles at me and stands. Slowly, she begins to walk back to the podium at the front of the class. I look at the saxophone in my hands, then back at her.

"...Mrs. Knightly?"

She stops and looks back at me. "Yes, Maverick?"

I wipe my eyes again. "...When will I wake up?"

The smile never leaves her face. "...You really are a smart kid." The room around us fades to black, leaving just me and Mrs. Knightly standing in an abyss of nothingness. And then, one by one, little lights begin to pierce the inky blackness around us. Soon, the whole scene is covered with stars and galaxies. "...How did you know?" Mrs. Knightly asks me.

I float closer to her, the saxophone still in my hands. "Because I always mess up on my first try at a new song."

Mrs. Knightly chuckles. "Yes, no dream is completely like reality." She then looks up at me and takes her glasses off. "See you when you wake, Maverick."

I nod and smile back. "Yeah. See you then."

The stars extinguish and Mrs. Knightly fades away into the nothingness. I look down at myself and see the yellow gems on my forearms again. I'm back in my boxers, floating is space. It's not so bad. And then the nothingness begins to take me as I laugh. "At least I got to play again," I say as my legs disappear. I look around into the darkness around me. "...I'll get back to my life, Mrs. Knightly. I'll live my life. And I'll never let go of it."

Chapter 12: Beautiful Dreams and Ugly Reality

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A gentle electronic noise repeats itself as I grasp onto the edge of consciousness. The beeping grows lightly louder the more I wake, and soon other sounds join it. The soft dripping of liquids, the stirring of fabric as I slowly move my legs, and the scrapping of my hair against the pillow I'm laying on. And the gentle breathing of someone else in the vicinity. The breathing silences itself when I move my left hand up to my face and rub my chin.

And the action spikes a dull pain in my arm that radiates through the limb and into my shoulder. I bend my right arm to bring it over and touch my left, but something sharp jabs me in the crook of my elbow. I groan at the pain it causes, but it fades relatively quickly.

"Do not move too much, Maverick," a soothing voice tells me.

I move my head towards the voice and try to open my eyes. "Nahee... Knightly?" My tongue is heavy and a horrid taste sits in the back of my mouth.

"Do not be frightened," Mrs. Knightly coos. "You won't be able to see for a while."

"Why..." I start, but I pause to catch another sleepy breath. "Why do I hurt?"

"You've been asleep for some time, Maverick. Three days now, and come the dawn, this will be your forth."

I turn my head back to lay it flat on my pillow. "...Mrs. Knightly... Tell me what happened."

"Swift Lightning, your personal guard, along with several others, brought you in the medical wing those near four days ago. You collapsed in your room and began convulsing." I turn my head to better hear Knightly tell her tale. "We are to blame for this. My sister Celestia ordered to have monitoring lanterns places outside your room to better understand the type of particular magic you possess, or rather, the protrusions on your body possessed."

"Your sister Celestia?" I ask. "...Princess Luna?"

"You are correct, Maverick," she answers in a soothing tone.

"Did you give me that dream?"

"Yes, I did."

"Can I ask why, Princess Luna?"

"...Beings cannot lie in their subconscious. I brought a random memory to life in your sleep to see how you would react. You lived a normal life, not one of secrecy like my sister believes. You hold no malice in your heart."

"Finally, someone who understands," I say in relief. "...Continue, please. Tell me why I can't see."

"Right," she says. "...When you were brought into the medical wing, you were in horrible shape. In the few minutes it took the guards to carry you here, your body began to fail... Your eyes are bandaged right now, which is why you cannot see. As for why, well, your body... reset itself and dilated your pupils to such an extent that any light could damage your sight. Oh, and you may experience some hearing problems for the next few days."

"What happened to me?" I ask her.

"The magical lanterns the guards had installed give out a wave of their own unique magic. We used them before in the past to detect changelings, a devilish race of pony-like insectiod dopplegangers that feed off emotions. The magic of the lanterns disrupted their magical fields and prevented them from changing form, as well as causing them moderate pain." Luna stops for a second and I feel a hoof place itself on my chest. "With you, the lanterns encountered a magic they have never felt before, and with that, they implemented the one option we had enchanted them with."

"And that is?" I interrupt.

"To destroy the foreign magic." Luna pauses again. "In hindsight, that may have been a terrible idea."

"You think?"

"Quite." Luna takes her hoof from my chest. "The gems on your body reacted to the lanterns' magic, and only the gems, so in order to save your life... we removed them." Under my bandages, my eyes try to widen a bit. Luna continues. "The gems growing on your shoulders were easy to remove. They were simply sitting on top of your skin, so no real damage was done. The one growing on your right hoof—"

"Foot," I correct.

"Right. The one growing on your foot had... complications. We had to apply a skin graft, courtesy of your inner thigh." I groan, but this doesn't stop the princess of the night from talking. "The gems on your arms... proved difficult. They were embedded deep withing your flesh, and we tried the best we could to remove them without serious damage."

I move my arms a bit, trying to wiggle my fingers. My left hand had no problem, but my right hurts like hell when I move my middle, ring, and pinkie finger. I sigh and try to sink into my pillow as my left hand runs over my bandaged arms. No more crystals.

"You no longer harbor any magic in your body, Maverick. That is not good."

"Why is that bad?" I take my hand away from the bandages, but it comes away wet. I wipe my fingers on the bedspread as Luna talks.

"Because without your own magic, our spells, our potions, anything magical will prove nearly ineffective on you. You will have to heal on your own time, as our spells cannot lock onto your inner magic and harmonize with it to create the desired effects. With no magic in your body, your being will have no protection against the native magic that imbues itself within everything here. The ground the grass, the trees, we ponies, even the air."

"...I feel that this isn't the bad part yet."

"You would be correct, Maverick," Luna replies. "With no natural magic in your body, you will be constantly absorbing various amounts from general area around you. And if you absorb too much, you will experience another overload, just like with your crystals."

"But I don't have my crystals anymore," I say

"That's right," Luna says, her tone softening. "Without your crystals, we cannot remove anything that would possible take in the magic you absorb. Your body will shut down and destroy itself from the sheer power you will take in. In other words... If you stay here, you are going to die."

Luna's words make my lungs burn. "...But," I begin. "...What?"

"We are sorry."

"What do you have to apologize for?"

Luna rests her hoof on my chest again. "It is our fault you are here."

Before I can think about my actions, my left hand shoots to my chest and grabs the princess' hoof. I hear her gasp, but I tug her closer to me. Luna comes a step forward and her form bumps into the side of my bed.

"...Tell me. Now." The princess of the night tries to pull her hoof back, but I hold on tight. "Tell me right now. I was ripped from my home, family, and friends and sent into this topsy-turvy world of talking ponies. If you have any idea why, I need to hear it."

Luna tugs her hoof from my grip. "...In the past, nearly a year ago, a terrible tragedy struck Equestria. A gate to Tartarus was forced open and the guardian of the damned escaped. Cerberus, the three-headed demon hound, caused little trouble, as one of Princess Twilight Sparkle's friends was able to tame him. But the gate was left open and unguarded for too long."

I groan at the information, my thoughts turning to my history period back when I was still a sophomore.

"A terrible evil passed through the gate," Luna continues. "Lord Tirek, a great and powerful demonic centaur, was that evil. He laid low for a short while, draining unsuspecting ponies of their magic in an attempt to grow stronger. Before we knew what hit us, he had grown too strong for anypony to handle. Many at first tried to defeat him, but all in vain as he drained them of their power. He even came to my sister and I to steal our power.

"But, as a last hope, we had imbued Twilight Sparkle with our power."

"You can do that?" I ask, interrupting her tale.

"Only in times of desperate need. With our magic flowing through her body, Twilight sparkle engaged the demon in battle... and while complications came to be, she overcame them with the help of her friends. Twilight Sparkle and her friends used their newfound powers as the Element Bearers and awakened a great magic that had been sleeping for many millenia; The Element of Harmony. the power of Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic make up this great power. Utilizing this old power, the bearers created a brand new type of magic. This magic stripped Lord Tirek of all the power he had stolen and returned it to their rightful owners all over the continent. And with this new magic, they ripped a new gateway to Tartarus and flung the demon back into the depths of the fiery abyss.

"And that new magic has yet to dissipate. It can still be found in concentrated pockets all over Equestria. and while we were examining the crystals we removed from your body—"

"You found that type of magic," I finish for her.

"You are correct, Maverick. We theorize that a pocket of that magic dispersed and ripped you from your home. And if that is most likely the case, we are sorry."

My emotions run wild. I'm angry because it was these ponies, more specifically Twilight Sparkle and her friends, that brought me here. But I can't be angry because this was just an accident, and if they didn't do what they did, they may have lost their world. I'm sad because of my reasoning. I'm afraid because of the news Luna had just brought me. And I'm confused because if all this is true, then I may just have to believe in the fact that magic is real.

I reach up and feel the bandages around my head, then grip them as best as I can. In a swift motion, I rip the bandages from my face and wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. My eyes flutter open, and everything is blurry, but it's not too bad to the point I can't see. In fact, I can almost see everything in the small amount of light that's in the room right now. I turn my head to Luna.

Her ethereal mane is like liquid space, flowing behind her as if a constant breeze is flowing. Her dark blue coat shines in the faint light in the room, and I notice how dark it is in here. It must be nighttime. Luna's wings are half spread in surprise, but she doesn't back away from my bedside. For the second time, I'm in the medical wing with an IV hooked up to my arm, and familiar feelings of dread fill my body, but for more reasonable... well, reasons.

"You said I'm going to die. How long?"

"I'm sorry?" The blue alicorn asks me.

"How long!? How long do I have here?"

Princess Luna's head drops a bit. "...At the rate the research team says... they gave you a quarter cycle." Her eyes lock onto mine, and she elaborates. "They gave you eight days. And you've been asleep for nearly four."

My jaw hangs open. "...Then send me back home."

"We cannot."

"Why not!?" I yell.

Luna takes a step back. "With no natural magic in you body, we can't lock onto it and find the place with resonating magic."

"Then get me a globe! A map! Something! I'll show you where England is on that!"

Luna nods. "Of course. I'll send word of your request to the guards."

"Not good enough," I say. I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and rip the IV from my arm. "I don't have any time to waste laying down. Take me to... wherever you keep the geological findings."

"You are not leaving this room, Maverick," Princess Luna tells me as she puts her wing around my shoulders.. "You are in no shape to move."

"Watch me." I raise my right arm and push her wing away, but it makes contact with the wound under my bandages. I hiss at the pain and hold my arm gingerly as red pricks start to grow on the white material.

"You are not leaving," Luna repeats.

"I am."

"You are not."

"Am."

"You are not!" The force that she yells with knocks me back onto the bed. "You are not leaving this room! You are too injured, and we do not have suitable blood transfusions! If you move too much, you will bleed out, and there will be nothing we can do to save you!"

"I'm already going to die in four days!" I yell back. "I just can't lie around and wait for it!"

"So you want to walk straight towards it then?" Luna asks me. "If you bleed out, we will not be able to save you again. If you get up and stain yourself, that is exactly what will happen."

I gaze into Luna's light blue eyes, and she returns my stare. "...Can you imbue some magic into me, then? Like you said you did to Twilight?"

"Only if you want me to shorten your time," she replies slowly.

I look at her for a few more seconds, then hang my head. When I do, I blush heavily seeing as how my boxers are missing. With a small amount of effort, I heft my legs back onto the bed and cover myself while trying to hide my shame. "...If it comes to it," I say quietly, "...If I die here... will it hurt?"

Luna lowers her head. "...Yes, it will."

"It didn't before."

"It didn't before because the lanterns caused such a shock you were knocked out cold." Princess Luna shakes her head, but raises back up. "As you absorb more magic, the pain will steadily grow until your body gives out. I am sorry." We sit in silence for a while longer, but Luna cuts it short once again. "...If it is any consolation, perhaps I can help."

"How?" I ask her.

"When the time comes... should you want me to, I can increase your magic intake. If I do to such an extent, all of your senses should overload instantaneously." Luna nods at my questioning look. "You should feel little or no pain."

"Are you... Are you offering to give me a mercy killing?"

"To an certain point, yes."

I feel my eyes water. Not just because that there is a real chance of my dying, but also at the fact that this act the princess before is offering may, in fact, be the kindest thing that has happened to me in this world. I nod at her.

"Th-thanks, Princess Luna."

"Let's just hope that it does not come to that," she says as she turns. "I must return to my sister and explain the situation, as well as retrieve your maps and globes." Luna walks over to the door, but pauses at it. She turns and faces me, her horn glowing a soft blue. A moment later, the IV I had ripped out of my arm is replaced with a sterile one and it slides back into the crook of my elbow with a small pinch. "Rest, Maverick. I will not be free for the next few days, but I will make time to see you if needed."

"Princess Luna!" I call out as she begins to close the door. "I, um, have something to ask you."

"Yes, Maverick?" she answers.

"...While we were in my dreams, you saw what I was wearing, right?"

"A black, blue pants, white shoes," Luna lists.

"Do you think, maybe, I could have something similar to the shirt and pants?" I rub my neck, hissing at the pain it causes. "It's a comfort thing for us humans to be clothed."

Luna smile at me. "I'll have the seamstresses start in the morning." The door closes behind her with a soft click, and I'm left alone. I lay my head down and let myself sink into the pillow. I'm faintly aware of the silent tears that slide down my face as I fade back to sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

I wake to the sound of a door opening and the handle slamming into the wall. Instantly, I jerk upwards, then groan as my shoulders are racked with a dull pain the crawls into my chest.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," says a familiar tomboyish voice.

I try to open my eyes, but its too bright. The light stings my eyes and I cover them with my arm. "Aaaahhh..." A loud scraping noise fills the room, almost as bad as nails on a chalkboard, and I take my arm from my face. I try to open my eyes again, and this time I can slowly get them to stay open. The light still stings, but not as bad as before. And then my eyes rest on the pony who's pushing a large dull orange sphere on a pedestal.

"...Silver Star? Is that you?"

Silver's head whips to face me, and she gives a small smile. In the left corner of her mouth, I can see where she pulled out one of her bottom teeth. She's not wearing her golden armor, so her brilliant white coat is on display. Her coppery mane looks freshly washed, too, and still slightly wet.

"Hey human. I see you don't have those rocks sticking out of you anymore," she says while gesturing to my bandages. "How you holding up?"

"Not too well," I answer. "Why are you back so soon?"

Silver rolls her hoof as she leans against the large orange orb. "I may still have a few days left in my heat, but it doesn't mean that my parents don't have any suppression meds sitting in the back of the bathroom cabinet." She gives the orb another shove and then wipes her brow. "I may not be able to use magic very well while I'm on the pill, but at least I can still get you what you need."

I try to forget what she just said, but it brings up a question. "Is that the globe I wanted?"

I'm answered by a wad of large scrolls hitting me in the face. "And there are your maps," Silver says with an audible smirk. "So, you're going home soon, am I right?"

I unroll one of the maps. "Yeah, hopefully. I really don't want to die."

"What?"

"Nothing," I say, waving a hand at her. I return back to the map I have laying across my covered legs. I scan it from top to bottom, getting a 'feel' for what Equestria looks like. And it doesn't look anything like I think any land formation should look like. "Silver Star, are these maps accurate?" I ask as I unroll another one.

"Very," she says matter-of-factly. "You'll not find better maps around unless you look in the royal treasury."

Panic begins to fill by mind and body as I scan each map. All of the them are the same. Equestria doesn't look vaguely familiar to anything I've seen on Earth. I turn to another map, this one holding a different continent. Again, not similar in the least. Forgetting my modesty, I throw my covers off and grab my IV pole. Using it as a walking stick, I head over to Silver Star's side and kneel down. The globe she pushed into the room is nearly three feet tall made of polished bronze. I push it, making it spin, and examine it for anything that may look like home. I run my fingers along the raised surface and trace out the forms it creates.

"Garcia?" Silver asks me, but I ignore her. I'm too focused at trying to find something on this globe. I make a complete spin of the globe, and my breathing starts to gain speed. "Garcia? What's wrong?" Again, I ignore Silver. I make the globe spin faster, try to see home on the unfamiliar world. "Maverick? What's wrong?"

I leave the globe alone, letting it spin itself to a stop. My head hangs low as the realization sinks in. My breathing slows, my heart rate lowers, and my hopes die right then and there. A hoof on my cheek brings my head up, and Silver Star has brought her face exceptionally close to mine.

"Maverick, tell me what's wrong?"

I swallow. "You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?" Silver sits on her haunches. "Swift told me you were back in the medical wing, so I thought I would check up on you. You're still my responsibility, you know. What's going on? What haven't I been told?"

I look down at the floor. "...Princess Celestia can't send me home."

"What?" Silver asks me. "Why?"

"Because this isn't my planet," I say while trying to keep myself from crying. "...This is Equus, right? I heard a few ponies say that. It's nothing like Earth. N-no Cheshire... No England... No Europe... Nothing like my home. I c-can't go home Silver!" I can't help myself as I reach forward and pull Silver Star into a forced hug. After a second, she returns it with a single foreleg. "...I'm going to die here, Silver." I feel Silver's leg go ridged. "I have f-f-four days left... I don't want to die. Not yet."

"Wha... What did you say?" she asks me.

"The rocks," I say. "The crystals we-were keeping me safe. Magical overl-load. The princesses can't hel-el-eeeellp...."

And so we sit there, holding each other for a very long time. Silver eventually pries me off of her, but only so she can get a better hold on me. She helps me back over to my bed and lays me down, trying her best to soothe the waves of emotions flowing from my soul. She asks me questions, and I answer. Silver asks some more, and I answer more. I try to calm myself down, and Silver attempts to help. Nothing works.

Chapter 13: Life and Death Is Separated by Just A String

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Time passes quickly when you give up. I never knew that, but then again, I've never given up before. I always tried my hardest, gave it my all. That's how I managed such good grades in school, how I was able to complete a series of short part-time jobs that allowed me to afford my telescope, how I was able to put up with all the crap I got from the other more popular kids at school. I always gave it my all, always ignored the impossible, and I always achieved my goal. No matter the difficulty, I always prevailed. If there was a last minute quiz, I had my notes ready. I would stay up half the night studying for finals. I always achieved my goals...

When I needed money to go on a school field trip, I dipped into my personal stash of cash I had from my short jobs. I was able to easily replenish it with a few tutoring classes I gave after school in the library. The field trip was strenuous. Everything went wrong. The bus got a flat tire in the middle of the trip, and we students refused to give up that easily. All sixty-seven of us had gotten off the bus with the bus driver. He had the spare attached to the front of the bus, but no way to jack up the bus. So what did my friend Richy suggest? Nothing; he thrust me out into the middle of the crowd and gathered everyone's attention. I ended up making the stupid suggestion of all of us helping tilt the bus up to help the driver. It was a simple and ridiculous idea, but to my surprise, everyone had done it, and we were back on track. Even my stupidest ideas seemed to work. But now... I can't even fathom any possibility of reaching my goal to live. I'm breathing on borrowed time. And there is nothing the most powerful magical beings in this world can do about it.

I was not going home... I was not going to see my parents or my friends again... I was not going to live through this...

Shortly after my encounter with Silver Star, the princesses Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, accompanied by two guards, had shown up in my room. Twilight was at a loss of words when she came to my bedside and tried to speak. Celestia merely shook her head. I can still remember the words she spoke.

"I realize that my orders are the cause of your current predicament. As the co-ruler of Equestria, I have sworn to protect all life... and I have failed. I was worried. And I know that is no excuse for putting you through what I have, but having such a unique and unusual creature such as yourself show up so soon after one of the greatest threats to Equus was defeated... I became paranoid. And in my delusions, I have killed you. I am so sorry."

Twilight had learned from Luna as well the nature of my being here, and to put it lightly, she became a nervous wreck. Once she was at my bedside, the tears came heavier than my own. She rambled off apology after apology after apology, trying to make me understand how sorry she truly was. It was very unprofessional of a princess, I thought, but Celestia had said that she was very new to being royalty and had not adjusted to the responsibilities that came with the title of 'Princess.'

I was in no mood to talk, so I simply turned over in my bed and huddled up into a ball.

Night came and went, and my second day was at hand. My body was beginning to show signs of taking in too much magic; my limbs were heavy, my head swimming in a haze, and slight nausea. Luna has gotten the royal fabric workers to make me some sort of outfit, which I gratefully accepted. The black shirt was baggy and loose, and the pants were a bit long, nearly covering my toes, but this made me as happy as a dying man could be. I still didn't know what happened to my underwear, but that was the last thing on my mind. A hug from the princess of the night and she was on her way.

A few hours later, Breaking ground, Wild Berry, and Bytes came in, shimmying along various machines into the room with them. I was dead to the world, so I offered no resistance while the poked and prodded me with various needles, measuring instruments, and other assorted medical items. Wild Berry was not happy with me for some reason (as if I didn't know) and multiple times she vigorously shook me in an attempt to get me moving again. I promptly told her to fuck off and she left the issue alone.

For the next good while, the three research ponies tested my reactions to various tests with the machines. One certain test required the use of a spell, so Wild Berry was quick to act and cast it on me to see if that would improve my condition. I'm not going to sugarcoat it; it was the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. I would rather pull out every one of my teeth with a pair of pliers and try to eat them than go through that again. I blacked out after writhing in pain for nearly a half hour, all the while the guards and even Princess Twilight was yelling at them, explaining in detail the effects magic would have on me.

The third day was absolute hell. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to speak, it hurt to be alive. I wanted it to end so badly, but a little voice in the back of my head kept telling me to hold on for one more day. Just in case the princesses find something, just one more day of waiting.

I should have ripped that voice out of my head and beat it to death with a soup ladle.

Pain spiked every time I moved. Even the beat of my heart sent waves of suffering throughout my body. Princess Luna was adamant not to leave my side during this time, as she kept saying this one sentence over and over.

"Just let me know."

But that voice just kept telling me to hold on, and so that's what I did. I suffered through the rest of the day and into the night. I was unable to fall asleep because of the physical torment flowing though my veins. And so, I was cursed that night to stare up at the blank ceiling for the whole night, all the while noticing how much worse the pain had been getting as I took more magic into my body. I was constantly in tears that night, and the magma flowing through my body was only getting hotter. My vision would blur and then cease for moments, then return in a fit of pain. My hearing would do the same, and even more cruel, so would my sense of feeling. I would be in such a peaceful bliss of nothingness for just a few seconds, and then my senses would come to life and fill my being with nothing but agony. Eventually, I lost the ability to cry; I had shed so many tears that I could no longer do so. I had not eaten in over a week, and my entire existence was nothing but pain.

Which brings us to my current position.

Luna had left for a hour or so, such a slow terrible hour, but returned with her sister Celestia, Twilight, and Swift Lightning. They gathered around my bed and murmured amongst themselves. At the moment, Swift is next to my bed with his forelegs placed on the edge of my mattress to prop himself up. He doesn't have his helmet on right now so his black mane is free and hangs over his left eye. He does, however, have on his golden armor and hoof guards.

"Hey... how you holding in there?" he asks me in a soft voice.

I slowly turn my head to look at him. "...Swift... has anything come up?" I croak.

He shakes his head. "No... nothing has."

I turn my head back to the ceiling. "...Thought so."

Swift shuffles his weight and his wings flutter. "...Maverick..."

I bring a hand up to silence him, even though it hurts. "Swift... Listen to me. Get the others over here."

Swift nods and jumps down from my bed. I close my eyes for a second, but when I open them all three princesses and Swift Lightning are standing around my bed.

I nod ever so slighty. "Thanks."

"Is there something you need Maverick?" Twilight asks, sadness dripping from her voice.

"Yes," I answer. "I need... to talk to you all." All four heads lean in closer. "...I'm not going to last much longer." I look into each pair of eyes to gauge their reaction. "...Swift..." The pegasus leans even closer and I raise a hand. My hand comes down heavily on the top of his head, and I ruffle him mane. "I want you to know... that even though we barely know each other... I consider you a friend. You were very nice, very cool... very friendly towards me, and I appreciate that."

"Maverick..." Swift scrunches up his face.

"Hey Swift... do me a last favor... Two, actually."

He hastily nods. "Anything."

I nod back at him. "When you see Silver Star... smack her upside the head for me... and tell her there's no hard feelings between us." He nods, so I continue. "...My other favor... Do you still have any of those flower extract smokes?"

Swift's eyes widen at my request, but he opens the front of his armor and reaches inside. He pulls out the small case I remember from when we met and flips it open. Gingerly, he takes a single cigarette out of the case and places it between my lips. I nod as he takes out his lighter and flicks it open. I lean forward as he brings the flame closer to me, and I inhale deeply once it's lit. Instantly the cloud of relieves some of my internal pain, but only for a second. I cough as I exhale, sending the ponies around me into worried fits.

I recover after a few seconds and clap Swift on his shoulder. "Thanks man."

"No problem," he replies.

I move my head to the next pony I wish to speak to. "...Twilight," I say, smoke billowing from the corners of my mouth.

The purple pony princess adjusts herself. "Yes Maverick?"

"I want you to know that I don't blame you for this."

"But," she starts, "it's my fault you are here!"

"Luna already explained it," I say. "If you hadn't done what you did, Tirek would have taken over. Don't... Don't blame yourself for something that happened almost a year later that no one could have predicted." I nod at her and inhale another lungful of smoke, pain emanating from my chest as it expands. "...I just wanted you to know that."

She hesitates for a moment, but nods.

I move my eyes to the white alicorn. "Celestia." Her stoic gaze falters when I say her name. "...You ordered to have me to be thrown in the dungeon. Ordered to have me moved to a nicer room, but remain a prisoner. You ordered to have me examined. You ordered to have my magic restrained," I say the last part while rubbing the section of my neck that had been covered by the stone collar Twilight had given me. "You ordered the lanterns to be placed outside my door."

"I did not mean—" she begins, but I cut her off by blowing a large mushroom cloud of smoke into the air near her snout.

"You did not mean to kill me. I know." I take another drag and wait before exhaling. "...Can I be honest?" I wait for her to nod. "I don't like you, Celestia. I really don't. And I know that you know why. But regardless, you were acting on impulse. You were worried for the safety of your kingdom. And while... ugh, while I do hold a bit of acrimony towards you for doing this, and I'll probably never let this go, I completely understand your reasoning... I think."

Celestia's head hangs so low that her nose touches my shoulder. "I'm sorry," she says quietly. "I'm so sorry that this is happening. I never intended for any of this to happen. I'm sorry..."

"Celestia." My voice brings her head up. "...I want you to know that regardless of everything you put me through, you did it because you wanted nothing but the safety of your subjects. For the most part, you are a good ruler, and I hope you continue your reign for years to come. Just don't be so rash next time. And I'm sorry for acting like I did."

Celestia shakes her head at me. "...I was wrong about you, Maverick Garcia. I am truly sorry."

I nod at her. "And finally," I say as I turn my head to the last pony. "...Luna."

She comes closer and nuzzles my cheek with her own. "Yes, Maverick?"

"I want to thank you... for everything. That dream you gave me, it made me realize how much I really had. And even though... Even though I'll never see my parents again, never see my friends... You gave me one last look at them. I even got to... to play my sax." I wipe my eyes as dry tears try to form.

"You are welcome Maverick," Luna answers. "...It is such a shame that this must happen. I was really looking forward to hearing you play again."

"Yeah..." I say as I turn my head back to the ceiling. "...Me too." I close my eyes and wait for the next wave of pain to slow. "...Luna... It's time. I can't stand this anymore."

"Right," Luna calmly says. I hear her move and feel something heavy land in my left hand. "Here."

I open my eyes again and look down. A small brown sack with a yellow string sits in my palm. I slowly reach over with my right arm and tug at the yellow thread holding the bag shut. Once it's off, I open the bag and pour out it's contents into my hand. Two gold coins.

"You'll need them in the other life," Luna tells me.

I close my fist around the coins. "Thank you." I cross my hands over my chest and the cigarette falls from my lips. "...I'm ready."

I feel Luna press her horn to my forehead. "You won't feel a thing." Her horn begins to slowly get warmer as it charges. I can feel the magic in my body flow towards it, welcoming it. The pain begins to lessen, and I sigh in short relief. "Goodbye Maverick," Luna coos. "May your afterlife be a pleasant one."

"If it isn't, I'll come back and haunt your flanks." Despite the situation, everyone gives a soft chuckle. Including me. I feel myself begin to slip over the edge, and I don't resist it's cold and tender embrace. The insides of my eyelids turn bright pink, and then white. The sounds of the outside world begin to fade, and the whiteness begins to darken. The pain... it's almost gone. I force myself to smile as it dissipates, and finally, I'm at—

A loud bang! throws me back into the world of the living, and back into my inferno of torment. Every nerve is screaming at me, and I can't help the animalistic screech that rips itself from my throat. I bolt upright and hold my head in my hands, trying to make the pain stop.

"Stop! Don't do it! Not yet!" A heavy form bounces onto my body and forces me back down. I crack my eyes open just enough to see an armorless Silver Star straddling my chest. She's rummaging through a small sack that's tied to her body, and after finding it, Silver pulls out a small flask.

Luna is trying to push her off of me. "Chief Executive Silver Star, what in heaven's name to you think you are doing!?"

"I'm saving his life!" Silver yells back. "Everypony hold him down!"

"What are you doing!?" I hear Swift ask.

"Just do it!" she screams.

With that, each pony takes one of my limbs in their grasp as Silver pops the top off of her flask. A second later, she literally rips my shirt open and pours some of the flask's liquid onto my bare chest. It's reddish brown, smells terrible, and it fizzles and stings as it makes contact, and I'm barely able to contain another scream as my already-doomed nerves experience more torture. Silver then leans back and pours some of the liquid onto her own chest as she works the goop on my chest into a messy pattern. She recreates the pattern on her own barrel and reaches back into her bag with her soiled foreleg. Her hoof comes up, and in it's grasp hangs a silver locket.

She thrusts the locket towards me. "Spit on this." I open my mouth, but can't move. I end up leaning back into my pillow trying not to struggle. "Argh!" Silver screams at the air, then her head dive bombs into mine. She forces me into a kiss. There is no passion behind it, no heat, no resistance on my part. Her tongue runs over my own, grazes my teeth, and wipes my gums. Silver Star pulls back after a period of time, mulling something over in her mouth, then she brings the locket up to her mouth, opens it, and spits inside. With a quick motion, the locket is closed and she puts it over my head and lets it rest in the mess she has drawn on my chest. Silver then lays down on top of me, making the locket dig into my chest.

Silver's forehead presses against my own, her horn vibrating against the top of my head, and she begins to chant. The words are unfamiliar, foreign, and powerful. I can feel the power they hold, and I'm certain the others can as well. Through clenched eyes, my mind's eye can clearly see the shock on the other occupants of the room.

Suddenly, the pain in my body increases tenfold, and I unleash a primal howl of death. This causes the room to go into a panic; Twilight and Luna try their hardest to pry Silver Star off my body, while Celestia and Swift try to stop me from coming with her. All of the ponies are yelling, and the noise is driving nails into my brain. I let out another howl as Silver Star begins another verse of her magic words.

And then... the pain is gone.

Silver stops chanting, the others stop yelling, and my eyes shoot open. I take a deep breath, deeper than I have ever before, and let it rush out. I do this multiple times, trying to fill my lungs, but with each breath I just can't seem to get any oxygen. Silver Star says one more word and relief rushes into my body. Pure bliss overrides my senses for a split second, and I take another breath, this time being able to actually breathe. Silver Star moves slightly and the locket stuck between our bodies slides out and comes to a rest in my armpit. The string attached to it is wrapped firmly around my neck, tangled.

"Will somepony explain to me..." Celestia says as she tries once more to move Silver's body off of my own, "...What in my name has just happened!?"

"I think she preformed a spell," Twilight says quietly.

"We can see that," Luna says firmly. "What's going on?"

"...Maverick?" I look down at the pony slumped on my chest. Silver Star is looking right back, a smile on her face. "...You're alive."

"...What did you do to me?" I ask her.

"I saved your life," she answers, clearly tired. "You are my responsibility, and I will not let you die while you're under my watch." Silver gives me another smirk before she passes out. Her body begins to slide off of mine. I ease her onto the bed beside me, moving slightly to make room for her. Her head rests right on my neck, her horn a bit too close to my chin for comfort, but I ignore that and turn back to the four ponies staring at me.

"...What did she do to me?"

"You tell us," Celestia replies. "...How... How do you feel?"

"Do you want us to continue?" Luna asks me with a worried expression.

I wave my free hand at her, seeing as how my other is underneath Silver's sleeping form. "No, no... Not yet. Maybe not at all." I look down at my body. "...Whatever she did... I don't hurt anymore."

My four guests relax a tad, but still retain their serious attitudes. Luna turns to her sister. "Should we get another bed?" she asks while motioning to the unicorn asleep next to me. I wave another hand at her.

"Let her sleep," I say. "Moving her may not be the best idea." I work my trapped arm out from under Silver Star and wrap it around her barrel. In turn, she snuggles closer to my body. "...This isn't considered wrong, is it?" I ask to the group.

"No," Celestia answers. "It is fine. But we all have some serious talking to do once she awakens."

The princesses talk amongst themselves, trying to understand what the guard pony had done that they couldn't. Swift is by my side again running his hoof over his stepsister's mane. He asks me the usual questions; Are you okay? Is she okay? What do you think she did to me? I tell him 'I don't know' to all of his questions, but he doesn't leave. I'm glad for it, too. even though she's asleep, this is the closest I've been to Silver Star, and that makes me feel uncomfortable. She's the crazy unicorn mercenary who, within the first twenty minutes of meeting her, nearly made me sick, stripped me down to my birthday suit, and abandoned me in the bathroom. The crazy unicorn who's smart aleck mouth always cut into my ears, the crazy unicorn who decided it would be a good idea to play with herself while I was bathing.

The crazy unicorn who may had just saved my life.

I am not going home... I am not going to see my parents or my friends again... But thanks to this crazy unicorn, I'm going to live for short while longer...

Chapter 14: Do You Believe in Magic? 'Cause You Should

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After the initial shock of things had calmed down, everypony—awe geez, I'm starting to talk like them—had organized themselves. And then the questions started. Even though Celestia had her sudden change of heart, which I believe will not last to much of an extent seeing as how I'll be alive for a while longer, she still retained her wariness of me because of previously mentioned fact I was going to live a bit longer, and especially because of my miraculous recovery. But, after a while and most of the questions ending with me responding something along the lines of 'I have no idea,' everypo— *Ahem, everyone had returned to their normal affairs. Princess Celestia, after telling me the umpteenth time that Silver Star, herself, and I would need to talk later, had returned to Day Court, which she explained is basically listening to commissions brought in by civilians, almost like a city hall meeting. Princess Luna had followed her sister's steps, only she would be going to the guards' barracks, both night and day variants, to warn them about the lanterns and me. Princess Twilight left the room to head down to the royal collection of general information—a.k.a. the more educational section of the royal library—to see if she could find anything similar to the event of what had happened to me a few hours earlier. The only two ponies that stayed in the room with me was Swift Lightning, stating he wasn't leaving my side in case some random and unconceivable occurrence may happen while he was gone, and Silver Star, who was still asleep wrapped around me like I was a giant teddy bear.

After the first few minutes of near-silence, and the fact that Silver's soft snoring grew old to listen to, I began asking Swift questions about pony anatomy. Why the princesses were so much taller than they were, how earth ponies could use magic, what was magic in this world, the usual.

Swift responded by leaving the room for a split second, cautiously looking back at me the whole time it took, to talk to the guard outside, then returning quickly. He said he would get me a book about general magic and it's uses that unicorns normally read in the first grade. Most likely, Twilight would return with it in tow, seeing as how she was already in the library. I thanked him regardless. Swift began answering my questions to the best of his ability, and after a while of talking, I had a decent understanding of the pony races. I think. All except the alicorns, of course. According to Swift, an alicorn can live a normal lifespan of about seventy to ninety years if they so choose, but more times than not an alicorn will become near-immortal, living centuries and longer. When I asked him how old Celestia was, he chuckled and shrugged, giving me an answer that I took into consideration.

"I'm not sure how old she is, but the princess has some years on her. Celestia and her sister Luna are mentioned a few times in some of the oldest surviving historical readings, so both have at least four-thousand years behind them."

All that time, all the things she must have seen. I asked him about Celestia herself, and mainly why she didn't seem to fond of me. Besides telling me what I already knew of Tirek, he also informed me that she has seen a few wars happen. The minotaurs and griffons, prench ponies and the dragonkin, the minotaurs and the griffons again, the minotaurs and the dragonkin, the minotaurs and another branch of minotaurs... Okay, a lot happened with the bipedal oxen. Swift gave his input and said that Celestia may be a bit hostile towards me because, like the war-loving minotaurs, I walk on two legs—something that very few sapient species do here on Equus—have five digits on each hand like the minotaurs, and carry enough strength to pick up a pony, as demonstrated on that embarrassing day which led to me meeting the pegasus speaking to me now.

That brought me onto my next question; how much did the average pony weigh? Swift told me that, depending on where they live, each race has a specific weight they fall into. I asked him about the local weight classifications. Using himself as a model, Swift said that pegasi, the lightest of the races, normally weigh around eighty to a bit under one hundred pounds. When I asked why, he simply told me that lighter bones and less meat on said bones makes it easier to fly. Earth ponies, with them having hard working DNA right off the bat, typically hold a weight of one hundred forty to one hundred seventy. And unicorns were the middle ground, weighing somewhere between one ten and one thirty.

My thoughts had rushed to that day when I tried to, eh, remove Silver Star from my room after she... uh... stunk up the place. I asked him how much his stepsister weighed, and after explaining the occurrence while leaving out some details I'm sure he already knew, I had my answer. Silver weighed one hundred and seventeen pounds as of last month, or cycle, or whatever. Seems a bit heavier than I remember picking up that day.

Time dragged on, and now Swift and I are just waiting for something to happen. I had been brought a small plate of banana slices with two cups of milk to eat a bit before, which is what I was currently preoccupied with. Swift is sitting against the wall a few feet from my bed with his helmet next to his extended hind legs and a sweet smelling cigarette pinched between his lips. And Silver Star is still asleep in bed beside me. Somehow she had managed to snuggle against me in such a way that I could feel the beat of her heart. Her head rests right below my neck and she has a foreleg draped over my midsection. Completely stretched out like she is, Silver's body, lengthwise, is nearly as long as my own. Heck, she may just be the same height as me if she stood on her back legs.

Looking over Silver's head, I can clearly see her coppery tail wrapped around my leg. I had asked Swift how she was able to move her tail like that, seeing as how most of a pony's tail is just long hair and they should have no clear way to move it, and all he told me was, "We can just do it."

Thanks to the elevated upper half of the bed, I'm able to drink my milk without lifting myself up and disturbing Silver Star's sleep. Don't get me wrong, it's a bit uncomfortable having a pony this close to me, but she's warm, she's quiet, and she may have saved my life. Speaking of which...

I put my cup down and reach over with my free hand to pick up the locket Silver had forced around my neck. I had opened it before, and all I found was a faded picture of a grapevine covered in mine and Silver's saliva. The outside of the silver neck ornament was crusted with the brown remains of that unusual concoction Silver had poured on our chests. Thinking about it, I put the locket down and pick at some of the crust on my belly. I wonder how Silver is gonna get this crud out of her fur? I thought to myself.

Thoughts aside, this was all very confusing. And a bit embarrassing. I had said some stuff when I thought I was going to die that I'm not sure I could live up to now that I won't for now. Rest assured, I am not letting this event go, and I want to know what's going on as much as everypony else. "Damn it," I mutter.

"What was that?" Swift asks, looking up from the floor.

"Nothing," I say, shaking my head. This whole ordeal is going to get worse before it gets better.

From what little I could understand when the gang was all here, I'm still stuck on Equus. And if time passes at the same rate here as it does on Earth (which I highly doubt), then I'll have no chance of redeeming any schoolwork I've missed; it's been over a week, which is the latest a teacher will accept late work unless given a reason beforehand. And really, the whole thing is very depressing. But after that soul-smashing agony I had endured over the last four days, I have no tears to shed or any real energy to exert being sad. My thoughts all revolve around home, my family, school... My heart feels heavy, and my bones feel heavier. The whole situation has me feeling melancholy...

"Why did this have to happen to me?" I ask the ceiling. "I could have been abducted by aliens, or just flat out killed by that lightning strike... but nooooo, I had to be 'magically teleported' to a land of colorful equines..."

"Well," Swift states, "you did come at a rather uncomfortable time." He finishes his cigarette and crosses his forelegs across his chest.

"I know, I know," I retort. "Your stepsister already made that clear."

"Yeah, well, if you had come just a bit later, I'm sure Princess Celestia would have taken your appearance much better, seeing as she's much more herself then."

"What do you mean?"

Swift shifts his body to get into a more comfortable position against the wall. "Well, I know you aren't a pony, but nearly every living creature on the planet goes through this, so... what do you know about the opposite sex?"

"That they're crazy as fuck?"

"We-hell, there's that," Swift says, softly laughing. "I won't beat around the bush asking you questions you most likely don't know the answers to." Swift shakes his head. "If I recall from Silver's tales, you were there when she and the princess were discussing... more feminine matters?" Swift continues once I nod my head. "Well, Silver just exited her estrus cycle, with the help of some meds, but that's besides the point. And I can't believe I have to be the one to say this..." The pegasus takes a deep breathe and holds it for a moment.

"...Nearly every female goes into heat near the start of spring and winter, and also in the middle of summer." He looks up at me, and seeing the confused face on my, well, face, Swift sighs. "Nearly every female goes into heat those times of year," he repeats.

The cogs in my head start turning. "...Are you saying that Celestia—"

"Is acting overly cautious of you because she, too, is in heat?" Swift finishes for me. But he shakes his head. "Probably, but there's an explanation for that." I roll my eyes and put my head back on my pillow, preparing for something I would rather not hear. "I've been in the guard for a few years now, and I've seen what happens when both of the princesses go into heat. Princess Celestia becomes rather short-tempered, over-zealous, and very protective of her sister and the ponies in the castle. Princess Luna, seeing as she only goes into heat once a year, normally secludes herself in her room for the next coming cycle, only to be seen when raising the moon or requesting to speak to her sister."

"Okay, a few things," I say, cutting his story short. "One: Wouldn't Celestia basically kill us if she were to walk in her while discussing her personal matters?" A shake from his head lets me continue. "Okay then... Two: What do you mean, with Luna I mean? Why is she different?"

"Princess Luna was banished to the moon a bit over a millenia ago. A thousand years alone on the moon can mess with one's body, as well as their psyche. Princess Luna always goes into a massive heat right after she creates the new year. Causing the moon to stay full for five whole days puts a great deal of strain on her, and her body regulates itself by... you know. For the whole cycle."

"...So what about Celestia?"

"Princess Celestia has a normal cycle. She's normally a very caring, sensitive, and peaceful ruler. You just happen to pop in when she wasn't feeling herself."

"And this will last...?" I ask the pegasus.

Swift clicks his tongue. "I believe you were here for the majority of it. Being a pony of such great power extends her estrus, so it lasts a tad longer than the normal week or so. But the princess should be in her last few days."

"Why are you so casual about this?" I ask, pure curiosity stabbing my brain.

All I got out of the pegasus was a chuckle. "I lived with Silver Star before becoming a guard. And I still do during the holidays. Being the little deviant she is, well..." Swift pauses while he rubs his chin. "Let's just say she's a bit more outgoing than most."

"Did she hit on you?" I deadpan.

"What? No!" Silver's stepbrother nearly heaves at the thought. "No, she never has, and she never will. I was meaning that I've seen what she hides in her room."

"Oh... Ooohh..." I nod to my guard. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay."

"So Celestia's feeling moody, eh?" I ask him. "Wonder why she doesn't take time off, like the rest of the female staff."

"The co-ruler of an entire continent can't just take time off," Swift tells me. "Even with Princess Luna back, and on a different cycle than the rest of Equestria, Celestia just can't leave her throne."

"Then why not, I don't know, relax a bit?"

Swift groans at me. "The princess has a lot on her plate, as we would say. Day Court, raising the sun, oversea affairs to conduct, all of this takes up the majority of her days."

"So what about the times she's met with me?" I ask my guard.

"You are completely different," Swift says. "The princess just can't... um. She can't..."

"Dude, come on." I crack my neck with my free hand, though doing so makes my shoulders hurt. "We're both guys here, and your sister is sound asleep. You can just say it."

"I know I can," Swift replies, "but it's so hard to use the right words..."

"Swift, there are no words in the word to make sex sound regal or pretty, or whatever you think you should use."

Swift Lightning looks me in the eye, then tosses all the restraint he has straight out the window. "Fine. The princess just can't take time off just to take care of her needs. Proper use of time, and etiquette, would not allow it."

I roll my eyes. "Still sound too formal. All work and no play makes a princess unhappy, eh?"

"Essentially, yes." Swift brushes his mane out of his face. "It's been many years since the princesses began their rule, and it is very time consuming. There is no spare time nowadays for the princesses to pamper themselves."

"They live in a fucking castle, dude," I blatantly say. "Tons of guards for them specifically, and I'm betting there are a few maids, too. And these guests rooms, they're huge!" I sit up a bit and cause Silver to stir. "I can only think of their own personal chambers. How can you say they don't pamper themselves?"

"Living as royalty is different to living in luxury," the pegasus replies.

"Whatever..." I look around the room, then down at Silver Star. She's still asleep, big surprise. Every few seconds, the hoof she has draped across my chest twitches, and she lets out a mew of some sort. I may be smart—I mean by book terms, I've been acting like a complete idiot for the past few days—but I'm pretty sure ponies don't mew. I know small animals like rodents do, and I've even heard my dog Oddball mew before when he was asleep, but never would I have thought that ponies would make that adorable of a noise.

The sound brings back memories of Oddball. He was a good dog, bless his resting soul. A mix between a Great Dane and a Dalmatian, and one hundred percent lovebug. When I was growing up, that super-sized dog of mine was always there for me. Oddball was a gangly dog, thin legs and a small barrel but with a huge head and tail. He had a light brown coat with one big dot of black on the right side of his chest. But big dogs don't live very long, and since we adopted him from the pound when he was already half-way grown, I lost him when I was nine. But those few years I spent with that cuddling monster were amazing.

I find myself absentmindedly petting Silver Star, my hand softly rubbing the fur below her neck. Her coat is very soft. My jaw clenches when I think this, so I bring my hand back to my side.

"Mm... why'd you stop?"

I adjust my head to look down at Silver's face. She hasn't moved, but her eyes are half open now.

"Swift, your sibling's awake," I call out to the other pony in the room.

"Silver!" The next thing I know, Swift Lightning is leaning over my bed and has his stepsister in his forelegs. He hugs her hard and quick, then pushes Silver into a sitting position on top of my left leg. "Silver, are you okay?" Swift asks her, trying to keep her head from lolling to one side.

"I'm... fine," she says softly. "Just tired." Silver reaches up and touches her horn, then winces. "And kinda hungover."

Swift pulls her into another hug. "Don't do anything like that again, Silver. You scared me half to death."

"I wasn't gonna sit by... and let the human die," is all she says.

"Speaking of which," I say, catching the two ponies' attention. I wait for them to face me. "...What did you do, Silver Star?"

She smiles. "I saved your life, that's what."

I am not amused. "Princess Celestia wants to speak with us. About what you did. She sounded serious." That sobers her up quickly. "Silver, what did you do?" I ask again.

Silver lifts a heavy limb to her head and rubs the base of her horn. "You were gonna die from magical buildup..." I nod at her. "...You don't have any natural magic in your system," she continues, "and without it, you couldn't counteract the magic, so... I gave you... some of mine."

"What? both me and Swift ask simultaneously.

Silver nods at us. "I gave you some of my magic. A little less than half."

Swift brings his hoofs to her face and turns her head to look at him. "Silver Star, you know magic swapping is dangerous. Casting that type of spell could cost you your magic even if it wasn't successful!"

"What does he mean?" I ask them both.

Swift lets go of Silver face. "She split her magic and imbued you with a portion and in return tried to take some of yours; a dangerous thing that could fail regardless of how careful you are."

"But I thought everyone was saying I didn't have any magic," I say. "How can she swap with me if I don't have anything to give?"

We both look at Silver Star, who's drawing circles in the sheets with her hoof. "...Well, I wouldn't say swap... I'd say, more like... transfer." Our blank expressions tell her to continue. "When I first found out," she says quietly, "I didn't want to wait around. You were dying, and I couldn't let that happen."

"Why?" I genuinely ask her.

"Because, do you know how bad it would look if a prisoner died under my watch?" Silver exclaims, throwing her hooves in the air. "That would go in my permanent performance records!"

I reach up and flick her nose. "Nice to see you really care about me," I droll. The unicorn holds her nose between her hooves, and I reach out with my right hand and place it on her shoulder to steady her. "So what did you do to me?"

Silver gives her snout one last rub. "...I went down into the royal catacombs to do some research. The catacombs is where we put all of our most important resources, so I figured out of all the potions, scrolls, and spellbooks we have, there was something down there I could use. And I was right," Silver says with a smile. "After a bit of sleuthing around, I came across this tome. A huge thing with rubbery brown stuff for a cover. And I had to bargain with the archmages down there to even look at that book."

"The archmages didn't you touching that tome?" Swift asks her. "What were you looking at? The archmages take their jobs very seriously, and that book doesn't sound too safe."

"It wasn't," Silver replies. "A lot of the spells in that tome were dangerous, so I found a simple on near the back. I needed to have something of personal value, the locket," she says while pointing at my chest, "some genes from both parties, and I even had to learn how to say the incantation."

"What about that gunk you poured on me?" I ask her.

Silver looks down at her own messy barrel, then at mine. "It was a conductor; made the spell easier to cast."

"And the genes?"

"Your spit."

I rub my arms. "Couldn't you have, I don't know, use some of my hair?"

"Hair and fur is only good for transformation potions. Bodily fluids, like blood or saliva, works with binding spells."

"You bound yourself to him!?" Swift nearly yells.

Silver puts up her hooves, and I steady her again. "No!" she near-yells back. "I didn't bind him to me, or bind me to him." Silver Star looks between us, then keeps her gaze on me. "A vial of blood, or any bodily fluid. I needed some so I could channel my magic into you."

"So you kissed me," I state.

"You wouldn't spit," Silver growls at me.

"I couldn't spit. I was writhing in pain too much to have any type of coherent thought."

"Whatever," the unicorn says. "A vial of fluids, a pinch of dirt from your grave, which I subbed out for that gunk, and a precious item. After all that was ready, I split my magic in two and gave you about half."

"Grave dirt?" Swift asks.

"Well, yeah," his stepsister answers. "The spell is normally for summoning a ghost of a ghoul, and the user would need to give the creature some of its magic in order for it to successfully walk in this plane of existence. That's what I did for you, Garcia," Silver says, turning back to me. "You now have my magic, so you can live again."

"Ghost?" Swift mouthes the word over and over. "...Silver Star... This spell... Is it necromancy?"

The unicorn in question rubs the back of her neck. "Technically speaking... yyeeeeeaaahhh, it is."

"Silver Star." The pegasus stands on his hind legs and grabs his stepsister's shoulders. "Look at me, necromancy is a dark magic, and as royal guards, we are banned from using that type of magic. Everypony is banned from using dark magic without a royal's blessing!" He gives Silver a light shake. "This is very serious Silver. Dark magic is not a taboo, but there are so many things that can go wrong."

"What's so bad about it?" I ask him.

"Dark magic was basically outlawed," Swift says to me. "Not because of what it's normally used for, but because of what it can do to the caster. Dark magic is like a Djinn, or a genie; almost all of the spells cast in dark magic will come back and bite you in the flank. Use dark magic to gain eternal beauty? Then you could be the most gorgeous pony alive for all of two seconds. Get it?"

I nod.

Swift turns back to Silver Star. "Silver, the use of dark magic is not permitted. Not by anypony."

"Unless if given permission by royal," I add. "you just said that."

"Not helping."

"Well," Silver Star huffs, "it's not like I could have used harmonious magic. Our natural magic wouldn't be able to get a fix on him, but dark magic could. And Discord is nowhere to be found, so chaos magic is out."

"And I know for a fact that you wouldn't be able to use demonic magic," Swift sighs. "Only the princesses can summon demonic a presence in such short time, and I very much doubt they would do that just for Maverick. No offense."

"None taken," I say, waving him off. We all sit in silence for a bit, but my mind is raging about this whole thing. "...So I have some of Silver's magic in me?"

"Yes," the two ponies answer in sync.

"And that's what type of magic?"

"Harmonious," speaks a voice from the front of the room. We all turn to see Princess Twilight walking in with a thin worn booklet floating beside her. "Harmonious magic resides within all living beings. And now, apparently, you have some in you as well."

"Huh." We all look over at Swift Lightning, who shrugs at us. "What? Princess Twilight, no offense," he says while waving at her, "normally goes bat shit crazy after hearing of something like this."

"Well," the purple princess replies, "granted that I do get a bit exited, I'm more worried right now. Silver Star." The unicorn nods at the sound of her name, and Twilight speaks again. "You understand that, in granting Maverick a portion of your own magic, you will no longer be able to perform as you once did. Your magic will be weaker."

"I understood this when I was casting the spell," Silver replies.

Twilight nods. "...I'll still have to speak with Princess Celestia when she's done with her duties for the day."

"We know," all three of us groan.

Twilight nods again and takes a seat against the wall, her wings spreading out as she slouches. Silver lays back down next to me and uses her magic, which seems strained, to move my hand up and down the side of her neck, so after a second, I start petting her on my own accord. Swift returns to his corner grumbling, knowing he can't smoke in front of the princess. Twilight begins flipping through the old booklet she carried in, taking great care not to bend the pages in her magical grasp. I just lay still, thinking the whole thing over. Magic, something that wasn't even real in my world. But I'm not in my world anymore. I'm in Equus. And magic, the thing that I never thought could be real, the thing that nearly killed me, is now the only thing keeping me alive. And it's thanks to this unicorn next to me.

"...Silver Star?" I say quietly.

"...Yeah?" she responds.

"...Thanks. For giving me some of your magic."

"Don't mention it," she says.

"Actually," Twilight speaks up, "we do have to mention it. Princess Celestia will need to know about this whole thing."

"We know!" the two of us say in unison.

Chapter 15: Learning The Ways

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Night seemed to fly in and take over the skies outside. With absolutely nothing to do but await Celestia's appearance, I was left to lay in bed with Silver Star. Nearly and hour ago, she had reluctantly left my side and headed off with Princess Twilight once she announced that Day Court was about to end. I asked her why Silver was leaving, seeing as how Celestia had stated that she wanted to speak with both of us. The answer I got was that I was bedridden and Celestia was too busy with the nobles that had gathered outside the court. I then asked her how she knew that, since Twilight hadn't left the room since she reappeared a few hours ago, but I didn't get an answer that time.

"She in trouble?" I asked Swift Lightning once the door closed.

"I think so," he answered. He explained how, even though I wasn't a walking corpse, that the spell she used could, and most likely would, be classified as necromancy. Seeing as how that was dark magic, Silver could face punishment. When I asked him what kind of punishment, he couldn't really tell me. It had been so long since something like this happened that he had no idea what could happen. I also believe that he would never have asked before this event.

So, time dragged by as usual. Swift decided that would be a good time to start asking me about Earth. What was it like? How did I live without magic? Were there ponies on Earth? I answered all I could to the best of my ability. Swift seemed a bit disturbed upon my revelation that humans were the only creatures capable of actual speech, and ponies and horses were nothing more than farm animals. Swift put a halt to his questions and mulled over his newfound information. I'm glad he stopped as well; talking about home made me fell a bit... well, homesick. I missed my parents, my friends, school...

Other than a nurse pony who came in and changed the bandages on my body, nothing really happened. When the nurse had unwrapped my arms, I had gotten an eyeful. It literally looked like I was mauled, but I didn't see any bone through the shoddy patchwork that were my forearms, so I figured that was something. My foot was a lot better, as were my shoulders; a new layer of skin had already started to grow over the wounds, and the graft on my foot was taking well. The nurse, while she had me unwrapped, had also taken the liberty to give me a quick wipe down with a wet sponge. Thankfully, she didn't ask me to remove the pants Luna's seamstresses had made me, but the nurse had taken the rags of my shirt. While she was there, I had taken the sponge from her grasp and used it to scrub the grim off the locket Silver gave me.

Did she give it to me? I know she said it was a way to transfer her magic, but she didn't ask for it back. I should ask her when she gets back.

At the moment, Swift is messing with the straps of his armor, and I'm laying in bed with the small booklet Twilight had found. All the little book really tells me is the difference between the five types of magic that reside on or within Equus. I flip back and forth, trying the best I can to understand the magical descriptions.

Harmonious magic. Apparently, it's the most common magic on Equus. Every living being, even the non-sapient species, have some amount of harmonious magic within them. It literally keeps them alive, and unfortunately I was on the receiving end of not having any and feeling the terrible effect of such occurrence. Harmonious magic is keen at healing or creating, a lighter form of magic.

Dark magic is basically the same as harmonious magic—according to the book, it is harmonious—but anything cast with it normally has a chance, or less commonly a guarantee, to cause harm to the caster. This darker branch of harmonious magic is primarily used for going against the laws of nature, like bringing back the dead, or voodoo. Well, not really voodoo, more like mind control. Also, even though this isn't forbidden, so long as everything it set up correctly, using dark magic, a pony can summon a demon to speak with. Only speak with; binding them to this world is to difficult to sustain for too long, so unless they wish to be dragged to Tartarus with the demon, they can pony talk for small periods of time.

Chaos magic is more or less the random shit that happens when one lets all the balance and control of harmonious magic fly out the window. Random things happen, regardless of intent or the type of spell casted. In a better term, chaos magic is the joker card of all magic. Cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate milk happens to be one of the favorite forms of chaos magic to be used by the embodiment of said mystical form, Discord. From what little I've been told about him, he is, literally, the god of chaos. However, when used in moderation, chaos magic is little more than prankster magic; no real harm can come of it unless a magical overload occurs, which is very common with this powerful type of magic, so chaos magic is still considered dangerous due to its instability.

Cosmic magic—the kind of magic I had to learn from this book alone, since Swift didn't know squat—is the most powerful form of magical essence. Only magic wielders of great endurance and intellect can manage to utilize this type of magic. The book also states that alicorns are born (or created, as with Princess Twilight Sparkle's lengthy story tells, courtesy of my pegasus guard) with an innate connection to cosmic magic. The power of the universe at the tip of their horns... No wonder Celestia is so powerful. Cosmic magic is very versatile when it comes to its uses, so that may be the reason the princesses are able to do almost anything.

Demonic magic, however, is by far the most interesting. A dark, evil variant of the harmonious forces, demonic magic is primarily found within the depths of Tartarus, the afterlife of this world. A place for souls to rest if they have been good, and a place to suffer for those who have been bad. The inhabitants outside the Heaven-like section consist of demons of all kinds, ranging from beasts of legends to simple trickster imps. This form of magic specializes in self-enhancement, imprisonment, harm and destruction, and even has it's own branches of sub-magic. Blood magic, which is a common branch, is illegal to use in Equestria, and can result in incarceration for life, depending on the spells used. Thanks for that tidbit Swift. Blood magic is used to summon other beings from wherever they may be, and bind them to the user's will. It can also be used to transfer life energy, create more demonic versions of the caster (turn them into monsters really), and create new life via artificial means, which is taboo on Equus, no matter where or who you are.

There are a lot of other subcategories of demonic magic, but I'm feeling a bit too sleepy to read on. I put the booklet down on the small metal trolley near my bed and turn over to find a comfortable position. I mumble a goodnight to Swift, which he returns, and I try to drift off to sleep.

Or at least try to.

The door to my room opens with enough force the doorknob smacks into the wall with a loud bang!, jolting Swift and myself into upright positions. Silver Star, devoid of all golden garments, strides into the room, and thankfully she's alone. I really don't want to deal with royalty right now. But I also don't want to deal with whatever's wrong with Silver. She's mopey, her ears glued to the sides of her head.

"What happened? Is everything okay?" Swift asks, walking over to her side.

"I lost my rank." Silver Star shakes her head. "I save Garcia's life and General Sleet demotes me back to being another guard... Great."

"There's a lot things that could have happened, Silver." Swift drapes his wing over her armorless back. "You should be thankful. You can easily climb back up the corporal ladder."

A second later, another guard pushes in a small metal cart with a few bowls on it. He leaves without a word, closing the door and leaving my two guards and I alone.

"Dinner?" I ask, slinking back into my bed.

"For all of us," Swift answers.

"I'm not really hungry. I'm going to sleep, night y'all." With that, I turn over in bed and try to snuggle deeper into the thin mattress.

"Well, you've been in bed for almost nine days now Garcia," I hear Silver tell me. "So suck it up and eat a little something. I didn't save you so you could just waste away."

"Geez, you sound like my mother..." My breath hitches in my chest when I mention her, and the heavy feeling returns in my heart.

"Come on," Silver says. "You gotta eat something."

"Why do you care?" I ask it in a soft tone, not trying to be mean.

"I don't want us to get in any more trouble," comes her reply.

I grunt at her. Seconds tick by, and sounds begin to be made. I'm guessing that Swift and Silver are starting to eat, and that's fine with me. I don't hear much other than the slight hum of the lights and the quiet breathing of my roommates, so I begin to relax enough that I'm starting to drift off. Darkness begins to drip into my vision, and I let it overcome me.

But I'm ripped from the peaceful embrace when I feel Silver's weight on the edge of the bed.

"Come on," she beckons, "you gotta eat."

"I'm not hungry," I repeat. "Thanks though."

"Dude, come on."

"Sorry Silver, I'm not hungry."

"Come on Mavie, just—" I tune her out after hearing my parent's nickname. Hearing the one thing that only my mom and dad call me... It just gets me thinking about how I most likely won't ever get to see them again. It really doesn't help my already sullen mood.

Interrupting the unicorn, I quietly speak. "Please... don't call me that."

"Excuse me?"

I lift myself up a bit and turn to face Silver. "Please. Don't call me by that name." My eyes dart down to the bowl in her forelegs, the back up to her. "Call me whatever you want; Maverick, Garcia, human, whatever. But please... don't call me that."

Silver opens her mouth to speak, but Swift is at her side with a wing on her shoulder. He slowly shakes his head, and she seems to understand. But that doesn't stop her from trying to get me to eat. Silently, Silver Star holds out the bowl, waiting for me to take it.

I look at it questionably. "...If I eat, will you let me sleep?" I get a nod for an answer, so I sigh and take the bowl from her, as well as the spoon she was holding against the side of it.

My dinner turns out to be warm oatmeal. I can tell just by looking at it that the cooks added a bit too much milk to the mix. Not really caring, I dip my spoon into the pale brown puddle and lift it to my mouth. No real taste, either, but the sweetness of honey and the bland taste of oats stand out, even if by just a small bit. I scoop another mouthful, and quietly listen to Silver and Swift's conversation. Silver's filling her stepbrother in on the details of her demotion. All in all, there's not much for them to talk about, so she soon turns back to me, shuffling her weight on the bed to fully face me.

"I'm sorry," she says. I look up from my oatmeal and Silver continues. "I didn't mean anything by calling you that, but we can tell it's a touchy subject. I won't do it again."

I nod at her, mumbling a thanks.

Silver looks back at the cart of food and a familiar blue aura envelops her horn. The same magic covers a banana on the cart and it begins to slowly hover towards the bed. It falters in the air, almost hitting the ground, but after a few second the banana pick up altitude and makes it onto the bedspread. I look up at Silver Star's face. She looks winded, tired. I hear her mutter something as she bends over and picks up the fruit with her hoof.

I reach out and put a hand on her shoulder. Silver looks back at me.

"You okay?" I ask.

Silver's eyes dart between me and the sheets. "...I feel like a foal again." I give her a questioning look. She huffs in response. "It's hard to do anything with my magic now. I feel like I'm learning again."

"Well, I do have half of it," I say as I take my hand off her and place it over my chest. "Thanks again for that." Silver gives me a half-hearted smile and turns back to her banana. Before she can start peeling, I reach up and turn her to face me. "No, seriously. As far as I know, or anypony—I mean, anyone, whatever. As far as anyone here knows, you saved my life. I can probably never repay you for that. So... Thank you Silver Star."

We all go back to our late dinner. Swift inches his way back to his spot nearly eight feet away against the wall the whole time we eat, but Silver is content to sit on the edge of my bed with her fruit. I finish my bowl of oatmeal before the others and put the bowl on the trolley beside my bed. As Silver finishes off her banana, I shift and lay down, this time facing my guards.

"Good night y'all," I say as I close my eyes.

"Night Garcia," Silver says quietly.

"Good night man," Swift calls out a bit louder. "...Hey Silver? You mind if I preen?"

"Just make sure you get everything in the trash this time."

"Geez, I miss the basket one time at home and you never let me hear the end of it."

"Do you know how disgusting it is to step on a wet feather?"

"Yes, I have to deal with the feeling every time I go out in the rain."

"Drool isn't the same as rain, Swift."

I feel small smile touch my face as I listen to my friends argue. My friends... I don't think I've referred to Silver or Swift as a friend... Or at least Silver. But I suppose two friends are better than none, especially in such a weird world as Equus. Those two goofballs might just be what I need to survive here. At least until I know for sure if I can get home or not. I really hope I can, though. I've been gone for almost two weeks now; my parents must be worried sick. And that's even if time flows at the same pace here on Equus. For all I know, I could be here for two weeks, but two months could have passed on Earth.

"Hey, Maverick?"

I crack open an eye and look over at the unicorn who said my name. Silver isn't looking back at me, but she's done eating, so all she has to look at is the floor. Silver's hoof slowly draws circles in the sheet as she waits for me to answer.

"...Yeah Silver?"

Silver Star moves her jaw as if she's chewing, but I know she has nothing to chew on. After mulling over what she's going to say, Silver finally speaks.

"...Would you mind if I slept with you again?"

"Does this have anything to do with me petting you before?" I ask her. "I hope I wasn't sending any kind of message, but—"

"No, it's not that." Silver chuckles softly, but it's short-lived. "Well, it kinda is, but really... It makes me feel better."

"Care to explain?" I say as I half-heartedly wave a hand at her to continue.

"Well," Silver says, rubbing her neck with a hoof. "...I feel better when I'm around you. You do have half of my magic, and we harmonize when we're close. It makes me feel better, you know?" I shake my head, but the motion is lost in the pillow I'm currently resting on. Silver huffs. "I'm trying to say... You have a piece of my inside you. And the part inside me resonates with what's inside you, and that makes me feel whole. I kinda wanna be there for you—with you..." She sakes her head, and finally looks down at me. "Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

"I'm pregnant?" I joke, a smile creeping onto my face.

"Har, har," Silver mocks me.

"Yeah, I kinda get it," I say. I totally don't, though.

"So...?"

I look at her hunched form. With the way she's sitting, Silver looks almost human. Sitting on the edge of the bed with her hind legs dangling off, her forelegs keeping her from falling back. It's rather interesting. I had no idea a pony could be that flexible. But more human-like, I guess... No. Not human-like. Her eyes hold truth. And that truth speaks for itself. Seeing the tough crazy unicorn before me speak like that... Yeah.

I give her an answer by scooting back and making room on the bed for her. "Make sure to get the lights," I say as I close my eyes again.

I hear a soft click, and the room goes dark. A second later, I feel Silver Star press her back against my chest. I raise my arm and let her scoot closer before draping it her form, then carefully put my chin on the top of her head.

"...Are you two spooning?" I hear Swift ask.

"Shut the buck up."

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

The halls are empty as I walk through them. Not a guard in sight. Not even Silver or Swift. Where did they get to? Shrugging, I continue on, unguided and with no real path in mind. I guess I've never really noticed, but this palace is very beautiful. The carved marble, the polished granite, the expertly woven rugs and curtains, the dazzling stained glass windows. Right now, little light is flowing through the glass artworks. A sliver of moon is all that floats in the abyss of the night sky. The real source of illumination comes from the torches on the wall; orange and yellow flames gently dance on their podiums, uncaring and oblivious to any spectators.

I reach the end of the hall and begin traversing a tall spiral staircase. The stone steps are cold under my uncovered feet, and with nothing but my pants to keep my warm, the feeling dulls throughout my body. As I climb, I just can't help but think why Celestia would allow me to walk through her castle unescorted. Come to thing of it, why am I alone? Swift hasn't left my side since he was assigned to me, and Silver... well, she likes it when I scratch her neck.

Pulling my feet over the last step, I find myself in a large square room. Not a living soul is to be found, but various weapons of all sorts are on the floor and embedded in the walls. Daggers, spears, small and large shields, halberds, swords, even a mace hear and there. I carefully step over all the weaponry and head over to the large double doors. I'm about to push them open, but a loud yelp emits from the other side, followed by a sharp clang! I push open the doors anyway.

The next room is just as large as the one behind me, but his one is full of life. Ponies of all kinds, earth, pegasi, and unicorns, fill the room. Weapons are all in their grasp, be it in their mouths, hooves, under their wings, or floating beside them. They are all expertly dodging or parrying their foes attacks, and responding with a vengeance.

"Quite the display, isn't it?"

I look to my left and find the Princess of the day sitting beside me. Celestia's ethereal mane and tail still flows in a non-existing breeze, and her golden armor seems to shine. She keeps her focus trained on the many pairs of training guards, not even bothering to look at me.

"...Yes, it is," I reply.

"All of my ponies that choose to apply for the title of royal guard must know how to handle a weapon," Celestia tells me. "One can not rely on brute strength, flying to dodge, or magic to counter alone, for the enemy, if there ever is one, could be armed. One must be quick with their hooves. One must be versatile. One must be—"

A loud clang and shout interrupts Celestia's little lesson. I look forward just in time to see a sword fly my way. I back up a step and put my hands up to shield myself, but the sword arcs in the air and comes down in front of me, its tip buried in the stone floor. Slowly, I look down and see that the blade is resting right between my big and second toe.

The fighting ponies all stop and look my way. All I do is stare at the sword. It's decently long, nearly three feet, maybe a bit more than that. The handle is wide, like, really wide, so that a hoof could easily wrap around it. the pummel is made out of some sort of familiar-looking yellow stone, and jewels of the same yellow crystal dot their way down the blade till the midsection of the weapon.

I reach out and grab the handle, and with a swift tug, I pull it free from the ground. I bring the blade to my face and thumb its edge. "...One must be able to hold onto their weapon in battle... right?" I ask, slowly looking over to Celestia. Her neutral expression doesn't change, so I go back to the sword in my hands. I give it an experimental swing and smile. "This is a fine peace of work. Pray tell, why is it used for training? Shouldn't something this ornate be hanging on a wall?"

"Every weapon has it's uses," Celestia says calmly. "Even those made for looks must be able to be used."

"I suppose so," I say, swinging the sword once more. After another swing, I put the tip of the sword to the ground and wave over at the guards in front of me, or more specifically the one pegasus without a weapon. He slowly approaches me, his head held high, but cautious. I smile at him and motion towards the blade in my hand.

“This yours?” I ask him. All I get out of him is a simple nod. Figuring I’m not going to get a better answer, I handle the sword so that it lies on top of my hands and offer it to him like one would offer a knight his weapon, which I suppose I could be doing, but I don’t know. The pegasus reaches out with a wing and slowly curls his feathers around the handle. I’m left wondering how the fuck he was able to do that as he walks back to his sparring partner. The rest of the room resumes like nothing happened.

I look back to Celestia, who is looking me over in turn. I put my hands on my hips and puff out my lower lip.

“What?”

Celestia slowly shakes her head. “I was just observing you.” She turns her attention back to the clashing metal in front of us. “I’m a bit surprised how well you handled that weapon.”

“I’ve never handled a sword before, actually,” I say. “A small kitchen knife, sure, but not a real sword.” I shrug and give her a smile, but I’m not sure if she sees it. “Besides, all I did was swing it around. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asks me, this time turning her whole body to face me. Even though she’s sitting down and I’m standing, Celestia is still taller than me. I didn't’t really notice how much I actually had to crane my neck back to look her in the eyes, but then again, I haven’t had much of a chance to do so. The way these ponies sit like a dog is, actually, kinda cute.

“I mean,” I say while rotating a hand in the air, “I apologize if I made you uncomfortable with that little act of swordplay. I saw how everypony froze when they saw me take it. I saw you freeze, too. It’s like you were all expecting me to slit the first throat I could reach.” I put up my hands in mock surrender when she gives me a surprised look. “But, I’m sorry for that. I should not have picked it up in the first place, even if it almost sliced my foot. I’m sorry I made everypony pause in their training, too.”

Celestia raises an eyebrow at me, but quickly brings it down to furrow her brow. “Why are you speaking like that?”

I give her a shrug of my shoulders. "I guess I'm just talking like I think royalty should be spoken to... your Highness."

"No, no, not that." Celestia looks eyes with me, but her expression is one of curiosity. "You were speaking like us ponies. Equish."

"Say what now?"

Celestia imitates the rotating motion I did with my hand. "You said everypony, not everyone like you normally do."

I cock my head to one side. "I just kinda gave up on trying to say things how I would say them. A being's surroundings influence much of their personality, so I guess your speaking rubbed off on me." I fold my arms in front of my chest. "How could you memorize my speech patterns? We've only really met once."

"Have we?" Celestia asks me, giving me a look of feigned broken-heartedness. "I could have sworn we've been each other's company more times than that."

"Yes, we have," I state, plain as day. And then, my lips curl into a smile. "...But I've only met you, Princess Luna, once."

Celestia sits there, eying me like the smartass I am. Then, after a tense moment of silence interrupted by the fading sounds of clashing metal, she smiles. "Clever colt." Celestia's form begins to shrink and her colors drain to a much darker pallet. In a matter of moments, the princess of the day is replaced by her counterpart, Princess Luna. Dark, nearly black, armor rests around her neck an over her hooves, as well as a tiny tiara of the same metal. She gives me a knowing smile, which I return. I can easily tell that Luna and I are on better terms than her sister.

The ponies in the room dissipate into nothingness and we are left alone in the large sparring room, but their weapons remain behind. The metal instruments clatter to the ground loudly, and the silence that follows is deafening.

I break it by coughing into my hand. "So... I was right."

Princess Luna nods. "Yes, you were. How did you know?"

"That you weren't really Celestia?" I pfft and give her a soft chuckle after it. "There is no way in Hell Celestia would have let me wander the halls alone, let alone hold something sharp. She doesn't trust me worth a damn."

Another nod from the lunar princess. "No, no she does not." Luna scuffs at the stone floor with a hoof, licking her lips. "I am not the best with words, but I know that my sister is not in the best state of mind. And—"

"Her heat should end soon anyway," I finish for her, gently curling my fingers and inspecting my nails. "My guard told me all about what such bad timing it was for me to pop into existence here on Equus."

Luna gives me a wide-eyed stare. She promptly recovers with an audible swallow. "Right..."

"Soooooo?" I drag out as I give Luna a friendly, but wondering look. "To what do I owe this nighttime meeting?"

Princess Luna just shakes her head. "Nothing really. Tia merely wished to see how you would react in such a situation."

"In what kind of situation?" I ask her.

"A situation in which you had a weapon," Luna states firmly. "How would you react is you had a means of escape or harm. That is all."

"Figures." I uncross my arms and stride out to the middle of the training room. Looking over the floor, I bend over and pick up a cutlass. The golden hilt is too wide of me to properly hold the handle, but I still swing it to and fro. "Give a desperate man a sword and he'll kill everything in sight. Is that what your sister thinks?" I ask, turning back to Luna. I don't get much of an answer aside from a swift shake of her head, so I walk back over to her. "Just because I made some stupid mistakes, Celestia thinks I'm a complete danger to everypony around me, huh?"

"N-no, that's not it," Luna says quietly. "Tia is just... wary."

I look down at the cutlass in my hand, then back at Luna. "...Princess Luna, please... Tell your sister that I absolutely will not hurt anypony, no matter what."

"No matter what?" Luna repeats. Her face goes blank, and the next thing I know, I feel something cold against my neck. Looking down, I see a long halberd floating in a bluish aura, the axe blade resting against my throat. "What if you were in danger?" Luna asks. "What if somepony was threatening your life? Would you hurt them then?"

My body reacts before I can tell it otherwise. My arm swings upward, bringing the cutlass up with it. The blade slices right through the wooden neck of the halberd, and the blade falls from my neck. I rush forward and slap my palm against the rest of Luna's skimpy chest armor to push her back, which causes Luna to stumble back a step, but that's all I need to point the end of the cutlass at her chin. Princess Luna's eyes widen a tad in surprise, and I cough into my free fist.

"Let me re-word that," I say, still training the cutlass at her jaw. "...I will not hurt anypony unless they try to hurt me first. I'm sure I said that before, but I guess I was caught off-guard from this whole thing." I emphasize my point by throwing the sword to the ground and folding my arms across my chest once again. "Sorry about that."

"It is quite alright," Luna tells me. "You seem well adhered to your words."

I nod. "...Can I ask something?" She nods, so I speak some more. "If this is a dream, why could I feel the cold metal of that blade on my neck?"

Luna smiles at me. "Have you heard of the phrase "Dreams cannot hurt you"? I feel like you may." She doesn't wait for my answer. "In my dreamscapes, that is not the case."

"Wait, so..." I look at the floor, at the broken polearm and cutlass. "...You could have really cut me? I could have really cut you!?" Luna nods at me, and my blood runs cold. If anyone had told me that dreams could really hurt me, I'd laugh in their face. But here, on Equus, where unicorns and magic is real... I could have hurt the co-ruler of this kingdom! I drop to my knees. "I am so sorry! I didn't know!"

"It is alright, Maverick." The room around us begins to fade. I look at the floor, which is now just a black emptiness. Luna's voice brings my eyes back up to hers. "I shall tell my sister what I have learned from you tonight. You are not in trouble, I assure you." Luna smiles once more. "You can expect more visits from me in the future, but I promise that they will be more... subtle." With that, she vanishes into the darkness, leaving me all alone.

I look back and forth, up and down, all around, but nothing but darkness is here. "...Great, so I have ponies in my head too... Just wake up Maverick."

So I do.

Chapter 15.5: And The Survey Says...

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"...In... and out... In... and out..." the tall figure repeats to herself. Raising the sun is always quite a task if she's not well rested, and as of late her sleeping habits have been a bit out of whack. A cool morning breeze flows over the balcony where the alicorn stands. Celestia, clad in a very light pink robe with a puffy collar, inhales once more as she concentrates on her magic. A calm expression bubbles up from within her being and settles across her brow as the sun begins to peek across the horizon. Sighing in relief, Celestia looks outward upon the rays of light being cast across the landscape below.

"Another beautiful morning, Tia," says a somewhat worn voice.

Celestia pivots on her hooves to face the intruder. She had not called for anypony, so her chambers should be empty. But a warmness surrounds her heart once she sees who has entered her room.

"Ah, Luna," Celestia says happily as she smiles at her sister. "I did not hear you enter."

"I noticed," Luna replies, stepping forward to join her sister on the balcony. Celestia leans down a smidge and nuzzles the smaller alicorn in a loving manner. "How are you doing this fine morning Tia?" Luna asks as she returns the sisterly embrace.

"Fine, fine," Celestia answers, all the while trying to keep a yawn from surfacing. "A bit tired, stressed, but still fine." Celestia looks back over the edge of the railing, shivering as the morning mist bombards the side of the cliff below. "Let us return inside, Lulu. It is rather chilly today."

With a nod, the smaller alicorn follows her sister into the confines of her bedchambers. With the glass doors to the balcony closed and warmth returning to the room, the sisters wonder off to the small kitchen-like portion of the room. With neither of the princesses wearing their royal armor, the sound of bare hooves on linoleum seem almost non-existent. They take their seats, and Celestia's horn is enveloped in a golden glow. A moment later, a small, but thick, white blanket floats over to the smaller alicorn and wraps around her form. Luna snuggles deeper into the fabric, and Celestia chuckles at her sister.

"Can I get you anything, Lulu? Cocoa, tea?"

"A cup of tea sounds divine, sister," Luna replies warmly.

Within the span of a few minutes—which was filled the soft clinking of china—a small tray carrying a teapot, steam flowing through the spout to indicate how hot the contents were, two plates with two small cups, a small pitcher of milk, a very small bowl of honey, and a smaller plate with sugar cubes, sets down on the table between the two princesses. The teapot lifts up from the tray and gently pours the steaming contents into the two cups, and the sisters begin adding their customizations to their drinks.

"So Luna," Celestia asks while letting a small amount of honey drip into her teacup, "were you able to gather any information about our... guest?"

Luna, whose horn is aglow as a few sugar cubes float into her drink, simply nods with a smile. "Yes, I was Tia. I was successfully able to enter his sleeping mind, and I did as you asked." With that, she took a small sip from her tea. "Mmm, peppermint."

Celestia nods while sipping from her own cup. "...Please, tell me what happened."

Luna complies with her sister's request. Her short tale of how the human wondered aimlessly around the palace until he had encountered the training rooms lasted nearly ten minutes, but only because Luna could not help but give every waking detail of the human's reactions. His calm collectiveness when he was 'nearly skewered' by a trainee's sword, his demeanor when they talked, his cunning intellect. Luna explained how he had seen through her ruse partway, which Celestia somewhat expected from the human. 'He certainly is full of surprises,' the sun goddess thinks as her little sister recounts the dream.

"—Oh, and you should have seen the look on his face when I told him about the physical aspects of the dreamscape," Luna continued, a smile on her face. "He went down on his knees, looking absolutely mortified when he thought he could have hurt me."

"But he didn't," Celestia says.

"Of course not, Tia," the darker alicorn answers. "I would never have been in any real danger. Sure, the dreamscapes allow minimal feeling, but real pain? Absolutely not."

Celestia nods and pours herself another cup of tea. 'This human seems odd, as if his motives are somewhat strained.' She shakes her head, returning her attention to her younger sister. "Luna, what do you think of the human?"

"From what I've seen in his memories..." Luna closes her eyes. "...I think he is strong-willed. He has a good heart, and a brilliant mind. He is a very unique creature. And no, Tia," she says as her eyes open once more, "I do not think he will harm anypony... Apart from self-defense."

"I do remember him saying something along those lines," Celestia mumbles. "How does he seem now? Does Silver Star's magic seem to be having any sort of effect on his body?"

"Other than just keeping him alive, no," Luna says.

Celestia nods again. "And what of Silver Star herself?"

"From what I was able to see in the human's mind, she is rather clingy at the moment." Luna sips from her cup, then refills it and adds a few more sugar cubes. "Something about her trying to stay close the rest of her magic."

"Makes sense," Celestia agrees. "With half of her magic in the body of another, the best way to harmonize would to be in the general vicinity of said being." The sun goddess sets her cup down on her plate. "I believe that they will be spending a lot of time together. I think I shall have her report his behavior."

"You really do not like Maverick's presence?" asks her sister.

Celestia shakes her head. "I don't know, Lulu. Those crystals of his were laced with a foul magic, but now that we've removed them, the magic is gone. They're nothing but hunks of stone, but that still doesn't explain why he was giving off such a wretched presence."

"I'm sure Wild Berry can figure something out," Luna replies. "She did help with the original designs of the Changeling lanterns."

"And look where that got the human." Celestia shakes her head again. "It is my fault he is in the ward. I did not know what effect the lanterns would have on him."

"He holds sour feelings for you," Luna says curtly. "He does not care for your tactics, but deep in his mind, he knows you are just doing what you think is just."

The sisters sit in silence as they finish off the pot of tea. A few more things to chat about, the nobles, the daily tasks at hoof, any possible plans for the future are exchanged, and the two princesses clean up their mess.

Luna heads to the door, but pauses before opening it as Celestia speak up. "Luna?" she asks quietly.

"Yes, sister?"

"Can you fill in for me for the next hour or so if anything comes up? I wish to be alone for a bit."

"I shall alert the maids to come and change the sheets when you are done." With that, the lunar princess exits.

A More Magical Experience

by Wolke Eisensturm

Chapter 1: The Greatest Scientific Discovery of Magical Forces

Chapter 2: I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore

Chapter 3: I Never Thought I'd End Up Like This

Chapter 4: And At The Top of The Hill, All I can See Is Down

Chapter 5: From Prisoner To Pet To Prisoner Again

Chapter 6: Complications, Complications...

Chapter 7: Regal Needs and Submissive Actions

Chapter 8: Proper Research and Recording

Chapter 9: Caught Red-Handed... Red-Hooved... Whatever

Chapter 10: Wrath, Embarrassment, Compromise

Chapter 10.5: Reading The Morning (Research) Paper

Chapter 11: I'll Never Understand What Just Awakened

Chapter 12: I Think It Was Me That Just Awakened

Chapter 12: Beautiful Dreams and Ugly Reality

Chapter 13: Life and Death Is Separated by Just A String

Chapter 14: Do You Believe in Magic? 'Cause You Should

Chapter 15: Learning The Ways

Chapter 15.5: And The Survey Says...