When put against a whole new race, a human must keep on running for the sake of his freedom
When a human appears in Equestria and is considered a threat, he is forced to flee from everything in the new land with nobody to help him while he is chased by colorfull ponies that want nothing but put him in a cage.
It was a quiet warm morning in Equestria. It was little after Celestia lifted her sun that everypony started to wake up in the city of Canterlot. Some stores were just opening as some fillies and colts were trotting to school, some happy and others didn't want to go. But it wasn't the same some hundreds of meters under that city.
In the crystal caves in the underground of the city there was a loud explosion and a portal opened. From the portal started to appear little particles that were starting to form a figure on the ground. When it was complete, it was a human, but it was unconscious. After the human was complete, the portal closed.
Meanwhile at Princess Celestia's room, the Sun Princess was having her morning tea when she sensed something was wrong.
"What was that?" she thought. For her it was like a tiny electrical shock and that usually meant some powerful magic was just used. She tried to feel where it was from and tracked it to the Canterlot Crystal Caves. "I should investigate this anomaly" Celestia thought.
She called one of her servants and a light blue mare wearing a maid outfit came almost instantly.
"I want you to tell the captain Shining Armor to gather his troops and to wait in the back gardens, tell him that it's of high importance" the princess told to her servant.
"As you wish, your highness" she replied. The pony then was running to the training grounds of the castle. At that place, Shining Armor was having his troops do some routine exercises. The mare approached the white unicorn and told him the princess' message. Shining Armor nodded and called his troops, and in less than two minutes they were at the meeting point. Not too long after, Celestia arrived with Luna by her side. Shining and the soldiers bowed. Celestia told them to rise and started to explain the situation to the captain .
"Shining Armor, I need you and your troops to escort us to the Canterlot Crystal Caves." the unicorn frowned at the mention of the place where his wife was held captive for who knows how long, "There was an unnatural amount of magical energy and I fear for the well being of the city and probably all of Equestria, and I need you and your soldiers in case it's something more than just one thing". Shining Armor saluted and responded with a confident smile
"We will protect you from anything that want to cause you or Equestria any harm".
In the underground, the human started to wake up. It was almost impossible to see in the dark, but there were some glowing stones in the ground that made it possible to see just a little. At first the human didn't know what was happening, and he started to freak out.
"Hello!" he shouted "Is anyone there?!". At getting nothing more than his own echo as a response, he started to worry "Where am I? What is this place? Why am I here?" he was asking himself these questions while trying to calm down.
It took some time, and when he finally calmed down, he started to ponder about his situation.
"Okay, don't panic. Think of this like all those times playing Minecraft, except that you don't have magical fists capable of breaking everything," he looked around, "and nothing is pixelated" he finished his dialogue with himself.
Looking down, he noticed the rocks that were about the size of his fist
"I could try to find the exit" he thought while observing the only way out of the cave, which was a dark tunnel that lead to the unknown. He gulped and started to walk to what was most likely his doom.
Meanwhile, with the other group, Shining Armor was leading the path through the cave, his horn glowing and showing their path. They had been walking for some hours now and the cave was getting bigger, to the point it could fit a fully grown dragon.
The group stopped when saw two shining dots in the distance, floating in the darkness. Thinking about all of the beasts that lived down there, some soldiers were shaking at the sight and a one of the new recruits fainted. Shining Armor, who didn't even flinch at the sight just made his horn glow brighter, revealing a two legged figure with a glowing stone in each hand. Celestia magically scanned him and found traces of the magic outburst she felt earlier. She took some steeps forward, and after clearing her throat, she started to talk
"Creature, are you a thinking being?"
POV of the human
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. In front of me there were horses. Some were a little shorter than me by just some centimeters, reaching somewhere around my shoulders, and others had horns or wings! But the two that were taller than me had both! But then, when the last strand of sanity hanged from my body, the white horse started to TALK!!
"Creature, are you a thinking being?" She, I assumed it was a female, said. I was in a state pure shock and confusion for some seconds, and when I finally reacted I was sure I was somewhere close to the madness.
"A-a-a ta-ta-talking horse. A freaking talking horse".
Everyone, except for the white pegasus unicorn got shocked expressions on their faces, apparently they didn't expect me to be able to talk either.
"I'll take that as a yes, and we aren't horses, we are ponies" the white hor... I mean, pony said "Who and what are you?"
"I'm a human and my name is Fernando. But, who are you?" I answered and returned my own question.
"My name is Celestia and I co-rule Equestria with my sister, Luna, as princesses of the day and night respectively, and until further notice we need to take you under ".
I narrowed my eyes when she said that I would be taken under custody
"But why that's when you want to keep something away from suffering or causing damage, and wouldn't that be like being arrested?"
"No, I can arrest you only if you do something bad." she started her response with an amused grin "A custody takes place when you could do something bad"
Her answer was so bad that it made me make the 'Are you fucking kidding me?' face and at the sight she just giggled some more.
"Looks like she doesn't even take me seriously" I thought.
Just then I noticed something, they looked like a cartoon, and everything around me had a cartoonish appearance, even the ponies.
"I hope that they don't only look like a cartoon" I thought as I approached Celestia and started my improvised plan
"But if you're a pony, how are you so tall?" I asked "From where I'm from, the ponies are barely this height" and I put my hand up to my shoulder.
"That is because I, like my sister, am an alicorn, that gives us more power than a normal pony and to have more power we need a body that can resist it" she responded.
I made the 'oooooh' face while circling her, acting as if I was inspecting every part of her. When I made the third full circle, I walked to her sister, who was behind her. While walking around Celestia I noticed a mark on her flank that was like a sun and then I saw that her sister's mark was like a moon.
"Why do you have marks on your body?" I asked, pointing to the mark on the dark blue pony flank, but this time the princess I was pointing at answered, although a little offended at how I was acting so casually.
"That is a cutie mark. It represents our special talent. My sister's represents that she is in charge of the sun and the day, and mine that I take care of the night as well of the moon"
After hearing her response I went to the guards, that seemed ready for anything strange that I might try, and Celestia was following me
"I need more time to get to the other side of these ponies" I thought. "So, why do all of these ponies have armors, were you going to a war or something?" I asked
"No, we were just going to capture something that appeared somewhere around here and I think that what we're searching for it's you" she responded with the same calmed tone that she had used during our conversation.
When I got to the back of their group and I had a clear path to the tunnel from where they just came in, I knew it was time for the last part of my plan.
"Okay, since there's nothing I can do, I'm coming with you..." I started to say, but I stopped mid-sentence and gestured the best scared face I could muster and shouted while pointing to the other side of the cave "OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT?!" every pony turned their head in that direction, the soldiers prepared whatever they had to defend themselves, the princess Luna also took a battle stance, and Celestia calmly turned her head, knowing that keeping the cool was essential for ambushes. When they all weren't looking at me, I started to run as if my life depended on it.
Third person POV
"Oh, that is just a crystal bat" Celestia said with the same calmness while she watched the animal hang from the ceiling. "Well, since that was everything, will you come... with us?" when she turned to the spot where Fernando was formerly standing, she noticed the lack of the homo sapiens. The gears in her mind worked for some seconds and made her realize what had just happened
"Quick, everypony follow him." Celestia commanded to her army and then turned to Luna "Luna, come with me" And the two teleported to the entrance of the cave Luna as the guards started to run to catch the human.
Meanwhile, Fernando could hear the echoes of the hooves behind him, still a little away, but growing louder. He almost missed a path to the left, that was almost hidden by the crystals, where he felt a light breeze that he chose to follow.
The soldiers weren't able to spot that part of the cave because their coats made them insensible to the minos things that the skin could easily feel.
It wasn't long before he reached an exit, situated to the side of the mountain where Canterlot was builded. He looked up to where Canterlot was located, then to the four hundred meters fall, and back to the city.
"If I try to go down there, it will take me much more time than just going up there, and I could probably know more about where I am" he thought. With a sigh, he started to climb up the stone wall of the mountain.
In the entrance to the crystal caves, Princess Celestia was waiting for the human outside the exit, expecting to catch him by surprise, but she was the on surprised when she saw her guards, but lacking a human.
"Where is the human?" she asked to Shining Armor, who expected Fernando to be already under the effect of a spell from the princess
"I don't know. The tunnel didn't had any deviations, and he would never be able to sneak out in the middle of the day" he answered shamefully. Celestia smiled reassuringly
"Don't worry, we will catch him" she said, "If we can" she completed in her mind with an unsure tone.
Back in the castle of Canterlot, Luna and Celestia entered the throne room looking a little defeated. Celestia went up to her throne and sat down. Luna, trying to cheer her up, started to talk with a comforting smile:
"Sister, I'm sure we'll get notice of this human soon. After all, I don't think it's easy for him to blend with the ponies out there" but it wasn't helping.
"I know Luna, it's just that he outsmarted us, even with our wisdom of thousands of years he got away, and as far as we know, he could be just a few hours old".
"Or he could be even older than us" Luna told her. Just then she thought of something "Celestia, what about your student?" Celestia just looked confused
"Twilight Sparkle? What about her?" Luna was excited with her plan.
"Think sister. She has been all over Equestria and she is as smart as you and me. Surely she won't fall for some lame tricks". The princess of the Sun smiled at her sister's plan and after getting a quill, some ink and a parchment, she wrote a letter to her beloved student.
Meanwhile, the human was suffering from extreme fatigue, after getting half the way up.
"Great, just great. I have been climbing just a little more than fifteen minutes and I'm already tired". The only things that motivated him to keep climbing were that he was just like twenty meters away from his goal (that luckily for him was the less populated side of the city) and five hundred meters fall. The sun wasn't helping either, it appeared to shine even brighter than when he started "You just want me to suffer, right?". After twenty more minutes, he finally got to the city, in what apparently was a 'dead end' alley with the dead part being the fall. Fernando silently approached the exit to the street, that didn't look in a good state. Just before going out, there was a loud growl, and he looked down to his stomach, then to a nearby trash can. He just stood there for some minutes contemplating his possibilities. "Okay, let's see: Option one is going out with an empty stomach and then fainting from hunger. Option two is going out but stealing some food, that could get me caught and I don't want to give more reasons for them to putting me in a cell. And finally option three...". With a twitch in right eye he approached the trash bin and opened it.
In Ponyville, the afternoon was quiet, specially in the ever so quiet tree-house-library, home to a purple unicorn and her number one assistant, a dragon. All this nice peace was broken when said assistant let out a fiery belch and before him materialized a piece of rolled parchment with the royal seal in it. The dragon reached for the parchment and opened it to read it, and his eyes immediately were as big as plates when he read the word 'urgent' capitalized. He went then to the unicorn, that was studying in her room, that was upstairs from the library.
"Twilight! Twilight, you need to read this quick!" the mare known as Twilight tried to calm down the dragon.
"Calm down, Spike. What is so important?" after getting down to a normal volume, he said
"It's a letter from the princess, it says that its urgent!". Now it was Twilight the one panicking
"What happened now? Is Equestria in danger? Discord broke free? The changelings kidnapped Cadence in revenge for throwing them out?" but Spike shrugged
"I don't know, I didn't read it". Spike clawed over the letter to Twilight and she read it. "It says:
URGENT
Dear Twilight Sparkle:
I need you to come here immediately to talk about a problem. It's of high importance, but I don't have carriages ready at the moment, so I need you to come here by train. Bring along Spike and any other elements that you can find on the way to the train station.
Princess Celestia
Twilight was unnerved for the way the letter was written.
"So? What does it say?" Spike asked with curiosity and Twilight's only response was.
"Spike, we're going to Canterlot" and with no more time for questions, she took Spike with her magic and after closing the library, was running to the train station.
On the way to the station, Twilight only found Rainbow Dash (on her mid afternoon nap) and Fluttershy. It wasn't hard to convince Rainbow to come, only having to say it's urgent, but Fluttershy needed a little persuasion, namely being draged by Rainbow Dash.
"What do you think the problem is this time?" Rainbow Dash asked when they were inside the train to Canterlot.
"I don't know, but the last time Celestia wrote a letter like this was when Discord started to create chaos" answered Twilight
"Well, uhm... what if she just wants a little company, and the urgent part was because she has little time to be with other ponies" said Fluttershy with an innocent smile, hoping that it wasn't anything bad, but Rainbow Dash gave her a stare that said seriously?.
"Well, it can't be dangerous if she asked for me to come too" said Spike.
When the three ponies arrived at Canterlot, they went directly with the princesses. Luna was just lifting the moon when they finally got to talk with Celestia in her throne room.
"Princess Celestia," started to say Twilight "We came as soon as possible. What is that problem you told us about?" Celestia sat up from her throne and went up to her.
"Twilight Sparkle, the issue I needed to discuss is the sudden appearance of a creature known as a 'human'. Let me start from the beginning. This morning, just after I raised the Sun there was a big amount of magic being used. It was as if Luna or I had used almost all of our power, and I decided that it needed a proper investigation. I tracked the source of the magic to deep down, in the Canterlot Crystal Caves (Twilight cringed at the mention of said caves). So Luna, I and the royal guard went down there to investigate. After an hour or so of walking in the cave, we met a creature that stood on its two back legs, his front legs ended in claw-like members, was almost bald, except for a patch of fur on its head that could be an equivalent of a mane and some strange clothing. He also is a thinking being, and could talk. He said his name is Fernando". Celestia stopped there to see if they had any questions.
"Di-did that human look dangerous?" asked Fluttershy, well, shyly.
"No, Fluttershy" answered Celestia "And it didn't attack us or anything, but looks can deceive, and that could have been something just to fool us, who knows what kind of evil things he could be thinking right now!"
In the dark streets of Canterlor, Fernando is sneaking past some ponies that were exiting a restaurant while humming the Mission Impossible theme.
"Anyway, how did this human got away from all of you?" asked Rainbow Dash getting bored. Celestia said, but a little embarrassed.
"He tricked us in looking some were else and then he ran through the tunnel we had just come in".
"But what kind of trick?" Dash continued. Celestia just let out a sigh and explained
"He shouted while pointing 'What is that!" Rainbow Dash fell to the flour laughing while Twilight gave her a stern look. Rainbow just said
"What? It's funny" then returned to laugh.
"It's bad, Rainbow, if he can trick the princess he can trick anypony!"
Meanwhile, in the streets, Fernando trips with a trash can and a random pony shouts
"Who is there?" and not thinking at all he responds
"Not a human being"
"Ah, okay" Then the pony continues his path.
"And that brings me to the main topic, I want you, and if you can get the other elements too, to catch the human, bring him here and I'll see what I can do with him".
"You're not going to hurt him, right?" asked Fluttershy.
"I won't, and seeing as we don't know if he really is evil or not, try to not harm him" answered Celestia trying to put at ease the yellow pegasus.
"But if he is not evil, then why did he run?" inquired Twilight. At this, Celestia just smiled
"Oh, he just misunderstood being taken in custody and getting arrested"
"But, what is the difference in terms of captivity?" asked Twilight.
"If we put him in custody, I would put him in a cage to be studied, and if he was arrested, then he would be put in a cell, but he would be studied too" Celestia responded with a grin. Twilight just stared blankly.
It was well past midnight in the usually busy streets of the capital city of Equestria, and for our fugitive it couldn't be worse.
"Damn it! How am I going to get out of this pony city? The gate is guarded as if an invasion was about to happen! thought Fernando as he scanned for the tenth time the exit of the city this hour. There were at least fifteen guards at each side of the gate, and he couldn't just climb the walls of the city. With a sigh and a yawn he turned and walked away while still hiding in the shadows "I need to rest or they will have me before noon next morning was the last thing he thought before returning to the alley were he first arrived at the city.
Meanwhile, in one of the guest bedrooms of the castle, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were still talking about the bipedal creature the princess talked about while Spike was sleeping in one of the king sized beds of the room.
"Why don't we just make a surprise attack? It will make everything easier" asked Rainbow Dash with signs of tiredness, after all, she lost her post-dinner nap, pre-sleep nap and now she was about to faint on the spot.
"Because," started Twilight "either good or evil, we need to be in good terms with the human. We don't want to anger him because he could easily destroy an entire mountain".
"OR not. Remember what the princess told us" returned Rainbow.
"Bu-but what if he is hundreds of kilometers away by now?" Said Fluttershy "the princess said that neither she or princess Luna could track him after he got away"
"I don't know, Fluttershy, but that is almost impossible. He would probably need to fly to do that, and according to the description that Celestia gave us, he didn't had any wings" answered Twilight. "Look, in the morning we're going to search for him here in the city. If we don't find him, we'll return to Ponyville for the other and after that we're going to separate to search for him in some of the biggest cities in Equestria, like Fillydelphia or Manehattan. When we arrive we're going to ask to the ponies there if they have seen anything like a human and with some luck, some might have seen him". Finally Twilight added "For now let's go to sleep".
In the morning, just after the sun was up and the city started to get busy, Twilight was the first to be awake. She went to do her morning routine and waking up Spike in the process.
"Spike, wake up. We need to be ready ASAP if we want to capture this Fernando today".
"Twilight, as much as this creature needs to be captured, today I don't have to wake up early to prepare breakfast, so please keep it that way" said a grumpy Spike from his bed. Twilight just rolled her eyes at her almost little brother laziness and lifted him from the bed with her magic.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say sleeping beauty, now go and wake up the others while I go with the princess" she told him while taking him with her out of the room. The princess was in her throne room. She was there early because she wanted to give Twilight some last advise. When Twilight arrived, she bowed, and the princess started to talk
"Twilight, as you heard yesterday, this human is very clever, and he can use or say anything to escape from you and your friends".
"I know, princess, but I'm also excited because if this human turns out to be good, we could convince him to be some kind of ally" responded Twilight.
"I doubt he does so. If he really is good, he might want to go back to wherever he comes from, but we still would need to make sure, and that could take from minutes to years to figure out" said the princess solemnly.
"I just hope that he cooperates when we catch him" commented Twilight before both she and her teacher went to have breakfast.
Back in the streets on the other side of the city, Fernando woke up with a sudden sneeze.
"I hope that I'm not allergic to these crazy ponies" he said groggily while cleaning his nose. "Well, I better start the day. He then went to the streets while making sure that there was no pony in sight. Yesterday he was walking while still being out of sight in the search for local coins. He collected a few (around ten) and he would use them to get something in the market. "It's not stealing if I pay for it, right?".
Considering it was just a little after the dawn, the streets of the local market were silent, but he had to hurry, because otherwise he could lose his only chance of the day. There were perhaps two or three stands ready for selling things, but the ponies were just reading books, waiting for any customers to come.
"Maybe, if I talk to one that is distracted I could pass unnoticed this one" Fernando thought for himself. So as silently as possible he go near one stand that sold apples. He looked at the sign that hanged from the counter and saw a drawing of an apple, an equal symbol and two coins, so he took the amount necessary, dropped the coins in the counter and took an apple then crouched so the counter could hide him. The pony only saw the coins and said out loud a little confused.
"Uhhh... thank you for your preference?" He then returned to his book.
Fernando returned to an alley to eat his precious prize. To him, the apple looked like any from the Earth, with the exception this one looked a little cartoony, but after tasting it, he couldn't contain his reaction to the great flavor of this apple. He looked like crying with a silly smile on his face while muttering
"Food, glorious real food".
When his food disappeared from him, leaving him with an apple core, he just looked disappointed but at least he could take the seeds. So he pocketed the seeds and threw the core away in a nearby trash can. After that he started to contemplate what kind of transport he could use.
"Let's see. Yesterday I heard the sound of a train multiple times, so there must have trains here. I could try and hide with the luggage so the guards don't find me. Yeah, that could work" he said out loud without having to care of being heard over the noise of the now busy street. So with a new plan he went to the train station, just to stop when he remembered that he didn't know were it was. "Well, more exploring".
At the castle, Twilight and the princess joined Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Spike in the breakfast. They took a seat next to the others, and were served right away the breakfast that consisted of finely cut carrots with some kind of sauce that to an equine were a heavenly meal. When everypony finalized their food, Rainbow was the first to talk
"Hey Twilight, we have been talking and Spike and I think that we need a cool name if we're going to hunt down this human" Twilight gave her a suspicious look
"You're not doing this to copy the Cutie Mark Crusaders, right?"
"Nooo. Why would I want to do that? he-he-he" responded Rainbow Dash with an innocent-guilty smile. Twilight just narrowed her eyes
"Okay, what do you think we should be called?"
"Something like Monster Trackers" said Spike excited
"No Spike. The human is not a monster" said Celestia to the dragon. Spike looked disappointed.
"Okay, what about Human Catchers?" Spike said again
"It lacks awesomeness" responded this time Rainbow Dash
"Oh really? What do you think we should be called?" Spike returned annoyed.
"I think we should be the Human Hunters Team!" shouted Rainbow Dash
"Well, that doesn't sound bad" Spike commented.
While Rainbow Dash and Spike were arguing, a guard entered the room and went directly to the Sun princess and told her something that the others didn't heard. After he left the room, Celestia cleared her throat to call the attention of the pegasus and the dragon and announced
"We got news about the whereabouts of Fernando. There is a rumor that he was sighted near the market place here in Canterlot. Quick, go out and try to find him. If he manages to escape, send a message with Spike to me with the report of the your task". After she said that, the three ponies and Spike were out to do a little hunt.
POV of Fernando
I think I'm getting closer to the train station. The screeching sound of train when braking is getting closer at least. I slowly creep to the corner of the alley, and there it is! Finally I can get away from this princess. I wait for the moment to run towards it when I hear a shout.
"Stop right there, Fernando!" Oh crap! That princess sent reinforcements. I turn to the source of the shout and right there, on the other side of the alley there is a unicorn, two pegasus... and a dragon?
"I hope they're not planing on toasting me I think while mentally gulping.
We stare for a moment. One of the pegasus is hiding behind the unicorn, the other looks ready to charge at me and the unicorn looks like she is concentrating. Just then I see her horn glowing and I think
"Wait, I remember seeing that before" and then it clicked in my mind. "Wait, are you trying to use magic with me?" just then I feel funny my body and I try to run, but I then discover that my body is not even touching the floor anymore. Apparently that purple unicorn is levitating me.
"That was way easier than what the princess told us it would be" said Rainbow Dash a little angry in disappointment.
"Who are you? And what are you going to do with me?" I ask them trying to make some time.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle," said the purple unicorn "this is Rainbow Dash" she pointed to the blue pegasus "and this is Fluttershy" she said as she side steeped, revealing a scared winged pony.
"And we are the Human Hunters Team" said Rainbow Dash while doing an 'epic' pose.
"I need to get away" I think as I frantically search for a escape route, but to no avail. I think they may have me for good this time. But then I see it. The horn of the unicorn has been glowing the entire time I have been in the air. "Hey, that gives me an idea I think while searching for something that might help me.
Third person POV
"Now, let's go with the princess" commanded Twilight. But Fernando interrupted the action by saying
"Wait, what is that?" the prisoner said while pointing to a broom stick.
"What, that stick? What about that?" asked Rainbow Dash
"How did you do that? Where I come from, every stick is twisted or a little curvy, but this, this is perfect" the human responded with a look that said 'It's precious' on his face "Can you pass it to me to investigate it?" he asked as innocently as he could. Twilight rolled her eyes at the actions and told him
"Sure, just don't take too long with that, it's not ours so we can't take it" she passed him the stick with her magic. When it was in his possession, he examined it, he moved it a little like a baseball bat and thought
"Yeah, this should work" he then moved it near Twilight's face while all the others observed. He moved it in a way that it disturbed Twilight's horn. That left her with a little headache and also made her lost her concentration, thus liberating the human.
"If you would excuse me, I have to escape now" said the human in a mocking way. Everypony else just stared and Rainbow Dash said
"Twilight, I think he might have lied to us" and Twilight gave her a glare
"You don't say" she replied sarcastically
"But don't worry, RD to the rescue" Rainbow Dash said pridefully as she darted in the direction of the human.
Fernando was now running between the crowd of ponies in one of the streets of Canterlot. He was making as many turns as possible to outrun his assailants, but every time he turned his head, there was the blue pegasus chasing him. It was when he turned in a dead end that he realized that he didn't had a lot of chances of getting away.
"Now I got you little pest" said Rainbow with an almost evil look on her face. She was slowly approaching Fernando but he stopped her.
"Sooo... If you're going to catch me, can I at least know your name?" Fernando said trying to come up with a plan
"Ha, you think that I'm gonna let you trick me?" She said in an annoyed tone of voice.
"N-n-no, I just didn't catch your name back there and I at least want to know the name of the pony that could beat me. This set off the pride of Rainbow Dash to a dangerous level.
"Well, if you want to know" she paused for a dramatic effect "I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria" she said with a pride that rivaled even the one of The Great And Powerful Trixie®.
"So, are you some kind of celebrity?" asked Fernando
"Not really, I just saved Equestria at least three times by now," was her response of fake modesty "but I'm going to be the next member of the Wonderbolts" Fernando saw that her eyes shined when she said that last part.
"Who are the Wonderbolts?" He questioned. Rainbow Dash gasped and as Fernando predicted, entered fan-girl mode.
"The Wonderbolts are just the best team of flyers in all of Equestria. They make presentations and shows all the time and are worldwide famous, not to mention that they do the best tricks. After mine of course" she finished her explanation and turned to see the human. But she saw that he was no more there. She just stared while her anger levels where rising quickly. Twilight and Spike arrived at that moment.
"Where is the human?" asked Twilight. But Rainbow just stood there with a killing stare, then started to say very quietly and slowly. Her voice dripping with basilisk venom.
"That pest asked who the Wonderbolts were. I kindly answered that pest," she was rising her volume gradually "and then he runs in the middle of my explanation and leaves me talking alone like an idiot." she was practically shouting "BUT I SWEAR TO CELESTIA THAT I'M GONNA BUCK HIM SO HARD IN THE FACE THAT HE WILL CRY FROM HIS STOMACH" she pauses to breath "AND THEN WHEN HE IS IN THE HOSPITAL I'M GOING TO READ TO HIM THE LAST FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OF WONDERBOLT HISTORY, AND I'M GONNA MAKE SURE HE LIKES IIIIIIIIIT!!!!!". When she finished, she was burning from the rage, and her shout shook the entire city as if an earthquake had just occurred.
In a not so far away street, Fernando could only hope that his nightmares don't be as bad as how he expected the reality. He was still cringing when he happened to walk into someone that let out a whimper.
"Oh, sorry" he said out of instinct "I should watch where I was going".
"N-no, I'm sorry, I was the one that purposely blocked your path" said a very quiet voice. Fernando then recognized the pony he bumped in as Fluttershy, the last one of the Human Hunters Team. "So, uhm... could you kindly come with me to the castle? The princess just wants to make sure that you're not dangerous" she asked as if he would yell at her any minute now. Fernando could only think
"What ever you do, don't d'aw at her" he could barely contain himself, and he said "sorry, but I can't do that, because she will put me in a cell"
"No, not in a cell, in a cage" interrupted Fluttershy
"Okay, in a cage, and my pride keeps me from doing so. And now I'll just go" he said as he was ready to just round her
"No, I can't let you do that, my friends count on me" she said with a determined look on her face
"I won't let myself captured, and I don't want to offend, but you're not even dangerous looking"
"Oh, but I am" she said while trying to let out what sounded like a growl and head butted-touched Fernando. He mentally sighed and then said
"Yeah, you're right. Now I see my mistake" he said, trying to not sound as non-sarcastically as possible. "You're very dangerous. Please don't hurt me!" This made Fluttershy be a little confident.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, but I don't want you to cause problems"
"I'll make my best to don't do anything bad" he said "now I'll just go away"
"Very good, now think about this and remember to be good" she said with a prideful grin as she turned away and went back to her friends.
Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike were searching for the human and for Fluttershy. They found her in the central park of the city looking like she just defeated in a race all of the Wonderbolts.
"Fluttershy!" shouted Twilight to call her attention "Judging by your face I would say that you had more luck than us" Fluttershy grinned and started to talk
"Oh, you should have been there. I had that human in my hoof the entire time" this made Twilight smile
"So... where is him?" she asked expectantly.
"It was great, Twilight. I put him in his place. He will think two times next time before messing with me next time I see him"
"But, where is him?"
"He walked away with the shame up to his shoulders and thinking about what he has done" Fluttershy finished, clearly not realizing her mistake. Twilight face-hoofed.
"Spike, take note" she said after a sigh
"I'm ready Twilight" he said with a parchment and a quill ready
"Dear princess Celestia: This human demonstrated to be a real opponent and it was shown to us when he got away three times in a row. We will return to Ponyville in hopes that the bigger the number the best the chances.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle"
Spike rolled the parchment and blew it with a blast of magical green flames and the group watched it going in the direction of the castle.
After I got away from Fluttershy, I noticed some things. First that I'm not that far from the train station. Second that I showed myself to the ponies of this city, and finally, the group of five winged stallions coming towards me. I could only react in the most normal way to my situation. I made the most threatening kung fu pose I knew. That at least stopped them.
"What are you doing, human?" asked one of the pegasus.
"I'm defending myself in a way that I shouldn't" I responded in my best evil voice I could do. That didn't help.
"Yeah, right. You expect us to believe what you say after what happened in the Crystal Caves?" another guard responded
"No, I hope for your own good to believe what I'm saying" I wasn't that confident now. "Damn it, I need to think of something quick" and the only thing I could think about wouldn't trick anything "It might just anger them, but if they're blinded by the rage I could loose them easily" so now to my not so brilliant plan.
"Now come with us without tricks" the same guard said.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked thinking this was a bad idea.
"To meet Princess Celestia" He answered.
"Who?" was my response
"You met her yesterday in the Crystal Caves" another guard said annoyed.
"Where?"
"The caves were we found you!" answered another guard, losing his patience.
"When?" I noted that there was smoke coming from their ears.
"YESTERDAY!" the last guard yelled
"What happened yesterday?" that did it, because the guards immediately jumped to catch me shouting as if they were about to kill me out of rage, but they bumped into each other for jumping at the same time. I took that to my advantage to get the hell out of there, seeing as they could probably do that if they calmed down just enough.
I went directly to the train station, hoping that they didn't see me coming in this direction, and immediately jumping in what I thought was the luggage cabin. Of course, when no one was seeing me. Then waited for the train to get going.
Third person POV
After Spike sent over the letter to the princess, the group that was leaded by Twilight went to the train station to return to Ponyville.
"How could that human get away from you, Fluttershy? You could have used the 'stare' and it would be over by now this whole ordeal!" Rainbow Dash yelled at Fluttershy while the yellow pegasus just kept saying that she was sorry.
"It doesn't matter now, Rainbow, he would just get away like the other times" Twilight told her while trying to stop Fluttershy from apologize unnecessarily.
"What are we going to do now? We don't know were he is by now" Spike asked to the other three.
"For now," started Twilight" We're going back to Ponyville for the others. Then we'll separate in groups to investigate in other cities. With luck, we'll find him before the start of the autumn".
They arrived at the train station, bought their tickets for the train and boarded the one that was going to Ponyville. Little did they know that their target was in less that twenty meters away.
After some hours of the trip, the train finally started to stop. The ponies and dragon had their lunch in the train, but for our protagonist it was other story.
"I'm starving" he said while holding his stomach. When the train started to brake, he wasn't prepared so he fell and hit some rather hard looking suitcases.
He was the first to get out of the train, exiting from a window of the side of the train contrary to were everypony exited. He then started to run to a close by alley, careful so he didn't show himself.
"So, now where do I go?" he thought as he walked slowly trough the shadows.
It wasn't long before he saw it. A house made entirely of every kind of desserts known to him, but his fantasy was short lived when he saw ponies going in and out from the building.
"It must be a house or something... but investigating never hurts, right?" with that thought in mind he approached the building when he was sure no one was near. He reached his hand to take a bit of the window. It was almost on his possession when suddenly... pink.
"Hi!" yelled a pink mass in from the window.
"Aaah!" yelled the human as a response while falling backwards.
"I'm Pinkie Pie, who are you? Also, what are you?" the pink pony asked the human while grinning
"My name is Fernando, and I'm a human" responded the human still trying to process everything
"I've never see you before. I guess you're new and that means that you're gonna have a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" Fernando's eyes shot open at this.
"Sorry Pinkie, but I can't be in any parties because... because... eeeh..." he saw how Pinkie was gradually turning more opaque from her normal pink "because I don't know anyone here" he said with an awkward smile. Apparently that was enough for Pinkie because she returned to normal
"Don't be silly, I'm already your friend, and I'm pretty sure the rest of Ponyville will be your friend too by the end of the day, after all, that is what 'Welcome' parties are for" she said very happy.
"Sorry Pinkie, but I can't because... I'm... a secret agent!" he told her trying to not have the party.
"A secret agent?" asked Pinkie very surprised
"Yeah. I'm investigating why... the... uhm... the things do that" he said with a bad poker face
"What things do what?" asked Pinkie suddenly very suspicious of him
"Exactly. The HQ wants me to investigate what the things are and what do they do"
"Oh, then it will be extra hard to complete your mission" Pinkie Pie said concerned for her new friend. Then acquired a thinking pose "Wait. My friend Twilight can help you! She's very smart after all" Pinkie said with a grin. Fernando got nervous at the mention of that name
"Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle?" he asked slowly
"Yeah! How did you know?" She asked him with the same grin
"Is just that... we... made a bet... Yes, a bet. She against me" the human responded
"Okie doki loki!" Pinkie Pie seemed satisfied with the response
"I have to go now, good bye!" he then walked away and immediately hided out of others sight.
After escaping from the pink mass of sugar, Fernando made his way to the outskirts of the city walking along what he supposed was a forest of apple trees. Then he remembered something important
"I still don't have lunch, right?" he got his response from his stomach that growled as loud as a lion. He then turned to the apple trees "I'll just take one" he said out loud. He reached for one from a low hanging branch and took it. When he bit it was as if he had tasted the heaven. "Best apple ever!" he shouted.
Back with the HHT, Twilight had told the others to go get their friends.
"Rainbow, you go and get Applejack; Fluttershy, you go for Rarity. I'll go for Pinkie Pie"
"I'll go with you Fluttershy" said Spike eager to see his crush.
Twilight arrived at Sugar Cube Corner and searched for Pinkie Pie. It was a slow day for the shop because contrary to other days, you couldn't smell the pastries that were just out of the oven. Pinkie wasn't behind the counter, but Mrs. Cake was.
"Where is Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked to the mare
"She is up there in her room" Mrs. Cake answered
"Thank you" she then went upstairs, to the room that the Cakes rented to Pinkie Pie. She knocked at the door and somepony said from inside
"Come in!" Twilight did so and she greeted her hyperactive friend
"Hello Pinkie Pie"
"Hi Twilight, why are you here? You should be investigating" Pinkie Pie responded, she had the conversation still in her head. For her, something wasn't right. In her own words, or thoughts: "Something is wrong with that guy, I mean, why would he give me all of that information? *mental gasp* He wants me to tell Twilight about all of this so she gets confident so he can win the bet. Ha, well, that won't work!. Twilight just watched her as she did facial expressions that matched her thoughts.
"I came for you. We need your help to catch a human that escaped from the princess. We don't know if he is dangerous or not, but he is very tricky". Twilight told her after she stopped herself from staring at her friend.
"Wait, the name of the human is Fernando?" Pinkie asked with a face of a sudden realization. Twilight shook her head in 'yes' way. "And he's not a secret agent?" now Twilight shook her head but to say no. "How could he do that to me!"
"Calm down Pinkie, after all, he thinks that he is going to be put in a cell if he is caught" Pinkie thought about it and calmed down
"But what happens after we do catch him?" at this question Twilight just sighs
"We put him in a cage" Pinkie Pie smiles
"Oh, so we're putting him under custody?" the unicorn just stared
Back at the road out of Ponyville, Fernando was staring at the sky from bellow of some of the trees. He felt a chill in the back of his neck some time ago and he was unnerved by it. Unnoticed for him, a spot that was just a little darker that the sky moved a little slowly. That was our favorite pride fueled, rainbow-maned pegasus. She was flying slowly because like Fernando, he felt a reaction, but of pure anger. She said darkly to herself
"I know you're there. You can run, but you can't hide". She scanned the floor while flying, but because of the trees she didn't saw him.
Rainbow Dash arrived at the house of the apple family just when the sun was starting to set and knocked at the door. Applebloom was the one to answer the door.
"Hello Rainbow Dash, are you coming to see my sister?" greeted Applebloom.
"Yeah, kid, is she at home?" asked Rainbow
"Yeah, I'll call her" answered Applebloom. She took a big breath and shouted loudly enough as to leave Rainbow Dash deaf if she was some centimeters closer "APPLEJACK, RAINBOW DASH IS HERE!"
Applejack came after a while a little annoyed for her sister's shout
"Applebloom, how many times do I have to tell you that this house is not that big and that you shouldn't shout that loud? You'll end up annoying the neighbors!" Applejack scolded her sister.
"What neighbors?" asked Applebloom confused
"Exactly!" she returned
"So, what's up RD?" she asked, finally talking to her friend
"Yesterday Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike and I went to Canterlot because the princess had called us, she told us about a creature called 'human' that she wanted us to capture. The human was smarter that us and got away, so now we need to search for him all over Equestria"
"Wait, wait, wait... Are you telling me that some random animal is more intelligent that THE Twilight Sparkle?" Applejack said a little humored
"It's not funny!" answered Rainbow Dash angrily "He made me do the explanation of the Wonderbolts just to escape!" Applejack just laughed.
"Whatever you say" the farm pony said after calming herself "I'll come with you. It's clear that we need strength against this 'human' guy. But wait, how does human look?" she asked Rainbow.
"First of all, he is a human, and his name is Fernando. He walks on two legs, is bald all over, except for the head, and that's all I know. Now let's go to the library" Dash said before darting to the library.
"Thanks for waiting for me!" shouted Applejack sarcastically, and then she started to trot to the library.
Applejack was trotting through the usual path when she saw something a little strange. She saw two strips of what looked like clothes hanging from a tree. On further examination, they looked like they were moving on their own, and it only got windy in Sweet Apple Acres when it was about to rain, or in Zap Apple season. She observed the sky and it was a bright orange. No cloud on sight. So she went up to the tree and she saw something very strange. A creature with claw-like extremities was up there, but what called her attention was the fact that it was eating one of her apples.
"Hey you! Just who do you think you are!" She shouted to the creature, that turned to see her and looked a like he was getting nervous.
"I'm just someone that happened to be hungry" he tried to say as calmly as possible.
"But why do you go and eat MY apples from MY family orchard!" Applejack responded angrily.
"Oh, crap!" he thought "Sorry, I'm new here and I didn't know the owners, but I'll pay for them" he said in an apologizing tone "So, how much is for two apples?"
Applejack stared at him for a moment trying to figure if he really just ate two apples. After a while she said "It will be four bits" at this the creature (that we know is the human) took out four coins that he hopped were the things called 'bits', jumped from the tree and landed not so gracefully on the ground. After he stood up he handed over the bits to Applejack.
"Here are your bits" he said. The pony stared at him a little and then questioned him
"Sooo... you walk on two legs?" he just stood awkwardly there feeling uncomfortable
"Yeah" he answered
"And you're bald all over your body except for the head?" this set off the alarms on Fernando's head but he tried to play it cool
"Yeah, what about that?" he looked at her while contemplating his possibilities of getting out of the danger. Applejack just turned her head to hide a mischievous smile.
"Oh nothing, just curiosity, something that my friend Twilight seems to have. You might know... her? Oh come on!" She shouted while starting to catch up with the human.
POV of Fernando
I saw my chance when she looked in other way. The advantage was short lived, but it worth it. While running I could hear her yelling at me
"You know, when somepony turns to hide any kind of smile you're supposed to patiently wait!" Yep, I pissed her off with this.
"Maybe here, but not from where I come from!" I yelled back at her.
It wasn't good, she was catching up to me very fast and I was growing tired. Making a zigzag through the trees helped, but only a little.
"I can't try to be one with my inner monkey was my thought after contemplating swinging in the branches of the trees, but it dawned over me. I jumped while still running and took an apple from one tree. I look back and I think that pony knows what I'm about to do.
"Oh no, you wouldn't do that" but I dared to do it anyway. As strong as possible, I turn and launch it right at that pony's legs. The hit is strong enough to throw her out of balance, but she doesn't trips, but I'm ready. I then screech to an stop and stick out my leg in front of her.
Third person POV
Applejack saw what was awaiting for her, but she managed to jump over the leg.
"Did he really think that I would fall for that? she thinks while still in the air, but then, when she saw where she was going while still in the air she could only think one thing "Buck you". Applejack then hit a tree that was in her way with enough force to get stuck halfway through the tree. Fernando stood there as she struggled to set herself free and said
"Sorry for that" he then took another two bits from his pocket "here are the other two bits for the apple" he then ran away. To this day, Applejack still doesn't know if he was truly sorry or was mocking her.
Meanwhile in the Carrousel Boutique, Fluttershy and Spike had just arrived and had knocked at the door. Rarity answered from the inside
"Come i~n" Spike and Fluttershy did so. Rarity came from other room to greet them, wearing one of her extravagant dresses. "Oh, hello Fluttershy, hello Spikey-Wikey. What bring you two here today?"
"Hi Rarity, um... what are you wearing?" Fluttershy and Spike greeted at the same time and Spike was the one that made the question.
"Oh, this? It's just one of the designer dresses that I got today from my friends in Canterlot" she said gleefully "but by the looks of your faces I know that there is something happening, so what is it?
"Well... It's just a little problem" started to say Fluttershy
"Its one of the biggest crisis of Equestria!" interrupted Spike
"It's only a harmless creature" continued Fluttershy
"Called a human that is the smartest creature in Equestria" Spike again
"We have to convince him to come with us" Fluttershy
"We need to catch him for the princess for world security" Spike, exaggerating again
"He's not evil..." Fluttershy didn't even finished
"He's an evil master mind that we still don't know if wants to bring Equestria to the dark..." Rarity gave him a look of 'just don't continue' "he-he, sorry" he apologized.
"Now Fluttershy, what were you saying, darling?" Rarity asked, turning to her best friend
"I was just saying that this human is not evil or anything, but we really, really need to know why he is here"
"Don't worry, I completely understand the situation and I will be as mature as possible with this situation" she said with a reassuring smile.
"Thanks Rarity. I knew we could count on you" Fluttershy told her.
Fernando ran as fast as he could. He didn't knew where he would end, but he needed to hide quick. It was starting to get dark and he would need to pass the night in an alley again. Thankfully, the night helped to hide him better, but before it was fully dark there would still be at least half a hour of light.
He walked through the deserted streets of the town, searching for a possible hiding spot.
"Considering this is a small town, I don't think I might get a good enough sleeping spot." but everything he just needed to do was to think at new heights. "Let's try one of the rooftops!" he thought eagerly to try his new idea.
"This wasn't what I had in mind" he said quietly as he stood over the rooftop made out of hay. "Let's see if I can find a less angular roof" he thought as he scanned the building around the random house. He saw the town hall, but he could be easily spotted because it was in the middle of the town, he saw a giant tree, but it had a lot of windows so it probably was a home or something. But then he saw it. It was a carrousel themed building, but what called his attention was that at the very top the was what looked like a flat spot, and best of all is that it was covered with a little roof. With his mind set, he made his way to the building.
Fluttershy and Rarity were about to walk out of the boutique (Spike was floating) when they heard a big crashing soun followed by a shout
"Crap!" They quickly got out of the boutique and found a creature laying on his back by some trash cans "Note to myself, never try to climb walls with an inclination of ninety degrees"
"It's him!" said Fluttershy and Spike at the same moment
"The human?" asked Rarity
"Yes, it's him! We need to tell the others!" said Fluttershy frantically
"You go Fluttershy, I'll try to catch him" told her Rarity
"But, what about your dress? Wont it get damaged?" questioned Fluttershy
"It's just a dress, darling, now go!" Rarity commanded to the pegasus, that immediately went to the library.
"What about me?" asked Spike
"If this the human, then I'll try to be as persuasive as I can, but if things get out of hand then I'll need help" she told the dragon, who nodded in response. Then Rarity turned to the creature that just now was getting up "Ehem, good evening" Fernando turned to the source of the voice and saw Rarity.
"Good evening" he answered.
"My name is Rarity and I got notice that you are wanted by the princess. May I ask why?" she inquired. This surprised Fernando, because there wasn't any sign of doing this ONLY to win time.
"Well... It started yesterday, when I appeared in what I think you call here Canterlot Crystal Caves. I was confused and just wanted to know how to get home, but then I found this Princess Celestia that told me that they would put me under custody, but it's practically like getting arrested for doing nothing!" he could at last get that out of him at least "Then I get away and find out that there is a whole party of ponies searching for me! Now I escaped and after some other mishaps here I am". He ended
"Oh, but uuuh..." she silently asked for his name
"Fernando" he told her
"Yes, Fernando, you must understand the worries of the princess" she told him, trying to win him over
"And those are?" he asked her
"Well... they are... okay, I don't know, but you should at least try to cooperate" she said
"Just tell me this, am I gonna be studied or something?" he asked her while looking straight at her eyes
"Uhm... probably?" she answered with an unsure grin
"I'm out of here" he said as he turned to leave, just to trip and fall again to the trash cans. He felt something in his ankle and turned to see what it was. He saw it glowing a light blue. He then saw her horn and indeed it was glowing.
"My magic might not be as powerful as Twilight's, but I still can restrain you. Fernando got nervous. He knew he had heard another voice, and worse of all, a voice that he knew from somewhere. He had to think fast. He studied the mare and found her way of dressing a little strange, but he also noted that she kept herself very tidy. "Maybe she is one of those people obsessed with the looks". He grabbed something from the trash can that I won't dare to describe, and to the unicorn shock, he threw it at her. It was like seeing something in slow motion. Rarity was screaming and was paralyzed from the sudden turn of the things. Spike, who was hiding could only stare in confusion at Rarity's reaction.
When the garbage that Fernando threw landed on top of the dress, Rarity did an overly dramatic reaction and fell over. She couldn't resist it. Spike quickly ran between Rarity and the human and said as menacingly as posible
"If you dare to touch her, I'm gonna tear apart your entire... erm... claw?" he failed to name the thing that Fernando had in his arm
"Hand" the human said while holding up said member. He saw the look in Spike's eyes when he ran to defend Rarity. "You like her, right?" He asked to the dragon. Spike blushed and responded
"What does that has to do with this?" Fernando simply said
"I'll leave, but when she wakes up, and she probably asks what happened, you better tell her something like 'I did my best to defend you, but I couldn't stop the human from escaping. Sorry.' or whatever you want"
"Why are you trying to help me with this?" Spike asked confused
"Because I know that saying something like that will make her fall for you, or at least will get you some points". With that he turned to leave, but Spike told him before he left
"Thanks for the advise" after that, Fernando left
"He's not as bad as he seems, but he'll still get it when Rainbow and whoever he might have angered by now manage to catch him" he thought while taking Rarity with him, or trying, considering that she was three times his size.
Twilight and Pinkie were the first to arrive at the library. While they were walking, or hopping in Pinkie's case, towards the giant tree, Pinkie had been asking every question she had. Even if it wasn't related to the human.
"... and that is how the dragons can breath fire" Twilight finished while she was entering the library with Pinkie, who had the usual grin in her face. They were sitting in the main room of the library while waiting for the others.
Rainbow Dash was the first to arrive at the meeting point, like most of the days, crashing through the window.
"Hello Pinkie Pie. Hello again Twilight" she greeted from the floor.
"Hello Dashie!" Pinkie responded. Twilight was about to greet the blue mare too, but she noticed the lack of orange that was supposed to be with her.
"Rainbow Dash," she started "where is Applejack? You were supposed to bring her here"
"Don't worry, I just left her behind after getting her". Twilight couldn't believe her friend's impatience.
"But Rainbow, Pinkie said that Fernando is here in Ponyville, who knows if she might have encountered him!" the purple mare told to the pegasus.
"What! The pest is here?" Rainbow asked "So that explains my sudden rage!" she exclaimed, confusing Twilight.
"Sudden rage? What are you talking about?" Twilight inquired
"While I was flying over the Apple's orchard, I suddenly felt a lot of rage, like after the human got away from me in Canterlot" Rainbow Dash said.
"Then we should go before he does something to Applejack!" said Pinkie Pie before the door opened to reveal Applejack, although a very pissed off one with some tree chips in her mane.
"Whoa, what happened to you?" asked Rainbow Dash. Applejack glared at her before responding
"The human, that's what. He got me stuck halfway through a tree and then escaped"
"Really, did he throw you at the tree?" asked Twilight remembering that until now, Fernando hasn't damaged directly anypony. Applejack sighed and said.
"No, he tricked me in jumping over his leg that he had stuck out, I then hit the tree"
"Did you see where he went? Rainbow Dash asked, readying herself to fly out to search for him
"Yeah, after he paid for the apple that he used for distraction, he came back here, but I think we need a full team to catch him"
"Wait, he paid for it?" asked Twilight
"Yeah. He didn't have a lot of bits with him, so I suppose that it was something that he found in the streets" responded Applejack
"That is certainly interesting" Twilight said to herself with a hoof under her chin "Well, we'll just wait for Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike" just then there was a knock on the door. Twilight went to open it and there was a very exhausted Fluttershy
"What is it with you and timing today?" Pinkie Pie asked to no one in particular.
"Human *breath* Boutique *breath* Rarity *breath* stopping him" Fluttershy said almost fainting. Everypony gasped and went directly to the Carrousel Boutique, hoping that it wasn't too late.
They arrived at the scene some minutes later. Spike hasn't done any progress trying to take Rarity with him when he noticed the others
"Where is the human, Spike? And why is Rarity unconscious?" asked Twilight
"The human went that way" he said pointing to the west "and Rarity is like this because the human threw a little garbage over her dress. I still don't understand how it was that bad, I mean, can't she wash it?" Spike asked, but noticed that nopony was paying him attention after the garbage part.
"Seven times, seven times that he gets away! I say that we knock him out next time that he is in our hoofs!" proposed Rainbow Dash.
"We can't do that, Rainbow, remember that we don't want him to fear us if we want him to cooperate" remembered Twilight as a response.
"Yeah, but a little bruises can't really be that bad, right?" Applejack commented, happy at the thought of a little pay back.
"I-I too don't want to hurt him" said Fluttershy quietly
"What do you think Rarity?" asked Twilight, before remembering that she is unconscious. "Can somepony please wake her up, please?" the unicorn asked
"Leave it to me" Rainbow Dash said. She cleared her throat and said next to Rarity "Oh, look. It's the Prince Blueblood!". This did it, because in less than a second Rarity was up and red from the fury.
"Where is that coward!? I'm gonna make him... regret... he is not here, right?" Rarity questioned and blushed when she got some four shakes of heads. "Spike, dear, could you be so kind as to tell me, what happened?" Spike found his chance and said
"After you fainted I went to protect you, but I couldn't stop the human in time, sorry." he said to her, using the advice that Fernando gave him. This touched the unicorn's heart and gave the dragon a kiss in the cheek
"Thank you, Spikey-Wikey" the dragon meanwhile, was out cold, like Rarity some seconds ago. "Hey, where is Pinkie Pie?" the white unicorn asked to the others. That is when everypony noticed the lack of pink in their lives at the moment
"Do you think that she went to catch the human by herself?" Twilight asked, while the others nodded yes to the question. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had evil smiles at the same thought
"He won't get away from that pony", while Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike, who woke up at a magic shake from Twilight, were getting worried for the sanity of Fernando.
Fernando was in what his eyes could still tell him was a park.
"Well, this looks big enough for hiding" he thought as he made his way through the park. The moon was at last high in the sky, but the night was still going to last long.
He remembered that he still had the shining rocks, so he could try to use then to scare any pony that was out late. He walked some time until he found the perfect hiding spot. It was patch of ground surrounded by bushes that were high enough to hide him. He found it by mere luck when he tripped with a root.
He was about to drift off to sleep when he got the feeling of being watched. He rolled to find a more comfortable position when he was face to face with Pinkie Pie
"Boo!" she said. Fernando jumped from his position and was already running out of there. He turned to see if Pinkie had followed him and found nothing. He smiled while still getting his blood pressure to a normal state when he again got the same feeling. He turned his head and saw Pinkie Pie again. "You know, we never played hide and seek like all my other friends" she said with a smile. Fernando could only wonder how she had done that.
"Hey, uhm... Pinkie, I know that you want to take me to the princess, but I can't let any of you do that" he told to Pinkie
"And why can't you let us?" she asked
"Because my pride keeps me from doing so" he said before running from the pink menace.
He ran as fast as he could and before he noticed it, he was at the market district. He went to rest next to a stand that could hide him.
"You look tired. Here, have a carrot!" said someone from behind the counter. He gladly took the carrot and was about to bite it when he noticed something
"Who is giving away carrots in the middle of the night? he thought while turning and hoping that it was the Carrot Fairy.
"Hello again!" said Pinkie Pie with the mouth full of carrot. Fernando saw the situation and couldn't resist his chance. He took some bites from the carrot and said
"What's up, doc?" he said
"That's funny, I don't remember going to the medicine school" she said while going through her memories
"So what are you doing here at this hour?" Fernando asked
"Oh, I'm hunting humans, humans like you" Pinkie happily said
"But I'm not a human" he said
"You're not? I could swear that you were one" Pinkie said confused
"No, I'm a homo sapiens" Fernando told to the cotton maned pony
"Have you seen any humans here then? I'm just looking for one" she asked
"Mmm... that human has hair like this?" he asked while ruffling his hair
"Yes he does" Pinkie said with a grin
"Is he taller that the average pony?" he asked while pointing to the top of his head
"Yes, yes!" Pinkie was getting excited at knowing where the human was
"And has he tricked a lot of ponies including your friends and the princess?"
"Yeah, that is him!" Pinkie said
"I don't know him" he said disinterested while turning to leave
"Oh, okay. Have a nice night!" she said while she was walking to the other way. Fernando couldn't taste his victory when he bumped into something soft. When he looked down he saw Pinkie Pie.
"Hey, you know? My friends told me that this human was very tricky, and I think that it's you" she said with a frown that said 'no more games'
"Okay, you got me. Just before I go take off that fake bug on your back" he said
"Fake bug, what fake bug?" Pinkie said looking worried
"That one, the one that looks like it's about to bite you"
"What!? I got no fake bug! TAKEITOFFTAKEITOFFTAKEITOFFTAKEITOFF!" She yelled while running in circles. He meanwhile was already walking away, but when he couldn't hear Pinkie anymore, she popped up from a hollow tree that was next to him
"Hey, thanks for telling me about that parasprite!" Fernando only stared incredulously and finally asked
"How can you see through my tricks?" he asked her
"Oh, that is very simple actually, I just have to think outside the chimney!" She happily said. This set off the ultimate plan on Fernando's head. One that he wished he would never have to use: rhetoric.
"Hey Pinkie, I have a question for you" he said
"Shoot away" she responded, clearly ready.
"How would you think if you think outside a chimney that is inside another chimney?" he asked with a sly smile.
"Well, I would think inside the chimney!" she said
"But you are outside the chimney" I corrected her
"Then I'm thinking outside the chimney inside the chimney" Pinkie said, now a little unsure
"That is just repeating what I said" Fernando told her. At this, Pinkie just adopted the thinker pose on a nearby rock and muttered incoherences to herself. "Finally!" Fernando thought, and with that he got away from the random minded pony.
Fernando observed his surroundings after he considered he was safe at a safe distance from the pony. He was in what looked like a little forest with a river crossing it.
"I better keep on the move," he saw some planks near a finished bridge "And I think I know how". He went up to the bridge and took a plank and threw it at the river. He then jumped too and took the plank under his arms as a floater and he let the current do all the job.
Twilight and the others managed to catch up with Pinkie Pie, who was still thinking about the question asked by the human.
"Any luck Pinkie Pie?" asked Rainbow Dash eagerly, but Pinkie didn't look like she had heard her and asked
"How am I thinking if I think outside a chimney that is inside a chimney" when she heard this, Twilight got surprised
"He really used rhetoric as an escape method?" she sighed and commanded to Spike "Spike, take note"
"Ready!" he responded with a parchment and a quill that he took from his body pockets
"Dear Princess Celestia
Fernando proved to be a real challenge. He had fooled us all and I'm pretty sure he'll be doing it again the next time we meet him. We will need a lot of time before we can put him under your custody, and even then he will probably escape from wherever we put him. Now I ask you for advise. He hasn't shown any signs of hurting anypony for fun and from a testimony from Applejack, he neither is a thief.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle"
With that, Spike rolled the letter, but stopped when he remembered something
"But you already sent a letter today" he told Twilight
"It doesn't matter. Think of this as a letter with two parts" Twilight responded and Spike blew it with fire.
"Now, can we go to sleep? We can investigate tomorrow" suggested Spike, clearly tired from the events of the day. Everypony seemed happy with the idea and went to rest for the day.
In the castle of Canterlot, late at night, princess Celestia was reading a book, trusting that her student would do a better job that she or the royal guard. She didn't expect anymore letters from her in a while, and surprised was an underestimation when she saw the magical smoke float through the window until it was in front of her, condensing into a rolled parchment.
She got a bad felling just from seeing it, but she needed to know everything about the human if she wanted to take or not extreme measures. She unrolled it with her magic, and surely it showed what she feared. The human proved to be too much, even for all of Twilight's friends, including the element of magic herself.
"I wish you had not forced me to do this, but enough is enough" she said out loud. She then went for her sister to tell her to prepare for tomorrow.
Fernando fell asleep while he was still floating in the river. This worked in a way that he covered a lot of ground without leaving any traces behind, but it backfired in the fact that as far as he knew he could end up near a house or he could be spotted without any chances of escaping. Luckily everything went fine. He woke up when he got stuck on the riverside, he got out and shivered with the wind from the morning. He looked around, and found that he got quite far. He barely could see Ponyville in the distance, and to the other side there was what looked like a human city. He decided to go for the city, because it would be easier to hide there.
Meanwhile in Ponyville, everypony had woken up extra early to start the search for Fernando. They were all at the library, where Twilight was organizing the teams.
"Okay, now that everypony is ready, let's get the Human Hunters Team divided in three groups. I made these groups considering all of your abilities, as well as your dislike towards Fernando" the last part was said to Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack. "remember: we want him alive and preferably unharmed for his cooperation".
"Now, to the teams. Applejack, you are going to go with Fluttershy" Twilight announced
"Very well" said Applejack
"Okay" muttered Fluttershy
"Rarity, you go with Pinkie Pie" Twilight said next
"Oh, dear" Rarity lamented
"Okie dokie loki!" said Pinkie
"And Rainbow Dash, you are left with me" Twilight finished.
"Okay" she said
"Now, as you might have noticed, in these teams there is a pony that can easily catch up with Fernando and block his path, while the other can restrain him in a certain way" Twilight explained the teams, but AJ lifted her hoof as if she was in the school "Yes, Applejack?" Twilight asked
"I assume that I'm the pony that is going to catch up with the human, but what is supposed to do Fluttershy?" the farm pony questioned. Twilight responded
"She is supposed to use the 'stare'. We don't know if that can work, but if it does, he will be in the presence of the princess in no time" then she explained all the tactics she thought about with the teams. After that she continued over to the cities "Now you'll choose one of these cities to go" she said as she opened a map of Equestria "he won't be returning to Canterlot anytime soon, so we can discard that one. For obvious reasons Cloudsdale is also discarded, and Manehattan is on the way to any other cities, so we will separate there".
After crossing the mentioned places, the only big cities that were left were Fillydelphia, Trottingham and Las Pegasus
"Let's take Las Pegasus, Rarity!" said Pinkie excited "I've heard that they have lots of fun things to do there"
"Pinkie, remember that we're going there for the human" Rarity told her
"I know, but it will be even more fun if we end up in one of those chase scenes from the crime novels!" Pinkie said as she hopped up and down.
"Okay, I say we take Fillydelphia, Fluttershy. I don't have family only in Manehattan" proposed Applejack, excited at the prospect of meeting again her cousins.
"Okay, I don't mind where do we go" Fluttershy said quietly
"That leaves Trottingham to us, Rainbow" Twilight said to the blue pegasus
"I got no problem, after all, I think the guys from Fillydelphia still remember the incident of the water. I still receive letters that make fun of me trying to get Ponyville to beat them!" Rainbow commented.
"Then it's settled" she gave them some glowing parchment "this parchment will go directly to the princess after you write her name at the bottom of the paper, so don't lose it. Write to the princess if you get an encounter with Fernando. It doesn't matter if the result is positive or negative"
At the castle of Canterlot, the princesses were preparing to use a spell that required the magic of both the alicorns to work. It was an ancient spell with the one they could project an image of anything in all the cities of Equestria. They had been preparing it the whole morning since Celestia lifted the sun.
"Ready, Luna?" Celestia asked to her sister
"Ready, Tia" Luna responded
In the streets of Manehattan, the ponies were going through their usual morning rituals, when they heard the voice of one of their princess. Everyone looked up and they saw a translucent Celestia floating in the sky.
"Citizens of Equestria, I am creating this projection of me to give you all an important message. Two days ago, a creature known as a human, and that goes by the name of Fernando," now instead of Celestia, there is the human "appeared at the city of Canterlot. It's of the highest importance to take hold of him, because we need him for some information and for further study." It was again the image of Celestia "I'm ready to give two hundred thousand of bits to anypony that can capture him and bring him alive directly to me, to the guards that are going to be in the cities the next days," next to the princess there was a generic guard" or to any of the elements of harmony "next to the guard there are now the mane six. "but remember, because of this human trickery, he has successfully got away from me, some of my best guards and all of the elements of harmony, so prepare for anything that he could do. Also, don't fear him. He hasn't hurt anypony, but he still needs to be studied" with that, the image disappeared and muttering could be heard in the streets, but in an alley was the only important phrase that mattered to us
"Shit just got serious" and that was Fernando.
In Ponyville, the mane six had too heard the message.
"Well, looks like the princess got us a little help" commented Applejack
"I just wish that we're not freaking out just for nothing" said, ironically, Twilight.
The trip to the train station was short, but they were constantly interrupted for more information about the human by random ponies. At the train, they could feel all the stares on them for the entire trip. It was especially hard for Fluttershy to handle all that pressure, and she showed it by holding a paper bag to her mouth while breathing
"In and out slow, Fluttershy," tried to help Pinkie Pie "In and out"
At the station in Manehattan, the six ponies tried to not call the attention. Code word, tried. They were about five seconds in the station before they were swarmed by half of the ponies there. If you saw it from a safe distance it was comparable to the incident with Smarty Pants. When Fluttershy had enough, she finally yelled
"LEAVE US ALONE!" and considering it was an actual scream, everypony backed up. When noticing the sepulchral silence, she muttered "sorry" that because of the silence was heard.
Once they were in the streets, and they had escaped from yet another crowd, Rarity finally said
"I actually heard some of the ponies back there saying that they saw Fernando here"
"Well, we can wait one day before heading out" said Twilight "so let's go!" And with that they started to search through the city.
Back with the princesses of Equestria, Celestia was already regretting giving away the notice of Fernando.
"Relax sister. If I was put in your place, I would be more concerned for the sanity of our subjects than for the human" said Luna to Celestia.
"I know, Luna. It's just that if he heard that he might do something extreme. Also, I've done some research and there hasn't been any spells that could make me react like I did some days ago that were meant to transport somepony... err, someone" responded Celestia, explaining her worries.
"Look, if he doesn't makes heavy damage to the integrity of even one of our subjects by tomorrow, I'll assume that he is no threat and I'll go personally to talk to him" finished Luna. "Now, if you would excuse me, I'm really tired and wish to go to sleep" she then went to her room while Celestia found true most of the word from Luna.
"Still, if he really means no bad, will he be able to forgive all of this?" Celestia thought to herself.
A little more that a half an hour and there were already ponies with non-lethal hunting gear, like giant nets or somniferous darts, and some traps were being set, from a simple box with a stick to magical spells. Now, not even the alleys were safe now for the fugitive considering that every time he approached the corners he would hear a group of at least three ponies.
"Okay, let's leave the ground for some time" he thought when he had enough with all the ponies searching for him. He looked around his actual location and soon found a ladder attached to one of the buildings. He was about to climb it when he stopped to think "Wait, how do those tiny horses even climb these things up?". He shrugged and just went up.
He climbed until he was on the roof. He looked for a place that could hide him from the pegasus that were searching for him in the sky but didn't find much in the roof. It was a good thing that it wasn't very tall.
"I have to wait here until the night, but how am I supposed to not be seen from the sky? he then saw how window was being opened to the left of the building, so he positioned himself under it so he was harder to spot. The pony that opened the window then dumped the contents of a trash can without looking down, and it ended all over Fernando "Ugh, I had to ask, right?". Without another option, he buried himself in the trash and hoped that whatever he was touching with his left hand wasn't alive.
Meanwhile, the mane six had taken each one a part of the second biggest city in Equestria. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy didn't got luck with the camouflage of Fernando. Twilight was using a see-through spell and was searching everything from the alleys to the rooftops. Rarity got a little explanation from Twilight about the spell, but she could only use it in things that were close to her. Pinkie was investigating everything she could with a magnifying glass and Applejack went with her aunt and uncle to ask for some help.
After a lot of searching, Twilight finally found Fernando's hiding spot and she was about to use a spell to call her friends, but remembered that she would also attract some unrequested attention from the other ponies and that could take away the surprise element. So she decided to approach him alone.
"I just need to get him under my levitation spell and everything will be over" she thought.
Fernando took a peek past his camouflage and didn't saw any pegasus nearby.
"Uff... I was starting to think that I would lose my smell sense" he said quietly". He spent some time looking for something to do. He could hear some ponies on the ground bellow, but to his luck, the pegasus had already given up on searching for him high in the sky.
After some time he started to get bored, so he took a bottle and some rocks. He put the bottle on one side of the building and he went to the other and started to throw the rocks to the bottle. He had just a few in his possession when he could hear something climbing up the ladder. He peeked over the edge and he made eye contact with Twilight, who was halfway up there.
"How did she find me?" he thought frantically as he scanned the area for an scape route, but the building was high enough for an unsafe jump and the walls didn't had enough bulges to climb it.
"Hello there, Fernando! Long time no see" said Twilight sarcastically with a smug smile when she got to the top of the building.
"Hey, Twilight was it? What's up?" he responded nervous
"Oh, nothing, just that our game of hide and seek is over" she said as she took him in the levitation spell "Now let's go back to Canterlot. After just some little questions and studies we'll try to take you back to wherever you come from"
"And in the mean time while you research how to take me back?" Fernando asked, still floating
"I don't know, but you did resist the custody" the unicorn said unsure
"Oh, come on!" he said very annoyed. He prepared the rocks he still had and threw one to the sky
"What do you wish to accomplish with that?" asked Twilight as she followed the rock as it went up
"This!" Fernando said throwing another to the horn of the unicorn. This successfully broke the unicorn's spell and when he was free he ran to the ladder.
"I don't think so!" Twilight yelled as she once again stopped Fernando, but the rock that was thrown to the sky fell on top of Twilight's head giving her a lump.
"Owowowowowowow" she said while rubbing her head. Fernando then went down the stairs as fast as he could. He had to get away as fast as he could from her.
"Come back here!" he heard Twilight, thankfully away enough so she couldn't trap him. He then noticed all the bad hidden traps that were scattered in the alley
"Yup, here I'm nothing more than a stupid animal" he said as he ran between them carefully so he wasn't the one to fall in them. He heard some sounds behind him and could deduce that Twilight had fallen in one. He stopped and turned to see her tangled by some ropes.
"How did you managed to pass all these traps?" Twilight said loud enough for him to hear. It was his turn to have a smug smile
"Two legs" he pointed to said extremities "give me more agility" he then went to the opposite direction to were Twilight was. "Those things will attract a lot of ponies" he thought as he was making sure that there were no ponies past the corner "Wait" he said out loud "Those traps SHOULD attract a lot of ponies". He then was suddenly very paranoid about everything around him. He stopped to hear anything around him and he heard a faint clicking sound. He quickly crouched and he saw flying above him a net that stopped when it hit the wall.
"Quick, he is distracted!" he heard a shout to his left at the same time that three ponies were coming out from their hiding spot. One was coming from behind, the other to his left and the last from the same direction from the net. Only one of them had a horn while the other two were normal.
Fernando ran as fast as he could from the ponies, dropping everything he could to slow them. He could hear a lot of noise near, so he assumed that he was near a main street by now.
"This is not good. I need to shake them off before they force me to exit to the crowded streets!" Fernando thought as he searched for something that he could use to his advantage.
There was a mini heart attack when he tripped with a drain that happened to have the holes a little too big.
"Gotcha human" said one of the earth ponies as she took hold of him. "Okay, now let's take him to the miss Sparkle to claim our reward" the unicorn, that was male, said.
"I don't have much time" Fernando thought as he was forced to walk. He was being restrained by the magic of the unicorn, so once again he would depend of his brain.
"So... you only want the reward?" Fernando asked to no one in particular
"That's right. Those bits will be very good to buy some nice things" answered the pony that was behind him, who was the one that caught him.
"And you are going to divide the money between the three of you?" Fernando questioned again
"Yep, that's the plan" answered again the mare.
"But what if the unicorn dumps you and your other partner?" the human asked
"What do you mean, he would never do something like that!" she returned clearly angry
"But people, err... ponies can do a lot of things just for getting one or two coins" this got the mare to think and she looked like she wasn't conscious about her surroundings anymore. "Now for the next one" he thought "Hey you, the pony that is in front of me" he said just loud enough for the other earth pony to hear
"What?" she too was female
"I heard from your friend that you are going to divide the reward, it's that right?" he asked
"Yeah, why?" she answered uninterested
"Because I never saw you doing anything useful" he told her
"Well, for your information, I was the one that coordinated everything" she responded in an upset tone"
"So, you are the leader of the team?" he asked yet again
"Yes I am" she said with pride
"Then, why aren't you leading?" he inquired. She then saw that the unicorn was, indeed, in front of her
"Hey, what are you doing?" she questioned very upset
"What do you mean?" the unicorn responded confused
"I'm the leader of this team, I should be leading the group!" she said
"Well, you didn't really did much, did you? You got luck that we're dividing the reward in equal parts!" the unicorn yelled angry
"In that case, why don't you take the human for yourself? Oh, that's right, you couldn't think of a plan with that stone for a brain of yours!" the earth pony shouted.
Thanks to the sudden uncontrolled rage, the unicorn lost his grip and Fernando was free, and he immediately ran away from the fighting ponies, but the other mare, that was brought from her mind by the yelling, saw him and went for him.
It wasn't long before he could no longer hear the ponies yelling and he started to calm down, but he turned the corner of the actual alley to find a dead end.
"Damn, better go back a little" he said as he turned, but he found the mare that was with the other two.
"Now you can't escape anymore. I'll just wait for my partners to come searching for me to give you to Celestia" she said with an evil smile. Fernando just approached her already with a plan. He stuck out his hand and said
"Look at my hand" he said while smiling
"What about it?" she said thinking of him as a retard
"Look how my fingers move" he then started to move his fingers from side to side.
"So what?" she questioned the sanity of Fernando by now
"Now up" he moved his hand up and the pony followed it with her gaze "now down" he moved it down "now left" he moved it to the left "now right" and finally he moved it to the right, all the time the pony was looking at it. "Up, down, left, right" he repeated the sequence but a little quicker "updownleftright" he said and moved even more fast "UPDOWNLEFTRIGHTUPDOWNLEFTRIGHT" this was the fastest he could go and it was working, because soon the mare was very dizzy. Enough for her to fall to the ground.
"Bye bye" Fernando said to her mockingly.
The mane six and Spike had gathered again just a little before the sun down. They were staying at the guests room in the Orange's house, that was big enough for all of them. Twilight was the last to get there and told the others about her encounter with Fernando.
"Well, I must admit that he knows how to use the terrain to his advantage" Applejack said.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go search for him right now!" Rainbow Dash said before darting out, but was caught by the magic of Twilight
"Rainbow Dash, if we go searching for him now that we don't know were he might be, the results will be the same or worse than this afternoon" Twilight told to Rainbow Dash.
"Then what are we going to do?" asked the rainbow maned mare
"We'll wait for some reports from the ponies out there. If we don't know nothing by past-tomorrow we'll continue with the plan" Twilight said.
"Hey Twilight" said Fluttershy quietly as usual "you said that Fernando was decided to escape when you implied that he would be put in a cell, so uhm... why don't you try to convince the princess to not lock him down?" at this suggestion Twilight hummed.
"I could suggest it to the princess, but I don't know if she will agree or not" Twilight responded as she went to take a parchment.
"Don't you want me to write down the letter this time?" asked Spike
"No Spike, I think I'll write it down this time" Twilight said.
The princess Celestia was at the throne room. Her sister had just returned from lifting the moon when she saw the magical smoke that she expects with anxiety each day now. Luna saw the letter forming itself in front of her sister and went with her to ask
"Is it from Twilight?" Celestia turned her eyes to see her and said
"Yes it is, do you want to hear the report of the day?" Luna nodded "It says:
Dear princess Celestia
Right now we are at Manehattan, at Applejack's familiar's house. If tomorrow we don't get signs that Fernando is still here, we will separate to the only other big cities that he might be in. Fernando once again has shown signs of cleverness when he used the traps that the other ponies had set up. Also, we think that one of the reasons because he doesn't want to come with us is because he doesn't want to get locked up. He hasn't shown any signs of being aggressive towards anypony nor he has committed a crime, so is it possible to not make him a prisoner? I think that the reason he keeps on running away is because of that.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle"
After Celestia finished, Luna asked
"So, what are you going to do?" Celestia sighed and told her with a troubled look
"I don't know. The best I can do is to let him wander around the castle, and even then, he would have to hide from all of the visitors that might come here. The way I asked for him to be brought to me made him look like a fugitive. What I fear is that he could create questions among the ponies out there that could not be answered by me or you, but that doesn't stop there, they might do this to all the ponies involved. Then they'll think of this as conspiracy and that could create chaos in the cities"
"Yeah, that might be the case," Luna gave her a comforting look "but that's taking it too far, and I'm pretty sure that Fernando won't have any troubles with hiding from others"
"I hope you're right, Luna" Celestia told her as she brought with her magic a parchment and a quill to respond to her student. Just as she was starting to write, a guard entered to the room and after bowing he told to the princess
"There is a mare here that says that she might have information about the human that is of high importance"
"Okay, allow her in" Celestia responded
The mare that entered the room was a mint green pony with a mane of two colors, one white while the other was a light shade of blue (I'm not sure). Her cutie mark was a lyre and she had with her a saddle bag. She bowed too and after the princess allowed her to rise, Celestia asked her solemnly
"Greetings, unicorn, what might be your name and business here?"
"My name is Lyra Heartstrings, princess. I'm here because I know something that I think you should know about the human" she said, with a grin that showed how excited she was about this.
"And what would that be?" Celestia inquired
"Well, in my free time I like to investigate something that until now was nameless. It came in a book from the library in ponyville and some bed stories from my grandfather. It's about a kind of tailless monkey that was believed extinct" she informed the princess
"But I have lived for thousands of years. I have seen the start of some species and the extinction of the same, how come I have never heard of these creatures before?" asked Celestia with an arched eyebrow
"That is because" there was a shine in the eyes of Lyra when she started to talk "these creatures were believed to live in the Everfree forest. There has been nothing more that three sightings in all of the history, in the same year, and because of that, they were thought of only as a myth, thus they weren't considered important" she then paused for a breath. Celestia took this opportunity to ask
"And, how does this species relate to the human?" at this question, Lyra took from her saddle bad a book and offered it to the princess
"It's in this book. The image of the monkey is vague, but you can appreciate that it is bald. Also, in the description you can see that in these three cases the monkeys had some kind of clothing that resembled a little that of the pony kind. Like the clothing that this Fernando wore".
"I see" said Celestia as she went through the book that Lyra had brought. She stopped when she read something interesting. It was like this:
The second and third times that this specie was spotted, the specimen was using some kind of tool. One to fight one of the local beasts and the other to help a comrade that was injured"
"This could explain the use of the enviroment" Celestia thought. When she saw Celestia interested in the book, Lyra approached to see which page she was on. She recognized it immediately and commented
"This observation has brought me to think that maybe these humans don't have any magic, nor strength to fight with bare claws" remember that she too doesn't know that they are called hands. Celestia contemplated the uses of this information and then started to talk
"Lyra Heartstrings, your information is indeed important and could be useful in the future. Now, with your knowledge about this topic we could use your help to try and convince this human to come with us, or if he still refuses bring him by any means necessary that don't harm him. He has suffered a lot by now and I'm pretty sure that there is still some things to come"
"It would be an honor help you" said Lyra, bouncing from the excitement. Celestia turned to one of her guards and asked him
"Are there any carriages avaible?"
"Yes, your majesty. Every carriage had been under maintenance and are ready" the guard answered
"Very well, then prepare one, because Lyra Heartstrings has to get to Manehattan before it's too late in the night" Celestia commanded.
"I'll prepare myself, princess" Lyra said before leaving the room. Luna, who has been silent, but had heard everything, spoke to her sister when Lyra had left.
"See? Everything is sorting out itself, soon we will look back at this and we'll be able to laugh at this"
"Yes, you're right" Celestia responded with a smile before resuming her letter to Twilight, adding now the fact that they were getting help.
Meanwhile, the HHT were talking about their plan for tomorrow while Spike was ready to go to bed, but a sudden burp caught everypony attention and deprived Spike from his slumber.
"Okay, the princess let's see what the princess can do. It says
Dear Twilight Sparkle
I'm now aware of what you think, but the best I can do is to let him stay in the castle without anymore restrictions than that he is not seen by anypony that is not either you, me, my sister or the guards. Also, there is a pony that apparently knows more than anypony of us about the human species, so I sent her there. She should arrive before midnight."
After Twilight finished, she looked very surprised
"Well, I wasn't expecting that" she said
"What, the part about the information or the part about the help?" asked Spike
"Both, but it surprises me more than everything the fact that there is information about Fernando's species" responded Twilight.
Back in the streets, Fernando is currently running from some late hunters. From the last time we saw him, he has encountered other three teams and two solo hunters. Because of the hour, there weren't many ponies at the streets, so he was safe to go out without too much probability of being caught, but he still preferred the alleys, because he didn't feel exposed.
He entered an alley and found a dead end. It wasn't very wide, so he thought quickly and said to himself
"Let's be spider-man". He then put his left hand to the wall and did the same with his right had to the opposite wall. He then did the same with his feet, putting as much pressure as possible as to not fall, then he started to climb, moving one limb at a time as quick as possible. When he considered he was high enough, he looked down, and saw his chasers only peeking at the alley before moving along.
"Darn, if this continues like this I'll never get away enough to think how to return to my home" he thought when he was at the ground again. He exited the alley and went in the opposite direction of his stalkers. He walked some time, staying out of the reach of the street's light, until he found what appeared to be a map of the city. He approached the map, but he couldn't read anything. Luckily for him, he found a big red arrow, that he deduced was his actual location, and the image of a train not to far from him, to the east. "I hope I reach the midnight express he thought as he went that way.
In the Orange's house, there was a knock at the door
"That must be the help that we are getting" said Twilight as she went to the entrance hall, were Applejack's aunt was already at the door opening it. Lyra was on the other side of the door, and greeted when the door opened.
"Hello, is this place where Twilight and her friends are staying for the night?"
"Yes, it is. Who might you be?" asked Mrs. Orange
"My name is Lyra Heartstrings, and I'm here to help the elements to bring the human with the princess" she responded.
"Oh, right, I'll call them" the Applejack's relative said
"There's no need to do that, Mrs. Orange, I'll take her with us to the guests room" said Twilight, revealing her presence to the other two.
"Hi Twilight" said Lyra with a grin
"Hello Lyra. I haven't seen you in some time now" greeted Twilight too as they were already going with the others.
"Well, we were supposed to see each other at your brother's wedding, but you know that I got impersonated" Lyra commented as a response.
When they entered the room and everyone greeted Lyra, Twilight asked the question that everyone had
"What and how do you know about the human species?"
"Well, I know quite a bit thanks to some books that I have read, and my grandfather used to tell me bed stories that involved them, because he was the last one to see a human... well, until now" she answered with a sad smile, remembering her deceased grandfather.
"And who wrote these books? I remember you borrowing them some weeks ago, but I didn't paid too much attention considering it's about myths and legends" she then frowned a little "by the way, you're tardy with their devolution". Lyra got a sheepish look and answered with an equal sheepish looking smile
"He he, about that, I was about to return them, I swear it" Twilight rolled her eyes, and returned her attention to the books, but didn't found any authors or sign anywhere.
"Well, this is a task for another day" she said with a resigned look in her face. "Well, what do you know that might help us?" Twilight inquired
"Some things are useful, like the fact that their society was believed to be formed in great part by the trust they had between them, other things is that they lack magic, so they create tools from almost anything they find, and use it depending on the situation" Lyra responded, hopping almost like Pinkie Pie just by talking about her favorite obsession. "Also, their hands are the part of their body that they use the most, after their brain, because unlike another animals that look like them, an example are the monkeys, they can't use their feet with that ease.
"I differ in that last statement. I had an encounter with Fernando this afternoon, and he could easily avoid the traps set by the ponies in this town while running. He told me that having only two legs gave him more agility, and I observed it because he can side-step while we can hardly do that without falling". With this new information, Lyra got even more excited, like a kid that got what he expected for Christmas.
"Please, can we go to sleep now?" asked a very tired looking Spike, that wasn't having luck sleeping with that much noise in the room.
"Okay, we'll continue this in the morning" Twilight said.
At the Canterlot castle, Luna was going to her sister bedroom to announce her that as she said, she would go looking for Fernando, and that she will bring him even if she didn't convince him. When she arrived at her sister's room, she knocked at the door, and when Celestia gave her the signal to come in, she did so. She then started to talk
"Celestia, as you know, Fernando didn't cause ay harm to any of our subjects, so tomorrow I'll go looking for him. It's clear that he is not a threat to any of us, so maybe I can convince him, and if I can't, I don't think that he can escape from an Alicorn that is directly looking for him".
"Okay sister, but give some time for Lyra Heartstrings to help the elements. I think that with her knowledge she might know how to convince Fernando in coming here" Celestia said, trying to stop her sister
"One day, sister. One day is what I'm giving to those mares. It is taking even more time than the incidents of Discord, the wedding and... Night Mare Moon together" the princess of the moon said with a frown.
"I know, but they were evil and we could simply use brute force and the Elements of Harmony thanks to their overconfidence, but Fernando is smarter than any villain we had encountered and he hasn't shown signs that can tell us that the Elements of Harmony will work" Celestia responded with a serious face
"Anyway, I'll go and try to catch him if he is not here by tomorrow" finished Luna, tired of all this drama over only a creature that didn't even had done anything wrong.
Fernando was walking through the deserted station looking for any place to sleep after his plan on a late escape was discarded. He found the perfect place beside the train. In the gap between the train and the platform.
"I hope that I wake up before this train leaves the station" he thought before drifting to sleep.
At the next morning, Fernando woke up the next morning to the shine of the sun.
"Well, I better get to a more hidden place" he thought as he looked for a good place to hide. He went for a closet in a part of the building that looked very old and dark, but he still stayed near the ponies to go for the less crowded train, but he wont have that much luck. Not too long after he was under cover, the first ponies started to arrive to take their transport and the ponies that were in charge of the trains were preparing them, but one of them, who Fernando thought was the manager of the station, made an announcement
"To all the ponies that are going to aboard the trains before the two o'clock in the afternoon, the princess Celestia has decreed that no trains before that hour would depart until the issue with the human is resolved. Sorry for the inconvenient." this was received by the ponies with some complains and mutters about all the problems that Fernando was causing, and Fernando could only think
"Damn, she always has to make everything more difficult"
He turned to go deeper in the old part of the station, and failed to hear the second part of the announcement.
"But we're taking this opportunity to fix the older part of the station, so we'll be adding a new cafeteria and some other platforms to the station by the next month" this at least made some of the ponies cheer up a little, probably because they didn't like the food of the majority of the trains.
A full team of pegasus, unicorns and earth ponies in uniform then started to walk dramatically slow to the soon to be cafeteria, making every step as loud as possible
"Why are you doing this?" asked the manager arching an eyebrow
"This job is very boring" answered one of the pegasus
"Yeah, at least let us do this our way" continued a unicorn. The manager rolled his eyes and returned to what probably was his office.
At a deep part of the old station, Fernando could hear the hoofsteps approaching his location and got confused. He shook his head and looked for a good place to hide. He found a hole in a wall and entered it, shaking off the spider webs that he got on him. When they were passing by him, he heard some of them say something about a 'cafeteria' and 'fixing the place'.
"That must be it, they're renovating this place, but I can't get away while there are so many ponies around" Fernando thought in desperation with his imminent capture, that is when inspiration hit him.
"Wait... old place, check; people... err, ponies wanting to fix it, check; person that wants them away, check. he thought, making a mental list of his plan. Then, with a mischievous smile, he went deeper behind the wall, thanking that it was wide enough for him.
Back with the workers, the one that was in charge of the team started to give different tasks to the members. He was done with a half, that was already going to their destination, but stopped when they heard a deep voice coming from everywhere.
"Awaaaay, go awaaaay" it said. The ponies were looking for the source of the voice, and everypony but one looked scared. The stallion shouted
"Nails, is this another one of your jokes?", but received the response from his right
"Uhm... Timber, I'm right here". Timber turned to see a cowering stallion that was covering his eyes with his hoofs. "Oh, okay then" Timber took a deep breath and then let out a girly scream "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!". This made the rest of the group start to scream in the same way, but they shut up when the voice started to say the same again the same thing, but this time multiple times. Then they saw how some pieces of furniture, some old chairs, started to float.
This was everything they could take before they were running to the well lit part of the building. When they were gone, Fernando dropped himself from a nearby hole in the ceiling, holding a rusted can in one hand and in the other, if you forced your sight, he was holding some very thin strings, probably some twisted spider webs. Apparently, he was the one that was saying, and still says
"Go awaaaay, go awaaaay". It sounded very deep because he was talking through the can. When he was sure that they were gone, he stopped and tried his hardest to not laugh his lungs out.
"Well, that should keep them away by now he thought as he started to set traps that would make the place look haunted. "I just hope that rumors don't spread fast in this place".
And as per usual, the gossip about the ghost from the station was so fast that it even got to a late morning newspaper, that happened to be the one that the uncle of Applejack read every morning.
The mane six, plus Lyra and Spike were about to continue their search when Applejack's uncle stopped them to tell Applejack something he just read at the newspaper
"Applejack, whatever all of you do, don't go close to the train station, just this morning there was ghostly manifestation while a group of ponies were fixing the old part of that building, and it could be dangerous" at the mention of the ghost, everypony except Twilight got a scared look
"No offense Mr. Orange, but aren't you a little too grown up to still believe in that sort of things?" asked Twilight, with a serious tone and facial expression.
"Miss Twilight, usually I wouldn't, but since it's in the newspaper, it must be true" answered the stallion
"Not only because of that it must be true. It's not like that was written by a trustworthy author" Twilight said, before she left, followed by the rest of the mares and Spike. Once outside, Spike made a question
"So how are we going to search for Fernando today?"
"Well, everypony here except for you and Lyra had experienced his trickery personally, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was the one behind the ghost incident" when she said this, everyone looked at her, worried about what she was about to say, "so we're going to investigate that immediately".
They arrived at the train station not too long after, and after entering it, they went directly for the old part. They were stopped by the manager before they could go too deep in the dark.
"Wait, you can't go in there, the ghost will harm you if you do" he said, trying to convince them to decist
"Sir, there is not such things as ghosts, so we're going in there. I might know who is behind all of this" Twilight responded without doubt in her voice.
"But some of our workers could hear him talk to them, and even saw some pieces of furniture float without any kind of glow moving them" this statement got scared the HHT, except Twilight, who was still skeptical about this and continued.
"Well, I'm not scared and neither is my team, is that right?" as a response, she got some negative mumbles, and growling she forced all of them with her magic to continue.
They walked some time until the area were the workers team had first arrived before they had divided. Twilight stopped in the connection of three corridors that connected, from left to right, the old restrooms, the antique lobby and the ancient offices.
"Okay, we'll have to separate to search for clues as to were Fernando might be. I'll go for the middle corridor. You can go in any corridor in anypony you want, just make sure that we are equally proportioned" Twilight commanded this.
"We still don't know for sure if this really is Fernando" said Applejack, "and I prefer to not take any chances with something supernatural". Twilight was doing her best to not explain to them ALL the reasons as to why there can't be ghosts.
"Just get divided" she said as she turned and went down the hallway. She heard some hoofsteps behind her and stopped, irritated. She expected hoofsteps behind her, but not that many. She turned and saw everyone behind her.
"So... why are you all coming this way?" she said emphasizing the word all
"Oh, well, you know, to make sure you were alright" said Rainbow Dash with a bad poker face
"Uh-hu" said Twilight, not buying it. She let out a big sigh and said "looks like you need me for everything, right?" everypony agreed, believing that they were permitted to go with the only one no scared of them. "Well, then lets divide you!" Twilight exclaimed with a smile of fake excitement and getting groans from the others.
"Okay, I'll go in one team, Rarity in other and Lyra in the third. Rainbow Dash, you'll go with Lyra and you too, Pinkie. Fluttershy, you'll go with Rarity, and Applejack you're going with Rarity and Fluttershy" Spike felt a little left out and asked
"What about me?" he felt better when Twilight answered him
"You're coming with me" she then looked to everypony, "Rarity, your team will go to those offices and Lyra, yours will go to those restrooms". Nopony felt safe with how Twilight had divided them. Even she should know that this was one of the biggest mistakes to do as known from the horror books, well... except for Rainbow Dash, that refused to read anything that wasn't Daring Do related.
Fernando was observing everything from the darkness, he was having so much fun only watching them right now that he was impatient for them to fall in his traps.
"Well, let's start with the restroom he thought as he went in that direction. He had already decorated the restroom like what you would expect from a bloody scene in a terror movie. On his way, he picked up an old pole that used to be in an old fashioned sofa.
He observed from a safe distance how the ponies were approaching the restroom, and covered his ears before the blood chilling scream was, well... screamed. He heard a thud, signaling that one of those ponies had fainted. He approached a little, and could see thanks to the light from the unicorn, while still being hidden.
"Ha, not so brave, are we Rainbow?" he thought as he saw the blue figure on the floor.
"Well, you go first" said Lyra to Pinkie.
"No, no, no, I insist that you get the honor of searching here for Fernando" replied Pinkie.
They were just outside the restroom, next to the inert Rainbow Dash, arguing about who should enter the restroom. Unknown to them, Fernando had used the rust from some metallic objects to make 'dried blood'.
"Okay, we'll enter at the same time" said Lyra when she had enought. They both counted up to three and entered the restroom. To their bad luck, they failed to notice the mirror, that was in the same wall that of the door, that read 'RUN WHILE YOU CAN'. When they noticed it, they screamed again, even if they didn't understand it, because, come on, who wouldn't be scared when you see what you think is blood forming patterns in a mirror.
Fernando took his chance and rubbed the pole all over the body of Rainbow Dash, making her look very bloody. He then pushed her inside the restroom and hided. He heard another two thuds before grinning and going victoriously to his next victims.
He ran silently to catch up with Rarity's team. He slowed down when he saw the shine of a horn. When he was close enough to observe what was going on, he saw how they were observing the things that were left there some decades ago. He approached a hole behind a big sign that before would have some class of phrase that would encourage the workers to do their work. He climbed the inside of the wall with a makeshift stair made out from the remains of the sustenance of the wall, reaching the ceiling and with that, some strings that happened to be the same from before.
Rarity and Applejack were going through the old documents, searching for something that could lead them to Fernando. It was Rarity the one that, with her eye for the details, found a black semi-long hair.
"Ah-ha!" she exclaimed triumphal "We now know that Fernando is here" she said turning to the other two mares, holding the hair with her magic.
"Well, I'm glad that at the end there is no ghost" Applejack said very relieved.
"What do you think, Fluttershy?" asked Rarity to the pegasus for her opinion about the subject, but when she didn't got a response, she got worried "what's wrong, darling?" she asked concerned to Fluttershy, but the later only stared behind her, a look that they had never seen. A look of pure shock, so much shock that she couldn't even faint. Rarity turned to see some pieces of furniture floating, and said confidently
"Don't worry, Fluttershy, that's just Fernando playing with our minds". She then made her horn glow gradually brighter, but to her surprise, she didn't found any ropes attached to them, and soon she was too scared out of her mind.
Applejack meanwhile, was the one to react first and took in her hooves the task of pushing the other two back to the safety of the light of the day.
When they were gone, Fernando returned to the floor, and went for his last goal. If he could do this right, he would shake them off enough time to aboard a train, and there is no one that gets more scared than the one that sees what he, or she in this case, thinks is not real.
Twilight was going through the lobby, casting every spell she knew that could reveal a presence but to no avail. That is because the lobby was the only place that Fernando didn't went to, considering it big enough to only play mind tricks from a safe distance. Spike was always at the back of Twilight, but as for now he had his eyes closed, refusing to see the wasted place.
Fernando entered, but didn't let the door close without a great sound when he hid behind some furniture. Twilight turned to see and flashed a flashlight-like light from her horn to the door.
"Hello?" she said "Is it one of you girls?" but she didn't got any response.
"Go awaaaay, go awaaaay!" Fernando was talking again through his can, but Twilight was unfazed.
"Is that you, Fernando? If it is you we can get to an agreement!" she tried to reason
"Ha, I've heard better convincing from a video game character" Fernando thought, thinking that she was trying to trick him. He then approached her silently, careful with his pole and to not step on anything. When he was behind her, he extended the rod and pushed a chair to her right. Almost instantly he retreated his tool and jumped to get cover.
Twilight turned, but didn't saw anything. She was considering that he might have done some kind of movement spell, when she remembered
"He can't use magic" this made her get uncomfortable in the dark, and tried to make her horn glow brighter, but thanks to her uneasiness, it wasn't enough. Fernando did the same to her left and got the same result, getting her more scared with each trick he played over her.
"Go awaaaay, or suffer the consequences!" Fernando said again, noting that she now was trembling
"Wh-wh-what c-c-consequences?" she dared to ask
"Suffering... Sorrow... Pain... Death..." he said, saying everything he could think of that sounded like it was from a real curse.
Twilight was on the edge, and with a scream, she launched a wave of magic to everything around her, successfully throwing everything, and then darted to the door, Spike clinging to her neck from fear for his life. If she had stopped she would have seen Fernando creeping out from some stacked chairs that fell on top of him
"Owww... Well I kinda deserved that" he then went to the exit, but not too fast, as to not catch up with the ponies.
Back at the road to the light, Applejack was returning with the other three ponies from the bathroom after they didn't show in quite some time when she saw Twilight was also running for her life.
"Sooo... Twilight, did you see the ghost?" she asked her, half concerned, half wanting to rub on her face the existence of a ghost
"Well, it kind of wanted to get revenge for disturbing it" she said before noticing Rainbow Dash and gasping
"What happened to her?" she asked as she approached said pegasus
"I don't know, she was like this when I found these three" answered Applejack. Twilight reached her hoof to touch Rainbow Dash to see if she was really injured, but the thing that was on her didn't resembled the blood that she had studied. In fact, now that they were approaching the light she noticed that this wasn't the tone for blood nor dried blood.
"Applejack, this is not blood, I think this is just rust!" she said while feeling more of the substance.
"Really, Twilight?" Applejack asked, relieved that nothing bad had happened to her best friend.
They reached Rarity and Fluttershy and Rarity, who was thinking rationally again, ran up to Twilight and showed her the hair that she had kept with her as if her life depended on it.
"Look, Twilight! I think it might be from Fernando" she said as Twilight was already examining the sample. When she determined it was, indeed, from the head of their favorite and most hated human, she had a look of defeat on her face
"Well, looks like we got beaten again" she said as she and the others waited for the remaining three to wake up.
Some time passed and at last the first trains were starting to depart. The HHT had already talked with the manager about the fake ghost, and it wasn't a surprise that he was enraged.
"So, you're telling me that this morning was wasted, not for a ghost's fault, but for that animal the princess talked about yesterday?" he said, at first not believing it. When he had heard everything, he called all the team and then started to give the news.
"As you know, this morning half of you got 'attacked' by a ghost this morning. Well, that wasn't a ghost, but the animal that princess Celestia wants, so to catch up with today's work, what do you say about destroying that place? Surely the human will appear and we'll get the reward, so we can afford a new building entirely". The part of Fernando being the ghost enraged the majority of the ponies, and the part of getting him by destroying the place was more than effective to get them to work.
Fernando was still in the dark when he saw the ponies coming his way, so he quickly hid himself, but he then heard a lot of commotion and looked what it was about. He saw the ponies destroying every wall, not letting anything get away complete.
"Not good. At this rate I'll be cornered in a matter of minutes" he though as he ran again to the darkness, aided by his glowing rocks. He looked everywhere, but all of the windows were heavily blocked, that was the reason for the darkness, and he couldn't see another exit.
"There must be something somewhere" he though as he was again at the dark lobby. He would have gone for what he thought was the old door, but it was too blocked, and now was unreachable because of the magic of Twilight. He ran from side to side of the room, searching for an escape route, but he didn't saw anything. He was hearing the ponies get closer when he also noticed a sudden hollow sound when he ran over some specific tiles on the floor. He stopped to tap them with his fist, and surely, under them there was a sound of a void space.
He started to hit it with some remains of a table and got successfully through the tiles. Under it there was what looked like a tunnel. It was in direction of the incoming group, but he didn't care.
"Probably they don't know about this yet he thought as he entered and found that he had to crawl through it. Not too long after, the ponies were already there. The leader, that has studied the blueprints of the old section of the station, said to his comrades.
"This is the last part of the station, if he's not here then he was already squashed by our work" this got the ponies that were scared by Fernando with a big grin of revenge.
Unknown to them, Fernando was already half the way to the actual station when they had finished destroying the place, and then were starting to search for a body that they would never find.
The Human Hunters Team was waiting for news outside of the old part of the station. They got forbid to go to the work area of the pony workers.
"Do you think that they could probably bury him under some rubble?" asked Rainbow Dash, grinning at the idea of their problems solved
"Well, that is a little possible, but knowing him, he won't get killed today" Twilight answered. She too was mad at Fernando, but was even more angry with herself for falling for his mind tricks.
"I hope that he's not harmed" said Fluttershy, even now she wouldn't want revenge of any kind.
They were so concentrated in waiting for the group of workers that they didn't notice some tiles moving from their place some meters behind them, except for Lyra, that saw how Fernando was coming out from a hole in the floor. Seeing the creature that she always dreamed of studying, she ran for him, forgetting to give advise to the others because of the excitement.
She ran, full intent of catching him, but he was to far to stop him with levitation, so the best she could do was follow him in a train that was about to start its trip. They were unnoticed by the others because there were a lot of trains that were departing at the same time, but in different directions.
Back with the others, Pinkie noted the lack of a third unicorn and said
"Hey, where is Lyra?" this brought the attention of the other five mares and Spike, who now noticed the hole and the absence of their companion. They connected two and two (and two) and were immediately at the search of Lyra and Fernando. They were too late, because the train in which they were was already gone. It didn't help the fact that there were multiple trains going out at the same time.
"Now what? They could be in any of them!" Rainbow Dash said
"Don't worry, those trains only go to the bigger cities of Equestria, without doing a stop in Ponyville in Canterlot case, so we will just divide ourselves as planed" responded Twilight, trusting one hundred percent in her plan
"How do you know that?" asked again Rainbow
"Because yesterday I memorized all of the train schedules and I got notice of the princess plan to stop the trains as much as she could" she said with a proud smile.
With that they went to get tickets for their cities, and then they waited for their trains to arrive.
Fernando was at the train, unaware that there was somepony that knew he was there this time. Like the other times, he was in the luggage wagon, hiding between the largest suitcases.
Lyra was hiding in the medium size suitcases, because that was enough to hide her. She had seen where he was hidden, and when she determined that Fernando had lowered his guard, she slowly approached were he was hiding. When he was next to him, she said very quietly but also in a grim tone, to scare him
"I know that you are there". This worked in a way that he jumped almost a meter because of the alarm, while screaming
"AAAAAH!". He was caught in midair by Lyra's magic, but she wasn't strong enough to maintain him in the air, so she ended up dropping him. He quickly got up and went to the other side of the wagon, quickly taking a small suitcase for protection.
Lyra walked up to him, knowing that she could stop him while he is on the floor. Fernando, panicking, said in a warning tone while putting the suitcase between him and Lyra
"Don't take another step, uh... I know... ninety three ways to kill you with this suitcase" this stopped Lyra on the spot. She couldn't be sure if he was telling the truth, but she didn't want to take any risks.
"Just calm down, I just want to talk" she said while making signs for him to lower the object.
"How can I know that you won't trick me?" he asked distrustful
"Look, I'll stand over there" she said while pointing to the other side of the wagon, "my magic isn't strong enough to affect you at that distance". Fernando watched her walk to the place that she pointed and then asked
"What do you want to talk about?" he questioned with his eyes narrowed, not dropping his guard
"Well, your species was believed to be a legend not to long ago, and I want to gather as munch information as I can" Lyra responded, hoping that he would cooperate
"We were in this place before?" he asked surprised, referring to the humans.
"Yes, but before you or me can ask another question, why in the name of Celestia did you have to scare us back at Manehattan?" Lyra asked, really angry with him. Fernando, not noticing for now the pony pun of the human city, responded
"Well, I have to stay away from everybody here, and what is better than a haunted place? Also, you and your friends have been hunting me for the past days and it was starting to annoy me" he responded, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue in a childish manner.
"Well, the princess asked us to do it, after all, you're a potential threat" Lyra returned.
"Me? I'm just a teenager that is lost in some strange place" he responded, giving his excuse. This returned Lyra to the main theme, her mood returning to normal as if nothing had happened.
"Oh, that reminds me, how old are you, how much do you live, how is your society organized..." Lyra was asking these questions a mile a second, and Fernando, confused from the sudden question swarm, interrupted her
"Hey, one question at a time". Lyra took a sheepish expression and then asked far more calmly
"Okay, first of all, how old are you?" Fernando sighed and answered
"I'm fourteen years old" Lyra looked surprised and commented
"But, you're four years younger than Pinkie, and she is the younger of us, and even then you managed to get away from the Princess Celestia herself, the Royal Guard and from Twilight and the others?"
"Don't forget like eight or nine teams that were focused on catching me and the ponies that were destroying that station" Fernando said with a proud tone, a smug smile, and a boastful pose, now knowing that all this time he had outsmarted adults. Lyra stared at him, half still surprised and other half wanting to throw him any nearby random object. After sighing, she continued
"Anyway, how much is your life expectancy?" Fernando thought a little and answered
"From the place I come from, seventy years" at this, Lyra raised an eyebrow and inquired
"From the place you come from, how much does it varies from the highest to the lowest?" Fernando again thought, searching through his memories for the answer, and after a minute, he finally answered
"The highest is between eighty and ninety and the lowest is like thirty, but I'm not sure" Lyra gasped at the numbers given by Fernando
"But, how can it vary so much? Here it is of at least ninety years, everywhere!" Lyra couldn't believe the difference between highest and lowest
"Well, it is a big world back in my home" he answered without knowing the consequences of giving Lyra that much information
"Your species lives all over your world!? You have to tell me more about that and the technology you used for that!" she commanded, but then she realized something, "uh, uh, uh, I need a notebook and a pencil". She then started to see through every piece of luggage for her targets. Fernando stared at her and commented
"Back home, what you're doing could be considered as stealing" Lyra turned to him and then said while raising her hoof dramatically
"This is not stealing if I do it for the KNOWLEDGE!" Fernando stared at her as he thought
"This is gonna be a looooong ride
Back with the mane six and Spike, they had already gathered the things that were left with Applejack's relatives and were now waiting for their trains to arrive. If Twilight's calculations are correct, they would get to their destinations the next day in the early hours of the morning.
Twilight was redacting her letter for the princess right now while she sat at the station. It was like this:
Dear princess Celestia
Your plan to keep Fernando in Manehattan didn't work, and if you happen to hear about a ghost here, you can blame our little friend. On a brighter side, we think that Lyra might be with him right now in a train, because she was the only one that could follow him. We'll proceed with the plan and separate to the cities of Fillydelphia, Las pegasus and Trottingham. At this rate, he will be out of Equestria in a week, so I have come to ask you, yet again, for some advise.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
She got her response from her some minutes later. The parchment, as usual, came out from Spike. She took it and started to read it aloud, because the others too wanted to hear the advise from the princess
"Ehem," Twilight cleared her throat
"Dear Twilight Sparkle
In these past days Fernando has shown signs of extreme cleverness and slyness. I still don't get notice of this ghost, but the rumors spread fast, so I don't have to wait long. It is actually a good thing if Lyra is with him, either if she catches him not, because I trust that she will at least be able to learn things from him by asking him a question or two. When you arrive to those cities, and Fernando is in any one of them, please send me the location of him, because your other princess, Luna, is going to try her luck at convincing and/or catching him. Don't worry, with the help of my sister he'll be here by tomorrow in the night.
Your trustful mentor, Princess Celestia
"Well, I hope that I get some revenge before the princess comes if we happen to find him" said Rainbow Dash, thinking of what she could do to him
"Remember that we're not supposed to cause him any harm" responded Twilight, even if the idea of a little pay back was tempting.
"What are you saying? By what you told us, your case was the worst" Rainbow returned, remembering the story of what happened to Twilight earlier that day
"So? If today was Nightmare Night you would have done pranks far worse and just for fun. He just did it because he didn't wanted us to catch him" Twilight said, remembering how she had used Princess Luna for her pranks that night. This immediately got Rainbow to shut up, but she continued to think of ways to cause pain
"Rainbow Dash, calm down" said Applejack, noticing her facial expression that matched her thoughts,"I too want a part of him for some kick practicing" with a face full of revenge wish. Twilight could only hope that princess Luna can catch him before any of the others, not trusting even in herself.
After some more minutes of wait, the trains started to arrive, and the ponies said their farewells to the others.
For Fernando, things couldn't be worse. Lyra had been asking him questions the whole trip while writing anything that she considered important, in other words, everything. Every response he gave was awarded with at least five more questions, and it was far worse when explaining the sun and moon from the Earth.
"Hey, can we have a break? I didn't have breakfast and I'm already tired" Fernando said, interrupting the next question from Lyra
"Sure, just two more questions, what does your species eat and what have you been eating the past days?" Lyra asked. Even after he was captured she would still ask him questions from his home, and a dead human can't answer anything.
"Well, my species is omnivore..." Fernando started and was interrupted
"What!? You eat meat?" asked Lyra, suddenly finding the opposite wall very confortable
"Yeah." he noticed how she was freaking out "Hey, it's not like I have eaten anyone and I can live from just vegetables" he quickly said, not wanting more reasons to be held in captivity.
"Okay, I'll trust you, but what have you eaten then?" she asked, a little more relaxed
"You don't want to know" he said while looking away. Lyra got suspicious at his response
"I do want to know, now tell me" she countered, but not sure if she really wanted prove true her thoughts
"It will disgust you" he said in a warning tone
"Tell me!" for her, right now it was as if she wanted to uncover a murderer
"I ate garbage!" finally yelled Fernando, shuddering at the memories. Lyra was relieved that he wasn't a murderer, but as he said, was disgusted
"What! You really did that?" she got greener when he just nodded his head "Why did you do that?"
"Well, what do you expected? I can't be seen in public, my religion and my own conscience keep me from stealing and I have zero to nothing in hunting capacities." He answered angry, "now if you excuse me, I'm going to sleep" and with that he lay on the floor and closed his eyes. Lyra considered the idea of a rest and she too lay down on the floor, keeping near her the notes that she had just written and slept. Unknown to her, Fernando was faking his sleep for two reasons. One was to stop the questions and the other to get some head start.
The train arrived at the night to the city. Lyra was still sleeping when Fernando tool his chance to run away, into the city.
Lyra was awakened by a nudge. She opened her eyes to see a stallion looking at her
"Miss, I'm going to need you to come with me" he told her
"Uh, what for?" she asked still shaking the sleepiness from her eyes
"You should know that after getting in a train without a ticket" just then she noticed the policepony uniform that the stallion was wearing.
"But Fernando is here in this train, I just followed him here!" she said, trying to defend herself
"The animal the princess talked about yesterday? How can I know that you say the truth?" The officer asked. Lyra showed him all of her notes that she had written down
"On the way here I got to ask him some questions and this is what I got" she said. The officer read some lines of text, quickly losing interest. Now knowing that Fernando is here, he forgot all about Lyra at that moment and greedily said while going away.
"If he's here, then it's my chance to get him!"
Lyra got out from the train and saw the big city surrounding her. Realization hit her hard then when she thought
"I don't know in which city I am, and I don't have any bits with me! she started to worry when she remembered that her friends would eventually come here in the search for Fernando. "Well, I'll have to wait here for them to come she thought as she took a seat on a nearby bench, as usual, like a human, and started to study her notes with more detail.
Back in a still moving train, Applejack and Fluttershy were talking a little before going to sleep
"Do you think that we will find Fernando in Fillydelphia?" asked Fluttershy to Applejack.
"I can't be sure, sugar cube, but I'm sure that anywhere he ends in he'll receive a good hoof to the face as a minimal" Applejack answered, thinking of how she, Rainbow Dash and Rarity had a great amount of grudge against him.
"I hope that he is well if we find him" Fluttershy commented, as kind as she is she had forgiven Fernando almost instantly.
"What? Fluttershy, really, you couldn't move a muscle back there and I'm pretty sure that you will have nightmares for some time. Even I think that I'll have some!" Applejack said, not believing her friend's kindness
"Well, he acted just like a cornered animal, and they can do anything just to defend themselves" Fluttershy said, not making visual contact
"But he could have done a lot more of things. Think about it, he could just have hidden in a wall hole" Applejack said, slightly irritated.
"He did, remember? Also, the only exit was the main area, and that was crowded" Fluttershy, peeking only a little from behind her mane. The farmer sighed soundly and continued
"Well, if we do find him, I'll at least give him some pay back from back at my farm" Fluttershy looked uncomfortable at having an argument with one of her friends and just said barely audible
"At least I'll take care for him if he is injured" Applejack looked at her, finally knowing what was up with her friend
"You think that he is just another animal, right?" Fluttershy didn't said anything and Applejack continued, "look, sugar cube, Fernando is not one of your cute animals. He is a thinking being, capable of taking care of himself, smarter than Twilight herself. In just five simple words, he is like a pony. You wouldn't see me like something you would take care of, right?" she was boring her gaze on her friend, trying to see any kind of thing that proved her right
"I would care for you if you were sick" Fluttershy said, now looking at her, but Applejack flinched, because in her face was a scowl. "I would take care of you because you would be helpless. Anything could harm you if it wanted," and the 'stare' was starting to take it's effect "like it will happen when somepony manages to catch him. You, Rainbow Dash or Rarity could do to him whatever you want, and he would be to your mercy, without any kind of defense possible for him". She stopped a little for her words to be processed by Applejack.
"Also," she continued after some minutes "by what the princess told us, he just appeared here. He probably is far away from his family and friends and here he has been forced to flee, alone and without anypony there for him". After all of this, she calmed herself and then she noticed what she had just done when she saw the look on Applejack's face. Worriedly, she quickly said "Sorry, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me..." she was stopped by Applejack, who really considered her words
"It's okay, you just expressed your opinion. It must be really hard for him, but right now we have a task to complete. I at least want him to say that he is sorry" Applejack said this, wanting to calm the pegasus. She succeeded and Fluttershy smiled while saying
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure that I can make him see his errors too". The two giggled a little and then they both went to sleep.
At Rarity's and Pinkie's transport, the two (mostly Pinkie) were talking about how they would search for him. Rarity was considering possible methods of revenge against Fernando, when something that Pinkie said caught her attention
"...And then we can make a 'We caught you' party, and after that a 'We hope that we can still be friends' party..." at that moment, Rarity interrupted her
"Dear, with those names you are implying that you will invite him to the party too". Pinkie made the duh face
"Well, they have that name because I'll invite him" Rarity looked at her like she was crazy even for her.
"But, what about all those nasty things he did to us" Pinkie didn't gave that too much importance
"What, the whole ghost thing? It's actually funny if you think about it" she started to giggle while talking and remembering the events of that day "even I didn't know that Rainbow could be scared so easily"
"But why do you want to still be friend with him, he tricked and lied to you" Rarity returned
"Well, at first I too was a little angry, but then I thought that if I had no friends and was all alone I too wouldn't be nice to anypony" they then remembered her birthday party and Rarity shuddered at how was acting Pinkie
"Well, he did told me that he just wanted to go home, and that he would be put under custody if he was caught, and also I think he is going to be studied, but now I think the princess wont do anything bad to him" she found herself really considering just catching Fernando without intentional physical pain. "Okay, I won't complain about the parties, but I can't say the same from the others.
"Don't worry, we're the Elements of Harmony for something!" Pinkie said, trusting in all of her friends.
In the train were the last three of the members of the Human Hunters Team were located, Spike and Rainbow Dash were already sleeping, while Twilight was reading a little more the book that Lyra brought with her.
"I hope that Lyra is in Trottingham. Who knows what she might have discovered she was daydreaming about getting a place in the history by studying a specie that was believed a myth, and to think that it's actually a thinking being. She too wanted to ask him questions, like how he could think of those tricks to get away until now, "he must be really intelligent and wise to know exactly what to do.
In her mind didn't even pass the thought that somepony could hurt him in mere revenge, after all, he did get some enemies when escaping from his assailants.
Like many other night, she went to sleep very late, reading about the other creatures in the book, considering the possibility of they being real.
In a dark alley, Fernando was again preparing himself to sleep while being unnoticed. It didn't help the fact that these places were too full of traps. He fell on some of them because of the dark, and by now he had some lumps on his head and had to find his way out of two nets.
"At least they didn't trigger any loud noises" he thought while he had his eyes closed.
In the castle of Canterlot, the Princess Luna was preparing herself in her room to start her search for Fernando, the message of where Fernando is being the letter from her subjects. If you saw her, you wouldn't think that she was a princess, but some kind of elite hunter. She was wearing black clothes and had with her at least three magical triggered nets, a set of twenty sleeping darts and the blowgun, not mentioning all of her magic tricks and power.
"That human is sure to be caught now" she said out loud, very confident in herself. The princess Celestia happened to hear her and knocked at her door. "Come in" Luna said. Celestia did so and when she entered she did a double take
"Wow, sister, don't you think that you might be taking this a little bit too far?" Celestia said to her sister, surprised at how she was dressed.
"No, sister. The human, Fernando, has taken it too far by escaping for so long now from our population. I'll make sure that he comes by tomorrow and we'll at last know everything about him, and then at last we'll send him from where he came" the princess of the night was sure that she could take him easily after thinking of every possible scenery.
"Why don't you wait for me to be free from royal duties so we can both go searching for him?" Celestia said. She didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but she wanted to be even with Fernando by catching him herself.
"But you know that for you to be free it would take another two months. We can't wait any longer. He has intervened with the usual activities of the whole Equestria and even two weeks are a long wait now" Luna responded. Celestia sighed and said with a smile
"Looks like I can't make you desist"
"Remember that you can only do that if I'm possessed by some sort of evil" Luna commented, also with a smile.
Some hour had passed and the night disappeared, giving space for the morning. Lyra was sleeping where she had slept last night.
The sound of the brakes of a train wake her up and she sees the origin of the sound approaching to the station until it stopped. When the doors opened, she started to search for any of her friends, wanting to show all the information she got from Fernando.
"Hello Lyra" she heard somewhere in the crowd, and as she was searching in the crown for the source of the voice, she saw Rainbow Dash hovering over the crowd. When she approached she saw Twilight and Spike under Rainbow.
"Hi Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Spike" she greeted as she was approaching with her notes. "Hey, you would never believe all the information I got of the humans and Fernando" she said excited when she was next to them. Her excitement was like a virus, because no more than a second that she said that Twilight had a smile that rivaled the Pinkie's one.
"What did you discover?" she asked expecting something interesting
"Well, I discovered that his species can live from twenty to ninety years depending of the place where they are from" she said, and like it happened to her yesterday, Twilight got very surprised
"How's that possible?" she asked
"Well, where he comes from, they have populated most of their planet" Lyra responded
"And did he told you how many of them lived there?" Twilight asked, taking the notes from Lyra
"He said that the last time he checked, there were between six and seven billions of 'persons' as he said" this left Twilight with her mouth open, as happened with Lyra. Twilight then returned to the notes when he read something that put her in shock.
"Lyra," she said after the shock wore off, "is this correct, or some cruel joke?" she pointed to something she wrote
"What, Fernando's age? Yeah, I too was surprised by that". If something, Twilight was speechless
"Bu-bu-but he's no older than Pinkie, he shouldn't be able to take care of himself, how is he even still alive?" Twilight was really surprised that he was just a kid in comparison with her. Rainbow Dash attention was caught when Twilight said that
"Hey, what about the pest's age?" she asked to the unicorns
"Yeah, I want to know too" Spike joined Rainbow
"Well, he is kinda younger that us and a little older than Spike" answered Twilight, not giving a direct answer
"How much exactly?" Rainbow asked with her eyes narrowed
"He's fourteen" Twilight finally said. This took a while to register in the mind of the pegasus, and when it did... let's just say that the things in her mind weren't nice
"THAT PEST IS HOW OLD!?" she yelled, attracting the look of the ponies that were passing by.
"Calm down, Rainbow, it's not a big deal" Twilight tried to calm down her friend, obviously, it wasn't working
"No big deal? That... kid" Dash said, emphasizing the word kid, "has been mocking us, fooling us, tricking us and scaring us! I won't stand anymore this. Next time I even know he is close, I'll found him, even if I have to sonic rainnuke the place!". Twilight now was sure that her friend was losing it, so she decided that letting her be for now would help, so turning to Lyra she asked
"Hey, do you know if he's still here?" Lyra responded
"Well, as I've heard, no trains are allowed to depart until the two in the afternoon, so until then we have to try our luck" she then remembered something important. "Oh, an officer already knows that he's here, so I think that at least all of the police is on the search"
"That certainly helps" Twilight said relieved and thought in a hoping tone "I only hope that Dash is not the one that finds him first". She then remembered that Luna will help them as soon as she knows where Fernando is
"Oh, that's right, let's inform the princesses and send your information with the letter" she said, before taking a parchment and starting to write her letter.
When she finished, she put the notes with it and rolled everything together. Hoofing it over to Spike, he proceeded to send it to the princess
"Let's hope that they take better the young problem" Spike said, having heard everything.
The princess Celestia was having her breakfast in calm while Luna was having her equivalent of a dinner when the magical smoke entered and formed into a letter. The princess Celestia was happy to see notice of Fernando so soon, and Luna was very excited. She was still in her hunter outfit.
"Let's see where Fernando is" Luna said as Celestia unrolled the parchment. Celestia got curious when she saw the notes, and after briefly reading one page, he passed them to Luna
"These might help you, but it will be better if you hear the letter first" Celestia told her, then proceeded to read the letter for herself and for her sister "It says:
Dear Princess Celestia
This letter is short because I'm only writing the location of Fernando, that is Trottingham, and because the information about Fernando is in the notes that Lyra wrote
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Well, it do was short" Celestia turned to Luna "Let's hear those notes" Luna nodded and started to read them quickly to say only the important things to Celestia.
"Well, here says that Fernando is actually just a teenager. He's fourteen years old." at that moment you could hear something ripping apart. That was Celestia's pride "He is an omnivore, but he hasn't eaten any living creature, that he has been surviving from... garbage?" they both shared a look before turning to their food, quickly losing any hunger "Also, his specie can vary from that of a pony here to only thirty years depending on the area of the planet they are from" this surprised them again "and that they live in almost every part of the planet" the next part made their mouths hung in the air "and they can reach the space without magic, and they have been in the moon and back voluntary!"
Luna continued reading the notes, but everything else was minimal in comparison to the moon part. When she finished, she prepared for a long distance teleport. Her sister would help her to save some energy.
"Good luck, Luna" Celestia said before Luna disappeared.
In the alleys Trottingham, Fernando was already running from a pony. It was a pegasus that was quickly decreasing the distance between him and his target. Fernando was evading traps as he ran away, but the winged pony just flew over them.
Fernando's POV
That freaking pegasus was behind me. If it wasn't for the fact that he has already used all of his tools he would have gotten me some time before by now.
I was running, but because of my lack of food in the stomach, I was starting to get tired. As I'm going through the traps, I fail to see something that can stop him. He was to high to just throw some random net, and I couldn't use any sleeping darts because they broke their tip when they collided with the opposite wall.
I look back to see him preparing himself to flung himself to me, and that's when I take my chance. He dives to catch me and I stop running in that moment and throw myself to the ground. He flies over me, missing me for a good space, and he crashes, luckily in a trap. This trap was that of a net, so while he is stopped, I quickly run away, making as much turns as possible to lose him.
After covering some good distance, I stop to see what I can eat. Luckily for me, I'm in what appears to be the back of a restaurant, so searching through the trash can I find some rests of food almost good, so shrugging my shoulders I take whatever it is
"If it looks more edible than everything else, then I take it I though while munching.
After finishing my meal, I can hear hooves coming from the alleys. I look around and the other option is the open street, and in further inspection, one of the buildings in this alley looks in a bad shape, so assuming that there is no one in there, I enter in a hole that is in the wall.
"Well, for now this can be useful for hiding" I think while starting to explore the place.
Third person POV
In the central park of the city of Trottinghan, there is a bright flash that calls the attention of everypony near the place. After it clears they see their princess, Luna, in a strange outfit. She opens her wings and she flies high in the sky. For the ponies that couldn't get there in time, the only thing they saw was a black blur shooting up to the sky.
In the sky, Luna is scanning the ground with a sight enhancing spell to see if by any luck Fernando is in some open field. She didn't saw him, so she combines the enhancing spell with a high powered see-through spell. After flying some time, she spotted him in the second floor of a building, but she also saw at least ten other ponies entering from below, cornering him in there.
"Well, I have only witnessed his cleverness one time, and if he lives up to his reputation, then he can get out of this one she thought as she approached it to observe everything.
In the building, Fernando was observing the place. It was made in a combination of bricks and wood, but the wood part were mostly beams on the ceiling that in other time were completely sustaining ceiling. He had to pass over some of them and under others. He was about to go up to the third floor when he heard sounds from down below. He stopped a little to hear it and he heard more clearly a combination of voices and hoofsteps. In that moment he started to get alarmed, because a look outside of the window showed the restaurant from before, but it was too far for a simple jump, and if he went farther up he wouldn't have any kind of escape route. There wasn't anything to fight back either that worked if there was any unicorn, and by the number of voices and hoofsteps that happened at the same time, he could tell that they were too many to intimidate. He then thought of something, rather risky, but it could work.
"I don't have much time" with that thought, he started yet another plan
The ponies that were invading the building where Fernando was where guided by the officer that found Lyra in the train station last night. They weren't what you would call quiet, not caring how hard they stomped on the floor, or talking about what they would make with the money
"Shut up" the officer said to the other ponies
"Why? That human is trapped now. It's only a matter of time before he's in our hooves" one of the ponies said, the others quickly agreeing with him
"Because even if he's trapped, he noticing us will make everything harder, and the earlier we catch him, the quicker we get the money" the leader responded greedily.
Fernando was having trouble moving a beam that was on the floor. He was moving it to the window to make a quick bridge. The downside, if he fell he would get hurt and then caught. After successfully getting it through the window and to the other side, the ponies were almost in the same room.
The beam wasn't very wide, only fitting one foot at a time, but knowing better, he advanced slowly while hugging the beam.
"Don't look below, don't look below, don't look below he was thinking the whole time he was getting farther in his attempt at escaping.
The Princess Luna was observing everything and thought
"Well, looks like he will get away, but then she noticed that the ponies were already at the window, "or not"
Down again, the ponies were arguing about who would catch him
"You go, Mulberry" said one, directing to a dark gray one
"Why me?" Mulberry answered, "look, he is a unicorn, why don't you just bring it here?" he motioned to the unicorn next to him
"I can't. It's already to far for me to reach it" the unicorn responded
"Silence!" yelled the officer, making Fernando aware that they were there, "I'll go there and force him down when my chance presents itself. Meanwhile you go down and catch him when he falls" he ordered to the unicorns of the group, that were three. He then climbed the window while the unicorns were going down the building running, and proceeded to walk up to Fernando.
Fernando, knowing that his time was running short, started to slowly stand up to get away a little faster. Noticing that the pony was closing up fast, he thought
"I won't make it, I need to think of something". He tried to remember what would a cartoon character do in his place, and almost instantly, he got an idea. The ponies that were still there, plus their leader, could swear that they saw a lightbulb over the head of Fernando, and that gave them a bad feeling.
"Hey, what happens if I do this" Fernando said as he jumped and then landed on the beam again, making it vibrate.
"Don't do that! Do you want to drop me!?" the pony that was on the beam angrily yelled.
"Nooo" Fernando said innocently, "I just want to get away, and in the process I need you to get back to the building or just fall down". At that moment, Fernando saw that some unicorns were already down at the alley
"Ha, well too bad. That's not gonna happen" the officer responded. At this Fernando smiled
"Well, too bad for you too" he then started to jump, making the beam vibrate some more, and the pony almost fell, but he managed to grip the beam with his four hooves, a little like Fernando was holding before. The jumps helped Fernando get to the other side, and when he was on the roof of the restaurant, he turned and took hold of the piece of wood. The policestallion noticing what he was about to do, got his eyes widened as big as plates and a panicking he started to return to the window.
"Hey, suddenly I don't remember how the gravity works" he smiled devilishly
"Well, it works in a way that anything in the air falls to the ground" the panicking pony answered, while almost getting to the window
"You know, I always learn the things better with an example, sooo" he then pushed the beam and it fell. The pony floated for some seconds, enough to say a sentence
"Son of a diamond dog" then he fell. He never met the ground thanks to the unicorns, and by the time that he looked up again, Fernando was nowhere to be found.
Luna witnessed everything. She knew from when Fernando started his plan that the pony wasn't in danger, and it was an underestimation to say that she was just humored. She could barely hide her laugh at the scene, and seeing that Fernando wasn't being followed, decided to fly up to him.
"That was a close one" Fernando thought as he was running through the roofs that were at his reach. He stopped when the sound of contained laughter reached his ears. He looked for the source and started to run when he saw an incoming object coming in his direction.
"Wait, you don't have to continue this whole ordeal!" Luna yelled up to him. Seeing as he wasn't stopping, she got a hold of him with her magic. "Now that I got your attention," she told him in a normal volume, having him floating in front of herself "let me reintroduce myself, seeing as last time it was my sister the one who presented me." she cleared her throat "My name is Luna, the sister of Celestia and bringer of the night" this fired the alarms in Fernando's head
"If she's like her and she IS the one that controls the night, just a little lost of concentration won't be enough" he thought, and then noticed her arsenal. With eyes half closed, like when someone does something silly, he then asked "isn't that a little overpowered?" while pointing at the princess. She blushed a little and sheepishly responded
"You think that? Well, seeing as how you kept getting away I thought that I would need more things".
Fernando was thinking of everything he could do to distract her, but there weren't any ideas.
"You pulled just the trick back there" she said, forgetting for now to communicate the actual state of his captivity, if you consider living in a castle as a guest captivity. "It certainly was amusing" she added, while giggling a little.
"Mmm... Maybe I can get her so humored as to get free from this magic Fernando thought, trying to remember any joke he had heard, even if it was bad. If someone was already amused, anything could make him or her laugh more.
"So, I'm sure the pony fell in the conclusion that he couldn't catch me" he winced inwardly at the bad pun, but it seemed to work, because the princess was now chuckling. "And the others were too shocked by their 'fallure' to do something". He mentally smiled when the alicorn was now openly laughing her flank off.
"Oh, stop it, stop it" she said between laughs. Fernando just said
"Why? I can't drop the fun to the floor". Luna was now laughing so much that her magic was starting to fail her, but it wasn't enough "and this moment will just sink to our memories". That did it, because Luna was on the floor, holding her stomach and had her eyes closed. Fernando was now free and approached the edge of the actual building, quickly spotting a ladder not so far away. Before he went away, he said one final thing
"Hey, I'll drop by your castle some other day" Luna just laughed harder. While going down and still hearing the laughter, Fernando couldn't help to laugh a little, "I guess her laugh is contagious.
Some minutes passed before Luna could calm herself, and when she realized what just happened, she got so angry that she started to expel magic from all of her body, giving her an aura of red that communicated pure anger. She didn't even realize that she was hovering now without the use of her wings, nor that she was now using the Royal Canterlot Voice
"FERNANDO, YOU HAVE FOOLED ME, BUT I SWEAR TO ME AND MY SISTER'S NAME THAT YOU WILL BE IN THE CASTLE OF CANTERLOT BEFORE THE NEXT DAWN!". Her voice was heard in all of the city, making everypony tremble in fear, some that remembered the name felt a little pity for our protagonist, and Fernando could swear that for a moment his very soul was frozen in place.
Twilight, Lyra, Rainbow and Spike, having heard the princess were too very surprised
"Well, I guess the princess failed too" Twilight commented. All, except for Rainbow Dash, could only wish that the princess didn't find him again. Rainbow Dash instead, flew high in the sky and quickly found the bright red that could be spotted from Canterlot, and dashed in that direction.
"Looks like Fernando's luck got to its end" Spike said. After recovering completely from the shock, the remaining three started to run in the general direction of Rainbow Dash.
The little head start that Fernando got before, was useless, because the princess was already upon him, and she has already started her attack with her nets.
"At least the rage stops her magic" He thought as he was using an equivalent of a car's tank of nitro. He barely got away from two of the nets, and thinking best of it, he ran to the open street. The crowded streets were what he needed, because the last net trapped a pony that just happened to pass by. It didn't help that now the princess was using the sleeping darts.
Fernando noticed that some ponies were falling asleep very near him, and that gave away the use of the darts, so he started to run in a slightly zigzag pattern. More ponies were falling to the swarm of darts, and the princess was closing in on Fernando.
Some ponies that did see Fernando joined the chase, and soon from the sky you would see a mass of color moving towards a tiny spot in front of it.
Fernando was quickly growing tired, and it didn't help that two darts had scratched him. It wasn't enough to take him down, but he was getting very sleepy. He then heard a war cry coming from in front, in the sky, and looking up he saw what appeared to be a rainbow colored beam coming directly to him. He moved aside and Rainbow Dash missed him by the size of a hair from her coat. She went through the crowd, cutting a straight line in the middle of it, some slightly injured ponies being the consequence, but it didn't stop her, because she started to fly again to him.
The time and space seemed to stop when he was so tired that he actually fell to the floor. And while waiting for the mob to catch up to him, he fell asleep. Rainbow Dash and the princess both launched themselves to the fallen creature and were already tasting the victory, when in a purple flash he disappeared, and in the shock, the two couldn't stop themselves and they made a crater in the ground.
In a nearby alley, hidden to everypony, was Fernando, and next to him there was Twilight, along with Spike and Lyra. Twilight felt very tired after teleporting someone else from too far away, and it was Lyra who carried him to somewhere where they couldn't be found.
Some hours passed before Fernando woke up. At first he didn't knew where he was, until a very strong stench hit him with full force.
"The f*** did I just smell" he said as he covered his nose with his fingers. A peg flew up to him, and not caring that it floated, he took it and put it on his face. Finally looking around him, he found himself in what looked to be a sewer, along with Twilight, Spike and Lyra.
"Uhm... I suppose that you were the ones that saved me, right?" he asked.
"Well, it was mostly Twilight, but yes" said Spike. The statement made Twilight blush
"Oh, come on, you suggested the place and Lyra levitated him here, so everyone did their part of the job" she said with modesty. Then she looked to Fernando and asked
"Will you let me explain why we saved you before darting away?" Fernando considered his options, and gave in
"Seeing as how you're able to stop me and you got another unicorn's help, I'll hear it"
"Well, you see, over the past days, you have been fleeing from us. At first, the princess Celestia didn't know anything about you, so she wanted to take you on custody to see if she could learn anything about you. Also, if you behaved well I think that she would even let you wander around the castle" she stopped there to see if he had any questions. He didn't had any, so she continued.
"When you got escaped from her in the Canterlot Crystal Caves, she feared the worst, that you could be a threat, and getting away showed that you could trick anypony" Spike interrupted her there
"The last part was true" was his comment, a little humored
"Yeah, that's true" Twilight said, a little annoyed about being interrupted. "Anyway, she then asked for our help, seeing as we have saved Equestria before. You should know the rest until yesterday.
"What happened yesterday?" Fernando inquired with curiosity
"The princess, after seeing that you hadn't committed any crimes nor hurt anypony, and after telling her that you wouldn't come with us because of the captivity thing, she accepted that you wouldn't be taken as a prisoner and would be treated as a guest at the castle" she waited again for any questions. This time Fernando did have a question, and he communicated it
"What's the catch?" Twilight responded, as if expecting that question from before
"Well, you can't be seen by anypony that is not either the princesses, the Royal Guard, or any integrant of the HHT"
"I can deal with that" was Fernando answer, really considering ending this whole adventure, but he still needed to ask another thing "You're going to help me get back to my world, right?"
"Yes, of course. In fact, I know all too well the princess as to take it for sure that she's already investigating how to send you back" Twilight answered, smiling to show that she told the truth.
"Just one more question, how are we going to tell Celestia that I'm coming with you?" Twilight just took out a parchment and a quill and started to write a letter
"Simple, I write a letter, then I give it to Spike" she said as she did what she was saying
"Then I just burn it with magic fire" the dragon ended while doing so. Fernando observed the smoke that exited the sewer, but it didn't dissipate.
"So it is like e-mail?" he then covered his mouth when he realized his error. Not too long after, Lyra and Twilight where in front of him, with equal excited smiles and ready to write down anything he said, and they asked at the same time
"What is the e-mail?" he just groaned.
They spent a little less than half a hour of explanations when they saw a yellow flash appeared next to them, and then there was the Princess Celestia. The ponies and Spike bowed, and Fernando, seeing as he was cooperating at last, bowed too.
"Glad to see you all again" she said with a smile. She then talked directly to Fernando with a serious face, "Fernando the human, for the past days you have been forced to flee, live for yourself, eat... things that nopony should, and all of this while successfully getting away from the smartest and wisest minds of Equestria. Now I have to ask you, seeing as how we misunderstood your presence here, will you be able to forgive us?". Fernando didn't respond right away, and when he did so, it wasn't a direct answer
"Princess Celestia, when I first got here, I didn't knew what to do. The only things that never left my side where these stones," he took the glowing stones from his pockets, "I was forced to trick a lot of ponies, while doing nothing bad that my religion frowned upon. I did made some ponies angry and I kind of overdid the ghost fiasco. You say that you will help me get back to my home and that is enough, but now I ask, will your sister and that Rainbow Dash ever forgive me?" as in on cue, there was a tremor, and some cracks were seen on the ceiling.
Outside of the sewers, a part of Trottingham didn't existed anymore, luckily it was the part known for its worshipers of Discord and Nightmare Moon, and from Manehattan you could see a mushroom shaped cloud of rainbow-colored smoke.
"I assure you, that with time, they will calm down" Celestia said, humored at the pegasus antics, also knowing the part of the city that was obliterated.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Fernando said, not used to talk to royalty. The princess actually enjoyed that he talked to her like that, considering that only her sister talked so casually with her.
"And what might that be?" the princess answered
"Can we please first go to the castle? I don't want togo through a war zone so early in my life". This made the princess giggle a little.
"Of course, but I might need a little help" she referred to the purple unicorn that couldn't believe how casually they talked, and the green unicorn, that right now was talking with Spike about tactics to avoid damage in the surface. The two reacted by saying
"Count with me, princess" at the same time. A flash latter and they were at the Canterlot castle.
In the castle of Canterlot, there was a flash of light and from it appeared Fernando and the ponies and dragon that were with him. Fernando was a little dizzy and some parts of his clothes appeared to be a little burned. The ponies noticed him like that and Celestia said
"Sorry about that, but it appears that the things from where you come are not meant to be teleported"
"Well, there goes the dream of thousands of the invention of a teleport machine" he thought a little demotivated. "Putting that aside, how much time did you said that it would be before I can get back to my home?" he then said
"Some days. Maybe three or four," the princess answered, "but I'll need the help of my sister for that, so for now go and explore the castle. I'll send the letters to the other elements and Luna communicating that you're here"
"But what do I do if a guard sees me?" the homo sapiens asked again
"Mmm... I know. Twilight, you and Spike give him a tour around since you already know here and because if you're with him then there shouldn't be a problem until I give the announcement of your 'capture'. Lyra Heartstrings, you're free to go with them, or if you want, you can return to your home" the princess said
"I'll go with them" she announced, then the group exited.
Three days passed before Celestia had the spell ready. It was a warm morning, just after the breakfast that she told Fernando that he could be back to his home before noon. During those days, he had managed to don't get dismembered by Rainbow Dash, mauled by Luna or get caught in other 'knowledge time', as named by Lyra, with Twilight or the musical pony. He, Celestia and Luna, who by now had already given up on mending her pride, went to the room that was prepared for the spell. In this room there were some books scattered around the floor, and in the center there was a white circle painted on the floor with some runes around it.
"Is that really necessary?" Fernando asked, not trusting in the circle
"No, but it helps to get more concentration if the scenery is well decorated" Celestia responded while grinning. Fernando still didn't trust it, but he decided to continue with this
"Okay, what do I have to do?" he asked
"Just enter the portal when it shows your home. The portal works in a way that it shows the home of the pony, or person in this case, who is seeing it" Luna answered, happy that she would be away from him.
The princesses proceeded to start the spell. They stood in opposite places around the circle, and the their horns started to shine a little, but then a beam was shot from each horn and it collided in the center of the circle. It then started to form a circular shape that was growing slowly. When it was as big as the princess of the Sun, it formed an image in it of a some houses.
Fernando couldn't believe that he was at last returning to his home. He slowly walked up to the portal and then, when he was about to cross it, he collided with an invisible wall. Rubbing his nose with one hand, he examined the wall with the other.
"Are you sure this is not just some kind of spell that shows my home?" he asked to the princesses. Without stopping the spell, Celestia answered, quickly getting tired
"No, it is supposed to be a portal". The portal was quickly draining their energy, and when they couldn't take it anymore, they stopped the spell and fell to the floor, panting from the exhaustion.
"What happened, why it didn't work?" Fernando asked again, but this time neither Celestia nor Luna answered, but it was a masculine voice coming from the air
"That would be my doing". Fernando jumped when he heard the voice
"Who are you? Why did you do this?" he questioned the voice
"In a reverse order, I did this for fun, and for the first question, I'd prefer to show myself". When he heard this, he saw how a lion paw came from the thin air, and then, like it was pulling something, it pulled out a horned head, of what appeared to be a goat, but the horns weren't of the same animal. The head was followed by a body of different color from the one of the head. The other arm of the creature was that of an eagle, and at the end there were another two legs that didn't correspond with the body, one being from a reptile while the other was of a hoofed animal. It had one wing of a pony and a wing of a bat, and the tail of a dragon.
It would be intimidating if it wasn't for the fact that it barely reached his hip. The princess Celestia gasped while still on the floor
"Discord! What are you doing free again?" she asked, surprised that he was free and angry that she couldn't do anything to imprison him.
"I was passing by and decided to pay my old enemy a friendly visit" he said with a look of malice in his face.
"Be serious for once... and why are you so tiny?" Celestia responded angrily to his sarcasm, and really confused asked.
"It's the most I can do without having my magic weakened even more" he said, but now he appeared to be just annoyed with his situation.
Fernando, after recovering from the surprise of seeing something so ridiculous, asked really angry
"Why did you stopped me from returning to my home?". Discord responded with a mocking grin
"Why else than to entertain me?"
"What!?" Fernando yelled, preparing himself to squash the thing
"Well, you see." he put his arms as if he was opening a window. He did the action and then there appeared a screen "After being imprisoned by the full power of the elements of harmony" the screen showed how he was being shoot with a rainbow beam coming from six members of the HHT, "my full powers were locked for the rest of the eternity. You would think that being turned into stone would be fun, but it is not. Now, thanks to the chaos that happened in the last days, I was able to create an image of myself with some of my power" in the screen appeared the state in which Trottingham was, the train station from Manehattan and the traps around the different cities that still were being cleaned up.
"I was able to see your actions from the past thanks to my powers, and they were indeed very funny. It was as if I wasn't needed anymore to torment these ponies" he said very humored. "So I thought of giving you another challenge"
"What do you mean by that?" Fernando asked, considering him more of a threat now
"It's simple. I do this" he stuck out his arm as if he was trying to take something from a box and pulled Twilight out from thin air. She was knocked out, as if the trip wasn't a good one.
Discord did the same, bringing every integrant of the HHT, even Spike. Then he snapped his fingers and the HHT opened their eyes, but they were spinning as if they were dizzy. The same happened to the princesses. After that, all of them closed their eyes again.
"What did you do?" Fernando asked, starting to freak out
"I simply erased all of their memories from the past days" Discord answered with a maniacal smile
"I'll just tell them. This whole story is too elaborated to be just made up" he told Discord, trusting in his abilities to tell stories
"But how will you do that?" Discord countered
"What do you..." he didn't finish his sentence. He got confused and started to make motions of yelling. Discord started to laugh very hard
"What are you saying, that you accept my challenge?" Fernando was getting really irritated, angry and mad at Discord at the same time.
"Okay, if you insist, this is what you have to do" he then took a roll of parchment from his back and unrolled it. He showed it to Fernando and he saw an image of a drawing stick figures made by a three years old. "First, you have to reach again a distance equivalent to the first time you were running away" he pointed to the first figure that was running. "Second, you can't get caught, if you do, you have to start all over again", he pointed to the second that showed a figure in jail first, and then it was being carried out by Discord. It was suspicious that the image Discord was the only well drawn. "If you can do this I'l return their memories and if you want I'll erase everything about the challenge from their memories".
Fernando sighed and thought
"If I don't play along it'll only get worse"
"Yes, you're right" Discord said. Fernando got surprised when he responded to his thoughts.
"How did you do that?" he mentally asked. The creature pointed above him. Fernando looked up, and floating over his head there were some letters native from Equestria
"Those letters can only be seen by me" Discord commented. Just then, there were multiple groans, and ten corpses raised at the same time. The first to regain consciousness about their surroundings was Celestia. When she saw Discord next to Fernando, she asked really surprised
"Discord, what are you doing out of your prison?" Discord answered 'innocently'
"Oh, nothing. I just brought this human from another dimension that might or might not cause chaos" he then whispered to Fernando, "good luck". With that he snapped his fingers and disappeared.
Celestia was staring at where Discord was before turning to Fernando. The other ponies finally returned to normal and heard what Discord said.
"Oh god, why me" he thought before darting out of the room. Celestia then commanded
"Quick, catch it!". With that, all of them started chasing him.
Meanwhile, Discord was erasing the memories from the guards and the servants of the castle with an irritated face
"This would be faster if I had all of my powers" he thought while continuing with his task of making everything harder for Fernando.
The ponies, and dragon, exited the room, slamming the doors in the process, but they didn't see where Fernando went because there were many doors where he could have gone.
"If Discord brought that thing here, we need to capture it before it gets out of the castle" said Celestia, "Let's separate and give advise to any guard that you may find" she said before she entered a room. There were other five exits in the room, not counting the one they exited and the one that Celestia picked. Luna was the next one to go down a passage, while she trotted, she commanded to the others
"You go for the remaining routes, remain even and whatever you do, don't fall for Discord's tricks". The ponies made a military salute as the princess left and immediately ran down the remaining corridors in groups of two. Twilight went with Spike, Applejack with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy with Rarity and Pinkie was about to go alone when she noticed that Lyra wasn't moving.
"Hey Lyra, didn't you hear? We need to get moving!" Pinkie urged the unicorn as she hopped back to where she was
"But... I don't know what I am doing here, I don't even know why Discord brought me too!" she said, very confused about the situation now that she could stop to notice everything that was happening
"Does it matter? The more the merrier!" Pinkie told to the unicorn while happily bouncing on her hoofs before taking onr of her hoofs and dragging her to the last corridor that wasn't picked by anypony else.
When the last ponies left the room, one of the doors started to slowly move itself to reveal Fernando. He was holding his nose and if he could talk, he would be expressing his pain right now in a not so acceptable way. After recovering from the hit and managing to stop his bleeding nose, he tried to form a plan.
"First of all, I need to find a bathroom" he thought as he observed the blood in his hands. Thankfully, a potted plant was a good hiding spot for blood and thanks to that, he didn't need to soak his clothes in the liquid.
If he remembered right, the closest bathroom was next to the stairs, so he went for the exit that Pinkie and Lyra had taken too. He managed to get there before he was seen by anypony, and once there he locked it ad washed away the red from his hands
"This at least won't make then think I'm a blood thirsty beast" he thought as he walked to the door. He was about to open it when there was a knock. He started to panic and tried to make grunting sounds as if he was... you should know what, but he got another surprise when he discovered that he couldn't produce any sounds
"Great, I can't do any kind of sounds now" he thought irritated while trying to growl in annoyance. He started to hyperventilate when whoever was outside knocked at the door again. In an attempt to gain some time, he went to what appeared to be the toilet and flushed it. When he didn't come up with anything, he gave up and went to open the door when there was a third knock. When he opened the door, he got multiple hits in the head from what would be multiple knocks. He saw Pinkie at the door and was about to put a defeated look when she just pushed him out of the bathroom
"MOVE, I NEED TO USE IT!" she yelled as she closed the door and locked it. Fernando got a very confused look, but shrugging his shoulders he just walked for the stairs. He didn't notice the pair of yellow eyes spying on him.
Lyra was running, trying to catch up with Pinkie Pie, who all of the sudden started to run as if her life depended on it. When she saw her finally stopping at a door to knock at it, she gave a wild guess
"She probably needs the bathroom" that turned to be right when she heard her yelling
"MOVE, I NEED TO USE IT", but she jumped to hiding when she saw the last occupant of the bathroom. She was about to try and catch him when she saw him shrugging his shoulders. That wasn't what called her attention, but the end of the extremities did. The member matched perfectly the book that showed a drawing of a monkey of a myth. She didn't consider it a myth because of her grandfather histories, and she decided to study it more.
Lyra observed how Fernando took hold of the rail of the stair as he went down. She observed how his hands could adapt at the form and get a firm grip of it. She was tempted at capturing it for herself, but she desisted when she remembered that Discord had something to do with him
"It will be safer if I get the help of more ponies she thought as she went to inform the rest of where he is.
Fernando, meanwhile, reached the end of the stairs. He was about to continue his path when he heard some voices behind him
"Hey, what is that?" he heard one of them. Gears were working in his head while he registered what the pony said
"This means that nobody from the Human Hunters Team has made it to the lower floors" he thought, while trying to not look suspicious.
"It must be one of the animals from the gardens that managed to get in the castle" said another voice.
"Okay then, I'm an animal. Act natural!" he commanded to himself as he started to 'inspect' the things in the room as if he didn't know what they were.
"Yeah, it looks like one of those spider monkeys, just bigger and without fur" said again the first voice.
"But why does it have clothes?" said the first voice, that was masculine.
"It must be a compensation for the lack of fur" said the second voice. This one was feminine. Fernando turned to finally see a guard, that one was a pegasus, and a servant, this was a unicorn. He slowly approached them with an unsure look on his face. He did look very convincing, so much as to the servant to actually calling him.
"Here boy, I'm not gonna hurt you" she said. He got near her and started to study her clothing as a part of his act. The mare giggled a little and the guard said
"You better return him. Remember that none of the castle animals are 'trained', and you know how the princess Celestia was the last time one entered" he shuddered at the memory.
It was a calm morning. The princess Celestia was enjoying the day, and why wouldn't she? There were not problems that were meant to be solved by her, no inaugurations or festivities. The day was for herself and she would enjoy it.
She was going to sit down with a cup of tea and read one of the new books that she couldn't start until now.
"I wonder what happens in this new Daring Do book" she said quietly to herself, awaiting the moment that she got the book in her hoofs. Everything was fine until she suddenly stepped on something. At first the texture made her wonder what could it be. She moved her hoof a little to fill better the thing that she had walked on. She couldn't quite remember where she had felt this before. When she finally looked down, she saw a brown mass under her hoof.
Her face went whiter than it was already before it turned to the brighter red. Her day was supposed to be perfect and now... well...
"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE OF THIS!" she yelled using the Royal Canterlot Voice. A group of servants arrived at the scene, wondering what could have made their princess so mad. One of the had a little spider monkey with her, and she immediately backed away slowly.
"WHO OF YOU LEFT THIS THERE? she asked them. They at first were frozen in the place, but then they quickly pointed to their retreating fellow, who still had the monkey.
The rest of the memory is better to stay untold, but let's just say that the pony learned her lesson for letting in an animal and not watch over him half of the time, and ruining the princess' favorite slippers.
"Well, in her defense, she couldn't have known that monkeys tend to throw their food" the mare said to the stallion
"Yeah, but one does not simply gives a chocolate ice cream to an animal that doesn't know how to eat pony food and expects it to eat it the right way" the guard said.
Fernando was left to wonder what they were talking about, and when the attention returned to him, he made a lost stare that practically said 'non-thinking' with big glowing neon letters.
"I'll just levitate it over to the gardens. After all, we're just one floor over the tree tops" the servant said
"Wait, what?"" he thought before being levitated, with some effort and help from the pegasus, and being dropped a meter or two over the trees. He fell through the branches and got his t-shirt stuck on one of the lower branches, avoiding the hit of the ground.
"That was too close" he thought emphasizing the word too.
"Yeah, I know," he heard a voice that he wished wasn't there "but don't worry, I know that nothing is good until it's done" he turned to see sitting on the brach he was stuck. By the look of his paw and claw, it appeared that he would let it loose
"Don't you dare do that!" he thought, but he was ignored, because some seconds later he was on the ground. "I hate you" he thought still with his face on the ground.
He stood up, ignoring the sounds of laugher coming from the draconequus and observed around him where he was. He was in the gardens that were outside the hall where the Great Galloping Gala would take place in some months. He knew this from the tour that Twilight gave him some days ago. From there, he knew how to get to the main gates easily.
Discord, wanting to see everything that happened to him, followed him.
The first pony that Lyra found was the Princess Celestia. She told her that Fernando was already on the lower floors and the princess teleported to the next floor, hoping to stop Fernando before he could get to the gates. Once there, he found a guard making his round around the castle. She approached him from and started to talk, startling him
"Glowing Edge, have you seen a creature that resembles a monkey except that it doesn't have tail nor fur?" the guard turned, feeling uneasy because of his fear of being called the culprit of this. He decided that telling everything would make him seem innocent
"Yes, your highness. One of your servants, Tea Cup, and me found it wandering around. It must have entered the castle by accident, so we returned it to the gardens before any problems could happen". The princess got very anxious at his response and explained to him that Fernando was brought by Discord, from where, they didn't know, but it couldn't do any good for it to get away from the castle.
When the princess finished her explanation, the guard felt really stupid with himself.
"There is no time for feeling bad for something that you didn't have any knowledge, for now help in the search and give advise to any guard that you may find" the princess told to Glowing. He bowed before going to the training grounds, knowing that the captain Shining Armor was still at the morning routine.
For her part, Princess Celestia teleported to the gates of the castle, determined to stop Fernando before he could get away.
Fernando's POV
I ran through the gardens to the gates of the castle. Along the was Discord was rambling about random things, varying from how ponies didn't appreciate the chaos to how little things were more dangerous than a chocolate milk of glass.
"I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't thrown that chocolate milk in time it would have blown my fang from my face" he said, remembering, in his words, the last time he tried to return Equestria to its formerly wonderful chaotic state. He stopped when I put my hand over his mouth, while holding my finger to my mouth in a 'silence' way.
"Be quiet," I commanded him "we're close to the gates and you'll blow my cover
"Why? I don't see anything" he calmly said while looking around
"Exactly. It's quiet, too quiet" I said. By now I expected some guards to be in the gardens and others to be guarding the gate, but when it came into sight, it wasn't guarded at all. Right now I had two options, go for the gate, or find another way out. The other ways out consisted in either climbing the wall, or somehow entering the sewers.
"Why are you narrating?" Discord suddenly asked "Right now you did it again"
"Sometimes, narrating things helps me to concentrate in the matter at hand I respond a little sheepishly, but then I get a scowl in the face "I told you to shut up. If you're coming with me, even if it was you the one that put me in this problem, you'll have to at least don't get in my way"
"But, what is the fun in all of this if it's not harder than the last time you went through this?" he said with a look that I didn't trust.
"It's already harder now that I can't talk. If you say that you saw everything that happened before then you should know that I got away from those ponies with the help of my voice more than half the time he looked amused and responded
"Yeah, you're right. But don't expect it back until you get to either Fillydelphia or Las Pegasus" I gave him a confused look
"Those are the other two options I had before that city that got halfway destroyed, right?" he nodded. I sighed at the long way I had ahead.
It has been like half a hour and my suspiciousness about a trap was confirmed because still no guards were at the gates, but now there were guards close by. I still had no ideas in my mind to get them to exit their hiding spot, and frankly, I was starting to lose my patience. I was under some trees, so I couldn't be seen from the sky. That was good because if they send Rainbow Dash then she wouldn't be able to see me, but if the princesses or Twilight come here then I'll have no way of getting away.
I was calmly sitting in the ground until Discord yelled
"Enough! If you're not doing anything then I'll make you do something" apparently his shout was enough for more than startling me, because some birds flew away scared too, then some guards found us. He then proceeded to teleport me to the gates, and as I knew before, there was half the Royal Guard waiting for me there. They didn't expect me to appear so suddenly, and I took that chance to start running.
They saw me running and then they chased me. Thanks to their armor, they were slowed enough to not catch up with me, and they would probably have never done that if it wasn't for the fact that I ran into something when a flash blinded me for some seconds. When I saw what it was, I saw the Princess Celestia standing next to me, her horn glowing and next thing I know is that I'm knocked out by some kind of magic.
Fernando was put in a cage after Celestia knocked him out with her magic.
"What do we do with it, princess?" asked one of the guards that had brought the cage.
"Bring it with me. We have to send back this creature from wherever Discord brought it and the Elements of Harmony are our best option" she said, thinking that this shouldn't be a problem at all.
While walking back to the castle, the other members of the HHT and Luna caught up with her and got relieved when they saw the creature in the cage.
"Let's go back to the Throne room" Celestia told them when she walked next to them. Twilight started to walk to her side and asked her
"What are we going to do with this... I think Discord called it human?" Celestia looked at her and responded
"Well, if Discord brought it, then the Elements should be able to send it back". Twilight nodded her head and continued walking.
In the Throne room, Celestia walked to where the Elements of Harmony were stored. She unlocked the door and then took the chest that contained them. She passed them to the six ponies that represented them and they got in formation to use them. By this point, Fernando was starting to wake up. He moved his mouth as if he was moaning and thought while rubbing his head
"Whoa, what happened?". He looked around and saw six ponies levitating while their eyes shined. He noted the necklaces that they were wearing shined too.
"I think those are the Elements of Harmony that Twilight talked about" a realization suddenly hit him "Hey, if Discord's magic is supposed to be chaotic then it will disappear". Smiling, he stood up and looked expectantly to the energy that was going out from the necklaces.
When the Elements were fully charged, they fired a rainbow colored beam that covered the whole cage that Fernando was in. When it faded, everypony had to wait a little for their sight to come back. In Fernando's case, he tried to yell, say something or anything like that, but still no sound came from him. Disgruntled, he sat down and started to think of a way to get out.
In the ponies, and dragon, case, they expected to see an empty cage, but they got confused as to why the creature was still there.
"Hey, the Elements didn't work!" Rainbow said. She looked from Twilight to the princesses and back to Twilight for an explanation. Twilight was as perplex as Rainbow Dash and said
"I know, but why?". The ponies started to talk worriedly between them trying to find an explanation. Spike tried to talk, but he wasn't being heard over the others voices
"Hey... What if! HEY!" the ponies quieted down at the sudden shout, "thanks, now that I got your attention. What if Discord didn't brought it here in the first place?".
"But Spike, he said that he brought him, remember?" Twilight told him, not giving too much importance to her assistant statement.
"Yeah, I remember that, but you have to remember too that it's Discord the one we're talking about" this did make some sense in Twilight's head
"But, why would Discord want us to think that he brought him here?" Twilight asked him
"Beats me" the dragon said while shrugging his shoulders
"Either way, he got a reason and that's more than enough for keeping it in a cage" Applejack commented, getting in the conversation.
"What do we do with it, princess?" Twilight asked to Celestia, wanting guidance in this issue.
"I'm too aware that Discord might have a plan for it, but since he didn't exactly brought it chaotically, then I can assume that it doesn't know what it is doing here..." the princess answered
"Oh, I do know what I'm doing here, and I don't like it a bit Fernando thought to him when he heard this.
"... so we'll study it until we figure out any possible threats that it might present". Celestia finished. Unnoticed to the group of talking equines and reptile, Fernando hung his head in slight depression.
"Again with the studies... and they keep me calling an it". For him, it was like the first day all over again, but without his voice nor some little respect that he received. Fluttershy turned away from the conversation to look at Fernando, and when she noticed he looked a little gloom, her caretaker instincts kicked in. She went up to him and stuck in her hoof, petting him in the head without hesitation while saying.
"There, there, don't feel sad. The princess will probably find a way to return you to your home". Contrary to the effect that this would have on other human beings (*cough* bronies *cough*), this didn't help
"This is just 'adding salt to the injury'" he thought while imagining his pride putting a vacancy sign on his body. Twilight turned to see what Fluttershy was doing and found her talking to Fernando. This made her remember that Fluttershy could understand animals. She went next to her and said
"Fluttershy, since you can understand animals, can you ask it if it knows Discord's plan?" Fluttershy nodded and turned to Fernando to ask the question. He knew that it was a helpless cause to try and communicate, but he tried anyway.
Fluttershy saw that he tried to talk, but she didn't heard anything. Returning her head to look in Twilight
"I don't think that it can talk. Maybe its species communicate by lip movements" she said disgruntled by the fact that she couldn't help.
"Don't worry about it. We'll figure out everything eventually" Twilight told to the pegasus, trying to cheer her up.
"I don't want this to solve eventually! I want this to resolve now!" Fernando thought childishly. The two mares turned and walked again to the other ponies to discuss what to do with the matter at hoof.
Some hours passed and the day turned to night. The mane six were staying at the castle in case of Discord appearing once again since he still hadn't done anything noticeable. Lyra returned to Ponyville with the excuse that she couldn't be of much help against a being such as Discord.
In a room of the third basement of the castle, there was a room with two guards guarding the door. From that room you could hear a banging sound was being made and for the look of the guards, you could say that it had been a while since it began. Inside the room there was Fernando, inside of his cage. The cage was in the middle of the room that was being illuminated with torches. Inside the room there were other four guards, each one of them with an annoyed look on their faces. The source of the sound was the head of Fernando that he was hitting against the bars of the cage in boredom.
"This. Is. So. Boring" he thought, timing each word with a hit. He had been there for at least four hours and none of the ponies had given him anything else than two bowls. One had water and the other had some food. "If I wait long enough, the ponies might find a way to take me back to my home" he thought hoping that Discord would leave him alone.
Some floors above him, Twilight was at the library of the castle, researching all she could about the human species or anything that looked like them, but it was a futile effort. She wouldn't have slept in all the night if it wasn't for Celestia, who came with her a little past the midnight.
"Twilight, it's very late. You should rest a little" she told her in a motherly way. Twilight just shook her head in a negative manner while saying
"I can't, princess. I need to know everything I can about this human before it becomes a big problem"
"But you won't find anything. I have never seen anything like that before, and you know my age" Celestia responded. Twilight nodded, knowing the seven digit number her teacher was referring to. She was about to return to her room when an important question popped in her mind.
"Princess, what do we do if Discord tries to set free the human without us knowing it?". At the question, Celestia smiled, proud of her chaos-proof plan.
"The cage has a force field that make it invulnerable to chaos, and the key can't be taken with magic thanks to a potion of our better alchemist. Discord will have a hard time getting it free". Twilight wasn't surprised by her teacher's plan. She had known her for so long as to expect even more complicated and elaborated plans.
Returning to the underground, the guards of the room were Fernando were getting sleepy from not sleeping almost anything during that day. Their shift was almost done and they were looking forward to it.
There was a sudden noise coming from the darkness and one of them asked
"Who is there?" at getting no response, he started to walk to where he heard the noise. The other guard was left alone some time because the light of the torches didn't reach very far. He started to worry when his partner didn't came back. He called for him but he didn't got a response.
He decided to go searching for him, so he took a torch and went for him. When he turned the first corner he found him. He was standing still, so he approached him
"Hey, what are you doing. Return to your position!" he ordered to the pony. At not getting a response again, he went up to him, but stopped when he heard mumbles. Apparently, they were coming from the pony, so he asked "What are you saying? I didn't heard you" he stopped when he felt breathing on the back of his neck. Turning quickly, he didn't saw anypony. Felling the breath again, he turned his head to find Discord sitting on his back. He appeared to be chewing something and he said with his mouth full
"He said don't come, it's a trap". He then proceeded to take out his chewing gum from his mouth and sticking it all over the guard. At first the guard was disgusted with the action, but when he tried to move away from the draconequus, he found that he couldn't. "Concrete flavored gum. Not one of my favorites, but it surely is effective" Discord commented before going for the room with Fernando in it.
Before entering, he made a can with the picture of a laughing pony laughing appear with a snap of his fingers. He then started to read the warnings
"Let's see... Danger, don't shake, bla bla bla, keep away from fire, bla bla bla, explosions. Okay". He snapped his fingers again and he got a match in his paw. He turned it on and put on fire the can. After shaking it, he kicked open the door and threw the can inside. Waiting some seconds, there was a loud explosion inside and when he reopened the door, there were four slightly burned guards rolling on the floor laughing their flanks off. The cage, was unaffected thanks to the chaotic magic that impregnated the can, and Fernando too was unaffected by the explosion.
"You again" he thought while narrowing his eyes.
"I missed you too" Discord responded sarcastically
"What do you want now?" Fernando thought, the words above him literally dripping with venom.
"I just came to free you as we accorded" Discord answered
"And what makes you think that I will cooperate? Some hours ago the princess said that she would take me back anyway" Fernando said with a victorious tone
"I'm aware of that, as well of the fact that no one of them know that you can talk nor they know how to give your voice back" Discord countered, laughing at the face that Fernando put when he said this.
"Hey," Fernando thought. "why my voice didn't come back when the ponies hit me with that rainbow beam?". Discord laughed a bit more before noticing the words above the humans head. Wiping a tear from his eye, he responded in a knowing-it-all tone
"That's because I didn't take away your voice" Fernando raised an eyebrow
"Care to elaborate?" he suggested
"Well, I knew that if they caught you, they would give your voice back, so instead of chaotically taking it away, I enhanced it, making it so high pitched that nothing can hear it". When Discord finished, Fernando was really surprised how he thought about this
"If you're the spirit of disharmony, how come that you can make a plan?" Fernando asked. At the question, Discord got very serious and looked into space as if remembering something
"Well, when the Elements of Harmony hit me, they locked my all of my chaotic powers. With what happened, I managed to get out, but I'll never be me again." he responded.
"But why do they only locked it?" Fernando asked
"Because, the harmony can't exist without chaos, and destroying it is as chaotic as it being free, just without the fun" Discord said gloomily.
"If it makes you feel better, you're still insane Fernando thought very sarcastically. When he said that, he returned to his maniac look,
"But I can still get more things to create chaos, and that is your work for now!" he said while pointing to him. Fernando sighed and thought
"Just take me out already" Discord tried to do that, but he found that he couldn't. He tried snapping his fingers to destroy it, ramming it with a log and using dynamite, but the shield stopped everything. Seeing his failed attempts, Discord assumed a thinking position. His attention was brought to a still laughing guard that wandered over to him and started to talk. He was clearly beyond rational thought thanks to the can of laughing gas.
"He he he, if you want to, ha ha, open it, ha ha ha, you'll need this, ha ha ha, key" he said while holding up a key with his hoof. Discord tried to take it, but the guard moved it away before saying "he he he, but don't ta-ha ha-ke it. You're, ha ha, supposed to be a bad guy" he continued to giggle while Discord talked
"Oh, no. I couldn't harm a parasprite" he said while holding up his arms in a 'I'm harmless' way
"Oh, he he, okay then" the drunken guard threw the key in the air and Discord took it. The guard proceeded to leave the room with the other guards while saying some of the worst jokes you could ever hear.
"Wut da heck just happened?" Fernando thought after observing the conversation with disbelief, imagining the errors on purpose.
"Oh, you know. Just a talk between gentlecolts" Discord said, not giving it importance.
Discord proceeded to open the cage and to let Fernando out. Fernando walked out of the cage and exited the room. Remembering the path the guards took when bringing him, he started to go on his path to freedom, Discord closely following him, waiting for the moment to mess with him or any pony that happened to find them.
The princess Celestia was sleeping in her room. There was no sound that disturbed her, and her face was as calm as it was when she was awake.
With a rapid succession knocks at her door the peace was stopped, as well as Celestia's slumber. She opened her eyes, very annoyed that she has been awakened, and grumbling while getting up and going to open the door. Before opening it, she quickly put on her best serious face to not give a bad impression.
The sight she had when she opened the door was certainly not what she expected. In front of her there was one of her guards, balancing on his hoofs as if the task of standing still was more than what his brain could handle and with a goofy smile on his face.
"What is my presence required for?" Celestia asked, wanting nothing else more than returning to her bed.
"Priiiiincessss, how are you doing? *chuckle* I was just passing by *very long laugh* and said, let's visit my favorite princess in aaaaall the world!" he continued to giggle while inviting himself to the princess bedroom.
In normal circumstances, the princess would be very upset for her slumber being interrupted, but the way the guard was acting made alarms ring in her head. She watched how the stallion walked to her bed, jumped on it and started to bounce while laughing as much as Pinkie Pie. She then remembered that he was one of the guards that were guarding the creature.
"Why are you here instead of guarding the human's cage?" she started to suspect of a certain chaotic being, but she wanted to be sure before awakening the whole castle. The guard giggled at the question as if it was an obvious one.
"I already told you, I was passing by and wanted to say hi!". Celestia sighed irritated.
"This might take a while" she thought as she continued to question the guard.
Fernando and Discord were wandering the corridors of the last basement of the castle before the first floor. On the way Discord was, yet again, rambling about random things. Fernando learned to ignore him after the first hour, leaving the draconequus to his one-sided conversation.
They stopped when they had an encounter with more guards, but these were black stallions, with dark blue armor and bat wings. Those were the six guards that were supposed to replace the guards that were immobilized and drugged. All of them stood there for some seconds, neither doing any kind of movement. Discord was the first one to say something.
"You're on your own!" he said cheerily while patting him on the back. He snapped his fingers and disappeared in an implosion. For his part, Fernando smiled innocently and waved a greeting with his hand. With five deadpan looks as a response, one from the back of the group waved back, he turned around and started to run. The six guards reacted quickly by running to catch him.
Fernando was running in the search of a hiding spot, but the guards that were less than three meters away from him and diminishing the distance at a relative quick pace, was starting to lose options. Since the he was almost at a hoof of distance from the guards, he picked a random door to enter. He quickly closed it and he quickly used, what he hoped, was the lock of the door. It was successful, because the guards couldn't open the door, but soon they were ramming it.
"Come on, think!" he looked around the room, but there wasn't much that he could use. "I can't make barricade with these!" in the room there were only some boxes, old brooms, a bucket and a second door. "I hope that playing as Snake in Super Smash Bros Brawl justifies the use of his tactic" he thought as he hid under a box.
Once inside the box, he heard how the ponies finally broke down the door. He heard some hoofsteps and a closing door. He was about to lift the box when he heard more hoofs getting closer. Whoever the owner of these hoofs was, was inspecting all of the room. Fernando held his breath when he heard the hoofsteps stop right in front of his box. He prepared himself to run for the door.
The pony lifted the box and immediately Fernando ran for the door, without even looking at the one that lifted his box, but he was soon stopped when he was help by the shirt.
"Wait, how is a pony holding my shirt with a hoof?" he thought before turning his head. When he did so, he discovered who had found him. The 'pony' was just Discord that was standing on his only hoof. Said draconequus had a smug smile on his face
"Did I scare you?" he said mockingly. Fernando growled for a second before thinking calmly
"Hey Discord, do you wanna hear a secret?" Discord nodded his head, eagerly to know this secret.
"Yes, even if I can't keep a secret!" he said excited
"No problem" responded Fernando. He leaned over as if he was whispering and thought, "you... tick me off". Discord started to laugh frantically at Fernando's commentary.
"It's always a pleasure to do so" he said with a mocking smile. Fernando sighed and returned to his main objective of getting out of the castle.
"Okay, one more time" said a frustrated Celestia "You had a reason to leave your position, you weren't ordered to do so, you were bored, you went for a dandelion sandwich, and then you came here to say hi. What was the action that originated all of that" the guard laughed, then giggled, then laughed some more before responding
"Oh, you should've started from there, he he he. My companion who had the key gave it to that Discord, and since our task was to guard the key and the cage, we didn't believe necessary our task anymore since he liberated the creature". When the guard finished, he fell to the floor laughing at the look the princess had on her face. She had her eyes as wide as possible, her pupils were just tiny spots on her eyes from the shock and her mouth was hanging from her face. She took some minutes to process this, the guard in the meantime pushed back and forth the hanging mouth of the princess. When she came to her senses, she immediately yelled with the Royal Canterlot Voice at maximum volume, shattering her window in the process.
"EVERYPONY, WAKE UP. DISCORD IS IN THE CASTLE AND HE HAS SET FREE THE HUMAN!"
When the announcement reached the ears of the sleeping Twilight, she fell to the floor startled. She groggily stood up, trying to register in her half sleep mind what the princess had just yelled. When she found sense in those words, her eyes widened, she took Spike, who was too on the floor, and quickly left her room.
"What's happening?" asked Spike, still confused.
"Discord came back, and he set free the human!" Twilight responded while running.
She ran in the direction of the room of the princess Celestia, wanting more information about what just happened. On the way, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy caught up with them. When they reached Celestia's room, they found Celestia and Luna giving orders to the guards to search for the human.
"Princess Celestia, what did Discord do now?" Twilight asked when she was next to the princess. Said princess gave the order for the guards to start their search before responding to Twilight
"It looks like he drugged the guards of the human's cage, and already managed to escape from the guards of the night". Twilight looked surprised by this
"Did Discord teleport him or something?" she asked
"No. By their testimony, Discord left it alone before the chase started, so it's a possibility that the human got away by his own means" the princess responded.
"If they're still here in the castle, we'll catch them for sure!" said Rainbow Dash with confidence. The other ponies voiced their agreement with Rainbow statement. Celestia smiled at their enthusiasm and said
"Very well, then you'll be another searching party apart from the guards". With that said, the six ponies went in different directions in the search of Fernando. Celestia got a little confused when she saw Twilight going through a random door. "Wasn't Spike with her when she came here?" she thought while looking around. She found the dragon talking with the still drunk guard, apparently humored by his current state. "I'll let him be, after all, he's just a kid" she thought before turning to her sister.
"Luna, we both should help in the search. You search from the sky since the night is your advantage while I go and tell the guards to shut every possible escape route" she told to Luna. Luna nodded at the plan and immediately teleported to the sky to start her search. Celestia teleported too, but she went to the gates to give the order of closing them.
A little before the shout, Fernando and Discord were at the second floor.
"Who got the idea of making the access to the basements from a second floor?" Fernando asked, annoyed with the local architecture
"It was my idea" replied Discord. Fernando looked at him puzzled before saying
"Your idea?"
"Yep, my idea. You see, some time after the foundation of Equestria I appeared and took control over it. I needed a place that honored me, so I made them build this castle. I was young back then, so that's why this castle looks so, ugh, normal" Discord responded, disgusted for the mention of the n-word. That is when they heard Celestia's shout. Fernando jumped a little when he heard that, while Discord flinched and checked for permanent ear damage
"I think she should try again, I think she didn't wake up the ponies from Ponyville" Discord said, as a response, Fernando rolled his eyes. He stared some second at Discord, and the spirit felt as if he was trying to see into his very chaotic soul. "What are you staring at?" he asked after a while.
"Aren't you supposed to leave me on my own when something like this happens?" Fernando responded. Discord faked being hurt by his words
"How dare you? I would never do such a thing" he said before turning his back to him. They both then heard hoofs approaching from one side of the corridor. "Except now" Discord said with a grin before snapping his fingers and appearing in front of him a door. He entered it and after he did so, the door disappeared with an explosion of smoke.
Fernando 'coughed' a little when he inhaled the smoke, but he could hear on the other side the guards talking
"What was that?" he heard one
"It must be Discord!" exclaimed another one. He heard them approaching and he was about to run to the other direction, but he thought of a best idea.
The guards ran through all the corridor, but they didn't find anything, so they kept on running. The smoke of the corridor was pushed by a breeze that came from an open window, and surely there wasn't a sign of any human, but if you looked closely to the window you would two sets of four fingers hanging there.
With some effort, Fernando climbed again the window, but unknown to him, the princess Luna had seen him and was now diving at full speed for the window where Fernando had just reentered the castle.
Just before continuing his path, Fernando felt a chilly breeze. He shivered a little and turned to close the window.
"The autumn must be close" he thought to himself. He still had his hands on the window's frame when he saw the face of the princess Luna slam with full force with the crystal.
"I must make Celestia reconsider the magically reinforced windows" Luna said before falling unconscious and then falling to the ground. Fernando was, to say the least, surprised by this. He pushed the random event aside and then started to walk to where the guards had appeared.
"I hope I don't run into anyone from the Human Hunters Team" he thought while walking.
Twilight was running through the castle room while using her see-through spell. When she ran in the room under Fernando's location, she found the princess Luna unconscious outside the castle. She gasped and went to the closer window. She stuck out her head and levitated Luna's body back inside. She then shook her gently to wake her up. Luna groaned a little and slowly opened her eyes.
"Wha-what happened?" the princess asked
"That's what I want to know, princess" Twilight said
"I remember seeing the human hanging from a window. He entered and I dived to catch him, but then I don't know what happened" Luna said confused. Twilight looked at her worried, and then she looked horrified to the princess' head. To the right of the princess' horn, there was a lump of half the heigh of the horn.
"What? Do I have something on the face?" Luna asked when she saw Twilight's look.
"Oh, no no no no no, you got nothing!" she said. As always, she wasn't a good liar. "But if you saw the human on the second floor, then we can corner him!" the unicorn tried to change the subject, and luckily, it worked.
"You're right, Twilight Sparkle! I'll block the stairs, you get reinforcements!" the alicorn commanded before going to the stairs, walking in an erratical pattern along the way. Twilight looked at her a little concerned before going to get more help, and some ice.
I was close to the stairs. Thanks to that tour I had some days ago, and my days at the castle, I knew half of this place as well as the inside of the Deku Tree. I walked slowly, careful as to not make any sound, but with a creature that is the embodiment of the chaos following me, I'm pretty sure it won't work for too long.
The stairs came into my sight, but I heard some voices below. Peeking a little over the corner, I didn't saw anyone, but the voices were still there. I tried to hear what they were saying, but I didn't understand what they were saying, but at least I did know that there were at least two of them there.
"Princess!" and that was Twilight, arriving with five of her friends.
"Why do they always show up when I want to escape from somewhere? I thought with annoyance. The princess, that I now knew was Luna, and two guards came out from their hiding spot. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but knowing that at least one of them was gonna come to search for me, I go for a place to hide.
Third Person POV
Everypony, except for Twilight, was staring at the princess second horn when they arrived. Luna gave them a puzzled look but decided that it could wait.
"Good, now that you are here, we'll send some of you to lure the human to our trap" said Luna.
"Okay, princess," responded Twilight "Rainbow Dash, Applejack and me will go" the mention of their names broke the trance of the ponies, who had now determined looks on their faces. "Now, princess, I need you and the others that are going to ambush it to make everything possible to stop it. After that, I'll need you Fluttershy" she pointed to the yellow pegasus "to use the 'stare' on it. If it works, he shouldn't be a problem anymore". Everypony nodded at the plan.
"What do we do when we see it?" asked Rainbow Dash while flying up the stairs.
"You'll fly over it and block his path. Applejack will be behind it in case he tries to change his path, and if I can, I'll stop it with levitation" responded Twilight.
"What if he manages to escape?" asked Applejack
"We just need to take it to our ambush. It's just an animal so we shouldn't have any problems" answered the unicorn
"I don't know, Twilight, I know for experience that a cornered animal can do anything to get away" said Applejack unsure
"Come on! You and me surely are stronger than it, and Twilight has magic, so we got nothing to fear" said Rainbow Dash, confident as ever.
When they reached the second floor, Twilight started to use her see-through spell. Fernando could see them from his hiding spot, and he recognized the magic trick that Twilight was using
"Damn, I forgot that I can't hide from the unicorns" Fernando thought. He ran to a random corridor, wanting to be as away as possible from the unicorn. From the ceiling, Discord read Fernando thoughts.
"Let's do this a little more... interesting" he said to himself, pausing for dramatic effect, before disappearing.
Fernando entered what appeared to be a hall with...
"Jigsaw puzzles?". A whole room dedicated solely to all of the jigsaw puzzles that the princess had completed in their lives. You could see some puzzles from a thousand pieces to ten thousand. They had all kinds of images in them. There were some puzzles with the big cities of Equestria, others had the princesses in them. There was even one with Discord in it.
"Wait, Discord?" Fernando did a double take, and surely, there was a puzzle of Discord. He approached it, and when he was examining it closely, the head moved and said
"Boo!"
Fernando 'yelled', and then glared at the image. Discord came out from the puzzle, curiously he looked as if he was made of tiny pieces, and started to talk
"Did you miss me?" he said with sarcasm.
"Ha ha ha. What do you want now?" Fernando responded while still trying to develop laser-eyes.
"I came to make you an offer"
"What do you mean with offer?" Fernando wouldn't trust Discord with a paper sheet, and that wasn't the exception.
"I mean that I'll give you a chance to stand against the see-through spell" Discord responded. This caught some of Fernando's attention
"What's the catch?" he still feared giving him trust and getting a paper plane in return.
"The unicorns won't be able to see you with the see-through spell, but every kind of pony will know if you are near". With the clock ticking, Fernando didn't had much time to think.
"They'll know if I'm close, but still won't know exactly were am I?" he said finally. Discord nodded. "I'll regret this later, but I accept" Discord grinned maliciously and snapped his fingers. Fernando braced himself for any kind of trick, but he didn't felt anything
"Done!" said Discord smiling. Fernando looked confused, and thought
"Was that all?"
"Well, excuuuse me if this spell doesn't have any flamboyant effects" Discord said, faking annoyance. Fernando gave him a deadpan look before going to find anywhere were he could hide. He hid behind a, what appeared to be, ten thousand pieces puzzle, and Discord exited the room by a window. Not to long after, Twilight was passing with her see-through spell, but thanks to Discord, she wasn't able to see Fernando. When she and the other two ponies were passing by the door, the three stopped at the same time.
"Hey girls, did you sense that too?" asked Twilight
"Yeah, it's like I knew that that animal is somewhere close" Rainbow Dash answered
"Don't low your guard, remember that it could be another one of Discord's tricks" said Applejack.
"Yeah, I think that too. Anyway, we already saw inside with my spell. There's nothing wrong in that room" Twilight commented.
"I still think that we should check it" said Rainbow while crossing her hoofs.
"Instead of just checking a room that we already know is a potential trap, we should continue to search for that human" Twilight said, not trusting the sudden feeling. They continued walking, but Rainbow Dash kept on looking to the door.
When Fernando heard the hoofsteps going away, he came out from his hiding spot.
"Well, it worked" he thought
"Did you even have any doubt?" said Discord as he reentered the room.
"Do you really want to know?" he responded sarcastically. He exited the room, but for some reason he felt observed. He looked around but didn't spot anything.
"Hey, up here!" he heard someone say from above. He looked up and there, hovering with her hoofs crossed and a smirk, was Rainbow Dash.
"She's my eternal punishment, right?" Fernando thought before darting away. Before going to catch him, she was stopped by Twilight
"Hey, Rainbow, what are you waiting for?" she said poking her head from the corner of the corridor after she noticed that Rainbow wasn't following them.
"I told you that we should've checked that room!" the pegasus responded before flying at top speed. Twilight had a confused look first, but then she understood what she meant.
"What's holding up you two?" said Applejack, her head appearing above Twilight's.
"Rainbow Dash found the human!" said Twilight, but then she looked at Applejack annoyed "why are you standing on my back?" Applejack grinned sheepishly and returned to the ground.
"I guess I've spent too much time with Pinkie" she said. Twilight decided to take one problem at a time and just told her
"Let's just catch up with Rainbow Dash".
Fernando was running from Rainbow Dash, but no matter where he turned, Rainbow was able to block his path by flying above him.
"I can't get away if I can't trick her" he thought when she blocked his path for the third time. Quickly looking around, he saw some doors in the alley. "This should give me some time" he thought when he thought of a plan. He went for a random door. As expected, Rainbow flew over him to block his path, but when she was passing over him, he closed the door, giving a full force hit to the pegasus' head. While she was still shaking the dizziness off, he went for another door, successfully losing Dash.
When she returned to normal, she noticed that she didn't knew where Fernando was anymore.
"Buck!" she said in frustration. Just then Twilight and Applejack caught up with Rainbow Dash
"Hey, where is the human?" asked Twilight
"It got away" said Rainbow Dash, not telling all the story.
"Do you know where did he go?" asked Twilight
"No, but for some reason I still have the feeling from before. I think it tells us if that animal is close" said Rainbow Dash.
"If what you are saying is true, we should separate. When you don't have that feeling it is supposed that we're not close anymore" said Twilight. They nodded and went to inspect the doors.
"I lost the feeling" said Applejack after just some steps.
"That leaves out those doors" responded Twilight while pointing almost all the doors of the corridor, leaving two possible choices.
"I'll take this one!" said Rainbow as she went for the door to the left.
"Okay, I'll go through this one!" said Applejack, going to the other door.
"If you find it, bring it here. I'll stop him with my magic" Twilight told to the other two before they left.
Fernando was in the middle of the dinning room, which seemed unnecessarily enormous.
"If I remember correctly, the kitchen has an emergency exit that leads to the gardens" he thought as he ran to the only other door in the room. There was the sound of hoofs hitting the ground at the other end of the room. He looked behind him and saw Applejack running while searching for something in her hat. He turned to look ahead and he saw that the door was still too far away. Turning his gaze to his back again, he saw how Applejack had already thrown a lasso to him. He sidestepped it while still running. He still had some distance to cover before entering the door, but Applejack had enough time to fling the rope to him again.
This time, instead of a sidestep, he caught the rope with his hands. When Applejack pulled from it, Fernando didn't let her retrieve it, but he was easily dragged along. He tried to pull harder, but this time, when he saw that Applejack was about to pull with all of her might, he let go of the lasso. With other ponies, they would only fall over, but whit the force that Applejack used, she went flying some meters. Fernando mentally chuckled a little at this
"Mind over muscle" he thought to himself. He saw the other two ponies just entering the room, so he quickly ran for the door, but there was a flash of light and Twilight was already in front of him "Magic over mind?" he thought before being levitated and completely immobilized.
Applejack stood up and saw that Twilight had already restrained Fernando. Rainbow Dash landed next to her and Applejack asked
"How did you know that the creature was here?"
"The other door took me to the servant dormitories. I just did a quick check in the rooms and then came back" responded the pegasus.
"Okay girls, let's take it to Fluttershy. Nopony deserves to suffer 'the stare', but it will make things easier if Discord tries to free it again" Twilight said as she walked past the other two, the human floating above them, wondering what was this 'stare' Twilight was talking about.
The three ponies returned to the stairs. The ponies that were supposed to ambush Fernando came out from their hiding spot and Luna said
"Great, you got the creature. I'll go and tell my sister that the crisis has ended" she proceeded to teleport to Celestia. Meanwhile, Twilight was taking Fernando with Fluttershy.
"I don't know, Twilight. It might only be scared and wanted to flee and doesn't deserve the 'stare'" said Fluttershy, feeling pity for the human. Twilight sighed
"We can't take any chances if Discord is involved" she said.
"O-okay" Fluttershy almost whispered. She took of time to get inspiration, and then 'the stare' took effect. Fernando at that moment felt very terrified. He felt as if she was staring into his very soul, making a hole through it. In his mental state, he could only think continuously
"Creepy". Fluttershy then started to scold him for how he had acted.
"Just what were you thinking when going along with Discord?" she asked
"I-I just..." he thought. If he could talk at that moment, he would be just as silent as now. Twilight had turned away, losing her grip on Fernando, but at this point, it wasn't necessary.
"Wasn't him the one that took you from your home?" she continued
"N-n-not exactly" he thought in vain. From a corner, invisible to the naked eye, Discord turned away from the scene
"Not even I, the chaos itself, can stand this" he said quietly before exiting the room. Nopony wanted to be there, and truth to be told, everyone was looking away. No one liked 'the stare'.
"Then there you go, making a ruckus, waking up everypony and making everything more difficult"
"Hey, that second thing was Celestia's doing" he though, with less fear now
"Do you even have a reason? We just want to help and be your friends! It doesn't help that we know little about you" she continued to say with that cursed gaze
"I do have a reason. I want to go my home with my voice" he emphasized in his mind 'with', "and I do know that you want to help me and be my friends, but right now you don't know anything about me!" slowly, he was regaining his mental strength.
"Now, I want you to think over what you have done tonight and tell me how you feel now" she ordered. Fernando started to stand up slowly, his head hung down gloomily, not saying anything, even if he could talk, he wouldn't say anything. "That's what I thought" finished Fluttershy. Twilight dared to take a peek at the scene and saw that it was already over.
"Wow, Fluttershy, you really know how to deal with things" Twilight praised, but deep down, she was still creeped out by the action that took place just some seconds ago.
"I think I might have overdone it a little" responded Fluttershy, looking down
"It was necessary, Fluttershy. From now on, we won't have to worry about it!" Twilight said. The rest of the ponies weren't averting their gaze anymore, and they started to return to their rooms.
Fernando was observing carefully everything around him. He wasn't moving at all, waiting for his chance to dart out of the room. He knew that he wouldn't be sleeping well this night, nor the next month, but he had a mission, and that was to get his voice back to normal. Not to long after, Celestia and Luna reappeared at the room. He saw that everypony was looking at them, and they didn't pay him too much attention, considering how they thought your state was. When they too looked away, he immediately ran for the gates.
"By this moment they think that they got me, so the gates should be open again". He didn't notice that Discord had entered the room again, and he was really surprised that he survived 'the stare'. He shook his head to mess up his mind to it's usual chaotic form, and followed him out.
When Fernando was at the gates, he saw that even if they had guards, the illumination could hide him well, considering that he was dull in comparison to the usual cheery colors of the ponies. When he exited, he stuck a victory pose with his fist pumped in the sky, and then he returned to the very first city that he had visited in this strange world.
"How is the report, Twilight?" Celestia asked to her pupil
"Everything is good, princess. The human shouldn't be a problem now that Fluttershy used 'the stare' with it" Celestia smiled and looked at Fluttershy, but she didn't look as happy as the others. Sensing what was wrong, the princess went up to her and said
"Fluttershy, I know that you think that it didn't deserve it, but think of it this way. Now you can befriend him more easily" Celestia said the last part turning to where Fernando once was, but she froze in place when she saw the absence of overgrown monkey.
"Yeah, you're right" Fluttershy looked too to where Fernando once was. She too was turned to rock right then. All of the other noticed that something was wrong, and curiously followed their gaze. Everypony in that room had their mouths hanging open. The guards where trying to find a logical reason, like that he was taken to a cell or something, but nopony was prepared to something that resisted the deadliest of the phenomenons of Equestria. Fluttershy was specially affected, especially because she was reminded of the Grand Galloping Gala.
"How is it possible? I thought nothing could resist 'the stare'!" exclaimed Rarity.
"Quick, we need to close down the castle again!" said Celestia, but they all stopped when they heard muttering. It was coming from Fluttershy.
"It resisted my stare, refused my friendship, ignored the love I tried to give it" she was saying this with a blank stare, "but I'm not mad. It had a reason. I only have to find it and take care of it until it knows how to recognize when somepony cares, and then it will be mine... forever. No animal can refuse me. Nothing can refuse me" the ponies where getting scared by Fluttershy's reaction to Fernando's escape. It didn't help that slowly she was giving a small smile, but instead of an usual shy smile, it was one that made all of them give a step back.
In Fluttershy's cottage, back in Ponyville, every animal felt a chill go up their spine, and then proceeded to hide in their homes. They knew this feeling very well, and they didn't want to be close to Fluttershy for the next week if necessary.
"Well, it's getting late, so I think I'll return to my bed" said Rainbow Dash, forgetting about the human runaway for now. Everypony agreed with the idea and returned to their bed as fast as they could, not wanting to be close to Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus stood there, with her gaze still lost in space. After some time of relatively evil ploting, she returned too to her bed, but laughing evilly all the way.
The next morning, Twilight and Spike were awakened by a servant of the castle.
"The breakfast will be ready in thirty minutes" she said before returning to her duties at the kitchen. Twilight rose from the bed, tired from yesterday's events, and proceeded to make herself look presentable. Spike just mumbled in his sleep and rolled over in his bed.
When Twilight was ready, she started to walk to the dinning room for her food.
"Spike, don't you wanna eat?" she said as she was exiting the room. At the mention of the action of introducing food in the mouth, Spike was wide awake and already running past Twilight.
"Come on, Twilight! You don't want to be late, right?" he said before disappearing in a door. Twilight rolled her eyes, knowing her assistant very well.
When Twilight and Spike arrived to the kitchen, both princesses and Applejack where already there. They greeted them and sat down, and while Twilight awaited politely for the others, Spike was already halfway through his ruby and sapphire cereal. They talked a little during breakfast about random topics, and not to long after the rest of their friends were arriving. First was Pinkie, then Rarity and after a little more time, entered Rainbow. Every sound ceases to exist in the moment that Fluttershy entered. She didn't have that unnerving smile, but a normal one.
"So, Fluttershy, you're not upset anymore, right?" Rainbow asked. Twilight gave her a scowl, thinking that this subject was rather delicate, but to her surprise, Fluttershy didn't react in a bad way.
"No, Rainbow, I was never upset" she answered with the same smile. "I just overreacted a little, that's all"
"Fine then" Rainbow said, not really satisfied with the answer. Nopony believed her and had the same thought
"A little? Really?"
Pushing this matter aside, the Princess Celestia started to talk about the actual problem
"Now that all of us is here, I'll tell you our priorities with our problem. First of all, we have to localize and capture that human before it gets in contact with the ponies out there". At that moment, Pinkie lifted her hoof in the air as if she was at the school, "yes, Pinkie?" asked the princess.
"I can find the hiu-man with my eyes closed" she suddenly pulled out a detective hat from nowhere, and put it on, and a magnifying glass. "Just leave it to me" she finished before darting out of the room. Everypony was silent for a moment, and they all silently agreed to ignore the random action. Celestia continued to talk then
"After we catch it, Discord surely will try to free it again, and this time I'll personally guard the cage" she had a determined look on her face, that soon was all over the faces of the ponies, except Fluttershy, who continued to smile.
In an alley in the middle of Canterlot, Fernando awoke uncomfortable from his slumber. He had slept on a decent bed for the past days, and returning to the cold ground of the city was not his idea of comfort. Discord awoke too, but he was high in the sky, in a king size bed hanged like hammock from two poles made out of cotton candy clouds. He yawned and stretched himself. He took a parachute out of nowhere and put on goggles that were under his pillow, and proceeded to jump out from the bed.
He fell at an increasing speed, and wasn't seen thanks to the early hour of the day, and that it was a sunday. When he was nearing the ground, he pulled the string of the parachute, but instead of the usual canopy, an anvil popped out, but surprisingly it started to stop his fall.
Back in the alley, Fernando saw a piece of paper fall in front of him. He took it and saw an arrow that pointed to some clouds. Understanding the meaning, he looked up and saw Discord parachuting with an anvil waving his hand. He returned the gesture without enthusiasm and continued to further awake himself. He saw after some moments Discord landing next to him, and saw how the anvil landed gently over his foot. At that moment he would have yelled in pain, feeling the piece, of actually heavy still, crush his toes. He managed to get his foot back from beneath the anvil and proceeded to jump around comically while trying to take off his shoe, with a lot of pain.
He saw that thanks to the ground, that wasn't very firm, he won't lose his toes, but they still hurt a lot. He angrily looked at Discord, who was rolling in the air while laughing.
"Are you crazy?" he asked, wanting to strangle him. He laughed some more, read his thoughts, and then responded while laughing some more
"Yep, how did you know?". Fernando gave an unfriendly growl while going away from Discord.
When he was about to round the corner, he heard hoofsteps, and took a glance to see the pony. He saw Pinkie in a detective costume and a magnifying glass checking the floor, but her head at just some centimeters from the floor, and the magnifying glass looked like it was touching the floor. He didn't want to know more and he continued his path.
Pinkie had found some abnormal hoofprints on her search for the human. The clue had lead her to the alley where he had slept, but she still didn't know that. She continued to investigate the hoofprints and on the way she bumped into something. She looked up and saw Discord laughing while rolling in the air.
"Discord!" she exclaimed. Discord stopped his moment of happiness and looked to the pony
"Hi there" he said, chuckling a little.
"What are you doing here? Where is that human?" she asked to the draconequus.
"He went over there" he said while pointing where Fernando got out of sight, not giving the pony much importance, and proceeding to appear his breakfast in front of him, that consisted of a plate of fruit salad, and started to eat the plate instead of the fruit. Pinkie stood there, giving her unusual glare, not quite trusting him.
"How do I know that you're not lying to me?" she asked. He swallowed the mouthful of plate and answered
"Dear, I'm a draconequus that is having breakfast. Everypony knows that the draconequus that are having breakfast can't lie". Pinkie believed in his flawless logic and said
"Well then, I have a persecution to do" she said before starting to run.
Fernando had made several turns in the alley to lose Pinkie Pie. He stopped a little to catch his breath, and in that moment he heard a set of hoofs approaching to where he was.
"I can't just try to outrun that pony, I have to think of something!" he thought. It wasn't long before he had to start to run again. Pinkie had already seen him and was running even faster. Fernando observed that at some points, there were some alleys that had an exit to the streets. In one of those he saw a pony, that looked like a generic barber, take out the remains of somepony's facial hair and deposit them in a trash can. "Well, if I tricked her before, this may work".
The pony reentered his barber shop, and Fernando took that moment to go get the hair. Pinkie Pie lost sight of him for some seconds, and when she turned the corner where she saw him go, all she only saw a creature with a mustache.
Fernando's POV
I stood there, looking as innocent as a random guy with a mustache can be. I was holding the facial hair with my upper lip because my hand would be suspicious. Pinkie Pie approached me, apparently my plan worked, and asked me.
"Excuse me mister, have you seen a creature that looks just like you, just without a mustache?". Since she couldn't hear my voice, I pointed to the street. "Okay mister, thank you!" she then continued to walk. I slowly retreated back to the alley, when I was stopped by a hoof to the shoulder. "Excuse me again, but the hoofsteps of that hiu-man seem to lead to you" she was glaring at me now. It wasn't like Fluttershy's stare, but I was starting to sweat a little.
My biggest mistake was to 'laugh' nervously. I felt how the fake mustache fell from my face. I caught it in mid air and tried to return it to my face, but I wasn't convincing her anymore. In a last attempt at getting away, I threw my disguise to her face. She yelled
"Aaah! Wild mustache!". She threw herself to the floor and started to roll around trying to get the facial hair out of her face. I watched the scene with a blank look and backed away slowly. After I was some meters away, I started to run.
"That was a brave mustache" I thought while running.
After some time, I stop to catch my breath yet again. While I do that I remember that she had been able to track me down thanks to my footprints.
"Well, let's confuse her" I thought mischievously as I take of my shoes.
Third person POV
Pinkie Pie was able to take off her assailant after some time. When she did so, she stood up and had a big frown on her face.
"So attacking me with your disguise, huh?" she said to nopony in particular.
She took again her magnifying glass and started to follow the footprints again. After some time, she had to stop to do a double take. She looked in front of her and saw that the left and right foot started to make a crossing pattern.
"Well, he does walk chaotically" she commented, before following the footprints again. After some more meters, the tracks started to walk in an erratic pattern, making big curves and loops, and then they started to point in every direction, as if he was doing a weird dance while walking. As the prints were starting to make less sense, she arched more her eyebrow, until it was in danger of popping out from her face. She looked up to her eyebrow and put it back to it's place with her hoof and continued her search.
She was focusing so much in the footprints that she didn't saw the pipe that came down from the adjacent building. She started to feel her tail curl up, but didn't knew what it meant
"A new twitch! What does it mean?" she thought as she continued walking. She ended up hitting her head, and while rubbing it she answered herself "Look where you walk". She shook her head and saw that while the left footprint walked to the left of the pipe, the right print walked to the right. She froze in place with a perplex look, and after some seconds she continued to walk.
The tracks made a sudden turn and they started to go up vertically on a ladder. Pinkie just followed them and didn't notice that instead of climbing the ladder, she was walking it up. It wasn't a tall building, perhaps, two and a half meters, and was at the top in no time. She continued to follow the tracks but didn't stop when there were no more prints... nor roof. She stopped suddenly in mid air and asked to herself
"Now, what was I supposed to do when I'm in the air?". She had a thinking look on her face. To help her thinking, she took out a glass of lemonade from her mane and drank from it, and then returned the glass. She smiled when she remembered. "Oh, I know... wait" she then fell.
At the gates of the castle, Twilight was giving instructions to the remaining four ponies.
"Rainbow, you search from the sky for any chaotic activity" Rainbow saluted military style before darting to the sky.
"Applejack, have ready your lasso at every moment" Applejack took out her rope and she it on reach from her back.
"Rarity, walk to the left of the street while I walk to the right to have a better chance of stopping this creature" Rarity nodded.
"And will I do?" asked Fluttershy, still with the same smile that for some reason freaked out everypony.
"Fluttershy, you... um... you'll make sure it doesn't escape after we catch it" Twilight responded. She tried very hard to act normal around Fluttershy, like the others, but it wasn't easy when she looked straight at your eyes with an uncharacteristic unnatural glint in her eyes. "Okay, now that everything is settled, let's go!".
The ponies had made it to the center of Canterlot without seeing anything
"Nothing yet, Rainbow?" Twilight asked to Rainbow Dash
"No, everything is normal!" she responded
"Do you think that we can find it?" asked Applejack
"As I've said before, it's just an animal. It can't..." she was interrupted by a yell.
"AAAAH!" it was Pinkie Pie, that fell on top of her. When Pinkie noticed that she was on top of Twilight, she said "Hi Twilight!".
"Hi Pinkie" responded Twilight, "you wouldn't mind getting off of me, right?" she asked her from below her
"No problem!" she exclaimed. She got off of her and Applejack asked her
"What where you doing up there?"
"I was following the hiu-man, but he got away" Pinkie responded her. Applejack arched an eyebrow
"How do you know that it's a he?" she asked her
"Discord called him a he" she responded
"What!? He didn't do anything to you, right?" she asked, readying her lasso in case she had to hold her down.
"No, he was too busy having breakfast to do anything" Pinkie responded.
"Anyway, you said that you found it..." asked Twilight
"Him" corrected Pinkie
"... Him, where was he?" finished Twilight
"He was in those alleys" Pinkie answered while pointing to the nearest entrance to the alleys
"Then we must hurry!" Twilight remembered something "hey, do you remember what we said in the breakfast about the sudden feeling from yesterday?" everypony nodded "It may apply to you too" she said this to Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie.
Back in the alleys, Fernando was walking away from the building where Pinkie fell. His stomach started to growl while walking.
"I wonder if there is a restaurant near?" he thought
"There's no need for that" Discord said from behind him. Fernando jumped at the sudden appearance of the draconequus. He turned to see him and thought
"Why do you always have to appear so suddenly?
"Because oatmeal" he responded
"Oatmeal?"
"Oatmeal". Fernando did a face palmed and just returned to the topic
"What were you saying about not needing a restaurant?". Discord took a chef hat from behind him and said
"It's simple, I'll give you food". Fernando looked at him with a distrusting look
"What's the catch?" he asked him
"You have to eat everything" he emphasized 'everything'. Fernando didn't liked how that sounded, but another growl came from his stomach, and he agreed with the idea. Discord snapped his fingers and a table and chair suddenly appeared. Fernando took a seat and Discord handed him a menu. He looked over it, and the food seemed normal
"Don't you have meat?" he asked
"I have the stomachs of a cow, I don't eat meat and won't serve it" Discord answered.
"Okay, then I'll have a bowl of chocolate flavored cereal" the menu disappeared and in front of him appeared a bowl of cereal and some milk was poured in it. "Still nothing suspicious" he thought before Discord handed him a spoon.
He finished the cereal and drank all of the milk and was about to stand up when he discovered that he was glued to the chair
"You still haven't finished everything" Discord said with a smirk
"But there's no more cereal nor milk" responded Fernando. Discord looked to the bowl and then to Fernando again, still with the smirk. Fernando looked to the bowl and reality struck him hard. "You expect me to eat a bowl!" Fernando mentally yelled
"And the spoon" Discord added. Fernando looked at him like he had lost his mind, if he had one in the first place, and asked
"Are they even edible?"
"Probably" was Discord's only response. With a sigh, Fernando reached for the bowl and found that it was rather easy to take a bite from it.
Fernando was once again able to continue his path after finishing the spoon and the bowl. He was holding his stomach in pain while walking, while Discord floated next to him.
"I think I may be intolerant to ceramic" he commented in his thoughts, "and may have an overdose of iron".
"You'll be okay, so stop whining" Discord answered amused.
If Fernando remembered correctly, the train station wasn't that far away from where he was, but there was still the possibility of bring found again. His fear was confirmed when he heard from behind him
"There they are!". He didn't have to turn around to know that they where the same six ponies that had to bug him on a daily basis.
He stared to run as fast as he could, taking advantage of the distance between them to lose them in the alleys. Twilight tried to block his path by teleporting in front of him, but thanks to the wide alleys, he was able to get past her before she could trap him in her levitation spell. Rainbow Dash tried a more direct course of actions by trying to take him down to the ground, but after two failed attempts that made her hit face first the ground, she thought better of it and tried to just block his path like she did in the castle. Applejack tried to tie him up with her lasso, but she had a bad timing, because she threw it when Twilight teleported in front of him. Fernando ran past her and this made Applejack miss him and ended up tying up Twilight.
Fernando could hear the not so faint sound of a train's whistle, so he knew he was close to the station.
"I need to distract them with something" Fernando thought.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Discord asked. At this moment Fernando noticed that Discord didn't leave him on his own like other times. Fernando then remembered something important
"You're the spirit of chaos, so that means that you can do anything, right? he asked, hoping for a yes
"Yeah, why?" Discord responded
"For this" he said before grabbing Discord by his neck. Thankfully he wasn't at his original size, so this should work for him. He took his tail with his other hand and stretched him. When he did that, Discord went stiff. Fernando bended him at the middle and he then had a Discord angled like a boomerang, and Fernando threw him like one.
Discord was aimed to Rainbow Dash, who couldn't evade him in time. She was hit in the wing, and while it wasn't broken, she was thrown out of balance. She fell to the floor, falling on top of Twilight. The two rolled some meters and stopped in the way of the other four ponies, who collided with them.
Instead of stopping and falling to to the floor, Discord continued flying and eventually returned to Fernando, who caught him and returned him to normal. When he was back to normal, he glared at Fernando.
"You should at least tell me when I'm part of your plan" he told Fernando while floating next to him.
"You'll be okay, so stop whining" Fernando countered with a smug smirk.
The train station came into sight after a little running. He prepared himself to do a dash when nopony was around, but once again he heard from the sky
"There it is!" it was Rainbow Dash, and when they heard her, the other five ponies came running through the alley where Fernando was. He didn't care anymore if he was seen and he ran to the train station. When he entered, he saw how all the ponies stared at him for a moment before noticing Discord. When they noticed him they started to yell and run in random directions.
Fernando took advantage of the commotion and ran to the boarding platforms. He heard above the yells of the frightened ponies how Twilight gave commands to her friends
"Don't let him get in a train!". Fernando stopped running after he got past the door frame that lead to a train that looked like it was about to depart and turned to Discord.
"Hey, Discord" he thought. Discord noticed the floating letters above his head and responded
"What?" he asked
"You're gonna be part of my plan!" he said with mocking enthusiasm. Before Discord could say anything, he took him again by the neck and the tail and stretched him, but this time he did it in a way that Discord was stuck in the door frame. He then took his arms and extended them, reinforcing Discord's grip, and did the same with his legs. After that was done, Fernando ran to the train, not being noticed by the still freaked out ponies, and jumped in a luggage wagon.
The mane six would have been able to stop him, but there was the problem that because of all of the ruckus, Twilight was unable to teleport, and that when Rainbow Dash rammed Discord, he only stretched as if he was a rubber band, and then returned to his original position. For his part, Discord was annoyed at first because Fernando once again used him as a tool, but then, he noticed that he at least got to mess with the ponies, so he didn't mind that much. He laughed when he saw Rainbow Dash being launched off of him and hit the other side of the station, leaving a crater in the wall.
The other five ponies saw what happened to their friend, and instead of ramming him one by one, they all went at the same time. When he was hit by they all, Discord lost his grip on the door frame and returned to his normal state. He gave a farewell wave before snapping his fingers and disappearing in a poof of smoke. The ponies where left coughing, and after she could see again, Twilight noticed that the train was too far away now for her to try a teleporting spell, not to mention that it was in movement, and she returned immediately to the inside. The commotion had died by now and the ponies were searching for any chaotic damage. Twilight looked for the counter and went to it when she found it. At first glance, you wouldn't see anypony, but if you looked behind the counter you would see a shaking stallion covering his head.
"Hey, excuse me..." Twilight said. She caught the attention of the pony and he took a peek above the counter. He noticed that Discord wasn't there anymore and sighed in relief. After he was again on his four hoofs, she continued "could you tell me where does that train heads to?" she pointed to the platform where there was once a train. The stallion nodded and responded
"It's only destination is Ponyville". Twilight gave a quick thank you before running to the crater where Rainbow Dash was slowly gaining consciousness. The pegasus shook her head to clear her thoughts and saw Twilight heading to where she was.
"Rainbow Dash," the unicorn started "I need you to go to Ponyville and tell everypony to get ready to stop that human. We can't afford to lose him, especially because he's with Discord now!" she said. Rainbow had a serious look on her face and nodded, but she commented with a thoughtful look
"Did you see how he used Discord? I think Discord is with him"
"Anyway, just go!" Twilight responded. She didn't show it, but she was thinking to of how Discord looked more of a companion instead of a leader.
In the train, Fernando was getting somewhere near barely comfortable in the hard wooden floor of the wagon luggage, hidden away by the big suitcases, when Discord appeared next to him.
"You!" he said, pointing an accusatory finger to him, touching his nose because of the lack of space between them. Fernando removed the finger from his face before calmly answering
"What seems to be the problem, Discord?"
"You used me to get away from those ponies. Me! The spirit of chaos! The bringer of..." Fernando put a hand over his mouth to shut him up.
"First of all, do you want them to catch us? he removed his hand to find that Discord was still talking
"... Sworn enemy of the harmony! Destructor of the fourth..." he was silenced by Fernando again.
"Look, it was necessary. You want to get fun and I want my voice back to normal, so that makes everything easier for us. Besides, I wanted to get some revenge from the bowl and spoon incident. Discord wasn't satisfied with the reasons he got from Fernando, but he let it go. After all, he did get to mess with them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare myself. Knowing my luck, I'll probably end up suffering from physical pain before this day ends" he then lay down to remember everything he could from the next town. Discord snapped his fingers and teleported to who-knows-where.
Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could to Ponyville without breaking the sound barrier. Celestia had forbidden her to make a Sonic Rainboom so close to any city or town after breaking (by accident) all of the windows of Canterlot while showing off. Even then, the flight didn't take more than a hour at her speed.
When she arrived at Ponyville, she started to make everything she knew to call the attention of the ponies. She shouted
"Everypony go to the town hall in ten minutes, it's an emergency!", she also wrote in the sky with clouds 'Emergency! Meeting at the town hall', and called the other weather pegasus to help her to spread the word.
The minutes passed and soon every habitant of Ponyville was at the town hall, muttering between themselves about what could be wrong. Rainbow Dash was standing in front of the crowd.
"Okay, I have to tell them as subtle as possible" she thought to herself. The citizens of Ponyville weren't the most calmed ponies in Equestria, and by this point, it didn't take much for them to run and scream for their lives. Rainbow cleared her throat and stared to talk.
"Now that we all are here, let's get to the point" she gave them a moment to prepare themselves and then she continued "Discord has broken free again and brought a creature from who-knows-where. The creature escaped from the castle and is coming here in a train from Canterlot".
When she finished, Rainbow Dash covered her ears and closed the eyes to brace herself from the incoming shrieks of terror, but they never came. She opened one eye and saw that they didn't change their expression.
"That was better than expected" she thought with relief, but then there was a shout
"Run for the hills!" it was Granny Smith, that now was 'running' as fast as possible, that was close to walking at a slow pace. This made the other ponies freak out too, and soon all the town was in complete chaos.
Rainbow Dash blinked when from one second to other the ponies had a nervous breakdown.
"Would you calm... Hey, listen... Shut up!" Rainbow Dash was trying to call their attention, but was utterly failing. She gave an exasperated growl and was about to shout even louder, but stopped when she felt a tap on the shoulder.
"Leave it to me, Dashie!" said Pinkie Pie from her side. Rainbow Dash was confused beyond the charts as to how Pinkie had made it so fast from Canterlot.
"Ho-ho-how d-d-did you..." she couldn't even finish her sentence because of how surprised she was, but luckily to her, Pinkie speaks confunese.
"Well, duh," Pinkie made the face that matched her verbal expression "I fired myself from my Party Cannon!". Rainbow Dash was left with a face that could only be described by what she was mouthing.
"What?"
Some time earlier
The other of the five ponies were exiting the station. Twilight had calculated how much the train would take to arrive to Ponyville and was sure that if they took a chariot, even with the extra weight, they would make it just a little after the train to the town. In the middle of the street, Pinkie remembered that she had brought her Party Cannon and had an idea
"Hey girls, I know a much faster way to get to Ponyville". Twilight stopped too and turned to her, having learned to hear her even if she was a little crazy
"What would that be?" she asked hopefully
"This!" the pink pony answered as she pulled out of nowhere her Party Cannon.
"Your Party Cannon!? How is it supposed to help us?" Twilight asked
"Duh, we just need to get fired to Ponyville" she answered as if it was the most normal thing
"Pinkie, as good as your idea might be, being turned into pony bullets is not a charming idea" commented Rarity
"Aw, come on! It will be fun!" Pinkie tried to convince her friends, but to no avail. She gave up and then said as cheerful as ever "well, then I'll see you all in Ponyville". She took a helmet out of nowhere, put it on and then got into the cannon, her head poking out from the piece of heavy artillery. Not too long after, it fired on its own and Pinkie was sent out flying in the direction of Ponyville, the helmet somehow was left in the air behind. A rope was launched too from the cannon, apparently one part tied to Pinkie Pie, and when it tensed, the cannon was brought to the air, following Pinkie. When the four (I mean three) sane ponies lost sight of their friend, they saw a shine and a *ding* sound.
Back to the present
"Anyway, it doesn't matter. You said that you knew how to call their attention" said Rainbow Dash after shaking the 'what?' feeling and returnint to the main topic. When she finished her sentence, the Party Cannon came and crashed next to Pinkie, creating a hole in the floor of the town hall. Pinkie reached a hoof to the newly formed crater and pulled out a megaphone.
"I have megaphones stashed all over Ponyville in case of megaphone emergency" she said with her usual smile. She activated the megaphone and then she took a deep breath. When she was ready, she shouted so loud, and it was heard even louder, that the ground shook for a moment. "EVERYPONY CALM DOWN!".
This successfully got their attention, and soon they all where to Pinkie Pie. She gave a pat in the back to Rainbow to signal her that she could talk now.
"Well, now that we got your attention, instead of running around like mad ponies, why don't we set up every possible trap we can think about to catch it in ten seconds flat!" when Rainbow Dash finished, they all gave an unison agreement, and then they went to help in this task. Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Pinkie to plan some strategies and didn't notice when some ponies said things like
"We can use some of the traps from when the human came!" or "I had a lot of ideas for that human that I will use now".
Lyra was at her home reading the book that she borrowed from the library. Fernando had remembered her of her secret obsession and after she read some of the paragraphs that were there, and while going through the text that could describe him, she found some lose paper sheets that weren't there before. She took them and found that they were notes that instead of giving a vague description, were fully detailed while describing a being known as a human, and then there was something that surprised her even more.
There, in her magic grasp, was a drawing of the human with a footnote that read 'Fernando', and after it, there was detailed information about the same human that she helped capture. She was reading this part of the notes with so much intensity that the cartoonish scene could be mistaken by one of an anime.
She had her reading interrupted by a sudden shout
"Everypony go to the town hall in ten minutes, it's an emergency!". She recognized the shout as Rainbow Dash's voice. She didn't like the sound of an emergency just a day after a chaotic entity appeared, so she took a saddle bag and stuffed in the notes, planning on getting more responses by taking them to somepony that had more experience with this kind of things.
She arrived at the town hall and heard everything, her fear of a big problem was confirmed, but when she tried to walk up to her, the crowd started to panic and made it impossible for a not so freaked out pony to walk in one direction. After Pinkie's intermission at the town's monthly panic attack, she heard the plan that they had and sighed in relief that at least they had control over the situation. She trotted up to the two Elements, still thinking about the notes to pay attention to what the villagers had to say.
When Pinkie noticed the mint green pony walking up to them, she waved her hoof and greeted her
"Hi Lyra!". Rainbow Dash turned too to look at her and said
"Hey, what's up?"
"Hello girls, I think I got something important" she told them before she showed them the notes. Rainbow Dash took them and read some lines quickly before skipping almost everything, until she got to the drawing
"Hey, it's that animal" Rainbow commented before looking at the footnote. "You named it?" she asked with disbelief. Lyra shook her head in a negative way and responded
"I didn't make those. They simply appeared out of nowhere" she said this without remembering what happened at the train to Trottingham.
"Maybe is one of Discord's clues. He did the same the last time he was free after all!"
Meanwhile, in the train that contains your favorite member of the primate family, Discord sneezed suddenly. He expected to read above Fernando's head something along the lines of 'bless you', but it never appeared.
"Aren't you supposed to say something?" he said to the resting human
"I would do that, but you messed with my life" he answered in what he hopped to be a mocking writing.
"But we are friends!" Discord said cheerily
"You're not my friend" Fernando responded grumpily
"Well, you are my friend, friend." Discord countered, "Anyway, do you know what this sneeze means?"
"That you are allergic to the dust?" he tried to guess
"No, it would have been if I had added an extra 'u' at the 'chuuu'. It means that somepony is talking about me, and that somepony thinks that there is a harmonious pattern to my actions!" he said with a hurt tone before curling up in a ball that to the inexpert eye would appear a cube, and weeping miserably.
"Come on! You're not even hurt by that!" Fernando thought in the direction of the gloomy draconequus, who immediately came back to his normal mood
"See? You know me so well that you know how I act! You ARE my friend!" the chaotic spirit said with a smile before taking out a camera out of nowhere and going up to Fernando. He took him by his shoulder and put the camera in front of their faces. When he pushed the button for the photo to be taken, a punching glove shot out from the lens and his both Fernando and Discord in their faces.
After returning his face to normal, which was comically flat, Discord put out his paw and the photo printed itself from his palm. It showed Discord and Fernando's faces when being hit by the glove and he put it in a frame that read 'Me and my best friend that is not my friend at all'.
"A great memento of a great moment" Discord said before tossing it aside, the sound of a cat being steeped being heard when it hit the floor behind some suitcases.
When Fernando stopped holding his nose from the pain, he thought to himself
"Hey, I can predict the future!"
Back with something actually important, the town of Ponyville looked more like a military field than a town by the dusk. Every building was sheltered to some extent and there were trenches around the streets. Traps were scattered at the alleys and ponies were on the top of buildings, leaving an almost perfect guard at the town. The downside was that the night would make it difficult to see things on the ground, and there weren't enough unicorns to light up more than a spot at the time in every street. Maybe two or three on the biggest streets or tactical points, but nothing more.
Twilight and her friends arrived rather quickly thanks to the lack of two of their friends. They saw the actual state of Ponyville from the sky and they were more than surprised. Applejack let out a whistle and commented
"Looks like Rainbow over did it a little". They landed in front of the town hall, that was covered in barbed wire, and when they entered it, they saw Rainbow Dash in a green military suit giving orders to the other ponies.
"After we find it, you two will lead him to the pit and then..." she had a map of Ponyville hanged from the wall and was using a pointer to signal the places that the ponies would follow.
"Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?" said Twilight
"Oh, hi girls, you arrived earlier than expected" Rainbow greeted them, getting out of character.
"Since Pinkie came here firing herself from her cannon, the carriage was lighter and faster." said Twilight, "Speaking of Pinkie, where is she?"
"She's at Sugar Cube Corner baking some ammo" Rainbow Dash answered. Twilight raised an eyebrow at the mention of ammo, but if it includes Pinkie Pie she better dropped the subject. Rainbow Dash then remembered that Lyra wanted to show the notes to Twilight. "Oh, right. Twilight, Lyra discovered something that you should take a look at". Twilight was exited when she heard that they had discovered something
"Really? What is it?" she asked with an eager smile on her face.
"It's information about that creature that Discord brought. In those notes it even has a silly name on a drawing". When Rainbow answered this, Twilight was already hopping in excitement at the prospect of learning things from an unknown species.
"Where is she? Where is she?" she said while looking around for the other unicorn.
"She's at the library. She said something about searching for more clues" Dash responded before Twilight teleported to her house.
In the giant tree, Lyra was inside a circle of open books, every book was at a random page and Lyra had a frustrated face while reading the book that she had lifted with magic. She gave an irritated growl before tossing aside the book. Twilight appeared in the way of the book and barely had time to dodge it. She looked at Lyra and saw how she was already reading another book with a serious and concentrated face. Twilight trotted up to her and said
"Hi Lyra, what are you doing?", she said this while gently lowering the book that Lyra was reading, trying to calm her down.
"Oh, hello. Sorry Twilight, I got a little carried away with the studies" Lyra responded while looking around, snapping out of her trance.
"Don't worry, I do that all the time" said Twilight. "Anyway, Rainbow Dash told me that you had found something extremely important". This commentary made Lyra remember the notes that she had found on the book.
"I got it here" she said while levitating them from on top of the middle table. "It's information about the humans species, and it even has detailed information about Fernando!" Twilight cocked an eyebrow at the mention of the unknown name
"Who?" she asked
"Oh, right" Lyra said sheepishly. She took the drawing from the middle of the paper sheets and showed it to Twilight "I don't know who did it, but at the bottom there is written in perfect Equestrian writing 'Fernando'". Twilight saw the name, and her eyes widened in surprise
"He got a name?" she asked in disbelief before continuing with a random page "Forms societies, capable of creating tools from useless things..." she stopped, her eyes widened in horror when she read the next sentence "He is omnivorous!?" she started to freak out "What if he eats somepony, or what if she eats those ponies pets?" she gasped soundly when she remembered Fluttershy's cottage "What if he finds Fluttershy's home?" she thought about all of the tiny animals running for their lives from a blood covered Fernando, while from some distance Fluttershy observed everything, and instead of starting to cry or fainting, she becomes ever crazier than she is right now and kills the human then takes over Equestria and makes all of the ponies pets her pets.
While Twilight freaked out in her own apocalyptic world, she was also saying it out loud and Lyra watched everything. She knew about Twilight's problem of making the worst possible scenery, and when she got enough of watching a pony mentally kill herself, she grabbed her head and looked directly in her eye
"Twilight, calm down! As far as we know, it could eat fish or something like that". This got Twilight to at least stop imagining herself running away with Owlowiscious in her magic grasp. "Good, now that that's sorted out..." she was interrupted by the sound of a train's whistle, and that signaled that soon it would be for Ponyville to be better than the Royal Guard. Suddenly looking very stoic both unicorns, they nodded their heads at the same time and returned with Rainbow Dash for instructions.
Fernando peeked through the window from the wagon and saw how Ponyville was guarded. He took in a big gulp and thought in Discord's direction
"Any suggestions?" Discord came too to the window and when he saw Ponyville, he snickered and said
"I recommend that you learn advanced techniques of sneaking in ten minutes". Fernando hung down his head in acceptation and started to psych up to deal with this.
"It doesn't help that I played the whole Golden Eye shooting the heck out of everything". While thinking of a game experience that could help him in this, he didn't notice the carriage landing on Ponyville.
His thoughts were interrupted after some time when he heard the train's whistle.
"I think you can handle the situation yourself" commented Discord with a mocking smile before going through the wagon's ceiling.
"Okay, I just need to stay hidden in the train. With some luck, I'll be able to be here when it sets off again" he thought when the train arrived at the station. He peeked through the window and saw ten mares and two stallions with a look that could compete with that of the Royal Guard. "Just don't say what I think you'll say"
The doors opened and one of the mares commanded
"Everypony, get out! There is a creature in there and we'll check the train!". The ponies did so, not understanding at all what she meant, but that look and that tone of voice could make anypony obey. Luckily for Fernando, they left thee luggage aboard. unluckily for him was that they were approaching him.
"What am I gonna do?" thought Fernando frantically.
Twilight and Lyra entered the town hall, their friends were already there and Rainbow Dash was waiting for them to arrive.
"Good, now that we all are here, this is what we will do. First, since your magic is the best of this town," Rainbow Dash pointed to Twilight "you won't be part of the illumination. Instead of that, you'll be one of the main hunters and custodian of the human when we catch him"
"Okay, count with me!" the unicorn responded.
"Applejack, you and Pinkie will fire the pop rocks. Remember, you don't have to hit him, the explosions will do most of the work" they both nodded.
"Rarity and Lyra, you help with the illumination, and when we capture him, I want you, Lyra," Rainbow pointed directly to Lyra "to come back. You know more about his species and it's better that you stay close" They both agreed with the idea, Lyra with an eager smile of being close to the object of her secret obsession. "And Fluttershy" she turned to the last of their friends, who still was in her abnormal self "You have your animals help us, and after that you're free to hunt down that creature" Fluttershy response was to slowly turn her smile into a toothy grin.
"As for me, I'll be ready in the air with the weather team if he is spotted by the unicorns" she put her hoof in front of her, and the other ponies did the same in the typical team way.
Time was running short for Fernando while the dozen of ponies registered the train. There were three passenger wagons, the luggage wagon and the locomotive, so he would have to deal with at least two ponies if he was found.
"Let's see," Fernando thought while looking around "suitcases, suitcases everywhere" he quickly went to the bigger pieces of luggage and checked them for one that he could use. He found one that could hide him with some ease. It was a suitcase that stood vertically with the zipper going from the top to the bottom, and even if he had to crouch a little to fit in, it was what he needed for his plan.
He opened it with intent of getting inside, but the content, that only consisted of saddles, fell to the floor.
"If they see this, they'll guess my disguise right away" he thought while putting the saddles in the suitcase again, and then he got inside too, leaving the lower part open.
It wasn't long before three mares entered the wagon. One of them had a rose cutie mark, another one had two daisies as a cutie mark, and the third one cutie mark was hidden behind the other two ponies, but you could see that there was a lily flower on her head. Since the suitcase was a little old, the were some tiny holes that could let him see outside.
"If you find something suspicious," one of them, the one with the rose, told to the others "report it" the other two nodded and went to work.
Fernando watched silently while the ponies investigated the scene, and took advantage that when they weren't seeing in his direction to slowly move to the exit. Things got a little harder when one of them, the one with the daisies, came to the side of the wagon where he was. She was looking around and inside some suitcases, not knowing exactly what to search for. When she reached her hoof for the suitcase where Fernando was, he moved a little out of her grasp. She looked confused and tried to grab it again, but Fernando moved again. Now she was annoyed and tried successively to catch the moving object, only for it to move again.
She growled annoyed, but calmed herself and walked away while whistling... only to throw herself against the baggage. Fernando wasn't fooled and sidestepped her. She continued her way and crashed with a pile of luggage, her back legs sticking out. Fernando took this chance to move fast to the exit, readying himself to get out of his disguise and run to somewhere safe. He would have done that easily if the mare hadn't liberated herself from the suitcases and had already alerted the others about him.
"There, I think the thing Rainbow Dash told us about is in there!" her two companions looked to the moving piece of luggage and immediately lunged to it. Fernando, for his part, opened the zipper and jumped out of the suitcase, and ran to the door. He was tackled down by the pony with the lily, but he was able to shake her off and stand up again. It was when the three ponies got a good look at him that they stopped completely.
"Hey, isn't that the human that was supposedly captured by the princess?" asked the one with the rose
"Yeah, he is." responded the one that had the lily. The third pony gasped and then exclaimed
"He probably escaped thanks to Discord and is now his minion!" this made other two gasp too. One of them even said
"The horror! The horror!". While the three mares where being over-dramatic, Fernando was moving slowly to the exit, not wanting the attention to return to him, but one of them noticed what he was doing
"Hey, don't let him escape!" this was Fernando's signal to start running as if he was about to be put in a cage, and the ponies quickly reacted and were too running to catch him.
When Fernando left the train, he was seen only by one pony, who didn't waste time to point to him and say
"Hey, isn't that the human that the princess caught?" when he said that, every eye turned in the direction where the stallion was pointing. Fernando was unfazed by the attention and immediately started to round the train station building, quickly followed by the three ponies plus their other nine companions and all of the witnesses.
Fernando looked behind him and saw a mob closing in on him.
"Oh, come on! I think I should make a limit of ponies that can hunt me at a time!" he thought annoyed at seeing yet another mass of color chasing him.
Fernando made his way to the town, hiding in one of the first alleys he found that wasn't guarded with a magic beam of light, successfully losing his chasers. He took some time to calm himself down and think about his situation.
"Okay, so I'm in a military version of a town, guarded by unicorns that can hold me down from three meters away, pegasus that can take me from the sky, and normal ponies that far as I know are even stronger than horses from the Earth" he sighed when he finished his mental report and when he decided that no one was close, he took out his trusted glowing stones from his pockets. When he did so, all color was drained from his face.
All around him there were traps. From some as simple as a trip wire, to some actually dangerous consistent of a massive stone hanging mere centimeters above his head. All around him there were things that activated these traps, and if the technology would allow it, he was sure there would be lasers. With a gulp, he started to move around those traps, knowing why the alleys weren't guarded by ponies.
Meanwhile, at a cottage on the outskirts of the town, near the Everfree forest, Fluttershy was happily trotting to it. It was Fluttershy's cottage, home not only to her, but for many tiny animals too. Some of them were already sleeping and the nocturnal ones were very lively. They noticed Fluttershy from the distance and instantly were very happy. Inside the cottage, only one animal that wasn't nocturnal remained awake. It was Angel Bunny. He was by far, the most intelligent of the animals living there, and with intelligence comes a good memory, and because of that, he still haven't forgotten the feeling from several hours ago. He was was familiar with it. It was from when he met Fluttershy, and for now let's just say that those days were worst than when New Fluttershy was around.
When Fluttershy arrived, she was received with hugs from the many animals that were awakened by her presence and that couldn't remember the event, and those who did, preferred to show all the love they could give to their caretaker. Don't take them wrong, because they do love Fluttershy as a second mother, but right now, it was give love or something really bad could happen.
Angel was the only one that had dealt with her like this before, so he could resist. When she entered, he almost sighed in relief at seeing her happy, but then he noticed that wicked smile. The same that sometimes haunted his nightmares. He shuddered a little and felt really bad for the poor creature that would never be the same if fell into the grasp of Fluttershy.
"Hello my precious animals!" she said cheerfully "I'm sorry for disturbing the sleep of almost all of you, but I really, really need your help. A new and lonely animal was foalnapped by Discord, and he doesn't know that I... I mean we only want to help, so please, please, please help us, would you?" as predicted, all of the animals nodded, Angel reluctantly did so too, wanting to keep a close eye on Fluttershy for now. "Thank you very much!" she said, before walking back to Ponyville with more than a hundred animals ready to help. On the way, Fluttershy talked with them as much as she could, telling them about the castle incident and her sudden disappearance. They were surprised when she got to the part of the 'stare' failing, and Angel understood why Fernando was screwed.
Back at the alleys, Fernando had made his way through halfway the town, occasionally exiting to the streets, and being forced to sneak past the lights.
"This would be more entertaining if I could remember a similar scene from a movie and remembered the background music" he thought after crossing a street with two unicorns guarding it.
He crossed the alley he entered with as much caution as he could do to get past the traps. After a little more than thirty meters from the exit, he found a clearing without any traps, trip wires or anything, so he sat down to contemplate his situation.
"I can't go back to the station. They probably have set up a barricade or something" he thought.
"You could always walk all the way to Manehattan" Discord suggested. By this point of the story, Fernando wasn't surprised anymore with what Discord could do.
"Could you tell me something that doesn't take days?" the human responded calmly. Seeing that he didn't got the desired effect on him anymore, Discord frowned and turned away to entertain himself with the closest low-quality trap.
"Then," the draconequus started to say nonchalantly, "you could try to cross the Eveerfree forest. The trips between cities are long because most of the way consist of rounding it, but without powers like mine it would be suicide" he finished with a smug smirk while making a demonstration of his chaotic magic.
"It was a suicide too when I decided to climb the mountain were Canterlot was builded" Fernando countered, with his own smug smirk "also angering three of the ponies that constantly hunted me," he was referring to Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity "a full team of pony worker." he recalled the ponies at Manehattan "Did I forgot to include hurting a Princess' pride?" he would have continued but was stopped by Discord
"Okay, okay. I get your point. Look, there are two places with an entrance to the forest that are not impossible to cross thanks to the trees, and in those places there is enough poison joke as to infect the entire city of Canterlot". Fernando lifted his hand at that moment, "yes, inter-dimensional creature of the first row?"
"What is poison joke?" Fernando inquired
"I can't tell you that" Discord stated
"Why?" Fernando asked again
"Because that would take away the fun!" Discord answered. Fernando gave him a deadpan look and thought
"Well, then I'll find another way"
"It's not like I won't see you suffering in the next few minutes" Discord told him. Fernando arched an eyebrow and asked
"How do you know that?" Discord pointed to a dark part of the alley with maybe more than a hundred glowing spots and said
"Because there are at least fifty creatures there, and believe me, even here that's not normal" he said before disappearing in a fit of laugher.
Fernando put in front of him one of his glowing stones, and sighed in relief when he only saw tiny animals that could never harm him... or so he thought
"They're only tiny animals. This is by far their worst attempt" he thought humored. The animals, for their part, gave a battle cry and started to run to Fernando. He jumped when he heard them let out shouts too loud for their size, and thinking better, he started to run, or did what he could, because the traps were slowing him down and some of the animals were starting to climb him and were succeeding in throwing him out of balance.
Fernando wasn't really seeing his assailants, but judging by the furry tails, he could tell that they were squirrels.
Fernando was activating almost all of the traps, but thanks to the mess in which they were set, almost every trap failed, but it ended activating more traps. Fernando was trying to shake off the creatures that were clinging to his clothes while biting down on him, and he succeeded after some attempts. He didn't notice that in his rampage, he exited the alley and came to a street almost in the outskirts. It wasn't guarded, but a voice made him freeze on the place.
Fernando looked around, searching for the owner of the voice. Thanks to the light from his stones, he spotted her under a random tree, and she slowly started to walk to him. She was giving him a small smile, and he wasn't sure how to feel about it.
"That smiles seems friendly... but somehow... forced" he thought.
"How have you been? Are you okay, you're not hurt, are you?" as she was saying this with what seemed concern. When she got even closer, Fernando noticed some lines under her cartoonish eyes that made her look a little strange.
"Hey, aren't those the lines that appear when a character is tired or... insane?" he asked himself. His suspicions grew stronger when he noted that she wasn't blinking and "was that a twitch on her eye?"
"Now that you're here, why don't you meet your whole new family?" she said this while standing on her hind legs and extending the front as if she was showing something. When she said that, a lot of tiny creatures started to walk out of the alley, the same that had assaulted Fernando some minutes ago. They also came from some nearby bushes and a lot of birds came too. They all stood in a circle around him, and they made their own sounds as a greet to the human. Some of them were very happy at the thought of having a new friend, but others had a look of pity for him, that has brought to life something they thought death. "Now come with me to my home. You don't have to go with the princesses or Discord. You'll be mine, forever" she emphasized the word forever and mouthed it slowly, and a lightning was seen behind her.
"That's it, I'm leaving" he thought before starting to run and jumping above the animals around him. He was running in direction of the Everfree forest, even if he knew the risks. He wasn't even close when a bear appeared and snatched him from the ground, leaving him hanging from one led. Fluttershy walked until she was next to the bear while moving her head in a disapproving manner.
"Now that's not how you treat family. You're supposed to embrace it and love it" Fluttershy was saying this with an upset tone, but what disturbed Fernando was that she had still the same expression on her face. "Now I have to give you a punishment" she told him.
Fernando gulped. He didn't like how that sounded, and he was squirming as mad to get himself free, but t no avail.
"Harry," she told to the bear "hold him down". He did so and soon Fernando was in the ground, without any kind of possible movement. Fluttershy stood next to him, and Fernando could only wonder what kind of torture he would receive. Fluttershy extended one of her front hoofs and put it on top of Fernando, and started to run it from head to toe several times. This was rewarded with an extremely confused looking human and some of the animals ran away from the place. They knew what she was about to do, and some had experimented it, namely Angel, who closed his eyes and covered his ears but didn't leave.
After a little over ten times of repeating the motion, Fluttershy stopped in an specific spot. Fernando didn't know what she was about to do, but soon he was in extreme pain.
"Pressure points! Why those darned things!" he thought in despair as he experimented the worst pain of his life, and worst of all, Fluttershy was barely making pressure.
"You don't like it, do you?" she asked, but now with a sadistic smile "Now what about this?" now instead of just putting her hoof there, he was taping that spot.
The pain intensified and he was now crying in pain. If he could, he would beg her to stop, but he couldn't.
From some distance, Discord could not stand it anymore and flew away.
"If he gets out of this one, I'll at least give him the safe way through the forest" he said to himself, feeling bad for Fernando for the second time in less than twenty four hours.
Back at the ground, Fluttershy was now ramming her hoof on him, making him make motions of screaming, but unable to produce any audible sounds
"So now you learned your lesson. Nopony leaves Fluttershy, not when she is even better than New Fluttershy" the pegasus said, starting to talk in third person by accident. From when she started, she saw how Fernando's face showed pain, and she wanted to stop, but she was unable to stop herself, and by the end, she was completely distracted, and when she was about to give the hardest of the hits, let's just say that she missed a little from where she was hitting. It didn't help that the pressure point was on his leg, and when she missed, it went to that part of a man.
Now Fernando's face was fixed in what could be comparable to the face of a banshee screaming, and his voice would have gone some octaves up, but the effect with his voice like it was occasioned some other effects. All of the bats in a one hundred meter radius fell to the floor, knocked out, and all of the windows and mirrors of Ponyville were now on the floor as tiny shattered parts, and if you concentrated just enough, you could hear the howl of a dog coming from Sweet Apple Acres.
From the hit, Fernando got an adrenaline rush, enough to shake off the bear and to accidentally give a hit Fluttershy on the head. The hit got Fluttershy very dizzy, and thankfully for every world and dimension, she was back to normal, having received a little of amnesia.
"Wh-what happened?" she asked, not remembering anything from the past day. "I remember using the 'stare' with that creature, and then nothing" she looked around her and gasped soundly when she saw Fernando on a fetal position, in extreme pain. "Oh my gosh, what happened to you? Can I help you?" she approached him, but he noticed her and tried to move away.
The feeling of rejection made Fluttershy remember how she had acted for the past hours, and she immediately tried to say that she's sorry
"I'm sorry, please forgive me, I don't know what came over me, but please, please, please..." she started to say please each time more quietly and starting to cry a little over what she had done. Fernando, for his part, still was in pain, but he could at least see how she had indeed changed. She didn't had anymore that look on her face, nor she had the lines under her eyes, and now her emotions looked real.
"At least she's not sadistic anymore, I just hope that showing her 'acceptance' can calm her from now on" he thought in pain before making his best on standing up. He walked slowly up to her, and she noticed him. She feared that he would make some kind of revenge, but she really believed that she deserved any kind of pain now. She closed her eyes and braced herself when he extended one hand, but instead of a hit or anything, he gave her two pats on the head before taking his two glowing stones that he dropped when the bear lifted him, and walking in a funny way, still in pain, to the Everfree forest.
For her part, Fluttershy stood there and said quietly
"So, you forgive me?"
Fernando pocketed the stones, so Fluttershy couldn't see were he was, and when he decided that he was out of any possible sight, he dropped to the floor and sighed in relief of this day coming to an end. It was then when Discord appeared, but applauding.
"Why so cheery?" Fernando thought, not wanting to deal with other living being that had a screw lost.
"After seeing something that not even I, Discord, can deal with, I must give you an award" Discord's answer caught Fernando's attention for two reasons.
"You were watching and didn't do anything, you son of a..." he took in a deep breath to calm himself and continued "What do you mean by award?". At the question, Discord took a piece of parchment from under his sleeve and showed it to Fernando
"This is a map of the safest path through the Everfree forest, and it's your reward" Fernando took the map, ignoring that Discord took it from under his skin, and saw that it was in blank, but at the same time there were painted on the floor a series of white glowing marks.
"How can I trust you?" he asked him, not wanting to go through another problem when he just left one
"Look, I don't know exactly what happened, but the sound of an entire town having it's windows and mirrors broken sure calls the attention, not mentioning that one of my wings," Discord pointed to his bat wing "fell numb at the same time. I connected two and two and the only other being chaotic enough to do something like that after being tortured was you"
"Well, unless I want to go back to the military camp, it's my only option with that thought, he set on his path, being followed by Discord.
"By the way, how did you manage to do that... and why are you walking funny?" the draconequus asked. Fernando cringed and one of his eyes twitched and responded
"I... prefer not to talk about it"
Fluttershy was standing still on the same place while watching Fernando disappear in the darkness. Not to long after, Rainbow Dash arrived at the place with a lantern and landed next to Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy, what happened? I saw a bunch of your animals running away scared and came here immediately" Fluttershy turned to her, and Rainbow Dash noticed that she didn't have a psycho look anymore, she also noticed that she had been crying.
"We-well, did you notice how I had been acting a little strange for the past few days?" Fluttershy asked, and Rainbow nodded "I-I think those animals ran away because they saw what I was doing". Rainbow Dash could only wondered what could she do that scared those animals, but then remembered what happened at the gala
"Yeah, that must be it" she thought. "Anyway," she started to say "do you at least know now where the human is?"
"Ye-yes, he went to the Everfree forest" at this, Rainbow Dash had a victorious grin on her face
"Really? That practically solves all of our problems! The thing will surely find a good home there, so now let's ge back for the party that Pinkie will probably do!" she didn't wait for a reply from Fluttershy, and took dragged her along as she flew back to the town to report the success.
"We still can't call it a success" said Twilight when Rainbow found her and told her what had just happened. Rainbow Dash stared at her in a way that said that she wanted her to elaborate. "Look, we need to communicate this to the princess, and after that we need to find Discord and reseal him". Rainbow sighed and thought of how she would lose too many nap times. "But the other ponies of Ponyville should know so they can return to their normal lives" the unicorn added.
When all of the ponies were at outside the town hall, Twilight started to tell them the situation.
"The creature wasn't captured, but it is now in the Everfree forest, so it shouldn't be a problem anymore!". Cheers rose from the crowd when she said that, but when they died down, one pony asked
"What was supposed to be the creature?" some other ponies wanted to know too, since not too many of them actually saw Fernando.
"It was a human that Discord brought from somewhere" responded Twilight, and when she mentioned the name of the species, every sound ceased to exist in Ponyville.
"Wasn't that the animal that you were hunting some days ago?" another pony asked. The mane six looked very confused. All they remembered from the past days was... they got even more surprised when they discovered they didn't know what had happened for the past days. Lyra, who stood to one side of the group of friends also wondered why she couldn't remember anything.
"It was, we saw it!" said Rose from the middle of the crowd. This made all of the ponies start to make questions at the same time, and the seven of them looked between themselves to see if anypony had an answer to this new mystery.
Twilight returned to the library after the crowd stopped asking questions that she was supposed to know the answer.
"Spike!" she called to her assistant, who didn't respond "Spiiiike?" she shouted again, but she remembered that they had left him at the castle in Canterlot. She sighed and thought "I guess that I'll have to return to Canterlot tomorrow".
She was very tired with all the things they had to do, but she was still very surprised and confused about what the ponies of Ponyville had said "This calls for some investigation!" she said. She went to her basement and started to search the box where she kept every newspaper since she got to Ponyville. "I told Spike it would be helpful someday" she thought when she found the box.
Somewhere, in the middle of the Everfree forest, Fernando was very tired, but not really hungry. Some time ago, he had found a hut, from where a zebra saw him. She went out and blocked his path to tell him how she could feel that he was under the effect of chaotic magic, but the most she could do was offer him some food. From some meters away, Discord grumbled about how now he won't be able to convince him to eat his food (and the plates and silverware).
He accepted the food and was barely able to tell her by body language that he couldn't talk and that he was on a journey to get his voice back. Truth to be told, the zebra never understood anything and thought that it was because of the magic.
While still walking, Fernando could tell that he was being watched, and thought to Discord
"Are you sure that this path is safe?"
"Weeell, it may be some thousands years old, but the worst thing that you can by now is a man-eating plant. I never understood why they were called like that. I would suppose that it eats something called man, but I don't know what that is". Even before Discord finished his explanation, Fernando was already hitting his head against a tree in extreme annoyance.
"Human. Is. Also. Man." he thought, timing each word with a hit. Discord grinned and said
"Then you should run, don't you think so?". Fernando stopped the hits and started to climb that same tree.
"No. I'll sleep on this tree, and if a plant tries to eat me, fine by me, but I won't continue until I don't need these stones to see what I'm standing on" by the time he finished talking, he was already at over a branch big enough to hold him and tried to sleep.
In the morning, the sun was barely showing itself over the mountains when there was a knock at the door that interrupted Twilight's slumber. She had fallen asleep while going through the newspapers from the past days, getting some valuable information.
Twilight lazily climbed the stairs of the basement and walked slowly until she was in front of the main door. She opened it and said without realizing who it was
"Sorry, but the library isn't open for other two hours" and closed the door. Outside the library, Princess Celestia was fighting back her urges to chuckle at her student's drowsiness and knocked again. "Didn't you hear me? The library is closed!" Twilight shouted from behind the door.
"I'm sorry, Twilight, but I'm not here for a book" Celestia responded. Twilight was walking to her room and stopped when she heard the voice. She took some moments before her brain registered that the pony that she had slammed the door on her face was no one else than Celesta, controller of the Sun and one of the princesses of Equestria. She hurried herself back to the door and opened it quickly
"I'm sorry princess, but I didn't saw that it was you and I was tired a-a-and..." she started to apologize as fast as her voice was able to, but was silenced when the princess held her hoof to quiet her.
"Don't worry, Twilight. I too know that is indeed very early" the princess said. Twilight noticed that the princess' horn was glowing and looked around to see what she was doing.
"Excuse me, princess, but why is your horn glowing?" the princess glanced behind her and then magically floated a sleeping Spike so he was in sight of both of them.
"I supposed that he could be of some help, and I was never able to wake him up when he's sleeping when you two were living at the castle" she explained.
Twilight moved aside so the princess could enter the library, Spike levitating behind her and then being set on a chair, and then Twilight closed the door. After that, the princess started to talk.
"Twilight, may I ask what is the situation about that creature that Discord brought and where is it or him?". Twilight remembered then the investigation in the newspaper and answered
"There is something that you should know, princess. I think we might have discovered another of Discord's tricks". She went to the basement and returned almost instantly with all of the newspapers of the past days. "This is my turn to make a question, princess. Do you remember something about these past days?".
Celestia didn't know what Twilight meant by that, but she found that she was unable to remember anything prior to yesterday.
"What do you think this means, Twilight?" the princess asked
"It means that Discord might have lied to us about how the human, that we now know has a name and that is Fernando, came here to Equestria" Twilight answered and then proceeded to show the princess the newspapers from the most recent to the oldest. At first, there wasn't too much to see, but then there were some news with titles like 'Princess announces the successful capture of the human'. Then there was another that said 'Part of Manehattan in ruins!'. Celestia read quickly the notice.
Part of Manehattan in ruins!
Yesterday, at the city of Manehattan, a sudden multicolored explosion occurred in the middle of the city, destroying a big part of it. Multiple deaths were reported, all of them were from confirmed worshipers of the villains known as Night Mare Moon and Discord. The main suspect was the winner of this year's Best Young Flier competition, Rainbow Dash.
The princess skipped the rest of the notice, and saw how was a part of Manehattan. After she finished that, she continued with the other news.
After reading everything to the point of when she offered the bounty for Fernando, she turned to Twilight
"It looks like that human was here even before Discord was freed, and looking by how you six, a full team of masons, my sister, the police of Manehattan, and the Royal Guard and even me failed to take a hold on him, he must not be underestimated. Also, looking by how I asked for him to be brought to me, I can tell that it will be safer if he is under our custody".
"But right now he is in the Everfree forest. What are we supposed to do?" Twilight replied
"Don't worry. Discord liberated him when he was at the castle, so I think he needs to keep him safe" Celestia answered
"But it is Discord who we are talking about" Twilight responded. Celestia hummed a little in thought when the unicord pointed this.
"Then we wait for him to be seen again. If he doesn't, then we can assume two things. He found a good home at the forest, or he is... dead" she finished, not liking to talk about anything related to the death.
Back at the forest, Fernando was still alive, but was having pain all over his body because of the position he was forced to. He stretched himself and tried to shake the sleepiness, and was about to return to the ground, but stopped when he saw what was below.
At the ground, there was what could be described as a Venus Flytrap with eyes, but big enough to eat one of the biggest humans and with roots that looked like legs.
"So that's what Discord talked about?" he thought, while looking around, searching for more of them. Thankfully, he didn't found anymore. While looking around, Fernando spotted Discord sleeping peacefully on a hammock. Looking up, he saw a branch that looked like it could be torn from the tree. He reached for it and pulled with all of his might. It took some tries, but he finally had the branch under his possession.
Fernando turned again to Discord, and aiming carefully, he threw it, hitting Discord on the head and startling him. Discord fell from the hammock and distracted the plant, giving Fernando the opportunity to jump and to fall on top of it, leaving it dizzy and giving Fernando enough time to get away from it and to continue his path.
"Fernando one, plants zero" he thought while running.
After some more hours of walking, and some minutes of running for his life, Fernando managed to reach the other end of the Everfree forest. He gave a sigh of relief when he didn't have anymore thick foliage over his head that covered completely or partially the sunlight. Outside the Everfree forest there was a large plain, with an occasional tree, and some distance away, there was a city.
Discord exited to the forest, but now he had some scars over his body.
"You know, I'm starting to regret giving you that map" he said while detaching a smaller than normal Venus Man-trap from his back. Fernando ignored his complain and he asked
"What city is that one?" he asked pointing to the large buildings that could be seen. Discord looked in said direction and took out a map from who-knows-where and after some examination, he said
"That must be Fillydelphia. It's the only other city, apart from Ponyville, close to the forest" he made his point while showing Fernando the map, but the map was upside-down. Instead of pointing that out, Fernando made another question
"So that means that if I manage to spend a night here everything would be back to normal? he asked hopefully.
"No. Since you didn't went to Manehattan, now you have to be in Fillydelphia and another town or city" Discord answered, laughing at his expression when he said that. Fernando sighed again and started to walk to the town, on the way another question popped in his mind.
"Why Ponyville is connected with Manehattan, but not with Fillydelphia? because I'm pretty sure Fillydelphia is closer than than the other one"
"That is because a giant hole known as the entrance to the Tartarus is in the middle of the way, and it's even more dangerous than the Everfree forest" Discord simply answered.
In the library of Ponyville, Twilight had gathered her friends, formerly known as the Human Hunters Team, to tell them of the her and the princess' plan.
"Listen up, girls. Last night I discovered that the days that we can't remember, were spent on a hunt around Equestria. Our prey, Fernando" the other six ponies and Spike, who was now awake, gasped when they heard that. "I believe that it is because of Discord that we can't remember anything, and whatever it is, it must be something important about that human" They all nodded. "Right now, we don't know were he is, but the Princess has sent out informants to all of the cities of Equestria, and in the moment that one of them spots him, he will communicate with the princess and the princess will tell us. To get to wherever Fernando is faster, there is a carriage and four of the fastest and strongest pegasus of the Royal Guard that can get us to any city in less than a day"
"But I'm faster than everypony else. I can get to any city in less than two hours" Rainbow Dash commented
"Yeah, but he is clever enough to outsmart Princess Celestia" there were whats from the ponies "and anger the Princess Luna and get away with it"
"Wh-what do we do if we find him?" asked Fluttershy
"Lyra knows what he is capable of and has thought of his weakness" Twilight responded. Everypony, and Spike, turned to Lyra, who eagerly started to talk about her favorite subject
"Look, from what I saw at the castle, he can use those appendages on his front legs, known as hands, as easily as a unicorn can use magic, but if what I have studied and thanks to some notes that I found are right, he's not stopped by any special talent.
From something that I heard from my grandfather, who always told me of creatures that are a lot like him, but I think we're talking about the same species, he can use his environment to help himself, and if it is possible, he'll create tools even from just a stick or a rock.
If we manage to tie his hands, we still need to immobilize his back legs. A bipedal creature is far more agile than a quadrupedal" Rainbow mumbled something about she being more agile "and still can easily dodge anything we throw at him. If we do these two things, he will be stopped before he makes any major damage".
When Lyra finished her explanation, they all decided that staying together would be better than returning to their normal activities, only if Fernando was seen and they needed to be on their way.
Back at the other side of the Everfree forest, when Fernando arrived at the outskirts of the city, he found that there wasn't too much difference with Manehattan, except that there didn't appear to be as much alleys as in the other city. At first it wasn't a problem, but soon he found that the alleys here weren't large enough to ensure a safely escape. Most of them were dead-ends, and more than the half of the other alleys, had only two exits, making everything moving around a little harder, to the point were he was forced to exit to the streets more times than he deemed necessary.
"This isn't good. At this rate, I'll be found then he turned to Discord who was silently following him "and and because someone was too lazy, they all remember me!"
"It's not my fault. If those six ponies hadn't sealed away most of my powers, I could easily wipe away the memories of an entire city!" Discord responded annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah, mister chaos. Whatever you say" Fernando responded while looking away, enjoying the fact that he could still entertain himself at Discord expenses. He growled in frustration when he arrived at yet another dead-end, and looked around for another possible paths.
He spotted the emergency ladder on one of the buildings, and also noticed that everything was much closer than in the other city.
"Well, I always wanted to try the Parkour. I just hope that I don't end up killing myself" he thought while starting to climb the ladder, leaving Discord to wonder what is Parkour.
Fernando reached the top of the building and started to look around, confirming that everything was close enough. Discord floated all the way up and when he was next to Fernando he asked
"What is this Parkoor?" Fernando turned to him and corrected him
"First of all, is Parkour." it didn't help that his thoughts couldn't communicate pronunciation. "And to answer your question, watch this" he added confidently. He went to one side of the building, and prepared himself to start running. He had never tried to do anything like this, but he couldn't let go of this chance.
He took a deep breath and when he decided that he was ready, he started to run as fast as he could. Discord watched in disbelief as Fernando approached the edge of the roof, and wondered if a human going splat was a disturbing look. Fernando continued to run and jumped when he impulsed himself with his right foot, soaring through the air as he was reaching the other side of the narrow space of the alley.
He landed without too much trouble, the feeling of adrenaline still coursing through is body while he was panting from excitement.
"That is Parkour!" he thought to Discord. The draconequus made his way to Fernando and questioned
"Are you going to do that while you are in this city?" Fernando nodded "Then I guess it will be my work to clean things up when you fall to the ground" Fernando gave him a deadpan look
"Shut up, you'll jinx me" he thought annoyed
"You're welcome" Discord responded mockingly.
In other part of the city, some ponies were gathering in front of a stage. They had heard of a 'great and powerful' unicorn that would make a show in that place and nopony wanted to lose a chance like that. It wasn't long before more ponies went too, curious about what was happening.
Suddenly, all of the ponies turned to the stage when they heard somepony announce from somewhere
"Citizens of Fillydelphia, behold the most powerful unicorn of Equestria, the one who can single hoofedly catch the elusive human. The unique, the incomparable," there was a sudden smoke explosion "The Great and Powerful Trixie!". When the smoke cleared, a blue unicorn with a wizard cape and hat stood in the middle of the stage and some fireworks were launched.
The crowd that stood there said a collective
"Oooooh" and then started to stomp their hoofs on the floor, in a variant of applauding. Contrary to the busy life of Ponyville, the citizens of Fillydelphia were used to a far more calmed life in a city. The most they had to deal with was the parasprite invasion, but the worst they did was eat the food of their pets.
The lack of excitement in their lives had made them very gullible, hence their admiration for a unicorn that for more than half a hour was doing nothing more than boast about all of her 'accomplishments' and talk in third person, without doing anything that could demonstrate everything she said.
"And remember, if you want to see again the Great and Powerful Trixie, I'll make another show later this evening" she said before stepping off of the stage and returning to her trailer.
Later, that same day, Fernando had successfully made his way through halfway the city. On his way, he got lucky and found the leftovers of what was supposed to be the dinner of some lazy ponies, because they had left there almost everything.
There would still be some hours of light before he could lurk the darkness of the streets at night, and right now, he was resting a little.
"Who would have thought that jumping across buildings would still be exciting after some hours" he commented to himself. Discord had gotten bored some time ago, and he had left until his chaotic sense called him back once again. While resting on top of the building, he heard from below a lot of noise. He peered over the edge of the building and saw down at the street a stage, with a blue unicorn shouting her lungs out, but the only thing he could understand from that distance was
"... Great and Powerful Trixie!" and then some fireworks. He quickly lost interest, and returned to his business. He still needed a way to get to another city, but he didn't even know how they were called, apart from the cities he had been in and Las Pegasus, which were his only other option.
"If I remember correctly, Manehattan was the city were I made my role as a ghost," he thought of how the guards didn't mind bury him under the remains of a train station "so it's better to go to that 'Las Pegasus'. I just hope it's not like Las Vegas". The fact that if it was indeed, like Las Vegas, then there surely would be a lot of ponies and almost no places to hide. "Well, I better get going" he thought.
He readied himself and started to run in the direction of the street, taking advantage that it wasn't more than three and a half meters, but he didn't notice that at that moment, The Great and Powerful Trixie was showing off her telekinetic powers by throwing random objects to the air, and in the middle of the air, he was hit by a bowling ball, and instead of holding from the roof of the building, he crashed with the wall and now he was in a free fall of at least ten meters.
On the ground, Trxie had just launched the bowling ball and now was saying what she was about to do
"As you have seen, The Great and Powerful Trixie has great strength, but even more powerful concentration, because The Great and Powerful Trixie will assemble a trampoline before it returns to the ground".
The egocentric unicorn was working fast with the pieces, attracting the attention of the ponies back to her before they saw Fernando. She had the steel beams attached in almost no time, and was halfway through putting the fabric when Fernando fell on the trampoline. If he had some more luck, the trampoline would have stopped him from touching the ground, but since it was halfway done, he still collided with the concrete, just with not enough force as to kill him, but he was knocked out, and had a bleeding nose.
All of the ponies stared with their jaws hanging from their heads, even Trixie. There was an absolute silence for some minutes before Trixie reacted and said boastfully
"Ha, just as I planned since the beginning!" when she said this, all of the ponies started to stomp their hoofs on the ground, not expecting Trixie to catch 'again' Fernando. "Well, The Great and Powerful Trixie is sorry, but The Great and Powerful Trixie must return to Canterlot again since he" she motioned to Fernando, who was levitating under her magical grasp, "escaped again from the Princess Celestia". She was about to leave the stage, but the bowling ball came down and collided with her head, making her let go of Fernando and he hit the floor face first yet again, but this time he was awoken.
He slowly stood up and noticed three things. Number one, a massive headache. Number two, the warm red liquid running down his face, and number three was the crowd of equine creatures staring at him.
Fernando started to back away slowly, the crowd reacting and giving a step, all at the same time, for each back-step Fernando did. When the human was passing beside her, Trixie started to slowly rise from the floor, the bowling ball falling from her head in the process, and she said while still in a daze.
"Stop there, foul creature, or else you shall suffer the consequences" Fernando would have taken her seriously if she hadn't been staggering, or if the tiny bowling balls that were floating around her head hadn't been there, and continued to move, but giving longer steps.
Slowly, he was gaining distance between him and the ponies, who seemed to be about to start chasing him at full speed, and when he got a good distance, he turned and started to run as fast as he could. The mob of ponies started to chase him at full speed too, and they all left except for one pony covered in a coat that blocked him completely. He backed walked slowly to a dark alley and was soon out of sight.
Trixie was the only one left at the street, and after she got back to her senses, she noticed that nopony was there.
"That creature dared to humiliate The Great and Powerful Trixie, and then take away all of her fans!" she shouted to herself, "The human doesn't know who he messed with, and before this day ends, The Great and Powerful Trixie shall have her revenge!"
In Poniville, Twilight was preparing anything she and her friends would need. Right now, all of her friends were at their homes, doing the same as Twilight and telling to whoever was staying with them that they probably wouldn't be sleeping there tonight.
They all were arriving when Spike suddenly burped. The magical fire called the attention of the ponies and watched as a letter formed from it. Twilight took the letter and started to read for her and her seven friends.
"Twilight, Fernando has been spotted at Fillydelphia. Head right away there, and see if you can get the help from a seemingly famous unicorn that calls herself The Great and Powerful Trixie". Everypony groaned when they heard that Trixie was at the same place of their target. Not only because they disliked her, but because she would probably make it a competition.
Reluctantly, they went to the carriage and boarded it, and soon they were flying to Fillydelphia.
Fernando entered the first alley that came into view, barely dodging an incoming pegasus. Thanks to the narrow path, the ponies were stopped some moments, giving Fernando enough time to turn the first corner of the alley and get out of their sight, but he found that there was at a dead end. He quickly looked around, but only found a door in bad state and some trash cans.
"I can't hide in those trash cans, they would find me right away, and that door doesn't even has a doorknob". He started to get nervous when he heard multiple pairs of hoofs approaching from the alley. Fernando looked around once again, and noticed that there were some bricks in the buildings that he could use as a stair.
"Hey, did I miss something?" asked Discord, who appeared from the thin air at Fernando's side. Fernando shook his head in a negative way, not even flinching from the random action, and thought while he started to climb those bricks.
"I was only hit with a bowling ball and fell from fifteen to twenty meters"
"How are you in one piece?" he asked him, chuckling at his misfortune
"For some reason somebody was assembling a trampoline in the middle of the street" he responded, already a meter over the ground.
"I don't know why I get the feeling that I'm not needed anymore" Discord commented with an unamused face. At that moment, the ponies appeared around the corner, and spotted Fernando already climbing the wall, but they also saw Discord and froze for a moment in shock and terror. Discord looked at them and noticed that he was doing this. "If you excuse me, Fernando, I have to go now. I'm giving you an unfair advantage" he said before leaving in an implosion.
Fernando turned to see the ponies and was glad that they still didn't move. When he was halfway the four story building, some of the pegasus snapped out of their shock and flew to him. Fernando heard the flapping of their wings and turned to see that one of them was about to headbutt him. Since he didn't had more options, he let go of the bricks and grabbed them again a second after. The pegasus flew past him, and he once again started to climb.
At the ground, the unicorns that were among the ponies started to pick up everything they could to throw at Fernando, ranging from soda cans to rotten food. Their aim was very good, but because the magic wasn't their special talent, the things had barely strength enough for Fernando to feel them. It was until two of the unicorns focused their magic on only one rotten apple that they actually made Fernando almost let go of the wall. Soon, all of the other unicorns were doing the same.
Fernando was just two meters below the roof when one of the pegasus managed to come back, but instead of shooting himself against him, he made a more calm approach and tried to grab Fernando by his armpits, planning on taking him away from the wall.
Fernando heard the wings of the pegasus and then the hoofs trying to lift him. He was thankful that he was heavier than the normal pony, but he knew that if the unicorns, who didn't have the same accuracy as before because of their bad teamwork, managed to hit him, he would fall to his painful capture.
Thanks to the winged pony that was trying to take him to the air, Fernando's task of climbing the wall was easier, easily covering another meter and a half. He was about to get to the roof when he saw more pegasus approaching.
"If more of those try to lift me, maybe they will actually manage to catch me!" he thought in desperation.
Now there were three pegasus, the stallion and another two mares, who were trying, and succeeding, to lift him. Soon he was floating some meters over the roof top, and he saw that on top of the building there was at least a dozen of Earth ponies ready to pounce at him at the moment he put a foot on the roof.
"Thanks for the help, misses, but now leave the thing to me. I promise that I'll probably give you some bits from the reward" Fernando heard from above. He looked up and saw his captors bickering between themselves.
"Well, you would never be able to carry it" answered one of the mares
"And those bits will only be ours" the other one finished. Until now Fernando noticed that those mares were twins, and apparently they were from those who liked to finish each other sentences.
"I had it in my hoofs before you came here, so the bits are mine" said the stallion, tugging from Fernando's arm to try and free him from the twins hoofs
"But we were the ones" started one of them, pulling from his other arm
"That could lift him" finished the other, while taking one of his legs.
"Wow, two girls fighting over me... with a dude" Fernando thought, his head hung in shame over the situation.
The game of tug of war continued some more before Fernando noticed that there were still random objects flying through the air. He looked down and saw the unicorns still trying to hit him to make him fall. This gave Fernando an idea. He waited for the right moment, and when he saw that something was actually coming in his direction, he pulled with all of his might the stallion, lowering him enough for a can of soup to hit him in the head and make him lose his grip on Fernando.
The twins couldn't even say yay when Fernando's weight proved to be too strong for them and they started to slowly descend to the ground. Fernando was left hanging from one leg and one arm, but even then he still tried to swung himself so he would fall on a roof without ponies. He succeeded and hit the ground relatively slowly, which was a great improvement from the fall he suffered some minutes ago.
The twins were too tired when they all were at the top of the building that was across from were the Earth ponies were and didn't do anything when Fernando started to escape from them.
For their part, some the ponies on the other roof jumped across the alley and started to give chase to Fernando, who was once again jumping from one building to another. The only thing he had at his advantage was that when a wall was too high for him or the other ponies to simply jump, he could get help from his hands to climb it and gain some terrain, which was easily covered by the superior speed of the ponies.
The Human Hunters Team meanwhile was taking the long road around the Everfree forest. A storm had formed itself thanks to the unnatural quality of the forest to control it's own weather (that's creepy, right?), and they couldn't fly safely over the forest.
At this very moment, Twilight was munching happily on a Healthy Bar while Spike ate his with an annoyed face while waiting in the carriage outside of McDonuts.
Some minutes earlier
The ponies and dragon were flying over the city of Manehattan. Twilight was giving instructions to the other ponies when they arrived at Fillydelphia, when Pinkie's stomach randomly growled.
"Hey, do any of you have some sweets?" the pink maned pony asked. Twilight grinned and took out a bar from the things she had packed.
"Here, have a Healthy Bar" Pinkie happily took it and put the entire piece of food in her mouth. After she did that, her face turned green and spat the bar outside of the carriage.
"What was that?" she asked while trying to get the inglorious taste from her mouth.
"That was just a Healthy Bar. It gives you a lot of energy and doesn't have sugar nor fat!" when Pinkie's pink ears heard this, she curled in a ball started to mutter very quietly and multiple times
"No sugar, sin. No sugar, sin." Fluttershy, who was seated beside her, backed away and looked outside of the carriage, spotting one of the famous McDonuts down below.
"Hey, um... why don't we go to McDonuts? I heard they have very cute toys of ourselves, because, um... you know, we saved Equestria" Rainbow Dash seemed to remember something when she heard that
"Now that I think of it, I still haven't gotten myself!"
"And I just need you, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and me to get us all!" Pinkie said, returning to her normal self "But... the cakes never let me go to one of those" she finished a little disgruntled.
"What they don't know won't affect them, right?" said Rainbow, while giving her an elbow of complicity.
"I guess you're right!" Pinkie happily responded.
In Ponyville, Mrs. Cake was at the kitchen of the Sugar Cube Corner when a sudden red light started to flash and a very loud sound of alarm started to come from some hidden speakers.
"Pinkie Pie is thinking of going to another bakery" she said while narrowing her eyes.
Twilight didn't liked the fact that they were ignoring her attempts at making everything easier and being prepared for the situation.
"But girls, I brought more than enough for all of us" she showed two dozens of Healthy Bars "Rarity, you surely want one of them, right? I've heard you talk hours about your weight!"
"Sorry, Twilight, but those things have too much chemicals and things that unknown to you are bad for your mane" the white unicorn answered "Besides, even I appreciate a doughnut every once in a while". In a last attempt, Twilight turned to Applejack who answered to the look that Twilight was giving her
"I don't eat those things created in those fancy factories, sorry Twi" Twilight sighed in defeat, but got a sudden evilly look in her eyes and she turned to Spike. He gulped, knowing exactly what would happen to him.
Back to the future"
When Twilight finished her Healthy Bar, she saw that her six friends and the pegasus that pulled the carriage were exiting the building, Rainbow and Pinkie playing a game on the way to the carriage.
"Are you ready? Nopony needs to use the bathroom?" Twilight asked when they all were at the carriage again. They all shook their heads, "Okay, then let's continue!" she said, and the guards started to pull the carriage. Spike waited until Twilight was distracted to speak to Pinkie
"Pst, Pinkie, did you get it?" he asked
"Yep, it's right here" she responded before secretly passing him a donut two times the size of a normal donut. It was known as a Big Dnut. Spike's eyes shined at the sight of something that had an actual flavor, unlike the Healthy Bar he was forced to eat, and devoured the donut in one bite.
Back at Fillydelphia, Fernando managed to lose his persecutors, and gave himself some seconds to get back his breath. He was sitting down beside an advertising billboard. He looked up and saw some clouds, and one of them caught his attention. It was a pink cloud with what appeared to be a tail hanging lazily from it, and he had an idea of who might be the owner of that tail.
"Hey, Discord, if you can read this, come here. I need to ask you something!". Not too long after he thought that, the pink cloud descended until it was only a meter over Fernando's head. Discord head stuck out and he asked
"What do you need to know?"
"What city is the most closer to this one and where is it?" Fernando inquired.
"The closest city is Las Pegasus. As to where is it, I don't think I should tell you" Discord responded with a malicious smile
"Why do you think that?" Fernando asked
"Because if I tell you, my fun will last less time" the draconequus answered
"But if I stay in one place for too much eventually everything would be boring" said Fernando, knowing exactly how to convince him.
"But..." Discord tried to say, but was interrupted
"And then the Human Hunters Team would find me and find out about your spell, and then they would end up sealing you again"
"How are you so sure that they would seal me again?" Discord asked, his eyes narrowed
"They can track magic, or something like that, right? If you don't make them forget these days then they will know that you're free. Also, if you erase their memories now, they won't know about me either, so that would make everything easier" Fernando smirked at his flawless logic, and the draconequus gave up and pointed to the east.
"Las Pegasus is in that direction. You'll probably take two days if you walk" he said before going away on his cloud. While leaving towards the sky, he noticed the carriage of the seven ponies and dragon approaching the city and thought mischievously to himself "Let's pay a visit to the Elements", and teleported.
Fernando watched as Discord disappeared and could only wonder what he was up to, considering that once again he couldn't see him. He shrugged his shoulders and started to pick up random objects that could fit in his pocket
"There are a lot of unicorns now. This may come in handy" he thought.
He was about to start jumping from building to building, when a voice came from behind the billboard.
"Don't think that you can escape, now that The Great and Powerful Trixie knows about your plan of taking over Equestria with Discord she will do everything she can to stop you!" the owner of the voice was the unicorn that he saw earlier talk to him, and looking by how she heard only a half of the conversation, she had a wrong idea about what was going on.
"Great, another crazy pony hunting me" Fernando thought in disdain.
Fernando ignored the threats of the Trixie and started to run. He jumped, but looked confused when he stopped in mid air. Looking down at himself, he saw that he was covered in a blue glow, and with suspicions already forming in his mind he turned and saw what he feared.
"Damn! She too can stop me alone!" he thought.
"Now what will you do, human?" she asked daringly. Fernando narrowed his eyes at the question.
"Is a challenge what you want, it's a challenge what you'll get!". The human thought before turning around, so the unicorn didn't saw what he was doing. Fernando started to move around his arms, making motions that he was doing something complicated. Trixie raised an eyebrow when she saw what he was doing.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked, bringing him closer and trying to peek over his shoulder. In response, Fernando looked back at her and then arched his back, so he was covering whatever he had in his hands. "Don try to hide things from The Great and Powerful Trixie!" she said, trying to look at whatever he was doing. Fernando just turned around in the air, not letting her see what he was doing. Trixie started to look frustrated and turned him around herself.
Fernando was looking at something he had in his hands. He had them as if he was holding an insect and didn't want it to escape. Trixie raised again her eyebrow and said
"What do you have there?". She moved her head forward to try and see inside his hands, but Fernando moved away his hands and he continued to see what was inside. "I command you to let The Great and Powerful Trixie see what you have in there!" she ordered him. Fernando looked at her, first with an unfriendly look, but then he got a friendly and kind face and offered her to look at his hands. "See? It's much better if you cooperate" the unicorn said before looking at what he had in his hands.
At first she didn't saw anything, and approached even more to his hands. When she was very close, Fernando got his victory smile on his face and stuck out his finger from his hand, poking Trixie in the eye and making her lose her magical grip on him. Fernando made the hand gesture for victory and then started to run away. While getting away, he could hear Trixie shouting.
"How dare you, miserable creature! You shall suffer as if you were in the depths of the Tartarus!". She was holding her shut eye in pain, but started to chase him not too long after.
The Human Hunters Team could already see the city of Fillydelphia, and were waiting for the moment in which the guards could land the carriage to start the chase. Twilight was retelling the strategy and when she finished, she asked
"Any questions?" Discord raised his claw from the side of Applejack and asked
"When do I get to blow stuff up?" every occupant of the carriage yelled simultaneously at the sudden appearence of the spirit of the chaos and made the guards wince at the volume they heard them from outside the carriage, which was supposed to be sound proof.
After they calmed down, Discord checked his ear for any lasting damage, finding a lollipop in the process, which he started to lick.
"Discord, what are you doing here?!" yelled Twilight
"I asked when do I get to blow stuff up." he responded with an 'obviously' tone "And I thought that you were the intelligent of the group" he added.
"You know what I mean!" responded Twilight, getting annoyed
"Okay, you got me." Discord started "I'm here to present you this new Candy Mane Stick" he said with a toothy grin and looking towards us, confusing six of the seven ponies and Spike. "Ever wanted some cotton candy, but you weren't anywere close to were you could buy it? Then the Cotton Mane Stick is for you!" He approached to Rarity "You only hold it from one side," he did so "stuck it on your head or any passers by" he pocked the top of Rarity's head with the stick, making Rarity wince a little "and... voila!" he pulled the stick, from which Rarity's mane now hanged cotton-candy-like, in response, the fancy unicorn fainted "Now you have cotton candy made from a mane!" At that moment Pinkie's head pocked from one side of Discord and she waved a hoof at us. Discord looked at her annoyed and pushed her out of sight. Then turned to us again "The best of all is that it can be yours for only twelve payments of one hundred ninety nine bits" then he started to talk very quickly "Secondary-effects-include-inflamation,-lose-of-the-mane-and-angry-mobs-chasing-you-around.-Don't-use-with-foals-less-than-three-years-old,-during-pregnancy-or-lactation.-Results-may-vary-if-used-with-fur-or-other-species-hair".
After the draconequus stopped ignoring the fourth wall, he turned to the ponies again, who where blinking in perplexity from the action that surpassed Pinkie's level of randomness.
When Twilight shook off the shock, she narrowed her eyes and said even more angry
"Be serious for once, Discord!" Discord was laughing at how almost all of them had their faces stuck in that of a filly that couldn't understand something and responded when he managed to calm down
"I just wanted to tell you that if you fail today, you should try to go over to Las Pegasus"
"How can we trust you?" Twilight asked
"It's simple. You wouldn't have any other options, and by the day after tomorrow, it probably will be the day" he emphasized 'the day', after answering, he started to fade away gradually.
"Wait! What day will be then?!" Twilight demanded to know, but Discord cackled maniacally while fading away.
The six ponies that were still conscious and the dragon were left in confusion as to what the draconequus meant, but they knew that whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.
At the rooftops of Fillydelphia, Fernando was still fleeing from Trixie. He was far enough for Trixie to stop him with magic, but she could still throw to him what she could. Fernando had the bad luck that there were a lot of bricks on those roof tops. Fernando looked back to her and saw a swarm of at least twenty bricks floating alongside her.
"Okay, she has twenty..." a brick flew past, barely missing his head "nineteen bricks for ammo. I got things that will only work if she gets a hold on me" another brick was thrown, but this one actually managed to graze his arm. "Maybe returning to the ground can create some protection".
The human continued to run until he saw a ladder that could take him safely to the ground. He ran to it and started to slide down it. He tried to control the speed a little, and went down a little faster than the traditional way. This wasn't fast enough, because Trixie threw at him a brick while he was still going down the ladder. It would have collided with his head, but he caught it
"Ha HA!" he thought triumphal before noticing that he wasn't holding the ladder anymore. "Oh oh" he fell the rest of the height, surviving the fall, but falling face up. "Ow, it seemed easier in my head" he thought while in the ground. When he recovered from the fall, he saw that Trixie was quickly making her way to the ground too, but she sent another brick, this one was well aimed because she stopped to aim, and he was laying still. Fernando reacted quickly and protected himself with his own brick, saving himself from the impact. He stood up and returned to run away, Trixie following him as soon as she returned to the ground.
Ahead of him, Fernando saw that the only exit was the street, and looking back, it was too late to chose go back, since Trixie was already on the ground and throwing him another brick. He dodged it, and saw how it flew in a straight line, hitting an unfortunate pony that happened to walk in front of the alley, knocking him out.
"Maybe I can get some shields" he thought, knowing what was the other benefit.
The Human Hunters Team landed in a random street of Fillydelphia, but stopped when they noticed that one of them didn't exit the carriage.
"Come on, Rarity! It will be easier if you come along!" yelled Twilight.
"I'm not going out looking like this!" shrieked Rarity. Twilight sighed and said
"If you come out, I can make it grow back!" Twilight said exasperated.
"Really?" shouted Rarity with raspy voice, and shot out of the carriage and grabbed Twilight by the shoulders, shaking her. Right now, she was completely devoid of mane, and looked rather funny "All this time you could just make it grow back!" she continued in that raspy voice.
"Calm down and I'll make it grow back" said Twilight, trying to calm her friend down.
"Just do it!" she demanded. Twilight's horn began to glow, and in less than a minute, Rarity had her mane back, the only exception is that it didn't look as usual. Rarity levitated a mirror from the things she had brought with herself and looked at herself
"Well, nothing I can't fix in some minutes" she muttered to herself before grabbing Twilight in a hug "Thank you so much, Twilight. I don't know what would I have done if I had to wait for it to grow back"
"Rarity... air... I need air" responded a chocking Twilight that was turning from purple to blue.
"Oh, sorry. I got a little carried away" Rarity said sheepishly when she noticed that her friend was about to faint.
When Twilight regained her breath, she turned to the guards.
"You all take a rest. If things don't go as planned, maybe we'll have to fly all night long to reach Las Pegasus" she told them. In response, the guards nodded and went to find were to rest. After that, Twilight looked at her team before commanding
"Okay, you know the plan. Let's go!" with that, they started the search, divided in two groups.
Each team had a pegasus, an Earth pony, and a enough unicorns to stop Fernando from moving around, that meant that Twilight was in one team and Rarity and Lyra were in another one. Spike was with Twilight to keep the teams even.
Back with Fernando, he was running through the street as fast as he could, putting between himself and Trixie as much unsuspecting ponies as possible. For the few minutes they have been in the street, Trixie had knocked out at least four ponies, and left others with a bump on their heads. He looked back at her to see how many bricks she had left.
"Only three more shots and then back to the alleys" he thought.
He wasn't paying attention to where he was running, and he ended up running into a pony. He managed to not fall, and he turned his head to see with who he had collided. It was Applejack.
"Hey, it's you!" she shouted along with Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Lyra when she saw the distracted pony, in this case person, who ran into her.
"Why it's always you?" Fernando thought before he pulled Applejack's hat over her eyes and returning to escape from the mad unicorn, who decided to throw a brick at that moment, barely missing him, but hitting the farm pony instead. She fell to the floor unconscious, and this was enough distraction for Fernando to sneak away.
The three mares looked dumbstruck at Applejack, who was at the ground and then to her attacker, who they recognized right away.
"Hey! What do you think you are doing throwing bricks like crazy!" yelled Rainbow Dash angrily, landing in front of Trixie and glaring at her.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is hunting the human that now has escaped from her thanks to your intermission" she responded when she lost sight of Fernando, returning the glare.
"Well, you knocked out our friend, you should at least apologize" said Rarity scowling.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't need to apologize for something that clearly wasn't her fault" Trixie responded, moving her head away indignantly.
"And how was this" Rainbow Dash asked, motioning with her hoof to Applejack "your fault?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie was aiming for that creature, but it moved away and she happened to be on the way" Trixie answered matter of factly. Rainbow Dash was about to hit her when they heard groaning, and Applejack slowly started to rise up.
"What in tarnation happened?" she asked "And why is my head hurting so much?" she added, holding her head in pain. Then she remembered
"Right, the human!" she was about to run, but was stopped by Rarity
"Applejack, wait. You got hit with a brick in the head and you are..." the unicorn looked to the lump on her head, unsure of how to word it
"Growing a second head!" completed Rainbow Dash
"Come on, sugar cube. I feel great!" Applejack reassured with a smile
"But, aren't you at least a little mad with Trixie?" Rainbow said, pointing to Trixie.
"Who?" asked the farmer pony
"You forgot about The Great and Powerful Trixie?" asked Trixie angry. Applejack looked like she was thinking, and then said while rubbing her head that started to throb.
"Nnnope. Never heard of you" she said with a blank look "But let's restart with the right hoof. Hello, my name's Applejack!" she said, extending her hoof. Trixie looked unamused and started to walk away
"The Great and Powerful Trixie has better things to do right now!" she stated.
Applejack looked confused and turned to Rainbow Dash
"What's her problem?"
"Eeeh... she got a bigger ego than me" Rainbow Dash said before they all started to run in the direction where Fernando and Trixie had disappeared.
"By the way, where's Lyra?" asked Applejack.
Fernando had escaped from Trixie and three of the other four ponies, but he didn't notice that Lyra had started to follow him. He entered an alley and walked until he found a trash container that appeared to be forgotten by the city. He sat down next to it to rest a little.
"Let's see what I got in case of unicorn emergency" he thought before emptying the content of his pockets on the floor. He had a tiny can, some tiny rocks, his glowing stones, and a short string that probably was from his trousers. "Well, at least it will be enough for a normal unicorn" he thought before reaching for his things, but they were taken away by a green glow. "This can't be good" he thought before looking to were his things went.
There stood Lyra, with his things floating next to her
"Now I got you!" she said with a smirk. Fernando tried to stand up and run, but he tripped. Looking down he saw that his left foot was being held in magic.
Lyra started to magically pull Fernando's foot. In response, he took hold of the closest thing he had at his reach, in this case the trash container, and griped it with both hands.
"Let go!" Lyra commanded as she struggled to keep her magical hold. She looked to his hands to see if she could somehow let them loose, but when he saw the way they were gripping the corner of the trash container, she went in enthusiastic mode.
She approached Fernando, not stopping her magic, which seemed to get enhanced with her excitement, and examined the way his fingers were bending around the trash container. She made a squeal and started to rant
"They are exactly like the drawing, and how my grandpa described those things from those monkeys" she gasped when she got a sudden realization "what if we can recreate them for ponies!" she exclaimed, turning to Fernando and hopping up and down, much like Pinkie Pie. "I already tried with monkeys, but those were too little, and they weren't as intelligent as you, but this time it may work! What do you say? If you come with us and let us study these hands, I promise that you can keep five of those appendages!" she pointed to his fingers.
"Okay... you are now officially the weirdest pony of them all" Fernando thought freaked out. The idea of losing almost all of his fingers sickened Fernando, made him panic because he wouldn't be able to play video games, and then sickened him some more. He got the urge to throw up at the mental image of them being cut, and his hands went to his mouth to keep him from doing so. When he let go of the container, the force of Lyra's magical pull sent him flying some meters crashing through his still flying objects and catching one of his glowing stones. The sudden distance was enough for him to free himself from her grasp.
He didn't waste time and went up to his feet, he pocketed his stone, and dashed as fast as he could away from the obsessed pony.
"Wait! You can keep another one if you want!" Lyra yelled before following him. Some meters above the ground, on the rooftops to be precise, Discord was laughing his tail off from what he had heard.
Fernando was running faster than ever. Lyra wasn't athletic, but some time ago he had a brief encounter with Applejack and the rest of her team, plus Trixie, and at that moment even Applejack had a hard time catching up on him, and Rainbow couldn't get close because of the multiple clothes lines.
"Damn it!" he cursed when he saw that he was approaching the street, and risking a look to his back, he saw that the ponies were no more than five meters away. Sighing, he continued his race for his fingers and freedom, and when he got out of the alley, what he predicted would happen, happened.
As soon as they all left the alley, Rainbow Dash flew over him, blocking his path, and the amount of ponies that happened to be there made it impossible to go around her or in other direction, and the other Human Hunters, plus Trixie, blocked the way he had come through, making a circle around him.
"Dammit Dammit Dammit Dammit" he thought repeatedly while looking around. He didn't saw anything and looked down in defeat, and something caught his eye.
"The sewers!" he thought relieved.
His pursuers slowly approaching, in case he tried something at the very last moment, and he did do something at the last moment, not how they had expected. Rainbow lunged at him at the same time he was lifting the floor drain, but she expected him to immediately jump inside. Instead, he used it as a shield against Rainbow, but she stopped using her wings and barely avoided the hit.
"Ha! Is that everything you got?" she teased cockily. Fernando shook his head in a negative way and then hit her in the head with the drain, jumping in immediately after that.
Rainbow Dash fell to the floor with the hit. Her eyes looked in two different directions for some seconds before she returned to normal. She narrowed her eyes and whispered
"It's on" she then followed him in the sewers, a bump that was almost as big as Applejack's already on her head.
Before the rest of the hunters could follow their rainbow maned partner, the other team arrived at the scene having noticed the crowd that had formed.
"What happened?" asked Twilight to Applejack, trying but not succeeding in not keep staring at the lump on her forehead.
"We found the human, and he pissed off Rainbow" Applejack responded
"Were is him?" asked Twilight again
"He jumped in the sewers, and was followed by Rainbow" the farmer pony answered again.
"Well, then, we need to get moving!" Twilight said. At that moment, Trixie made herself know by shouting
"Stand aside. This is a problem that only The Great and Powerful Trixie can solve!", after her sudden shout, she dived in the smelling tunnels. The Hunters sighed in exasperation and jumped in too.
When Fernando entered the dark sewers, he stopped himself before darting in a random direction.
"Hide in the darkness!" he thought dramatically to himself before sticking to the darkest part of the side of the tunnel, blocking with his hands the light from the glowing stone, and avoiding as much water as he could.
He saw as Rainbow jumped too in the tunnel, and she started to look around. Fernando noticed that her eyes remained as clear as if they were at the normal light level.
"Right, cartoon logic" he thought before closing his eyes. He then heard the sound of galloping getting away and he dared to open his eyes, and saw that he was alone, or so he thought. He felt a breath to his neck, and we could have heard him scream like a scared girl if his voice was some octaves lower pitched.
Hearing laugh, he looked to one side, but didn't saw anything. Looking to the other he didn't saw anything either. But looking up, he saw a pair of yellow eyes that he knew too well.
"Do you have to scare me every freaking time!" he thought
"Nope, that would make me predictable" answered Discord.
Fernando would have argued some more if he hadn't seen the other seven ponies and dragon enter the sewers too. One of them starting to run in a random direction, shouting something about not needing help. He decided that now his best option was a tactical retreat, and by tactical I mean tiptoeing as quietly as possible. It didn't help that because he still couldn't use his stone to illuminate his path, and he ended up falling in the water, startling the ponies and making Twilight light up the tunnel with her horn.
They saw half a human sticking out of the water and a draconequus laughing at him. Fernando and Discord turned to see them. Discord waved goodbye before teleporting away, and Fernando smiled nervously before jumping out of the water and starting to run away, the ponies already chasing him.
Fernando was starting to get tired from all of the running, and he knew that he didn't stand a chance against four unicorns that could easily restrain him.
"There must be a way to distract them!" he thought, and as if on cue, Rainbow Dash came into view in front of them. She too spotted Fernando and started to fly in his direction. Fernando saw his chance, and when she was about to crash with him, he dived under her, rolling on the floor and returning to an standing position from the impulse. For her part, Rainbow crashed with the Hunters, knocking them to the floor, and some of them falling in the water.
"Rainbow Dash" said Rarity threateningly from the sewage. The pegasus turned to the unicorn and saw the killer stare she was sending her way. She gulped
"He he, you know that was an accident, right?" she asked, but Rarity started to stand up slowly and dramatically walk to where she was "Right?" she asked again, emphasizing the question. With a battle cry, Rarity lunged at Rainbow Dash and she was unable to move from sheer terror.
Some distance ahead, in an intersection of another two tunnels, Fernando was trying to regain his breath. Discord appeared next to him and said
"To tell you the truth, I didn't thought possible that you could escape from them this time". Fernando turned to him, unable to make a glare while heavily breathing. "But even then, how are you supposed to reach the next city?" Fernando didn't understand the question. He looked around and he comprehended what Discord meant. It was already night outside, and the only light that formerly made his way through the drains, now was inexistent.
Fernando tried to use his only glowing stone, but the glow was too faint to reach the ceiling. He sighed and thought
"I hate to admit it, but you're right. I need another way to find the drains" he then heard Rarity's battle cry, what sounded like someone being chocked, and some other voices trying to calm down said unicorn. "They're distracted, so I got some time". He sat down to think, and after some minutes, he got a plan. "Hey, Discord, can you make this stone glow brighter?" he asked to the draconequus
"Yes, I can do that" he responded nonchalantly. Fernando waited some minutes with an expecting look on his face, but Discord wasn't doing anything
"Well?" he asked
"Well what?" returned Discord
"Are you going to make it glow brighter?"
"No"
"But, you said that you could..." Discord interrupted Fernando
"I said I can, but not that I would" Fernando glared at him, and in response, Discord smirked.
"Would you at least make it move on it's own when one of those ponies gets somewhat close?"
"Mmm... I don't know..."
"It will be a way to annoy them" Fernando tried to persuade him, and succeeded.
"Okay, then..." he snapped his fingers, and four tiny legs appeared under the rock, "now it will move when a pony is about ten meters"
"Good, now I need a paper sheet and a pencil" Discord took said items from his nostrils and handed them to Fernando. He reluctantly took them, and was about to write when he remembered that they had another writing system. He got a sheepish look and then he said "Can you write? I don't know how to write in your script". Discord rolled his eyes and took the paper and the pencil back
"Is it to create further frustration in those ponies?" he asked, and Fernando nodded in response "Okay, what do you want me to write?" Fernando whispered something on his ear, and Discord adopted a confused look "What does that even mean?"
"From where I come, it's a way of making fun of someone that thought that he found what he was searching for" Fernando answered. Discord shrugged and wrote anyway "Oh, I almost forgot. Tell them to take care of Glowy" Discord arched an eyebrow, and Fernando pointed to the rock that he had on his hand, which looked like it was sleeping. The draconequus shrugged again and wrote what he was asked.
When he finished, Fernando took the sheet and attached it to the rock with a loose string from his trousers and walked in the opposite other way, leaving the glowing stone in the ground.
"Hey, Starswirl," Discord said Starswirl with sarcasm "how are you supposed to see where you're walking" Fernando extended his hand and took one of his ears, and then flicked it, creating a clicking noise, and Discord eyes suddenly started to shine as if they were a flashlight "Oh, right" he said without amusement.
Back with the Hunters, they had managed to get Rarity away from Rainbow Dash, who was being bandaged by Fluttershy.
"Rarity, do you promise not to kill Rainbow Dash until we find the human?" asked Twilight to the fellow unicorn
"I promise" Rarity responded through gritted teeth.
"Do you Pinkie Promise it?" asked Pinkie, looking at her in the eyes, their muzzle almost touching
"Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye" she said without looking away. Pinkie glared for some seconds before she returned to her normal self
"Okie dokie loki" she said and returned to a place out of Rarity's personal space
"Now that we sorted that out, let's continue!" Twilight commanded, and the seven ponies and Spike continued to run through the sewers, hoping that they would still be able to find the human.
"I can see something!" said Rainbow Dash
"Me too!" responded Twilight.
"That must be the same glowing stone he had back at Ponyville" said Fluttershy, remembering their brief encounter. They were getting closer, but the glowing dot started to move away and they started to run even faster to catch it.
While chasing it, they found odd how he wasn't as fast as before, but they didn't care that much, because it made things easier.
When they were very close to the stone, they got very disappointed that it was not Fernando, and were about to give up when Twilight saw a paper sheet to it's side.
"Don't stop yet. That sheet may be a clue!" she told to the others, who now also saw the paper. They started to run again at full speed, quickly covering the few meters that were between them and the living rock.
Twilight started levitating Glowy, took the paper sheet, and started to read for everypony
"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down...? What does that even mean?" Twilight asked confused. She turned the sheet around and saw more text "Please take care of Glowy" Twilight turned to the stone and wondered if that was Glowy.
"We were tricked. That makes no sense" commented Applejack, but Pinkie, who had a thinking look, thought otherwise
"You're telling me that you don't get the hidden message?" she asked as if that was the most obvious thing in the world "Think. That Fernando is a male, right? So what do stallions always thinks about?" Rainbow Dash thought a little and blushed at her thought and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Pinkie "That's right. Money".
"Yeah... Money" Rainbow muttered, looking around suspiciously.
"Somepony would never give away all their money, and an easy way to get more, but risking loosing it, is with bets. That means that he is going to a place where he risks his money, that he doesn't want to lose, nor let down, but he is still putting it at risk, and the only place I know like that is Las Pegasus!"
After Pinkie finished, everypony else stared at her incredulously, but finding some sense, considering that Discord told them to go that way.
"Okay, since it's probably past the midnight, we should get some rest before going to Las Pegasus. Fluttershy, you're in charge of the stone" she passed Glowy to Fluttershy, who put it in her mane to keep it safe.
"Um... Twilight, why are there no drains in the ceiling?" asked Spike. Twilight looked up, and sure enough, there weren't any drains that they could use to get out. Also, with the sudden silence that there was, they were able to hear a faint sound of a river coming from further down the sewer. Twilight cursed under her breath and responded
"Because I think we're not under Fillydelphia anymore"
In the outskirts of Fillydelphia, a drain was pushed out of it's place, and from it emerged Fernando, who after checking his surroundings, got out and went to an alley to rest a little
"I wonder how I'll get to the next city" he thought before drifting to sleep, hidden by some trash cans.
Fernando awoke the next morning to his own smell. The sun had yet to be awakened, and the moon still shined in the sky.
"Ugh. The first thing I'll ask for when all of this ends, is a good bath." he lifted his arm and smelled his armpit. This made him almost throw up "And three bars of soap" he added.
He tried to walk out of the alley, but he fell to the ground when he tried to make one step.
"So... hungry" he thought overly dramatically. His thought was like a call, because Discord appeared above him
"Do you want my services as a chef?" he asked with a mocking smile on his face
"Sorry, but today I don't want to eat a piece of silverware" Fernando responded, followed by a growl from his stomach
"But this time you won't have to eat everything" the draconequus insisted with a 'friendly' face. Fernando stared at him for some seconds before asking
"What's the catch?"
"Oh, nothing. You'll be surprised by how the food is prepared this time" Discord said with an innocent tone and face. Fernando didn't trust him, but his stomach growled very loudly again
"Okay, you win this time".
When he accepted, Discord made appear out of nowhere, and pulled a chair from his back. He snapped his finger and Fernando was seated at the table. Discord, who now was dressed as a waiter and had a serious look on his face handed him the menu.
"What would you like to order, sir?" he asked in an uncharacteristic polite tone.
"I'll have..." he paused while reading his options for a breakfast "four quesadillas, but make sure that they are made with corn tortilla", he then gave the menu back to Discord.
"Right away" the draconequus said before turning the menu into a plate. He then put the plate on the table and the food that Fernando asked for appeared on the plate.
Not too long after, the plate was devoid of food. Fernando was satisfied, but he was leaning on the table, looking at Discord, who was still acting like a waiter. Some minutes passed before he finally thought
"You're not fooling anyone! What did you do to the food?" the human demanded to know. Discord ripped of his suit and then started to crackle. He managed to say
"Do you remember when I said the food would surprise you? Let's just say that my secret slow spicy formula was in those quesadillas". Fernando arched an eyebrow and asked
"Slow spicy formula?"
"Yep! In any moment now you'll start to roll on the floor as if your mouth was on fire" then he started to maniacally laugh. Some seconds passed and Discord slowly stopped his laugh "Any moment now". A full minute passed "Right... NOW!" he pointed to Fernando's face, which still hasn't changed, except for his eyes, which were bloodshot by now. Discord growled and asked
"Why are you not suffering!". Fernando smiled victoriously, and responded
"That's because all of my life I've eaten mexican food! But trust me, I've never eaten something more spicy" Discord looked at him closely, and sure enough, his eyes were leaking some tears, but that was the only effect on him
"It's still not what I expected".
Fernando chuckled before exiting the alley. It was still very early, so he could walk through the streets without worrying about being spotted.
Fernando walked down a street in the middle of the city, the sun was being lifted by a certain white alicorn, when he heard some voices that he dreaded.
"Hey, I can see an exit!" he heard Rainbow Dash from a nearby drain. Fernando frantically looked around, but he didn't find an alley, only a carriage.
"We would have found one earlier if Twilight hadn't fainted" now was Applejack's voice the one Fernando heard. Without other options, Fernando ran to the carriage, and luckily, there was a hollow space below, probably for spare parts, that he fitted in without being seen from outside.
"Well, who would have guessed that she fears snakes and alligators" commented Pinkie when she hopped out of the sewers, forgetting to get the drain out of the way. "I mean, she doesn't fears Gummy"
"Pinkie, I'm pretty sure that she only fears a full grown alligator" Rarity responded, remembering the reptiles that were bigger than one of them.
"But they only wanted to give Twilight a surprise hug! Besides, they were Gummy's cousins. I know them ever since they only had thirty teeth and they would never hurt a pony that is my friend" protested Pinkie Pie.
"Couldn't you at least tell us about them while searching for that human?" asked Rainbow Dash when she flew out of the sewers followed by Fluttershy, Spike and Lyra, Twilight hanging from Dash's front hooves. When she set her down on the floor, she woke up
"Alligators! Teeth! Gummy!". She noticed that she was now awake, and let out a sigh of relief. She looked around and noticed that they were no longer in the sewers.
"Hey, isn't that our carriage?" she asked pointing to it. Just then, the mares noticed it. In the lower part of the carriage, Fernando couldn't believe his bad luck.
"Well, isn't that convenient?" commented Applejack, and after she said that, the guards that were assigned to pull from it arrived, ready to take them to their next destination.
Twilight told the guards that they were going to Las Pegasus, and after that the Human Hunters entered the carriage. Once inside, Rarity couldn't help but complain
"Twilight, can't you do something about this horrendous smell?". In response, Twilight's horn let out a flash and the former sewage smell was replaced by a fresh lavender smell. "That's much better. Thank you"
Fernando was about to leave the carriage, but a sudden jerk sent him backwards, making him hit his head and to be disoriented for some seconds. He shook his head, and he was about to jump down, but they were already five meters above the ground.
"Great. I'm heading to who-knows-where, and when I arrive I have to deal with them. What else can happen?"
"Hello" said Discord, who was at his side. Fernando sighed at his misfortune.
Inside the carriage, the ponies of the Human Hunters Team couldn't sit comfortably. There was something that wouldn't let them relax, and Rainbow Dash remembered exactly what it meant.
"Hey, Twilight," she told to said unicorn "do you remember this feeling, from when we were at the castle?". Twilight thought for a moment before realization hit her
"You're right! He must be here in the chariot!" she exclaimed before using her see-through spell. The light that emanated from her horn like a flash light moved around the carriage, but to the disappoint of them all, they didn't caught even a glimpse of their target.
"Darn it. It must be another of Discord tricks" commented Applejack. They sighed and tried to sighed and tried to ignore the abnormal feeling that wouldn't leave them.
Under the carriage, Fernando saw the effect of the see-through spell, and was relieved when they weren't able to find him, but he was looking confused towards Discord, who was messing around with the carriage to amuse himself
"Hey, Discord, why they weren't able to see you?". The shrunken draconequus turned to him to respond
"Because I have the almost the same spell that you are under effect, but they will have an annoying feeling when I'm around. Yours only make them know that you're supposed to be close"
"Isn't there another way for you to entertain yourself, like video games? Or anything that is close to them?"
"Well... those kind of thingies are too complex for me. Also, the last one I was able to play had me as the antagonist. I wouldn't have any problem with that, but they made me predictable" he then leered in the direction of Play Stallion head quarters. Fernando ignored that last action and tried to rest for the rest of the trip.
Some hours later, the flying chariot was finally arriving at Las Pegasus. Fernando was preparing himself to dash out of sight as soon as he was a safe distance from the ground. Discord left a hour ago after a lightbulb appeared above his head and having stared for half a hour directly at Fernando's head.
"That can't be good" Fernando thought while remembering the action of his tormentor.
The carriage was still moving when Fernando jumped out of the refraction compartment. The landing was rough, and the street was crowded, but his sudden apparition surprised the ponies just enough for him to run away. Except that when he tried to run, he was unable to move even a centimeter. He started to get nervous, and he checked himself to see if he had the glow that would haunt him wherever he went.
To his surprise, there wasn't the presence of unicorn magic, but when he glanced behind him, he saw Discord, even in his diminished size, effortlessly stopping him from moving by holding his shirt with only one claw. The human narrowed his eyes at the draconequus and thought with disdain
"What are you doing?". Discord grinned and responded
"You'll know soon enough." he looked behind him and he saw the Human Hunters Team exiting the chariot and, noticing them, running towards them. Discord grinned even more and snapped the fingers of his free paw.
When he did that, Fernando, the mane six, Lyra and Spike were teleported and appeared some hundred of meters above the ground. A thick glass wall separated them and two Discords appeared. One on each side of the wall.
The Discord that was on Fernando's side started to explain to him what was happening.
"If you're wondering what's happening, let me explain it to you before you make unnecessary questions" Fernando didn't stop his glare that he had since several seconds ago and nodded. "Do you remember when you told me about why I didn't entertain myself with things like video games?"
"Yes" was Fernando's response
"Well, you are about to be in one" Discord added with malice in his eyes.
Fernando stared in disbelief at Discord. Ever since he was little he have made a lot of wishes, but the biggest one has been being inside a video game. Now he had his wish come true... In a twisted version that would haunt him for the remaining of his life.
"My idea goes like this. " Discord started to explain his idea "I read your mind and I've found about every game you've played and every game you know about, and those six ponies" he pointed to the mane six, who where in the other side of the glass wall "are the antagonist"
"Are you telling me that I'll have to go through games that I've never played, and that you expect me to beat them with a disadvantage of six against one?" Fernando thought, fearing that he might never be able to return to his home.
"Yep, and even better, they will look a little like some characters that looked rather interesting" Discord responded, enjoying telling his master plan.
"Do you know their names, or only what they look like?" Fernando asked, hoping that it wasn't anyone that could really be dangerous. Too bad that fate hates him, right?
"Well..." Discord remembered one of them "one of them is a very tall human, really thin, without a face, wearing your version of a business suit and what I think are tentacles coming from his back". Fernando's face went white at that moment.
"Slenderman! Slender. Freaking. Man!!
"Is that what he is called? I hoped for a more intimidating name" Discord commented with disappointment. Fernando sighed
"Okay. Who are the other five characters?" he asked again. Discord looked behind him where his other self was giving instructions to the ponies.
"You'll know in a few seconds" he said knowing what was about to happen.
Fernando turned his attention to the six ponies that Discord mentioned earlier. Each one of them had a glowing shapeless thing floating in front of them. Applejack said something that Fernando was unable to hear because of the wall and reached with her hoof the thing blob that was floating in front of her.
The thing melted in her hoof, making her flinch, and then entered her body. They waited a few seconds and they watched as her hat started to cover her whole head, covering it completely after a few seconds and taking the form of a pyramid helmet.
On the other side of the wall, some minutes earlier
The Human Hunters Team looked around them, confused with the change of environment. Fluttershy got scared when she noticed the height. Discord cleared his throat to get the attention of the ponies. They looked at him and immediately struck a battle stance.
"What are you planning, Discord?" demanded to know Twilight.
"Well, since this is your last chance to catch him," Discord pointed to Fernando with his thumb "I'll make this special and do something unique". The ponies and dragon didn't like how that sounded, but remained silent. "But I must tell you the truth about Fernando before you start this" the draconequus said, while adding in his mind "Or what I want you to believe". "As you know, Fernando is not from here. You all think that I brought him, but that's not true. Even then, he is completely innocent and he doesn't deserve what is happening to him" the Human Hunters Team got surprised at this revelation, and started o fill a little guilty "He has been forced to sleep in the streets, away from his family and friends, and has been hunted by everypony who sees him" he grinned evilly at getting the expected reaction. The Human Hunters Team were now looking down in shame at what they heard. Twilight was the first one to look to Discord again.
"Why do you do this if he's innocent?" she was glaring at him
"Because this is fun" he answered with a smirk
"What if we don't play along?" she said with her own smirk. This made her friends look to Discord expecting an answer
"I'll give him most of my powers. With his mind he can be more chaotic than me, and he would never be caught. And with that amount of power, anypony can be corrupted.
The hunters realized that he was right. Fernando could be an annoyance without any kind of power. If he got the chaotic powers of Discord and his mind did get corrupted, they could only expect the worse.
"Okay. We will do whatever you have in mind" said Twilight, not finding another solution. Discord grinned and started to explain.
"Now, here is what you will do. You have to touch these... things-that-I-forgot-how-they-were-called." he made six shapeless objects appear in front of the mane six "They will give you some kind of power or appearance from a video game from his world that might or might not help you. Using those powers you'll have to catch him, but there's a catch. Like in video games of this world, he has a life bar. If it reaches zero... he'll die" he finished dramatically, his face darkening and his voice going really deep.
The ponies gasped and looked between themselves. Killing somepony wasn't in their to do list, Twilight mentally triple-checked hers and didn't found it.
"If this timer reaches zero, you will lose, and he will get my powers" a digital timer appeared in their field of vision. They tried to look elsewhere, but the timer remained there, as if it was on a screen. The timer had a twenty and two sets of zeros, meaning that they had twenty hours of game.
Nopony moved for some seconds, until Applejack said
"Buck it. The sooner we start, the faster we deal with this" and after that she touched the shapeless thing with her hoof. In response the floating blob started to melt and merge with her hoof, making her flinch. They waited and soon after that her hat started to transform into a pyramid shaped helmet, that covered her entire head.
No one made the slightest movement. Applejack just stood there, but she broke the silence by saying
"How is this thing supposed to help me catch Fernando?". She was barely heard because the helmet muffled the sound of her voice.
"You'll have to discover it on your own." he said "Besides, there is something else that comes with the helmet" he snapped his fingers and a giant knife appeared next to Applejack. She examined it and then turned to Discord
"Aren't we supposed to not kill him?" she asked with sarcasm
"Yes, you are" Discord answered ironically.
"My turn! My turn!" exclaimed Pinkie before touching the blob that was in front of her. Unlike Applejack's shapeless thing, Pinkie's only started to transform, taking the form of scissors that were as big as her. "Oooooh... So now I'm allowed to run around with scissors!" she asked happily. Everypony's eyes widened at the idea of Pinkie and a sharp object, and all of the other Human Hunters glared at Discord, who grinned in response.
They broke the glaring and returned their sight to the blobs that should help them with their problem. The next one that touched her 'Character Morphing Blob" was Rarity
"Well, if I must do it..." she said as she extended her hoof. This time, her Character Morphing Blob covered her completely, leaving only the shape of a pony, and some seconds after, Rarity was inside a fully functional and fully upgraded power suit. "How do I look?" she asked after the effect finished. Twilight was about to answer, but she stopped when she saw Rarity's face, or more specifically, her eyes. "What? What happened to my face!?" Rarity asked when she saw how shocked Twilight was.
Twilight pointed with her hoof to Rarity's face and managed to stutter
"Y-y-your e-e-eyes"
"What happened to my eyes?" Rarity asked, almost in a panic attack
"You don't have your irises!" Twilight answered while creating a mirror with her magic. Rarity saw herself in the mirror and shrieked when she saw her iris-less face.
While Rarity was freaking out, Rainbow Dash had already touched her blob with excitement about what she would get. This time, the Character Morphing Blob crept through her body until it rested on her face. Then, it slowly took the shape of a mask with an evil smile and stare.
"What! Rarity gets a cool armor, Applejack gets an awesome helmet and Pinkie gets some jumbo scissors, but I, the most awesome mare in all of Equestria, only get a dumb mask?" the prismatic pegasus complained "What does it even do?" she asked Discord "Does it gives me something like super strength? Or makes me faster?", then she added with as much modesty as she could muster "If that's even possible" which wasn't a lot
"If you must know, my dear Rainbow Dash," started Discord "that mask will let you fly through walls, doors, windows, ponies, mountains, etcetera, as long as you wear it". Discord's explanation changed Rainbow Dash's mood in an instant
"Well, I suppose that this mask is cool" she said with a grin, that the mask manifested with a creepy red light coming from inside of it.
Trying to ignore the red gleam coming from Rainbow's mask, Twilight said
"I suppose there is no other way..." and touched her Character Morphing Blob. She mentally braced herself for anything that might shock her, but the only thing that happened is that she wore now a red dress. She looked at Discord with a quizzical look, expecting an explanation
"Your magic abilities are enhanced, but only your illusion spells." he answered "They'll only affect Fernando, but the effects are unpredictable". After that, he added "Come on, try them"
Twilight looked unsure, but she was even more curious, so she concentrated a little and tried to send Fernando a random image. The result? Fernando curled in fetal position and started to rock back and forth with a perturbed look, while the Discord on the other side of the glass wall laughed at him.
What Fernando saw. Fernando's POV
I was watching how six of the Human Hunters got the powers from video game characters that I knew very well, and half of them had been enough to keep me awake if I happened to wake up in the early morning, before the sun even rose.
When it came Twilight's turn, I couldn't recognize the dress that she wore and, to my dismay, I was sure it was from a survival horror.
She turned in my direction, and her horn glowed for some seconds before the most disturbing sight happened. First of all, everyone around us disappeared, giving me a sudden loneliness sensation. Then the sky turned blood red, and the light seemed to diminish.
After that, I saw how Twilight was thrown from where she was like a rag doll, and smashing against the glass, and a creepy smile adorned her face, and to top it all an invisible finger started to draw me with what I hopped wasn't blood, only that there was a little mistake. My head should be attached to my body, right?
"Happy place, happy place, happy place...
Third Person POV
Twilight, and the rest of the Human Hunters, stared at Fernando.
"I suppose that didn't go as planned?" asked Rainbow. Twilight shook her head with a worried expression. While Twilight scolded herself for whatever she had done, four of her partners in the game stared at Fluttershy expectantly.
"Now is your turn, Fluttershy" said Dash from behind her mask.
"Do-do I have to?" Fluttershy answered, hiding her face behind her mane.
"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt at all" reassured Rarity, trying to encourage her best friend.
"Okay, I'll try and help" Fluttershy answered. She slowly and carefully approached her Character Morphing Blob and extended one of her wings. She touched it with the tip of her wing, and said appendage immediately absorbed the floating blob into it. Not too long after, Fluttershy's wings started to change. Some of her feathers began to enlarge and started to get a darker color, until they were completely black.
Fluttershy didn't know what was happening, and all she could do was get a worried face... only that she couldn't even do that, because she no longer had a face. This didn't went unnoticed by the others, who gasped.
"Fluttershy, what happened to your face?" asked Rarity, and if she still had her pupils, she would have been staring at Fluttershy faceless head. Fluttershy took her front hoofs to her face to inspect it, and she found that she still had the shape of her muzzle, but she didn't have any orifices where she could breath. At that moment she would have hyperventilated, but she couldn't since she didn't have a mouth, and couldn't cry in despair because she had no eyes, yet she could still see, she could feel herself breathing, and most of all, she could still talk.
"Wh-why are you suddenly shorter?" she asked while looking down to her friends from new heights. That is when she noticed that she still had to return her front hoofs to the ground, but she wasn't able, because now she stood easily and comfortably on two legs. Discord looked at her for some seconds while muttering
"You still need something more...", then he got a realization face. He snapped his fingers and Fluttershy was now wearing a black business suit. "There, now you five are ready" he finished.
Back on the other side of the glass wall
Discord managed to make Fernando react by slapping him across the face.
"Thanks" he muttered while rubbing the sore spot. He sent one last glance to his six adversaries and mentally listed, "That makes... Pyramid Head, Scissorman, a Phanto, Sa-X, that girl from F.E.A.R., Alma I think, and Slenderman. Yep, I'm screwed"
"Don't think that. You still can defend yourself!" commented Discord
"Really, how?" Fernando asked surprised
"You'll get your own Random Power UpDown!" he responded.
"Random Power UpDown?" the human repeated incredously
"Yes. You'll get the power and a mixed appearance of a hero from the video games, but you might just get something bad, and get only the appearance of an extra character, along with a penalization. While the effect lasts, you might have some extra armor or life, but don't expect a lot" Discord explained
"Extra life..." Fernando looked up and saw his life bar. "What happens when my HP reaches zero?
"You'll faint, and it's probable that they think that you're dead" Fernando thought for some minutes about what he meant by that, and after not getting the slightest idea, he turned his attention to the timer that appeared on his field of vision and asked "What do I need to do to win this game? And what is this clock supposed to mean?". Discord grinned
"To win, you must survive this set time" and he pointed to the timer. "After that the game ends, the ponies regain their complete memories and then you can go back to your world"
"Okay, then let's get this started!" Fernando exclaimed excited.
"At last you cooperate" Discord commented before snapping his fingers. When he did that, Fernando appeared in the center of a now deserted Las Pegasus, and each one of the mane six appeared some hundred of meters away from each other.
Fernando looked around. He was in the middle of a park, next to a fountain, but something was wrong. That's when it hit him. There were no ponies in the park, nor in the streets like he saw when he arrived.
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not really alone?" he thought to himself as he started to walk in the search of a hiding place. While walking through the park, he noticed that his footsteps were abnormally loud. They sounded as if he was wearing shoes with hard sole, and even more oddly, they made an echo sound. He stopped to check his feet, and sure enough, he still had the same sneakers he has been using his entire time in Equestria. He attempted to tiptoe, and this time there was absolutely no sound. "Well, it's either sneak without being heard, or run and alert those six ponies" he thought.
He returned to his normal walking, trying to form a plan while he walked. "Okay... One of them is supposed to be Slenderman, so I should never look behind," he exited the park and looked at the buildings. All of them were almost falling apart, and gave a spooky feeling to Fernando. Said human suspected of a certain chaotic spirit to be the responsible of this.
"If you think you can make me enter one of those Discord, you're wrong" and he was about to walk along the streets, planning on finding a better place to stay, when he heard something that some years before was enough to keep him awake one full night.
*Shlink* "Oh no" *Shlink* "Why she first?" *Shlink*. Fernando was frozen on the spot. He remembered the sound of sliding metal very well, and it was getting close. That is when he saw her. Pinkie Pie, with those dreaded scissors, "Wait a minute... How did she find me so quickly?" he questioned.
Pinkie Pie, or Scissor Pie, was walking up to him. It was a big difference because usually you would see her hopping around. She was balancing herself on her back legs so she could hold her scissors in her front hoofs, and she was opening and closing the sharp object with each step she gave. On her face was her usual friendly grin, but you could misunderstand it or not even notice it because of the scissors. Let's see what is going on right now trough her, probably, twisted mind
"I like the sound of these scissors. It's very funny! And think of all the things I can do with them. I can cut the grass, become a hair dresser, make paper shapes and they are super-duper cool! I bet everypony wants to see them closely *Mental Gasp* that's Fernando! He should see my new scissors! I bet he wants to hold them and see them closely!"
Fernando finally snapped when Pinkie started to walk faster. He turned back and started to run, only to bump into a yellow and black-suited body. They both fell to the floor, and Fernando looked up to see Fluttershy... no, Slendershy literally piking herself from the floor with her new tentacles and setting herself on her makeshift feet. She looked at him, and she gasped when she saw that while Fernando stared at her, his health bar slowly was dropping.
Fernando once again regained his senses, and clutched his head, which was hurting like it was about to explode. "Damn, she got some good lungs". He looked up and saw three quarters of his life bar empty "Great" he thought sarcastically. *Shlink* *Shlink* *Shlink* He heard from behind. Looking back, he saw Scissor Pie less than five meters away, and with a yelp, he stood up and ran to the closest building.
Fernando entered the building and shut the door, blocking it with as much furniture as he could in cartoonish speed. Sweeping the sweat that formed on his head, he noticed that he was staring to get dizzy. He took hold of his stomach, which was aching right now, and went to a corner of the floor to throw up.
"Well, I'm almost dead, after all" he thought. He looked around the room, ignoring the pounding at the door, and noticed a blue glow near his head "He, now I'm hallucinating" he thought humored.
"Hey! Not quite" Fernando twitched. He recognized the, now high pitched, voice, and the character that he was impersonating
"Discord, from every support you could choose from, you had to choose her!" Fernando shouted.
"Yes. Remember that I know every character that you know" Discord, or should I say Naviscord, replied. "I just came to tell you something. Listen! In areas like these there is a health kit. You'll have to find it, and when you do you'll have a nice surprise!" he informed in unnecessary loud voice.
"Do I really want to know what the surprise is?" Fernando asked. At that moment, a chunk of the door flew off, and Pinkie stuck her head in
"Here's Pinkie!". When he saw that, Fernando grabbed Discord and he put his miniature face in front of his eyes
"Where's that bloody kit". Discords response was to slowly banish and respond from nowhere
"You'll have to find it!". Fernando thought of every insult he knew before remembering that Pinkie was still at the door, apparently, her head was stuck, and she was trying to unstuck it.
The door had two doors. One to the left, and one to the right. He didn't thought a lot and entered the left one, which lead to what appeared to be a fancy dinning room, but it was hard to tell, because the little light that got in through the cracks on the walls, was diminished even more with all the dust.
Fernando looked for a light switch through the wall, and found it easily because it was next to the door. Luckily, the lights worked. Unluckily, one of the candelabrum fell down, and Pinkie was on top of it.
"But, you were just... And I entered first... and you were there" he thought, trying to find a possible explanation while looking to the other room, where Scissor Pie was no longer trapped.
"Come on. Come with me. You don't want any more accidents, do you?" she asked trying to make fun of the situation, but Fernando heard it like a threat. He (mentally) shouted and ran to the other door that he still hasn't opened. It opened to a corridor with five doors. Two to the left, two to the right and one across the hall. He entered the first door to his left and saw that he was in a storage room with a cabinet big enough to hide him. He quietly entered it and then closed it, and then waited.
Scissor Pie entered a little after and looked around. Fernando was sitting in a corner of the cabinet, making himself as little as possible, and waited. Pinkie looked around the room. Her scissors flailing dangerously in her hoofs, and then, they ended up perforating the cabinet were Fernando was hiding.
Fernando looked wide-eyed to were the scissors were barely touching his nose and heard Pinkie say
"Oops, he he, I should be more careful, and then she took her scissors and exited the room. Fernando touched his nose and felt a drop of blood escaping from his body. He looked up and saw his health bar losing a miniature amount of his life.
"I need that thing Discord talked about, and fast!" he thought before carefully exiting the cabinet. He approached to the door and opened it as quietly as possible. He looked outside of the room and didn't saw Pinkie. Sighing, he exited the room and went to the room that was directly across the corridor.
He entered it, and found some stairs leading to the upper floor. Slowly and with extreme caution, Fernando started to walk up the stairs, which creaked under his weight each time he made a step. He prayed that Pinkie somehow wouldn't be able to hear all the noise he was making, and reached the top of the stairs without the appearance of the pink death.
Sighing in relief, Fernando looked to the hall he had arrived. There were only three doors. One was wide open, showing a bedroom in ruins, and the other two were closed. Fernando examined the room from his position. He could see the bed of the room almost collapsing on itself, and on the top of it there was a rusty key.
"Too suspicious..." he thought.
He went to the closed door that was closer to him and tried to open it. He found that it was locked and he didn't want to try his luck and break it down. He went to the next one, but the doorknob of this one was broken, so he couldn't get inside.
"And like in every survival horror, I'm forced to walk into the obvious trap" he thought sarcastically before going to the bedroom.
The bedroom had one lonely window, the furniture was very old and the lights of this room didn't worked, so he couldn't see what lurked in the shadows of the corners of the room.
Fernando contemplated one last time his options. He could leave the key there and leave the building, but he was running down on health, and Pinkie didn't broke down his barricade, so he had the door blocked.
Resigning himself, he extended his hand, and with one last moment of hesitation, he took it. When he did that, the door slammed shut itself, and then, Pinkie appeared in front of the door.
"Hey, what am I doing here?" she asked herself "Oh, look. There you are!" she exclaimed triumphal. Fernando looked around frantically. There were no other doors inside the room, and something told him that the door wasn't going to open this time.
Scissor Pie started to approach to him slowly, making her signature noise with her scissors, and Fernando responded by backing away. He wasn't seeing where he was going, and he ended up tripping with something in the floor. He fell to the ground, but that didn't stop him from scooting backwards.
"I win!" Pinkie said before doing something unexpected. Instead of simply grabbing him, she held up her scissors and tried to impale him. Fernando, in a rush of adrenaline, moved out of the way, making Pinkie miss. The scissors got stuck in the wood, and Fernando got enough time to search for something to defend himself.
He looked around and saw a glow come from the wardrobe that was next to the door. He an to it, and when he opened it, he saw a floating arrow that constantly changed it's direction. At that moment, everything seemed to freeze and Discord appeared in front of Fernando, next to the arrow
"Hey! Listen!" he started his sentence "This is a Random Power UpDown. When you touch it it will spin really fast. When it stops, it'll give you a power. The higher the arrow is pointing the better, and it will last until you leave the area, lose the extra armor it gives or, if it doesn't gives additional protection, you receive a big blow" and then he disappeared.
The flux of the time returned to the normality and Pinkie managed to unstuck the scissors from the floor, and still unaware of what she just did, she started to advance to Fernando. In response, Fernando touched the arrow, and once again, the time stopped.
The arrow whirled for some seconds, and it slowly came to an stop, pointing to the upper left side of the room. The arrow began to glow, and it entered Fernando's chest in a flash. Fernando didn't felt anything, but he saw that his clothes were transforming.
His shirt and his trousers changed from their original color to a bright forest green, and then they merged and took the shape of a tunic. A brown belt appeared around his waist, and a blue shield appeared on his left arm. His sneakers took the form of brown boots and finally, a green hat appeared on his head.
He looked at his hylian outfit, but he noticed that something was amiss.
"What? No sword? Not even the Kokiri sword?" he complained, but he didn't have much time for that, because when the process ended, Pinkie was once again able to move.
Pinkie didn't notice the change, and she walked as if on a trance to him. Fernando noticed that the time was once again advancing, and turned to Pinkie, who was preparing to attack him. He instinctively put the Hylian shield between him and Pinkie, and stopped the scissors from piercing him, but he was pushed behind from the force of the strike.
"DISCORD!" he mentally shouted while stopping more attacks. Discord appeared in the room, still looking like Navi,
"Did you call me?" he asked casually, as if the scene in front of him didn't matter at all.
"Yes! Could you explain to me why Pinkie Pie suddenly acts like a serial murderer?" Fernando responded, while stopping as much hits as he could. Discord grinned and answered
"That's because I might have put a little too much magic while transforming them, and it might or might not make them act like the character they represent". Fernando had backed away from Pinkie until he hit the wall, and this time he moved out of the way of the scissors, resulting in Pinkie getting stuck her weapons.
"Might or might not? So it's probable that she's the only one that will act like this?" Fernando questioned, while running to his only escape route, which was the window.
"Have you encountered somepony else?" Discord asked.
"Only Fluttershy, and she didn't act like a crazy other worldly monster, but she still let out that howl..." Fernando thought more to himself that to Discord
"Then, if the character they control doesn't need too much magic to recreate, then what's left from the magic will simulate the personality. It's probable that the most powerful ones will only give them ideas or thoughts." Discord commented. Fernando opened the window, but he saw that they were from seven to eight meters above the ground. He turned to Pinkie, who got free her scissors, and was running straight to him.
Fernando put his shield up, and Pinkie lunged at him. Fernando noticed that if she rammed into him at that speed, they both would fall to their (simulated) death, so he moved out of the way, although she was able to scrap him.
Pinkie crashed through the window, and fell to the ground. She landed on some conveniently placed trash cans, but she still blacked out.
Fernando looked at the hole in the wall that had a window some seconds ago, and heard a sound that he knew all too well.
"Wow, I thought you would be dead by now" said Discord in a mocking tone. Fernando turned to him, but instead of giving an insult as a response, he asked yet another question.
"Hey, if I can transform into characters too, doesn't that means that I might be controlled by them?"
"Don't be silly. I already fixed that on your transformations" Discord responded. Fernando glared at him and asked with spite
"Then why Pinkie was still acting like a ten years old demon kid?"
"Because that was so much fun that I wasn't able to bring myself to fix it" the draconequus responded with a mocking smirk.
Fernando stared at him with a deadpan look and walked to the door, which opened itself some seconds ago. He went to the door that was locked and used the key that he found in the bedroom.
On the other side of the room was a bathroom. He looked around and found what he has been searching all this time.
Floating in the air was a first aids kit with a magical glow on it. Without hesitation, Fernando ran to it and touched the item. He looked to his health bar and saw how it filled up very fast, and he also saw that the bruise from earlier was healing almost on it's own, all the while while the first aids kit dissolved in midair.
When he was fully healed, Fernando felt as good as new, and he was about to go find a better place to hide before a monotone electronic voice stopped him.
"CONGRATULATIONS, YOU FOUND A WARP POINT"
"Uh?" was all Fernando could think before disappearing.
High in the sky, Spike and Lyra were still nothing more than spectators. There was a screen in front of them that showed what was happening. They saw how Fernando trapped himself inside the building in his panic and the fighting scene. Every time someone said something, it came with a box of text, including Fernando's thoughts.
"This is bad." said Spike "If this continues, they'll end up killing him!"
"But we can't do anything to stop them right now" responded Lyra with impotence.
"I know, but if they kill him, we will be like accomplices!" he commented, exaggerating the situation.
"Don't worry. Princess Celestia will unders-" Lyra started to say, but she was interrupted by the sudden apparition of Discord.
"Hello to you two!" he greeted
"Discord!" the pony and dragon said at the same time "What do you want?" finished Spike
"You're probably wondering why you're here while the Elements are down there at the hunt of our little human, am I right?" the draconequus asked. The other two nodded in affirmation. "Well, since it will take some time for him to reach the next one, or for one of them to find him, I decided to speed up the things and make things harder for him"
"What are you talking about?" Lyra asked with suspicions "Is this a trick to make us kill him?
"You could see it like that, but I better explain it to you with an example" Discord answered, and pulled a table out of the air. He set it on the floor that was made of glass, and unfolded a map of Las Pegasus on the top of it. There were seven moving spots moving around the map of Las Pegasus. Six were red and the other one was blue, and they had the name of the pony, and human, that they represented. "This is what you will do. You'll take this pencil," he showed them a pencil "and you will draw over the map like this" he then drew a circle in the middle of a random street.
A second screen appeared and it showed the same street, but a pitfall had appeared on it.
"You will draw obstacles to guide Fernando or to force him to advance".
Spike and Lyra were paying full attention, and they thought that it was actually a good idea to help.
"Just one rule," Discord continued, holding a finger up "you can't make a dead end. That wouldn't be fun and I would just take away your role".
Spike and Lyra nodded and began to draw as much things as possible to stop Fernando.
Meanwhile, with Fluttershy, after she teleported away from Fernando, she went directly to the pony that was the closest to her, which was Twilight. She immediately started to cry and, although a little awkwardly, hugged Twilight with her front hoofs and some tentacles, searching for a some consolation.
"It was horrible Twilight. He was only there watching me, and even then he was dying. My sole presence was enough to half kill him" she sobbed. Twilight was shocked when she saw Fluttershy appear so suddenly and hugged, still not used to see her in this form, but it didn't take long for her to remember that this still was the same shy pegasus and she started to comfort her.
"Don't worry Fluttershy. You didn't do that on purpose and he is still alive, right?" she told to the faceless pegasus.
"Bu-but he almost died, Twilight! Because of me! Because of a monster!" she exclaimed still in despair
"No, you're not a monster." Twilight started to say with a comforting smile "Look at you, you're hugging me because you harmed somepony, and you feel horrible about it. Would a monster act like that?"
"I guess it wouldn't?"
"That's right! You only look different, and you're still the same kind pegasus that wants to help everypony!" Twilight exclaimed
"But how will I help you?" asked Fluttershy.
"You said that he started to lose health when he started to see you," Twilight said with a knowing tone "so you only need to stay hidden behind him, approach him and catch him! That way we will beat this game"
"That sounds like a good plan" Fluttershy said more calmly. She looked to the timer and saw that there were still nineteen hours left. "Okay. I seem to know exactly were he is every moment, so I'll go there" she said determined and with new found confidence, but as soon as that confidence appeared, it went away. Twilight watched Fluttershy go from a confident pose to hide what would have been her face behind her mane.
"What's wrong, Fluttershy?" she asked concerned
"I don't remember how to teleport" she responded sheepishly. Twilight facehoofed.
After being taken from his place in reality and thrown in another place of the city, Fernando fell head first to the floor.
"That was on purpose, right Discord?" he asked, not expecting a response
He stood up and rubbed the sore spot on his head while scanning his surroundings. He was, once again, in the middle of the street, and after leaving the proximity of where he touched the Random Power UpDown, he was once again back to normal. He looked around for a place to hide, but almost all of the buildings were in ruins, and the others had the entrance blocked.
There weren't any alleys where he could hide, so he started to walk as close to the walls as possible so he would be a little harder to spot from the sky. He walked for some minutes, glancing every once in a while to the timer, which by now read eighteen hours and forty two minutes, but stopped when he saw something strange in the middle of the street.
"Why is there a hole in the middle of the street?" he thought to himself while observing the same hole that was drawn some minutes ago by Discord.
He didn't have a lot of time to ponder about this, because the ground to his sides started to rise and gradually close themselves, creating a tunnel and pulling Fernando in an almost complete darkness.
For his part, Fernando was on a full new level of confusion (that he decided to call 'Equestria level') and tried to blindly move around in the recently formed tunnel. He knew the general direction of the hole, so he started to move in the opposite direction.
While walking in what he hoped was a straight line, he didn't notice that the tunnel was growing some extra walls, that turned it into a labyrinth.
Fernando's POV
I walked through the dark tunnel without knowing where I was heading. I didn't know if it was another one of Discord's twisted games or if all of this was part of the same darned game, but I did know that it sucked. I didn't walk for too long before finding the first wall.
"I thought I was in the middle of a street?" I thought while deciding if I should go left or right. That's when I noticed that instead of a street I was in what appeared to be a labyrinth, and after that I noticed the faint glow that seemed to emanate from above. Looking up, I notice that the same letters that were supposed to be my thoughts shined bright enough for me to see were I was going. "Ha! I guess my bright mind has once again saved me!" he thought and made the body gestures of a chuckle at his own pun "All I have to do is to keep thinking, so... aaaaaaah... (you know where I'm going with this)".
I continued to walk around while mentally repeating the same sound for enough time to give myself a headache. My suspicions were confirmed when I turned five more times in the tunnel, or should I say labyrinth, and now I had this sensation of being stalked.
When I turned for what I counted to be the tenth time, I found out who my stalker was, and that not only in the real life your voice can go up some octaves.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" were my thoughts when I saw the figure of Slendershy. I was frozen in place, and she still had to make an action.
I don't know how much time I spent there, but the sound of her voice, that still was the same, made me snap back to reality.
"I know he is somewhere around here, but I just wish it wasn't so dark" she said, apparently scared of the dark. That made me remember that Discord was the only other one that could see the subtitles above my head, so I had some advantage right now that I would not waste.
Slowly stepping back, I manage to get some meters between me and the corner from where I saw her, until I bump into something that didn't felt like a wall
"Is it you, Fernando?" Fluttershy asked through her faceless head, and I could swear that the chin moved exactly like when you talk.
I don't respond, and instead start to run without a direction in mind. As far as I remember, if I look at Slenderman in the game I lose sanity, which is the equivalent of the health, which is the equivalent of me getting back to my old life again, and since I've been staring at her too long in the last minutes, I fear that I'm about to 'die'.
Looking to my health bar, I sighed in relief when I discovered that I still had more than half of the bar filled with red, but because of this distraction, I run straight into a wall.
I rubbed my forehead and look behind me. Luckily, Fluttershy is no longer anywhere close, but I couldn't get confident right away.
Continuing with my deep thoughts of the letter 'a', I walk around some more, my headache increasing with each passing second and the squeak of my steps didn't help at all.
"Wait, squeak?" I thought before looking down.
The ground seemed normal, but in closer inspection, I see that my feet are sinking a little. I got a pondering face and make a steep, and when my foot sinks in the floor, the squeak is heard.
"Well, what did I expect from Wacky land?" I thought before sensing a presence behind me. I stand still and reach with a hand to whatever is there, and I could feel fabric, some buttons, and the shape of a tie.
"Would you... if you're okay with it... um, let yourself get captured?" I heard.
"I would like to kindly decline your offer" I thought in sarcasm before starting to run again.
This time, however, I don't even get to make a turn before I get snatched from the ground by an overly large tentacle.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you get corrupted by Discord's power" apologized Fluttershy when he was in front of her
"Wait, what?! Just what the beeping beep did you tell them this time, Discord?" I thought angrily while struggling against her hold.
An orange timer appeared above the both of them with a flashing thirty that started to count back to zero, which I supposed was my time to free myself, and I couldn't think of how to get myself free. I stopped struggling to concentrate more, but with already half of my time gone, I was quickly losing hope.
"A-are you okay?" asked Fluttershy when I stopped moving. I ignored her and resigned to my fate, which would be sealed in another ten seconds.
Even in the dark, you could tell that I was surprised when Fluttershy put me back to the ground with a few seconds left in the orange timer, which returned to thirty and disappeared.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." I heard Fluttershy repeat multiple times. "Maybe I was too rough when I grabbed him, maybe he stared at me for too long, maybe..." she continued to muse explanations to something unknown to me while pacing around.
My 'a's changed to actual thoughts when I tried to explain her actions to myself. "She probably can't see my health bar, and she thinks that I'm dead. Knowing that everything in this place is far too innocent, she probably thinks that she killed me... aaand that gives me a chance!".
Veeery slowly, I move along the floor, not putting too much pressure as to not trigger the squeaking sound of the floor, and manage to turn a corner without her noticing me.
When I think that I was out of her sight, I stand up and start to run away. To my relief, I soon find a light at the end of the tunnel, and triumphantly I ran to it. At first, the light blinded me, but I didn't stop. I was too lost in my ecstasy to fully care where I was going, and for the second time in a hour I hit a wall.
Rubbing the exact same spot from the last time, I notice that there appears to be no wall in front of me, but when I extend my hand, I found that there was a solid piece of glass that blocked my path. Looking around, I notice that there's another me some meters away!
I approached myself, and I try to touch me, the other me trying the same thing, but instead of feeling another hand, I feel a cold wall, meaning that it is just a mirror.
A horrible memory of my past returns to me from the time I entered that glass house at a local fair, and I was stuck in there for five hours until the people there remembered how to get to where I was.
"That was bad enough, but with a Slenderman after me it's as if someone was controlling this" I thought with irony, knowing that somewhere else, perhaps sometime else Discord was laughing at me with whatever strange creatures he called friends.
Fernando made his way slowly through the labyrinth. He was holding his hands in front of him to avoid any unwanted collisions, and it had worked well so far. This maze, unlike the other one, had an hexagonal pattern to its walls, and it had many more turns than the first one.
He knew that Fluttershy would have noticed that he was gone, and it was only a matter of time before she decided to show up.
He had reached a dead end for the third time when Fluttershy appeared to his side. He didn’t notice her, and she would have easily captured him if it wasn’t for the solid wall that separated them.
She tried to break the glass, but the transparent material proved to be too resistant for her inhuman strength. Her attempts at shattering the wall made Fernando turn and notice her. He jumped a little in surprise, but sighed in relief soon after he noticed that he was safe.
For a little more than a hour, the pony and the human wandered around the maze. Fernando remembered the trick he learned in The Simpsons about always walking to one side of the path, while Fluttershy randomly teleported.
The mirrors had fooled them quite a number of times by now, sometimes hiding them from each other, or creating an illusion of there being more than one Fluttershy or Fernando.
“This is not getting us anywhere” thought Fernando. He couldn’t shake the feeling that anytime now Fluttershy would appear right in front of him, and there wouldn’t be a wall between them.
There were two ways that he knew about that could save him. The first one was to reach the other end of the maze, of which he didn’t know the size, and the other was to reach a RPUD (Random Power UpDown) that he had seen some time ago, but every time that he went to get it, it was either a reflection or a glass wall was blocking his way.
After another half an hour, he finally reached the RPUD and he repeated the process of touching it. The arrow spun and landed, luckily for him, pointing mostly upwards, and it started to morph into a nice hammer. Fluttershy, meanwhile, was behind him; without anything to block her from catching him. This time, however, she was a little angry at him for faking his death, so she didn’t ask for permission to immobilize him.
A tentacle wrapped around Fernando’s waist, and pulled him back at the same time that he grabbed the floating hammer and a familiar music started to play.
Fluttershy paid no attention to the music that came from nowhere and instead started to ‘glare’ at Fernando.
“How dare you! I was genuinely worried back there! That was just a mean trick. What would your mother say if she knew what you did, huh? Do you think she would be proud?” Fluttershy continued to scold Fernando while he stared at her with the hammer held in his hands.
He looked between the weapon and Fluttershy and mentally debated if he should or should not do what he had in mind.
“On one hand, I don’t know what or if it will do anything to help my situation, but on the other one it’s my only chance.” Fernando pondered this for some seconds, that is until he remembered the orange timer above both of them. “Meh, I have done worse things” he thought before lifting the hammer.
Fluttershy stared quizzically at what he was about to do, and didn’t react at all when the human brought down the hammer on her head.
They stood motionlessly for five full seconds before Fluttershy fell over, knocked out, with some tiny pixelated versions of Fernando running around her head.
When he was free, Fernando stared at the fallen form of the parody of Slenderman for a few seconds and then looked around, a mischievous smile appearing on his face before starting to smash his way out of the labyrinth.
If Fernando had stayed for a little longer, he would have seen when Fluttershy disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Fluttershy reappeared in the same room in the sky where she was disfigured some hours ago. She was woken up by a pair of claws shaking her shoulders, and saw Spike, Lyra and Pinkie Pie next to her.
“Where am I? What happened?” she asked, and noticed that she could feel her mouth moving again. On further inspection, she saw that she was once again a normal pegasus and sighed in relief.
“You were chasing around Fernando, but you couldn’t catch him and then you caught him, but he had this cool hammer that he got from a RPUD and he hit you with it on the head and you were all like ‘Ow’ and then you fell over and then went ‘Poof’ and then you appeared here!” resumed Pinkie in one breath. Fluttershy stared confused at her and turned to her other two sane friends searching for a simpler answer.
“You were defeated” said Spike, recounting even more of what had just happened.
“What? How?” asked Fluttershy.
“When Fernando hit you with that hammer, he knocked you out right away,” explained Spike.
“Bu-but why couldn’t I just wake up? I mean, it’s not that I liked hunting somepony but we’re supposed to win this game and...”
“You can only be defeated if you’re unable to do anything for more than the remaining time, so it would be useless if you were still there,” interrupted Discord “and to be knocked out for more than sixteen hours, Fernando’s power up must be something good.” To emphasize his point, he pulled a fifty inch screen from Fluttershy’s ear (who quickly checked for any possible damage to her ear) that showed how Fernando was currently wrecking the maze.
“Hey! That thing was hard to draw!” complained Spike
“Instead of whining you should choose where to send him now,” suggested Discord.
They all turned their attention back to the map, which showed that the pony closest to Fernando was Rarity.
Back in Las Pegasus, Fernando was able to get out of the maze, and with his hammer he was able to return to the surface. He was a little discouraged when his hammer disappeared, but he continued to wander around in the search of a place where he could hide.
“I must be prepared for everything,” he thought to himself while walking, “and I need to survive for more than half a day.”
Looking around, Fernando saw that he was in a more sophisticated part of the city, with casinos taking up a big part of the scene and demonstrating why this city was the equivalent of Las Vegas. There were even some casinos made entirely from clouds in the skies, and some others that were modificated so earth ponies and unicorns could easily walk on them without falling through the floor.
Fernando was still busy looking at the scenery when he heard a weird, yet familiar sound, and a blue beam shot past to his side, almost hitting him.
“Darn, I still need to get used to this” He faintly heard.
Fernando turned around and he spotted his assailant. It was Rarity in her X infected Chozo Power Suit, and she was aiming at him with her right front hoof while stabilizing it with her left front hoof.
Luckily, she was too far away for her to easily hit him, but that didn’t stop her from shooting a barrage of lasers that missed by two meters (kinda like Star Wars).
Fernando gulped and ran to take cover behind a fountain at the front of a casino. He stopped there to regain his breath and to think.
“Okay,” he started, “she probably doesn’t know how to properly use the suit... But the X might know” that last part was confirmed when lasers started to fly through the fountain, with some improved accuracy. “YIKES!”
Fernando started to run again, this time to hide inside of the casino. Rarity saw that he wasn’t hiding anymore and she too began to run, but then the Speed Booster kicked in and she ended up running past Fernando, and since she couldn’t control her speed, she ran straight through the walls of the casino.
Fernando saw how Rarity crashed through the walls of the building and he changed his destination to the next casino.
He entered the casino through the main entrance and looked around. There was a bar, several tables for the different games and a section dedicated to slot machines.
Noticing the lack of plasma beams flying through the air, Fernando took a few more seconds to calm down.
“At least she doesn’t know how to use-” His thoughts were interrupted by an explosion that opened a hole in the wall. “The missiles,” he finished. The missile that impacted the wall didn’t come alone. Soon, a barrage of explosives started to collide with the casino, and some of them managed to get through the holes that their companions made.
With a dramatic mental shout of “Incoming!”, Fernando jumped behind the bar counter and covered his head as the missiles continued to wreak havoc in the room.
When the explosions died down, Fernando peeked over his cover. The front wall of the casino had more than fifty holes the size of a pony eye, and a few tables and slot machines were destroyed. Fernando sighed in relief and proceeded to jinx himself.
“It could have been worse. She could have gone for the super missiles... wait,” and as soon as he noticed that he was jinxing himself, the whole front wall was destroyed along with most of the ceiling and floor now also had cracks because of a sudden explosion created by a super missile.
Once the smoke cleared, Fernando saw that Ra-X was standing there; the helmet on her head blocking the sight of any facial expressions and only letting the iris-less eyes to be shown.
“Now, I’ll count to three and you’ll let yourself get captured, you understand?” she said, her voice somewhat distorted by the helmet. “One...” she lifted her right hoof and aimed directly at Fernando. “Two” she loaded the missiles while the sound of something breaking could be heard. “Thr-” she was interrupted by the ceiling falling on top of her along with any furniture that happened to be there.
Rarity didn’t feel anything thanks to her suit, but it took half of an energy tank to sustain the damage, and she was still halfway buried in the debris and furniture. She tried to lift herself up, but even with the extra strength that the suit gave her, she was unable to do so.
Fernando saw that in her struggling, she accidentally activated the morphing ball, completely burying herself.
“At least she doesn’t... You know what? I won’t even finish that sentence!” Fernando thought and he started to run to try and put between himself and Rarity as much distance as possible.
He was in the middle of the section of the slot machines when a Power Bomb exploded and obliterated most of the things in the room. This explosion also happened to power up the electronics in the room, including the slot machines that weren’t destroyed.
Fernando was left panting after his adrenaline rush left him. He managed to hide behind some slot machines, and he was contemplating how to flee from the place.
“If I recall correctly, Sa-X was a little too stupid, and an obvious hiding spot was enough to get away from it,” he thought. He heard the heavy steps of Rarity getting closer until they stopped a few meters away.
“Mmm... I guess he’s not here anymore...” Rarity said out loud to herself and she started to walk away, until a high pitched voice cried out of nowhere.
“Hey! Listen!” It was Discord, and once again he looked like Navi. “It’s time for a mini-game!”
Fernando panicked at the sudden apparition and the loudness of the draconequus, and he quickly caught him with both hands before peeking over the machines.
“You son of a... Why the bloody hell do you always have to show up?” he asked angrily.
“Relax,” responded Discord calmly, flying through his hands and over his head “Right now Rarity nor any other pony can move, so you’re safe”.
Fernando didn’t really trust him, but when he saw that Rarity was frozen in mid trot he decided to believe him.
“Okay, I believe you,” he said resignedly.
“Good, now back to the mini game...” Discord finished his sentence with a snap of his fingers and two of the nearest slot machines in the room approached them. “You’ll just have to play with these slot machines. The result of what you get determines the effectiveness of a Random Power UpDown”
Fernando looked skeptically at Discord “And if I don’t get anything?”
“That’s the best part! If you fail one time, you’ll get another chance, and if you fail twice you will get a Random Power UpDown pointing directly downwards and all of the ponies will come directly to your location!” Discord exclaimed cheerfully.
Fernando’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance at how Discord seemed to make a fool out of him. “What if I refuse?”. Discord chuckled a little.
“I just made you an offer that literally you can’t refuse!” as if on cue, two boxes appeared in front of Fernando. One said ‘Accept’ while the other said ‘Don’t refuse’. With an annoyed sigh, Fernando touched the Accept option and then he turned to face the first slot machine. He pulled the handle and the slot’s three slots stopped on random pictures; none of which were the same. “You still have one chance~” Discord said in a sing-song voice.
Bracing himself, Fernando pulled the handle of the second machine and to add to the already dramatic moment, the slots spun in slow motion.
The first one stopped on a bright seven. Fernando didn’t get his hopes up. The second slot came to a stop and it showed the next seven. Now Fernando started to actually care for the mini game. The last slot continued to spin for a few more seconds, and when it started to stop, the seven came into view. Each second the slot moved slower and slower, and as the seven approached the middle of the rows, it made Fernando get a silly smile full of hope on his face. Finally, the seven finally stopped, forming a perfect set of sevens.
“AW YEEEEEE-” But, with a final jerk, the seven moved aside to let a cherry take it’s place. Fernando looked at it for a few seconds; disbelief written all over his face and quickly turning to the most pure form of anger ever seen in Equestria “OH, COME ON!” in his rage, Fernando punched the slot machine, causing it to spit out a RPUD, only that instead of pointing down, it was perfectly directed to what remained of the ceiling.
Fernando stared at it in disbelief along with Discord, who really didn’t expect something like this to happen.
Then, time once again was set into motion and Rarity turned around, the sensors of her suit telling her that something that irradiated great amounts of energy was behind her. She spotted Fernando and she didn’t waste time aiming at him.
Discord quickly noticed that time once again flowed normally, and started talking to Fernando.
“If I were you, I would use that thing before it disappears,” and with that he went away. Fernando snapped out of his awe and reached to touch the RPUD, touching it just before a plasma beam connected with him.
When he touched it, a force field stopped the beam, and a white light engulfed his body. Rarity watched as his clothes changed from simple fabric to some kind of armor that was thicker in the chest, boots and gauntlets, as well as a helmet also appearing on his head. He grew slightly taller and his hair started to grow too, almost reaching the floor. Ra-X tried to stop it, but the force field around Fernando stopped everything, even a Power Bomb.
When the light started to clear, this Fernando could be seen sporting a red and dark purple armor with some white parts and what appeared to be a crystal on the front of his helmet. The remaining light on his hands shifted to mold one thing on each hand. In his right hand he had what appeared to be the hilt of a sword without the blade, and on the other one he had what appeared to be a futuristic looking gun held in his left hand. The last thing to change was his health bar, which was now vertical and had thirty two visible bars that signaled Fernando’s energy.
Thanks to the helmet, he appeared to be frowning, and he looked rather intimidating. He glared directly at Rarity and his only thought before dashing to battle was a simple sentence
“It’s revenge time!” he stated and then he directed himself to Rarity, his right hand activating the Zero Saber while his left hand fired a quick barrage of buster shots against the X-infected unicorn. Her immediate response was to fire too, but Fernando had a clear advantage over Rarity.
While the Chozo Power Suit had great potential and could be upgraded to be even more powerful, it lacked a lot of agility and close range combat capabilities, limiting the moves of it’s owner if he/she/it didn’t know how to use it. That was the case with Rarity since it had been only six hours since she got hers and the X didn’t entirely duplicate the skills of the real Samus Aran. Fernando, on the other hand, had an easily manipulable reploid armor suited for both close and ranged combat, which made him very agile while still being capable of sustaining hits. So basically, Fernando jumped over the beam while Rarity barely dodged the shots that were shot in her direction.
While in the air, Fernando positioned his saber and slashed at Rarity when he was close enough, damaging the torso of her suit. The single hit was enough to empty a whole energy tank from her reserve of thirteen and a half tanks. Rarity recoiled a little, and narrowed her eyes until they were nothing but slits on her face.
“It. Is. ON!” she said darkly and she then fired three missiles at him, which were quickly evaded by Fernando who put some distance between himself and Rarity. However, Rarity saw an opening and shot him with her plasma beam, freezing him momentarily and lowering two bars from his health bar. “Ha, ha!” mocked Rarity, but Fernando was quick to break the ice that trapped him and he stepped once again into the battle.
Fernando took his Zero saber and he loaded it to the Buster Shot; allowing it to charge it’s beam. Rarity noticed that Fernando was being enveloped by a green light and then an orange one, and she fired a barrage of plasma beams in his direction, which Fernando easily dodged. Once he loaded the ice chip that came with the armor, he shot Rarity, freezing her, but not damaging her since she had the Varia Suit.
Not missing this chance, Fernando took back the Z-saber and dashed to Rarity, slashing her three times before she could unfreeze herself, and then backstepped to get away once more.
Rarity was getting a little nervous. Her easy prey had changed from a harmless human to a war machine, and her energy reserves were taking the consequences. Four of her energy tanks were empty, and her reserve of missiles was down to the half. Considering that the max amount was two hundred fifty five missiles, it was still quite a lot, but seeing how Fernando was able to evade them with ease, she would need to use them with caution. Next came the super missiles. She was sure that landing just two of them would be enough to destroy him...
“No, I must capture him, not destroy him,” she corrected herself. “But it’s such a nice word” the X was starting to really take on her mind, and she wasn’t really noticing it nor the cresting desire for destroying and consuming everything.
Fernando was getting every chance he had to fire at Rarity. His Buster Shot was capable of take down big amounts of energy if he fired a quick barrage, and he dashed in when she had an opening to slash at her.
With every hit that Rarity received, her movements increased a little in speed, but her body in general appeared to be get distorted. Along with her speed, Rarity appeared to get better at aiming, successfully landing another two plasma shots on Fernando.
The battle continued for hours, reaching the point where neither of the opponents were able to hit the other one. Fernando, had three quarters of his health and Rarity was down to four tanks. However, when the last part of the Sa-X took effect, she mutated into a real monster.
Her armor merged with her body and she grew until she was two times larger than Fernando. On the top of her head appeared some more visors, which now looked like eyes. Her front right hoof began to swell, and some extra, but useless, cannons appeared from the chunk of mutated mass. Her other three hooves divided themselves into short tentacles, as well as her mane and tail too. The last part was her mouth, that was now visible. Her teeth changed to sharp fangs and her tongue appeared to be a giant squirming worm.
Fernando had seen something like this before, in Metroid Fusion, but unlike that time, it wasn’t a pixelated change that took less than five seconds, but a grotesque process complete with a gurgling sound that came from the liquid nature of the X. He was glad that at the moment he didn’t had a stomach to throw up, but the image would haunt him for some weeks to come.
When the change was complete, the X-infected-pony roared with all of its might and charged at Fernando, now lacking the use of its suit and the intelligence of the pony.
Fernando side-stepped and evaded the tackle of the monster and, taking the advantage, slashed Ra-X, but instead of flinching or howling in pain, one of her tentacles from her tail grabbed Fernando and started to flail him around; slamming him against the floor with the strength of a nordic god.
After smashing Fernando five times, she threw him against a wall; shattering it. He then fell while, in total, he ended up losing ten bars of health, which brought him slightly below half of his total health.
“Ouch...” he thought. He heard the sound of weird steps coming quickly to his position. He jumped to his feet and then jumped to the safety of the wall he had just impacted, a little above the reach of Ra-X’s tentacles, who made a hole with it’s shape in the wall. “Okay, new plan. Don’t let that thing anywhere near you,” he thought as he jumped down and started to charge his Buster Shot while he dashed to the other side of the wrecked casino.
Ra-X made another hole when it smashed its way inside again, and she charged at Fernando, or would have done that if she wasn’t hit with a blue charged shot that froze her. Fernando took this moment to dash towards the monster, but he continued to have a glow around him even after having shot his Buster Shot and, equipping himself with the thunder chip, he unleashed a fully charged blow with his saber just as Ra-X broke the ice; cutting her across the face and sending electricity along her body.
The muscles in the fake body of Ra-X suffered spasms and she was unable to move once again, but this time she just couldn’t break her prison, and that was enough for Fernando to cut through her, separating the front of the fake body from the back.
If the victim happened to be a real pony, there would be blood all around the place, but instead of that, both halves of the body of Ra-X melted in the air and joined again, revealing a simple blue floating liquid.
Fernando looked at what now was Rarity, and he couldn’t help but laugh... In his mind, of course.
“Ha ha, and you can’t even infect me since right now I’m just a machine.” He stood there as the X made angry movements, trying to send a message in his direction and failing miserably.
“If you excuse me, I have to go now,” and with that he dashed away, just as Rarity disappeared.
In the sky with the others, Rarity appeared next to Fluttershy once again looking like a normal pony. She was a little dizzy and confused, and then she was being suffocated by a hug.
“Rarity, you’re ok!” shouted Pinkie and Fluttershy at the same time as they continued to hug the daylights out of the fashionista. Spike felt a little left out and he too ran to hug her, leaving Lyra alone to draw on the map. She just watched from afar, being barely acquaintance of the white unicorn.
She turned back to the map and observed who was the closest to Fernando, thinking of what and who she should send to deal with him. Her eyebrows raised when she saw who was, in fact, less than one hundred meters away. She smiled mischievously as she made a direct path to Fernando.
Rarity was freed from the group hug a few seconds later. She took a few more seconds to regain her breath and to see where she was.
“Can somepony tell me what happened?” she asked. “The last thing I remember is that I blacked out in the middle of the battle against that human.”
“Well...” started Spike; unsure about how she should approach the topic. “You kinda turned into a bloodthirsty monster that started to destroy everything... You were cut in two...” Spike shuddered a little, “and then you were a floating blue, err... thing?” he finished, unsure about how to describe the X.
Rarity’s reaction was one of shock, disgust and disbelief. She grumbled some insults to the culprit of all of this problem, and with a determined face she turned to her friends.
“I know that all of you are far too innocent to think about this, so I’ll be the one to bring up the topic.” She gathered her thoughts and then continued. “We must cheat, and by that I mean capture Discord before all of this ends.”
“B-but Rarity,” started Fluttershy nervously, “we agreed to play along, and cheating is wrong!”
“Yeah, that would just make us some big meanies, just like him!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
“Remember who we’re talking about,” responded Rarity with her eyes narrowed. “The spirit of chaos. The same one that turned us against ourselves. The same one that almost conquered Equestria. The same one that despises anything that has to do with harmony and being trustable is surely something related to harmony.”
“But we wouldn’t be any better than him then,” Fluttershy tried to reason with her.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures, darling,” Rarity responded coldly “Besides, don’t you want a little payback for what he did to you?”
Fluttershy actually stopped to consider this. The idea of revenge was something she wasn’t accustomed to, but right now it was really tempting. She looked over to Pinkie, who looked as insecure as her, but with a mutual nod they both turned to Rarity for a decision that they were sure would make them feel guilty.
“What do you have in mind?”
“It’s simple, really,” Rarity said with a smile. “We convince Spike,” she gestured to the dragon that was still by her side, “and Lyra over there,” she pointed to Lyra, who was busying herself with the map, “to send Twilight against Fernando. That creature is probably the luckiest one in Equestria, but luck has it’s own limits. Even if he manages to defeat Twilight there’s the backup plan.”
Pinkie interrupted Rarity by lifting her hoof as if she was in the school.
“What’s the backup plan?” she asked intrigued “And more importantly, why doesn’t the main plan have a cool name like Plan A or Plan C?”
“Pinkie,” Rarity began a little annoyed by her pink friend antics, “a name right now is the lesser of our predicaments. Besides, why would there be a Plan C without a Plan B?”
“Don’t be a silly filly,” Pinkie giggled “Plan C is for Plan Cupcake!” she finished with a smile.
Rarity facehoofed, but she dared to ask anyway.
"Okay, I'll ask. Why Plan Cupcake?"
"Becasue if everything else fails," Pinkie took out a diagram that detailed every step of her Plan C, "we can make a giant cupcake and put it as bait for Discord to capture him. Otherwise we can drop it on him and capture him in its delicious fillings!" Pinkie finished and stored away her plan.
Pinkie’s friends stared at her with a deadpan expression for a moment, though a certain white unicorn thought that dropping a giant pastry on Discord would be a rather pleasant look. After that, Rarity continued.
“Anyway, to answer your first question, the backup plan consists in Twilight communicating with Princess Celestia. Twilight probably knows how, and she is more likely to have the power to do that than me or Lyra”.
With their plan established, they turned to Lyra, who was busy tracing lines in the map of Las Pegasus.
Back at the city, Fernando was resting atop of the casino that was the battlefield for his and Rarity’s fight. With almost all of his energy, the armor and weapons of one of his favorite characters and only eight hours remaining he was optimistic with the situation.
“Only eight more hours and all of this nonsense will end,” he thought with a big smile, which was replaced with a look of confusion as he looked around him. “That’s odd. It should be dark by now, but the sun is still on the sky... In the exact same position from hours ago.” He then realized that his prolonged presence in Equestria had more to it than just ‘chaotic fun’. “But what would that other reason be?”
While pondering this, there was a shift on his surroundings. First of all, there was a sudden quake that made the building fall apart. Fernando landed safely thanks to his reploid boots, but his robotic nature didn’t prepare him for what he saw.
Right there in front of him was a clear path that cut through the city all the way to where a lone red and purple figure stood. It was Twilight, who was as confused as him, but was quick to react to the strange phenomenon and teleported right in front of Fernando.
“Ha! You can’t escape now!” She exclaimed as she tried to levitate him, but she wasn’t able to do so because his body and armor were able to shake it off with ease.
With a mocking wave of his hand, Fernando turned his back to Twilight and tried to dash away, but he impacted with a magical wall that was created by the same magical pony that was right behind him. The orange timer that counted how much he had to escape before losing appeared and again started to count down from thirty seconds.
“Crap!” Fernando thought as his circuits processed everything that was happening.
In a desperate measure, he brought out his saber and slashed through the magical barrier as if it was made of butter, but Twilight was quick to put up another one. Fernando continued to slice at the magic walls, and each time he destroyed one the orange timer started over again.
Twilight was getting herself exhausted with all the magic she was using, and she was taking more time to set up Fernando’s prisons as he continued to take care of them.
When Twilight started to get dizzy, Fernando was able to dash out of Twilight’s magical dome and run away from her, but Discord appeared out of nowhere and blocked his path.
“Hello again, Fernando. I just came by to remind you, in case you forgot, that if you get out of the area of effect of the Random Power UpDown, you’ll lose whatever power you had,” he said with a smirk.
Fernando paused and gave him a stare so intense that would have burned holes through steel. Looking back at Twilight for a second, he confirmed his suspicions, because she too had a smirk on her face and her horn was starting to give off a really bright glow. Returning his glare to Discord, he even tried to choke him with the Force, a sign of the highest level of hate that you can have directed to someone, but since the RPUD didn’t give him the powers of a Jedi, it was fruitless.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” His mental words were dripping with basilisk venom.
“Of course I did” Discord responded with the same cocky smirk.
Just before being victim of a teleportation spell, Fernando pointed his Buster Shot at Discord. However, just before pulling the trigger, he disappeared in a purple flash.
On the other side of the city, Twilight and Fernando re-appeared in a flash of the same color as the last one. They were in front of what appeared to be the campus of a school of some sort and, as Discord said before, Fernando lost his Reploid armor and his body returned to that of a normal human.
Fernando looked at himself and sighed.
“That was probably the only thing left for me that could help me win,” he thought.
The sound of hoofstep came from behind him and he turned his head so fast that his neck ached in response.
“At least now... My friends... Will have an easier time...” Twilight managed to say before collapsing on the ground and losing consciousness.
Fernando wiped the sweat from his forehead in relief. He had managed to escape from four ponies now, and unknowingly to him, he didn’t even have to worry about them anymore... Or should he?
Deciding that he had better already be on his way, he turned around, but he came face to face with Discord.
“YOU!” was his first thought. “Why, just why do you have to mess with every good thing that happens to me?” He was suppressing the urges to assault Discord because at this rate the next thing that would be taken away from him would be his dignity... Wait, forget that last part.
“You know as well as I do that you cheated to get that. Don’t whine about not having your shiny body anymore” Discord responded.
“You know damn well that this is your game, and if I managed to do that it’s because of you, so give me back that armor and weapons, because that was practically my ticket home,” Fernando said.
“I don’t care. You create almost as much chaos as I do, and since those six ponies decided to seal away my powers with a rainbow colored laser of death, you’re my indirect way of creating chaos.”
“What?” Fernando asked confused.
“What I mean is,” Discord said as he spontaneously changed into an Uncle Sam style outfit, “I want YOU,” he pointed at the human, “for the chaos.”
“Yeah... No. Why the hell do you think that after everything that I have gone through while being in this world I would like to stay here any longer?”
“Because you would be able to have your revenge on those ponies!”
“Well, that sounds a little tempting, but if history repeats itself, I would end up just like you.”
“Turned to stone?”
“No, as a crazy individual with an existence so empty that he fills the void with the suffering of others.”
“Well, at least I’m not a smartass that can’t talk!”
“Are you deaf? I’ve been talking almost this entire conversation!” And that’s when they both noticed it. Fernando, for the past two minutes has been talking.
“Wha-what?”
“What, you didn’t hear me? Let me repeat it to you. Ehem... I’ve been talking almost this entire conversation!”
“But... but...” Discord was at a loss of words. He couldn’t believe that just like that, Fernando returned to normal, and he refused to think that it might be because his magic was less powerful than he initially thought. “Well, well, well. You might be able to talk, but it’s nothing that I can’t fix,” he stated as he snapped his fingers.
“NOOOOOO- wait... I’m still talking?”
“You’re still talking?”
“Woohoo!”
As Fernando made an incredibly stupid happy dance, and Discord tried his hardest in snapping every articulation of his body to activate his magic, Twilight started to levitate.
Discord was the first one to notice her, but he didn’t want to ruin the surprise for Fernando, so he kept his mouth shut.
Twilight was keeping her eyes shut the whole time she was standing up, and for some reason, she was taking way too long doing that.
A few minutes later, Fernando finally noticed her and he stopped his ridiculous attempt at showing his happiness and tried to run, but his feet were held tight by an unknown force.
“I can’t enjoy anything, right?” he commented before looking down at his feet, expecting a slight glow to cover them, but instead, he saw nails... Well, nailed on the front of his sneakers. “Wha- But- Ugh...”.
Fernando started to get a little green, but he managed to keep his breakfast inside when he noticed that instead of going through his feet, the nails passed in between his toes.
“You know... This is darker than the usual magic trick”
Looking back at Twilight, he noticed that she had finally opened her eyelids, and he also noticed that she had a lack of eyes on her face... Also, she was crying blood.
“Don’t tell me. Twilight was possessed by that psychic psycho girl, right?” Fernando asked much more calmed than he expected
“Well, judging by the current circumstances, I must agree with you,” Discord said before sipping from a cup of tea that he materialized from nowhere. “Although she shouldn’t be able to since that character was quite powerful and that shouldn’t leave enough magic to emulate her mind, but maybe Twilight’s already powerful magic had something to do with that.”
“Oh, ok. Can I have a little bit of tea too?”
“Sure, here you go” Discord gave him a cup with steaming tea.
“Thanks” Fernando thanked before taking a sip.
Fernando was running bare-foot, his sneakers left behind along with his socks, while screaming like mad, being closely followed by Discord who was doing almost the same thing, only that he was actually mad and he was floating. Twilight didn’t even try to follow them. She just stood there, watching them.
The duo continued until they hid in the first dark alley they found. While catching his breath, Fernando noticed that Discord was doing the same, and that’s when he noticed too that Discord was doing the same.
“What… Are you doing?” he asked perplexed.
“What does it looks like? I’m trying to steal all the oxygen of the world,” he snapped back.
“No, I mean, what are you doing following me here? Can’t you just teleport away or something?” He snapped his fingers to mock the way Discord usually liked to disappear from the scene.
“Well, buddy, if you haven’t noticed it,” Discord crossed his arms indignantly, “I can’t use what little is left of my magic. Right now I’m just a very handsome chimera.”
“Not to mention scaredy cat,” our human returned with a smirk.
“Yeah, uhuh.” Discord wasn’t falling for Fernando’s taunts.
“Well, you have always decided to escape when things start to get hairy. You never face anything head on and you’re basically like a bird that broke his wing without your magic.”
“Don’t talk as if you were a psychologist. You would never understand a complicated mind as mine that is overrun by chaos.”
“Ha ha! Don’t make me laugh you-” he was cut short when he felt the presence of somebody, or rather somepony, that was coming from the alley.
“Oh, don’t mind me” Applejack’s muffled voice came “I’m just passing by!” Slowly, Applejack emerged from the darkness, pulling the overly large knife that came with her character. “But I think I’ll need the two legged fella for a minute or two!”
“Sorry, I’m busy doing… that thing” Fernando said before darting out of the alley, but his attempt at an escape was deemed a failure when Discord grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt and then threw him against Applejack
“HE’S YOURS! LEAVE ME ALONE!!” and instead of a human, it was a draconequus the one running for his life.
“Looks like I can understand a chaotic mind just right, huh?” Fernando thought with a chuckle while watching Discord retreating.
A pair of orange hooves reminded him that he wasn’t that safe himself, but he wasn’t fast enough to escape, because as he started to stand up, he was tackled back to the ground by Applejack, who held him in a bear strong hug.
“HA! I wanna see ya get outta this one!” Applejack exclaimed victoriously, however, Fernando didn’t move or react. He even stopped moving altogether. “I said, I wanna see ya get outta this one!” the cowmare accentuated her sentence this time. “If this is another one of your tricks, it ain’t working anymore!”.
At first, Applejack didn’t move and she held Fernando there for several minutes, but nothing happened. Realizing that something wasn’t quite as it should, Applejack slowly let go of Fernando and stood up, looking around completely confused about what she was supposed to do now.
“So… Did I win or what?” she asked to nobody in particular.
Twilight appeared the same way as her friends and was received with a big hug from her assistant and a few not as big hugs from her friends and a quick explanation to what had happened. Then, she was quickly informed of the plan Rarity had came up with. She wasn’t fond of the idea of breaking rules (after all, she had read over ten books on theory about why rules must not be broken lest there will be chaos), but in the end she agreed to go along with the plan.
“Let’s see. I can’t send a magical signal because we’re too far away, and I’m pretty sure Discord has already ways to counter any sort of teleportation. Also we don’t have parchment to send a letter eith-”
“Ehem!” Spike interrupted her in the middle of her sentence. Almost instantly, he was in front of her with a piece of parchment and a quill ready to write. “Who said that I didn’t have parchment?” How was he able to make parchment appear out of thin air was a mystery that Twilight had researched many times, but that always left her on a dead end without answers.
“Right, I forgot you could do that.” Twilight wouldn’t deal with this at the moment, so she continued. “Just let me check if there’s something that would stop the letter.”
Her horn glowed for a few seconds until she was stopped by a sudden headache.
“Are you alright, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy in worry.
“Yeah, it’s only that suddenly I feel as if I don’t have as much magic as before,” Twilight was intrigued by this, and tried again.
Meanwhile, Pinkie had returned her attention to the screen with the game and she found something odd about it.
“Uh, Twilight?” she asked, but was ignored by the unicorn, who was struggling to maintain her magic spell. “Twilight, how are you-”
“Pinkie, not now,” interrupted Rarity, who was doing shushing motions with her hoof. “She must concentrate.”
“But how can she be in two places at the same time?” Pinkie said as she pointed to the screen. “She should really teach us how to do that.”
Rarity was perplexed by Pinkie’s question. Sure, she was used to strange questions, but usually they were sudden questions that just came to her head, but this time she was questioning something that she was seeing, and this was something that Rarity would see for herself too.
What she saw in the screen was, indeed, Twilight still in Las Pegasus. Along with her were Fernando and Discord, but for some reason no one was moving one muscle. They were just standing there without doing anything.
“Well…” She wasn’t sure what to say. “This is unexpected, to say the least.”
A pained gasp made them look back at Twilight, who was sweating now because of the effort she was putting into casting that spell.
“Good news is that I know what Discord did to keep Las Pegasus away from the rest of Equestria.” Twilight was talking between breaths, so she paused a little until she was able to talk normally again. “He stopped time, but only all around Las Pegasus, keeping anypony from entering it. However, the bad news is that right now I can’t stop it, and unless we find a way to keep it normal for a while, the letter won’t reach the princess.”
Everypony nodded, and Rarity was the first one to speak.
“Twilight, you might want to come and see this,” She pointed to the screen. Twilight directed her sight to the screen, noticing it for the first time, and there she saw herself.
“I… What… How is this possible?” she asked, her mind trying to wrap itself to this situation that had only presented itself the time she travelled back in time and talked to herself, but right now the circumstances were quite different and she was just as confused as the first time. “This is not scientifically possible.”
“If you don’t know, darling,” Rarity was the first to answer her question, “I don’t think anypony else will be able to tell.”
It was a surprise for everypony (and dragon) when Fluttershy decided to speak again.
“I might have an idea,” she said quietly, and then proceeded to hide behind her mane when all the sets of eyes (except for Lyra’s, who was still obsessing over her map) turned to look at her.
“Can you elaborate, please?” Twilight was as curious as everypony else, but she was the most eager to know.
“Well… Um… While I was chasing Fernando in that labyrinth, I could hear a whisper in the back of my mind.” She shivered a little. She didn’t like thinking about those recent events. “It was dark… And it urged me to catch Fernando and… Well… Kill him.”
Everypony gasped and covered their mouths with their hooves to show dramatic emphasis to the situation. “I think that… Maybe, that was the monster behind my appearance, and I could feel that it was trying to gain control over my body and, I guess Twilight’s monster took control of her body when she lost consciousness.”
This new information was registered by Twilight’s mind and it made the gears in her head turn at an amazing speed. It was a good thing that her mind was a perfectly organized machine, because otherwise you would see smoke coming out of her ears (of course this is figurative speaking. Who would think about something as silly as a robot impersonating a pony?).
“That’s a pretty good theory, Fluttershy, and it would explain my lack of magic,” she said while smiling with relief. “That means that I’m still me, only that I’m just half of me and my other half is there,” and then she started to lose her calm again and ended throwing her front hooves to the air, “but that only raises more questions!!”
While Twilight continued to be as much of a drama queen as Rarity, nopony noticed that Applejack was approaching the group in the screen, and that she suddenly stopped too when she was about to pounce on Fernando.
Back to the game:
Fernando slowly awoke from his unwanted slumber. His head ached and for the first moments all he could see were stars in front of his eyes.
“Ugh… My head…” he whispered as he rubbed the aching spot a little and felt a warm liquid there. “Great… I think this mean I’m alive.”
“You sure are.”
The human froze in place. Looking a little to the right he saw that Applejack, still with Pyramid Head’s helmet, was resting against the wall. “At first I thought I might have kind of killed you, but since you still had some red stuff on your life bar, that weight was lifted off of my shoulders.”
Fernando directed his sight to his Health bar, and sure enough he was still alive, though for some reason he had exactly the same amount of life in it, even after a hit to the head. “I must thank you for showing concern, but if you excuse me,” he stood up pretty fast and was about to run, but... “I have to- woah!” he got dizzy from the lack of blood and fell down again.
“Hey, calm down will ya? It’s already a miracle that you’re still alive. Besides, don’t you think that if I wanted to catch you, I would have you tied down by now?”
Fernando looked back to Applejack from his spot on the ground. She did have a point, but there was still something wrong with this.
“But, aren’t you supposed to catch me or something?”
“Well, I already did, but nothing happened. I don’t even know if I should be trusting Discord with this little game of his,” she was frowning under the helmet, trying to make sure that Fernando wouldn’t try anything funny. “He didn’t even mention you being able to talk. You aren’t one of his darn tricks, are ya?”
“No, no!” Fernando stood up again, this time slower, and held his arms in a defensive manner. “I’m the real one. It’s just that Discord took away my voice ever since we were in Canterlot!”
Applejack kept on staring at him. She decided that she didn’t trust him, but to play along to see how much he actually knew and maybe, but that was just a little maybe, she could give him a chance.
“I’ll give you this one chance to explain what are you doing here, since the beginning, so you better start storytelling.”
Fernando took a deep breath and began to tell Applejack everything that had happened ever since he mysteriously appeared under the city of Canterlot. He couldn’t see Applejack’s face, so he could only wonder how she was reacting or if she was believing him at all.
As for Applejack, she couldn’t tell if he was a very good liar, or if he was some sort of joke made by some sort of creature that wanted to laugh at the crazy shenanigans he would create. Either way, when he got to the part where Discord tells him about his reward for winning she interrupted him.
“Wait just an apple bucking second. Didn’t Discord tell you that he would give you his powers if you won?”
Fernando didn’t understand what Applejack meant by that.
“No, he said that if I win he would give you back your memories and everything would be like the moment just before I was sent back home.”
Pyramid pony, also known as Applejack (well, only in this story), connected the dots as quickly as somebody would be kicked if he tried to connect her freckles. “Well, that no good creature just fooled all of us and the worst part is that he only did that to get a giggle or two!” Kicking a hole in the wall to unwind a little, Applejack then continued. “Ok, lookie here. You don’t like Discord. We don’t like Discord. You see where I’m going?”
Fernando’s eyes shined with realization. “If we make an agreement and we don’t follow Discord’s game, he’ll get bored and leave us alone?”
“Well…” Applejack looked away for a moment, though nobody noticed, “I was thinking more on the classic flank kicking, but I guess your idea works too.” She looked back at him. “By the way, if Discord took your voice- I mean, made it inaudible for us, how come you’re talking just fine right now?”
“Oh, that happened not too long ago, just before I started to run away from psycho Twilight.”
Just as he was saying that, Twilight’s body with Alma’s mind appeared from the top of one building and began to descend the wall; walking on it as if it was the floor, but with spasmodic movements. Since it was the wall opposite from where Applejack had just kicked a hole into, she was the first to notice.
“Umm… By any chance, did Twilight started acting really, really creepy and… And all strange?”
Fernando didn’t know what Applejack was staring at, because he didn’t even know she was staring at something, so he was still as nonchalant as before. “Well, yeah. It’s because the character she was given took control over her because of some sort of effect her magic had on it, and that girl usually went on killing rampages and did supernatural stuff.”
Applejack made an audible gulp.
“Even if that isn’t really important stuff to say, it still would have been good to know a little earlier,” she said with trembling voice.
“Why?” Fernando asked.
“Oh, just saying. By the way, you should take a look just above you.”
Fernando did that and then he died a little inside. The sight that greeted him was that of normal Twilight at first, but then her eyes disappeared, leaving dark and deep holes in her face that seemed to be able to suck away anybody’s soul, along with a creepy and twisted smile that whoever had ever seen her having a breakdown would remember, but luckily it didn’t stay like that, and it changed back to Twilight’s normal and serious expression. After he got over the initial shock, the clever human got a sudden realization
“Wait, in the games… You usually get inside people’s minds… I’ve always be able to talk in my mind… Discord’s magic affects mostly the reality… That’s IT! I’m in my mind, Applejack! I’m just imagining all of this thanks to Twilight’s powers!”
“But I’m no figment of somepony’s imagination! I’m the real me!”
“I know!” Fernando was overrun by joy. “I don’t know you good enough to be able to think up this kind of conversation, and that’s good too, because all this talk wasn’t for nothing. This also means that we can make up a plan to get out of this whole mess!”
While the other two chatted away as if she wasn’t there, Twilight with Alma’s mind got really insulted. At first she was only planning on quickly killing everyone in the vicinity, but now she was starting to consider playing around with these two, particularly the human since she was more familiarized with their species.
With a single spark from Twilight’s horn, Fernando suddenly found himself in the middle of a ring of fire that was closing in on him slowly.
In his panic, Fernando searched for a way out, but there was nothing he could use to safely get out of there, so he turned to his only hope, who happened to be Applejack.
“Applejack!” he exclaimed while motioning with his arms to emphasize the problem. “Don’t just stand there. Do something!
“What do I do?” asked Applejack who wasn’t exactly calm either.
“Hit Twilight or something! She’s not herself right now so it won’t really matter!”
Even if Applejack was willingly going to cooperate with Fernando to go against Discord’s twisted game, she wasn’t one to actually knock sense into one of her friends. Fernando didn’t notice her hesitation because her face was covered by her helmet, but a quick glance to his health bar confirmed that this time he was starting to receive damage. “Hurry up! Please!”
“If this doesn’t work,” Applejack started as she grabbed the oversized knife that came with her character. “and that Twilight is our normal Twilight, you’ll really get it, ya hear me?”. She held the weapon as if it was a baseball bat and swung it, hitting Twilight with the blunt side. Normally, she would have made a hole through the wall, but she disappeared as soon as she touched the stone wall, as did the ring of fire that no longer was around Fernando.
At that moment, Fernando, Applejack and, quite far away, Discord caught a glimpse of the real life, the illusion weakening a little with the hit Applejack delivered, but, it wasn’t enough to break it.
That moment didn’t last long, and after that everything went back to its normal flow. Twilight’s body stopped Applejack’s swing and since the purple unicorn was slightly over Fernando at the moment, it fell on him, with the edge pointing down and burying itself into Fernando’s head.
Applejack went wide eyed when she noticed what happened and started to freak out. “OHMYCELESTIAI’MSOSORRY!!”
Fernando tried to calm her down, showing that he was in no pain at all.
“Applejack, it’s okay. See?” He pointed to his health bar. “It stopped when the fire disappeared. I’m not even feeling it, just calm down and pull it out.” This was partially true. He wasn’t feeling it, at the moment, and getting it out before the shock settled in was his top priority at the moment.
“How in tarnation do you expect me to calm down?! I think I just took a piece of your mind!” Applejack wasn’t as calm, to say the least.
“Just take out the freaking butcher knife!!”
Fernando’s frantic order was enough to get to Applejack’s head and she finally reacted. She took a deep breath. She turned around, and with one mighty buck, she flying the knife, out of Fernando’s head.
Now, let’s take a moment and look into our memories. Have you ever accidentally cut yourself with a pointy object, and only felt it until a few minutes or hours later, when you finally notice the cut? Well, let’s say that this time Fernando had quite the ‘head-splitting’ headache.
A few minutes later, after calming down the pain and both of their nerves, Fernando and Applejack finally had a moment of peace and quiet silence while sitting down on the ground.
“You sure you’re okay, partner?” she asked in honest worry
“I already told you, I’m fine” Fernando reassured her. “I have the theory that since this is Twilight’s magic and illusions, only she and whatever she creates can harm us. Anything else that our own minds made should be harmless, at least for us.”
“And how do we get out of our imaginations? We can’t really do nothing unless we’re awake.”
“You already saw what we need to do.”
Applejack knew, and she didn’t like it one bit, because to wake up she’s gonna have to hit Twilight. Hard. She sighed and stood up, stretching her legs.
“Well, we won’t get anything done if we lay here. Let’s get this over with so all of us can return home.”
Before she could take even one step, she was violently thrown aside and crashed head first into the wall by a very mad Twilight, who decided to just show up without flashy effects for once.
“I’m okay!” she said, her helmet actually being useful, but was ignored by the other two.
Alma in Twilight’s body didn’t even try to freak out Fernando either. This time, she just held him in place with Twilight’s magic and advanced slowly towards him and, for the first time, talked to him.
“Nothing personal, but normally I don’t have this much of a problem just to kill, so it’ll be a quick but painful death instead of a long and painful one.”
Once again, and he was sure he would need therapy if he continued to do this, Fernando started to fear for his life.
“Wait! We… Um… We aren’t so different!” he mentally facepalmed at his lame response and frantically tried to remember everything he knew about Alma Wade and prayed for his life.
Alma stopped and looked curiously at Fernando.
“What do you mean, kid?”
“I know loneliness… And… Torment too?” he was praying that his prayer was heard.
With an evil glare that pierced his mind, Alma stared into Fernando’s eyes, thinking that he was just making fun of her
“You think you know loneliness? To be treated as a freak? To be sought only because they think you’re dangerous?”
Fernando saw his chance and he took it, thanking every god he prayed to for letting him live.
“Actually I do. If you don’t believe me, read my memories!”
Alma glared one last time inside Fernando, but this time, she did it only with curiosity. She began to go through his life, and started to get angered when she only found happy and normal memories. Fernando could feel her killing intent and pleaded for her to continue “You have to see it all! Everything!”
She was about to stop when she reached the part where he mysteriously appeared in Equestria, and all her anger was gradually turning into understanding. She saw how he would be locked away, how there was a special team dedicated to hunt him down, how an entire nation was put against him, how alone he felt for weeks, how he faced many dangers, and then she saw how Discord took away his chance at getting back and then continuously pestered him.
Even if it wasn’t even close to what she had to go through, she could understand him, and she felt that he could understand her too.
“You’re right, we aren’t so different...”
Fernando sighed in relief when Alma changed the angered and bloodlusty expression on Twilight’s face for a neutral one, but he got confused when she started to give him bedroom eyes.
There was a thought that kept on nagging him on the back of his mind, and it wasn’t until Alma in Twilight’s body began to advance again that it finally clicked.
“Wait… In one of the games, Alma rapes the main character… Screw my life...” he stopped his line of thought and then added, “Not literally, please.”
When Alma reached Fernando, she jumped to hug him and now she was clinging from his shoulders, which was a little awkward considering that she was using Twilight’s body, and she whispered.
“We’ll see how alike we really are.”
“OHDEERGODIFYOU’RETHEREPLEASESENDHELP!!”
It seemed that a deer high in the sky actually heard him, because before Twilight could do anything, a hard blow was delivered to her head with the blunt side of a giant knife, courtesy of Applejack, knocking her out cold.
Before the illusion could end, Applejack smirked though it couldn’t be seen.
“You really owe me big time now and you know it, right?” she commented.
“Please,” Fernando’s mind was getting recovered from the near molestation, so he was barely whispering, “let’s just not talk about this ever again.”
And then Twilight’s combination of special power and magic finally ended.
Back in the real Las Pegasus, Discord, Fernando, Twilight and now Applejack too, who originally planned on sneaking up on Fernando, lay on the floor.
Before anybody could wake up, Twilight’s body disappeared.
The other three woke up a few minutes later at the same time. Discord tried his magic and he was happy to know that he was able to use it again. Fernando checked his health bar and, with a grateful sigh, he saw that he had the same health as earlier, and Applejack, for a lack of actions she could manifest to make herself relevant to this description, just stood there, and it was as if nothing had happened at all.
