Discord's New Toy

Princess Celestia watched the sky with an uneasy look on her face. She felt something was off. There was an unfamiliar force in Equestria. It was barely discernible, but it was enough to put her on edge. Something she had never laid eyes upon. She first detected it when she raised the sun. A certain perk of being in control of the sun let her know when it was shining on someone or something that walked into her borders, unless it were another being of immense power and great skill, like the changeling queen. She looked directly into the sun, and let the rays pierce her retinas. She showed no signs of discomfort at tapping into energies that would've blinded any other pony. Using the sun's rays, she became aware of all the life forms in Equestria. Using this spell, she could pinpoint the rough location of the foreign creature, but not it's exact location. She let out a small noise of frustration.

"Tia? Is something troubling you?"

Celestia released the spell and turned to see her sister, Luna. One power the Princess of the Night possessed that Celestia did not was the ability to enter the dreams of all creatures, sentient or sapient. Perhaps she could could find out what the Princess of the Sun could not.

"Luna, could you look into something for me?"

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We spent the rest of the day talking about my world and their's. I answered questions all day long and barely scratched the surface. And even then, I would avoid or deflect questions about the more violent side of human culture and war. These aliens seemed so innocent. I didn't want to horrify them. First impressions are pretty important, and talking about war or something equally horrible might give them the wrong idea..

Their technology was strange. They seemed advanced in medical science, some sound systems, and for some reason, electric appliances. I found out about the last one when Pinkie Pie started making toast and coffee like she lived there. I had to wonder how she worked all of that with just hooves. The day went on and I was beginning to feel more relaxed around these ponies. They also began to warm up to me, asking me about my life back home and wondering if there was an equivalent to something called the Wonderbolts in my world,which led to a conversation about airplanes and supersonic jets, which became sour when they asked me how those work. I honestly had no clue. I looked out the window at the setting sun, leaving only about half an hour of light. Twilight saw me looking and glanced out the window.

Turning back, she addressed her friends. "Listen everypony, this has been very interesting, but I think it would be best if we left Isaac for the night." Twilight then turned to look at me. "You know, it's quite dangerous out here. You'll have to move into the main town eventually. The sooner the better."

"What's so dangerous about it out here? It's not like anything could get in." I thought back to a few experiences with nature's rougher side when I was younger. Unless it had a death wish, no wild animal was going to go near a house.

The ponies stared blankly. "What? Are there...monsters?" I asked sarcastically. As a reward for my snarkiness, an image of Slenderman popped into my head, instantly obliterating my smile. "Seriously though, what's out here?"

"Well there's timberwolves, manticores, chimeras, and a bunch of other predators."

"Oh. Heh, right. Chimeras and manticores." Timber wolves weren't all that common in Washington, but at least they were real. I looked at Twilight's completely straight face. "You're serious?" Of course she's serious you idiot, you're in a world with talking ponies for Christ's sake. Who's to say there aren't giant flying spaghetti monsters out here?

Twilight nodded her head and said, "Either way, you need to come with us sometime. I can cast a protective spell on the house, but I can't do it every night."

I looked around at my shitty apartment. I'd always been eager to leave as soon as possible, but now? It was hard letting go. It was the biggest piece of my life that was still around. Then I thought about giant fire breathing chimeras and decided this crap apartment was not worth getting roasted over. "How about tomorrow? I'll pack up tonight and be ready in the morning."

Twilight smiled and said, "Perfect. We'll figure out your living arrangements tonight as well. At least until you can afford your own home." That made me think about how I'd been saving up for a new apartment. And how utterly worthless my money would be here.

With a sigh, I answered, "Sounds like a plan Twilight. I'll see you in the morning." I stood up to show them all out. Each of them individually said goodbye to me as they walked out the door. When Fluttershy reached the door, she turned and hopped up to wrap her arms around my neck in a somewhat clumsy hug. My eyes went wide in surprise as I patted her back awkwardly. She said, "Don't worry about a thing. We'll get you home eventually."

"Heh. Yeah, we'll see about that I suppose." I grinned at her as she hopped down to the ground and walked back to her friends. She turned to wave goodbye. I waved back as I shut and locked the door. I looked up in surprise as my walls suddenly shined with purple light. The light faded and revealed a glowing octagon pattern on the walls, which also faded with the sound of a large lock sliding into place. Twilight's protective spell. I would have to ask her how that worked tomorrow. Right now I needed to pack.

I looked at the faded green duffel bag in my closet with nostalgic affection before I began tossing bits and pieces I would need in it. Deodorant, toothbrush, clothes, yadda yadda yadda. As I was packing I glanced over at my iPod on the nightstand. I walked over to pick it up and remembered something very important. I opened the nightstand and removed my two most precious items. A roughed-up leather sheath with a multi-tool inside and a blue hard-back photo album. I put the album gently into the bag and slipped the multi tool out of it's sheath. Admiring it's black finish, I flipped open the ez-out knife and even though it was a little bit scratched up, I could still read the laser engraving on the side. You have no idea how useful these things are. -Terry. Leave it to my brother to put that in a permanent engraving instead of a card. I smiled as I put it back into the sheath and tossed it onto the floor next to a pair of hiking boots and clothes for tomorrow. Just one more thing...

I pulled the black plastic case out from under my bed and flipped the latches on it. I inhaled the smell of processed foam packaging and pulled the .45 pistol out of it's indented space. My dad kept it around for "hunting." We all knew he kept it for kicks and giggles. He gave it to me a while ago, since I was "Moving to the big city of Seattle." Yeah. I might get mugged by a hipster or something. I pulled the harness holster out and two loaded clips before shutting it and throwing it and few small boxes of ammo in the bag.

Then I remembered that my window was still broken. Twilight's  protective charm did nothing against the cold. I went and got an old box and some duct tape to fix it up.

I stood back to admire my handiwork. A piece of cardboard covering a window may look pretty crappy, but what didn't in this apartment? I laid my gun and holster down next to my other items i would need for tomorrow. With my preparations made, I stretched and fell into my bed. I was feeling calm, which was strange. It wasn't even that late, but I could feel my eyelids drooping as I made my way to my bed. I barely got under the covers before I fell asleep.

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With closed eyes, Luna whispered what sounded like a song under her breath as she circled the gray structure. Her sleeping spell was almost complete. She had grown tired of waiting for this creature to go to bed. Her eyes cracked open as she finished the spell. Luna landed on the structure. Her head bowed, she closed her eyes again, her horn glowing a midnight blue color. She opened her now glowing, white eyes and released her ethereal form from her body.

Now free of her earthly bonds, she easily bypassed Twilight's protective spell and entered the structure. She grew excited as she saw the figure under the sheets. It didn't seem overly strange to her. Being subconsciously aware of all things made things that should be alien look vaguely familiar. She then plunged her ethereal being into his dreaming mind.

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She was immediately buffeted by thousands upon thousands of memories, millions perhaps. What most ponies didn't realize that though they may not always remember them perfectly, each and every memory was recorded into the subconscious permanently.

With these many memories, I can predict his age to be about...twenty-three Celestial years, thought the goddess. Hopefully the years are the same from his world. I have a strange feeling about this one...perhaps his world is parallel to ours. Vague thoughts and memories from the day began to present themselves to her. I am eager but...I should ask permission before viewing his memories." Intruding on memories had gotten her into quite a bit of trouble in her younger days.

Luna decided to switch her form from a blue sparkling cloud to her normal physical form. She created a long rectangular room with black and white tiles with thick red drapes hung along the walls, concealing them entirely. She then created a gramophone and an easy chair for the creature along with a tall chaise cushion for herself. With a small smile, she added a pool table for fun. The curtains parted in one spot and a door appeared in the black carpeting covering the cement walls. She opened it with a flick of her horn and walked out.

She wasn't quite prepared for what she saw. When a sapient being learns from the collective knowledge from their elders and ancestors, they are imbued with the collective memory of their race. They are born with some part of this, but it becomes stronger over time. And what Luna saw in the collective memory of the humans both fascinated and horrified her.

It was beautiful and terrible in equal measure. She saw a resilient spirit, one that got along without magic or help from each other. She saw war, peace, cruelty, benevolence, chaos and order. Or at least some semblance of order. She was reviled by the unspeakable acts committed on the women and children of another tribe when it was conquered. She saw slavery and she saw violence. But she also saw kindness and a gentle spirit. People feeding those less fortunate, taking in children, organizations dedicated to peace and an end to poverty, entertainers, wanting nothing more than to make others laugh, soldiers dedicated to their country and determined to destroy whatever enemy threatened the safety of their loved ones. Civilization was the norm, though some places in his world did not enjoy simple things like running water or electricity. Metropolises were plagued by crime and violence. Even small towns similar to Ponyville had a surprisingly large amount of crime, usually in the form of what seemed to be illicit substances.

It was complete and utter chaos. A world of both limitless beauty and the stuff of nightmares, the inhabitants capable of tear-inducing kindness and unspeakable cruelty.  And this so called human, was one of those inhabitants.

These creatures are everything ponies were before Celestia and I stepped in. I am eager to meet this... Isaac. ...What a strange name. I wonder what it means.

She turned back into the lounge she created and shut the door, concealing it behind the thick red drapes. A bell materialized in the corner of the room, which she rung. The small bell made a much larger noise than it had any business making, echoing through Isaac's mind.