Legend of Silva's Gate

Leo suddenly found himself standing on his feet. As he looked across the sandy and rocky ground before him, he noticed it was dotted with the occasional dried up shrub. Far away, about a day's trek, a mountain chain, which seemed to trail on forever in either direction, was visible to Leo. Glancing behind him, he surveyed an endlessly flat plain, with the sun struggling to be seen against a chaotic jumbling of clouds, all of them ranging from dark greys to orange browns.

"Wow. This is pretty wild." Leo spoke to himself. As he continued to scan the empty land surrounding him, a feminine voice echoed out across it, seemingly coming from every direction.

'Young Silva, you are alive! But only just, it seems.' the voice spoke to him. Confused, Leo kept glancing around him, attempting to locate the source of the voice, but to no avail.

"Who are you, and where am I?' Leo asked calmly, but he still felt alarmed with his new surroundings.

'You have found yourself in a very special land. Every living being in the universe holds a piece of it within their heart, and every version is different, tuned to their emotions and beliefs of themselves. You might consider it the physical manifestation of a being's self perception.' The voice explained. Annoyed with the voice's implications, Leo interrupted it.

"So you're trying to tell me that I'm barren, lifeless..." Leo trailed, again gathering in his current environment, "AND a potential health hazard? Considering this place looks like it goes on forever, with no food or water that I can see."

'It is not how I, or anyone else, sees you. This land only reflects self perception, how you see yourself. The heart can never lie. The mind, however, can.' the voice replied calmly, yet it's comments served only to aggravate Leo further.

"You must be confused with someone else then, 'cause I don't see myself like that at all. Now mind explaining how the heck I leave? Being Lucid in a dream world is great and all, but I'd enjoy being awake more. Places to go, a particular robot I need to dismantle, and so on." Leo pitched to the voice aggressively. He jumped slightly when he heard a sigh from behind him. Turning around, Leo's eyes struggled to fight against an intense light that enveloped a humanoid figure.

'I shall guide you back to the outside world, however...' the figure trailed, as it seemed to kneel down. Extending a small hand that seemed to glow with purity, it piled up some sand. After a few seconds, it brushed the sand away to reveal a small, bright green seedling. Taking a moment to tend to the plant, the figure quickly dug away sand a grey dirt in a dry moat around the seedling. Intrigued, Leo slowly approached the figure. 'Watch...' the figure commanded. As he glowered, Leo stared at the dry moat for a moment, without as much as a single change. Just as he was about to complain about wasting time, some movement in the moat caught his eye. 'Ahh...' the figure's voice resounded satisfactorily, as water suddenly rose from the ground and filled the miniature moat, which moistened the mound of dirt that the seedling was mounted on-top of.

"Cool, what are you trying to show me?" Leo groaned, crossing his arms in impatience. When he suddenly found himself floating in the air, and everything around him growing dimming by the seconds, Leo let loose a surprised gasp. "Wha-whats going on?!" Leo shouted at the figure, which kept up it's blinding brilliance. When everything but Leo and itself was completely black, the figure finally replied.

'Young Silva, I just wanted to demonstrate to you that even the largest, most barren wastelands can hold something special.' it spoke. Before Leo could say another word, the figure silently faded, and he found himself feeling extremely comfortable.

'Goddammit, who is making that racket? I'm trying to sleep!' Leo complained in his head, groaning and flicking his eyes open as he did. Before him stood the red wingless-and-hornless pony nurse who he was escorted to the library by from yesterday. As he squinted at her silently, the look of momentary concern on her face slowly turned to one of annoyance when she deduced that he wasn't currently in any pain or trouble.

"You! How dare you abuse the trust of the Doctor and me! That was just awful, Leo! You could have seriously tarnished the respectability of this hospital by taking off!" the nurse shouted at Leo, causing him to cringe slightly, and then mope as she continued to lecture him, particularly about how he caused the Hospital a lot of embarrassment. As she continued, however, Leo became annoyed, and interrupted her.

"Alright, Look! Ms. Dawn, was it? YES, I lied about being invited to the town library, and YES, I shouldn't have shaken the guard like that. But I wanted to find out some information about a number of subjects without some...pony hanging over my shoulder or babysitting me!" Leo exclaimed.

"Oh? And why is it that it was necessary for you to not have supervision for your state as you researched?" Healing Dawn asked, frowning and crossing her forelegs as she stood next to Leo's bed.

"Well, uhh..." Leo's mind raced, looking for an excuse. He thought about telling the truth, but he suspected that if he told her that he was actually a humanoid robot from a planet called Earth, and that his evil, glitched copy of himself, Angel, found some weird power with which he twisted Leo's form and turned him into a pony, an organic being, and that he was looking for a way to return to normal...it probably wouldn't end well. Odds being he would be transported to a pony version of a Sanatorium, where they would ensure he'd never be able to escape. So, as he stared at the increasingly unconvinced Nurse before him, uttering only a prolonged 'Uhhhhhh..', he decided to lie.

"Well? I'm waiting." Healing Dawn growled a Leo. Hanging his head in a feigned shame, Leo quietly replied.

"I wanted to be alone because what I'm trying to figure out is a little....embarrassing." Leo explained, expertly frowning and casting his eyes to the side. Healing Dawn lightened up slightly, but she still pressured him for an answer.

"Oh? That's okay, I'm a nurse. I'm bound by a confidentiality clause, so you can tell me." Healing Dawn pressed on, a blank look taking over her face. Uncertain, Leo pressed on with his lie. Sighing, he decided to present his lack of knowledge of the world as his subject, in substitute for his actual target knowledge.

"Well...I've forgotten so much. I don't know what species of Pony I am...or any of the others, for that matter. I don't remember what the currency is, or if I even own any. I don't remember the country we reside on, or even the name of the planet. Shoot, I don't even know who attacked me, or why. And that's just the tip of the iceberg." Leo replied. Seeing as it wasn't exactly a lie (save for the knowledge of his attack), Leo had no trouble slouching halfheartedly in his bed, suddenly aware that he really did know nothing of his current locale. Which, he foresaw, would make life extremely difficult for him. "In fact, the only thing I'm really 100% certain on is that I no longer have a home." Leo explained, letting himself fall back onto his bed. 'Another truth...no home for me. Anywhere. I'm actually in a lot of trouble here...' he thought to himself, as he placed his front right leg over his eyes, suddenly aware that he was the not-so-proud owner of a huge migraine. He forgot how much they sucked. Nurse Dawn finally took some pity on him, wet down a cloth, and placed it over his forehead, getting him to hold it on.

"Not that I expect it to console you any, but the Doctor expected you to have memory loss. On the bright side," Healing Dawn paused for a moment to pull out of medicine and stir it in a glass of water, "You've actually retained more memory than expected, based on your head trauma. Sounds like you know exactly who you are, and that you've had some adventures in the past. Not only that..." Healing Dawn trailed off as she watched Leo down the water greedily.

"Not only what?" Leo gasped, having downed the entire large glass of water in a single go. Her pause made Leo a little concerned, as he wondered if these creatures were talking about his actions against LODUS6-12. Undoubtedly, as these creatures were of similar intelligence to Humans, rumors would spread. And he'd get an extreme amount of unwanted attention. Wonderful.

"You certainly remembered how to flirt with Mares, according to one Miss Spitfire, who we also admitted after you were found. Claims you made some pretty bold moves towards her cousin." Healing Dawn finally finished, causing Leo to sigh silently in relief. As he thought about the name for a moment, a pang of panic and realization overcame him.

"That mare! Is she okay? It looked like she was killed the second she was hit..." Leo blurted out, wondering if he should have mentioned the attack. Healing Dawn simply smiled and nodded, as she examined the bandages on Leo's side.

"Yes, she is absolutely fine. In fact, she reported that it felt like a train traveling at full speed hit her. She's actually been hit by stronger forces." Healing Dawn reported calmly, still examining Leo's bandages. Leo's mouth dropped at the news.

"My god, she is like...an organic flying tank." Leo mumbled to himself. Getting an odd glance from Healing Dawn, Leo leaned up again and asked a question. "Are all Ponies like that?"

"What, take massive blunt force injuries and walk them off? Not really." Nurse Dawn explained. When she looked directly at Leo, and noticed his interested face, she smiled widely and took the chance to teach Pony biology. "Pegasi are typically the best for that. At least, when they're in the air. Only reason you survived that thing attacking you, is because you had the instinct to jump in the air before the hit. Flight loosens a Pegasus body up, which when combined with the magic behind their flight, allows them to take terrible blows in mid-air before going down. Being on the ground, however...usually means serious injuries, very quickly. Earth Ponies are better for being struck while on the ground, due to their endurance, but they still can't take quite the same punishment before going down." Healing Dawn explained, having a diagram written up on a sheet of paper, seemingly pulled from nowhere, which she placed on Leo's table. As he listened, two things stuck out in his head, one about himself, and the other about Earth Ponies. Deciding his curiosity about himself, namely his new body, he decided to probe her about his race.

"So, you're saying I'm a...Pegasus? What gives with my wings, then? If it's instinct for me to jump up and fly away, how come my wings didn't break through these bandages?" Leo asked, completely engrossed in the lesson Healing Dawn was giving him, as he decided to soak up as much knowledge about his current environment as possible.

"About that...well...I really hate to be the one to say this. I'm afraid that...your wings are permanently crippled. They were even before that creature cornered you." Healing Dawn finished quietly, shrinking back slightly as if she expected a huge outburst from Leo. It took a moment, but Leo eventually understood what she was saying. As she watched him clench his eyes shut and place his hooves to his head, Healing Dawn felt terrible for him, and felt tugs at her heartstrings.

"That...I figured, but..." Leo finally replied. As he thought back, he distinctly remembered having his thrusters...removed, before he changed. With this discovery, Leo reasoned that any damage he suffered as a robot would loosely translate as a similar injury to afflict him as a pony, and vice versa. Problem being that Leo couldn't actually test his theory, seeing as he still hadn't even found an explanation for how he transformed in the first place. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo noticed the door at the far end of the room open up a crack. Having caught his attention, he froze on the bed to watch the intruder through his peripheral vision. As the figure behind the door suddenly moved into the room, Leo lunged out with one of his hind legs, connecting it with the side table which Healing Dawn had busied herself with placing a bowl of soup on, not wanting to watch Leo as he came to grips with his handicap. Surprised, she watched as the bowl on it's contents flew across the room towards the intruder, almost as if in slow motion. Surprised by the commotion over by the bed, the purple intruder gasped just before she was coated in hay soup.

"AH, AAHHH! HOT, HOT, HOT!" The purple mare shouted, mostly in surprise, as she pranced around the room, attempting to dry herself of the assailing lunch. Leo couldn't help but snicker as the would-be intruder stopped to shake herself, finally freeing herself from the heat.

"Ah! Ms. Twilight, what is the meaning of this, sneaking in on poor Leo?" Healing Dawn chastised Twilight while Leo blew raspberries, who grumbled as she used magic to remove the remaining liquid and solids of the soup from herself.

"I hate to sneak in like this-" Twilight started, before being interrupted by Leo.

"Tried and failed. Don't flatter yourself." Leo snipped, smirking as he did so. Sighing, Twilight continued.

"Anyways, I wanted to figure out what has the Princesses so interested in him, not to mention so wound up. They've visited him no less than three times since he got back." Twilight. explained to Healing Dawn. "I'm also interested in finding out more about him as well, actually. Sounds like Spitfire told Rainbow Dash some pretty interesting information about that metal creature and this Stallion." Twilight frowned, turning her gaze towards Leo, who frowned in return. "Your name is Leo, correct?" Twilight asked. Raising a brow, Leo responded.

"I don't recall introducing myself to you, but yes. My name is Leo." he replied grumpily. Healing Dawn frowned angrily at Leo for him being so rude.

"Is it seriously necessary to be so harsh to her?" Healing Dawn asked, crossing her hooves as she stared angrily at Leo. He made a couple motions, coupled with a face of sheer confusion and disbelief, before he replied.

"But- but she BROKE into my ROOM! Why are you on HER side?!" Leo exclaimed, utterly confused at the 180* that Healing Dawn seemed to pull out of nowhere. Healing Dawn shook her head as she pointed a hoof at Twilight.

"Perhaps, but she only did it because she was concerned about the Princesses and the town! Not to mention, it's completely ungrateful to someone who helped save your life!" Healing Dawn lectured Leo, who began growling.

"To hell with that! I'm not answering this rescue mare's questions! It's not like I asked to be saved!" Leo shouted at the two mares, as he swung his front legs side-to-side wildly in his aggravation.

"Wow, dude, you're not suicidal, are you?!" Leo heard another female voice shoot out from the door. Looking up, he saw the blue mare from the night he had spent in the hospital. As he stared, however, he strained to recall what happened that night.

'I was panicking when I saw her...why was I panicking?' Leo thought, as he was suddenly trusted into thought, trying to recall a memory that was struggling to escape what felt like a prison. When he suddenly became aware of his surroundings again, he found that Twilight, Healing Dawn, and the Cyan mares had brought themselves right up to him, leaning on his bed, large amounts of concern covering their faces. Jumping slightly in surprise, he absolutely panicked when he noticed another four mares that he didn't know finishing a semi circle around his bed, the rest of them wearing similar concern. "What the hell are you peo-...ponys doing in my room?!"

"You are not SERIOUSLY thinking of offing yourself now, are you? Not after all the effort I put into helping you, not to mention the time it took to remove the bloodstains from my hair coat..." the white mare trailed off, her purple curly mane bouncing slightly as she shook her head.

"Huh? Wha-...EH?!" Leo shouted gibberish in confusion, unable to believe that these ponies had jumped to the conclusion that he wanted to die.

"Don' even think about it, boy. I ain't lettin' you go and put yerself out to pasture, not after the amount of effert it took to get these girls to go an' enjoy themselves in town. Ah'll tah you up mahself if ah hafta!" The orange colored pony threatened with a southern twang, as she swung her tied up mane over her withers. Leo simply stared at her, incredulous.

"Yeah! Not to mention, I have a super-duper awesome-wahsome party-warty waiting for when you get discharged to celebrate you surviving getting your flank kicked twice, and surviving! It would look kind of bad to celebrate you living if you leaped off a cliff first!" A pink, bubbly mare exclaimed happily. Still excited even as she mentioned the part about him killing himself, Leo began to seriously wonder if the pink one had a slight mental handicap.

"Psh, he wouldn't be able to kill himself that way, Pinkie. I'd save the day again, with my super-awesome speed." The cyan pony bragged, flexing her wings.

"Oh, nice. How tactful. Thanks for that." Leo frowned at her, as he motioned to his wings with a hoof, causing her expression to droop immensely as she apologized quietly. "Now that I have YOUR ATTENTION!" Leo had started, shouting at the pink mare as she suddenly became more interested in something on the floor. "I feel the need to point out that I, in fact, was not looking to die. I was simply stating that I hadn't asked for the favor of being saved. In fact, I had actually gotten to where I assume you found me under my own power. Damn cliff-hill-thingy is what did me in." Leo explained.

"Oh, but...if we hadn't saved you, you would have definitely died. So by not asking to be saved, it's a death sentence." The yellow mare rebutted in a whisper quiet voice. Upon saying this, the rest of the mares voiced their approval of her logic, and began to lecture Leo, causing one of his eye's lower eyelids to begin twitching. Finally snapping, Leo slammed himself back down onto his bed, covered his entire face with a pillow and screamed. Finally hearing nothing but silence, Leo leaned back up, and looked at Twilight.

"Shut up and listen! Yes, I know more things about these creatures than the average pony! No, I'm not interested in sharing information on them, because once I'm free to leave, I've got a bone to pick with them!" Leo shouted at her. Now glancing around at the shocked mares around him, he continued. "Now if you ALL don't mind, I'm tired as hell, and want to sleep!" Leo exclaimed, slamming himself down onto his bed. 'The less I interact with the locals, the better it'll be when I leave, after clean up the mess with Angel.' Leo quickly, just as he noticed the cyan pony puckering up some spunk again.

"Dude, I might not be the best one to talk about naps and sleep, but you've been sleeping for three days straight! And the only reason we're here is because Princess Celestia asked us to make sure you don't run off again, buster!" the cyan pony squinted harshly, jabbing a hoof into his chest.

"That's AWESOME, but can YOU say that you wouldn't feel like a piano just fell on you after being crippled in the woods, then getting smoked through a cafe's window by a massive inter-planetary messenger robot the very next day, and shortly afterward realizing earth seriously doesn't want you around anymore?" Leo snarled, as he covered himself with the bed's blanket. Glaring at the cyan pony, Leo noticed the mare seemed upset with herself every-time Leo ended up having to mention his wings. He'd have to keep this reaction in mind, in case he ever needed to abuse it.

"Oh please, a piano? I've had that fall on me before. As well as an anvil and a few other things, sequentially." Twilight Sparkle huffed as she thought for a moment. Looking at all of her friends, she came to a conclusion. "Well, I suppose we should leave you for now, seeing as you're uncooperative. Thanks for the hint on what the metal creature was, though. Let's go girls." Twilight finished, turning away with a smirk as she watching the realization dawn on Leo's face, followed by an angry cringe.

"Not that it'll help much. Assuming you're as big a brain as you make yourself seem, If you needed a hint as to what it is, I doubt any of you will find anything." Leo rebutted. Twilight simply continued to walk out of the room with a smug look on her face, with her friends following her. As Healing Dawn began to argue with Leo over how rude he was, Applejack looked back at Leo.

'Shoot, whatever happened in tha forest must have him pretty rattled tah be that big of a jerk.' she thought to herself, as she trotted to catch up with the other mares. 'That, or he was that big of a jerk in tha first place an' opened his mouth to a Manticore.' Applejack imagined in her head, chuckling a bit. The laughter subsided when she imagined being crippled herself from an attack like that. '...or maybe he is taking the loss of his wings badly.' she concluded, deciding that she would probably be bitter and bent out of shape over it herself. 'fer real though, who is he? ah've never seen him before, he knows abou' aliens from space, an' by tha sounds of things, the Princesses know tons more about him then they want to admit. What the hay is goin' on aroun' here? This ranks high on the weird-scale.' Applejack strained her mind, rubbing her left temple with a hoof as she boarded the elevator with her mare friends. Suddenly realizing something had moved in front of her, Applejack came back to reality.

"AJ, you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she waved a hoof in front of Applejack's face.

"Ah'm fahne, Dash, sorry. Jus' been thinkin' about alot of tha weird stuff that's been goin' on since that metal ball fell from space." she explained her silence. "Speakin' ah which, any ideas, Twi?" Applejack, as she turned her head to look at the purple mare.

"Nothing...comes to mind at the moment. I'll be honest, I've never heard of 'inter-planetary robots' before. Speculation from leading scientists suggested that we were alone in the universe." Twilight offered, her mind routing out any pertinent information to the subject.

"Well, ah hate to say it Twi', but those speculations have jus' been blown clear outta the water." Applejack replied tensely. Looking at the uncertain expressions on their faces, Twilight tried to rally the group.

"Oh, don't worry girls! Books have never failed me yet, I'm sure we'll find something mentioning these 'robots'."

"Oh Celestia, my books...actually failed me! They don't say a single thing about robots!" Twilight wailed, covering her head with her hooves as she laid on the ground. In a heartbeat, she thought back to the extreme arrogance of the green jerk back at the hospital, and what he said to her before they left. Twilight growled in anger, as she mentally conceded defeat, visualizing the gleeful look of victory on Leo's snout.

"Well, perhaps the Princesses could tell us more? I know Rainbow Dash said they withheld information from her before, but...perhaps recent events could have changed their minds?" Rarity suggested, closing what was perhaps the 100th ecology encyclopedia, and magically handed it to Spike. Twilight sighed, and shrugged.

"Wouldn't hurt, I suppose, but I don't expect a change in their stance." a defeated Twilight replied. Glancing over to Spike, who already grabbed a quill and paper, she was about to begin the letter, when something slammed, hard, on the balcony outside Twilight's bedroom, causing the whole tree house to shudder. Curious, the girls (save for Fluttershy, who simply hid under a table) wandered up the stairs, and glanced out towards the balcony, only to see..

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna! Whats going on? Did some more of those freaks show up?" Rainbow Dash quickly asked them, as they wandered into Twilight's house.

"Yes, I'm afraid we've received word that more of those creatures have been spotted all around the planet. Thankfully, they have been defeated, but not without the other nations and races experiencing casualties." Princess Celestia replied grimly, a frown placed firmly on her face, as she looked upon the girls, including the latecomer Fluttershy, who was still visibly nervous.

"I've also confirmed the existence of a large number of objects in the sky, but they are currently much to far to be in orbit yet. Based on my calculations..." Luna began to inform the girls, before magicking an abacus, a scroll of paper, and a quill out of the air to confirm her conclusion. After a moment of the beads moving around, and some scratching on the scroll with her quill, Princess Luna continued. "Yes, based on my prior and new calculations, the objects have approximately two months to arrive, at their current speed."

"We're concerned, however, as we have such little information on these creatures. I wish I had held my temper with the one that attacked earlier, but..." Princess Celestia trailed off, slumping slightly as a look of dejection filled her face, the action completely astonishing everypony in the room, save for her own sister.

"Need I remind you, had you not made an appearance, the unknown stallion from before certainly would have perished. We can find more information elsewhere." Luna spoke to Celestia in a soft tone, attempting to cheer her older sister up.

"I wouldn't try books, Princesses! The girls already looked at everything in this library, no joke!" they all heard Spike exclaim from the main room, grumbling as he proceeded to replace the bookc. A depressed Twilight sighed and nodded in agreement.

"It's true...they didn't say a word about robots at all..." Twilight explained, hanging her head in defeat.

"Robots? Is that their race's name? Where did you hear this?" Luna asked, suddenly placing herself directly in front of Twilight, startling the purple mare.

"It was Mr. Leo who said it! He mentioned the names 'Interplanetary Robot' and 'Earth' while he was complaining at us in a rant! I got the feeling that he wanted us to leave!" Pinkie Pie replied excitedly, but her energy dropped slightly when she realized she had forgotten something. "It's sad though, because I never got a chance to tell him when his party for not dying was going to happen. Seriously though, how the heck could Somepony name a foal 'Earth'? What a weird name!"

"Well now, that's interesting...still don't think it's him, 'tia?" Luna asked, glancing back towards her sister, who closed her eyes and smiled in thought.

"I guess I shouldn't have doubted you, little sister. You always have had a strong connection to Silver, so I apologize." Celestia humbly replied, before she opened her eyes and looked down towards Twilight. "I must apologize to you as well, Twilight. Not only for entering your home unannounced, and through your bedroom no less, but we must be off to speak to Leo, and without explanation. When I have the time, I promise to explain everything." Celestia spoke softly to her pupil, as she nuzzled her. With one last look to all the Holders of the Elements, Celestia said one last thing. "Stay safe, all of you. Dark days are ahead." she said softly, before she teleported away with a crack and a flash of light. Luna stepped back and prepared to do the same and follow Celestia, but turned her gaze to Applejack, as her mane fluttered in non-existent wind.

"Celestia would be upset with me if she heard me saying this, but if you want to help your friends and yourself get a starting point, look towards a favorite foal-hood story of yours." Luna explained to Applejack cryptically, garnering a confused look from the orange mare. With a crack and flash of light similar to the one from before, Luna had disappeared from view as well.

"Uh, well, shoot. Which story was she talkin' about..." Applejack asked aloud, as the other girls turned to her. A moment later, her eyes widened and she stomped her left hoof on the floor. "Silver! That's it! Princess Luna was talkin' about the legend of Silver and his magical gate!" Applejack exclaimed excitedly. "Twi', you hafta have a book with it somewhere, right?"

"That depreciated legend? Applejack, are you sure? I mean, sure, it's beginnings are one hundred percent true, but as for the rest...it's even been discounted by Princess Celestia herself as a Pony's-tale." Twilight asked, only to be greeted by an annoyed look from Applejack. Smiling nervously, Twilight caved. "Alright, hold on, I think I have a basic legends book somewhere..." she said as she turned, only to run into a book floating in the air thanks to some blue light coming from Rarity's horn.

"Sorry, Twilight! Spike was kind enough to hand it to me just now, so no need to go downstairs." Rarity explained. As she floated it over to Applejack, Rarity was either completely oblivious to Spike's fawning, or she ignored it effortlessly. As Applejack look through the Table of Contents, and then began leafing through the book, Pinkie dashed down the stairs to make popcorn. She was back quickly with a large bucket, however, and shortly afterward Applejack smirked.

"Ah, 'The Legend of Silver's Gate'. Applebloom loves-" Applejack had started, but was interrupted by Twilight.

"It's also referred to as 'The Legend of the Dimensional Gate' or 'The Legend of the Royal's Gate'." Twilight had begun to give a lecture on the history of the tale, but was suddenly stopped by Rainbow Dash pushing a hoof to her mouth.

"Hush Twilight, I wanna hear the story!" she demanded, laying down on the floor with the rest of the mares after she withdrew her hoof. Sighing, Twilight nodded to an annoyed Applejack, who then smiled and motioned for her to join the rest of them on the floor.

"As ah was sayin', 'The Legend of Silver's Gate'...mah Pa used ta tell me an' Big Mac this story all tha time. Applebloom loves it too, 'cept Pa never got to tell her it even once before he and Ma passed, so me n' Big Mac take turns tellin' it to her. So it's a real special story to us, I hope ya'll like it." Applejack spoke to her silent friends, before glancing back to the book she held open with her hooves. "The legend of Silver's Gate goes back to tha point before Equestria even had a Monarchy, an' the Princesses were just growin' out of fillyhood and getting to tha point of being young mares. Heck, back then, they weren't even considered Princesses of Equestria! Their Parents were tha leaders of a series of villages, as Equestria had only truly just formed a few centuries prior."

"Oh goody, so this is a really old legend!" Pinkie Pie had exclaimed happily, shoving a hoof-ful of Popcorn into her mouth. Applejack nodded to her and continued.

"Sure is, Pinkie. Now that I've explained tha time frame, let's go on. Alrighty, so...Before the Princesses Parents were even aroun', when the Pegasi, Unicorn, an' Earth Ponies of young, newly formed Equestria were beginning to claim their territory and ownership of the land, ruins of old were bein' constantly discovered. Nopony knew what they were for, why they were made, or who made 'em, but they ALL had carvin's picturin' some sort of huge archway surrounded by water, with two weird figures walkin' under it, which people started to call 'The Ancients'. As word got around, rumors went with 'em sayin' that the arch was a gate to another world, and that the Ancients left this world for another. Nopony ever made heads or tails of 'em, and this went on for about two hundred years. As villages were beginning to grow, a sort of group government formed between some of them, to work as a collective group and help protect each other. This group was lead by the Princesses Parents, whom at tha time were lookin' to get their daughters married. Arraigned marriage was a norm back then, so thats what they were lookin' into. This is kinda where it gets weird." Applejack explained ahead of time, looking at the girls, who silently stared, Pinkie shaking in anticipation. Nodding lightly, Applejack continued.

"Apparently Celestia was happy with her suitor, as she loved him and he loved her. Her suitor was named...Discord." Applejack explained, everypony's jaws dropped.

"Are you SERIOUS, Applejack? DISCORD? Oh, good heavens, tell me he looked like a normal pony at that time?" Rarity pleaded with Applejack, who nodded, thankfully.

"Yeah, he was. This all happened a while before he took control of Equestria tha first time. Anyways, they were both in love, so everypony was happy. Everypony, 'cept Luna. She hated being told who ta marry, and was repulsed by her suitor. According to legend, she used to gallop off as much as possible to tha nearest ruins to escape from having to be around her suitor and parents. It was the day before her weddin', though, that she took off past even those ruins, and just kept on runnin'. As she past on through what was then called the 'Forbidden Forest', she came upon a lake. Looking towards the center, she saw a small island with a strange arch in the middle of it. Before she could stare in wonder for long, she was attacked by a huge hydra that had been living near by. In a panic, she flew over the lake towards the archway. 'Oh great Lords, I beg thee, spare mine life and send a hero to slay this beast!' Luna had asked in silent prayer, and to her surprise tha Archway lit up, and a silver film filled the inside of it. Before she could stop, she flew right into it, and fell to the ground on the other side. Lookin' around herself for tha monster, she noticed that she wasn't at the lake in the middle of the forest anymore, but in tha middle of a snow-covered plain. What she saw next is..." Applejack trailed off, and suddenly stared intently at the book, her eyes re-reading the text before her.

"Uhh...AJ? Is everything okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, concerned about the sudden silence and intense scrutiny that Applejack was giving the book. She glanced up to Twilight for a moment, and then back to the book to make sure of what she was reading.

"Oh nelly, I knew somethin' was a'ringin when I saw that...thing on the beach. Twi', you still have that 'Esoteric and Somesuch' Handbook?" Applejack asked Twilight, not looking up from the book. It only took her a moment, but Twilight shortly had her new copy of the 'Esoteric and Rare Creatures' handbook. Applejack wandered over, the legends book held open by her teeth, and plopped down beside Twilight, as she began to point out a paragraph from the book with her hoof. As Twilight read the passage, she glanced up at Applejack wide-eyed. She quickly magicked her own book to a particular page, and then quickly compared the texts.

"No way! How could this have been missed for so many years?" Twilight asked to nopony in particular, complete astonishment covering her face.

"Ah knew it. As soon as Princess Luna mentioned this story and ah clued in, that same ringin' went off. Ah dunno about you, Twi', but ah'm beginning to think this 'depreceated' legend made be holdin' some water after all."

"What in Celestia's name are you two going on about? The rest of us are in the dark here, you know!" Rarity suddenly shouted, glaring at her two friends. As Applejack and Twilight stared at their friends, Twilight suddenly got up and shook her head.

"The legend claims that The Ancients are Humans." Twilight quickly explained to the rest of them, prompting them all to recall the night at the Beach. Turning back to Applejack, Twilight continued to speak. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though. If it was actually just a story made to entertain foals, the author may have simply gone for the exotic and brought in a Mythological creature. Many stories for foals strive to snag the attentions of their young minds, why not make it interesting?" Twilight suggested.

"So you're saying that we were hallucinating when we saw that Human land on the beach, freak out when he saw us, and bolt into the trees?" Rainbow Dash asked grumpily, as she sat on her rump and crossed her forelegs.

"Well, I don't know how to describe that. The Princesses certainly saw the same thing we did..." Twilight trailed off into thought, trying to explain the recent phenomenon. 'Surely this legend is just an old mare's tale?' She thought to herself. Unable to come up with an answer, Twilight frowned and continued to speak. "Regardless, we definitely haven't heard of any news about Human's being spotted in the forest. Princess Celestia told me a few days ago that the guards haven't turned anything up. Actually, the only weird thing to come out of the woods was Mr. Leo." Twilight explained.

"But...what if it was the Human that attacked Mr. Leo? When I went up to him, he was so scared of me. What if Mr. Leo surprised him?" Fluttershy was heard asking quietly, glancing around the room nervously as if something was going to suddenly jump out and attack. Twilight's bedroom descended into silence, as nopony said anything for a while, all contemplating the possibility that Leo had indeed been violently attacked by the human. The silence was broken soon afterward by Rainbow Dash, however, as her face had a look of realization grow upon it.

"We need to go to the Hospital and visit Leo again. Right now." she suddenly said, as she stood up and walked towards the staircase back to the Library's main room.

"Huh? Why? What good would that do? All he'd do is gloat about how he was right that we wouldn't learn anything in my books." Twilight grumbled, before Rainbow Dash shushed her with a raised hoof.

"When I was there overnight, Leo...look, just trust me and follow me, okay? If the Princesses are still there, we'll finally get some answers." Rainbow Dash spoke with finality, continuing down the staircase. "I hope...cause this is getting weirder every minute." she whispered to herself.