Hyperborea

       The night had lasted forever. Perseus was hungry and tired and walking up the side of a mountain was not helping.

"Oh, come on! If you were in such a hurry to get out of here, you'd be ahead of us!" shouted Armor backward.

"Put a sock in it!" Perseus shouted back. "I'm not fully used to this body yet, and you're distracting me!"

Shining shook his head and turned around. If that guy wasn't so slow, we'd be there by now, he thought.

Perseus was practically tearing his insides apart trying to pull himself up the steps carved out of the purple stone. In between heavy panting, he was able to hoarsely spit out, "So...just where...are we going?"

Rainbow Dash turned herself around and kept flying in her desired direction without turning her head.

"We're going to see Princess Celestia," she said.

Perseus, still desperately trying to hold himself up without keeling over dead, questioned with a hefty dose of skepticism, "So...?"

"So, she'll be able to get you where you're going," Twilight explained.

"And if she can't?" he persisted.

"Then I guess you're on your own," Shining Armor finished.

Perseus stopped and raised a hoof, pointing it at the captain of the guard.

"You..." he began. "I don't like you."

It had taken an eternity and a half, but somehow, Perseus had been able to climb all those steps. I think my arms turned into Jell-O, he thought.

Inside, Celestia and Luna were busy preening themselves, getting ready to leave for Ponyville. True, it was Luna's special festival, but Celestia decided to go along. It was the first one of its type, and she had helped plan it, so there was no way she was going to stay in the castle the entire night. That, and there was going to be cake. Lots of cake.

I really hope they have chocolate, Celestia thought to herself.

"Hungry, sister?" Luna asked wryly.

Celestia snapped out of her pastry-induced trance. "What? No, of course not! Why do you ask?"

Luna tried to cover up a smile as she said, "Thou wast drooling a tad." Celestia blushed and rolled her eyes, pretending not to care.

There was a rap on the door. The royal sisters turned, as Celestia shouted, "Don't worry, we're almost ready!" A Centurion guard's answer promptly rang back, "Actually, it's your student. Twilight came by with her friends, and she's standing at the gate. She wants to talk to you!"

Luna was puzzled. "What would Twilight require from us this night?" she questioned.

Her sister started for the door. "I don't know," she said. "I can only assume it's important, if she couldn't wait for us to arrive in Ponyville. It might be wise to hurry."

The great hall was silent except for the rapid thumping of a hoof on marble tile. Perseus was impatiently tapping his foot. None of them seemed to mind, but eventually Twilight nudged him and whispered harshly, "Knock it off."

Perseus rolled his eyes and resumed tapping as if he heard nothing.

Grrrrrr...

"What the hell was that?"

Everypony looked around for a minute, trying to discern what made the grumbling noise.

"Oh, sorry about that," Pinkie apologized. "It's really late, and I didn't have any chimichangas from the buffet table!"

Perseus slapped his forehead and grimaced. How did I wind up with these whack-jobs?

Then, with exquisite grace and poise, Celestia and Luna strode into the room. They proceeded forward to greet the party, and the others genuflected. All except Perseus.

Rarity opened one eye to look to her side and noticed Perseus wasn't bowing.

"Please, dear, show some respect!" she muttered through grated teeth.

Celestia made Perseus seem like a little colt in comparison, and she peered down at him with neither contempt nor pleasure. He didn't flinch, he didn't move a muscle. Celestia turned her attention to her student, who had by then, stood straight up.

"I take it we have a stranger in our midst?" she said.

"Yes, Princess," Twilight solemnly answered. "He isn't from around here, or so he says..."

Perseus scoffed in total apathy. Twilight glared at him, and Celestia noticed.

"I take it he's also a tough character."

"You don't know the half of it, Princess."

Celestia smiled. "Leave him to me for now."

Twilight bowed her head, and the party spread out, away from Perseus. He didn't even blink, and just stared at the goddess.

She guessed, based on his behavior, he didn't want to be here. She tried the clean, quick approach first.

"I'll be brief and get straight to the point. From when you arrived here, what happened?"

He said nothing for a few seconds. Then, he removed his hood and revealed a tangled mess of long, black hair, with a horn in the middle.

I couldn't have guessed he was a unicorn, Twilight thought with mild surprise.

Then, he shocked all of them. Speaking in a calm, composed voice, he said, "Princess, I was sent here from another dimension where there are beings who walk completely upright..."

Her eyes widened.

"...I woke up in some sort of pocket dimension, and after I was instructed by...hell, I don't know, someone, I wound up in  a field. I was told to come to this town, I think, and after I was halfway there I was turned into...well..."

He looked down at his body.

"...This mistake of nature." Fluttershy looked up at the princess.

"Celestia...is something...wrong?"

She was sweating, and her pupils were almost completely invisible because of dilation. Luna shared the same worried look, and ran up to Perseus, before issuing the infamous Canterlot Voice to convey her next question.

"WHO WAS HE?!" she demanded.

Perseus couldn't answer because he had been thrown halfway across the hall. After regaining his wits and trying to knock the ringing out of his ears, he stammered, "I-I dunno...it was an outline of a guy...at least I think it could've been-no it was a guy, despite the long hair."

Celestia squeezed her eyes shut. By the gods, it's happening, it's happening. He's come back. I wish he could remember. Oh, why did it have to be now? she pleaded mentally.

Twilight was very concerned. Her mentor looked like she was in physical pain, and her body was shivering violently. Shining Armor, worried for his leader's state, cautiously ambled forward.

"C...Celestia?" he began. "What's wrong?"

Celestia stopped and opened her eyes. There was a silence none would dare to break for a long time. She then turned to her sister and gestured for her to come over. The eldest leaned over and whispered, "Go to the festival without me and act normally. I'll tell them." Luna nodded and dashed away.

Celestia turned to face the group.

"Twilight, young stallion...everypony except Shining Armor and Spike," she said. "Follow me."

Her horn began to glow a faint gold, and the staircase leading up to the second floor balconies slid back, revealing a second, descending stair below it. The princess walked onward, stopping at the entrance.

The others looked at each other, but Perseus bravely strode on, and was the first to go down. The others quickly snapped to attention and followed him.

The passage was narrow, but just able to fit six mares, one goddess, and one stallion. The place, wherever it was below the castle, was dark, only lit by the torches seemingly miles apart from each other.

I can barely see a goddamn thing, Perseus thought. What moron designed this place?

"The Initials did," Celestia said.

"Huh? Who did what?" Applejack asked.

"You can read minds?" Perseus said with a large dose of surprise.

"No, not really," Celestia answered. "I could see you moving your lips as you thought it, though."

Perseus heard a giggle on his far right, and guessed it was the frilly-haired pony who did it.

They continued on, and the passage became slightly wider every few feet until they were standing on a cliff. A large, imposing ravine was open below them, the bottom was surrounded in shadow. The other side held a similar outcropping, with steps carved of stone leading up, and a faint white light issuing from up ahead.

Twilight grimaced and said, "Let me guess...we need to get to the other side, don't we?"

Celestia nodded.

"Without dying, right?" pondered Perseus.

"Yes."

Rainbow Dash flew up and over the crevice. Turning around, she flipped her hair out of her face and called, "Easy-peasy, cider squeezy!"

Perseus raised an eyebrow. "Aaannd the rest of us...?"

"No problem. I can make a couple trips and carry some of you over. I bet Fluttershy could do the same."

A few minutes later, everyone was across beside Perseus and Celestia.

"Great," he called. "Now hurry over and pick me up, will ya?"

Dash looked uneasy. Hauling Twilight and Applejack over had been hard on her back, and there was no way she was going to risk using her hooves to lift a full grown stallion over the edge. Fluttershy was pale and gasping for breath even after carrying Pinkie Pie over, so there was no way she was in shape to carry him.

"Uh...sorry, but we're...kinda spent." Perseus facehoofed.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," he seethed.

Applejack stood on the edge and surveyed the situation. "Anypony got'n idea?"

Perseus squinted at the landscape. He kept his face uniform as he backed up and crouched down. "This should be a good head-start," he mumbled. Twilight noticed that their tag-a-long friend was much farther back and bracing himself for...something.

"What in the world are you doing?" she yelled over to him. Perseus looked up and grinned. He pushed back a little and then charged forward, galloping at the highest speed his control over four legs would allow. As he came up to the outcropping, he yelled, "I have no freakin' idea!"

And then he jumped. He could feel the ground be forced away from his hooves by his sheer willpower. Looking at the scene from a slightly upward angle made him realize something.

Hiding under books was a dumb idea, but this...this was just flat-out retarded.

He sailed through the air, coming up just short of the ledge and hitting it with his torso. Desperately, Perseus tried to grab something before he fell, but of course, his hooves were his downfall.

"Shit!"

His upper body slid away, but a timely intervention by Applejack saved him from becoming a horse-shaped pancake. Applejack tugged hard and Perseus struggled to his feet. He let go of what little air he hadn't released screaming.

"Thanks...I guess I owe you." Applejack shook her head.

"Ah, that was nothin'."

Celestia called from over the gap, "Keep walking ahead. There's something of high value that you'll need."

"Thanks princess, I-" Perseus stopped mid-sentence. "Hey, why couldn't you have flown me over?!"

Celestia smiled a little and bowed her head. Lifting it up again, she replied, "Because the chamber ahead was not meant for me."

Perseus stared with confused rage for a moment, then rounded and the group continued walking.

More stairs. Fantastic. The steps behind them were carved of stone and mostly intact, for the rain and snow couldn't penetrate the solid mountain rock. Perseus sighed.

"Let's go."

Finally at the top of the steps, everypony was treated to a fantastic sight. The stairs led to a flat portion of rock at the center of the mountain, and it seemed to look all the way up from the inside. On the plane itself was a raised platform, and in the center was a small sphere that functioned like a galactic snowglobe. The party cautiously approached and surrounded it.

Rainbow Dash let out a whistle of awe.

Rarity was stunned "Ooh...it's all so shiny."

Twilight squinted at the strange globe.

"It, uh...appears to be an ancient artifact. Of what though, I can't imagine. Something like this never appeared in my Equestrian history books."

Perseus gazed at the object, almost transfixed by it. He could hear, from the depths of the mountain chasm surrounding them, a faint orchestra, and the longer he looked, the deeper he could see...

"Hey!"

Persues nearly jumped the entire height of the mountain when his conscience came crashing back to reality. Pinkie had just bounded up to his side and screamed into his ear.

"Oh, good! You're awake! I thought you were gonna die, I mean, you're eyes were glazing over and you were starting to get off-balance and I could tell-"

"Would you do that again? I can still hear a bit out of this one," and Perseus pointed to his left ear.

"Actually, Pinkie's on to something. Were you okay? I could see you getting really zoned out, too," Twilight added.

Perseus' contempt was gone when Twilight got his attention away from Pinkie. He pondered, and slowly began to nod a little.

"Yeah, yeah...I was...listening to the sphere. It was playing music. And looking in, I could...I could see forever, I think."

The others looked at him with astonishment.

"How did you do that?" Dash asked.

"Hm?" Perseus turned to her. "Oh, I was just looking at it. Did you feel it? I felt it." Dash shook her head.

Twilight thought of something. If he was the only one who got a reaction out of this...thing, then maybe...

"I think...I think whatever this thing is, it's calling to you."

"Calling me?" Twilight nodded.

Perseus brought his hoof to his chin and reflected on the matter. Then he spoke his mind: "I'm gonna touch it."

Although this was a natural reaction to finding a new object of any type, the others were a little shocked and worried. Here, there was a stallion. Never been seen or heard from before. He just appeared one day, and seems to have no clue on how the world works, even though he's clearly Equine. But before anyone could protest, Perseus leaped on to the table and grabbed it.

The world disintegrated in a split-second, and, at the same time, Roman-styled marble architecture was raised from the ground.

Perseus didn't even have time to blink, but when he refocused, he didn't care. He was taken by the fantastic architecture, the stone columns, the fountains, the city that now surrounded him. When he faced front, he saw the sphere again.

And all at once, it took the shape of a man. The cosmic backdrop remained, but it was now a man, albeit, with no defining features.

Perseus opened his mouth, but the being held up his hand for silence, and motioned to the cloak Perseus was wearing. It seemed to want his blanket. Perseus, stunned as he was, wasted no time in taking it off and handing it over, realizing that he had hands in the process. His human form was restored...for now.

The cosmic man took the blanket, studied it, and then held it high. All at once, the blanket became less like cloth and more like steel, as some invisible force molded it, making it longer, into a pole. The pole's ends then stretched out, and split in the middle, creating a Shaolin-type blade. It floated gently down again, and the being received it, handing it back to Perseus.

"Gee, thanks, uh, mister, but may I ask just where the hell I-"

Out of nowhere, a massive group of men and women, dressed in togas, appeared, and scared Perseus into silence. They seemed real, but they had the consistency of a hologram, and every now and again, they would fade out as a pony with the same physical features faded in.

Perseus was actually very scared now. He was sure he was going to die. Then, an older man stepped out of the crowd, carrying a book in his hands (when he "faded out" he appeared as a unicorn, levitating the book over his head). He slowly walked forward, and handed the book to Perseus.

It was heavy, heavier than his trigonometry book in school, and the front had a strange design as well: symbols of the sun and moon, and a three-pointed crown embossed with Polaris, the north star.

In unison, the beings raised a hand, as if lifting something palm-up. Perseus could feel himself rising into the sky, another unknown power washing over him. As he closed his eyes, because the power made him feel calm and warm, he heard the people below chanting:

"Glory to the Seventh! Life is finite; friendship is forever!"

Perseus could see the world he remembered leaving behind (well, the second one at least). It was some kind of tunnel vision, being surrounded on all sides by white energy and seeing reality charge at him.

Brace for impact. Perseus clenched his teeth so hard, they might chip.

A vibrant explosion of silver lit up the hidden room, and the six friends could see Perseus gently floating down, surrounded by rips in the fabric of space, reflecting the constellations in the night sky. No sooner had he landed on the cold, rocky platform, he tried to lift himself, and the aura of grey light that concealed his features expanded quickly, releasing starry sparkles.

The first explosion sent Fluttershy into a panic, and she made a mad dash for the stairs and covered her head, whimpering softly. The others stared in complete shock and awe, mouths gaping. Perseus lifted his head high and stepped down from the "table." Perseus began to walk away, but  spun around when he noticed the others weren't following.

"Well," he said. "Get a move on!"

Rarity shakily lifted her hoof to point at Perseus, stuttering, "D-d-d-darling, y-you're a...a..."

"A what?" Perseus asked impatiently.

Even with her extensive vocabulary, words failed Twilight for what she just witnessed. She was eventually able to clear her mind enough to finish, "An alicorn."

Perseus remained extremely puzzled, then looked around at himself. He noticed that he now had wings at his sides in addition to his horn. He brought his head up and back around, silently mouthing an understanding, "Oh..." He said, "And this usually comes as a surprise, for your kind to be like this?"

Sill too dumbfounded to say anything the others silently nodded. Perseus grinned and looked up.

"Come to think of it, I thought I felt something dragging at my sides while I was coming here, actually. Maybe I had wings before this."

He noticed there was a book on the table. He gestured toward it.

"One of you might wanna pick that thing up," and he started walking away. Fluttershy called after him, "But...but how did you b-become-"

Perseus rounded once more with a very serious expression on his face and said only one thing: "Later."

They proceeded back down the steps until coming to the infernal chasm, with Celestia waiting patiently for them. She smiled at the sight of Perseus. Once more, the small band of hero(ine)s crossed the gap (Perseus took awhile, as his attempt to fly over was mostly thrashing like a dying fish in midair) and made their way out of the tunnel.

"Check-and-mate."

"What?! Again!?"

For about the 30th time in a row, Spike had won another round of chess with Shining Armor.

"I can't believe I'm losing to a baby dragon..."

"Hey, I play this all the time with Twilight, and I end up losing half the games!"

Then, from the descending staircase, came the Mane six, Celestia, and Perseus. Spike and Armor turned around, Shining's jaw dropped even farther than when Spike beat him. Spike also noticed what their ill-tempered friend had become.

"Jesus, like I haven't gotten that face enough already," Perseus scoffed.

Spike ran up to the party, instinctively questioning, "How...?" and Perseus gave them the whole story.

"If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't believe it," Twilight said after the story was over.

"Miss, I lived through it and still don't believe it!" Perseus paused a second and turned to Celestia with a "you've got some explaining to do" look.

Celestia sensed Perseus' distress and gave as much of a detailed speech as she could without spoiling some things.

"What you saw were The Initials. They were the first ponies to ever walk on Equestrian soil, and they were made by...a wise old king. He taught them the ways of the world, and they were his favorite creations. One day, the king came to his friends and began reciting prophecy. The Initials wrote everything down in..." she gestured to the book Twilight was holding. "The Tome of The Initials."

Everypony stared at the book in awe. Perseus was about to ask one more thing until a Centurion burst into the room, clear worry and exhaustion on his face.

"Princess!"

Celestia faced him slowly.

"There's...there's trouble in Ponyville...this group of things with dark skin that stand on two legs...they just waltzed right into town with swords and spears and...and...listen, you just need to come down, and quickly! Before they do anything drastic!" and he ran back the way he came.

Everypony was confused, but Perseus (and Celestia) knew exactly what he was talking about. Perseus dashed away, and the others quickly followed after realizing he wasn't in the hall anymore.