The Prince of Light

Huh? What? You're here already? You're early. Like, really, really early! That's a good sign right?! Oh, It fills me with pure joy to think that someone actually wants to listen! I think. It would be just like you to pretend to listen, but since you're hear earlier, it must mean you do care! And that I'm not insane! And I finally have a friend who believes me! Ah, I have a friend... It's sure been a while.

Wait, how did you get in? Visiting hours hasn't started yet. Are you special or something? Oh well, I guess you have your perks, and I have mine. Mine are cooler.

Hey!? Where's my chocolate milk? You promised! The one thing I hate the most is a promise breaker! You know what I do with things I hate!?

Hahahaha! Oh, you should have seen the look on your face! It was priceless! It was all like, 'I can't. The stupid guards won't let me bring in any food waaaah!' Hahahahaha! Oh yeah, I did know that by the way. That they wouldn't let food in. I just wanted to see you try. Don't fret, my friend, your punctuality definitely makes up for this mishap. And you can buy another coffee later.

So you what me to continue, eh? or well... start. Okay, I'm still not one hundred percent behind it, but I guess I have to start somewhere.

Okay. here I go.

Starting the story. Any second now.

Starting.

Right now.

The story.

That you must believe completely.

Cause I depend on it.

Or else.

Phew! Did it just get really hot in here? Seriously! Did it?!

Ah! Get a hold of yourself! I'm trying to! Why even bother if you're not going to start in the first place!? Okay, okay... Deep breaths... Let's begin.

My story starts about a year from the Canterlot wedding. Wait? did I just say a year? That's wrong. It was just less than half. So, about 6 months from the Canterlot wedding, or was it? The timing doesn't really matter. It was later. A very strange occurrence happened. It was in the everfree forest just outside of Ponyville. At the junction of four small streams, he lay there. Who? Why, my friend of course! He lay there in a small trench. If you hadn't known better, it would have looked just like he fell out of the sky. The gullies appearing to be his crater.

Now he had that thing... what's it called again? I don't remember. Armenia? Anemia? Oh yeah! Amnesia! He had amnesia! So he was laying there unconscious not remembering anything. He had scars tattooing his entire body; especially on his limbs and up upon his brow. He also had a gash in his side, but you couldn't really see that much of the time because of the way he was.

A description? Well he had brown hair, like myself, blue eyes, also like me, and um... other similarities. What type of similarities? Well, we had similar interests like... enjoying chocolate milk and... being an only child... I guess that's not really an interest... Well, he's not me though! I promise, Would I ever lie to you? Well, maybe.

As he tried to get up, he felt as if the weight of the world was upon him. He stumbled around and swayed as if he had two beings pulling at him and tearing him toward the ground like two fillies fighting over a cherished doll.

It was hard for him to see at first. The bright sun in his eyes and the marvelous colors that surrounded him seemed strange to him. He woke to gaze upon various varieties of fruit trees. Some that seemed familiar, but others that just looked made-up. While trying to find his bearings, he stumbled around only to end up falling near the water of one of the streams. He then jumped back, startled by the being he saw.

"Ah!" He shouted as he scrambled back, plummeting back to the ground. He crawled over to see what it was. It was even hard for him to crawl about. It seemed that the shifting sand beneath him was not used to carrying something like him.

"Oh. It was merely my reflection. I must be going insane." He said gazing upon the water. He noticed the scars upon his forehead and the bruises all about him. Then, after taking a deep breath, he rose to his feet, combing his fingers through his hair.

What? You can tell me that you didn't see that coming! A best friend obsessed with humans. The confusion with the colors. Ground unable to support him correctly! If that wasn't foreshadowing, I don't know what is. Also this is why he is not me. He is a fully fuctional, upright standing, healthy human being, or at least he will be when he comes to, while I'm just a sorry shame of a soul, unable to stand upright and without thumbs.

As he stumbled about without a moment he could remember and no clue about his location, he couldn't help trying to explain his condition. "Was I in some type of a fight?" he said to himself. "or perhaps it was some freak accident. Why does everything look so off? Am I in a dream? or a nightmare?" He tried to think, but it was almost as if he couldn't. It was like something in his mind was blocking him, or like there was nothing in his mind to think with at all. All he got out of all this contemplation was a throbbing headache and more questions.

As he tried to grasp the situation, he was interrupted by laughter coming from the woods ahead of him.

"Come on you slowpokes!" said one voice in a raspy, tomboyish shout. "How are we going to get our spelunking cutie marks if we don't find something to spelunk in!"

"We're comin'. You don't need to get all riled up" responded another in a southern drawl.

"You still haven't even explained to us what spelunking is!" proclaimed a third in a sweet innocent voice.

Upon hearing the three young voices, it seemed that something in that enigma of a brain of his was kick-started, and as the gears in his head whirred and twirled, he started to realize what really happened to him.

"Those voices... They seem so familiar... no, that can possibly be right! I can't be in Equestria! Those voices are merely coincidental!"

He heard the voices getting closer and closer. Quickly he hid behind and old stump, and sure enough, right in front of him strolled three little fillies in golden-lined crimson capes.

Now imagine this. You've just been transported to a world of love and peace... well, compared to yours. What would you do? Frolic in merriment? Greet those you adore? Bask in the wonder of another universe? ...yeah, he didn't do that. Actually, it was quite the opposite. He started freaking out! Overwhelmed by the notion that he was in a world that he regarded as fictional! Questions started flooding into his newly functional mind. 'This cannot be happening!' 'Why was I even brought here?' 'Who could have even done such a thing!' He kind of panicked. I guess that's a somewhat reasonable response, but running off into the Everfree forest probably wasn't.

And man did he run. He ran past trees with faces and odd fields of blue blooms. He ran past creatures beyond his wildest dreams! manticores, serpents, and cockatrices! Oh, my! He was absolutely crazy! Not a single one saw him either! He was a blur! He just kept running and running until he passed out yet again, this time from pure exhaustion, and smashed himself into the rough ground.

He probably would have stayed there too, bleeding out and starved (Pan-universal travel sure uses a lot of calories you know) had it not been for a specific pony with a knack for all things human.

Truth Turner couldn't help rushing off to the Everfree Forest. Such a surge in the aura was just unprecedented. That stallion could have been in a coma in a hospital, and he still would have sprang to his feet. He didn't even stop to get Vapor Trail who he passed on the way. With Vapor trailing him, he rushed off to the epicenter of this surge.

You're probably still wondering how this has any effect on what's happening here. Ponyville is so far away. Why would anything that happened there even be relevant here? Well, everything is connected my friend. Whether it be on the other side of the planet or the universe, there are always cosmic ties that are pulling on each other.

Oh, no. That look you just gave me. You don't believe me do you? do you? Oh no... I'm not telling the story well enough. My only friend is no longer that. I'm on the verge of denouncing myself has insane. What a fantastic day to be me! Just smashing! It doesn't matter! I need to tell someone! Or else it'll just fizzle out into oblivion!

I don't care if you believe me. I don't care if you see me as odd or even chaotic. This story has to be told. It just has too...

for me.

Sorry for that. Just a little bout of paranoia. I'm sure you believe me. You promised. You promised. You promised...

Okay, so Truth Turner, with his senses off the charts and adrenaline pumping, was rushing off to where that spike had first appeared. When he arrived at the site of impact, he franticly jumped and searched around for the cause. Vapor Trail panting and sore stumbled in behind him.

"What did they put in your oats this morning?" Vapor said between deep breaths, "Is the apocalypse today? and I didn't get the memo or something?"

Truth Turner didn't even acknowledge the question. He continued to run around frantically.

"Seriously? What's gotten into you? Are the parasprites back? Did you lose your brother's favorite screwdriver again?... Do you not want to be my friend anymore?"

The final question finally knocked some sense into the stallion.

"Of, course you're still my friend! Why would I abandon my best friend ever!"

"Then, tell me. What are you doing? Why'd you think it way okay to dash past me without even a single hello! Even a nod would have been fine!"

Truth Turner had already returned to his search, and had just caught the scent of the trail He ran down."Truth Turner!" Vapor Trail yelled, "Truth Turner I demand an explanation!" Truth Turner was already far into the trees. Feeling abandoned and forsaken, Vapor Trail decided to trudge back home on his own.

Now Truth Turner didn't take much longer to find Him. Once he locked on to the signal, he homed in like a hawk swooping upon an unsuspecting rabbit. He found the boy tangled and mangled amongst the roots of an odd tree.

"Oh my Celestia! I found one!" He exclaimed, "They said I was crazy, but I found one! I told them! Told them all! If only my parents were still around to see this! They tried to divert me! but they failed! Ha Ha! I found a human! Who do I tell first? Where am I going to bring him? Oh, I'll be the head of the Canterlot Institute of Mythology in no time! I can just see the headlines! Local stallion uncovers a mythical creature! The fame! The glory! The right to shove it all of their scrunchy faces! Oh, I can't wait!"

As Truth Turner was busy monologing, a peculiar occurrence started happening with the tree. The roots started creaking and bending until they had completely engulfed the human.

"Oh, no!" shouted Truth, "Oh no no no no!" He tried to stop it. Magic, kicking, tackling--- nothing he could do would penetrate to wooden cocoon that now surrounded the human, and as he yelled in anguish, the roots ripped him down into the ground.

Even with his prize being recently rendered unobtainable by the unforgiving forest, Truth Turner knew this would be his one and only chance he would ever get to show the world that he was not crazy. He could still feel the intense aura that emanated from the human, but he could feel that it was fading quickly. He was without clue about what to do. He tried to dig but got nowhere. He tried to look for help, but no longer was he accompanied. He was not one to give up, but he knew he was running out of options.

"Okay, Truth Turner. Just think for a little bit." He often would talk to himself in times of crisis. It helped him to formulate plans and get over his nerves. "The first any only human I'll probably ever see was just taken from me by... roots? Wait did that really just happen?" He had been so obsessed with reaching the human, that he didn't even register what had hindered him.

"How does that even make sense? Roots don't ponynap things!" At that moment a sinister laugh crackled from the unknown.

"You're smarter than you look." whispered the voice. "but you will need more than smarts if you are to last long with him."

"W,w,who are you?" replied Truth quivering in fear, "What do you want with me?"

"Ah, it is not what I want with you" it replied, "it's what you want with him..."

"W,w,what are you? his m,m,mommy or something?" Truth said trying to act brave, " I found him... f,f,fair and square!"

"Just because you had good fortune does not mean that you need know of him. Leave and forget, or else I'll have to make you!"

"No! you can't!"

A dark shifty smoke started to creep in from all around. Truth Turner panicked and did the only thing he could do. Talk.

"Woah! there! getting a little close for comfort, don't you think? A,a,all the towns folk will see I'm gone! sure many won't care, but some one may!"

The louche haze crept closer and closer. It was a mere few inches away when, in desperation, Truth Turner shouted.

"What good use is there in disposing of me if your stupid little pet is dying down there!"

The smoke stopped, and there was a brief hiatus of sound or movement.

"...how do you know of his failing condition?" the mysterious voice slowly asked.

"w,w,well, I kind of guessed based on his cuts and...stuff"

"He is hidden to you, yet you know how he feels... then perhaps your discovery wasn't merely by chance. It was quite odd that you found him so quickly, and how I do love... oddities. Are you not odd?"

"I guess so... I just..."

At that moment the smoke retreated back into the forest. The grove they were in brightened up, and the ambient feeling of despair seemed like it had been turned off by some crazy switch.

"No, no, you know what? you were right all along! You found him! You keep him. huzzah. streamers and confetti... except not really."

"Ah... okay?"

"Just promise me one thing..." The switch of despair quickly turned on again, and an invisible force quickly wrapped itself around Truth's neck. "Do not, and I repeat! Do not share your knowledge of him with anypony! Almost everypony out there! Only a few... and you, my dear, should know who. Only reveal him to those you can trust, or else his entire purpose will become a bust. Oh, and you too."

The gloom then quickly dispersed and the unconscious human was thrust back up onto the ground, and Truth Turner began to tend to his wounds.

That's all that I'll get to today. It was nice that I could talk a little longer due to you're earliness, so I thank you for that. That voice never did come back. I'd probably wonder where it ran off to... if I didn't already know. Tell you? Where's the fun in that!? You'll find out later. As for now, I'll leave you with a little advice. Work on your smile a bit. Make it look like they're not paying you to. I'll see you soon.