Saphrim goes to Equestria

You trudged along the forest in silence, nothing seemed like it was going to disrupt your journey to the town. You had your head facing the ground; deep in thought. You were still thinking about that note in the book. The writing appeared to be artificially printed so you had no ways of telling who wrote it. How could anyone know how you are in the first place. You were new to this planet after all.

Oh well, questions for a later date. You had reached the hills overlooking Ponyville just as the sun was rising over the horizon. It was beautiful. Not as beautiful as the two suns that your home planet orbited around though. Still though, quite an amazing-what the FUCK!?!

The sun just... It just... It just disappeared. And now it's suddenly midnight. That is definitely not natural. It needed study right now!

Calling upon your Nanites which you had used to scan the mysterious rainbow from earlier you set about sending them into orbit around the planet to take measurement on the rotation of the planet. You had to wait a bit for the Nanites to get into the outer-atmosphere but once they did the data was more than a little bit surprising. The planet was flat. Flat. It was completely flat. And it sat on clouds, just like the book you realised.

No. There was no way that this world was created by gods. No way! It's extremely improbable...improbable, but not impossible.

More data came in. Even more startling. The sun, moon and stars weren't actually a sun, moon and stars. No, they were more of that energy that seemed to come from the mass of the atoms around here. And they were orbiting the planet. You didn't know how to respond to the data in your head.

Fortunately for you, you didn't have to, as something rammed into you and knocked you back a fairly large distance; about twenty two metres.

You were surprised anything could have that much energy to move you around. In comparison to everything else around you you would weigh a lot, and that's not even considering the Titanium meta-carbon infused with the calcium in your bones.

Unfortunately for you the object that would be destined to stop you was a stone pillar jutting out of the floor; looking almost artificial, as if someone had put it there just for your misery. You braced yourself for impact against the rock as you sailed through the air, almost hitting a couple of trees on the way.

The last thing you registered before you were overcome with pain was the sound of a very loud crunch. You had the extreme misfortune to hit the pillar with your legs apart. You tried to scream but the only thing that came out of you mouth was a pathetic little squeak.

You're barely aware of yourself as you topple off of the pillar and land on your head before tumbling onto your back. You attempt to stand up but ultimately fail and end up on your stomach. This time using your hands as stabilisers you were able to make it upright, using the very pillar you just hit as a support. You still hadn't regained your voice yet and the only sounds you were making were more little squeaks along with the occasional squeal.

That hurt. You didn't want to have to experience that again, ever, so long as you lived.

After a few more moments of gathering yourself and trying not to fall over you managed to regain most of yourself. The first thing you were looking for was whatever was responsible for your torment. It would die.

At first you found nothing, but then you saw a pony standing in the distance. It was hard to make out because it was dark but you could tell that it was taller that the average pony. It took a step into the moonlight and you could make out some details.

It - you couldn't tell what gender it was from this distance - was wearing some kind of armour that gave it a somewhat menacing look. It also had wings and a horn, you had no idea what species it was. Maybe it was a hybrid? Another thing of note was its hair which seemed to be gaseous while remaining in a fixed position, possibly something similar to the weird cloud substance from earlier.

It kept getting closer to you and by now you could tell it was female, or mare, as it were. Hmm, it also had fangs for some reason. You couldn't understand why it would need fangs as horses were herbivores and so far these ponies shared a lot in common with the animal you were familiar with. Unless this one ate meat.

By now it was about twelve metres away from your position so you push any thoughts of carnivorous ponies aside in order to introduce yourself before ending this things life. If it was the one that kicked you that is.

Before you could introduce yourself the mare spoke up first.

“How dare you get in my way you filthy monkey!”

She tried to be intimidating as she said her insult but it didn't work. Probably had something to do with the fact that she only came up to your lowest rib. Everything here seemed miniaturised.

“Hey you shit! Are you the one that pushed me into that rock?”

The tall hybrid pony appeared to have been taken by surprise at your outburst.

“How dare you speak to me like that you disgusting mortal!”

How dare she insult you.

“Who are you calling mortal, mortal!”

She seemed flabbergasted now, opening and closing her mouth rapidly like a fish in a fish bowl. She eventually recovered and a look of pure rage found its way to her face.

“SILENCE!”

The force of the shout was impressive. Almost as much force as your accidental destruction of the town earlier.

Before she said anything else she looked around for some reason and then the most peculiar thing happened. Her hair halved itself and the half that separated flew off somewhere else. So she has conscious control over her hair...how. How does she have control over her hair. How is that possible without some fancy high-tech? Like yours only better at everything.

She turned back to you after sending her hair somewhere else. She seemed pretty angry at you. She began stomping towards you, her horn started glowing along the way. You wondered what she was going to do as you had yet to see this so called magic in action, besides the bizarre cloud from before.

You braced yourself for whatever the pony might use against you; small clouds of dark smoke had started gathering around her horn. By now her horn had almost completely disappeared behind the smoke swirling around it. You didn't like the look of it so you decided to attack before she could unleash whatever she had been generating.

You never had the chance. The moment you started walking towards her she released a blast of electricity that had set you on course towards another tree. As you smashed through it you continued to writhe in agony; she was still shooting electricity out of her towards your spazzing body.

She soon felt mercy towards you though, as she stopped the flow of electricity.

You took this opportunity to shakily rise back to your feet. You stumbled a bit but prevented yourself from falling over by using the tree as support. That proved to be a bad idea as the tree snapped in half and you found your face in the dirt.

Just as you were about to rise again a message appeared inside your head. From the Nanites it seemed.

It seems like you are getting your ass handed to you by a sapient horse, would you like help?

What kind of sadistic shit programmed this thing? Of course you needed help!

With a mental command you chose yes, and the Nanites informed you of an interesting trait carried by Constructive Nanites. They could pull in all surrounding molecules while traveling at high speeds. You had already thought of a way you could implement that to your advantage.

Backing out of your internal devices you find that you were suspended above the ground by a blue glow, the same glow as the pony I front of you yelling at your face. Perhaps you shouldn't have closed your eyes when you looked into the ‘help program’ of your hives.

As she continued to scream at your immobile body you decide to enact your plan, so you start pooling Nanites into your hands, forming a blue glow. She seemed to distracted to really notice so you put even more Nanites into your palms before you push them forwards with all your might.

The effect was immediate. The pony went flying backwards at tremendous speeds, screaming along the way. The air directly in front of you was pushed forwards at incredible speeds, resulting in a high air pressure zone in front of a vacuum. The vacuum didn't last long, however, as all the surrounding molecules rushes inwards, creating a massive boom that would have destroyed your ear drums had you no Nanites. The high air zone didn't last long either, as it expanded rapidly; destroying the surrounding trees that hadn't been sucked into the miniature vortex milliseconds before.

The whole event looked amazing, as the blue in the Nanites plus their shiny metal surfaces littered the wave of destruction and made for quite a beautiful display.

You looked around for the mare which you last saw hurtling away from you at a very high velocity. You couldn't find her anywhere. Perhaps the blast had killed her?

You were proven wrong as not a moment after that thought she comes barreling towards you from the shadows with intent to kill clear in her eyes. Ha!Good luck with that. Everything else had failed so far.

She began chagrin her horn again; preparing to strike. You wouldn't give her the chance this time. You charged at her, unclipping your knife from your belt and preparing to end this creatures life.

You managed to cut her front left leg before she shot you again, this time with a concussive wave, similar to your blast but much less powerful.

She recoiled from your swipe and you were sent hurtling towards another tree which you broke with your spine. You recovered quickly and charged at her again. She sent another blast at you but you quickly managed to dive to the side as it obliterated another tree, sending splinters and other tree bits everywhere.

You were within striking distance now so you took a stab at her other leg, the armour on it proving to be useless against your incredibly sharp blade as it cut through her plating and into her flesh.

On instinct she kicked you away with her other leg as she wailed from your attack. You got into a crouched position from where you landed as she used her horn to mend her damaged cellular tissue. As she looked up at your crouched form you wiped the blood on the ground beside you. Her blood.

She seemed even more infuriated now and your attack seemed to have left no lasting damage besides the blood stain on her sliced armour.

She charged at you with her horn down, probably hoping to skewer you on it. You remained in your crouched position as she approached. You would have to time this perfectly. She got closer, and closer, and within ten metres. Now! Just as she was about to gut you on her sharp horn you dodged to the side while simultaneously grabbing said horn and pulling downwards.

She ended up smashing into the ground and sliding for a bit, the force of her sprint still carrying her along. At first you thought that she had given up, was passed out, or was dead but that soon turned out to be wrong as she struggled back to her hooves.

You were wrong. Now she was infuriated.

Her horn began to glow so you took off towards her, expecting her to release some kind of electrical attack once again. She took you by surprise however, as she launched a tree at you. You managed to block most of it with your fist, splitting it in half where it connected with you and showing you with splinters.

The mare took this opportunity to charge at you, placing herself in a position to kick you in a fashion you would relate to horses; a powerful hind leg kick. As she reared up for the attack you grabbed one of her hooves and swung her over your head while you spun around, smashing her back into the ground behind where you were originally facing.

You went in for an attack but she recovered quicker than you expected, kicking you backwards with her hind legs as you approached her.

You were sent flying once again and this time you crashed into a large rock, shattering it in the process and leaving you winded. As you struggled to regain your balance and breath you saw the pony hybrid walking toward you, horn alight with power charging more unpredictable attacks.

She released the pent-up power and it showed to be more electricity. It hit your body and you fell to the floor in spasm. She was relentless, sending an unending surge of electrical energy through your body. Your vision began to dim as you were about to lose consciousness.

Before you could black out though a message appeared within your mind.

Still getting the shit beaten out of you by a colourful pony? Try these.

You made a promise to end whoever coded these things, if he hadn't been ended already. What it was suggesting to you was interesting. Conductive Nanites. Nanites that change the charge of surrounding molecules in cohesion to form chains of extreme conductivity through any gaseous or liquid substance.

This seemed like something you could you to take back this fight. Luckily you already had some in you at the time, otherwise you would have likely been barbecued by the pony in front of you who was STILL electrocuting you.

Sending all the conductive Nanites you had at your disposal into your palms, you began forming them into lines which led from your palms to the horse still cooking your flesh. And then you activated them.

You can safely say that the mare was not expecting return fire. How she didn't see your glowing hands you will never know. The effects were immediate; she dropped to the floor like a rock. An electrified rock. You were once again surprised at how quickly she shrugged off your attack. She stood straight back up after being electrified.

Realising you were still on the floor you set out to get back up and beat this mare into a fine paste on the floor. She apparently had the same idea for you as she ran forwards and knocked you back into the remains of the rock you had just destroyed with your back.

She went for another kick with her fore-hooves as you were falling back to the ground. You anticipated this and managed to block and send a punch to her helmeted face. Your fist connected and managed to draw blood from her nose, bringing a furious death glare towards you.

Ignoring the promise of death directed to you from her eyes, you continued to repeatedly punch the mare in the face; not giving her the chance to block or get in her own swings. After about twenty swings she managed to successfully block a blow and grab you. She use your own punch to her advantage; using your own momentum to swing you around her and into the dirt.

Before you can get up to retaliate she is already on you once more, levitating a sharp piece of wooden shrapnel to impale you. Before she can succeed you roll to the left and conveniently find your knife that had been lost in the chaos. Picking it up you turn to the mare and make another attempt for her legs. You manage to get her left leg this time, your blade going all the way through and cutting her bone in half.

She screamed in absolute agony and you staggered a bit from the sheer volume of it. It would have hurt a lot as well; your blade was hot enough to sear but not hot enough to cauterise. As such she started bleeding from her leg, the blood staining her damaged armour.

Pulling your knife out of the mare you go to restrain her, your intent to kill had passed and now you wanted answers; why had she attacked you in the first place and what species was she anyway?

Just as you are about to hold her down at with a knife to her neck she makes a jump into the air and flaps her wings in an attempt to get away. You wanted answers so you were not letting her get away from you. You leap into the air and collide with her, making her stumble in her flying and causing you both to fall to the earth some fifty metres below.

You used the mare to block most of the damage as you collide straight through a tall, thin tree, causing it to snap in half and fracture along the wood. You then collided into the ground and skidded for a bit. Seeing the tree about to fall onto you and the mare you come up with a spontaneous idea. Jumping into the air an grabbing the falling tree, you angle yourself and use your higher density to flip the tall tree over your head and smash it into the mare, making sure that she won't get away from you.

You land with a soft thud and walk over to the mare who was struggling to get get up. She was having a hard time due to the fact that you had cut through her bone and had Broken some of her ribs. You kick her back down and step on her neck, making sure that she can't get away while making sure that she could still breath properly.

“Why did you attack me?”

She seemed angry, but with a hint of something else. Fear.

“Get off of me you stupid ape!”

You pressed your boot down slightly harder, making her choke a little bit.

“What was that? I couldn't hear you.”

“I said get off me you stupid - argh”

You pushed your knife up to her neck, applying meek pressure and almost drawing blood.

“I. Am. Sorry. What did you say?”

With the way you had said it she knew you weren't playing around.

“Nothing! Nothing at all!”

You removed your knife but kept your foot there.

“Excellent! Now tell me why you attacked me!”

She still attempted to struggle but stopped once you applied pressure to her neck.

“Why. Did. You. Attack. Me?”

The fear in her eyes was more noticeable now.

“I-I-I don't know what you mean!”

“Don't lie to me! You knocked me into that pillar of rock! Which, might I add, hurt a lot!”

She seemed scared out of her mind now. She had probably never met someone who could best her, judging by how strong her kicks were.

“I-I...ENOUGH!!”

She used all of her strength to kick you off of her and stand up. You landed a few metres away and used your momentum to roll back onto your feet.

It seems like this pony didn't want to go down without a fight. Fair enough, you will give her one then.

Springing forward you slash at her but she grabs you with her hoof and knocks the knife out of your hand. You would question how she grabbed you with her hoof but you were preoccupied at the moment.

The mare used your momentary confusion to her advantage by attempting to stab you with her long, and particularly sharp, horn. You dodged to the left and punched her in the gut in the process. Picking her up from your position besides her, you throw her into the ground and hear one of her legs snap.

Stepping back as she released another defeating wail, you tumble over a Brocken log; the same one you had smashed into her earlier. Looking up at her from your position you could see her horn light up once again, this time mending her bones and her other injuries. Once she had finished healing herself she did something you weren't expecting.

She commanded her hair into the form of a sword which she held aloft in her aura of magic.

With her new-found weapon she charged once more in your direction, pointing the end of the blade towards you. As luck would have it you managed to land next to your knife again. Picking it up you blocked the sword just as she swung down at you, aiming for your head. She swung again, this time going for a horizontal slash from your left. You blocked again and instead of going for a stab you threw your blade into her right hoof, the blade getting lodged in her flesh and bone.

Before she a chance to release another blood-curdling scream you dashed forward and grabbed her head with both hands while bringing your knee into her jaw. You heard a crack and then kicked her backwards with the same leg you used to knee her in the chin.

She was bleeding from the mouth and nose so you gave her a chance to regain herself. She spat out a bit of blood and coughed up some more. She looked like she about to collapse from exhaustion, something you were glad you couldn't experience yourself.

You started walking towards her when her horn started glowing again, this time sitting off alarms inside your head. Literally.

The temporal and spatial manipulators located in the quantids inside your very being detected a flux in the spatial interaction field. And that concerned you greatly. You increased your pace towards the pony but as you were approaching she disappeared in flash of light and sound. Your knife fell to the ground as it was still in her leg when she disappeared.

You picked up your blade and tried to find the pony that had disappeared suddenly. Your spatial detectors were of no use, as she had probably already left the admittedly short range of their span. Instead you went to search for energy signatures, specifically light energy. You had seen a very bright flash when she vanished and you guessed that would happen when she reappeared as well.

You got a hit; a massive spike in visible radiation. It was located in the general direction of the ruins you saw earlier. You needed to get there.

Turning around you start running towards the source of the energy spike.

You dodge around the trees in your path and collide through ones that you had no time to avoid. You wanted to see that pony suffer, and then make her answer your many questions.

After running through and around the trees for three minutes you come across a chasm with a rope bridge connecting one cliff wall to the other. You didn't want to walk over it as it looked like it snap apart in a gentle breeze. So you decide to just jump over the chasm. Not all that difficult.

Landing on the other side you take note of the structure; a castle or fort of some kind. It had clearly seen better days. Just as you were about to run into the structure you saw a bright flash of light in one of the windows, which then disappeared and reappeared by another set of windows.

You wanted to prepare yourself as this pony seemed like a formidable foe. You never thought you say that in your life. You wanted to find water for your fusion core, but you didn't want to go to far from the ruined structure. You also didn't know where you could get clean water and didn't want to go looking for some in case the pony hybrid left.

You were about to climb up the side of the structure when you saw another flash of light, this time instead of being white it was a multitude of colours; a rainbow.

You needed to get up there now. The only problem was you couldn't see an entrance. That had a simple enough solution; make an entrance. Taking a off at a running pace to get going at high speeds, you leap into the air and sail towards the side of the building.

As you collide with the solid stone wall you tuck your legs into your chest and enter a dive-roll, pulling out your knife in the process.

“All right! You think you can...hide...what the shit!”

Instead of seeing the pony that attacked you all you see is Pinkie Pie, some other ponies, and some pony hybrids that seemed to be hugging each other. The hybrid that attacked you wasn't here although one of the hybrids in this room looked very similar. Suspiciously similar.

“...Um...am I interrupting something?”

“Hiya Saphy!”

Pinkie was jumping up and down as usual.

“Hi...”

“...”

“...”

“...can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on!”

Everyone in the room cringed at your foul language, except for Pinkie for some reason. No one offered a reply but one of the Unicorns did let out a gasp.

“Darling, what on earth happened to your clothes? This is simply dreadful!”

She seemed to be overdramatising things, but she did have point. Your clothes were ruined. What clothing remained was either burnt or shredded or both.

“Meh, some wolves and stuff.”

“I just have to make you some new ones! This is a crime against fashion!”

“...Sure.”

You looked around at the other ponies. The only ones you recognised were Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. You could probably guess the others names though, their names were a bit obvious. Strangely, when your gaze went over the blue hybrid she seemed terrified. As you looked over the white hybrid you could detect something in her eyes; recognition. Was she the one that knew of you, of where you were from? The one that put the note in that book? Perhaps. You do not know the extent of these creatures biological abilities.

Looking away from the ponies you notice that the sun was rising into the sky, despite being midnight a few moments earlier. How is that even possible.

“What is this?”

All the ponies in the room, including Pinkie Pie who seemed to have been unaffected by you smashing through the wall, turned towards the window and looked at the sun. They could probably look directly into it if they had sunglasses on as it wasn't nearly as bright as an actual star should have been.

“...the sun?”

The purple Unicorn was the one to answer your question.

“Oh! Such brilliant observation skills! You have confirmed you have eyeballs! Well done!”

She seemed to shy away from attention after your rant; she was probably embarrassed.

The white hybrid pony was still looking at you, and it was beginning to freak you out. Seriously, she was still staring at you. She seemed interested in you for some reason and she somehow recognises you or has at least confused you with someone else that she knows of. Or both. You thought that she would just sit there, staring at you forever but she eventually opened her mouth to speak.

“May I-”

She didn't get to say anything else before she was interrupted by the rainbow haired Pegasus, who flew up into your face.

“Who are you? How did you break through the wall!? Are you a spy?!?”

“I'm Saphrim. With my face. And lastly, no.”

She didn't seem convinced. The others were still shocked about you bursting in through a wall. What are they all doing here in the first place? Do they regularly visit ruins in a forest they consider unnatural? You doubt they would. Ignoring their varied reactions you voiced your question.

“What are you guys doing out here anyway?”

Pinkie was the one to answer your question.

“We were here to use the Elements of Harmony, but then it turns out that Nightmare Moon is actually Celestias sister! So now we are going to throw the biggest, most spectalurarishish party of all time!”

You stared at the pink pony, who was bouncing in place in front of you. She was wearing some kind of necklace that had the same design as her so-called ‘cutie mark’. You reach down and pick her up by the neck so you can inspect the jewellery closer. You flick the gem on it with your fingers creating a small pinging sound.

“So these are the ‘Elements of Harmony’? What do they do then?”

You were busy looking at the necklace but you could see out of the corner of your eye the looks you were receiving from the others in the room. Ranging from angry to shocked and disturbed. Pinkie didn't seem to mind though so you continued your examination of the supposed artefact.

It looked just like a regular necklace to you. A bit of scanning revealed that they had an amplifying quality. All though, what they were amplifying you could only guess. Maybe it was more of that magic? Or perhaps something else? Questions for a later date, right now you needed to pay attention to the present.

Dropping the mare in your hands to the ground unceremoniously, you turned your attention back towards the others, who all cringed when Pinkie made an ‘oof’ sound as she hit the floor. She seemed unharmed by the small drop so you ignored her. The white hybrid was still looking at you. She opened her mouth to speak once more though.

“May I please ask you to come with me for a second? I wish to speak to you alone.”

What a strange request.

“Sure.”

She turned away from the blue hybrid who was unconscious for some reason. Oh well, you couldn't care much for how she ended up unconscious. The white hybrid led you to the outside of the building through a set of decayed doors that looked like they would fall off at any second. You had somehow failed to notice them before.

You didn't trust this pony so you decided to keep an eye on her as she led you further out into the night- wait, day. The celestial movements were very confusing, and you were having trouble keeping track. You couldn't see how life could survive on this planet if the planetary body - oh...this was a flat piece of earth, not a spherical planetoid like it should be. You should probably just assume that all laws of the natural order have been suspended until you prove it to be otherwise.

By now you had been following the pony for about three minutes, and you had reached a crumbling balcony of sorts. It was severely overrun with various forms of vegetation. It was here that the white mare stopped and turned to face you.

“Who are you?”

“I had assumed you already knew who I was...”

She stared at you. It seemed you had her confused.

“Very well then. My name is Saphrim Onixavier, entropy-born.”

She seemed a little bit suspicious of you now.

“What do you mean by entropy-born?”

She looked like she was about to attack you at any second. You needed to diffuse this situation quickly before it spiralled out of control.

“Well you see where I'm from - which is very far away. Very, very far away. Like seriously far away. A-hem, yes, you are either a entropy-born or a enthalpy-born. This is dictated by what state the general observable universe was in when you were born. For example, I was born during an entropy state, meaning that the greater part of the universe was in a higher of disorder. Because of this it is much more common for people to be entropy-born, as due to its nature, chaos is more common than order. Make sense?”

The white mare seemed to be soaking in what you just said. You could almost see the gears turning in her head as she processed what you just told her.

“So...what is enthalpy?”

You let out a sigh.

“Enthalpy - like everything else - is just a label given to something by us sapients to give it meaning or understanding. This label merely means the state of the universe in which it is in high order while maintaining a high energy quotient. This means that-”

“Please stop, just stop! This is hurting my head.”

Fair enough.

“Ok then - wait, I still don't know who you are.”

She composed herself after removing her hooves from her head.

“I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and raiser of the sun.”

That's a lot of titles to have to ones name.

“In that case it is good to meet you Princess.”

You finish off with a small bow.

“I would like to discuss some things with you. For one, as you can probably gather, I am not from around here.”

You needed some answers.

“Yes, I could tell as much.”

“Yes, and as such I am not accustomed to this land, its inhabitants, or its laws. I have read a few books but I do not know of their credibility or their reliability.”

She seemed lost in thought for a second.

“...I see, well what do you wish to discuss then?”

“The status of humans; are they slaves, pets or neither. I want to know of the ponies relationship with other species, specifically humans.”

“Very well, after events that even I wasn't around to witness caused a split between the species of Equestria, the Unicorns and Pegasi have treated the other species...differently.”

“Differently? How so?”

“They were cruel to them, and eventually it got so bad that they forced most of the other species to out of Equestria. My sister and I weren't even born back then.”

“How old are you then?”

“My sister is twenty six hundred years old while I am twenty eight hundred years old.”

Impressive.

“So are you ageless, and also, what year is it?”

“To answer your first question, yes Alicorns are ageless. And secondly, it is exactly one thousand PN.”

So their called Alicorns, good to know.

“You record time very differently compared to how we do it where I am from. I am at a loss for what PN means though.”

“It stands for post-nightmare. And why would you have a different way of tracking time? Just how far away are you from?”

How are you going to explain the Universal calendar? You couldn't tell her as it required mind-speech, something you doubted the ponies had within them. You would have to write it down somehow.

“Where I come from...we are very far away but also very spread out. As such we need a calendar that can record very large numbers.”

You went and burnt a piece of wood that had fallen from a tree at some point in time, using it to write out some digits and letters on the floor. The Princess was momentarily startled upon seeing your stick that looked like it spontaneously combusted.

“This is our current time from where I am from.”

You gestured to the number 213’344’455’434’333’455’541, which was written in charcoal from the stick. You looked up from the number to see Princess Celestia looking at it in either confusion or amazement, you couldn't tell which one. Maybe a bit of both.

“I don't understand what this word means.”

She pointed a hoof towards the ‘century’ at the end of the number.

“That is century, which is derived from the Latin word centum, meaning one hundred.”

“One hundred years?”

“Not necessarily, it just means one hundred. Although it is often associated with dates as that is its most common use.”

“I still don't understand what these numbers mean.”

Understandable, she hadn't learnt humanity's calendar.

“How many columns are there?”

“Seven.”

She didn't seem to see where you were going with this.

“Yes, now before I said that we are spread out across great distances, right?.”

She nodded her head once in affirmation.

“Well, only the very left, middle, and very right set of numbers mean anything for the whole of our time scale. Understand?”

She nodded again. It was weird because her gaseous hair flopped around every time she did so.

“The other sets of numbers mean...um...how do I explain this.”

You didn't know how to explain galactic rotation and solar movement to a creature who lives on a plant that lacks a proper sun or moon, let alone an entire galaxy. Ah-ha.

“Ok! So see these ones on the right of the middle.”

You pointed to the numbers 333 and 455.

“These are what we call, sub-personalised dates. These are how we record our years and days. Are you still following me?”

She seemed a little confused but eventually nodded her head anyway.

“These numbers here-”

You pointed to the numbers 344 and 455.

“-are personalised numbers. They represent...um...”

How were you going to explain galaxies.

“Cities! They represent cities! They mark time a class above sub-personalised so that it may be collected by the whole. Following me?”

She shook her head.

“Ok...um...imagine that one of these equals one of these.”

You pointed to the numbers 333 and 455 and then pointed to 344 and 455.

“Understand now?”

She shook her head again.

“Ok...so imagine that one personalised year is the equivalent of all of these sub-personalised years multiplied by whatever year that sub-personalised date has at the time. Basically this date-”

You pointed to the numbers 344 and 455 once again.

“-here is the is the sum of all these years measurements. For example, one sub-personalised year could be made up of different time scales to another separate year somewhere else but is still considered a year.”

This was straining. How could she understand what you just said. One year is defined by the time it takes for a planet to complete one full rotation of the sun, but planets orbit at different rates. Hell, you grew up on a planet that had a year that stretched on for seventy two standard Earth years. It was still considered one year.

You looked back to the white mare. She was digesting what you had just told her.

“I...guess I understand...but I still don't understand what these apostrophes are for, nor what these other dates are for.”

“Well, the other numbers are considered non-personalised, as they are the same no matter where you are. This one on the very right is basically the same as personalised and sub-personalised, but for conversion of personalised to non-personalised. This one in the middle is...um...”

How are you going to explain the expansion of the observable universe?

“...not really a date, so much as a measurement. It is the measurement of our expansion, which needs to be included as it affects our other dates drastically.”

She nodded once more, slowly this time.

“And what of the last one, the one on the very left?”

Well that was going to be a bugger to explain. How were you going to explain the total number of times the Universe has collapsed and reignited? That was a tricky question.

“That one is not important.”

The only answer you could come up with.

“...I see...what of these apostrophes? You still haven't told me what those mean.”

“Well, this is a personalised model, as I have already explained, so each apostrophe is the equivalent to the multiplication of whatever follows after the date...soooo...one hundred on this model. Which could easily be used as any other multiple, like decade or even millennium.”

“Wait...how...old...is this model?...”

“Well this model is from where I come from and it is equivalent to-”

You ran the numbers through your head.

“Two hundred and thirteen Universal cycles - or evolutions, as some like to call them -, 156,520,000,000 galactic years, 151,515,000,000 planetary years, and that converts into...I...I...I can’t even calculate a number large enough!”

She was looking at you funny.

“What? What is it?”

“You...didn't say anything just then...”

You smacked your head in annoyance.

“Of course you wouldn't hear me, you don't have mind-speech.”

“What was that?”

“I said you don't have mind-speech.”

You seemed to have befuddled her again, judging from her expression, which looked pretty weird on a pony.

“And what, pray tell, is that?”

Hmm, how were you going to explain this one?

“Mind-speech is a...um...a...do you have computers?”

“...”

“What is a computer?”

Wonderful, that just makes things so much easier to explain.

“Ok then...mind-speech is...mind-speech is...is the ability to communicate without verbal expression I guess would be the easiest way of explaining it. It operates by using advanced machines called spatial and temporal manipulators. Now what these do is something else I entirely, but they can be used to send out pulses of data that is received by everyone that wants to receive it.”

You were really sending Celestia on a mental marathon.

“...how do they work?”

No way. There was no way you were explaining this to her. It would take all day, and probably more than one if the days and nights last as long as you think they do. You would have to communicate with her in a way that she could understand.

“Magic.”

Surprisingly, she actually accepted that as an answer.

“So how old is that model? I didn't exactly hear it before.”

“Old. That is all! Can we change the subject. How about me getting a no-pet-slash-slave-other permit, that like, I don't know, stops anyone from buying me and stuff!”

“Humans aren't pets.”

What.

“What?”

“Humans aren't pets, your species is much too powerful to be kept as pets.”

What!

“B-but-but, what! I saw a human walking out of a cottage wearing a collar! Someone tried to buy me the other day! What do you mean we aren't pets!”

“If a human was wearing a collar it was probably a magic restraining collar, that would prevent them from using magic.”

“What! Why would you restrain someones magic?!”

This was getting ridiculous.

“To prevent humans from uprising, it is law that a human must always be in the presence of at least one Unicorn or Pegasi. Collars are just used to make it easier for them to control.”

“But why! What happened in the past that caused this to happen?! What could have ever have happened to twist a society in such a way!?”

“I don't know.”

Well that was of no help whatsoever. You needed to calm down as you were not going to get anywhere if you were angry. You took a deep breath before replying.

“Do you not have any history book of any kind?”

She shook her head.

“At all?”

“Sadly, no.”

“How do you record events of historical significance then?”

“Whenever we have an event of historical significance it is recorded in the form of stained-glass windows, at the royal halls in Canterlot Castle.”

“That is horrible! What happens if something breaks one of the windows? Does that mean that that piece of history is lost forever?”

She nodded her head. She seemed a bit sad about it though.

“Why don't you use another way, a better way of storing history, like, oh I don't know, a book maybe?”

“Nopony really takes the time to write anything down besides fiction and spell books, any history related subjects are ignored.”

“But history is a major thing! It is important to know of the past!”

Your voice had been increasing increasing in volume with each sentence as your annoyance rose to higher levels. You needed to stop freaking out and calm down.

“...so! About that freedom of non-slavery?”

She nodded her head rapidly.

“Yes, yes. You will be given an approval for a freedom permit.”

Its called a freedom permit? What a weird name, although it is very appropriate you suppose.

Just before Celestia began leading you back in she turned around and started looking you over.

“Something wrong?”

“...no, I just feel like I know you from somewhere.”

And with that she started walking away.

You began following Celestia back into the chamber you first met her in. On the way she pulled out a piece of paper and signed it. You didn't know where she got the paper from and you couldn't be bothered figuring it out at the moment. Upon entering all the mares heads turned to face Celestia and you as she passed the now rolled-up piece of paper. It seems the blue Alicorn was awake now as well and was keeping a distance between herself and the other ponies in the room.

“I thank you for your time Saphrim.”

“And I thank you for this Princess.”

You waved the scroll around a bit before putting it on your belt next to the fusion devices. You leaned into the Princesses ear.

“Oh and by the way, what is the currency made from?”

“It is copper coin that is coated in a thin layer of gold imprinted with a pony-shoe on both sides.”

“Good to know, that will be useful in the future, thank you.”

“Your most welcome.”

You turned back to the ponies in the room. They appeared to have been trying to listen in to what you and Celestia were whispering. They quickly made it look like they weren't doing anything suspicious; they were doing a very bad job of it. The one with the hat even started whistling in the most ‘I'm guilty’ way possible. You decided to remove the building levels of awkward by talking.

“Sooo...you mentioned a party, yes?”

“Ooh yes and it is gonna’ be awesomeriffic! Let’s go and get ready!”

And she was gone in a pink blur.

“Wait up Pinkie!”

And so were the other five smaller mares. You gestured towards the door that the little ponies just went through.

“Shall we?”

Celestia nodded while the still-nameless pony just stood up and followed behind her. You had one final look around the room before following behind the group of ponies.

Pinkie and the others were already across the chasm, apparently going across on a rope bridge that had been decaying for quite some time. The two Alicorns were also quite a bit ahead of you; just reaching the other side of the rope bridge as you came out of the castle. You took one step onto the bridge before it snapped from your weight.

You plummeted downwards just as you noticed Celestia and the other Alicorn turn around from the sudden noise and saw you fall. They didn't have time to react though so you fell all the way down to the bottom where you splashed into the river that was flowing through the chasm.

Before Celestia could do anything else to help you, you dive down to the bottom of the river and kick off of it. You soar up and land besides the Alicorns who are stunned from your display.

“...how did you do that?”

Oh, you know. Nanites, high tech and other such shit.

“Magic.”

They didn't seem convinced but they didn't press onto the matter either, instead they just turned around and started trailing behind Pinkie Pie and the others. And then you started trailing behind them, forming a sort-of line of ponies with you at the end.

Your walk was in silence that was only disturbed by the quiet sounds of the forest. You didn't want to disrupt the silence either, as it wasn't an awkward silence and you didn't want to make it into one.

Eventually the small parade of ponies you were following made it to the edge of the forest.

“Come on guys! We have to start setting up the party!”

There was a groan that travelled through the collective; a groan of displeasure.

“Darling as much as I would like to party I just simply need my beauty sleep.”

“Yer, Rar’s right sugarcube, we hav’nt slept in three days straight!”

“B-but-but the party!”

“Come on, let's just crash at the library.”

Everyone seemed in agreement with the purple Unicorn as they started following her back to the library. You decided to follow them as well as you had nothing better to do with your time and you also liked the possibility of more reading material. You looked over your shoulders to see the other two ponies following as well, the ponies on the street stopping whatever they were doing to bow before them.

Soon you saw the library ahead of you, the six smaller ponies having already ventured inside the ancient-looking tree. The moment you step into the library you almost trip over Pinkie Pie. It seems that they meant crash in the literal sense as they had all collapsed the moment they entered the building.

To avoid tripping over them in the near future you pick them all up - carefully, so that they don't wake up - and put them in the corner, trying to make them as comfortable as possible. They all snuggled up to each other once you had laid them down next to each other.

“Cute.”

“They are, aren't they.”

You turn around, not expecting a reply to your ‘thinking out loud’ speech. It was Celestia that was the one to speak; the other one that you had yet to learn the name of was still being quiet and appeared drowsy.

“So what are you're opinions on the whole ‘other species are inferior’ thing?”

“Well, we were raised to hate the other species. So it's a bit difficult to lose a eight hundred year-old habit. But my little ponies are starting to treat others better.”

“Ponies are treating others better now?”

It was the first time you had heard the other one speak so far. She had a very soft voice and spoke very quietly.

You turn your full attention towards her now.

“She speaks! Who are you anyway? I'm assuming you two are in some way related to each other, yes?”

“Um...yes...she is my sister.”

She seemed very nervous when talking to you. You wondered why that was. Does she have some kind of phobia for humans?

“Was that what that was in the forest? A family reunion?”

She seemed to be slightly unsettled by your question.

“You could call it that I guess...”

Celestia stood up next to the smaller Alicorn and nuzzled her gently.

“A reunion long since over-due Luna.”

“Her name is Luna? Appropriate I guess.”

Celestia turned away from her sister and looked at you.

“What do you mean by that?”

She didn't seem upset, just curious as to what you meant.

“Luna is Latin for moon, night and month, and it was often associated with the night sky. Latin is an old human language by the way.”

“Interesting. Does my name mean anything in this...‘Latin’?”

“Celestia is also a Latin word, meaning heavenly. It is often associated with the sun or any other cosmic body.”

She blushed a bit, which was weird, considering she had a fur coat.

“Oh.”

You could sense an awkward silence coming so you quickly make conversation.

“Hey, you're good with magic aren't you?”

Saying magic in a sentence that wasn't supposed to be a joke was a weird experience for you.

“Why yes, me and my sister are the best magicians in all of Equestria. Why do you ask?”

You had stifle the building laughter from the absurdity of that sentence.

“I was just wondering if you would be willing to teach me some magic, if you had the time that is. I don't know any magic at all, really.”

She seemed shocked at your request. Maybe you offended her in someway.

“I already have a student, but I would be willing to help you learn the art of magic. Perhaps my sister would like to help you as well?”

She turned to face her sister. The small Alicorn quickly nodded her head while trying to form a fake smile on her face. What's up with her?

“Excellent. Now what is your knowledge on magic?”

“Nothing. I don't know any magic at all.”

“Really?! Well then, I'll have to give you some books to study up on then.”

Her horn started glowing and you waited for her to finish whatever she was doing. Your Spatial and Temporal sensors were going nuts, courtesy of Celestia’s horn and the weird energies going through it. After a few seconds the glow turned into a flash and in front of Celgstia was some books. You had recorded the whole thing using every sensor you had in and on you.

“Here, these are from the royal library in Canterlot.”

She handed you a pile of books that looked to be in varying conditions, from new and clean to old and dusty. A few scrolls of parchment was on top of the stack as well.

“Thank you very much, Princess.”

“You are very welcome, however, be careful with those books as some of them are very old.”

“Will do, Princess. May I ask why you have been so cooperative with me?”

She seemed to think for a moment.

“I don't know honestly. I just get this...feeling that I should help you.”

“Ok then. I must thank you again Princess, this has been most helpful.”

“And once again, you are most welcome.”

You look out the window, towards the forest. You contemplate going home but decide to stay in the library and read instead as it would be easier to get new books should you run out of reading material.

You look to Celestia to see that she is lying down with her sister sleeping next to her, her wing draped over the tired Alicorn. She was going to go to sleep, and to that you tilted your head. She noticed your quizzical expression.

“I don't get much time off you see. I'm going to make the best of it while I can.”

Ok then. You nod your head in understanding and sit down on the floor; in the corner opposite to all of the sleeping ponies. You lay the stack of books on the floor in front of you and look over their titles.

Basic Human Magic for Beginners; in good condition and not looking too old.

The Fundamentals of Magic; in decent condition with the signs of frequent use.

The Humana Potestate Liber; in good condition with the signs of lots of use and looking *very* old.

Book of Powerful Human Spells; in a semi-decent condition with the beginnings of some decay, and also very old.

The Fundamentals of Harmony Magic; looking like it was copied or repaired recently.

Basic Enchanting; in a good condition and looked to be brand new.

Basic Alchemy; also in a good condition and looking new.

Basic Conjuration; in a very good condition while looking like it had been used a lot recently.

Basic Summoning; looking slightly more decayed than the other books while also looking well-used.

The other two scrolls you unfurled and read to be, ‘levitation’ and ‘teleportation’.

You sat there thinking on which ones you should read first. The scrolls had all sorts of weird symbols and pictures that you didn't understand so you decided to read them later. The four ‘basic’ books sounded interesting but you think you would get confused without reading something else on magic first. Likewise, you didn't want to read the Humana Potestate Liber or the Book of Powerful Human Spells just yet. Soon, but not yet.

That left you to choose between the book on Basic Human Magic, The Fundamentals of Harmony Magic and the book on the Fundamentals of Magic for Beginners. You crossed the harmony magic book of the list as that seemed to be something you should read after The Fundamentals of Magic. That left you with the option of the book on basic human magic and the book on magic fundamentals.

They both seemed interesting so you couldn't decide based on that. They were both beginner books so hopefully you shouldn't have to worry about getting confused while reading.

Basically you were left with the choice of starting with book based on your species magic or a book on magic in general. You still couldn't believe you were actually in this situation; having to choose between a book on magic and a book on magic. Stupid Rift, sending you to a land populated by racist ponies and what they believe to be magical powers. You let out a sigh. You were getting distracted.

You pile the other books up to the side; the ones you weren't going to read yet. You then pull the remaining two into the space that had previously been occupied with the other books, directly in front of you.

You look to the one on the left; a book on magic that is wielded by a supposedly string and powerful race; the human race.

You look to the one on the right; a book that could possibly help you understand the other book to a greater extent and will help you understand all the other books.

Tough choice. They both had ups, and you couldn't think of any downs that either of them possessed.

You looked at the covers for both books.

The one on the left had an engraving of a hand on the cover.

The one on the right had an engraving of a crystal as its cover.

Left or right.

Left or right.

Left or right.

“Argh! I can't decide!”

You hear one of the ponies stir in their steep from your outburst and you hold you breath. The pony that was rousing was Pinkie. You didn't want her to be awake and disturb your reading.

Eventually she just let a hoof fall down her face and land on the wooden floor with a quiet thud before curling back under the blue ones wings. Coincidentally, her hoof happened to be pointing to one of your books.

There, decision made for you.

You look at the book Pinkie Pie had pointed towards before looking back to the pile of pony in the corner. By now they had practically piled onto each other they were that close. The two Pegasi had their wings outstretched and covered the others in a bunch of feathers.

You turn towards Celestia and Luna, who were off to the right a bit. They were both asleep now as well. Luna had curled up into a ball of fur in her larger sisters embrace and Celestia had laid down on her side so she could wrap her hooves around the smaller pony while also draping a white wing over her.

Ignoring the eight sleeping Equines in front of you, you turn your attention towards the books also in front of you. You look once more to Pinkie Pie, then back to the book her hoof was pointing at.

You pick up the left one and glance back at the sleeping ponies one more time. Setting the book down on the ground, you turn to the first page in the book and begin reading away to yourself quietly, hoping to not disturb any of the other, sleeping, occupants of the library.