Sounds from Another Universe: A Psychedelic Excursion

by Vlasislas32

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Princess Celestia, Random, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Human, Main 6, Princess Luna, Octavia, Comedy
Length: 10498

26-year-old music buff Marcus Szekely finds his way into Equestria after a psychedelic experience. Not without a little help from Discord, though!

As a result of a psychedelic experience with friends, Marcus Szekely makes contact with the recently reformed Discord, who (surprise, surprise) wants Marcus to shake things up a bit for the residents of Ponyville. Being a connoisseur of music of all Earthly varieties, Marcus is able to awaken the Equestrians to the true power of music that nopony has quite managed before due to certain... limitations, along with knowledge of the universe that is awe-inspiring, as well as quite shocking. Expect lots of music links.

Notes: I know the first half of Chapter 1 reads a bit like an entry on the Erowid Experience Vault, but trust me, it's important! As such, however, it may not be quite suited for younger readers. Also, I doubt I will be able to update frequently, what with school and all. Do not despair, though! I will update when I can.

FYI: Each chapter title is a song reference. Kudos if you get them.

UPDATE: I'm still alive people. But don't expect a new chapter just yet. I'll be doing some editing and retconing to clean the story up a bit before any new chapters.

Published 2013-08-29 18:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-24 17:17:11 UTC

Chapter 1: Break on Through to the Other Side

Considering that it plays a key role in my arrival in Equestria, I might as well be up front about it: I have a penchant for certain illegal pleasures, namely the famous (or infamous, depending on your opinion) LSD. You might be wondering where this is headed, but I assure you, all of the following built up to one of my most life-changing experiences yet. But before I go any further, let's get something straight. I am not one of those hopeless addicts living on the street. I have a job. I have a nice little apartment just across the bridge from Queens. I have always believed that moderation is the key to everything, and as such, only engaged in these illicit activities as part of weekly social gatherings with my friends. It was during one of said gatherings that my journey began.

All of us musicians, we were of the unanimous belief that music was a great enhancer of the psychedelic experience. On this particular occasion (we happened to be celebrating Bicycle Day), it was once again my turn to bring the music. I prepared for the light ribbing I usually got for bringing my so-called "hippie music". Most of my friends preferred something more modern, and thought my tastes were cliché or some crap like that, but I never heard any complaints after tripping out over The Dark Side of the Moon. In truth, there aren't many musical genres that I dislike in their entirety, but the classics will always hold a special place in my heart. But I digress.

Back to that fabulous day in April, the high holy day of trippers everywhere. I had had just dropped a tab, and was feeling the pleasant build-up (if it can truly be called that) to what I now know to be true enlightenment. Colours became brighter, even the pattern of the fake wood finish of my friend's table began to take on a startling beauty. For whatever reason, impatience, curiosity, altered mental process, it was never quite clear, I decided to take another tab. And then another. After a moment, my high began spiraling upwards into pure euphoria. My mind began separating from my body and mingling with the minds of those around me, all of them blending into a dazzling blend of subconscious energies, coloured by the notes of a certain song off the aforementioned album.

It was just after this tempest reached it's peak that I passed out. My vision was still coloured by the music, which seemed to be coming through more clearly and beautifully than ever before. Then I saw it: a shining golden wheel which seemed to exist in every dimension of space imaginable, it was filled with iridescent bubbles, and I realized, or rather I sensed that I was seeing other universes. Then, I noticed something coming towards me out of one of these bubbles. A snake? No, a Chinese lòng dragon? Not quite, but that's about as accurately as I can describe it. Slithering up towards me, leaving shimmering, glittering trails behind it.

"Marcus?", it said.

I was unsure how to react to this speaking hallucination, as I didn't know if it was one of my friends distorted by the drug, or just a part of my subconscious. The dragon then became a bit purturbed, saying "I am none of those things Marcus!"

'Hm, just the thing part of my subconscious would say.', I thought, but I began to sense in my mind that this creature was speaking the truth. "Who are you?", I inquired.

"Your species has had many names for me through it's as of late brief history, but you may call me Discord.", it replied.

"Discord... as in the god of chaos, or whatever?"

"The same... or whatever.", said the creature, in an almost mocking tone.

"What do you want with me?", I asked.

"You know, I've traveled across universes, visiting many species, but I've always been a bit intrigued by yours.", he said, seemingly ignoring my question. "You are so delightfully... chaotic, yet you have made considerable progress in such short a time. In answer to your question, I picked you out because I have a job for you. Many of your species have passed close to this point through the use of that rather admirable chemical invention you were just using, but none before you have ever completely broken free of the constraints of the physical realm, the first to cross the gap between observation and actual experience, and I felt your presence come into existence, and I felt that you would be a rather useful candidate for the task that I will be presenting to you."

At this point, a bit of a malicious twinkle appeared in the creature's eye.

"You see, there is a certain... race of beings, as I believe your kind says, whose lives are far too orderly for my liking. But  I am reluctant to get personally involved. You see, they think I'm "reformed". So I need you to liven things up a bit for them. Nothing too big, just enough to shake their world up."

"It's not going to involve hurting people, is it?", I asked, unsure as to what this creature's intentions were.

"Not... necessarily.", Discord said, smirking. "But I'm not going to object if you decide to knock some people about."

"I object, and I don't plan on harming anyone unless my survival depends on it."

"Suit yourself."

"Hold on. If I decide to do this, what's going to happen to my body, and how am I going to influence anything on this other world without a physical presence?"

"I thought you might ask that.", said Discord. "Upon ariving at your destination, you will be given a body identical to your own down to the last subatomic particle. I will have some friends look after your real body."

At this last bit, I felt a bit apprehensive, which Discord must have noticed, because he then said "You have nothing to worry about. Your body will be taken good care of. You have my word. Your friends and family won't even notice the difference."

The realization that this task would give me the opportunity to experience an alternate reality eventually trumped my misgivings.

"Alright. I'll do it. So long as you don't make me do any real harm."

"Excellent!", said Discord, a ferocious grin spreading across his features.

"Oh, one more thing Marcus." he said. "You're a bit of a... music afficionado, am I right?"

"Yes.", I said, nodding.

"On your arrival, you will find something that may be quite useful in your mission."

The golden, multi–dimensional cluster of universes then stopped spinning. It rotated until a certain universe was facing me directly.

"Wait, that's all?!", I yelled. "You aren't going to tell me any more about this world?!"

Discord laughed loudly, saying "Aw, come on! Where's your sense of adventure?!"

I quickly began plummeting towards the bubble universe, watching other universes pass me by, and praying that I didn't end up on a world filled with vicious alien monsters.

____________________________________________________________________

Part 2: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Princesses Luna and Celestia stood at the balcony of the castle at Canterlot. An feeling of unspoken tension penetrating the normally calm atmosphere of the Equestrian night.

Celestia looked to her sister, saying "I have been feeling uneasy these past few days. Do not bother denying that you feel any different, sister. I can see it in thine eyes."

"Perhaps it is nothing...", said Luna, "...but I worry about what the coming dawn will bring. I am almost certain that tomorrow will bring the beginning of the end of an era in Equestria. Whether this is for better or for worse, I cannot say."

"Can you tell what or who may bring about this end?", asked Celestia. "Discord seems to have been reformed, but I am doubting his honesty. He is a spirit of Chaos, after all."

"Discord is involved: I can feel his magic somehow wrapped up in all of this, but he is not the one who will be causing the change. No, something else is headed this way. I cannot tell what it is, nor if it poses any danger."

"Perhaps it does, Luna, but if it is uncertain, is it not possible that it could bring us something good?"

"I suppose, but I am unwilling to leave my guard down. We ought to be prepared for anything, good or evil."

"You are right, of course.", said Celestia. "We cannot allow any harm to come to those within Equestria. I will have the guards be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. Only when it arrives can we choose our course of action."

The two spent the rest of the night in silence, anxiously awaiting the dawn.

________________________________________________________________

"Sickness will surely take the mind

where minds can't usually go.

Come on the amazing journey,

and learn all you should know."

-The Who, Amazing Journey

Chapter 2: Human Rocket

Edited

After waiting a while for my brains to stop spinning, I got up and assessed my situation. I was at first not quite convinced that this wasn't all part of a hallucination, but the growing empirical evidence that I tend to look for after a trip (no glaring incongruities with reality, feeling of being connected to the material world, etc) slowly discounted that theory. I appeared to have been dropped into the middle of some kind of forest, which was quite dark despite the slivers of sunlight coming in through the leaves.

"Well, here I am.", I thought to myself. "I guess there's really no turning back now."

I checked myself out, to see if I actually had been given a body that remotely resembled my own. Well, whoever or whatever made this body did a very good job: same Chuck Taylors, same pants, same yin-yang t-shirt, my phone in my pocket, hell, they even gelled my hair!

Then something came to the front of my mind: that dragon...thing that called itself Discord said there would be something waiting for me upon arrival. I looked around, scanning my surroundings. I saw nothing. Right before I was about to curse out Discord, I noticed what I thought was a large bush actually seemed rather unnatural. All of the branches seemed to come from different plants, and it looked as if they had been deliberately placed. Removing the branches revealed several instrument cases. Opening the cases revealed each of my instruments: a Takamine 12-string, a Cremona Violin, a small Korg keyboard, and my prize possession, a vintage Rickenbacker 4001. Some of these I had gotten deals on. With the others, I had to save up for months.

While reveling in my good fortune, something occurred to me.

'This all seems a bit contrived, all of my instruments just magically showing up here. I know this Discord guy is a god, or whatever, but still. Maybe he's just doing this on purpose to make me over-think the situation.'

After I calmed down a bit, reality set in: "How in the hell am I going to carry all of this with me?"

Closing the cases, I threw both guitars over my back, their case straps digging into my shoulders, and picked up my violin and keyboard cases.

"Looks like I'm in for one hell of a hike."

Looking around, I tried to decide which direction to go. One direction seemed to lead deeper into the forest, which only seemed to get darker, while the opposite direction appeared to lead to a clearing. I chose the latter option, "Never go deeper  into the dark forest" being the standard rule of horror movies, fantasy novels, and various hikers and explorers that had been injured or killed after doing the inverse of this. There was just something about the forest that gave off a bad vibration. I wouldn't say it was truly evil, but rather it exuded that primeval fear of unknown, mysterious things. Things that may or may not be dangerous. Sighing, I shifted the weight of the guitars on my back, and headed off towards the clearing. What was that smell drifting through on the wind? Apples?

________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, the sun was spreading it's friendly, warm fingers over the rooftops and through the windows of Canterlot castle. Luna awoke at the same balcony as the night before, apparently having fallen asleep while sitting. Celestia was no longer at her side having awakened earlier to raise the sun. She looked out over Equestria as her sister's light slowly illuminated the landscape. No fires, no flooding, no earthquakes, nothing even vaguely apocalyptic. This did nothing to ease her anxiety, however. The feeling from last night was even stronger. The vehicle that would bring great change had indeed arrived. It was only refusing to reveal itself.

'Perhaps I am worrying too much., she thought. 'I never felt any indication that it would bring anything evil. But there's always the possibility that it could be.

Luna continued wrestling with her thoughts. One could not react to something properly if they did not have all the facts, but what if not reacting at all brought harm to her subjects?

________________________________________________________________

Well, the smell certainly was that of apples: not long after emerging from the forest I stumbled upon a dense orchard filled with sweet-smelling apple trees. Their scent was much stronger and sweeter than that of apples back home, and I wondered if they tasted just as good. Moving into the trees a bit to give myself some cover (I still had no idea what the inhabitants of this world were like), I set down my instruments, pulled an apple from a tree, and sat down, leaning my back up against said tree. Biting into the apple rewarded me with waves of flavour far more delicious than any I had ever tasted back on Earth. Finishing the apple and tossing aside the core, I was left to wonder exactly what to do now. Without anything better to do, I went to pull out my Takamine and noticed that there was a book nestled into the case.

The Tao Te Ching? I didn't remember putting it in here. A thought occurring to me, I opened up my other cases, and sure enough, I found an assortment of other books that I owned tucked into the various pockets and compartments: Civil Disobedience, Nature, Parallel Worlds, an anthology of Romantic-era poetry and short stories (Poe, Shelley, Coleridge, etc), the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Silmarilion and the first volume of Bleach, which seemed a bit out of place amongst these other more serious works, were stuffed rather haphazardly and unceremoniously into my instrument cases, along with my tablet computer. Putting these aside as something Discord may have thought to be useful, although I'll be damned if I knew how they'd be, I went back to my guitar. After mentally going through my musical library, began to play a familiar song. (Open in new tab and once the music starts, keep reading) Something about the jangling 12-string melody seemed to fit perfectly into this world: curling, playful breezes wafting the sweet scent of these otherworldly apples, complete peace. I began to sing over the music, singing the lines I did know, humming the ones I didn't, my deepish voice contrasting a bit with original the song. A bird landed on a branch over my head and looked down at me. I waited for it to fly away, but it didn't. It just stayed there, watching. I didn't think much of it at the time.

'Maybe the birds here are just used to humanoids. Maybe some other intelligent life lives on this planet.'

Then, a white rabbit hopped out from behind an apple tree, and right up to me. I paused in my playing.

'I didn't think white rabbits were found that often in the wild. Maybe things are different here. Or maybe it's somebody's pet. That would explain why it isn't afraid of me.

It pawed at my guitar, almost as if it were telling me to play more. I reached down to pet it, when I heard something that sounded like "Eep!" from a few feet in front of me. Looking up, I saw a blur of yellow dart back behind an apple tree.

'Hmph. Maybe it was a bird.'

I resumed my playing, and I noticed something curious: the rabbit seemed to be swaying to the beat of the song. It was almost as if it were dancing.

'Is it just a coincidence, or can he actually comprehend music?, I wondered.

When I finished the song, the rabbit pawed at my guitar again, and then sat back expectantly.

"Alright, I'll play one more." The rabbit gave me an idea.

________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy loved weather like this. Sunny enough to warm one's fur, but not inordinately hot. The smell of earth and grass riding in on a playful cool breeze. The birds singing joyfully in the trees.

"Angel!", she called, stepping outside. The little white rabbit poked it's head out of it's home, eager for adventure.Today was the perfect day to play and run in the fields. After Fluttershy prepared a picnic basket for the two of them to share later, they set out to the green fields and forests adjacent to Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy keeping the picnic basket firmly between her teeth.

After a pleasant frolic amongst the tall grasses (well, Angel frolicked. Flutter just kept up behind him to keep him from wandering too far), both had worked up a considerable appetite. Fluttershy returned to her basket and unfolded (not without some awkwardness) the checked picnic blanket, and was beginning to lay out the meal she had packed for herself and Angel when he suddenly paused, ears rigid and swiveling like radar dishes trying to pick up a signal.

"What is it, Angel?", she asked.

Without giving the slightest response, Angel darted off in the opposite direction from Fluttershy.

"Angel!", she cried out, and quickly gave chase.

As they approached sweet apple acres, she lost sight of him quickly in the trees, but she heard the soft crunching of grass and leaves under his feet and attempted to follow it. She also heard something else. Something she had never heard before. Could it be... music? Singing?

Cautiously rounding a tree brought her barely a few dozen hooflengths from the strangest creature she had ever seen. She quickly hid behind the nearest tree, cautiously peeking around. It reminded her of the pictures of apes she had seen, but none of those had worn... clothes? Her vague intrest came to an abrupt end upon seeing Angel boldly approaching the creature. Her heart nearly jumped into her mouth. What if it were dangerous? What if it were hungry? She let out a muffled "Eep!" and quickly moved further behind the cover of the tree trunk as the being noticed Angel and began to reach down towards him. Then she noticed that it was not hurting Angel. Not in the least. It simply reached out and stroked his fur. It seemed... gentle. It manner almost reminded her of herself.

Once she was convinced that it was not going to do anything to Angel, Fluttershy was able to better observe the This creature was far taller than the apes she had likened it to, and almost completely bald except for a spiny-looking clump atop it's slightly disproportionately small head. It's skin was pale, nearly white but with barely a hint of pink and tan. Strewn about the ground next to it were what appeared to be a set of strangely shaped shiny black cases, each with a handle. Even more strangely, it held some sort of instrument. It looked remarkably like a guitar, but it was bigger and had too many strings.

And the music he played with it! It was unlike any she had heard before. It was bright and layered, the melody almost folding back over itself, flowing and dancing. It was beautiful.

She was also mesmerised by the movement of his... were those claws? No they couldn't be: they were too rounded at the tips. They danced across the strings with spectacular dexterity.

And then she cought on to the lyrics of the song as the creature sang:

"A time to gain, a time to lose

A time to rend, a time to sew

A time for love, a time for hate

A time for peace, I swear it's not too late"

It seemed to be a mix of every feeling: something happy, something sad, something wistful, something angry. What did it mean by "a time for hate"? What did it mean by "it's not too late"?

Fluttershy was sad when the song ended, but the creature began a new song shortly after. But this one was different. It was mysterious, even vaguely menacing, almost like a creeping animal. But then the tempo briefly picked up speed. It had the same mysterious sound, but instead of being sinister, it was almost playful. None of the words made any sense. How exactly does a caterpillar smoke a hookah? This song was far shorter than the first one, although Fluttershy wasn't terribly upset: while this song was indeed beautiful, it felt there was something hidden beneath the oozing melody, something ominous. It was at this point that Angel left the creature's side and moved back toward her. Careful not to make any noise, for she still wasn't sure about the intent of this strange new being, Fluttershy left the orchard, returned to the picnic site in the field with Angel by her side, repacked the uneaten lunch (to Angel's dismay), and returned quickly to Ponyville.

'If anyone can tell me anything about what all this creature might be, it's Twilight.', she thought to herself.

After putting away her things and settling Angel in his little house, Fluttershy set off for the library.

"Twilight?", she whispered, nervously pushing open the door in the side of the gargantuan tree. "Twilight?"

After ascending a few flights of stairs, she found Twilight, nose buried in a book. The Pony in the Rye.

"Twilight?"

The pony in question looked up from the book with a start. "Hah? Who? Oh. Hello Fluttershy. What brings you here today."

"Well...", began the nervous pegasus, and Fluttershy proceeded to recount the events of the day: Angel running off, following him to the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, seeing the mysterious creature, the oddly shaped black boxes at its side, listening to its surreal music.

"You are absolutely certain about all of this?", Twilight inquired skeptically, although it was more out of her own incredulity than doubt of her friend.

"Yes! The only thing I could possibly compare it to is a monkey, and I'm... fairly certain that that would be a bit of an inaccuracy.  It was certainly nothing known to Equestria.", replied Fluttershy.

Then a thought came to her. Despite it's ridiculousness, Fluttershy couldn't think of anything else that might make more sense. Prepared for ridicule, and unable to contain her thought any longer, she asked,

"Do you think it could be... a fairy? Or an elf?"

Twilight's eyebrows arched high. "You can't be serious."

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves, her usually yellow features turning a shade of pink.

"Well... it's just... you know...I thought... In the old mare's tales, they talk about elves and fairies who come out of forests and play strange music. Music that no pony could ever make... Oh, how could I say that! Such a silly idea!", she managed to stammer out, leaving the room with the pink of embarrassment still painted across her face.

'Well that was strange.', thought Twilight, and tried to put the events of the past few minutes out of her mind. She could not, however. Fluttershy's tale of the strange creature continued to mull around in her mind. Casting aside her book, she quickly trotted to the history section of the library, then to the animals section. She spent the remainder of the afternoon, going well into the night, fastidiously going through each and every book about creatures that exist or used to exist in Equestria, finding nothing remotely similar to what Fluttershy had described. Could it really be a creature out of myth and legend? What was going on?

When the men on the chessboard

Get up and tell you where to go

And you've just had some kind of mushroom

And your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she'll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead

And the white knight is talking backwards

And the red queen's off with her head

Remember what the dormouse said

Feed your head, feed your head

Jefferson Airplane, White Rabbit

Chapter 3: E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)

Edited, Retcon'd

Waking up after a sound night's sleep under the apple tree (I don't know what possessed me to do such an irresponsible thing, but I seemed to have gotten through the night safely), I decided to get up and continue on. I got up and stretched, a few stiff joints popping, and re-gathered all of my instruments, I began to move out towards the edge of the orchard, in hopes that I might be able to see something besides trees. Something that might indicate the presence of intelligent life. Heading up a hill (which was not easy with several pounds of musical equipment), I saw what looked like a barn and a large painted sign reading "Sweet Apple Acres".

''Sweet Apple Acres'? Sounds like a petting zoo or something from a kid's show. What gives?'

Continuing on my way, I saw what looked to be a small town which, truth be told, looked vaguely like something one might see out in the British or Irish countryside: simple wooden-frame houses with thatched roofs that frankly looked a bit crooked. They were a bit small for human houses, but then again, this was not Earth (in case you couldn't tell). The only odd thing about it was that some of them seemed to be a bit too fancy for the setting, or at least the designer had tried to make them that way, sticking out from the simpler houses were some that almost exuded affluence. Hell, there was even one that looked like it was made to look like some sort of fancy pastry.

'Maybe we've got some sort of Hansel and Gretel situation going on here.', I thought, jokingly.

Actually, scratch what I said about the small size of everything being what was most unusual. Looking more closely, I saw movement in the streets. Something lived here, but it wasn't even vaguely human. If anything, they looked like fluorescent-coloured horses. Make that ponies (they were too small to be horses). They didn't look to dangerous, but one never knows. Besides, the sudden appearance of 6-foot, 5-inch me in this town clearly unaccustomed to the human figure would probably cause a great deal of unrest. Frankly, I didn't care that that is what Discord had sent me here for. I didn't want to cause any riots.

What happened next was completely unexpected. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of something pale blue and... rainbow-coloured? Immediately after, I felt a crushing impact at the side of my head. My vision began swimming, slowly fading into darkness. My last thought before losing consciousness completely was 'Hm. Maybe they aren't so friendly..

________________________________________________________________

"Jeez! What is he made of? Rocks!?"

Rainbow Dash had just successfully taken down a monster she saw wandering near the outskirts of Ponyville. It was by far the strangest creature she had ever seen, and she had no doubt that it was somehow dangerous. What else walks on two legs except for Minotaurs and and Manticores? Both of those were certainly a threat to the safety of those in Ponyville, and this bewildering being could easily be the same.

Now the problem remained as to how exactly she would get this beast into a secure location. She had heard that there was a largely disused section of the hospital containing restraining equipment and barred windows. She wasn't entirely sure what it was for as it had never been used (she was almost certain) in her lifetime, but she felt that it certainly would be useful. So that was the location, but the creature was far to large for her to move it on her own. Unwilling to leave it alone, lest it wake up and begin terrorising Ponyville, she decided to wait for another Pegasus to fly over where she could get it's attention and send for assistance. There was some cloud-moving in order for today (which she was currently attempting to avoid), and somepony was bound to fly over at some point.

Okay, that matter was all cleared up. Now what was up with all of these boxes and bags the beast had with it? Some had clasps on them that Rainbow had considerable difficulty opening. The bags had zippers on them, which were rather easier to open. What she found inside was rather surprising: a violin, two items she would have said looked like guitars except one had too many strings and the other had too few, and something that looked like the keyboard of a piano, but she hadn't the faintest idea how one would play it without the rest of instrument. And were these books? If they were, they were written in some language she had never seen before. What was with that weird black-and-white circle on it's... clothes? Why did it have so much clothes?

Soon enough, a Pegasus few overhead, and Rainbow called him down to help her move the creature. It was tedious work, especially with the black packages they had placed on top of him in order to transport them (for some reason she couldn't really say, Rainbow was intrigued by them), but they did eventually get to the hospital.

Staring wide-eyed at the creature, Nurse Redheart managed to get out. "...What... is this thing?... and why did you bring it here?"

"I caught it near Ponyville. It came out of the forest, so I didn't want to take any chances with it. So I rammed it in the head and had it brought here for... safekeeping, if you know what I mean."

"Well... alright...", said Redheart, "I'm still not quite sure why you gave him such a serious injury without proof of any malevolence, but there isn't much we can do about that now. ...Even so, he doesn't look very well. We can lock him down, but I still want to check him over."

"Fine.", said Rainbow with a bit of an edge. Why should this thing get any treatment? And what was I supposed to do? Wait until it got into town to see if it were friendly or if it started smashing things up?

Together, they brought the creature down to a section of the hospital that had gone largely disused for years. Flipping on the dim lights (how they still worked after all this time is a mystery) revealed a rather menacing room. It was nearly completely underground and the few windows that were present were blocked by metal bars. The beds were equipped with straps for the hands and feet.

"What exactly was this place used for?", inquired Rainbow. It would be the greatest lie of all time to say she was not disturbed by the dust-laden surroundings.

"It was used quite a long time ago for patients who were... not quite right.", replied Redheart, choosing her words carefully. "It hasn't been used in years because it turned out to cause more damage to these patients than healing, so other methods were developed. I think it should be alright for our guest here, though, considering the circumstances. Of course if it turns out that he really is friendly, keeping him here would be a grave mistake."

After helping Redheart heave the creature into the bed and fasten the straps, Rainbow took her leave, eager to get out of the unsettling mental ward.

Redheart stayed for a bit though to examine the beast. While its form was certainly alien to Equestria, it was not without a certain elegance in its design: broad shoulders, leading down to a pair of oddly-jointed arms which ended in five-fingered... hands? This is what they were called on monkeys and at the time, Redheart couldn't find any better analogue. The nails were a bit long on them, though not nearly long enough to constitute claws. The five fingers were long and a bit thin, but the veins and sinews standing out from the skin and running up just past the wrist before disappearing into the skin suggested that this creature was rather proficient at using them for some sort of work. Muscles stood slightly out from its neck, which led up to a slightly out of proportion head with a squarish jaw. She cringed a little at the several pointed teeth visible through the creature's slightly open mouth. But there were also several flatter teeth. Omnivorous? Its mouth was separated from its snout, which was small and triangular with a rounded-off point near the end. The creature's overall appearance seemed to suggest it to be a male, but there was something vaguely feminine about its features. Nothing particularly overt, but its face seemed a bit too shapely, its appendages a bit too delicate, and its colouration a bit too creamy for a  typical male.

Having other patients to tend to, she decided to leave the creature alone for now.

________________________________________________________________

Wandering through Ponyville, earnestly avoiding Cloud Duty, Rainbow was mulling over just what this strange new beast could possibly be. Failing to come up with a suitable explanation on her own, Rainbow concluded that the best thing to do would be to get Twilight and have her look at the creature: if anyone knew, it would be her. Walking to the library, Rainbow found it locked with a sign on the door reading "CLOSED FOR RE-ORGANISATION. PLEASE COME AGAIN. THANK YOU!

"Ugh, I don't have time for this.", Rainbow said to herself, and proceeded to knock loudly at the door until a rather irate Twilight poked her head out the door.

"What?! Was the sign not clear enough?"

"Look, re-organising your precious books can wait. I have something important to show you!"

"Is this going to be like the last time you said you found something important and it was just to get me to help you with your paperwork for the Wonderbolts?"

"No! I'm serious this time! I found some weird creature out at the edge of Ponyville, so I bashed it in the head in case it was dangerous. I have no idea what it is, and I need you to tell me!"

This mention of a strange creature clicked in Twilight's mind, reminding her of the bizarre conversation she had had with Fluttershy the day before.

"And it has books."

Twilight's ears stood up at this. Books?

"What did they say? What were they about?"

"I don't know. I couldn't read them."

"What do you mean, you 'couldn't read them'? I know you aren't much for reading, but I know you know how to read."

"It's not my fault! They're all written in some funky language! I can't read any of it!"

Twilight relented.

"Alright, I'll go with you. But I can't stay too long: the library is in an absolutely dreadful state."

Rainbow hadn't really noticed before due to her being preoccupied with the creature herself, but much of the town must have noticed her and the other Pegasus dragging it through the streets, and there was a considerable buzz rippling through the crowded streets.

Reaching the hospital, Rainbow led Twilight down to the eerie ward where the beast had been tied down. After overcoming her surprise at realising that the creature almost exactly matched Fluttershy's description (with the exception of the large white bandage wrapped around its forehead), Twilight asked the obvious question:

"Why is he tied up? He seems to be out cold."

"And what happens when he wakes up?", retorted Rainbow, "We don't want him terrorising the town now, do we?"

"Whatever. Where are those books you told me about?"

"They're in these black case things over there.", said Rainbow, gesturing in their direction.

Unzipping and un-clipping the cases, Twilight too was taken aback by the instruments inside, but those were of secondary interest to her. She gathered up the books and levitated them to a nearby table. Rainbow was right: they were in a language, or at least with characters completely foreign to Equestria. The first to catch her attention was a medium-sized blue book covered in white and green characters, the basic design of which seemed to be lines intersecting, meeting, or sprouting other lines, with a few circular characters here and there. In the centre of the cover was another character, or at least Twilight thought it looked like a character, although a better description would be a collection of lines of differing shapes and thicknesses mashed together in a shape. Inside were more characters like this, along with more of the line-based script, which was consistently stiff and regimented, kept in neat rows and columns. It was much neater than the wavy, squiggly writing of Equestrians. She liked it.

The rest of the books were all written in this latter script, but the subject matter of each appeared different:

One book had only a small square of text on the front, but on the back was a rather striking, if slightly too angular illustration of some other member of this creature's species. It bore a fierce scowl, a clump of orange-yellow fur on it's head which was made to look spiny (much like that of the creature on the bed, except it's was black), was wearing a black robe and was brandishing what Twilight thought looked an awful lot like a sword from one of the history books she had read. On the inside, instead of words, there were boxy collections of pictures, many of which included the figure from the cover along with still other versions of this species and a few rather monstrous-looking creatures, with words next to their heads in bubbles. Twilight noticed that the images seemed  to have a flow that went from right to left, instead of the normal left to right. Was this book printed back-to front?

The next book had an illustration on the front. This time, even though it had no colour, it seemed to be a much more realistic representation than that on the previous book. The expression on the face of the creature on the cover could only be described as sanguine. He was rather young-looking, his lips were barely curled in a slight smile, and his eyes seemed almost half-shut, gazing off in another direction. His head-fur, instead of being wildly spiked, looked as if someone had put wax in it and shaped it to look smooth. All of this gave him a very noble, stately look. Perhaps he was a prince or a lord.

There were several other books, all with varying illustrations and all filled with the same indecipherable yet strangely aesthetically pleasing writing.

Then the creature began to stir.

________________________________________________________________

When I came to, my vision didn't come back clearly right away. I had a smashing pain in my head, like I had gotten totally hammered the night before. Through the haze, I tried to pick myself up, but I found that I couldn't. Looking around, I found that I was being restrained on a bed by straps around my wrists and ankles. They seemed to be rather flimsy in their construction, but were sufficient to keep me in place in my weakened state.

'Aw crap. Maybe I went nuts while tripping and somebody locked me up in a mental institution. I knew this was all too weird to be true.

But even as I thought this to myself, it became implausible: two of the vividly-coloured pony-like creatures that I had seen earlier were standing a short distance away from me.

Were they reading my books? Wait, where was all of my stuff?!

Attempting to adjust my position in the bed gave me a slight headache behind my eyes, causing me to grunt softly. The two creatures must have heard it, because they turned around and looked directly at me. One, a purple-coloured pony, cautiously stepped over to the end of my bed and began speaking speaking to me. I was slightly surprised that it could speak English, but that surprise quickly turned to annoyance when it became apparent that it was talking in that slow, loud, drawn out way that jackass tourists talk to non-English speaking locals, as if it somehow magically makes them understand the language.

"HELLO. YOU... ARE... CURRENTLY..."

Then the light blue one with wings said, "What are you doing? It's some monster from the forest. Why would it know how to talk?"

This irritated me severely.

"Look, I don't know how we speak the same language, but I can understand you perfectly. You... (I looked at the first pony)... can stop talking like that, and you... (I looked at the second pony)... is it to much to ask for a little respect? Or at least give me a chance before coshing me over the head?" (My memory of the event that led to my current situation was starting to come back now.)

Both of them looked at me with shock written all over their features.

The blue one recovered rather quickly and began pushing the purple one out the door, agitatedly whispering "Get out! Get out! We have to tell somebody that it's awake!"

I was a bit put off by their reaction, but I could understand it. I must look at least slightly freakish to them. But there was time to smooth things over at a later date. Right now, I needed to get out of these wristbands.

I waited until I was sure they were out of earshot, and then I began to pull up with my arms. Much to my surprise, the wooden structure fastening the straps to the bed gave way rather easily, responding with a resounding snap.

'Crap. I hope nobody heard that.'

As I sat up and unbuckled the straps around my ankles, I heard a rush of feet, or... hooves coming towards my room.

'Damn.'

Then I thought of something. It was a pretty goofy idea, but I figured that it couldn't make the situation any worse. Hell, I seemed to be in a land of fairy-tale creatures, and this kind of thing seemed to work in some of them. I stood up, walked over to where my instrument cases were strewn, open, on the floor, picked up my Korg, sat down, and flicked the switch, bringing assorted red and green lights to life.

'Yes! The batteries still work!

And I began to play...

________________________________________________________________

Nurse Redheart was distracted from her work with a patient by a frantic Rainbow Dash, who was preceded by a slightly put-off Twilight being shoved ahead.

"It's awake! Come quick! The thing's awake!"

"Please quiet down! I'm with a patient here! Besides, it's strapped into the bed. There's no way that it can..."

At this point a loud cracking came from almost directly below them.

"See! I knew it was dangerous! Now it's going to try and kill us all!", yelled a frantic Rainbow, who then raced towards the stairway and down to the basement.

"Rainbow! Wait!", shouted Twilight and Redheart almost in unison, and dashed after her in an attempt to stop her from directly engaging the beast unprotected.

Twilight, unlike Rainbow, was convinced by its instruments, books, and refined speech that the creature was civilised and not a wild animal, but it had seemed pretty agitated at finding itself tied down, and if history meant anything, it was that even the most civil of creatures could provoked to violence.

What greeted Twilight's eyes however, was a complete subversion of her expectations. The creature was not angry. It was not being violent. It was calmly sitting there with it's piano-less keyboard, and playing a song. It was a song quite unlike any other she had ever heard before. It was simple, yet mesmerisingly beautiful. She remembered more of her conversation with Fluttershy, who had said that this creature had been playing music when she had found it. Things were getting stranger by the minute.

Redheart, Twilight, and Rainbow all stood in a stunned silence for the better part of a minute before Twilight recovered her ability to speak.

"That was amazing! More importantly, how are you doing that?"

________________________________________________________________

"Thank you.", I said. "I take it that you have a revised opinion of me now?

"Yes, well.. some of us...", she nodded to the blue pony, "...may need a bit more convincing, but I am willing to believe you.", said the purple pony.

She seemed a bit put off by my not answering her question, but that could be rectified at a later date.

"Alright. Now, I believe some introductions are in order. My name is Marcus Szekely. I am a resident of Boston, capitol of Massachusetts, one of the states of the United States of America. Although I suppose that won't mean much to you."

"Zeklee? What kind of... oh, never mind. My name is Twilight Sparkle. This (she pointed at the blue pony) is Rainbow Dash, and this is Nurse Redheart. You are currently in the hospital of Ponyville, a town in Equestria."

I had to stifle a laugh at the name of the town. Hey, it sounded like something from a kid's show. What would you do?

The one called Redheart spoke next. "I've never heard of Boston, or... Masachewzets, or any of those places. Where are they? Are they close by?"

You don't know the half of it, lady.'

"Well, they definitelyaren't anywhere close, but I couldn't give you any sort of accurate or believable answer if I tried. I believe that I probably fall under the category of 'space alien' here. Yesterday I was..."

I hesitated here, as I wasn't sure how this society looked upon trippers, if they even had such a thing.

"...out with some friends, and the next thing I knew, I started moving across some sort of portal through the universe. I woke up here. Or more accurately, I woke up in the forest near this town."

"So, you're from another planet?", asked Twilight, excitement audible in her voice.

"At the least. This may even be a different universe from mine."

________________________________________________________________

Twilight's ears stood straight up. Her brain was exploding with questions. Another planet? Maybe another universe? This was the research opportunity of a lifetime!

________________________________________________________________

Well, I met an old man dyin' on a train.

No more destinations, no more pain

But he said one thing before I crept away:

"Never let your fear decide your fate"

-AWOLNation, Kill Your Heroes

Chapter 4: Eve of Destruction

NOTE TO READERS:

First, I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time to read my first (and rather obviously novice-written) fic. Second, I'd like you to know that I am now open to song suggestions. No promises, but I'll try to work them in when I can.

Peace.

**Now back to your (barely) regularly scheduled programming.**

________________________________________________________________

After having him spend another day in the hospital to ensure good recovery, Twilight decided to let the creature room in the library. It was partially out of good will, but a significant part had to do with wanting to keep him close in order to glean as much information as she possibly could. He protested at first, apparently not wanting to impose (more and more things kept pointing towards his species being a cultured one), but she won him over in the end, and he was soon lugging his vast number of possessions up to a spare room in the library. He kept saying things like "I really can't thank you enough." and "I really owe you for this.", although she had no idea why. Maybe his species wasn't as hospitable towards strangers. She was still mystified by the fact that he spoke fluent Equestrian, a mystery that was deepened by the fact that he read and wrote in a language completely different. Or maybe it was Equestrian written differently. She would have to get to that later. Besides, there was probably a spell somewhere that would allow her to read his books. There were more important matters at hand, anyway. After he was done organising himself (sometime that afternoon), she called him down to her study, quill and paper at the ready.

"So what is this; the whole 'let's interrogate the ali...aaah!?"

He leapt back a bit.

"What?", asked Twilight, who was at a loss for what had shocked him so.

"How are you doing that?"

The crea... Marcus appeared to be gesturing in the direction of the presently levitating and lavender-glowing quill and paper.

"Relax; it's just a simple levitation spell. What are you getting so jumpy for?"

"You're kidding right? It's just some sort of illusion."

Twilight furrowed her brow in confusion.

"What's so hard to believe?"

Then something dawned on her.

"Do you mean to say that magic doesn't where you come from?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Interesting... She'd have to make a note of that for later inquiry. But for now, there were more important questions to have answered

"Trust me, this is totally normal for us. I imagine it may take some getting used to, but magic is everywhere in Equestria. We'll have to talk about that later, though. Right now, I'm more interested in your species in general. What can you tell me about yourselves?"

Marcus raised his eyebrows and exhaled loudly at this.

"Hm... well for starters, we call ourselves Humans, and as for our history, well, it's not exactly simple. If you want to start at the absolute beginning, it's going to take more than one sitting to take everything down."

"Well, I guess a good starting point would be something about you. We can get to history later.", Twilight replied.

"Okay. The planet I come from is divided into almost 200 countries. The one I come from is called the United States of America, also referred to as the United States, the USA, the US or America for short. We are one of the largest, physically speaking, and are considered one of the most powerful and influential countries in our world, although in recent years we've had some major screw-ups in our government and economy. The country..."

"Hold on a second. You mentioned your government. How does it work?"

"I could probably give a pretty good breakdown of things, but I think we should probably set aside some other time for that when we can talk for longer. You said earlier that have a monarchy here, right? That's a pretty simple system: a clear-set hierarchy of control with easily defined power structures. The USA is a Democratic Republic with a Moderate Capitalist economy. These two are complicated enough on their own, but they can also overlap, and that's when things get even more complex... and don't even get me started on all the bureaucracy crap we have to put up with! It would probably be better to have a talk specifically about human politics."

Slightly miffed by this setback and wondering exactly what a Democratic Republic and a Moderate Capitalist were, Twilight allowed him to continue.

"Anyway, the US breaks down into 50 states. Well, technically they're provinces but we call them states. The state I'm from is called New York, and I live in that state's capitol."

"You mentioned that you had a bunch of different countries. Do you have any relatives from there?

"I do, actually. My father's family mostly comes from Romania and Hungary, and my mother's side is from all over the United Kingdom: Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English. I might have a little French and German scattered in there, too. My family's been living in the US for a few generations now, like three or four, going back maybe 70 or 80 years. By the way, I know you and I speak the same language, but not all of us humans do. Each country tends to have it's own, with a few exceptions. English is spoken in a lot of places, but that's mostly due to the fact that England and the US liked to meddle in the matters of other countries and kind of forced the language on a lot of people."

"So even though you aren't from this 'England' place, you still call it English?"

"Exactly. Culture differences have caused a bit of a difference in vocabulary, but the language is still pretty much the same in the US as it is in England."

"Hold on now. I probably should have begun with this, but how and when exactly did your species start? All of this diversity couldn't have cropped up overnight."

"Actually, when compared to the age of our planed, Humans have hardly been around for very long. We started off a few hundred thousand years ago as monkeys. Well... actually that's not quite right. It's probably more accurate to say that we have a common ancestor with modern monkeys and apes, but we split somewhere down the line and became our own genus."

"Genus?"

"It has to do with the way we group types of animals. It's one level over the specific species. Over time, the primitive human genus shifted into a few different subspecies, the prominent ones being the Neanderthals and, later on the Cro-Magnon. Humans as we know them today are pretty much all descended from the latter."

"How did that happen? What happened to the Nee...andertalls?"

"We were just better designed. It's one of the earliest known situations of "brains over brawn". The Neanderthals were bigger and more robust,  but the Cro-Magnon were more intelligent. I'm not sure if this was caused by conditioning over time or some random genetic quirk, but that's how things worked out. They learned how to better interact with the environment, so we survived better, and if we came into contact with Neanderthals and had some sort of conflict, we would be able to outwit them in battle."

Her quill paused here."Battle?"

"Yeah. Battle."

The nonchalant manner in which he mentioned this made Twilight a bit uneasy.

"So, are you a warrior race?"

"Well, I wouldn't quite say that. We used to be more so early in our history, but not so much any more. War is a pretty powerful influence on our lives an technology though."

"Why?"

"It's a bit complicated. You all seem pretty nice here. Hell, you're probably one of the most peaceful races that the universe has ever produced but I honestly have to wonder how that could have possibly happened. I guess it has to do with a difference in our environment. You see, when humans were evolving, before we had advanced technology, we lived out in the wilderness. It was a very harsh, very dangerous place to be. There were predators lurking at every turn and the natural environment was hardly forgiving. We eventually learned that if we wanted to survive in a place like that, we would have to be self-centred. Whoever had the most food and best shelter had the greatest chance of survival. We became attracted to mates with these characteristics because it became bred into us that these individuals were the most likely to be healthy and better able to protect offspring. Many other species on my planet are like this too, but that's another topic entirely. The point is that we're wired to be greedy. This basic greed was counteracted by the fact that we realised we were more likely to survive in a group than as individuals (I think this, too is inherently greedy: if the people around you are better off, you will be too), but since not all humans stemmed from a unified group, we ended up with factions each trying to gather benefit for themselves. This caused the groups to see others as threats, and this often led to conflict. This never really went away, so when we developed to the point of having countries and governments, these conflicts just continued on a larger scale and over more sophisticated things."

Twilight's quill moved across the page like mad.

"But why couldn't you just work things out in a civilised fashion like diplomacy or negotiation?"

"Well, in a hostile world filled with primitive sapient beings, the rule of nature isn't 'who can negotiate the best in a social construct', it's 'who can survive the best'. We simply didn't have the capacity at that point for intelligent debating. Whoever was the best at staying alive is who survived, and if staying alive meant killing off some of your fellow humans, then that's exactly what we would do."

Twilight became a little unnerved at the coolness with which Marcus described the nature of humans. How could something be so vicious towards it's own people? But at the same time, she felt sympathy for them; being trapped in a world so unforgiving that it could force them to violence just to stay alive.

"But you said that you aren't like that any-more, right?"

"Well, I didn't exactly say that. I said we aren't as much like that. As we developed and grew more intelligent, we became more affluent, leaving us with spare time. Some used that time to contemplate the nature of war and developed peaceful ideologies in order to try and combat it. But this affluence also brought a different kind of war. Like I said, that innate greediness never really left us, so we still tend to have wars now and then, but instead of over things like food and necessary resources, they're over ideology, power, influence, and more high-tech resources."

"Every now and then?", Twilight asked, incredulously. "Here in Equestria, there are only two wars that I can recall, and they happened so long ago hardly anybody remembers them. How many wars has your species had?"

"Ugh. To be honest, I don't think I could put a number on it. Hundreds, probably. Some were small, and only involved a few tribes of people, and some involved entire nations all fighting each other at once... And you don't even want to get into the kind of weaponry we've developed to fight these wars. Hell, we've got weapons that can wipe out entire cities in one huge explosion; just completely vapourise everything within a few miles, and them some!"

This startling revelation left Twilight in a complete state of shock, that last line in particular. This Marcus creature seemed peaceful enough. How could he come from a species so seemingly violent and bent on thrashing itself out of existence? Perhaps it was all a facade. But then why hadn't he done anything bad yet? Wouldn't he have tried to take advantage by now? (Not like that!)

'We'll just have to wait and see...'

"...You tell meeee, o'er and o'er and o'er again my friend, you don't believe, that we're on the Eve of Destruction..."

These softly-sung, mournful sounding lyrics brought Twilight out of her reverie, re-sparking her intrigue.

"What was that?", she asked.

"Remember how I said that there were some people that got tired of war? Well, there was a particularly turbulent time in our history when a lot of people had been pushed too far, and there was an international movement about 40 or 50 years ago. They're motto was basically "peace-and-love", and some really believed it. But there were some others who just used it as an excuse to do whatever they felt and to expound on things like Communism and Socialism that would probably harm peace more than help it, but I digress, back to the point: music has always been a powerful force in my species. We've got a saying: 'Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent'. And express they did: This era gave rise to a lot of musicians that shared the views of the peace movement and it came out in their music with all kinds of protests to the government. Some were laden with symbolism, some, like what I was just singing, were more direct. I can sing the rest of it if you'd like."

Music as a political force? This was new. It could certainly add an entirely new dimension to her understanding of this species.

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Alright. I'll just have to get something from my room first."

Marcus stood up and left the study, and Twilight heard some shuffling and clunking from over her head, followed by the sound of scattering papers and a emphatically enunciated "Shit!". Marcus returned shortly after with one of his guitars; the one with too many strings, not too few. He sat down and moved to begin playing.

"Wait. Just one more question: why does it have so many strings? Aren't they supposed to have six and not twelve?"

"Well, on Earth, we do have 6-string guitars, but I like the sound of 12-strings more. See, you don't play each individual string. The six lowest strings are tuned an octave apart, and the top six are all the same. See how close together the strings each pair are? The pairs are meant to be played in unison as if they were only one string. It gives it a brighter sound."

And with that, he began to play.

As the song progressed, Twilight picked up on some terminology she wasn't quite familiar with, but it hardly took away from their moving power. By the time the song had reached completion, Twilight was holding back tears. Fluttershy was right: These humans seemed to have elevated music far beyond anything the Equestrians had achieved; blending emotions together, pouring out their feelings and leaving indelible marks on the listener.

Perhaps these humans were in fact the faeries and elves of myth: forgotten legends who alone knew the deepest secrets of music.

________________________________________________________________

Think of all the hate there is in Red China

Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama

You may leave here for 4 days in space

But when you return, it’s the same old place

The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace

You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace

Hate your next-door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace

And… tell me over and over and over and over again, my friend

You don’t believe

We’re on the eve

Of destruction

-Barry McGuire, Eve of Destruction

The Electric Shaman

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