“Is there anything you can tell me about yourself?”
The man sat in silence. He wasn't much good for anything else at the moment, at any rate. He had been locked in an interrogation room for about an hour now. Arms chained to the table, legs shackled. He considered himself surprised at the lack of a muzzle.
Though he supposed that would make answering any questions rather difficult. Not that he was answering them anyway, the man had sat in silence the whole time, the only sign of life being his constant eye contact with his interrogator.
“Do you even understand me?”
He looked up. Staring back at him was the strangest creature he’d ever seen. Not that he’d seen many, mind you, but still. The creature, probably male judging by his voice, was of a much shorter build than the man, standing on four hooves at just above his midriff. Not including the horn atop his head.
Somehow, standing in front of the man across the table, was a unicorn. It couldn't possibly be a unicorn, but there it was. Unless his eyes deceived him, a fairy tale for young girls was currently giving him a hard stare.
He did find it hard not to stare back, though. This... unicorn, he'd have to call them that until he was given a better descriptor, had enormous eyes. Gigantic, overly expressive orbs that seemed to radiate frustration. Though that last bit may have just been this particular horse, he realized.
“I don’t know why the princess is so insistent on this. You’re clearly nothing more than some disfigured monkey.”
Interesting. The man thought, his head turned down for a moment, breaking eye contact, Princess. These people apparently still use royalty as a government type. How odd, he mused, that his first real query since the incident was of something so mundane.
He quickly looked back up, a small but obvious glare appearing on his face once the rest of the unicorn's words filtered through.
“I guess you’re at least smart enough to know when you’re being insulted.”
He walked around the table, giving him another chance to examine his captor. As he had already ascertained, he was basically equine, though the colors were a bit off-putting. Completely white, almost pristine, while his mane and tail were a shocking blue. He had some kind of golden armor over his chest and back. For a moment, the man considered how he might have donned such armor without the use of hands. That is, until he remembered the more defining feature of the unicorn.
The horn. Same color as his coat, and about six inches or so long. Rounded at the top, and the man knew from experience it had more use than as a simple stabbing tool.
Earlier, when everything was still a bit chaotic from his rather unorthodox arrival, the unicorn had had a spear, floating beside him, seemingly with telekinesis. The spear had an odd glow about it, the same color in fact as the glow that appeared around the horn. An easy connection to make, but the implications behind it were far more confusing.
The man grunted, knowing that the dozens of questions he already had were going to bother him immensely.
The unicorn had made his way completely around the table, now.
“I’m going to give you this last chance to explain yourself. I know those eyes.” He narrowed his as he said this. “They’re analytic, cold and calculating. I've seen them before in the mirror.”
The man doubted that.
“I’d rather not have to throw you in a zoo, if you’re intelligent. Show me you’re not some animal.” He leaned up towards me, an intense, patient stare upon his face.
“I would ask you to kindly step away."
He jumped at that. This was the first time the man had seen this one unnerved, actually, albeit with limited experience. His eyes seemed to grow wider as well, if that was even possible. Shaking himself a bit to gather his thoughts, he narrowed his eyes again.
“Why stay silent for so long? What was the point?”
“To be perfectly honest, I prefer to not speak unless I have something of value to say," the man replied, "Up until now I've been going over what's happened, and to be frank, I'm completely lost."
"I suppose I can understand that." He nodded, “You can’t know how you got here, even I’m technically in the dark on that one." He rubbed a hoof on the backside of his neck, "I've never been one for the technical stuff."
"Well, you're not exactly a man after my own heart, then."
He seemed confused, "A man?"
"Ah, yes. That is the term for a male of my species; human. Or homo sapiens sapiens, if you'd spontaneously prefer to get technical."
He chuckled, flashing a quick smirk. "A funny guy, huh? Glad to see you've got a sense of humor somewhere under that lab coat you've got." The reminder made the man adjust the sleeves, they had gotten a bit crumpled up. The unicorn took a moment to shuffle some papers on the table, skimming them. "Now, the magic experiment my sister was conducting was some pretty high-grade stuff, up until Discord messed with it."
"I'm... sorry, magic?" The man interrupted.
"Yes, of course," came the answer, "Do you know of anything else that can teleport a strange creature into a lab?"
"I... suppose not, no. At least nothing I'm aware of, that's for certain. My people have been working on teleportation for ages, with no luck. How exactly did... you said your sister? She was involved in this experiment?" He nodded. "Your sister, then. How did she manage it?"
“From what I understand, which isn’t much, my sister and a few scientists were performing an experiment on Discord’s magic. He's uh... an odd case." He scowled for a moment. “Apparently, while doing so, Discord sneezed.”
“He… sneezed.”
“Yes.”
“And this… teleported me to god knows where, while I was in the middle of important work?”
“Affirmative.” He gave me a snarky grin, one which the man assumed held much amusement.
“Care to explain that one? At least, as best you can?”
“Discord… is an odd one, like I said, to put it very lightly. He’s a draconequus, the living embodiment of chaos, and his magic reflects that. It’s probably why they were doing the experiment.”
"Living embodiment?" The man shook his head, "Never mind, that isn't pertinent yet. I'm sure I can figure it out later."
"You... don't want to ask if you can leave?" He asked, cocking his head to one side, "Go back to wherever it is you came from? I'd figure that'd be at the top of your to-do list."
"And miss out on the chance to learn about an entirely new world, filled with alien life?" A mental tug grew at the corner of his mouth, easily batted away. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. A good question, though, which I still want answered anyway. Would it be possible to arrange for my return?"
“I… don’t know. I’m sure they’ll work on it, though. It’s just that Discord has always been unpredictable, so there’s no telling what will happen.” He shakes his head. “We’re getting off track, here. I want to know about you, anything you can tell me. I need to make sure you’re not a threat.” He floated a small quill up, along with an inkwell, and another sheet of paper. "Let's start this off right. What's your name?"
“Alistair. Yes, before you begin, I know it's a strange name."
"It isn't the strangest one I've heard," he replied, writing something down on the paper. "You should hear some griffin names. Can you spell that for me?" As Alistair listed off the letters, privately marveling at the miraculously shared alphabet, he made to ask his own question.
"Now that you have mine, may I have yours?"
"Captain Shining Armor, at your service." A cocky smile made its way onto the unicorn's face, but it quickly was replaced by a thin expression once again.
“You mentioned you were doing your work, yes? When you arrived, you were covered in what looked like some kind of armor, but you don't sound like a soldier."
"Thank the heavens for that. No, I'm not a soldier. The poor fight we had, if you could call it that, can likely attest to my honesty. The 'armor' you found me in was just protective covering-"
"That's armor," He interrupted. Alistair glared at him a little, but he made no sign of backing down.
"Yes, yes, but not the kind you're imagining. I work at a weapons manufacturer. This armor was for protection during an experiment I was running, there were unstable elements involved."
“Don't I know about those," Shining muttered under his breath. "So you’re a scientist as well, then? My sister’s going to love that.” He rolled his eyes. "She's the one who was in charge of the experiment that brought you here, by the way. Did I mention that?"
"You said she was involved, but not that she was in charge of the project."
"Well, she was. Which is why she'll be getting custody of you, unfortunately." The captain must have noticed the man's inquisitive look, because he followed that with an explanation. "When Twily was given permission to follow through with this project, it was decreed that she be given all responsibility for whatever may come from it, under supervision of the Princesses. Now, you certainly weren't in mind when they wrote that up, but the forms were made and signed, and she's insisting that she deal with the consequences."
"Interesting. Taking responsibility seems like an honorable thing to do, though."
"Yes, but frankly, I don't like the idea of my sister and some creature, no offense, off out of my sight," He shook his head again, "But orders are orders. This meeting was to ensure you weren't an obvious threat, and to give me some peace of mind. You've done that, at least to some degree." He smirked, "Plus, as you said, you're not much in combat. My sister could probably take you down in seconds if she needed to."
“That won't be necessary, I can assure you. Can I ask a few questions, now?” He nodded. “Are ponies the dominant species here? You mentioned griffins earlier.”
“Well, I wouldn’t call us dominant. But most in Equestria are ponies. And, yeah, griffins are around, but they usually keep to themselves."
The thought of several intelligent species, let alone the fact that others even existed at all in the first place, all developing on the same planet was making the man's mind race, but he knew he'd have to put most of them on hold for now.
“I have to say,” He began, cutting Alistair's thoughts off, “You’re taking this rather well. You’d think somepony like you would be freaking out right about now.”
“Oh, even though I've always considered myself a very collected person, I'm sure when the initial shock wears off I'll have to take a moment or two. It's a bit surreal, actually. Seeing what's around me and knowing I'm being far too blase about it all.”
“Should we be worried?”
“No, I'd imagine not," he said, shaking his head, "I'm not a very violent person. Even so, with that... magic you all have, I'd likely not be much of a threat."
“Not all of us have magic. Well, not external magic, anyway. The pegasi and earth ponies have a more innate power about them.”
Pegasi. Alistair had to resist launching into a tirade of questions once again.
"But if anyone could do something like that, it'd be my sister."
"It sounds like your sister is quite the amazing person."
“Pony. I’m sorry to cut this short, Alistair, especially when we were finally getting somewhere. But the princess requested that she speak to you at about this time. I assume you've no problems with that?”
He shook his head.
“Good.” He began walking towards the door-or is that trotting? And turned at the last moment. “Oh, and be respectful. You’re about to meet one of the leaders of Equestria.” He walked out, and closed the door behind him.
"A princess is considered a leader, then. Probably just has more political pull that the average princess back home." Alistair thought out loud. "A world filled with magic, unicorns, pegasi, and with all of it led by Princesses." He stopped for a moment. "I've been drugged, haven't I?"
It was only a few minutes before she walked in. This one was much bigger than the captain, was Alistair's first thought.
She was white as well, an even more regal white than his previous friend, though with a pinkish tint to it. And that mane, it violated most of what could be called common sense. As if there were some breeze Alistair couldn't feel moving through it. Not to mention the vibrant, almost pastel colors. Even her eyes fit the bright colors scheme, being a gentle purple. The odd size didn't do too much to detract from the beauty, though. They still came off as very pretty.
She also had a small crown, just behind the horn. Which Alistair somehow only just now noticed.
“Hello. I am Princess Celestia.” He could hear the capital letter in princess. “Shining Armor tells me you've become a bit more cooperative now?”
“I’d like to think so, your majesty.” She may not have been his princess, but showing respect seemed like the right thing to do.
“Please, call me Celestia. I've no fantasies of being your ruler.” Formalities don’t matter much to her, then, Alistair noted. “Shining mentioned you are a scientist?” He nodded. “Twilight will be very excited to hear that.”
“Twilight?”
“My student. She’s also Shining’s sister.”
“Oh, yes. He mentioned her. But with more eye rolling.” She chuckled lightheartedly.
“Yes, she can be a bit… enthusiastic. But you are the subject of concern, right now.” He shifted a bit in his seat, to get more comfortable. The chains had begun to chafe. But he guessed they have to be careful; leader of a country, and all that. “Shining seems to think you aren't a threat, past that you apparently make weapons of some description. Though I wouldn't consider a smith to be inherently dangerous, either.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She smiled. Wider, anyway. Then it disappeared.
“I would like to apologize.”
“For? I wasn't getting the implication that this was your fault.” The smile came back, if only for a moment.
“Perhaps not, but they performed the experiment with my permission. I should have known this would happen, with Discord involved.”
“Am I to assume you can predict the sneezing patterns of assumably insane chaos avatars?”
“Well, no…”
“Perhaps you knew that a sneezing draconequus causes spontaneous teleportation of a strange creature?”
“No…”
“Then you are not at fault. Nor should you feel as such.” There's the smile again.
“I am relieved that you are so forgiving. I don’t know how well one of my little ponies would have reacted in a similar situation.” He gave her an understanding nod, and at the same time noted her phrasing. A motherly attitude towards her subjects, then, he thought.
“At any rate, my student will be working on finding you a way home. In the meantime, we must discuss what to do with you.” Celestia grew a thoughtful expression. “Twilight will be returning to Ponyville, soon, to start her research on getting you back. She'd do it here, but she's been missing her friends terribly since she started her work in Canterlot.” Ponyville? Canterlot? The names were obviously attached to settlements, but Alistair couldn't help but be amused at the puns. "I hope that's not an issue for you?" He shook his head. “I know she’ll be interested in speaking with you, and perhaps you can lend her some help, being a fellow academic. Does this sound alright to you?”
“You’re.. just going to send me into your country? With your personal student? Apologies if this comes out as rude, but you barely know me!” He exclaimed.
“Do I have a need to worry about you harming her?”
“I- No, no, of course not. It just seems… very trusting.”
“I happen to be an excellent judge of character. You seem like a fine gentlecolt.”
“Okay then, Celestia. While we’re on the topic of me going places, do you think we can take these chains off? They’re more than a little uncomfortable.”
She blushed. If it weren't for the situation he was in only growing stranger, he might have found himself amused.
“Of course, I apologize, it completely slipped my mind.” Her horn glowed, and the shackles unbuckled. He rubbed his wrists a bit, and stood up as she began her trek to the door. “Captain Armor will see you to the train station. Twilight will likely accompany you on the way there, as well.” A few more ponies, in armor similar to Shining, walked in, presumably to bring Alistair to him.
“Oh, and Alistair?” He looked back to her. She smiled the widest he’d seen yet.
“Welcome to Equestria.”
Author's Note
And thus it begins.
...Again.
