Prologue : Transported
Twelve years ago...
The block lit up in a blinding flash of light. A young cyan colt landed on the rough cobblestones.
"...Ow..."
He lay on the street for a moment, exhausted, literally too tired to move, until he heard an excited voice, that of a foal. Frightened, he scrambled to his feet and looked about wildly, then dashed to the shadowy, dark corner of an alley. A few moments later, three ponies came running by, and from his hiding place the colt gawked. *Equines? Bipoid equines?** he thought, shocked. Then he let out a loud shout; something had grabbed his ankle. And the ponies immediately stopped; he heard them. He scrambled back, tripping over something in the dark. That something grunt and groped again. The colt kicked wildly, it shrieked and let him go. He slid back and a bright light shone on him, blinding him.*
"By the Sun, he's naked!" Cried a surprised male voice.
"Should we get him?" asked another, this one slow and truculent.
"I wanna get him this time! You went last," whined another.
"Quiet!" The first one barked. "Both of you, get him!"
Two large figures jumped at the colt, and he scrambled to his feet and started to run. He got perhaps a meter before he painfully slammed back into the cobblestones, the air leaving his lungs in a *whoosh*. The colt yelled and tried to wriggle free, but the stallion atop him pulled him back and twisted his arms into a nelson hold, immobilizing him. The colt struggled beneath his captor.
"No! Please, let me - " he cried.
"Shaddap!" The stallion barked, twisting the colt's arms. The colt cried out in pain, then shut his mouth as he was abruptly hauled to his feet by the scruff of his neck. It didn't hurt, but the colt still started as he beheld his captor. The stallion was *enormous!** Far bigger than any pony had a right to be. And he looked angry. Fear raged in the colt's chest, and he shrank into himself, preparing for a beating, and shut his eyes. If it was coming, he at least didn't have to see it coming..*
Chapter I: Before Things Happen
Princess Celestia Faustsdaughter, Sol Invicta, Regent of the Rising Sun in the East, was bored. Out of her mind. Out of her sanity, actually. It was her responsibility, but it was so dreadfully, mind-numbingly droll.
“A letter from Hawk Eye, Superintendent of Prisons,” announced Green Hoof, her secretary, an Earth mare. Celestia smiled, her expression brightening from one of intense boredom to one of pleasure. Finally, something interesting! Hawk Eye always had something intriguing to say; he never sent letters when his institutions were normal and and in ship-shape condition.
This is not to say that Celestia wanted conflict, no. Nothing to endanger her ponies. She excitedly took the large envelope from Green Hoof and tore it open:
My very dearest ‘Tia,
Your new program has borne fruit. An inmate has been selected as a Pony of Interest. I have enclosed a copy of his patient file. Included is a picture.
Loyally yours,
Hawk Eye
Priority mail, indeed. She told Green Hoof to clear her schedule for the entire day tomorrow. The Earth mare dutifully obeyed, then bade her mistress good night. Celestia lay in her bed for a few moments, drinking her tea, then she swung herself out of bed and into her bathrobe and slippers. Cinching the robe tightly about herself, she teleported before the entrance of the Tower of her sister Princess Luna Faustdaughter, Luna Invicta, Regent of the Rising Moon in the West.
