Chapter 7- Rusty Cage

Just a bit more searching, his dreams have a unique signature; there is nothing magical about his dreams at all. He shouldn't be able to dream without magic. My sister even says he has no traces of magic, not even the core magic that all living creatures of this planet have. They truly are out of this world.

"Luna?" Celestia called out, snapping Luna out of her train of thought

"Yes? I'm in here, searching the dreamscape." Luna called out with hints of frustration seeping out. Her sister picked up on it too.

"What's bothering you?" She said as she wrapped a wing around her sister, who was seated facing the moon on her balcony.

"We are unable to find this human's dreams. We can feel it's presence within the dreamscape, but we cannot pinpoint its whereabouts. Tis frustrating to no end."

"its okay, Lulu."

"Nay, they should not even be able to dream. They have not a trace of magic. We are unable to fathom how they can do anything at all without." Luna drooped, clearly upset that the Guardian of Dreams was being guarded against. "But here, we have a creature that can dream but it behaves as if it is actively keeping me out."

"I doubt that's the case Luna." Celestia said in an attempt to cheer her sister up. "You did hit him in the face, and he has been out for hours." She teased her younger sister.

Looking away, Luna huffed before responding, "We may have overreacted..."

"That's an understatement. You broke his nose! Simple magic would have detained him easily enough. Silly sister, I'll be in my chambers looking over some of the boring bureaucratic work the nobles keep pressing upon us. Goodnight Lulu." Celestia pecked her sister on the forehead before heading out.

"Goodnight, Tia."

After several moments of staring at her moon in frustration she could feel something that felt like a dream, but it wasn't in the dreamscape. Odd, a dream not fully in the dreamscape? It must be him. And Luna powered up her horn to force her way into the dream.

"Hey Jasmine, smile." a young human male said to a girl in the boat with him. And after the flash she lowered the bass into the water and released it before preparing her rod for another cast.

"That's the biggest one today, it was about four pounds." She said to the man. "It also means I'm winning." She teased at him.

He chuckled before responding, "Yeah, I need to step my game up. I'm gettin' whooped."

Luna smiled at the scene unraveling before her. She finally found his dream and the part that excites Luna the most is the vision into his home life. She inwardly squeed until the dream panned out to the photo that was taken.

The photo was seen in the void of blackness before the scene surrounding it slowly faded into view.

And what she saw made her feel queasy, but she was unable to put her hoof on just why.

Before her stood an obviously happy soldier in a dress uniform holding the photo and a large green bag. "Hey, Deitrich, where you headed for your R and R?" another similarly dressed soldier asked.

"I'm headed home to Baumwolle in the Lyran Pact. You?"

"I'm going to back home to Earth, Chicago to be exact. Who's the chick in the picture?"

"Jasmine, my wife," He handed the photo to the other soldier, "I can't wait to see her. She sent so many care packages while I was in the hospital, even visited while I was doing rehab. She also wrote a hundred damn letters while we were in the Asymmetric Warfare Course."

"Hey, that's Baumwolle, your home planet, on the TV isn't it?" The other soldier, Ian, asked while returning the photo. Both of the soldiers were entranced by the images and text flashing across screen. Not able to see the screen they were staring at, she could only deduce from the shock on Dietrich's face that it couldn't have been good.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind the scene fell apart as the building started to fall apart, blow apart, and burn down around him and her.

They were now standing in a destroyed city on his home planet.

He started to slowly walk through the city staring straight ahead a thousand yards off into the distance.

After what felt like an hour of walking, they arrived at a farm that was destroyed, damaged equipment strewn about.

He collapsed to his knees and stared straight ahead into the smoldering ruins. Luna decided to approach Dietrich. She got about five feet from him before he spoke up without turning around.

"Why?"

She wasn't sure if he was questioning her or the situation. His next statement clarified it for her.

"I'm talkin' to you. Why are you here?"

Before she could respond she realized she was staring at the horizon on her balcony again.

"I was just trying to get to know you..." she whispered into the open air.

Planet: Equus
Locale: Royal Dungeons
Date: Quintilis 10, 1001 AB
Local Time:

"Hey, so I heard through the grapevine this human can talk."

"Dude, it's just barracks rumors. Everypony knows humans can't talk."

"Nah, I'm telling you. This one is different. Have you seen how much bigger he is?"

"No, I haven't. I suppose that's why you wanted me to follow you."

I could hear the voices and hoof steps of the guards as they conversed and cantered down the hallway leading to my cell. I spent most of the night drifting in and out of sleep. The cell I was in had a cot far too small for me, so I slept on the cold stone floor. Of which I'm glad for. It's hot outside and it's hot in here and the stone feels good on my bare skin.

You heard me.

They took my blouse, my socks, my boots, my undershirt, and my patrol cap. They would have probably taken my britches too had I worn skivvies. I was more or less naked. The bastards didn't even have the decency to wipe off the blood, instead leaving it to cake to my skin. I'm guessing they couldn't figure out how to remove my prosthesis either, because I still had it too.

Regardless, I was being approached by guards that happened to wake me up from my nightmare. I was having a good dream about my wife, about memories with her I cherished. Ones I had before this mess with the Coventry.

However, the dreams slowly turned sour and by the end of it, I was wandering my hometown before finally arriving at the family farm.

The scene still burned into my memory in the same way the farm was scorched into the ground.

The only difference was that instead of the aid force sent to relieve the planet, I was with an entity the entire time. It felt familiar, like it had been present in other dreams of mine. Either way, each time I could feel it, I could also feel the dream being forced into a nightmare.

Just before I was awakened by the guards I could feel its very presence just behind me. All I had to do was turn around.

But I was jolted awake be the guards entering the block earlier.

"Buck, he is big," one of the indiscernible guards said to the other,

"I told you so. You reckon we could get it to talk?" The other guard replied.

"No, I'm telling you it's stupid and can't talk. Only sentient creatures can talk."

I could just lay here and play stupid and get left alone or I could mess with them. I took a deep breath before I felt it hit me. I reached my hand up to neck where I felt something hit me.

One of them spit on me.

"Besides, humans aren't good for anything anyways." Pretty sure that was the one that just hocked a loogie on me.

I just need to stay calm, I can explain things when the eventual interrogation rolls around. Maybe I can reason with them, get them to give me stuff, my friends, and be on my merry way to do God knows what with ourselves until a Navy ship comes and gets us and we get back to fighting the enemy so keen on making humanity extinct.

"And since humans can't talk, I wouldn't mind going in there and showing him ponies are still the boss."

"Iron, I wouldn't do that if I were you. You see how huge he is, right?"

"Humans are weak and pathetic."

Ha, these goons are laughable. They're roughly the size of German Shepherd, smaller even than Shetland ponies. In a physical fight, they wouldn't stand a chance. Hell, even attack dogs aren't much of a threat if you know how to handle them. The only concerning feature is that horn. It could be used to quite a bloody effect.

"I'm going in, stay out here and keep an eye out," said the hotshot guard.

Then I heard it, the little fuckstick actually has the cajones to try and start shit. So I decide to sit up and face him in a guarded position, the "Warrior seat," as the instructors called it in Combatives.

"Alright hero," I spoke, "don't start nuthin', won't be nuthin'," and I punctuated the sentence with a mischievous grin.

He was visibly taken aback by my ability to formulate words into sentences that were coherent because he stopped in his tracks before stammering out "W-what d-d-did you j-just say?"

"You fuck with me, I fuck with you. I suggest you keep them steel bars 'tween us brother." I piped up, moving to a standing position so he could see my full height; which clearly intimidated him because he immediately backed out of my cell while the other guard closed and locked it back up.

"I told you he could talk," the smart guard chided in an even tone.

"I. You. He... L-let's just go."

And off they went.

Now that the human was out of his coma, she could finally get some questions answered. But first she needed to make sure that he and his kind posed no threat to the security of her kingdom. She had Shining Armor move their gear and what they assumed were the weapons away from the soldiers and into the armory for later evaluation. And the others were put under constant guard in case they woke up too.

She was on her way down when she noticed two guards, one visibly shaken, coming up from the dungeons.

"Guard, what seems to be the issue?" She inquired.

"He... he talks..." the shocked guard replied.

"Hmmm, I suppose I shall have to see this myself. Fetch Shining Armor and have him meet me down here."

"At once, your highness," they replied with a bow before setting off with task in hoof.

Celestia couldn't tell if she was excited or nervous, possibly a bit of both even. Here was a human that could talk. Everything that ponies thought they knew about humans was just flipped on it's head.

Oh the questions she had.

Like: where is he from, what he knew, and how he got here. Twilight's natural curiosity seemed to have rubbed off on her mentor.

"Princess Celestia, you requested me?"

Shining Armor arrived with a contingent of guards. "I brought additional guards as well, I heard the trouble he caused you and Luna and the bulk of the guard in just trying to track him down and capture him."

"Oh, I doubt that will be necessary this time. Come; let us meet our new guest on better terms than a chase about town."

After the two guards left, I immediately started to look for methods of escape. But first, I need to interrogate my captors by being interrogated. Sounds stupid right? Truth be told, your captors can let slip many details through answering seemingly harmless questions and through a bit of small talk as well.

And then I heard the clopping of hooves on stone. A lot of hooves actually, almost like a herd of horses.

Then they rounded the corner with a winged unicorn at the front of an entire herd of armor clad ponies. I outwardly grinned and inwardly chuckled at being held captive by these adorable little ponies. They felt like they belonged on a little girls television show.

The large winged unicorn is a bit larger than the others, but if we're not counting the horn is probably just a hair below my height. And unlike earthen equines, these equines are startlingly dimorphic. The females are much lither with softer, more rounded facial features while the males are a tad bigger with more chiseled faces and more muscular frames. And their faces are almost as expressive as a human’s.

Did I mention they speak English?

Anyways, back to Great White. She has a flowing mane of many colors, even though there is no wind. And she has a sun tattooed on her buttocks. And let's not forget the gold crown, peytral, and horseshoes she has on. I can basically infer from this that she's in charge.

And I watch her closely the entire time she is walking down the hallway and stops right in front of my cell before turning to face it, and me in it.

Making eye contact with her, I was about to open my mouth to speak but she got the first words in.

"I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria. And who might you be?"

And so it begins.

Author's Note

Hey, sorry for the delay. I had some issues with my house and a tree disagreeing and spent the better part of a week fixing the roof. And then I had drill, the PHA kinda drill where I sit in a long line waiting to get a few shots, have blood samples drawn, a military dentist look at my teeth, and take a hearing test. A normal everyday thing that should only take an hour that the Army manages to stretch out into a six hour affair.

I'd like to keep adding dialogue, but I feel I should start a new chapter for the dialogue. So I will!

I also decided to drop the Date/Time/Location stamp for normal progression. It just felt too artificial and constrictive.

Thanks for reading!