The Folly of a Distant Mind

"Well," remarked Celestia, staring intently at the being sitting patiently within her sister's magical shield, "he is certainly human, or at least descended in some way from them."

Luna grunted, still peering pensively at the creature, as if her continued stare could eventually reveal all its secrets.

Celestia glanced at her sister for a moment, then continued. "The humans of old were shorter, stockier. Perhaps this is simply a byproduct of the species' natural development." Frowning, the sun goddess began to do mental calculations, trying to plan the best possible method of handling the situation. "This could prove problematic. Humans were a passionate breed, and very prone to violence."

The night princess snorted. "I've been watching this thing for an hour now. I do believe passionate is about the furthest word from describing him as one can get. He has not so much as moved an eyelid."

Celestia hummed in acknowledgement, still crunching the numbers. With a sigh, she conceded, "Well, we cannot simply lock him away forever. He should be given a chance to prove himself, much as such a situation worries me. Humans were not exclusively evil, we must remember."

Luna nodded, though she did not like it. Condemning an individual due to the sins of its species was an inexcusable crime in both sisters' eyes. "Very well. I shall lower the sound barrier first." With a slight pulse from her horn, the area around the magical shield shimmered, though the shield remained.

Clearing her throat regally, Celestia raised her head with an air of royal authority. "Greetings, human," she proclaimed in firm but kind voice. "It has been a very long time since Mine eyes last fell upon a being of your kind. Pray, inform us of the circumstances that see you here, that we may move forward in our undoubtedly peaceful relations."

Luna glanced at her sister in amusement, hiding a slight smirk. Out of the corner of her mouth, she remarked, "Old habits, eh, Tia dear?"

"Shush," hissed the elder, regal pose still aimed at the human. "I am simply trying to make a good first impression."

For his part, the human... just kept sitting. His wandering gaze was now trained squarely on the two ponies, but aside from that he reacted not one bit to the white-coated princess's speech. After a drawn-out moment of the two parties simply staring at each other, the princesses shifted uncomfortably.

"He's not responding," hissed Luna urgently.

"I can see that, Luna," Celestia grunted irritably. "Perhaps he does not know our language. In fact, upon thinking about it I must admit I feel somewhat silly for even considering it likely that he would understand us."

"Why do you say that?" Luna asked in confusion.

"Here in Equestria, we have a single unifying language, but outside our borders many other languages abound, Equestrian the least of them. Obviously he hails from far away, else I would have known of the existence of surviving humans. Thus, he likely has not had any prior experience with our language at all."

After a short pause, Celestia cleared her throat again and repeated her phrase in Zebrican. When this did not garner results, she tried again in Gryphonic. Then Draconic. Old Equuish. Deep Tongue. Breezian. Shadowspeak. The list went on and on.

Celestia sighed. It was going to be a long day.

Far later in the day, Luna quietly opened the door to her chambers, sneaking back in so as not to disturb Celestia's marathon of languages. Being stuck on the moon for one thousand years meant the younger sister's knowledge of newer languages was sorely lacking, and thus management of the Day Court had fallen on her shoulders while Celestia busied herself with their newest guest. From the looks of things, however, they had not made much progress yet.

Finishing her sentence in Wyverian, Celestia turned to Luna, a small frown betraying her frustration. "Every language I know, sister. Every single one. Not a one of them afforded so much as a spark of recognition."

"That does certainly make things more complicated," said Luna wryly. "Perhaps it simply does not have the capacity for speech?"

Celestia shot her sister a disapproving look. "I do not believe so. I can see a depth of knowledge within his eyes, and he certainly knows I am speaking to him, though the words mean nothing. Nay, I am afraid he simply does not speak any language known to us, strange as that may be. It is possible he hails from far within the Outlands - I have not approached that dreadful place in a very long time."

Luna rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "There is another possibility - he may be from another realm entirely."

Celestia raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Unlikely. The energy required to cross between universes is far beyond even the strongest of magics, forbidden arts included, and no safe method of doing so has ever been developed, even theoretically. Besides, humans were the last of the nonmagical creatures, remember. There is no way a man could harness that kind of energy."

Luna shrugged. "If you say so. It is simply one possibility, meager as the list of alternatives may be."

Celestia rubbed her head with a hoof. The whole situation was far too filled with unknown variables. "Whatever," she replied somewhat snippily. "For now, was must let him out - it would be inhumane for us to keep him locked up much longer. We shall assign a guard to accompany him until we can establish communication with him and determine he is not a threat."

"Shall we also send for the Elements of Harmony? Their aid could prove valuable in communicating with him, and they are always good to have around should he prove more dangerous than expected."

Celestia nodded. "I agree. I will send Twilight a letter come morning. Go find a reliable unicorn guard, I shall keep our guest company a while longer."

Sturdy Ground shifted slightly on his hooves, working some feeling back into his legs. Having a night shift had sounded exciting when he first got the transfer - the night guards were always on about how exciting it was to go out alongside Princess Luna herself, slaying powerful beasts that threatened the kingdom. What they didn't mention, however, was that such events were rather few and far between. Most of his time was spent standing guard in front of a nondescript door in the middle of some dusty part of the castle, where he would be lucky to see even a single pony go by over an eight-hour shift. It didn't help, either, that Luna's elite batpony guards were notoriously bad conversationalists.

The bored guard perked up when he heard the clopping hooves of an approaching pony. Straightening up to be as professional as possible, he pointed his gaze straight ahead, though in truth he was looking out of the corner of his eye at the approaching individual. It was to his considerable surprise, then, (though of course he did not show it) that he saw Princess Luna herself walking regally towards him, stopping when she reached his position.

"Private Sturdy Ground, I have a new assignment for you. You have proven yourself to be a trustworthy and reliable guard, and I must stress that the task I set to you is of the utmost importance."

"Uh, of course, Princess, I understand," the unicorn said with a bow, slightly confused.

The alicorn nodded, satisfied. "Very well. Please, come. I have already sent for a replacement for your post. I will inform you of your new duty as we walk."

"Are you quite certain, my lord?"

The room was poorly lit, the only light coming from two glowing crystals. The first, an enchanted ruby lamp, let out a soft red glow from the center of a large table, illuminating the snouts of the twelve small, hunched figures gathered around it. The second gem was a large, intricately carved melanite stone, which glowed with a dark aura that as much dimmed the room as it did illuminate it. This gem was embedded at the top if the gnarled staff held by the thirteenth creature in the room.

This one shared the same build as the other figures, but he stood nearly double their height, towering imposingly over the table and leaving no doubt who was the superior. His muzzle, barely visible in the dim red light, was mottled with scars and age, though any who presumed to take this as a sign of weakness quickly came to regret such insolence. The figure chuckled at the question, as if the possibility of him being wrong was simply ludicrous.

"Of course I am sure. Every sign has been fulfilled, just as was foretold. The Empty Man has arrived in the Land of the Gods, and He will lead us to strike just when the Great Oppressors are at their weakest."

The smaller figures clamored in assent, eager to display their eagerness to their master.

"I will lead the tribes of this world in glorious battle," the large one continued. "We shall wash this land clean with rivers of blood, and show the world the true meaning of war!" The smaller creatures cheered wildly, the thought of violence quickly overpowering their capacity for intellect. With an impatient flick of his wrist, their leader dismissed them. "Now go! Preparations must continue on schedule!"

He followed them out of the room and onto a balcony overlooking a massive cavern. On the floor far below him stood thousands upon thousands of diamond dogs, all working frantically to create weapons, armor, and other equipment, as well as fighting savagely among themselves in order to train themselves for the battles ahead. Gazing upon his domain, the huge diamond dog's lips turned upwards in a vicious snarl. Throwing his head back, he let out a feral roar, listening with satisfaction as every dog in the cavern stopped what they were doing and let out a savage roar in return. For minutes after they had finished, the echoes of their frenzied shouts still echoed across the massive chamber, spurring them to even greater heights of tireless labor.