In between worldsby ponies are my crackChaptersthe story of the arivalgarden partyIn the citythe long week: Rainearly irrelevant background plotthe story of the arivalDay four: today is the day, the day I'll finally be allowed outside this room I've been trapped in for the past four days. I say trapped but I have been allowed to leave, for meals and meetings only unfortunately. My request for a journal has finally been answered after two days of waiting but I still lack pens and have to make do with quills for the time being. While I am being let outside I am required to have two guards watch me at all times. I am not the only one being released to day, the others are as well with the same agreement regarding our entourage. Before we are given access to the city we have a meeting with the princess of the nation regarding the city and the citizens. I still wonder why she calls herself the princess when she runs the nation and not a queen, it may be due to the lack of a husband. I know she rules with her sister but I still haven't met her and it's obviousness that her sister has only a fraction of the influence she has considering the younger of the two just returned from exile due to her trying to throw the nation into a "dark age". All things considered, we have been treated rather well considering the events that transpired during our initial meeting with the princess. It started four weeks ago. My friends, Keri, Rai, and myself were meeting at Keri's house during our break from school when after a strange flash of light we found ourselves in the woods with nothing but the clothes on our backs and anything within five feet of us at the time. For thee weeks we lived in the forest with nothing but several school books on various subjects, two rather large backpacks, three computers, an iPad, two iPods, three iPhones, half a mattress, and a bag of skittles. Surviving wasn't the hard part considering my camping experience and Rai's love for hunting and weapons along with Keri being a freaking ninja, no, the hard part was adjusting to the time change. When I say time change I don't mean we were used to it being five AM while it was seven PM, I mean the day was an extra ten hours longer. We had adjusted by day fourteen and were doing fine until day twenty but day twenty one is when everything just fell apart. A group of the guards I mentioned earlier had heard of animals disappearing in the area, a cow or two among the ones lost, and were sent to capture whatever was eating the animals in the area. Upon their arrival they found not one but three beings living in the area. We were of course the creatures in question and had been living in a cave for the duration of our little "camping trip". Now our initial meeting with the guards was not very pleasant, it ended with all three of us being knocked out and one of the guards loosing a wing. I now realize that I've left out a rather important piece of information, there are no humans in this world. The worlds dominant species seems to be ponies, bright, technicolor ponies. It fuckin sucks. To make it worse some of them aren't normal ponies, but are unicorns and Pegasuses, or Pegasus. Pegasi. Winged fucking horses. Now, while we were knocked out we had been brought to the capital city of this pony land. We were caged and brought in for study but were able to escape. I realize again I forgot to mention another important piece of info, the three of us upon arrival to this world changed. We seemed to take on an aspect from each of the pony species. Keri had gained wings of the peggathings. They are white with the tips of some of the feathers ending in black. Apparently wings here mean moving clouds and being able to control thee weather. Rai, he has a horn, just like a unicorn. The unicorns horn gives them magic, and that would explain why he has telekinesis and can make electricity. Non lethal just enough to knock someone out. Me, all I got was increased strength, not even super. I feel like captain America, slightly stronger than normal people but still kind of useless. I do heal faster so that's a plus. So upon our escape we were instantly transported back home. When I say home I mean earth, not our home town but Washington DC. For five hours we were back on earth but as to why DC I have to clue. I have a theory that it might have been because we were in the pony capital and that runs parallel with our capital or something but that's stupid and PROBABLY isn't true. Maybe. Either way, when we arrived we immediately went to the nearest police station trying to see if their was a missing person report but with none being filed, and the cop being quite the ass hole, he assumed we were just trying to hitch a free ride. Before we knew it we had ended up on the street getting strange looks from people because of our raggedy clothes. In the end we ended up with eleven stolen wallets and a lot of spending money. We bought new clothes and spent some time in the city before trying to plan out a bus rout back home. Before we could step onto the bus a number of police officers apprehended us for the pick pocketing earlier that day. They were really probably after us because of the beating Keri gave some pervert on the street. They had no idea what they were dealing with. We knocked out the four officers and took a car hoping to get out of the city but we had no idea where we were going. We ended up being pursued I the direction of the White House. Right before we could hit the wall around the building we were teleported to the horse city again but were still in the car. Now we didn't end up in the street in a car going eighty miles an hour, we ended up in the air around the palace in the city In a car going eighty miles an hour. We crashed through one of the windows and skid straight into a wall causing the airbags to deploy. I was the first to step out. I looked at those present in the room, all shock at the sudden appearance of our vehicle. Rai was next out. When he saw where we were he pulled out two guns he had under the grey sweat shirt he had bought. Keri was the last out, only because she was sitting in the back having gotten in after Rai. I opened the door for her while Rai pulled another two guns from his sweat shirt. O.k. This is taking too long. To make a long story short, ish, one guard was shot, the princess from earlier was their, we talked, we became prisoner guests and here we are. I put down my pen and looked over what I had written. It was kind of shitty but I'm no writer, so it was good enough. With all the events that had happened so far written down I just sat in my chair looking around my cell. For a prisoner I had a very nice room. A desk, a full bed, and a connected bathroom. The bed was obviously mad for a shorter species but it was alright. My thoughts were then interrupted by the sound of knocking. "Yeah," I called out. "The princess is awaiting your arrival in the garden," said my appointed guide from the other side of the door. "Alright, just hold on a sec." "No," she said. "We will not keep the princess waiting" "Fine," I said as a wrenched open the door. "Pants are over rated anyway." She stood there staring before turning away, blushing, and saying, "please put some clothes on." "That's what i though," I said as I slammed the door in her face. garden partyI walked down the hall with a bounce in my step, a large toothy grin on my face. My guide guard followed closely behind keeping a watchful eye on my every move. He seemed rather nervous, probably unsure what to make of me and was such a noob in the guard world. Out of all the guards I had seen so far he was the only one not to be colored white, or grey if they had a horn and were all magical like me. Since I was still technically a prisoner I was obligated to hate my guard so I decided to have a little fun with him on my way to the garden. I didn't want him to panic so I did something to creep him out indirectly, I sang. "Hondora hondora, sukidora, leave me alone if you want to survive. I'll burn you, cut you, and swallow you whole. I'm here to stay for generations to come." With my song done I continued to fill the silence but humming the same little tune. "What was that," my guard asked shakily. "Oh, that. That's just a lullaby my parents used to sing to me when I was little ." He stopped dead in the hall. I turned around and looked at his shocked expression before turning back and continuing down the hall, still with a bounce in my step. I was the first person in the garden. I say person as the princess was sitting at a white picnic table boxed in by rose bushes. My guard took up a defensive position while I took a seat across from the princess and looked at the rest of the area. I from where I was sitting I could see an number of statues near what looked to be a hedge maze. It was all rather impressive but there seemed to be something missing. In the statue garden there was an empty pedestal. I was then snapped out of my daze by the sound of someone talking. I then notice the flowing pastel mane of the princess from the corner of my eye and looked back to her. "I'm so glad you were able to join me," she said with a smile. "Would you like some tea?" A tea pot and tray was then placed onto the table by a waiter who was dismissed with a slight nod. "Sure, why not." We sat there sipping our tea. "So, you never did finish explaining why my horn looks so different from you ponies," I said flicking the curved black bone protruding from my head. "Yes, it's just a rare defect in horns. There are no effects from it that I know of or have seen but there are very few cases. the only notable pony to have a horn such as yours lived over a thousand years ago in the north." We continued to sip our tea in silence. After a minute I finally asked the question that had been on my mind since we began our stay here, "have you found a way to send us back yet?" "I have a section of the magical institute working to find a way to send you back, but there is still the matter of locating your home." "Kay, but there is also the issue of whether or not we will be able to leave our rooms for more than meals and a chat." "Yes, but there is a more pressing matter. We need to discuss..." At this moment she was soundly interrupted by the words 'IT'S A FEINT' being yelled from an open window on the fourth floor of the castle, followed by a winged figure jumping out and landing shakily on the grass. they then tumbled over onto the grass in a fit of laughter. "Oh my god, that was fun," she said. "God damn it, can't I have one civilized conversation," I said. "Sorry, bucket list. Jump from a building and live," she said in between laughs. while she laughed a second figure clad in gold armor jumped from the window and landed next to keri, a short sword in hand... hoof. The pony had a sword. He placed it on her neck and let out what sounded to be a low growl. "You, leave my sight again and you loose your head." he then noticed the princess and myself and removed his sword from her throat and lowered himself into a bow. "your highness, I'm sorry, it seemed as if she was trying to escape." "I know you were doing your job but these beings are our guests, contrary to popular belief. please refrain from harming them." the princess spoke as if a mother was speaking to a child and the guard seemed to visibly relax. "Yes, my liege." He then moved on to join my guard at his post. "Well I believe we have been of topic long enough," she said pouring another cup of tea. "Would you please join us" she said to Keri. "Alright." She took a seat next to me, added maybe five or six spoons of sugar to her tea and then brought her attention to the princess. "Now, as I was saying. There is something wrong with each of your bodies," said the princess, continuing from where she had left off. "During each of our talks I scanned your bodies for any possible ailments that might harm my ponies, but found no such thing, what I found was much worse. Each of you seems to be producing an immense amount of magical energy." "what does that mean," I asked. "For you, there shouldn't be too much of a problem," she said to me. "But you and your friend on the other hoof," she said to Keri, "are in grave danger." "From what," Keri and i both asked. "You two have no way of using magic. Rai with his horn could cast spells to counteract the magic buildup. You will unfortunately have to have the magic syphoned out of you. The magic would eventually need to come out, when that happens it could be harmless or you could very well die." we were shocked. We sat there, mouthes agape, trying to process the information. We were finally pulled from our catatonic state by a familiar voice. "Hey, why y'all look so depressed." said sig, joining us at last. "I'm sorry princess," said the guard who followed. "I tried to bring him here on time but he was being difficult." "Well sorry. How about you try wearing jeans four days in a row, it sucks. so what did i miss." In the cityAs we walked through the city there was an uneasy air about the place. there was an aura of depression emanating from our group while the citizens displayed and aura of fear. The only person or pony with any sort of positive energy was Sig. After I told him the news of how we were going to die all he had to say was ‘fuck that. If I'm going to die it’s going to be awesome, like that guy in the first lord of the rings movie.’ Knowing I was going to die with so many things left undone was terrible, but watching someone i know force their fear and put on a brave face like this was painful knowing what was to come. although it was painful and slightly forced there was one thing that remained true about him even now, no mood could stay somber for long, especially when both Sig and Rai were together. The mood finally picked up after a hour of mindless wandering and window shopping at clothes stores. We continued to wander until noon where we decided to get the least healthy lunch possible, which lead to a fight between Sig and the owner of the shop. “Boston” “Canterlot” “I’m tellin ya joe, it’s called a Boston cream” “And I’m telling you it’s called a Canterlot cream.” “Look joe, you’re nice guy, but you don’t know jack.” “Who is…” “About donuts,” said Sig, cutting him off. He placed a few golden coins on the counter and walked away, pastries in hand. He handed us the bags with our donuts and walked out the door muttering, “they’re still called Boston cream.” “Hey, how about you shut up and eat your food,” said Rai before unceremoniously stuffing a whole donut into his mouth and chewing awkwardly. “Excuse me,” came a voice from behind us. we turned to face the guard who was sent to guide us through the city, calm the ponies of the city, and, after a large amount of convincing, to carry the money. “Oh,” I said surprised. “sorry, we forgot you were here for a bit, guard…?” “My name is Stormy Night.” “Riiiiiight.” “Have you forgotten that you are to return to the castle for lunch with the princess at 17:00, right now it is 15:46 so we will want to head back soon.” “um, alright, but thats like an hour. how about we go somewhere interesting near the castle then,” suggested Sig. With that we all headed towards one of the three museums in the city, and we chose the one with the most weapons possible. “So, why are all these here,” Rai asked a slightly fearful curator. “Um, what do you mean sir?” “i mean why are all these things here, i doubt that any single pony could lift these let alone swing them around,” he said gesturing to the massive swords and war hammers along the wall. “Oh yes, these weapons were held by the non pony individuals who assisted us in times of need,” she said, calming down now that she was discussing a subject she was more comfortable with. “What? you mean there are more species that can talk in this place,” I asked, butting into the conversation. “Well of course,” she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. “There are plenty. There are the minotaurs, the griffons, dragons, the…” “Dragons,” we all said simultaneously. We a three way fist bump was held before acknowledging the presence of the ponies in the room, each of which had a confused look on their faces. “What?” “Well, it’s just rare that anypony get excited about dragons,” said Stormy Night. “They’re so dangerous that their study was abandoned decades ago.” “Ok,” said Rai, “but we need to have a little chat.” He cracked his knuckles for added effect before wrapping his arm around the guards head and asking, “do i look like a pony to you?” “Um, no?” “that’s what i thought,” he said to the struggling guard before dragging him around a corner to ‘talk’. I left Rai to lecture the guard on his vernacular and when back to Sig who was talking to the curator about a particular object in a reinforced case. It was a large hammer suspended in mid air, slowly turning, radiating a deep purple energy, the same color as the head. The head itself was made or a dark purple crystal the size of a rugby ball that seemed to have a faint glow in the center. “So what is this,” I ask turning their heads from the weapon. “This is the warhammer of Dolan, The Bronze Arm, he was a minotaur warrior who defended the city from seven bonnacon single handedly,” said Sig in a manner that seemed as if he had practiced daily for people like me. “Kay, but what is a bonnacon,” I asked. “No clue,” he said. He turned the curator and asked. “What is a bonnacon exactly?” “A bonnacon is a bull like creature with a long mane and powerful horns, it’s able to breath fire and has skin as hard as iron,” she said. She seemed to almost be shivering at the thought of them. “Just one of these took down twenty seven guards before it was stopped.” She seemed frightened, unnaturally so. It was the kind of fear that someone has only from having experienced the terror head on. "Are you okay," he asked. "Huh, oh, yes. I'm... I'm fine." It wasn't very convincing but we didn't press the subject any further. "Let's move on, shall we?" We spent as much time as possible at the museum trying to avoid returning to the castle but guard finally convinced us to return with the promise of food. Not any food, but the one thing that we had to go without for the past four days. Meat. As we walked into the dining room where our previous meals had been held we were immediately ushered into the kitchen where we were told to instruct the chefs on how to prepare fish. Sig and I told the chefs the basic way sat down at the table. We were joined by Celestia soon after. “So what do you think of my little surprise,” she asked, a small smile on her face. “I do hope this makes the day a little better, considering everything.” “Its great, I was getting tired of nothing but fruit and vegetables for the past for days,” said Sig, shuddering at the memory. “Yeah, any longer than this and I would have started freaking out,” I said in agreement. “Well I’m glad we were able to get something you’re able to eat. The griffons we host on occasion also eat meat, but prefer it raw,” said Celestia. She looked around the room perplexed before asking “where is Rai.” “Kitchen,” we both replied. “He doesn’t like people touching his food,” I explained. Lunch was brought out rather quickly for Celestia while we waited another ten minutes for our food to arrive. The chefs had pleaded with the princess that she try to remove Rai from the kitchen but refused saying “it would be nice to see what he makes, food from other cultures is always very interesting.” When he finally came out of the kitchen he was holding three plates each with a silver cover with his magic while announcing his appearance like a sportscaster from the fifties. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for what you’ve all been waiting for. The meal none of of you have had for nearly a month, straight from japan, onigiri.” He pulled the covers off the dishes revealing five perfect rice balls, minus the seaweed, lined up perfectly. “BAM,” he yelled as he placed a plate in front of us before taking a seat next to me. “Thank you, my good sir,” I said in the most pompous voice i could manage on an empty stomach. “Damn right.” From there we started to eat making, small talk, and telling the princess our thoughts on the city. She seemed rather pleased. the meal went well and the food was good, not great because we only had freshwater fish, but good enough to enjoy. Near the end of the meal the Celestia said she had good news. She had once again spoken to a team of unicorn and had funded the experiment of transferring magical energy from one being to another. This was great news, we would be able to keep on living here, and might even be able to go home. There was a problem though, we had only two more weeks before we would need to be drained of our magic. “During this time i would like all of you to participate in some sort of activity to keep you busy,” she said. “It would go a long way if you were seen working with my ponies and help other come to accept you. Your guide, Stormy nights, told me of most ponies reactions and I think this would help get them to accept you.” “Yeah, that sounds good,” I said in agreement. The others silently nodded. “So what are our options?” “Well, for you, I was thinking you could attend flight school. While you have wings you still don’t know how to use them properly.” “Sounds about right.” “Siegfried, i think you would like…” “I want to go into guard training,” he said cutting her off. “Very well, I’ll put you in a the preliminary training. And Rai, i want to enroll you in one of the magic schools here.” “Alright, which school,” he said. “That all depends on how much magic you actually know.” “I can levitate stuff and make a bit of electricity and sparks,” he said bringing his hands together and letting off a few sparks. “And these aren't magic sparks, I can actually make a fire with these.” “Thats not very much.” “Yeah, but i have only had my horn for three and a half weeks and no knowledge or reference on how to use it prior to then.” “Well this should give you some structure. You will be placed in a beginners magic class with others of your level.” “Alright.” “Good, now before anything else, may i ask what prompted you to make electricity in the first place?” “...OH CRAP!” “WHAT,” I asked. “WE LEFT THEM IN THE WOODS.” I knew exactly what he was talking about and so did Sig. We both stood up and yelled “SHIT!” the long week: RaiI sat in my chair, my feet propped up on the desk. After having been sitting there doing nothing but stare at the other empty desks in the classroom, and play angry birds on my phone which I just got back, there was clamor from outside the room. I put my phone into my bag as the door opened and several small ponies, foals, as I learned an hour prior, walked in engaged in a large group conversation. They did not immediately notice me, but when one finally did, she stopped dead in her tracks blocking the rest of the group. Her eyes went wide as she let out a shrill cry. She pushed through the crowd and ran into the hall screaming about a monster in the classroom. I expected the type of reaction and payed the rest of the class no mind. I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling, waiting for the professor who was told of my arrival. The quiet that came after any sort of outburst was rather short lived; one of the other fillies in the class decided it was her job to remove me from the room. “Hey freak, what are you doing here? Get out!” I turned my head back to the door. “This is my spot,” I told her. Most of the class was rather shocked that I was able to speak but the filly at the front just seemed angry. “I told you to get out!” Her horn started to glow. A chair at the front of the room was lifted off the ground and flung towards my head. I pulled my feet off of the desk and put my arms above my head. It hit my arms with a dull wooden thump leaving my arm red with a few small scrapes. “Oh, so you want to play rough? Just remember, you started this shit.” I started pouring energy into my hands and horn covering them in a blood red energy. Five desks were lifted off the ground and started to rotate around me. “So, you want to back out yet?” The courage seemed to drain from her body. She stood rigid from my display of magic, shocked beyond belief. She ran out of the room. I lost sight of her for only a second before she tumbled back into view having hit something in the hall. An elderly unicorn with a tan coat and a greying brown mane walked into the room followed closely by the filly who ran away earlier. With this I began putting the desks back into their rightful places. “What is going on here,” he asked the class? “What could possibly make you all so frantic?” It was now when he finally noticed my presence in the classroom. “Oh, so it’s you. I was hoping class would have started before you arrived.” The class was confused, they pelted the professor with questions like what was I or what was I doing here. He paid the class no mind as he walked to his desk. He put his bag down and turned his attention back to the class. “I'd like to introduce our newest student.” There were numerous groans be he would have none of that. “Settle down, he’s here to stay. Come up and introduce yourself. I stood up and walked to the board. I levitated a piece of chalk into my hand and proceeded to write my name. “Hello, my name is Alex Rai Murterbaux, It’s nice to meet you all. I will be joining this class for the foreseeable future,” I said with a bow. “Very good, now lets get started shall we?” I walked back to my seat at the center of the room pulling the stares of the children with me. “Now that we have finished with the basics of levitation we can start learning more complicated magic, but first can anypony tell me the two basic groups of magic?” Several hooves went into the air. I looked around the class and saw that i was the only one here with no knowledge on the subject, I would have to change that. The professor called on the student to the right of me, she had been looking at me differently than the others. Instead of afraid she seemed almost intrigued. “The two types of magic are elemental and arcane.” She looked to me again and gave a wide grin. “Correct, now in both of these there are three sub categories. In arcane there is light, dark, and neutral, while in elemental there is ocean, sky, and land. Land magic consists … what are you doing?” I looked up from my laptop and saw the professor and the students staring more intently that before. “What?” “What are you doing,” he asked again. “I’m taking notes,” I said turning my screen to the front of the room. He seemed shocked as if he had never seen a computer before. I looked around at the other students and saw they each only had a quill or a pencil. “Oh, you guys don’t have computers.” “Well, as long as you’re being productive,” he said hesitantly. “Lets get back on topic shall we? Land magic consists of earth and fire magic, ocean magic makes use of water and ice, and finally sky magic which controls air and lightning.” He continued blabbing on about magical theory for another hour before the class was actually over. I continued taking notes on my laptop which most of the other students ignored save for the occasional glance to see what was on my screen. It was nice being ignored, mostly. That one child next to me seemed to stare constantly. I soon found that she was in several of my classes, not just magical theory. She was in modern spell casting, magical history, even that beginners potion making class i was taking so i wouldn’t have so much free time in between two of my classes. At about noon, 17:00, when the day was nearly done, we had our lunch break out in the yard before our last class. There happened to be a large number of picnic tables on the grass but I took up a spot underneath a large tree away from the others, content with my solitude. I sat there in the shade eating my lunch, my computer charger absorbing electricity from my hands. I was rather content sitting there, lunch in one hand and computer charger in the other. It was perfect; sometimes you forget how much you can miss Doctor Who when you go without it for half a week. Ten minutes into lunch that little filly from my classes decided she wanted to sit with me. Normally I would have been too absorbed in my show to notice her but she just stood out too much to. She trotted towards me, a wide smile across her face adding to her pure white coat and blinding yellow mane. It was almost painful. She sat down in the sunlight and said, “Hi Alex.” I looked at her for a moment before nodding back. I went back to my lunch while she sat there and watched me eat- I was really getting creeped out. I was creeped out before but once you have someone watch you eat as intently as she did… it wasn't fun. I wanted to keep eating but i just couldn't with her there. “Is there something you want?” She wasted no time before asking, “What are you?” “Human.” “What’s that?” “It’s what I am. It’s me, one of three.” “There are more of you?” I sat there while she bombarded me with questions. There were repetitive, things like 'where are you from?'', 'where is that?', and 'how many of you live there?'. I ended up having to describe New York City in detail and was then told that there was a city very much like that here called "Manehatten", I shit you not. I was still being blinded every time I looked in her general direction but I was starting to get used to it. We the finally reached the question that i knew would freak out ninety percent of the population of this world- what did I eat. “Oh, you don’t want to know.” “Please, I'm really interested. Why, can’t I know? Is it something gross?” While she had been watching me eat a sandwich like what I had didn’t show its contents. “You sure you want to know?” I put real emotion into my voice this time. She was annoying but not terrible, I didn’t want to scare her. “Oh, please, please, please!” “Alright. You see these teeth here,” I said opening my mouth and pointing. She nodded. “These are called canines, like a dog. We have these so we can eat meat.” Last time I told a pony about this there were several gasps and one pony who passed out, but this girl just sat there and smiled. “Oh, that’s so cool,” She said, overflowing with excitement. “I have a pet blue jay. We feed it seeds and fruit, but sometimes it flies away and comes back with bugs, and one time a baby bird.” At that moment I realized that this was probably the single most interesting being at this entire school. More importantly I could eat meat around her and not have her freak out. Maybe. Lunch ended with the two of us on rather good terms. We kept up a rather lively conversation and drew the eyes of many still-frightened students. we had to part ways at that point- as she and I had different classes- but she insisted on meeting after school so we could keep talking. Before I could dissuade her she scurried off to her last class. I walked down the barren halls to the my final class. I reached the room and opened the door, sitting down in the center seat I had claimed for all my classes. The professor began writing on the board and the class began. “Hello all, and welcome to Beginner's Alchemy.” On day three I was rather bored with the routine I had set up. Go to classes, talk with that strange child, go back to the castle, and practice the spells I needed to learn. By then I had already learned short range teleportation, separation of hydrogen and oxygen through magic, and was making fully formed fireballs that would fizzle out when they were a foot away from my hand or horn. I was getting so far ahead in my classes that i was becoming even more hated than before, but then again the other students were twelve or something and weren’t worth a single damn, meaning they were worth less than one three hundredth of a fuck. They were worth less than a damn. Thirty danms equal a shit and ten shits equal a fuck. So worthless. My boredom seemed incurable during the afternoon of the fourth day. I returned to the castle and asked the nearest guard where vista was. He didn’t get it, so I asked where PC was. When he still didn’t get it after using her initials, I slapped him across the face and walked down the halls until I reached a line and a very large and pretentious set of golden doors. I, as the spectacular asshole I always was and forever will be, skipped the line of ponies and walked into the room. There were numerous complaints by the waiting ponies but I ignored them. Besides, the guards had been given orders not to stop me or my friends should we ever need to speak to her. I found myself a the large white stone throne room, where we had crashed through a window nearly a week ago. The princess was sitting on a large golden throne, hence the throne room, with a vacant and slightly smaller seat next to her. I walked up to her and waved and was given a smile in return. I waited for the pony she was speaking with to finally shut up and move on; when he did the princess beckoned me forward. “Hello Rai. I'm glad you're here,” said the princess, a smile on her face. “You’re the first to accept my offer for assistance. What can I help you with?” “Yeah, I'm just really, really bored,” I said walking up and taking a seat in the smaller throne next to her. The guards on duty looked shocked by my actions but i knew the princess was fine with it so I made myself comfortable. My conversation with the princess was short. Afterwards she instructed a unicorn guard to guide me to a rather large underground room. The walk was short; after arriving the guard took up a post in the corner of the room. She said she would be there shortly but she would still have to see to the concerns of her subjects. Staying true to her word, she arrived minutes after myself. She teleported into the room with a small pop and a flash of light. “You wanted to learn more about magic?” I nodded. “Very well.” There was another small popping sound and the room was suddenly filled with fist sized rocks, each identical to the other. “Now, I want you to pick up as many rocks as possible using your magic.” “That’s all?” She nodded and I began to lift several stones off the ground. She and the guard both looked rather impressed by the display. I held the stones above my head and began to fashion a crown out of the rotating stones. “So, how’s this?” I asked. “For somepony- sorry, someone- who has had their magic for as long as you have it’s quite impressive, but let me ask you this. Are you controlling them all separately?” I moved the rocks away from my head and let them fall to the floor and said, “Yes, this is the most I can move once. I can’t focus on more than seven objects at a time.” “That is what makes this feat impressive. Most are only able to control three of four items at a time, but seven…” She turned to the guard, saying a few words before looking back to me. “While I do have business to attend to, Dusk Star here shall stay and instruct you on mass levitation.” Before I was able to get a single word out she teleported away, leaving me in a room full of rocks with the unicorn guard. We both stood there for an unknown amount of time, staring each other down before the silence was finally broken. The guard walked towards me. He stopped about three feet away before squinting and asking, “Which one are ya again?” in a southern accent. “Wat.” “Which one are ya boy,” he yelled. “What’s yer name?” “Oh, I’m Rai.” I said, holding out a hand. It was met with a rough hoof and a rather violent shake. I took my hand back, gingerly cradling it after it was so brutaly handled. “Well, it seems I’m to be yer teacher fer a while. So, what'cha know about the ‘mass levitation spell’ anyhow? “Absolutely nothing.” “Well, shoot. I didn’t think you were such a greenhorn with what you did just a moment ago.” I just shrugged. “Well alrighty then. So, let’s start with a demonstration between the two,” he said. His horn began to glow a deep blue before spreading to four stones around him. They each began to lift off the ground and move in a pattern in the air, tracing out a shape. “Alright, so that’s regular, now what’s mass?” “I’m getting to it.” Without his horn glowing any brighter his magic seemed to spread to an even greater number of rocks, pulling each of them from the ground. When every rock with an orange glow had been pulled off the ground, there were nearly thirty stones in the air. I looked up in awe as they began to form a ring above him. “Now ya see the difference, boy? The mass levitation spell is nearly the same as levitation but ya don’t focus on all the things yer pickin up, ya think of it as like one big thing.” The remainder of the day was spent on me unsuccessfully trying to learn this new spell. The entirety of the afternoon of the fourth and fifth day after school was spent in that room trying to lift rocks. At the end of the fifth day I had finally managed to lift fourteen five stones in one levitational grip. After having used plenty of magic during school, using it underground became a serious chore those two days. I later found out that my teacher had only been using one levitation field for all the rocks he had lifted on the first day, and that it took him only three days to master. And here I was thinking I was hot shit for being able to hold five. The sixth day went rather well at first but then started to go a little off track as the day went on. It started off with classes, which went well enough but started to go crazy when the day ended. The blinding yellow and white child I had been talking with started to drag me to her house. She had been telling me that her parents had been wanting to meet the friend she had been talking about so much and decided that she would bring me to her house. I tried to protest against the idea, but she would have none of it. In the end I was being dragged, with magic, by my backpack to her home. It was like something out of a cartoon; the small talkative one dragging the antisocial one to some sort of gathering. “Here we are,” she said in a singsong voice, finally releasing me from her magical deathgrip, “my house.” It was more like a mansion than a house. From my room in the palace I had a rather good view of Canterlot, and from there I had seen this home stand out among the others. Until now i had always thought it was a small hotel or a museum based on its size but this was a shock. “G.D.” “Hm?” She looked over at me questioningly. “Sorry, it’s just... really big,” I said. “This is seriously where you live, Sunny?” “Yep,” she said with a smile. “Let’s go!” She opened the door and walked into a massive atrium before announcing her arrival. “MOM, DAD, I’M HOME. I BROUGHT A FRIEND!” There was the sound of hooves coming from one of the rooms and we were soon greeted by a pony wearing a vest and a bowtie. “Hello young madam, your parents are out back,” he said looking only at her, almost ignoring my presence entirely. “Thanks.” She walked on, gesturing for me to follow. When we reached the back of the house we stepped onto a large open area surrounded by hedges, with four unicorn ponies sitting at one of the tables drinking what I guessed to be tea. “Hold on a moment, I need to give them some kind of preparation.” “What for?” “Oh, well… my mom and dad weren’t exactly expecting… someone who’s not a pony. Don’t worry about the others; my uncle is really open minded.” I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to prepare myself but I was at least happy, rather proud actually, that she had taken my talks on race equality to heart. Damn the system. While she walked to their table, I started practicing my advanced levitation with pebbles. There were a few seconds of distant conversation followed by a loud gasp, I looked up and figured that was my cue. I walked over to the table, pebbles still in the air. “Hello,” I said going against the rather tense mood of the table. The ones sunny had been standing near I assumed to be her parents, both looking rather baffled by my presence. Both of her parents were stark white but with different mane colors. Her father had a short blue mane slicked back with an absurd amount of hair gel while her mother had a long purple mane which she had obviously taken around an hour to style in the morning. With that awkward introduction bearing no fruit, I turned to whom i presumed to be her uncle. I held out a hand and greeted the ‘progressive one’ instead. “Hello, my name’s Alex.” “Well, it’s nice to meet you old chap. I’ve heard plenty about you from my niece over there,” he said with a nearly English accent, like sort of English but kinda shit. “She did fail to mention that you were not a pony.” He seemed nice enough with his fantastic mustache and slicked back blue hair, but one can never be too sure, especially with that fancy jacket and purple bow tie. “All good, I hope. I don’t believe I have your name.” “Ah yes, I do apologize. My name is Fancy Pants,” he said as he shook my hand. “And this here is my wife, Fleur De Lis,” gesturing to the mare to his left. She, following the trend of this entire family, was also white, so very white, and had a long pink mane which was curled at the ends. She was the pony version of a trophy wife; the amount of makeup, the confident aura, and the constant striking of poses, such a fucking trophy wife. I continued talking to Mr. Pants for some time while Sunny’s parents just seemed baffled. Sunny and i both had fun talking with her uncle and spoke mostly of my origins and Fancy’s work. Were even able to get her parents, who were subtle racists, to join in. They really didn’t seem that keen on me associating with their daughter but when I needed to go back to the castle I did flip them off; it was nice. Before i was even able to leave the grounds of the estate I was thoroughly questioned on my living conditions. “So, we were never told where you were staying now that you’re living in Equestria,” said Sunny’s father, whose name was too lame for me to bother remembering. “I suppose you are staying in an apartment somewhere, no?” He seemed rather uninterested and began to take another sip of his tea. “Well, I’m actually staying in the castle”, I said, gesturing in its direction. All the tea in his mouth was immediately emptied onto the grass. “WHAAAAA?” Yeah, I’m officially a guest of the crown or something. Well I kinda sorta have to go, my tutor is going to be furious if I’m late,” I said running off. “It was nice meeting you all. See you at school tomorrow, Sunny.” When I finally came arrived at the castle, Dusk was super pissed. I ended up having to learn the next spell while doing a handstand; it’s a good thing I took gymnastics. Who’s gay now! By the end of day seven, I had learned another three spells from class and private tutoring. Now in addition to what I knew I could make a ball of light, but that was stupid cause fire spell. So, Dusk Star taught me how to move water for ocean magic, which is completely different than levitation, and how to make a shield. I learned the shield rather quickly but it was weak; I had Sig punch one when he got back from his week at the boy scouts, guard camp, and it was like punching glass, really weak glass that shatters but doesn’t cut your hand. My spells kind of suck. It was a crazy week but tomorrow’s the day. The day the three of us have all anxiously been waiting for. nearly irrelevant background plotA man walked down the hall with urgency, an empty folder in hand. He walked into an office and dropped the folder on the desk. The Women at the desk looked at the folder and then back at the man. "Is this some kind of joke," she said. "I told you to find out who they were, and this is what you bring me?" "I'm sorry ma'am, but there isn't anything. nothing in our database, no matching images online, nothing. they don't exist." "That's not what i want to hear." "What do you want to hear?" "You know damn well what i want to hear. Who were they and how they disappeared into thin air." "Yes ma'am." He left the office leaving the woman in solitude. she put her hand to her fore head and turned back to her desktop and stared at the image on the screen. Three teenagers, around seventeen years old. There were two males and one female. The male with what looked to be a horn was of an unknown race, most likely a mix, and had purple hair. The other was a white male with light brown hair and no other real defining features. The female sitting in the back was an asian american mix by the look of it with black hair and a single white stripe. She sat there staring at the image of the three of them taken in a store earlier that day. "Whoever you are, I will find you."
the story of the arivalDay four: today is the day, the day I'll finally be allowed outside this room I've been trapped in for the past four days. I say trapped but I have been allowed to leave, for meals and meetings only unfortunately. My request for a journal has finally been answered after two days of waiting but I still lack pens and have to make do with quills for the time being. While I am being let outside I am required to have two guards watch me at all times. I am not the only one being released to day, the others are as well with the same agreement regarding our entourage. Before we are given access to the city we have a meeting with the princess of the nation regarding the city and the citizens. I still wonder why she calls herself the princess when she runs the nation and not a queen, it may be due to the lack of a husband. I know she rules with her sister but I still haven't met her and it's obviousness that her sister has only a fraction of the influence she has considering the younger of the two just returned from exile due to her trying to throw the nation into a "dark age". All things considered, we have been treated rather well considering the events that transpired during our initial meeting with the princess. It started four weeks ago. My friends, Keri, Rai, and myself were meeting at Keri's house during our break from school when after a strange flash of light we found ourselves in the woods with nothing but the clothes on our backs and anything within five feet of us at the time. For thee weeks we lived in the forest with nothing but several school books on various subjects, two rather large backpacks, three computers, an iPad, two iPods, three iPhones, half a mattress, and a bag of skittles. Surviving wasn't the hard part considering my camping experience and Rai's love for hunting and weapons along with Keri being a freaking ninja, no, the hard part was adjusting to the time change. When I say time change I don't mean we were used to it being five AM while it was seven PM, I mean the day was an extra ten hours longer. We had adjusted by day fourteen and were doing fine until day twenty but day twenty one is when everything just fell apart. A group of the guards I mentioned earlier had heard of animals disappearing in the area, a cow or two among the ones lost, and were sent to capture whatever was eating the animals in the area. Upon their arrival they found not one but three beings living in the area. We were of course the creatures in question and had been living in a cave for the duration of our little "camping trip". Now our initial meeting with the guards was not very pleasant, it ended with all three of us being knocked out and one of the guards loosing a wing. I now realize that I've left out a rather important piece of information, there are no humans in this world. The worlds dominant species seems to be ponies, bright, technicolor ponies. It fuckin sucks. To make it worse some of them aren't normal ponies, but are unicorns and Pegasuses, or Pegasus. Pegasi. Winged fucking horses. Now, while we were knocked out we had been brought to the capital city of this pony land. We were caged and brought in for study but were able to escape. I realize again I forgot to mention another important piece of info, the three of us upon arrival to this world changed. We seemed to take on an aspect from each of the pony species. Keri had gained wings of the peggathings. They are white with the tips of some of the feathers ending in black. Apparently wings here mean moving clouds and being able to control thee weather. Rai, he has a horn, just like a unicorn. The unicorns horn gives them magic, and that would explain why he has telekinesis and can make electricity. Non lethal just enough to knock someone out. Me, all I got was increased strength, not even super. I feel like captain America, slightly stronger than normal people but still kind of useless. I do heal faster so that's a plus. So upon our escape we were instantly transported back home. When I say home I mean earth, not our home town but Washington DC. For five hours we were back on earth but as to why DC I have to clue. I have a theory that it might have been because we were in the pony capital and that runs parallel with our capital or something but that's stupid and PROBABLY isn't true. Maybe. Either way, when we arrived we immediately went to the nearest police station trying to see if their was a missing person report but with none being filed, and the cop being quite the ass hole, he assumed we were just trying to hitch a free ride. Before we knew it we had ended up on the street getting strange looks from people because of our raggedy clothes. In the end we ended up with eleven stolen wallets and a lot of spending money. We bought new clothes and spent some time in the city before trying to plan out a bus rout back home. Before we could step onto the bus a number of police officers apprehended us for the pick pocketing earlier that day. They were really probably after us because of the beating Keri gave some pervert on the street. They had no idea what they were dealing with. We knocked out the four officers and took a car hoping to get out of the city but we had no idea where we were going. We ended up being pursued I the direction of the White House. Right before we could hit the wall around the building we were teleported to the horse city again but were still in the car. Now we didn't end up in the street in a car going eighty miles an hour, we ended up in the air around the palace in the city In a car going eighty miles an hour. We crashed through one of the windows and skid straight into a wall causing the airbags to deploy. I was the first to step out. I looked at those present in the room, all shock at the sudden appearance of our vehicle. Rai was next out. When he saw where we were he pulled out two guns he had under the grey sweat shirt he had bought. Keri was the last out, only because she was sitting in the back having gotten in after Rai. I opened the door for her while Rai pulled another two guns from his sweat shirt. O.k. This is taking too long. To make a long story short, ish, one guard was shot, the princess from earlier was their, we talked, we became prisoner guests and here we are. I put down my pen and looked over what I had written. It was kind of shitty but I'm no writer, so it was good enough. With all the events that had happened so far written down I just sat in my chair looking around my cell. For a prisoner I had a very nice room. A desk, a full bed, and a connected bathroom. The bed was obviously mad for a shorter species but it was alright. My thoughts were then interrupted by the sound of knocking. "Yeah," I called out. "The princess is awaiting your arrival in the garden," said my appointed guide from the other side of the door. "Alright, just hold on a sec." "No," she said. "We will not keep the princess waiting" "Fine," I said as a wrenched open the door. "Pants are over rated anyway." She stood there staring before turning away, blushing, and saying, "please put some clothes on." "That's what i though," I said as I slammed the door in her face.
garden partyI walked down the hall with a bounce in my step, a large toothy grin on my face. My guide guard followed closely behind keeping a watchful eye on my every move. He seemed rather nervous, probably unsure what to make of me and was such a noob in the guard world. Out of all the guards I had seen so far he was the only one not to be colored white, or grey if they had a horn and were all magical like me. Since I was still technically a prisoner I was obligated to hate my guard so I decided to have a little fun with him on my way to the garden. I didn't want him to panic so I did something to creep him out indirectly, I sang. "Hondora hondora, sukidora, leave me alone if you want to survive. I'll burn you, cut you, and swallow you whole. I'm here to stay for generations to come." With my song done I continued to fill the silence but humming the same little tune. "What was that," my guard asked shakily. "Oh, that. That's just a lullaby my parents used to sing to me when I was little ." He stopped dead in the hall. I turned around and looked at his shocked expression before turning back and continuing down the hall, still with a bounce in my step. I was the first person in the garden. I say person as the princess was sitting at a white picnic table boxed in by rose bushes. My guard took up a defensive position while I took a seat across from the princess and looked at the rest of the area. I from where I was sitting I could see an number of statues near what looked to be a hedge maze. It was all rather impressive but there seemed to be something missing. In the statue garden there was an empty pedestal. I was then snapped out of my daze by the sound of someone talking. I then notice the flowing pastel mane of the princess from the corner of my eye and looked back to her. "I'm so glad you were able to join me," she said with a smile. "Would you like some tea?" A tea pot and tray was then placed onto the table by a waiter who was dismissed with a slight nod. "Sure, why not." We sat there sipping our tea. "So, you never did finish explaining why my horn looks so different from you ponies," I said flicking the curved black bone protruding from my head. "Yes, it's just a rare defect in horns. There are no effects from it that I know of or have seen but there are very few cases. the only notable pony to have a horn such as yours lived over a thousand years ago in the north." We continued to sip our tea in silence. After a minute I finally asked the question that had been on my mind since we began our stay here, "have you found a way to send us back yet?" "I have a section of the magical institute working to find a way to send you back, but there is still the matter of locating your home." "Kay, but there is also the issue of whether or not we will be able to leave our rooms for more than meals and a chat." "Yes, but there is a more pressing matter. We need to discuss..." At this moment she was soundly interrupted by the words 'IT'S A FEINT' being yelled from an open window on the fourth floor of the castle, followed by a winged figure jumping out and landing shakily on the grass. they then tumbled over onto the grass in a fit of laughter. "Oh my god, that was fun," she said. "God damn it, can't I have one civilized conversation," I said. "Sorry, bucket list. Jump from a building and live," she said in between laughs. while she laughed a second figure clad in gold armor jumped from the window and landed next to keri, a short sword in hand... hoof. The pony had a sword. He placed it on her neck and let out what sounded to be a low growl. "You, leave my sight again and you loose your head." he then noticed the princess and myself and removed his sword from her throat and lowered himself into a bow. "your highness, I'm sorry, it seemed as if she was trying to escape." "I know you were doing your job but these beings are our guests, contrary to popular belief. please refrain from harming them." the princess spoke as if a mother was speaking to a child and the guard seemed to visibly relax. "Yes, my liege." He then moved on to join my guard at his post. "Well I believe we have been of topic long enough," she said pouring another cup of tea. "Would you please join us" she said to Keri. "Alright." She took a seat next to me, added maybe five or six spoons of sugar to her tea and then brought her attention to the princess. "Now, as I was saying. There is something wrong with each of your bodies," said the princess, continuing from where she had left off. "During each of our talks I scanned your bodies for any possible ailments that might harm my ponies, but found no such thing, what I found was much worse. Each of you seems to be producing an immense amount of magical energy." "what does that mean," I asked. "For you, there shouldn't be too much of a problem," she said to me. "But you and your friend on the other hoof," she said to Keri, "are in grave danger." "From what," Keri and i both asked. "You two have no way of using magic. Rai with his horn could cast spells to counteract the magic buildup. You will unfortunately have to have the magic syphoned out of you. The magic would eventually need to come out, when that happens it could be harmless or you could very well die." we were shocked. We sat there, mouthes agape, trying to process the information. We were finally pulled from our catatonic state by a familiar voice. "Hey, why y'all look so depressed." said sig, joining us at last. "I'm sorry princess," said the guard who followed. "I tried to bring him here on time but he was being difficult." "Well sorry. How about you try wearing jeans four days in a row, it sucks. so what did i miss."
In the cityAs we walked through the city there was an uneasy air about the place. there was an aura of depression emanating from our group while the citizens displayed and aura of fear. The only person or pony with any sort of positive energy was Sig. After I told him the news of how we were going to die all he had to say was ‘fuck that. If I'm going to die it’s going to be awesome, like that guy in the first lord of the rings movie.’ Knowing I was going to die with so many things left undone was terrible, but watching someone i know force their fear and put on a brave face like this was painful knowing what was to come. although it was painful and slightly forced there was one thing that remained true about him even now, no mood could stay somber for long, especially when both Sig and Rai were together. The mood finally picked up after a hour of mindless wandering and window shopping at clothes stores. We continued to wander until noon where we decided to get the least healthy lunch possible, which lead to a fight between Sig and the owner of the shop. “Boston” “Canterlot” “I’m tellin ya joe, it’s called a Boston cream” “And I’m telling you it’s called a Canterlot cream.” “Look joe, you’re nice guy, but you don’t know jack.” “Who is…” “About donuts,” said Sig, cutting him off. He placed a few golden coins on the counter and walked away, pastries in hand. He handed us the bags with our donuts and walked out the door muttering, “they’re still called Boston cream.” “Hey, how about you shut up and eat your food,” said Rai before unceremoniously stuffing a whole donut into his mouth and chewing awkwardly. “Excuse me,” came a voice from behind us. we turned to face the guard who was sent to guide us through the city, calm the ponies of the city, and, after a large amount of convincing, to carry the money. “Oh,” I said surprised. “sorry, we forgot you were here for a bit, guard…?” “My name is Stormy Night.” “Riiiiiight.” “Have you forgotten that you are to return to the castle for lunch with the princess at 17:00, right now it is 15:46 so we will want to head back soon.” “um, alright, but thats like an hour. how about we go somewhere interesting near the castle then,” suggested Sig. With that we all headed towards one of the three museums in the city, and we chose the one with the most weapons possible. “So, why are all these here,” Rai asked a slightly fearful curator. “Um, what do you mean sir?” “i mean why are all these things here, i doubt that any single pony could lift these let alone swing them around,” he said gesturing to the massive swords and war hammers along the wall. “Oh yes, these weapons were held by the non pony individuals who assisted us in times of need,” she said, calming down now that she was discussing a subject she was more comfortable with. “What? you mean there are more species that can talk in this place,” I asked, butting into the conversation. “Well of course,” she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. “There are plenty. There are the minotaurs, the griffons, dragons, the…” “Dragons,” we all said simultaneously. We a three way fist bump was held before acknowledging the presence of the ponies in the room, each of which had a confused look on their faces. “What?” “Well, it’s just rare that anypony get excited about dragons,” said Stormy Night. “They’re so dangerous that their study was abandoned decades ago.” “Ok,” said Rai, “but we need to have a little chat.” He cracked his knuckles for added effect before wrapping his arm around the guards head and asking, “do i look like a pony to you?” “Um, no?” “that’s what i thought,” he said to the struggling guard before dragging him around a corner to ‘talk’. I left Rai to lecture the guard on his vernacular and when back to Sig who was talking to the curator about a particular object in a reinforced case. It was a large hammer suspended in mid air, slowly turning, radiating a deep purple energy, the same color as the head. The head itself was made or a dark purple crystal the size of a rugby ball that seemed to have a faint glow in the center. “So what is this,” I ask turning their heads from the weapon. “This is the warhammer of Dolan, The Bronze Arm, he was a minotaur warrior who defended the city from seven bonnacon single handedly,” said Sig in a manner that seemed as if he had practiced daily for people like me. “Kay, but what is a bonnacon,” I asked. “No clue,” he said. He turned the curator and asked. “What is a bonnacon exactly?” “A bonnacon is a bull like creature with a long mane and powerful horns, it’s able to breath fire and has skin as hard as iron,” she said. She seemed to almost be shivering at the thought of them. “Just one of these took down twenty seven guards before it was stopped.” She seemed frightened, unnaturally so. It was the kind of fear that someone has only from having experienced the terror head on. "Are you okay," he asked. "Huh, oh, yes. I'm... I'm fine." It wasn't very convincing but we didn't press the subject any further. "Let's move on, shall we?" We spent as much time as possible at the museum trying to avoid returning to the castle but guard finally convinced us to return with the promise of food. Not any food, but the one thing that we had to go without for the past four days. Meat. As we walked into the dining room where our previous meals had been held we were immediately ushered into the kitchen where we were told to instruct the chefs on how to prepare fish. Sig and I told the chefs the basic way sat down at the table. We were joined by Celestia soon after. “So what do you think of my little surprise,” she asked, a small smile on her face. “I do hope this makes the day a little better, considering everything.” “Its great, I was getting tired of nothing but fruit and vegetables for the past for days,” said Sig, shuddering at the memory. “Yeah, any longer than this and I would have started freaking out,” I said in agreement. “Well I’m glad we were able to get something you’re able to eat. The griffons we host on occasion also eat meat, but prefer it raw,” said Celestia. She looked around the room perplexed before asking “where is Rai.” “Kitchen,” we both replied. “He doesn’t like people touching his food,” I explained. Lunch was brought out rather quickly for Celestia while we waited another ten minutes for our food to arrive. The chefs had pleaded with the princess that she try to remove Rai from the kitchen but refused saying “it would be nice to see what he makes, food from other cultures is always very interesting.” When he finally came out of the kitchen he was holding three plates each with a silver cover with his magic while announcing his appearance like a sportscaster from the fifties. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for what you’ve all been waiting for. The meal none of of you have had for nearly a month, straight from japan, onigiri.” He pulled the covers off the dishes revealing five perfect rice balls, minus the seaweed, lined up perfectly. “BAM,” he yelled as he placed a plate in front of us before taking a seat next to me. “Thank you, my good sir,” I said in the most pompous voice i could manage on an empty stomach. “Damn right.” From there we started to eat making, small talk, and telling the princess our thoughts on the city. She seemed rather pleased. the meal went well and the food was good, not great because we only had freshwater fish, but good enough to enjoy. Near the end of the meal the Celestia said she had good news. She had once again spoken to a team of unicorn and had funded the experiment of transferring magical energy from one being to another. This was great news, we would be able to keep on living here, and might even be able to go home. There was a problem though, we had only two more weeks before we would need to be drained of our magic. “During this time i would like all of you to participate in some sort of activity to keep you busy,” she said. “It would go a long way if you were seen working with my ponies and help other come to accept you. Your guide, Stormy nights, told me of most ponies reactions and I think this would help get them to accept you.” “Yeah, that sounds good,” I said in agreement. The others silently nodded. “So what are our options?” “Well, for you, I was thinking you could attend flight school. While you have wings you still don’t know how to use them properly.” “Sounds about right.” “Siegfried, i think you would like…” “I want to go into guard training,” he said cutting her off. “Very well, I’ll put you in a the preliminary training. And Rai, i want to enroll you in one of the magic schools here.” “Alright, which school,” he said. “That all depends on how much magic you actually know.” “I can levitate stuff and make a bit of electricity and sparks,” he said bringing his hands together and letting off a few sparks. “And these aren't magic sparks, I can actually make a fire with these.” “Thats not very much.” “Yeah, but i have only had my horn for three and a half weeks and no knowledge or reference on how to use it prior to then.” “Well this should give you some structure. You will be placed in a beginners magic class with others of your level.” “Alright.” “Good, now before anything else, may i ask what prompted you to make electricity in the first place?” “...OH CRAP!” “WHAT,” I asked. “WE LEFT THEM IN THE WOODS.” I knew exactly what he was talking about and so did Sig. We both stood up and yelled “SHIT!”
the long week: RaiI sat in my chair, my feet propped up on the desk. After having been sitting there doing nothing but stare at the other empty desks in the classroom, and play angry birds on my phone which I just got back, there was clamor from outside the room. I put my phone into my bag as the door opened and several small ponies, foals, as I learned an hour prior, walked in engaged in a large group conversation. They did not immediately notice me, but when one finally did, she stopped dead in her tracks blocking the rest of the group. Her eyes went wide as she let out a shrill cry. She pushed through the crowd and ran into the hall screaming about a monster in the classroom. I expected the type of reaction and payed the rest of the class no mind. I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling, waiting for the professor who was told of my arrival. The quiet that came after any sort of outburst was rather short lived; one of the other fillies in the class decided it was her job to remove me from the room. “Hey freak, what are you doing here? Get out!” I turned my head back to the door. “This is my spot,” I told her. Most of the class was rather shocked that I was able to speak but the filly at the front just seemed angry. “I told you to get out!” Her horn started to glow. A chair at the front of the room was lifted off the ground and flung towards my head. I pulled my feet off of the desk and put my arms above my head. It hit my arms with a dull wooden thump leaving my arm red with a few small scrapes. “Oh, so you want to play rough? Just remember, you started this shit.” I started pouring energy into my hands and horn covering them in a blood red energy. Five desks were lifted off the ground and started to rotate around me. “So, you want to back out yet?” The courage seemed to drain from her body. She stood rigid from my display of magic, shocked beyond belief. She ran out of the room. I lost sight of her for only a second before she tumbled back into view having hit something in the hall. An elderly unicorn with a tan coat and a greying brown mane walked into the room followed closely by the filly who ran away earlier. With this I began putting the desks back into their rightful places. “What is going on here,” he asked the class? “What could possibly make you all so frantic?” It was now when he finally noticed my presence in the classroom. “Oh, so it’s you. I was hoping class would have started before you arrived.” The class was confused, they pelted the professor with questions like what was I or what was I doing here. He paid the class no mind as he walked to his desk. He put his bag down and turned his attention back to the class. “I'd like to introduce our newest student.” There were numerous groans be he would have none of that. “Settle down, he’s here to stay. Come up and introduce yourself. I stood up and walked to the board. I levitated a piece of chalk into my hand and proceeded to write my name. “Hello, my name is Alex Rai Murterbaux, It’s nice to meet you all. I will be joining this class for the foreseeable future,” I said with a bow. “Very good, now lets get started shall we?” I walked back to my seat at the center of the room pulling the stares of the children with me. “Now that we have finished with the basics of levitation we can start learning more complicated magic, but first can anypony tell me the two basic groups of magic?” Several hooves went into the air. I looked around the class and saw that i was the only one here with no knowledge on the subject, I would have to change that. The professor called on the student to the right of me, she had been looking at me differently than the others. Instead of afraid she seemed almost intrigued. “The two types of magic are elemental and arcane.” She looked to me again and gave a wide grin. “Correct, now in both of these there are three sub categories. In arcane there is light, dark, and neutral, while in elemental there is ocean, sky, and land. Land magic consists … what are you doing?” I looked up from my laptop and saw the professor and the students staring more intently that before. “What?” “What are you doing,” he asked again. “I’m taking notes,” I said turning my screen to the front of the room. He seemed shocked as if he had never seen a computer before. I looked around at the other students and saw they each only had a quill or a pencil. “Oh, you guys don’t have computers.” “Well, as long as you’re being productive,” he said hesitantly. “Lets get back on topic shall we? Land magic consists of earth and fire magic, ocean magic makes use of water and ice, and finally sky magic which controls air and lightning.” He continued blabbing on about magical theory for another hour before the class was actually over. I continued taking notes on my laptop which most of the other students ignored save for the occasional glance to see what was on my screen. It was nice being ignored, mostly. That one child next to me seemed to stare constantly. I soon found that she was in several of my classes, not just magical theory. She was in modern spell casting, magical history, even that beginners potion making class i was taking so i wouldn’t have so much free time in between two of my classes. At about noon, 17:00, when the day was nearly done, we had our lunch break out in the yard before our last class. There happened to be a large number of picnic tables on the grass but I took up a spot underneath a large tree away from the others, content with my solitude. I sat there in the shade eating my lunch, my computer charger absorbing electricity from my hands. I was rather content sitting there, lunch in one hand and computer charger in the other. It was perfect; sometimes you forget how much you can miss Doctor Who when you go without it for half a week. Ten minutes into lunch that little filly from my classes decided she wanted to sit with me. Normally I would have been too absorbed in my show to notice her but she just stood out too much to. She trotted towards me, a wide smile across her face adding to her pure white coat and blinding yellow mane. It was almost painful. She sat down in the sunlight and said, “Hi Alex.” I looked at her for a moment before nodding back. I went back to my lunch while she sat there and watched me eat- I was really getting creeped out. I was creeped out before but once you have someone watch you eat as intently as she did… it wasn't fun. I wanted to keep eating but i just couldn't with her there. “Is there something you want?” She wasted no time before asking, “What are you?” “Human.” “What’s that?” “It’s what I am. It’s me, one of three.” “There are more of you?” I sat there while she bombarded me with questions. There were repetitive, things like 'where are you from?'', 'where is that?', and 'how many of you live there?'. I ended up having to describe New York City in detail and was then told that there was a city very much like that here called "Manehatten", I shit you not. I was still being blinded every time I looked in her general direction but I was starting to get used to it. We the finally reached the question that i knew would freak out ninety percent of the population of this world- what did I eat. “Oh, you don’t want to know.” “Please, I'm really interested. Why, can’t I know? Is it something gross?” While she had been watching me eat a sandwich like what I had didn’t show its contents. “You sure you want to know?” I put real emotion into my voice this time. She was annoying but not terrible, I didn’t want to scare her. “Oh, please, please, please!” “Alright. You see these teeth here,” I said opening my mouth and pointing. She nodded. “These are called canines, like a dog. We have these so we can eat meat.” Last time I told a pony about this there were several gasps and one pony who passed out, but this girl just sat there and smiled. “Oh, that’s so cool,” She said, overflowing with excitement. “I have a pet blue jay. We feed it seeds and fruit, but sometimes it flies away and comes back with bugs, and one time a baby bird.” At that moment I realized that this was probably the single most interesting being at this entire school. More importantly I could eat meat around her and not have her freak out. Maybe. Lunch ended with the two of us on rather good terms. We kept up a rather lively conversation and drew the eyes of many still-frightened students. we had to part ways at that point- as she and I had different classes- but she insisted on meeting after school so we could keep talking. Before I could dissuade her she scurried off to her last class. I walked down the barren halls to the my final class. I reached the room and opened the door, sitting down in the center seat I had claimed for all my classes. The professor began writing on the board and the class began. “Hello all, and welcome to Beginner's Alchemy.” On day three I was rather bored with the routine I had set up. Go to classes, talk with that strange child, go back to the castle, and practice the spells I needed to learn. By then I had already learned short range teleportation, separation of hydrogen and oxygen through magic, and was making fully formed fireballs that would fizzle out when they were a foot away from my hand or horn. I was getting so far ahead in my classes that i was becoming even more hated than before, but then again the other students were twelve or something and weren’t worth a single damn, meaning they were worth less than one three hundredth of a fuck. They were worth less than a damn. Thirty danms equal a shit and ten shits equal a fuck. So worthless. My boredom seemed incurable during the afternoon of the fourth day. I returned to the castle and asked the nearest guard where vista was. He didn’t get it, so I asked where PC was. When he still didn’t get it after using her initials, I slapped him across the face and walked down the halls until I reached a line and a very large and pretentious set of golden doors. I, as the spectacular asshole I always was and forever will be, skipped the line of ponies and walked into the room. There were numerous complaints by the waiting ponies but I ignored them. Besides, the guards had been given orders not to stop me or my friends should we ever need to speak to her. I found myself a the large white stone throne room, where we had crashed through a window nearly a week ago. The princess was sitting on a large golden throne, hence the throne room, with a vacant and slightly smaller seat next to her. I walked up to her and waved and was given a smile in return. I waited for the pony she was speaking with to finally shut up and move on; when he did the princess beckoned me forward. “Hello Rai. I'm glad you're here,” said the princess, a smile on her face. “You’re the first to accept my offer for assistance. What can I help you with?” “Yeah, I'm just really, really bored,” I said walking up and taking a seat in the smaller throne next to her. The guards on duty looked shocked by my actions but i knew the princess was fine with it so I made myself comfortable. My conversation with the princess was short. Afterwards she instructed a unicorn guard to guide me to a rather large underground room. The walk was short; after arriving the guard took up a post in the corner of the room. She said she would be there shortly but she would still have to see to the concerns of her subjects. Staying true to her word, she arrived minutes after myself. She teleported into the room with a small pop and a flash of light. “You wanted to learn more about magic?” I nodded. “Very well.” There was another small popping sound and the room was suddenly filled with fist sized rocks, each identical to the other. “Now, I want you to pick up as many rocks as possible using your magic.” “That’s all?” She nodded and I began to lift several stones off the ground. She and the guard both looked rather impressed by the display. I held the stones above my head and began to fashion a crown out of the rotating stones. “So, how’s this?” I asked. “For somepony- sorry, someone- who has had their magic for as long as you have it’s quite impressive, but let me ask you this. Are you controlling them all separately?” I moved the rocks away from my head and let them fall to the floor and said, “Yes, this is the most I can move once. I can’t focus on more than seven objects at a time.” “That is what makes this feat impressive. Most are only able to control three of four items at a time, but seven…” She turned to the guard, saying a few words before looking back to me. “While I do have business to attend to, Dusk Star here shall stay and instruct you on mass levitation.” Before I was able to get a single word out she teleported away, leaving me in a room full of rocks with the unicorn guard. We both stood there for an unknown amount of time, staring each other down before the silence was finally broken. The guard walked towards me. He stopped about three feet away before squinting and asking, “Which one are ya again?” in a southern accent. “Wat.” “Which one are ya boy,” he yelled. “What’s yer name?” “Oh, I’m Rai.” I said, holding out a hand. It was met with a rough hoof and a rather violent shake. I took my hand back, gingerly cradling it after it was so brutaly handled. “Well, it seems I’m to be yer teacher fer a while. So, what'cha know about the ‘mass levitation spell’ anyhow? “Absolutely nothing.” “Well, shoot. I didn’t think you were such a greenhorn with what you did just a moment ago.” I just shrugged. “Well alrighty then. So, let’s start with a demonstration between the two,” he said. His horn began to glow a deep blue before spreading to four stones around him. They each began to lift off the ground and move in a pattern in the air, tracing out a shape. “Alright, so that’s regular, now what’s mass?” “I’m getting to it.” Without his horn glowing any brighter his magic seemed to spread to an even greater number of rocks, pulling each of them from the ground. When every rock with an orange glow had been pulled off the ground, there were nearly thirty stones in the air. I looked up in awe as they began to form a ring above him. “Now ya see the difference, boy? The mass levitation spell is nearly the same as levitation but ya don’t focus on all the things yer pickin up, ya think of it as like one big thing.” The remainder of the day was spent on me unsuccessfully trying to learn this new spell. The entirety of the afternoon of the fourth and fifth day after school was spent in that room trying to lift rocks. At the end of the fifth day I had finally managed to lift fourteen five stones in one levitational grip. After having used plenty of magic during school, using it underground became a serious chore those two days. I later found out that my teacher had only been using one levitation field for all the rocks he had lifted on the first day, and that it took him only three days to master. And here I was thinking I was hot shit for being able to hold five. The sixth day went rather well at first but then started to go a little off track as the day went on. It started off with classes, which went well enough but started to go crazy when the day ended. The blinding yellow and white child I had been talking with started to drag me to her house. She had been telling me that her parents had been wanting to meet the friend she had been talking about so much and decided that she would bring me to her house. I tried to protest against the idea, but she would have none of it. In the end I was being dragged, with magic, by my backpack to her home. It was like something out of a cartoon; the small talkative one dragging the antisocial one to some sort of gathering. “Here we are,” she said in a singsong voice, finally releasing me from her magical deathgrip, “my house.” It was more like a mansion than a house. From my room in the palace I had a rather good view of Canterlot, and from there I had seen this home stand out among the others. Until now i had always thought it was a small hotel or a museum based on its size but this was a shock. “G.D.” “Hm?” She looked over at me questioningly. “Sorry, it’s just... really big,” I said. “This is seriously where you live, Sunny?” “Yep,” she said with a smile. “Let’s go!” She opened the door and walked into a massive atrium before announcing her arrival. “MOM, DAD, I’M HOME. I BROUGHT A FRIEND!” There was the sound of hooves coming from one of the rooms and we were soon greeted by a pony wearing a vest and a bowtie. “Hello young madam, your parents are out back,” he said looking only at her, almost ignoring my presence entirely. “Thanks.” She walked on, gesturing for me to follow. When we reached the back of the house we stepped onto a large open area surrounded by hedges, with four unicorn ponies sitting at one of the tables drinking what I guessed to be tea. “Hold on a moment, I need to give them some kind of preparation.” “What for?” “Oh, well… my mom and dad weren’t exactly expecting… someone who’s not a pony. Don’t worry about the others; my uncle is really open minded.” I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to prepare myself but I was at least happy, rather proud actually, that she had taken my talks on race equality to heart. Damn the system. While she walked to their table, I started practicing my advanced levitation with pebbles. There were a few seconds of distant conversation followed by a loud gasp, I looked up and figured that was my cue. I walked over to the table, pebbles still in the air. “Hello,” I said going against the rather tense mood of the table. The ones sunny had been standing near I assumed to be her parents, both looking rather baffled by my presence. Both of her parents were stark white but with different mane colors. Her father had a short blue mane slicked back with an absurd amount of hair gel while her mother had a long purple mane which she had obviously taken around an hour to style in the morning. With that awkward introduction bearing no fruit, I turned to whom i presumed to be her uncle. I held out a hand and greeted the ‘progressive one’ instead. “Hello, my name’s Alex.” “Well, it’s nice to meet you old chap. I’ve heard plenty about you from my niece over there,” he said with a nearly English accent, like sort of English but kinda shit. “She did fail to mention that you were not a pony.” He seemed nice enough with his fantastic mustache and slicked back blue hair, but one can never be too sure, especially with that fancy jacket and purple bow tie. “All good, I hope. I don’t believe I have your name.” “Ah yes, I do apologize. My name is Fancy Pants,” he said as he shook my hand. “And this here is my wife, Fleur De Lis,” gesturing to the mare to his left. She, following the trend of this entire family, was also white, so very white, and had a long pink mane which was curled at the ends. She was the pony version of a trophy wife; the amount of makeup, the confident aura, and the constant striking of poses, such a fucking trophy wife. I continued talking to Mr. Pants for some time while Sunny’s parents just seemed baffled. Sunny and i both had fun talking with her uncle and spoke mostly of my origins and Fancy’s work. Were even able to get her parents, who were subtle racists, to join in. They really didn’t seem that keen on me associating with their daughter but when I needed to go back to the castle I did flip them off; it was nice. Before i was even able to leave the grounds of the estate I was thoroughly questioned on my living conditions. “So, we were never told where you were staying now that you’re living in Equestria,” said Sunny’s father, whose name was too lame for me to bother remembering. “I suppose you are staying in an apartment somewhere, no?” He seemed rather uninterested and began to take another sip of his tea. “Well, I’m actually staying in the castle”, I said, gesturing in its direction. All the tea in his mouth was immediately emptied onto the grass. “WHAAAAA?” Yeah, I’m officially a guest of the crown or something. Well I kinda sorta have to go, my tutor is going to be furious if I’m late,” I said running off. “It was nice meeting you all. See you at school tomorrow, Sunny.” When I finally came arrived at the castle, Dusk was super pissed. I ended up having to learn the next spell while doing a handstand; it’s a good thing I took gymnastics. Who’s gay now! By the end of day seven, I had learned another three spells from class and private tutoring. Now in addition to what I knew I could make a ball of light, but that was stupid cause fire spell. So, Dusk Star taught me how to move water for ocean magic, which is completely different than levitation, and how to make a shield. I learned the shield rather quickly but it was weak; I had Sig punch one when he got back from his week at the boy scouts, guard camp, and it was like punching glass, really weak glass that shatters but doesn’t cut your hand. My spells kind of suck. It was a crazy week but tomorrow’s the day. The day the three of us have all anxiously been waiting for.
nearly irrelevant background plotA man walked down the hall with urgency, an empty folder in hand. He walked into an office and dropped the folder on the desk. The Women at the desk looked at the folder and then back at the man. "Is this some kind of joke," she said. "I told you to find out who they were, and this is what you bring me?" "I'm sorry ma'am, but there isn't anything. nothing in our database, no matching images online, nothing. they don't exist." "That's not what i want to hear." "What do you want to hear?" "You know damn well what i want to hear. Who were they and how they disappeared into thin air." "Yes ma'am." He left the office leaving the woman in solitude. she put her hand to her fore head and turned back to her desktop and stared at the image on the screen. Three teenagers, around seventeen years old. There were two males and one female. The male with what looked to be a horn was of an unknown race, most likely a mix, and had purple hair. The other was a white male with light brown hair and no other real defining features. The female sitting in the back was an asian american mix by the look of it with black hair and a single white stripe. She sat there staring at the image of the three of them taken in a store earlier that day. "Whoever you are, I will find you."
