Your Human and You: Lone Ascendant

Daniel sighed as he blinked his bleary eyes.

"I hate waking so early...need caffeine" he groused to himself.

He had been on the road since early that morning going from his home to the city of Homer. For those who don’t live in Alaska, Daniel lived in a city called Palmer, which was situated in the Matanuska Valley.

It was one of the few places in Alaska with land fertile enough to grow crops, and to raise cattle for their milk and meat. What made it important was that it was situated pretty much in the middle of the Mat-Su borough, or county for those down south. Thus it was a bit of a hub for travelers.

Homer was also a city, but it was situated on the farthest, southern end of the Alaska road system. It’s economy relied primarily on fishing, tourism, and logging, and it was Daniel’s starting point of his Photo-Trip.

The main problem for Daniel however was that he had to wake up early in order to get to Homer at a decent hour. The city was only two hundred and sixty or so miles away, but it would take him a little over five hours to get there.

Daniel yawned as he blankly stared down the road. It was five in the morning, and the Seward Highway was packed with people going to Anchorage. Fortunately he was going the other way from the morning craziness. Not that wasn't glancing to the left now and then. Last thing he needed was some moron trying to pass by going on his side of the road.

“I should have done this later...arriving in the evening would have been far better.”

He would rather be in bed at the moment, but time waits for no one, and bills don’t pay themselves. Being late summer, much of the wildlife will be out and about trying to find the last bit of food they can before winter comes. It will also mark a change in the landscape, where trees start to turn yellow, appearing as if they were cast in gold during the setting sun.

Plus it was going to be a full moon tonight, so the waters of Kachemak Bay will be cast in silver. While the trees appear as ghosts in the night.

The thought brought a small grin to Daniel’s lips.

“It will be worth it. The day and night will create a good contrast for my portfolio.”

His positive thoughts were interrupted by the sound of water hitting his truck’s windshield.

He blinked and looked up at what appeared to be a clear blue morning sky. Cloudless and slowly getting brighter.

“...That's weird.” he stated before a second drop of water hit the windshield. Then another, and another. Soon it built into a torrent of rain, and Daniel had to slow down and turn on his windshield wipers. Seeing a still clear blue sky above him, Daniel slowed down further in trepidation.

“Okaaaay…..this is kind of freaky now.”

He observed that the drivers on the other side of the road were reacting the same way he had, slowing down and looking around in confusion. Rain usually needed clouds...so where was this rain coming from?

As Daniel passed the fleet of cars, he found his answer suddenly and abruptly. The sky, without any warning whatsoever, erupted in small lightning bursts, that slowly became large lightning bursts. This was followed soon after by clouds forming out of nowhere with frightening speed.

Daniel slammed on his brakes in shock from the freak storm’s sudden appearance. The shock gave way to terror as lightning stuck at the dirt and road around him and the clouds form on top of him. The cars that were ahead had come to a sudden stop and caused a few accidents from sheer panic.

The cars behind him had also stopped a bit further back and the drivers could only watch as the storm assaulted the ground around Daniel’s truck. Daniel himself was close to panic as the bolts of lightning continued to strike the ground around him. Then as sudden as the whole thing started, the lightning stopped and the storm just thundered.

A few drivers ahead of him that had gotten out of their cars to watch began waving to Daniel frantically to get moving.

“Oh yeah! Fuck this!” and he pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The truck roared loudly as the wheels screeched and burned rubber. It went from zero to sixty in about four seconds and Daniel was almost home free...until the lightning started up again and struck all around his vehicle.

“OH SHIT!” Daniel cried as he instinctively moved to press the brake again. It didn't matter however, as the moment his foot shifted...reality decided to take a dump in front of him.

Like the fabric of a theater curtain, a hole in the world opened before Daniel’s eyes. A rift in existence itself for all to see. At the speed he was moving, Daniel barely had time to even contemplate what it was he was looking at before he and his truck passed right through the rip...and sailed through the air.

Gravity chose to leave Daniel for the moment, and the sensation was not entirely lost on him. Before he realized it, he slammed into the ground hard and felt his truck bounce almost onto the side. With some experience in off road driving, Daniel turned the wheel so his truck would balance itself.

The truck was riding on both right wheels, and with a bit of patience, Daniel let gravity finish its job and brought the other two wheels to earth. Braking hard, Daniel came to a complete stop and breathed hard.

Adrenaline now freely flowing through him, he quickly assessed his situation. He was uninjured, his truck was probably damaged but still drivable, and most importantly...he was alive.

A glance to the mirror showed the rift in the air a small distance behind him. It was floating wildly in the air, about 20 feet off the ground. Daniel blinked several times before noticing that the rift was now closing. Its width becoming smaller and smaller.

His eyes went wide as he jerked towards the door and pushed it open. Undoing his belt, he leaped out of the truck and stared at the now tiny rift.

He tried to speak, but he began to cough hard as his throat burned and he gasped.

'What happened to my throat!? he asked himself as he gazed back to the rift.

The rift quietly, and serenely, formed into a wavy line of light and energy...before fading into nothing.

Daniel blinked, jaw open in shock as confusion and horror slowly began to set in. He fell to his knees, kicking up dust on the dust and barren ground. His mind was a jumble of thoughts and emotion. Everything seemed to fly at him all at once, with no order or logic. There was only one thought in his mind as he stared into the distance.

'....WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!?'

==Canterlot==

The royal gardens looked especially vibrant today, for every flower was in bloom, the leaves had a certain lively aura about them, even the animals were more active and showing their colors an plumage to match.

So why did Celestia feel at unease? Her flowing, rainbow like hair shared her unease by billowing a slight more lively against her alabaster coat then usual, and her wings twitched slightly every other minute, but otherwise she gave no indication something was bothering her.

It was feeling that had started sometime near midday, she had just called for a recess of the morning court so she could have a few hours to herself and have lunch. Sitting upon a couch overlooking the southern face of the garden, which gave a view of Canterlot and in the distance a view of Ponyville and the surrounding region, Celestia was taking her tea when a sense of...wrongness, filtered into the back of her mind.

At first she tried to dismiss it, but it shortly began to gnaw at her. As she tried to sip her cup of tea, it suddenly got worse.

Celestia gave a small frown as she finally gave in and looked into what this feeling was, and realized that it wasn't within her, but from an external source.

"Oh no." she spoke in dread as reached out her senses. The last time something external happened that gave her a bad feeling, Discord had broken free from his prison and wreaked havoc across Equestria with his brand of chaos and his game.

Her senses focused on the statue of the Spirit of Disharmony. It had been returned to the gardens, taking its place once more, but with a few extra spells to prevent anything from freeing Discord again. Nothing aside from a willful action could possibly allow the villain be free again. So it was to her relief that Discord was still in his place and nothing more than a statue still.

"Oh thank goodness, I didn't wish to deal with that again." Celestia spoke after a sigh.

So what was causing this sense of unease?...and why was it getting stronger.

Celestia stood up and reached out with her feelings, before turning to the southeast. There was something coming from there.

She tilted her head in concern and curiosity as she gazed to the distance.

"What is out there?" she wondered out loud.

After a few moments she lit up with remembrance.

"Oh yes!" She exclaimed. The guards near the doorway to he balcony twitched their ears, but stayed where they were despite their monarch speaking so loud. They were starting to get curious though, not that they would show or say it.

"The Badlands are in that direction. As are a few settlements..." her senses reached out further, past the points of magic her little ponies usually gave off. this gave her some relief knowing they were not near the source of this disturbance.

She finally managed to pinpoint the area where the feeling came from and she felt herself lean back physically. It felt as if she walked into a room covered in mud, or smelled of a foul odor. Nothing 'bad' was making it per se, but it was very out of place. It gave a sense of wrongness, mostly from being out of place with the world in general. Like a beam of sunlight shining upon a tree in the dead of night. Nothing bad...just wrong.

She focused and found the center of the phenomenon. It was very quickly disappearing from the world, but the spirit realm was still very affected by it. She could actually see it in her mind's eye, and it was both ugly and beautiful at the same time. Time and Space itself had ruptured, tearing itself into the physical world, and warping the universe to its whim. It was a type of power that lay within only a few items in existence, such as the mirrors, but she had never seen it in the natural world before.

The power required to make this happen was immense, god like even. At the very least, making this event happen without such power required something that allowed great focus for such energies. She sensed no such objects near that would allow this however. So she concluded this was a natural phenomenon.

She relaxed and laid back down upon her royal pillow as she finished her sensing and started to pull back....but then stopped.

Celestia blinked and frowned again before 'looking down' onto the Badlands. There was...something else. Much smaller, but it was there...and it wasn't a few moments ago. It also moved...and was alive.

"What have we here?" she asked and focused on the new thing of interest.

It soon became apparent, that it was a creature of some sort...wait...it was a Human. What would a human be doing in the middle of the Badlands? That place was very inhospitable for most creatures. Even the hardy Minotaur's were hard pressed to stay in a place like that when they did their 'wasteland expedition' once upon a time. The human just sat there, staring at what was left of the event, which soon disappeared entirely from this world.

She felt a tinge of envy for the human for being there to witness it, even though the human wouldn't know what it was looking at to begin with. She looked back upon the human, sensing it...and it was...startling to her.

All creatures in Equestria had in them a sort of energy. An energy unique to that species. Her little Ponies had a sense of peace and harmony about them, while the Griffins had a wild and fleeting energy that constantly wanted to move. Dragons had a deep well of energy that was hot and cloud-like in appearance if one could see it. Humans in general had an energy that one could call...aggressive. It lashed about here and there, and like the Griffins, had a wildness to it.

This human however...it did not have that same energy.

It's core was...calm, and solid like a gem. It had structure, and the energy that flowed within went to and fro very quickly. Logically.

It was unique.

She watched as the human slowly stood up and began to walk towards something when she was brought back to the real world.

"Your highness? It's time for the meeting highness."

Celestia blinked and gazed over to the pony that had brought her out of her vision.

It was a mare dressed in the uniform of of her office, that of a suit stallions wore, but fitted for her frame, and colored in greens and blues. Her mane and tail comprised of a platinum yellow, with streaks of golden brown acting as contrast. Her coat was of a darker yellow, like that of a dandelion, which offset her emerald green eyes.

"Chancellor Gold Spire. It's that time already?" Celestia asked before taking on a cheeky grin "Come to fetch me personally?"

Gold Spire blinked before nodding with a crooked grin "It is highness. When the servants couldn't rouse you, I decided I needed to see to it myself to fetch you."

Gold Spire gave a mock glare to her monarch "That's not in my job description by the way."

Celestia just laughed as she stood and worked out the kinks in her legs "Oh Goldie, if you didn't do these things, this kingdom would fall apart in days."

Gold Spire snorted "Don't I know it." she replied as she moved aside to allow the princess room to leave.

As the two left the balcony, leaving the butlers to handle the food left behind, Gold Spire began to fill out the afternoon schedule and itinerary to Celestia.

Celestia took note of it all, but her mind was elsewhere. That human was still on her mind. It had been so unusual in its energy, and the fact it had not been there when she reached the phenomena...but it was there after.

What happened there? More importantly...where did the human come from?

This thought was placed in the back of her mind as she continued to walk through the halls to her next appointment.

She would check on the human later, duty called.