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                  Track & Field Mysteries                  
                  -by Grasshopper Keller-                  
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                    A Complex Prologue                     
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A Complex Prologue
Track & Field Mysteries
By Grasshopper Keller
*****
A Complex Prologue, Part One
(Apartment Living Room- Los Angeles, California, USA- 3:30 PM)
The 40 inch flat screen TV, which had been placed on top of a medium sized cabinet with magnetic glass doors for the small part of the entertainment system, had been turned on to see the recent emergency news being displayed. The same news was to be put on the air as predicted by one of the two men within the living room. A twenty-three year old, muscular man with enough large muscles to showcase a potential Mr. Olympian or Mr. Universe weightlifter, had been sitting in a leather chair to view what the anchors of the news show were about to say.
"This just in: The criminal mastermind, aptly known as 'The Crimson Fireball', and his entire team of ex-convicts and cartel drug pushers had just been arrested today by the FBI, ATF, and the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department," the lady anchor, known as Diane Ramirez from the titles that were on the screen, had already begun to announce to the world that was watching. "And as such, the charges of breaking and entering, bank robberies, grand larceny, grand theft auto, drug distribution, prostitution, brackets, the carrying of illegal firearms, and other such crimes associated with his group, have been made with all of the evidence being presented to them in an unusual set up that still perplexes the best minds in the investigation teams," she pointed out as the clips of the drugs, guns and other illegal items that were needed to be collected.
"I'll bet you my last C-Note that Gills tries to calm the reporters right there at the field," a skinny man spoke up with a smirk, sitting in his own chair just a few feet away from his muscle bound friend and roommate while keeping his attention to the screen.
The same man was none other than James Robert Gibson. He was a former member of the same federal bureau of investigation before retiring early with more than five years in his experience as a special agent that investigated crimes of all types. And his knowledge on the minds of the many criminals in the world had been essential to the investigations that he and his muscular partner, Mark Louis Anderson, had been solving since their first encounter. And at the age of 26, the guy was remarkable in his field.
It was a few years ago, in the spring time of 2009, within a Beverly Hills house where a murder had taken place. The victim of the crime was a well known celebrity of the internet who had hit the big time because of their music. Unfortunately, the same big time had caused what must have been a zealous, raging fanatic fan who made the hit. And even the staff of the victim's home was being questioned without probable cause.
Anderson was once a part of the LAPD, but his orders were to just stand around and look good for the boys and girls of the force. And Gibson was within the last few months of being in the FBI before he considered taking an early retirement. But Gibson had seen that there was more potential in the cop that was ordered to not do anything than what the superiors believed at the time. And even the agent knew that there was more to the musclebound man than meets the eye.
After a good conversation had been made between them, not only was the murder solved, by the heated confession of the manager who told it all to them, but a great friendship between the two crime solvers had been made. So much so that when they had quit their mundane jobs within their different areas of law enforcement.
And after five years, the two of them had teamed up to solve sixty-nine cases together as a two-man team. And the entire number had been made from the most complicated and unsolved mysteries that even the CIA would not have been able to solve. And none of the official federal or local investigation offices had been able to track them down. None.
"No deal, man," Anderson replied to his friend and boss as he looked away back to the screen.
"And now we go to Special Agent Kyle M. Gills, who had this to say about the entire situation," the anchor finished before the scene showed the same said agent in a tactical uniform. The same identified agent had aging blond hair and brown eyes with a scar above the left eyebrow.
"This case has now been solved, thanks to the cooperation of the local police and our agents working together," Kyle said to the reporters in front of him. "However, while we cannot allow you people the liberty of knowing what will happen to our apprehended suspect, I will say this," he cleared his throat before finishing his statement.
Gibson and Anderson then paid a little more attention, with the former giving a small laugh while the latter flexed his arms.
"It is within our quite mutual belief.... that another force was playing the hands of the criminals that we have taken into custody right now," Kyle then announced to the reporters, causing more cameras to move closer than what was comfortable. "And that same force... is none other than a pair of wannabe, crime solving vigilantes, that have eluded our grasps every time that we even get so close to capturing them for questioning. And that same pair happens to be none other... than 'Track and Field'," he growled, angry that his targets had escaped them. This statement allowed the two men in the living room to laugh heartily and loudly as they soon saw a vein rising from the guys forehead.
"And you truly believe that Track and Field have stopped you from taking in these criminals?" a reporter shouted out in the defense of the pair who were still having a gaggle from the situation. "How can you even say that the pair of heroes are even antagonistic?" another reporter shouted before the rest of the news crews had flooded the agent with their protests as the agent had begun to get red in the face before moving away from the fans of the two mysterious crime solvers.
"Turn the tube off," James said to Mark, who had obeyed while they each kept laughing at Gills' unknown expense.
"Another victory for the Track and Field Private Investigations Company," Mark giggled as he moved to the refrigerator in the kitchen. After a few seconds had passed, he had pulled up two bottles of beer for himself and his friend. He moved an opened bottle in his right hand and handed it to James, who looked at the same beer and smiled.
"Thank you, bud," James thanked him as he took his bottle and started to sip the contents from the bottle before taking a big gulp of the drink. An exhale had been made, showing his enjoyment. "Aaah! Now this is what I live for," he nodded to his friend as he lifted the bottle and cheered him. With a clash of the glass bottles, the men took a bigger sip of their drinks and sighed in relief.
"I'm wanting to know something though, Gibson," Mark added in as he looked at his roommate while feeling the alcohol taking the liberty of caressing his mood into a more relaxed state of mind.
"Ask away," James smiled again, knowing what his friend was about to ask him.
"Just how did you know, pushing our record of being quite elusive aside, that the criminal in question was also a cult leader?" he asked, still shivering from the encounter that thankfully ended with less deaths than needed. The same person of interest had shown himself to be a serial cult killer, a thief, and a distributor of the illegal drugs and prostitution.
"I would have thought that it was obvious that I am able to utilize my methods, to which you have been trying to study for the last seven years that we've been the best of friends," the head of the pair chuckled. "And you would question my methods for solving these types of crimes?" he asked with a slightly comical rise in his voice.
"Yes!" Mark shouted in confidence. "You had not made it clear as to why the criminal had been killing, stealing and recruiting the people that he had before we stopped him," he said to him as he pointed his finger in a declarative motion.
"It was the purchases of the same dark magic books that had caught my eye," James began to say, causing Mark to raise his right eyebrow suspiciously at him. "And the same receipts that we picked up from near the bookstore near the Chinese theater on the boulevard had told me all that I needed to know in order for us to have that adventure," he closed his eyes in saying, as he began to process how his thoughts into a memory.
"And what exactly did you find?" Mark questioned him again.
"A great deal of knowledge that I was able to use against him," James said before explaining himself to his friend. "You see: The bookstore, itself, was never a part of the operations; thus a coincidence. The finding of those detailed books in the man's miniature library had only been a piece of the puzzle that we had to solve together in order for us to stop him together."
"But the same exact location had told me this much: Not only was he an avid reader and fan of the occult, as well as a man that was both charismatic and well educated, but he was also resourceful in every aspect of the word. And the murders of those seventeen women had told me that he's nothing more than a man with a horrendous desire to wipe out certain types of women.  And as such, he was able to get people to come over to the dark side while getting rid of those who did not side with him. And only so few people could ever be as willing to cooperate with the law enforcement as their weakest link was siding with us."
"You are, of course, talking about Dilton?" Mark interrupted him for a moment.
"Indeed," James nodded. "And after that young teen was able to get to us, he had spoken about his cult. And all of the evidence that I was able to see on him was more than enough for us to go and stop the cult from going about their business." A final gulp of his beer had stopped him from going further in his explanation. "And now, I believe it is your turn to tell the class what you have observed from the scenes," he said as he got up from his chair and began to walk to the kitchen close by.
"Whelp," Mark nodded before lighting up a cigarette with the fire of his match. "From what I saw of the whole thing, it looked like they were all wanting to open some type of door. And that door, I think, would lead them to some place that we never would have imagined. Perhaps some type of Hell, or an alternate version of our world, or even some weird place that the show, 'The Twilight Zone', has got nothing on," he hypothesized while puffing on his death stick.
"HA!! Now this is where things get interesting," James said with a slight puff from his lungs.
"And with how many people that got rescued today, it would be no surprise if we just saved the world from something that could have brought about the end of the world," Mark further said. "And I think that Gills, who is no doubt about to take out his frustrations on a few drinks at the sleazy bar in the downtown area right now, was also looking for him, hoping to catch up to us."
"And on the final, further note," James spoke up as he handed over another bottle to his friend, who accepted it happily. "It became clearer and clearer as to why the sacrifices had been made: His desire to leave the world by himself, leaving his 'friends' behind in the process, was because of how his family was abusive to their son. And instead of being helpful to him, they abandoned him while beating him senseless," he concluded with a deep sigh.
Upon hearing those same words from his mouth, his memory went back to five years ago.... when after solving a domestic abuse case, he was about to propose marriage to the one person in his life with whom he shared a deep and great love for:
Maria Fairbanks.
The only woman that he believed was a real angel in disguise.....
"James?" Mark called to him, concerned for his friend as he saw him with that one look that made him shiver worse than even the most bone chilling of mysteries.
"Hmm? What?" James snapped at attention.
".....You were thinking about her, weren't you?" Mark sighed as he took a sip of his drink.
"Yeah," he admitted with shame in his voice. "It's already been five years and a day today since I was able to think about her.... but even though I truly moved on, the memories still haunt me.... As if I could never get rid of them," he gulped another drink while saying his words to his friend.
"Hey," Mark called to him as he placed his hand on James' right shoulder. "I'm sure that things will get better, buddy," he assured him with a pat on said shoulder. "We just need to remember that the world we live in can be fought for, and for the right reasons," he said with a caring voice.
"Don't forget the paychecks though," James replied half-jokingly, making a casual laugh from the both of them. "Optimism doesn't pay the rent," he pointed out until he too pulled up a cigarette and lit it up. After taking a drag from the lit tobacco, he puffed out the smoke and said, "but at least I can say that the landlord will not give us any troubles for the money."
Just like that, a knocking sound had echoed in their ears. It was more than likely that the mentioned person was at their door right now.
"Ya got the money, fags?" a low, growling voice yelled out from the other side. Indeed it was the homophobic landlord who always had something against two men living in a room together. And both of the men had allowed themselves to cringe at how unforgiving and unrelenting the man was as they put out their lit cigarettes on the ashtray on their small coffee table.
"Coming up, sweetie!" James taunted the man as he pulled up a wad of money from his jacket pocket. "Got this via the courtesy of the same people we had arrested today," he whispered to Mark, who had that stern look on his face. "Don't tell me how to pay the rent, Track," he lectured him in the same low voice before opening just slightly to present the money.
The hand from outside the door then grabbed the money and slammed the door with a force that could have damaged it if not for how the frames held it in place.
"Why did we have to rent out a room that is under the eye of that God-forsaken conservationist?" Mark huffed angrily. The anger was more on James' ability to pay off the delayed rent, but thought better than to lecture his older friend.
"Because when he receives the money, he keeps quiet about who lives here," James sighed with a nod as he too hated the place. "So many criminals had moved out while we first rented this place. This place was ripe with so many people who deserved to be locked up. And now there are few in number who dwell in this complex with a criminal record."
This was more than true for the two of them. And both James and Mark had given themselves a small smile that was from how busy they both kept themselves from the work that they did. They were private investigators who were always hired to either find someone, some item of value, or even find evidence to help their clients in some odd case. But more than that, they were the ones responsible for making sure that certain crimes were solved. They left no trace of themselves, and no person was ever able to stop them from getting the job done.
"So, uh.... what do you say we get out of here and find ourselves a pair of dates?" Mark then suggested as he pointed to the door. "I hear that it's ladies night at the sports bar just down the road, and I'd like us to get lucky with them," he pointed out, knowing that their single status was an open invitation for any of the attractive women that wanted to get hammered.
"Good idea," James agreed. "But first, I need to get rid of these threads and put on some better ones," he said to him before closing the door to his bedroom behind him.
Minutes later, the older guy had made himself clean after showering and combing his hair. His face was now freshly cleaned and shaved, his clothes were now casual (as in plain red t-shirt, blue denim jeans, a zip up jacket and a pair of gray Vans on his sock covered feet), and his teeth were brushed, flossed and washed with mouthwash.
"Looking good, baby. You ready to steal some ladies' hearts?" Mark cheered him on with a mischievous smirk.
"Oh, hush, kitty cat! I'm just warming up," James smirked back at him with a somewhat teasing tone at him.
(Beep.... beep.... beep....)
"Wait..." Mark hushed himself and his friend as he soon heard the repeating noise from some distance.
"Don't tell me: It's a bomb," James deadpanned.
"Yup," Mark replied in the same tone.
"C-4 explosive device with a detonator that's due to explode in a few seconds?"
"Most likely, yes."
"....We better get down!"
The two then began to immediately take cover away from the couch, but they were much too slow for what was happening to them both. Too late, the couch had exploded behind them. The splinters penetrated the skin above their clothes, leaving trails of their blood on the carpet while hearing the sounds of flesh being punctured. The pooling of their life's fluid was all the indication that was needed for any person to say that they were all going to die in the living room....
At least, that is what they both thought they were laying down on....
A series of bright lights had taken the two of them from their place of residence, long before they each saw that they were in some kind vacuum-like hole. The gravity was more intense than a rocket being launched into space from the ground. The blood falling from their bodies made a point to splash around them.
Mark had started to look like death was getting closer and closer to him by the second. But James was not going to allow that to happen to his good friend. With momentum, he swan dived from his position and got to his friend just in time to hold his body in an emergency embrace that could potentially save his life.
"HOLD ON!!!" James screamed as he then saw a brief glimpse of what looked like a forest before he too fell unconsciously from both the major third degree burns all over his body and the blood loss that had soon taken his mind into a shut down. His eyes then closed before allowing his body to fully shut down....
"Sir....? ....Are you okay?"
A Complex Problem, Part Two  
*****
(Cutie Map Room - Twilight's Castle, Ponyville, Equestria - 4:25 PM)
The Cutie Map room, a small enough room within the vicinity of Twilight Sparkle's castle, was filled with both seven different anthropomorphic ponies and a tall dragon with a green and purple scale and spine complexion of the same bone structure. The seven of them had decided to meet there, given that it was always an important place to go to when some crisis with friendship was about to happen. Fortunately, there were no problems in the land of Equestria for any of them to solve. Unfortunately, they were all bored out of their skulls. And Rainbow Dash, (a tomboyish cyan Pegasus pony with cerise red eyes, a normal set of wings and a wild mane and tail with a rainbow color scheme on them) who once wielded of the Element of Loyalty, was the first to speak up.
"Okay, seriously!" she yelled out to the ceiling with her hand flailing about, causing her friends to look at her with a stoic look. "Am I the only pony who has noticed that there are no problems to solve? No adventures that we could be a part of? No friendship missions from the Cutie Map?" she asked them all with a stern voice that spoke of her discomfort as she pointed to the same table below their eyes. "This is just getting so uncool!" she grumbled with her arms crossed.
A beautiful unicorn (with an indigo colored mane and tail with a perfect curl on each part, sapphire blue eyes and a sweet but firm disposition) named Rarity, who also wielded an Element of Harmony called Generosity, had allowed her dainty alabaster white hand with indigo fingernail polish on the nails to move a lock of her hair from her eyes before speaking up her opinion.
"While I do agree with you about not having any missions or conflicts to solve, Rainbow Dash, I rather enjoy the peace that we have here," she said with a slight, ladylike huff that was filled with confidence before allowing herself to clear up her words with her friend. "It's already quite an adventure with running three boutiques in this charming country of ours. And with that said, I believe that I will be allowed to take as much time with making the finest quality dresses and tuxedos as I can." Her confident words ended with a confident smile that was quickly accompanied with a giggle that really fit her mood.
"But don't you girls realize that if we don't solve some kind of world-saving problem, or even a mission of friendship, that we might as well just call ourselves 'regular' ponies, instead of the 'Council Of Friendship'?" Rainbow protested against her friend's statement.
"Uh, Dashie, A.J. and I are the regular ones in this group," Pinkie Pie (a pink-on-pink Earth Pony with baby blue eyes and a very curly magenta mane and tail, and an infectiously cheerful mood), the former bearer of the Element of Laughter, pointed out with a few bounces from her seat while holding back a giggle for her own sake.
"That's true," Applejack (another Earth pony, with a blond mane and tail tied up at the ends, jade green eyes, a few freckles on her face, and a down-to-Earth disposition), the former Element of Honesty, nodded from Pinkie's words. "And Ah so happen ta like havin' time on th' farm! Mah family always wants to know if Ah'll be gone soon when we git one a those there missions, and Ah never liked lyin' to them," she also pointed out with a shake of her head.
Rainbow had felt her mood plummeting to the ground as she kept hearing the words that made the points on why they should all just stay peaceful and not adventurous.
"And with every mission and world-saving event that we all go through, I reeeeaaaalllly miss out on making a lot of sweet treats for every sweet tooth in this town," Pinkie added to the list of things that the others spoke to each other. "Including that kid named Sweet Tooth," she added with another giggle, causing all but Rainbow to laugh a little bit with some 'aww' sound being added. "I really do like that little colt, he is such a loyal customer," she nodded with that ever widening grin on her face.
"Well, I think that the little one has a bit of a crush on you, darling," Rarity said to Pinkie with her own giggle.
"Oh, I knew that, Rarity," Pinkie waved her hand dismissively at her. "And I'm pretty sure that he'll get over his crush with me, just like Spike did with you," she then said, causing a gasp to be made from the unicorn.
Rarity looked to the tall dragon with wide eyes to see if there was any truth behind the news that Pinkie had announced to her. There was, surprisingly, nothing false about the new information she had heard.
"You... you really feel no crush on me, Spikey-Wikey?" she asked the dragon near Rainbow.
"I was already over it a few months ago, long after my growth spurt," Spike said with a muscle from his left arm flexed up to prove his point. "I still see you as a very great friend, and I still believe that you'll always be a gorgeous pony," he blushed as he sighed at the last part before saying, "but I just couldn't see us as a couple that goes out like others do. So.... Are we still good to just be friends?" he said to her with his finger pointing to himself and the addressed unicorn in the room.
"Ah! But of course, Spike," Rarity gasped, happy that her great friend revealed his true feelings to her. "But I dare say that this means that you have some new crush, hmm?" she teased him with a wry smile, causing the dragon to blush deeper.
"Well... yeah...." Spike stammered, trying to look away from the teaser. "But I'd rather surprise everypony when I can admit those feelings to that special somepony," he admitted while feeling his face still keeping its heat. "Ahem! Anyway," he cleared his throat before raising his hands up to stop the ponies from questioning him. "Weren't we all saying something about how 'boring' this all is?" he asked, allowing his memory to serve him correctly.
"Oh, um.... y-yes," Fluttershy (another Pegasus pony with cream-yellow fur, a pink mane and tail with a slight curve at the ends, teal blue eyes, a good set of wings, and a timid personality), the former bearer of the Element of Kindness, agreed with him. "But, uh... th-that is, if you don't mind, please.... I'd rather stay at my cottage. Taking care of my animal friends is really exhausting, not to mention Angel is getting more jittery than ever," she added with a soft smile and a sigh.
"Whaddya mean by that?" Applejack asked her.
"I tried to ask him what got his tail bundled up, but he just won't listen to reason," Fluttershy sadly answered her.
"Perhaps you need me to get him to speak up?" Starlight Glimmer (another unicorn pony with an indigo mane and tail with a sky blue stream in them, a soft pink color in her fur and violet eyes) suggested with a small smile. "I saw little hearts popping from his head when we met each other on that one day, so uh...." she muttered a bit before allowing a giggle to escape her throat.
"Oh! Goodness! I thought that Angel was having some fancy, but..." Fluttershy was about to say before stopping herself.
"Well!" Twilight Sparkle (a purple Alicorn) chimed up as she lifted up a bundled newspaper with her magic. "This might excite all of you, or gross you out," she said as the paper folded out to reveal the headline that soon got the other girls' attentions. It read:
5th Murder In Canterlot! Is There A Serial Killer?!
The women, excluding Pinkie Pie, had gasped loudly. The same headline had made itself known throughout the world of Equius. And even the nations outside had all formed some kind of opinion on the headline.
"Oh, I am pretty sure that after three deaths, it's a serial killer," Pinkie put in while she read the headline.
"And just how do you know this?" Rarity asked, curious as to how her good friend made that statement.
"Uh, Hello! I read!" Pinkie said with a form of protest against her other friends. "There so happens to be a lot of Sherclop novels out there, and I happen to be an avid reader of that awesome series!" she also said.
As soon as she said those words, Rainbow perked her head up.
"Is this 'Sherclop' as great as A.K. Yearling?" she asked Pinkie, wanting to know if the same stories can catch her attention.
"Sir Editing Coy Dialect is just the best storyteller, once you skim through his extensive expositions," Pinkie pointed out as she pulled out a random book from behind her. "And he was once one of the best detective ponies, if not the only one that made it all possible for the Royal Canterlot Investigation Bureau," she added as she pushed the book to Rainbow.
"He would have been the best and only pony to find out how all of these deaths have happened at once."
The gasps that had been made instantly were soon followed by squees that could only be made when the other Princesses, Celestia and Luna, had entered the room. The seven of them were able to figure out that it was Celestia that made that statement, judging from the voice that always sounded soothing. But in this case, it was laced with a bit of fear.
"Celestia! Luna! You're both here!" Twilight cheerfully said as she soon stepped up to the royal sisters and gave them both a friendly hug that was given back almost as instantly. Though the smiles were warm, the Princesses' moods were not changed all that much. "But... what did you mean when you said 'only pony'?" Twilight asked them when she noticed the same expression on the two of them.
"In the years that we both knew Sir Dialect, he had created more than 250 books in the span of fifteen years," Celestia said to start the explanation. Both Twilight and, surprisingly, Rainbow Dash, were almost ready to jump out of her fur when they both heard that quantifiable number. "And in his career as a detective pony, he solved more than approximately four-hundred and fifty," she further added to the conversation.
As soon as Rarity heard that number, she froze up within the span of ten seconds.
"And as such, he was able to also create an investigation bureau that excels at solving the crimes that almost never happen in the capitol city," Luna decided to add to the growing list of accomplishments that the formerly living pony had made for himself. "The Royal Canterlot Investigation Bureau is the finest organization that solves the most terrible cases while they hunt down the most heinous and cunning of criminals."
"Like the Changelings?" Starlight pondered out loud to the Princesses.
"They are still being watched out for with great vigilance," Luna nodded.
"But with this new case that has arrived, the general public is in a state of panic," Celestia sighed, feeling the strain of her subjects' mood getting to her, allowing her to show that bit of weakness as she then said, "And said panic is more than enough for even our different Guards to back away in said fear. But what is even worse...." she trailed off, looking down to the crystal floor below her.
"Huh? What is it?" Rainbow gasped softly, going against her brash yet confident tone.
"The same Investigation Bureau is not going to investigate this," Celestia conceded, even if a bit hesitantly.
"WWHHHAAAAAATTT?!" the other women, including Twilight and excluding Luna, nearly screamed out in outrage.
"But those ponies have a case that can really make them look good once they solve it, right?" Twilight asked, not believing that even the best minds would not want to go near this case.
"This here story is just mighty sad, 'specially if them fancy law ponies don't want nothin' ta do with that case on the paper," Applejack shook her head while holding down her hat in a sadder tone.
"Oh! I'm really starting to shake just from thinking about it," Fluttershy then whimpered as she literally felt her body shake from how horrifying the whole case sounded to her. "But, um.... did... any of the bodies have... um... some kind of impact on them?" she asked, still quivering from her fear.
"One of the bodies was identified as Special Agent Comet Shield," Celestia then said, knowing that it was just that hard to say it. This was evident by the echoed gasps that only a horrified pony could make when they heard something terrible.  "He had retired a few years ago, but he was one of the very best ponies to know how the minds of a criminal works. But as he was discovered near the Royal Gardens, it was quite clear that whoever did the act does not want anypony to investigate." After having said those words, the eldest sister had opened a window from the farthest distance to allow a breeze to blow through, cooling her off for about a moment or two before allowing her composure to come back.
"Geez! These ponies are so afraid- " Pinkie spoke up with a bummed tone, " -that even my parties won't be able to cheer them on! And there might not be enough cake to-- AAH!!" she abruptly screamed out as she immediately felt something running throughout her whole body.
"Uh oh!" Applejack gasped as she stepped back a few tens of feet away from her friend. "This might be a new sense from her," she warned her friends, including the Princesses who all saw that look of unwarranted anticipation in her eyes.
The first spasms that Pinkie had felt had made her arms flop all around as her legs buckled during a lack of breath and a major pouring of sweat that stained the floor below her. And then, out of nowhere, she was shaking up and down in a vibrating motion while feeling a great pain take over her whole body as her insides felt as if somepony ignited her on fire. This included the hair of her mane and tail going into a straight line, instead of it's usual curled bounciness. And after it was all done, she sighed a great big breath that spoke of her relief. But then... three seconds later, the same senses started again. But this time, the pain and burning sensations had become more intense than the last one. And after it was repeated for another three minutes, while showing a rather painful flailing of her limbs, she was too numb from the sense to even stand up for much longer.
"Pinkie!!" Fluttershy cried out, rushing to Pinkie's side as she saw one of her best friends falling to the floor. The small rescue was successful, shown by the lack of ponies surrounding the victim of a rather terrible, yet quite unique, Pinkie Sense as the timid veterinarian had laid her friends' head on her lap.
The incoming queries of how the party planning pony was feeling was soon interrupted by Celestia and Luna making their way to the same area where the same pink earth pony laid on the floor with her head on Fluttershy's lap.
"What was it that you had sensed, Pinkie?" Luna inquired, feeling that one of her favorite subjects would somehow be able to clarify what had happened to her. "Was it something.... terrifying? Or great?" she asked.
"Those...." Pinkie huffed out as she took a moment to breath in and out. "were the senses that told me this really important news..."
"Take your time, Pinkie," Fluttershy said calmly to her, even if such a tone did not fully take hold of her. "You can tell us once you--" she was interrupted as Pinkie was then observed as having gotten her bounce back, along with her mane and tail coming back to what they were before the Sense took over. And this even made Princess Celestia, the Goddess of the Sun who had seen many strange things in her long life, raise an eyebrow at her.
"If I get the buckled knees and the shiver up and down my back, it means that somepony, or something, is going to fall from the sky," Pinkie immediately began to say as she moved up to the royal sisters in her explanation. "If I get the spasms all over my body, it means that somepony has gotten physically hurt. And finally, the roaring fire inside of my body told me.... told me..." she trailed off, confused as to why--
"Incoming! Unidentified objects coming from the sky!" a Pegasus pony, from the sound of it, panicked from outside of the opened window. The mares followed the voice to the same window and saw that it was Derpy Hooves, the resident mailmare, delivering the same ominous news.
"Derpy! Where did you see the objects falling?" Rainbow demanded to know from the same messenger.
"Just a few yards away from the border of the Everfree Forest! You girls need to get there, and fast!" Derpy cried out in the shock of the events that were happening at that moment.
It only took that bit of motivation to get all of the ponies in the castle to either start flying up to the sky or start running from the ground. This was a dire emergency. And none of the mares were going to let this slip them by.
It was just three blocks away from the cottage, outside of the Everfree Forest, where Fluttershy, the same mare who was always known to give any and all animals the kindness they deserve while being treated of any and all ailments, was always residing in. Two unknown objects fell from the sky by a strange, yet somewhat magical, portal type of circle that showed up in the sky as clearly as a nasty blotch on a white cloth. The same two objects were falling from a greater, staggering height of more than about 70,000 feet in the air. To say that this event was frightening was the least to be said among the mares who had observed the strange magic. The same circle gave out a noise that was more menacing than if an entire legion of Changelings were attacking the small town of Ponyville. But it was just two objects falling.
“Oh, boy! I really hope that we can get to them on time!” Rainbow huffed while flying her way towards the determined crash site. Fluttershy was also flying along with her at her side. “'Cause whatever they are, they're falling fAASSSTTT!”  she screamed out as she then saw how much faster the objects were going. This allowed her to pick up the pace in her wings.
“Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy whimpered as she too picked up her speed. This time, she was flying just as fast as Rainbow was, if not faster. Rainbow looked over to her and gave her a quick smile from how much faster her friend was before refocusing her attention on the area that was about to have a type of crash. And the timid mare had allowed herself to smile a little bit as she felt what her athletic friend always felt in the rush of adrenaline that always came from the races. “I really hope that it's nothing that will hurt us!” she hoped to her friend beside her.
Below the two were their Earth and Unicorn pony friends running as fast as they could. In other cases, the ones below them were slagging in their attempts to catch up. But this was no race to see who would finish. This was a race to see if it was somepony that could be saved. Behind the flying Pegasi were the three Alicorns that flew just a few feet away from the two fliers in front of them.
“I seriously doubt that these things will harm any of the citizens in this town,” Luna speculated while keeping up with her friends. “But it will be important for all of us to approach these ponies with caution,” she advised to the others below and in front of her. She looked to her older sister who gave her a knowing grin.
“Indeed, Luna,” Celestia agreed with her. “ But we do not know if they are even ponies, so we must be cautious, my little ponies,” she also advised with her sister's words. “And if they're injured at all, we must care for them.” The others below the Alicorns nodded in agreement.
“From the looks of it, they might die on contact with the ground,” Twilight nearly panicked while picking up her speed. But as she did this, she felt a strong presence of power coming from the objects that fell. But not only that, she was also hearing some voice in the falling orbs of light that shouted, 'HOLD ON!!!' . She looked up to the trails of light and saw something strange with the formation of the movement. “LOOK!!” she told them all.
One of the strange comets was shifting it's course, diverting it's direction towards another way. This action immediately caught the mare's attentions. Some gasps and shrieks had been heard before yet another occurrence happened in front of their gazing eyes. The moving blaze had then merged with the trail that stayed on course, causing a brighter orb to be made before the final impact had happened within mere seconds. The echo of the explosion that was made from the merged lights had allowed the ground to shake below them while they also felt another surge of some strange magic affecting them with the desire to stop themselves just half of a kilometer away from the sight of the crash.
Fortunately, the town was not built on a fault line, thus only giving out a nearly violent shaking that had shivered the same party that was halted by the half quake. Unfortunately, the same town was now a victim of many things shattering and clanking of many plates and other dining things, along with anything else that could be broken, to be loudly heard through their ears. And the same quake had started to ease down with another aftershock that still gave the town a slight reason to panic.
Some moments later, the town had settled itself down from the physical aspect of things. But the townsponies were still in a panicked twitter about what just happened. Some of the same citizens had come up to the group that had been halted by the supernatural phenomenon that had occurred in front of them. Immediately, they all started to voice their concerns and panic. It had gotten to the point where Princess Luna had begun to feel their fear.
“ENOUGH!!!”  she shouted in her Royal Canterlot Voice in order to calm the people down. The effect was immediate on the people, but it was still quite as fearful to hear. “Citizens of Ponyville,” she addressed the ponies near her in a much calmer and smoother tone of voice. “My elder sister, Celestia, along with the High Council of Friendship, and myself, are going to where the objects had landed. And we must ask that all of you go back to what you were doing before this occurrence had taken place. This we must command of all of you, for your sake,” she instructed the town.
“Do not be afraid, my faithful subjects,” Celestia spoke up to them. “Once we investigate this matter, we will allow all of you to know what has happened to this town, along with who it was that fell through the sky in such a dire manner,” she said to them just as calmly. Though the citizens were well assured, given that their Princesses, along with the Council, was going to see what happened, they still had little choice but to remain where they were until the same Princess of the Sun added, “We must not allow our works to be halted, so I must ask all of you to continue as you were.” This got them all to go back to what they were all doing.
“Thanks fer the crowd control, yer Highness',” Applejack smiled at the royal sisters with a slight curtsy. “These here townsfolk really get the jitters when somethin' big like this happens,” she sighed, remembering the last few times that something of this nature happened to the town. The other members of the party nodded in agreement.
“It was all in a day's work, fair Applejack,” Celestia said to her as she gave a nod to the farmer mare. “But now, we have more pressing matters at hand,” she told the others from a fair distance in front of her. “We must go to where the crash was, and assess the event that has happened before our presence.” The same party had all decided to take flight or start running towards the area that would reveal the objects that fell onto the ground with a major impact that literally shook up the whole town.
“Celestia, I feel that it's important for you to know what I was hearing as the comets fell from the sky,” Twilight said to the Princess next to her.
“Oh? What have you heard, Twilight?” Celestia asked, curious as to what Twilight was getting at.
Twilight cleared her throat for a moment before clarifying what she was going to say to her former teacher and mentor. “During the descending, I heard a voice from the same objects that fell. It said, 'Hold on!', almost as if the objects were alive!” she said to her, believing that she was not going crazy. “And if I'm right, then that one trail that was moving was some pony trying to save another pony from death,” she went on to say from her observation.
“I believe that you might be right, Twilight,” Celestia solemnly nodded. “I heard the same voice as well,” she confirmed, knowing that she was also in the same loop as her former student was.
“As did I,” Luna said with a flat voice. “My belief is that this pony could very well be some unicorn that has some great power in them.”
“But how would a pony have the power to communicate through telepathy? It's one of the most advanced spells of all time!” Twilight speculated before the whole party reached just thirty-five feet from the crash site. “Even I don't have that ability,” she went on saying, knowing her limits on certain spells or enchantments.
“Only an Alicorn of our caliber has this ability, as will you, Twilight,” Luna assured her royal friend.
“Thanks, Luna,” Twilight smiled before putting back on her poker face. “But what if this pony is not even a pony?” she began to ask.
“Ooh! This sounds like a mystery that we should all solve together,” Pinkie said with her trademark wide grin coming back before putting on a cowl on her head as a magnifying glass was lifted up to one of her bright blue eyes. “Here you go, Rarity!” she said to the seamstress before tossing the glass to her.
“Why thank you, Pinkie,” Rarity thanked her friend as she levitated the object with her magic from her horn. “But what are we looking for?” she asked her.
“Something unusual about what fell from the sky, silly!” Pinkie giggled with a snort. “You're always the type of pony that can tell if something is off about something!” she also said with that same smile on her face.
“Well, I do appreciate how you noticed that, darling,” Rarity conceded before looking back at her. “But I do wonder how much I will be able to tell all of you,” she pointed out to the group.
“Always remember, Rarity, that even the most mundane of activities can be halted by something that alters said ritual,” Luna said to her as she too wanted to know how much she and her party can figure out. The party that consisted of the High Council raised a confused eyebrow at her words. “If we find something that looks ordinary, we must ask ourselves how it came to be,” Luna cleared up for them. The other mares nodded with what was now translated for them as they soon moved through the larger area.
.....
Soon enough, the Princesses and the High Council had stopped themselves just ten feet from the edge of a rather small crater. In terms of feet from width, it was about twenty feet deep while it was about 20 feet in diameter.
“Huh,” Starlight raised a brow at the sight. “I thought it would be bigger than that,” she thought out loud. “This crater is certainly deep, but not as huge as I thought it would be.”
“Were you really thinking that it would be larger than this, Starlight?” Twilight asked her student.
“Yeah... but-- HOLY TARTARUS!!” she screamed out as she quickly saw two bodies within the center of the crater. “LOOK!! Bodies!!” she pointed to the masses for her friends and teachers. A collected gasp that sounded out their horrors had been heard. And Fluttershy, given her usual nature, slipped behind Rarity, who was also in the same shock as her.
“We need to look at these bodies! See if they're alive!” Twilight commanded her friends.
“Right!” they all said as they each quickly moved to the corpses. With only their knowledge to be equipped for the investigation, the nine mares moved towards the bodies that were sprawled across the center of the crater.
“These bodies are definitely not ponies, from how they look,” Rainbow said as she kept looking at the burned bodies.
“Well, that's an excellent observation, Rainbow,” Rarity deadpanned with a roll of her eyes from her friend's note. “With how blackened the bodies look, I doubt that we would even find some fur. Or even a hair on them,” Rarity quipped as she took the same magnifying glass to look closer. “And yet, I can see how these bits of clothing are untouched,” she observed while peering into the glass that showed a closer detail on the cloth that was worn by the larger body. She then gave out a large, shocked gasp that made the others turn their heads to her.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked with a shiver as a squeak had escaped her mouth.
“The clothes!” Rarity rasped out as she pointed her finger at the articles below her.
“What about them?” Twilight asked, curious as to what her friend was getting at.
“Correct me if I'm wrong, Princess Celestia, but....” Rarity cleared her throat before continuing to speak while looking at the royal woman with widened eyes. Her gaze to her ruler was one that was paired with how certain people discovered something both breathtaking and revolutionizing. “If I was going through some magical portal while being engulfed in flames, wouldn't my clothes also be burned up, along with my body?” she said to Celestia.
“I believe you're right, Rarity,” Pinkie spoke up from her spot as she too looked at the smaller body. She too gave out a gasp that was only half as shocked as her friend made. “And the clothes on this one are not burned up at all, same as the big guy.”
This prompted all of the mares to look even closer to the corpses on the ground.
“This guy's got blue jeans, a red shirt, gray shoes, white socks, and a zip up jacket with pockets at the front,” Rainbow saw from the smaller burned body. And indeed, the same clothes were as identified when Rarity came to look closely at the clothes.
“The other one has a basic, but quite fabulous, tuxedo adorned on him,” Rarity said as she pointed to the second body.
“Oh! He also has black dress shoes on his feet, and a pair of cuff links on the sleeves of his white shirt,” Fluttershy said above her naturally small voice. “Um... Rainbow?” she called to her athletic friend.
“What's up, Fluttershy?” Rainbow replied.
“Can you you help me move this body so that I can see the face, if you please?” the pegasus mare asked her other pegasus friend.
“Can do, but I'll need--” Rainbow said before a pair of medical gloves were summoned in front of her with a gold aura surrounding the pair. She quickly looked to her friends and saw that they were all given a similar pair. “Thanks, Princess,” she said to Celestia as she took her pair and put them on her hands. A few snaps were echoed to indicate that all of the gloves were put on. With no second to spare, Rainbow allowed her wings to give her a quick flight to where she was asked to be at. “Alright, let's get this done, but gently,” she instructed her friend as she took an arm.
“Thanks, Rainbow,” Fluttershy thanked her as she moved her hands to the head. “On three,” she said as she gently gripped the burned head before feeling something smooth from her gloves. Something.... smoother than fur. “One.... two.... three.” Within a second of saying that number, the body was being slowly turned. And just as the body was turned, something else had popped up in front of the two that made them gasp. On the head of the body was a face. A foreign face that they never saw before. Something exotic.
“What the heck is this.... thing?” Rainbow gasped as her cerise red eyes had widened by what she was seeing.
On the head of the larger body was a face that was not like theirs at all. The eyes, though closed, were a little closer than conceivably possible. There was also no muzzle as the other mares possessed, replaced only by a small pair of lips and a medium sized nose on a rather flat face. And on both sides of the face were particularly small ears that were not pointed but roundish. Rainbow then looked into the right eyelid and saw red where it was supposed to be white at the back of the eye while seeing a dark chocolate brown eye color that seemed to have no life in it. The pegasus also looked to where the lips were and lifted the upper lip to see something that she was not quite ready to see. The front of the alien's mouth had teeth that were similar to a wolf's jaws, with canines and incisors that looked sharp enough to cut through flesh. She let out a little shriek that even made herself afraid to look even deeper.
“Whoa! Sharp teeth at the front!” she yelped while recoiling from the body.
“Sharp teeth?” Fluttershy gasped. But even with the bit of fear taking over for a bit, the animal caretaker decided to let her curiosity get to her by opening the mouth to look at what her friend saw. She was able to confirm what her friend said with her teal eyes on the same teeth in front of the mouth. But she had wanted to see if all of the teeth were the same. But what she immediately saw had astounded her completely. The back of the upper and lower jaws had shown the same kind of teeth that her friends also had. “Ohh! This is.... wow,” she gasped while looking into the mouth of the alien.
“What did you find, Fluttershy?” Pinkie spoke up from her spot.
“The jaws have both sharp and blunt teeth; this is an omnivore,” Fluttershy stated in her reply. “And I think that this one, like the other, is a male,” she added to her notions to her companions.
“Huh,” Applejack huffed in her surprised voice. “But, uh.... what's an omnivore, 'Shy?” she asked her.
“It means that it is a creature that eats everything, including.... m-m-meat,” the pegasus mare whimpered before shaking her head to stop her fear from taking over. “And with the clothes they each have on, the fashion says 'male', along with some muscle mass, despite being burned to a crisp here,” she further said as her hand touched the blackened part. Before the tips of her fingers could even stroke the hardened part, the most unusual and quite terrifying change starts to happen in front of the ponies.
A few cracks started to emanate from the same two bodies, along with a few oozes of some bad mixture of blood, ashes and dirt pouring out from what is seen to be some wounds on the upper bodies. Before the mares could try to guess what was happening, while they each hoped to contain the screams within them, the same broken skin was flying off of the masses. The ashes then made a staggering pile that fell just below the bodies. The next part that came around very quickly was an unknown wind from the Everfree Forest that soon made the faces and skin clear enough for all of the mares to see.
A startling revelation then popped up into Princess Luna's head as she looked to the male aliens, knowing immediately that these were not aliens that she was seeing before her eyes.
“Sister! These creatures! I know what they are!” she almost jumped in excitement as a wide smile was growing from her mouth.
“Ooh! What is it?” Pinkie asked just as excitedly.
“Yes, Luna,” Celestia nodded in agreement. “After more than five thousand years, we finally have contact with a race that has long since been considered a mythical race.” She allowed herself to breath out a breath that she had held in for a few moments before making the same conclusion as her sister did.
“But what exactly is this race, your Highness'?” Starlight then asked with a bewildered look on her muzzle.
“These specimens.... are known as humans,” Luna heard her sister say for her.
The eyes of the other mares, including Twilight, had almost popped out of their sockets. The human race was always known as a mythical race, given that the technological advances of the cities of the country of Equestria were speculated to come from this race of ape-like creatures who made quite the advances for every conceivable concept of labor and farming. But not only that, but the ponies were always taught that the human race was always a fierce bunch that always took care of their own. And even the Princesses, who had both lived longer than the High Council, knew that such an intense feeling was always because of how much the race was able to better represent the Elements of Harmony than their own race. But for all of them to see a pair of males from the same, now genuine, race? It was only fitting that this day was becoming quite an adventure.
“These guys are humans? As in, the same race that always found a way to get around, despite not having wings, horns, or even the strength that Earth Ponies have? The innovators that made great cities and machines that helped with flight and agriculture?” Rainbow almost shouted out in the excitement that was mutually shared by her friends.
“A chaotic species of creatures that gives Discord a run for his bits, while being extremely resourceful, along with having the ability to rise after taking the most impossible falls?” Rarity put in, remembering what she could about the subject at hand.
“And ferociously loyal to either their own or to the ponies of the time, while also havin' the ability to master the machines of war?” Applejack spoke up while feeling the same excitement being mixed with some hint of nervous fear in her tone.
“And they're alive,” Twilight pointed out as her gaze then saw the color of the skin of the bodies coming back at a rapid rate of healing.
“Whoa!” said Spike, who at the moment, was just as bewildered from what he saw. “Dude! That's just... weird!” he also said as the bodies were going through what was supposed to be impossible for any pony or some other to go through.
“Oh, Spike! Thank the creators you're here!” Twilight said to the tall dragon before giving him a quick, deep hug.
"What do you need, Twilight?" Spike says, waiting for her command as he was wont to do.
"I need you to make a letter to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, Spike!" Twilight begins to instruct her assistant. "And when you have that done, I want you and the CMC to gather the townsponies for an emergency assembly! Even if you have to drag Granny Smith from her rocking chair, get it done!" she said to her with a slight grin.
"There's gonna be no draggin' my Granny around to the center of town, 'cause Ah'll get her up an at 'em," Applejack proudly sniped at her friends with a slightly bemused look on her face.
Before any of the other mares could speak, a slight groaning noise had suddenly sounded out from one of the bodies that healed up. The groan was followed by a long wheezing that spooked them all. Celestia and Luna could only fly their way to the body that belonged to the shorter male who was trying to catch it's breath.
"Sir? Are you alright?" Celestia said to the man as her eyes met his. She was only a little bit shocked that the human's eyes were a hazel-gray color, but it was quickly replaced by how she saw that the same human was looking into her amethyst colored eyes with a unnatural desire to survive the ordeal. His right hand reached out to hers, and she grabbed it with a soft, yet firm, grip that told him that he was going to be okay.
"Please....." the human below beckoned to her in a low, raspy voice that sent chills to the Princess' bones as she also saw the unused left hand pointing to the other man just a few feet away from him. "H-help.... him....." A sigh had escaped the man before the Princess saw his eyes roll to the back of his eyes.
"No!" Luna shrieked, fearing that the man was dying.
"Get them to the emergency room, immediately!" Celestia ordered the ladies near her as she and her sister used the magic from their horns to lift up the man from the ground.
Twilight, Rarity and Starlight decided to do the same as Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy ran towards the hospital to find the help that was crucially desired.
Moments later, the two humans were placed on a pair of stretchers that were hastily moved to the emergency room. The royal sisters and Twilight had stopped themselves just at the benches where they quickly decided to sit themselves at. The Sun Princess was seated at Twilight's left while Luna was seated at her left side. The seat was closer to the door where the doctors would give their news. Whether bad or good, they would know what had happened to the humans in the room.
"This is quite the discovery that we made," Twilight sighed, even with her excitement still lacing her tone, despite her exhaustion from how she and her former mentor, along with the Princess of the Night, were hauling the men into the room for an examination.
"Indeed," Luna sighed. "Three within two weeks? Quite an exciting month we're having," she shook her head with a small smile.
"Three?" Twilight raised her eyebrow at the Princess who made the statement while sitting next to her. "But I thought that it was just those two," she said with two fingers from her left hand pointing to the door.
"That is correct, Twilight," Celestia confirmed to her. "But there is one that came to Equestria first, long before these new ones came...."
Unknown apartment, Manehattan, Equestria - Time unknown....
A mysterious figure was looking over the busy streets of the city when they felt a shiver going from the bottom of the spine to the top of their head. After feeling the chill pass by, the figure gave out a smirk as they kept looking out the window.
"And so.... it begins once again."
A Complex Prologue, Part 3
*****
(Ponyville Hospital, Ponyville, Equestria – Day 0)
Several hours had already passed by. And as the time had passed, the live bodies of the two male humans had been pushed to the emergency room for observation and evaluation. The two royal sisters, Celestia and Luna, and the seven members of the High Council of Friendship had each been given a real reason to hope for the best, while knowing fully well that the worst scenario was to be expected. They would all shudder, including the older princesses, from thinking about what would happen. Even though the bodies had mysteriously healed up in front of them, it was more than likely that their brains, if worse came from bad, would be shot from the unknown magic that gave the bodies the ability to look like nothing happened to them at all. But the changes were quite contrary to what most of the ponies would see with their untrained eyes. And this was especially true for the doctors and nurses that were overlooking the two recent patients in the room.
One of the many changes that were seen was how the two of them were lacking any and all hairs around their bodies. From the top of their heads, to their faces, and even their limbs were as naked as could possibly be. The other change was shown in the form of how their skin, which was shown to be much more smoother than the fur of their coats, were quite pale. The only conclusion that they could make was from the blood loss that occurred before the healing was done by the enigmatic aura that somehow save them. And the final change that they could all see was how much different the bodies looked on the physical aspect. Round ears were found on either side of the heads, flat faces with uniquely shaped noses were shown in front of the medical teams' faces, and their hands and feet were just exactly the same as themselves; five toes and fingers on each opposing limb. But they also saw that they each had no horns, wings, or even a snout like they all possessed.
One of the doctors, aptly named Doctor Pulse, was overseeing the entire process of the examinations before allowing himself to sigh with a gross sense of relief sweeping over him. As he stepped out of the room, he was greeted by the nine mares that he learned had taken the male humans into the hospital, eagerly awaiting the results from his time in there. He was also able to see, even without a degree in his field, that they were also both anxious and afraid of what he was about to say.
“Oh, Doctor Pulse! I thank the stars that you've come,” Luna sighed, happy to see the doctor with her greeting to him.
“Thank you, your Highness', for allowing us to examine the two patients in there,” Syringe bowed to the Princess while looking at the others. With a confident smile on him, he cleared his throat and said, “I do have some good news to share with all of you.” The mares looked to him with a hopeful look that he was always able to mentally shrug away before giving his announcement to them. “The good news... is that the two specimens that you brought to us are alive and well.”
After the mares and the Princesses heard this, some gave a long sigh while a few others gave a few cheers. Pinkie Pie was, quite obviously, cheering the most with a big 'WOO-HOO!!!' starting it off before chanting her improvised little jingle about the two humans being alive. It was only for a few seconds before Rainbow Dash decided to shush the mare by putting her finger on Pinkie's mouth.
“Awesome, doc!” Rainbow smirked widely. But before she would even allow herself to have her own celebration, she reminded herself that even she was not going to just go into the room to see the new aliens in the room. “But I really would like to know how they're actually doing, if you could tell us, please?” she asked the doctor, earning a small gasp from Rarity, who looked at her in surprise.
“Good heavens, Rainbow Dash! You're certainly interested in the two new stallions that have entered our small town, aren't you?” Rarity says to her friend with a look of excitement that she would normally control.
“Heck, yeah! I just want to know if they're gonna be well enough so that I can get them both back in shape,” Rainbow nodded, feeling that she would be the best coach for the men who were recovering in the room close to her and friends. “Plus, they look kinda cool!” she said with a nod.
“How so?” Rarity inquired.
“They both have that look where they've both seen and have been in a few fights, coming out unscathed so few times,” Rainbow answered with a knowing smirk. “I'd like to know from them both if they have been able to defend themselves from that kind of situation.”
“And I want to know if they both like parties, because I have a 'Welcome To Ponyville/Congratulations On Getting Out Of The Hospital' party to plan for them!” Pinkie bounced up as she literally bounced up and down from the floor, excited to know that some new potential friends would get to experience a party that always made certain ponies definitely feel welcomed.
“Thank goodness that they're both alright,” Fluttershy sighed with a smile. “But, um... if you don't mind me asking, please, sir... what, uh.... that is...” she trailed off, still nervous about what to ask the same stallion that was doing his part in helping the humans. “Is there something we should know, in particular, about them?” she finally asked the doctor.
“Every note that each of you has given us have been very helpful,” Pulse replies before allowing his clipboard to go to his face. “And we could not have been able to diagnose what truly happened to them both had it not been for what all of you saw,” he continued while giving a smile to them. “But from what you had said to us in your notes, particularly Miss Fluttershy's notes, it seems that an unknown phenomenon had been viewed that I can only give a slight theory and hypothesis about,” he said as he scribbled a few more jots on the official paper before handing out the clipboard to them.
A few moments had passed while each of the women had looked at the notes that the doctor had made before Applejack spoke up.
“Ah don't rightly understand any 'a this babble, so what does it all mean?” she said with a raised brow.
“Well then, as the head doctor, I would like to give you the rundown on what happened to the stallions in the room,” Pulse said to the farmer as he straightened up his tie before looking at the older Princesses with a serious look. “When we started our examination of the two new humans, we noticed that not only did they lose all of their hair, both on the bodies and the tops of their heads, but there were also a few wounds that were fresh. They were all healed up pretty quickly, but we discovered quite a lot of splinters that went through them. This could only be caused by an explosion that nearly killed them,” he began to hypothesize to them, hearing a small gasp from the ponies near him. “And this was long before they each went through that wild trip that shot them down from the sky above us. The portal that they both went through made them each go through a speed of about 75 miles an hour or more as they both fell. And with the fires of the atmosphere burning them up, I was more than surprised that their clothing survived.”
“Even I found that to be quite the mystery,” Rarity chimed in, confirming what she said in the note that she gave to the doctor beforehand as he nodded to her with an agreed nod.
“But upon when you all saw how their blackened skin had, quite literally, 'flaked off', as you wrote here,” the doctor pointed to Fluttershy before gazing back to the Princesses, “I can only guess that the same aura that was healing them was from the production of some unknown magic that could only come from the humans. And with that, it is my belief that these human males, or 'men'  as they are called in the plural, have had their first contact with magic from the land and sky around us. And with that said, the bad news must be said.”
“And that would be?” Twilight was almost afraid to ask as a shiver ran through her spine.
“The two of them will not be able to rise from their beds until either next week, or even tomorrow morning,” he simply said to them.
“But if that's the case, then it wouldn't be bad if we-” Twilight was about to say before she, and all of her friends, heard a slight gasp that was followed with a shriek that shocked them all. From seemingly out of nowhere, a nurse named Red Heart, had opened the door and began to panic with her breathing becoming irregular.
“Doctor! Doctor!” Red Heart shouted, causing Pulse to look at her with a surprised look.
“Calm yourself, Nurse Heart,” he said to the nurse who took a deep breath that was laced with a hint of fear in it. “Now, tell me exactly what happened,” he politely told her with a calm voice, despite how shocked they both were.
“The humans! They're out of their beds!” she shrieked before fainting on the wall behind her. Before the nurse could even fall, a gold aura surrounded her before it picked her up as it seated her on the chair next to the door.
“They're out of their beds?” Twilight gasped. “But how? You just said—”
“They must have made a quicker recovery than I had thought,” he said with a slight gasp.
“Well, you're right about that!” a new voice spoke up from behind the stallion. Slowly, Pulse peered his head before moving his body to get a full view of whoever was speaking to them. This voice did not belong to any of the ponies in his team. What he then saw was something quite unusual.
“Hello there, Doctor Pulse,” the smaller human said with a small smile as he waved his left hand to him.
Needless to say, Pulse was stunned by what he was seeing in front of his eyes.
“I am very sorry for scaring you and your team like that, but I have always had a flair for the dramatic,” the man apologized to the doctor with his hands in a prayer position. “I hope that you can forgive me for that,” he went on to say as he slowly made his way out of the door. Pulse was able to shake his head to observe how the human was able to speak like he and his fellow ponies were able to.
“Heh-heh.... well, this is quite interesting,” the doctor pony said as his glasses were readjusted as he zoomed his gaze towards the man. “And not just because of how you are able to speak to us,” he added to the topic while pointing to the mares behind him. “But most of your limbs look almost exactly like ours, mister...?” he trailed off while looking at the human dead in his hazel-green eyes.
“Ah, yes! Introductions are to be made, post haste,” the human said with a little smile. He looked to the same mares that were quite different to the other with the most obvious traits about them. And he was able to see how there were both unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Alongside the six different ponies were three strange looking mares that have both a pair of wings and a horn on their heads. Immediately, he was able to figure out that the same mares must have had ties to royalty. “Mark! Get out here to the hallway! And stand up straight for the royalty there!” he shouted to his friend in the room. At least, that was what it looked like to the ponies in the hallway.
“'Mark'?” Twilight repeated the name, curious about the way the other human was called out.
“Must be the other human's name as far as I know,” Starlight pondered. “And I'm sure that we'll all find out his name soon,” she pointed to the man in front of her.
“Don't worry about it, buddy! We may be the aliens in this new world, but we'll adapt to it,” the man said to, presumably to the ponies, the other man named Mark. “So come on, let's introduce ourselves! Get on out here!” he nearly laughed in some excitement that the ponies were hearing from his voice. “What?” he called back to his friend. “Oh! Right!” he nodded before turning to the ponies. “Would you ladies mind terribly if Mark and I get dressed in our clothes? We don't wish to impose ourselves in the metaphorical nude,” he requested to them all.
“Oh! Yes, you may be excused,” Princess Luna shot up, knowing fully well that, from that request, that the man was certainly well mannered.
After bowing his head, the same human quickly closed the door of the room with him inside said room. This was now ample time for the ponies to speak among themselves. And Pinkie Pie decided to break the ice.
“That guy seems nice,” she said cheerfully. “And quite polite, too! I never knew that an alien could be that way!”
“It was only that human, Pinkie, darling,” Rarity said to her hyper friend. “The other must be so scared of what is going on, poor thing,” she cooed in belief that the other was quite scared of what was happening. “And I dare say that the whole experience must have been quite the shock for the two of them,” she pointed out with a solemn nod.
“And yet the shorter guy was able to take it all in like when I hear the word 'cider',” Rainbow said with an uncharacteristic smile on her face.
“Th' moment anypony says that, y'all try ta find that drink faster'n Winona tryin' ta find a bone,” Applejack huffed at her friend with a smirk.
“Hey!” Rainbow shouted, causing the others to giggle. “But, seriously! I do hope that the other guy will be alright,” she then said with a somber tone, causing her friends to look at her in surprise. “I mean, if anything, my loyalty to all of you-” she pointed to both her friends and the Princesses- “-is more than likely to be matched by what that guy and Mark have,” she said with a hypothesis in her speech.
“I have no doubt about that; It's possible that that may be shown to us,” Twilight spoke to her. “But.... an alien, or a pair in this case, coming into our world from theirs? It must be quite frightening for them both, even if the shorter one is taking it quite well,” she said with her own concerns for the two men in the room.
“And I believe that those two are quite like family, even if they aren't related at all,” Rarity chimed in, allowing her opinion to be heard.
“How did you figure that out, Rarity?” Starlight asked her.
“The human in the room had truly displayed a very different personality, along with the fact that they both came in with a very different wardrobe,” the white unicorn said, remembering her part in pulling in said patients into the hospital. “But along with that, even though that man was able to look at us with a smile, I believe that his fear is that something bad might happen to his friend.”
“And I agree,” Fluttershy spoke up through her small voice. “I have not seen a new species that has the resemblance of the gorillas and chimpanzees that are in the zoos of the major cities,” she went on to say. “But I'm quite glad that they are not chimps, because those animals are known to.... eck!” she spat out, remembering what those specific primates are known to do against intruders.
“And for once, I believe that we can all agree on that part, my dear Fluttershy,” Rarity said to her, prompting a nod to be made from the agreement that the others made. “These men are more civilized, almost like us ponies,” she pointed out, filing the notes that her pegasus friend made in her head.
“But I do wonder if they truly are omnivores,” Starlight then said, remembering what the pegasus said before.
“You can be assured that we don't eat anything that resembles a horse or pony,”  the same voice then said from behind the door, causing the mares to look to the door to see both the same human walking out with the larger man that they were all able to identify as Mark. “Our culture so happens to look at the equine races as a means of entertainment and transportation. So we have no desire, whatsoever, to eat any pony or horse,” the man confirmed to the mares.
The same ponies, including the doctor in the vicinity, had then noticed that the two men were balded all over their heads. This was highly likely because of the flames that wrapped around them, causing that very same happenstance to be made.
“So we're all safe, even if you get very hungry?” Starlight asked him, cautious about what to say next afterward.
“Starlight! I am appalled that you would ask that!” Twilight shouted in shock to her student's words to him.
“Now, now!” the man said to the young Princess in his vision. “It was safe for her to ask, given that she has no knowledge of our workings, culture or diet. But I do feel the need to add that none of you will be harmed, on our honor,” he said to the mares.
“Yeah, but-”
“No buts! Your friend didn't know, so you can let that remark slide, okay.”
It only took about three seconds before Twilight bowed her head down in shame.
“I'm sorry, Starlight,” she apologized to the pink unicorn with a sad voice. “I shouldn't have shouted at you like that,” she said in a solemn tone.
“I forgive you, Twilight,” Starlight nodded before giving her a quick but deep hug that was returned in kind.
“Mighty nice 'a y'all ta let it go, but Ah think we're 'bout ta get the names of these stallions soon,” Applejack put in.
“Quite correct, young Applejack,” Luna said to the farmer who smiled and bowed to her. “Now, would you two be so willing as to introduce yourselves to us, please?” she then politely asks the humans, hoping to get things started immediately.
“Why, certainly,” the unidentified man complied happily. “And given that I am in the presence of some very beautiful mares, including your Highness' here, I'm more than inclined to make myself heard,” he said with a quite chipper attitude that even caught the Princesses off their guard with a blush on their faces. But both the royal sisters and the Council had nodded to him to allow the introductions to be made. When the request was allowed, the man moved his right hand to his larger friend and stopped him at his right side.
“This large gentleman to my right is none other than my best friend and colleague, Detective Mark Louis Anderson,” he introduced his friend to the mares as he saw them giving a 'hello' greeting to them as his friend bowed to them all. “And as such, he was once a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department's homicide division, before I met him quite a few years ago,” he added to the finish of his introduction of his friend to them.
“And to my left is my best friend and boss, Special Agent James Robert Gibson,” Mark also announced to the mares who also greeted him as he too saw his friend bow to them. “He was once a part of our worlds Federal Bureau of Investigation, or 'F.B.I.' for short,” Mark said to the ladies and the doctor around him who all gave out a 'ooh' sound, interested in what the named pertained.
“A detective and an agent....” Celestia repeated the occupations with her hand on her jaw in thought. “Would this mean that the two of you have some experience in law enforcement?” she asks them both, finding that this was some opportunity coming up into her head.
“Try since before the both of us were even out of high school,” said James. “I was once taking a case that dealt with the bullies that always picked on me before I discovered that I was capable of solving any crime better than most of the colleagues that both my friend here and I worked with,” he explained himself while keeping the discussion up.
“And I was just known as the 'pretty boy' of the unit that I was in,” Mark hissed at the phrase, remembering the horrible period of time before meeting his friend and boss next to him. “I have a very sharp memory of all of the cases that were solved by the two of us when we both got out of our mediocre jobs. And I'm very happy that we were able to get out of those places,” he said to the skies above, even if it was blocked by the ceiling above him.
“So, wait! Does this make you two private investigators, now?” Pinkie then asked out of the blue. The result was the two men lowering their jaws in awe of what the pink on pink mare was able to figure out.
“How did--?” Mark was about to ask before James raised his hand up.
“It's her talent, don't question it.”
“Uh.... right, right,” Mark nodded, knowing that his boss/friend was able to deduce.
“And now I believe that it is your turn to introduce yourselves to us, correct?” James reminded the ponies.
“Yep! Yep! May I go first, please?” Pinkie nearly yelped out like an excited puppy. The wagging of her curly and puffy tail had made James nearly giggle.
James could only chortle from what he was seeing and hearing before he gave in, defeated by what he perceived to be an assault of laughter from the excited pony who wished to introduce herself.
“Proceed,” James nodded to the bouncing pony with a widening smile.
“Yay!” Pinkie cheered out, happy that she was the first to let herself be known to her possible new friends. “Hi! I'm Pinkamena Diane 'Pinkie' Pie! And I'm Ponyville's premier party planner, as well as a baker of the most delicious sweets and treats for Sugarcube Corner, where my bosses, Mr. and Mrs. Cake both live at with their twin son and daughter, Pound and Pumpkin Cake! So do you like having cakes, pies, cupcakes, donuts? What?!” she shrieked at the last word.
It did not take long for James to finally give into his desire to laugh from how fast, yet saccharine sweet, her questions were. Her infectious attitude was able to break him in, causing him to laugh as loudly as he could muster while feeling his ribs starting to split.
“Pinkie, I think you broke him,” Twilight giggled lightly while keeping a smile on her face as she pointed to the laughing man.
“Oh! My! God! St-St-ha-ha-ha! Sto-ha-p!” James cried out in his laughter as he felt a tear running down his face.
“Oops! Sorry about that, James!” Pinkie apologized with her ears flopped down, even if she was confused for a moment.
“It's alright.... And.... ah-ha! To... answer your.... question--” James calmly stopped himself before taking a breath and cleared his throat in his exhale- “My weakness is red velvet cake, because of how rich and delicious it tastes, along with it's velvety taste when done right,” he then said to her in a calmer tone. He soon saw Pinkie's ears perk back up, knowing that he was about to be greeted with another cheer. And frankly, he was soo loving it. “And you have a nice use of an alliteration for your first occupation, my new friend,” he quickly said, complimenting her occupation as well.
“Well, if you like that, then the two of you are going to love the party that I will be-- (GASP!) I was supposed to be making your W.T.P.C.O.G.O.O.T.H. Party!! See ya!!” she quickly said before a pink cloud was all that remained of the mare who had to leave immediately.
“And what the heck was that?” Mark asked his friend, quite confused by what he had seen as he pointed to the space that was now left behind.
“Our 'Welcome To Ponyville' and 'Congratulations On Getting Out Of The Hospital' Party, if I'm not mistaken,” James sighed with a chuckle.
“Dude, you saying that is like you saying that you've already have her figured out,” Mark said in disbelief. James then gave him a very dark look. This was able to intimidate the larger man until he was a quivering mess, and without using any magic at all. “Slightly?” he asked, drawing more of that look from his friend. “About seventy-five percent?” More of the stare nearly got him to buckle down to the floor. “You did figure her out?!” he nearly yelled out in fear before seeing his friend smile the same warm smile.
“And this even includes a recent sale that she had on chocolate cupcakes from a tiny filly that has a big crush on her,” James proudly said.
After seeing that semi evil look from the human shorter than the other, Twilight and Rarity both huddled up and started to whisper to each other about what just happened.
“Darling, did you just see what I saw?” Rarity said to her friend.
“He's the alpha of the pair, alright,” Twilight nodded.
“Al- what now? Please elaborate, dear,” the unicorn begged of her.
“Every relationship, in both a social and a romantic setting, nearly always consists of a pony, or person, that is able to take charge of any and all situations that is right in front of them. And the two men are not engaged at all, so social is the better term for them,” she giggled before blushing wildly at the now growing image of the men-- “No! None of that, stupid brain!” she chastised herself, not knowing that Rarity was about to tease her with no remorse.
“You've been reading that naughty novel that I gave you, didn't you?” Rarity teased, causing her friend to blush wildly again.
“D'oh! I give up,” Twilight shamefully said to her.
“Now, don't degrade yourself, Twilight,” the unicorn patted her on the shoulder. “Even I get those fantasies once in a while. Nothing to be ashamed of,” she explained to her with a knowing smile.
“Heh... now I know why it is that I feel the need to kiss all of my friends,” Twilight then said, surprising her friend in front of her.
“Oh? Is it because of how we have all been there for you, ever since your first day in Ponyville?” Rarity warmly said to her.
“Mm-hmm,” Twilight nodded again.
“I don't blame you, darling.”
“Thanks, Rarity,” Twilight thanked her with a sincere, warm hug.
“You're welcome, my dear,” Rarity replied before clearing her throat. “Now, alpha?” she reminded her.
“Someone that takes control of everything, including their own flaws and securities,” Twilight quickly explained.
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
The two soon allowed their huddle to be broken to face the human males in front of them.
“Welcome back to the party, my new friends,” James acknowledged them with a smile.
“And thank you for being patient with us, darling,” Rarity smiled at him. “Shall I go next with the introduction?” she volunteered with her hand on her chest. “I promise not to take up too much of your time and-- Ooh~! I see that you both have your original clothes on you!” she soon saw from looking at the two men. And indeed, the men were not in those garish hospital robes anymore.
“Yep,” James nodded. “And as such, our clothes are much better than those garbs.”
“Those robes were not made for our sizes,” Mark complained a bit. “And way too much of a breeze on our lower regions.”
The mare who was about to speak blushed from the comment before composing herself.
“My name is Rarity, and I so happen to be quite the proud owner of three successful boutiques, along with a line of beauty products for all mares and stallions,” she introduced herself with a proud grin. “Uh, you don't mind if I call you two stallions, right?” she quickly asked them, hoping that she made no offense to them.
“Actually,” James peered his head to the left to ponder the word for a moment.  He then allowed his gaze to go back to the unicorn and say, “I believe that I can live with that. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it, Mark?”
“Oh, yeah, it does,” Mark conceded with his own grin.
“Oh! That's a relief, though you also like the term.... gentlemen, right?” she asked again.
“Correct,” James smiled again.
“And as such, I believe that if you two would be so kind, I would be more than happy to make the both of you some new clothes for your wardrobe, if you don't mind,” Rarity said in an inquest to them.
“My friend here has an obsession with taking and keeping a lot of tuxedos of all types, so don't let him take your whole shop,” James told her with a mischievous grin at his muscular friend as the unicorn seamstress giggled at his expense.
“Hey! At least I don't have an obsession with working out at the gym during the midnight hour!” Mark replied in a bemused, stern tone.
“Mark, it was only during that one week when we both had to solve case number thirty-five, so don't even say that it's an obsession. It was part of the work that we do,” James said to him with half of the same look that he had given before. “Besides, my obsession is over the same flavor of cake that I had mentioned before, in case you weren't listening,” he added to the topic.
“Oh, fine,” Mark said, defeated by his friend.
“Now, as I was about to say: Mark and I will come down to your boutique, but I have just two requests to make of you,” James said to Rarity, who perked up her ears at what was about to be asked of her.
“I'm all ears, darling,” she beckoned him to say, obviously interested in what he was going to say.
“First: That you only allow three to four suits for my friend here,” he began, hearing an annoyed scoff from his friend. “And that you make some casual clothes for us, along with two specific suits for myself,” he said with two fingers pointed up.
“Specific, you say? How so?” she replied.
“One suit to wear casually, and one suit to wear formally,” he said.
“Will I be allowed to make the alterations if needed?” she asks him.
“If needed.”
“Ah! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Rarity then hugged him with a deep hug to show her appreciation. “I promise you that I will make sure that the both of you are not disappointed with what I will make for you!” she cheerfully said while keeping her embrace on him. She then remembered that there was a second request that was made of him. “(Ahem!) Now, what was the second request that you were about to ask of me?” she inquired of him.
“That you stay gorgeous, my friend,” James subtly flirted with her.
“Oh! Why, James!” she gasped at his words with wide eyes, surprised by the request.
“And that especially goes to both your friends, and the Princesses near us,” James boldly said as he looked at the royalty who were in the same space as he was. “Each of you just so happens to be that kind of beautiful in my eyes,” he said to them all sincerely. “And this also goes to the.... um... I didn't ask what your race is, honestly,” he chuckled sheepishly at the royalty as he scratched the back of his head, who all giggled like high school girls.
“The four of us are Alicorn ponies,” Celestia said to him with a wide smile from what was said to her a moment ago.
“Alicorn, huh? Definitely a great name for the best, and the most divine, of the races here,” James nodded at the word, causing another fit of giggles to be made. “But, um... you said four, yet I only see three.... so where is the fourth Alicorn?” he asked them with his interest piqued.
“She so happens to be running the Crystal Empire, way north of here, with her husband, Prince Shining Armor,” Luna answered him.
“Uh-huh,” the man chuckled. “Lucky stallion, I say.”
“Indeed. And Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is quite happy with her relationship. Your flirting with her could cause a major news story that would shock all of Equestria, so make sure you keep your compliments of her to a minimum,” Celestia said to him with the same grin that he made before.
“Then I shall have to decree that it will only be just you three who receives my true words,” James solemnly said as he made a curtsy to them.
“Ah know he ain't lyin',” Applejack then spoke up from behind him. The man turned his gaze to the farmer, still keeping the same smile on his face. “Truth be told, Ah'm mighty happy that ya made the Princesses blush, but ya really do need to keep those fancy words down,” she sheepishly said to him. “They really make us blush, 'less ya count Rainbow,” she pointed to the cyan pegasus near her.
“Hey, I was loving those words he just said to us!” Rainbow unknowingly spoke up, causing her hands to smack her mouth in embarrassment. A blush that met the color of her eyes soon washed over her face. And though it was still there, she said to him “Don't spread that around, okay?” in a tone that would have been menacing if not for her voice betraying her words.
“Trust me, I'm not that kind of guy,” James assured her with his hand on his chest to cover his heart.
“Thanks,” the flier nodded. “You really mean all of that, don't you, big guy?”
“Yep.” he said.
“Well, with that outta th' way,” Applejack said as she extended her hand to James. “Ah'm Applejack! And it's a huge pleasure ta meet ya, pardner,” she introduced herself as she gripped his hand while shaking it with a lot of enthusiasm. And she was able to feel the same feeling from how he was able to meet her strength with his own, despite how he was just out of the hospital room.
“Charmed,” James said as he looked her straight in the eyes with a smile.
“An' Ah'm quite happy that y'all are ready ta leave this place, but Ah think that Doctor Pulse will get you a wheelchair to go in,” she then said, pointing to the doctor.
“There will be no need,” Doctor Pulse chuckled. “If they are able to walk around, then I see no need to give both of these gentlemen a chair to sit on for their exit,” he waved his hand at the thought, even though following the professional objective was a must.
“And with that, I must thank both you and our saviors for what they have done for us,” James lowered his head to the mares while rotating his body to look at the same ponies that he knew were the ones who brought him to the room that he was sleeping in. “But now, the most important ordeal that we must overcome is where Mark and I will be allowed to sleep at before we get settled in,” he brought up to the attentions of the Princesses near him.
“I believe that my sister and I already have a solution to your immediate problem,” Celestia spoke to him as her sister nodded after finishing her words to him.
“Do tell,” James looked at her with a curious face.
“As it stands, you two are the first humans to arrive here since after more than five thousand years. And as such, there is quite a great need for us to be given all the new knowledge that you more than likely possess on your race. But along with that, we believe that if you were to live in a few of the rooms in Twilight's new castle, not only will we be able to get some new knowledge, along with confirming the old knowledge that we have on your race, but your status as new citizens of the country will be that much more earned from helping out the citizens of the town,” Celestia said to the men with a serious, yet warm order that made them both listen in intently. They both looked at the younger Princess who confirmed their silent inquiry with a nod.
“As you wish,” James complied to her while speaking for his friend.
“And now, with that out of the way,” Celestia soon produced two big bags that held a large number of bits in each of them, then hovered them in front of them. With a small nod, the men grabbed the bags with their hands, allowing the exchange to be made. “These bits will help you with acquiring the food and items you will both need,” she explained to them.
“Huh... this must be the currency of this world,” Mark observed as he tied the rope of his bag to one of the loops of his pants before slipping the bag into his left pant pocket.
“But with all of this done, there is just one last thing that I must do before we even step out the front door,” James said, knowing that what he had in mind was for the best.
“And that would be?” Celestia raised her brow at him.
James then took the initiative by moving up slowly moving up to the royal sisters. As soon as he got close enough to both of the Princesses, he surprised them both by first hugging the taller Alicorn in a deep embrace. And Celestia was quite surprised to see the man named James hugging her, but she gave a warm giggle before hugging him back with an equal grip while wrapping her large wings around him to complete the gesture.
“I figured that even though you and your sister are the co-rulers of this country that we just came to,” James chuckled a bit as he released himself from her just a few inches away from her body, “you both look like the type of ladies who enjoy getting hugs from everyone you either know or don't know,” he added with a bow of his head and a warm smile to her before allowing himself to deepen his embrace. When he released himself, he looked at the older sister and allowed himself to smile deeply in his heart.
“Quite a bold observation, Mr. Gibson,” Luna said with a slight curl of her lips. “And we do indeed enjoy getting hugs from everyone we know. And in this case-” she says before going up to the man with her arms around him in a deep hug that was a lot softer than what James had given her sister. “ -we both feel that you deserve a lot of hugs for being so bold with the both us,” she giggled as she allowed her embrace to be made with him. And James could only allow the gesture to be returned in full.
And after having hugged both of the royalty, James had given them both a respective bow, to which they responded with their own to him. Then, he turned himself around to go into the direction where the front doors were likely located. And given his memory, sharp as it was, it would be easy to guide Mark to the door with him. Within a moment, the men had left the hallway of the hospital. Intact, and able to work.
“Shall I leave all of you, so that I can fill out the paperwork for this scene?” Doctor Pulse requested, knowing that it was more than likely that he was needed to do that part of the work before turning in his time card in the next few hours.
“You may, Doctor. And thank you for all of your help,” Celestia thanked him after issuing his dismiss to him. With that order done, the doctor pony immediately took his leave with his steps going to the stairs that would lead him to the upper floor.
The Princesses then looked to each other before looking to the mares in front of them.
“We believe that the humans will be able to help Ponyville to become more enriched with their talents, but it is vital that you all watch what happens to them both, should a situation with some hostile creatures come around,” Celestia ordered her subjects with the same serious tone that she had for the men that had already left their presence.
“How so, Princess? The gentleco- men- are quite mannered, and not very hostile, as far as I know,” Rarity questioned her curiously.
“If the history we have on their race is any indication, they will more than likely react if something bad were to happen,” Luna responded to her words. “And their history is a bloody one. Literally,” she somberly said, causing the mares to look at her with a raised brow from each of their heads.
“The human race, though known for their endurance, resourcefulness and innovation, are not all evil or good. They are just as violent and chaotic as our resident Draconnequus, Discord, has been,” Celestia said, reminiscing on how her encounter with their new friend was just like that a long time ago.
“Ooh~! A race that is just like myself?” a new voice inquired around the mares in the hallway.
“Quite correct, Discord,” Luna said to the voice. Before she could even allow her confirmation to be fully made, a flash of bright light had quickly shown a creature that had the limbs of multiple creatures while keeping a rather unique dragon-like body. Even the humans, were they there, could identify the creature to be Discord.
“And here I thought that my immortal life was going to be quite boring,” Discord chuckled from the idea of how the same mentioned race was quite like him. “But I think that the new humans are more noble than chaotic, if what I saw from my realm showed me,” he brought up, not wanting to start any kind of argument.
“How do ya know that?” Applejack peered at him without any anger in her tone.
“Well,” he began to say. “Despite how those two gentlemen are from a world where I could be supercharged from the chaos there, they have no desire to even make a prank unless they wish to get a message across. But if some nasty creature were to attack this lovely town-” he flashed a light to go near the ponies with a quick spell to move from one place to another “-or even the lovely mares in this town-” Flash again to another spot- “-then they will more than likely fight against them, in the defense of both the town and the ponies.”
“So... do you think that James likes us like that?” Twilight said, curious as to the mentioned man's behavior from before.
“Oh! Twilight! It's in my belief that he just loovvves~! all of the mares, including Pinkie, who happens to be working on that same party that she mentioned a moment ago,” he said to the young Alicorn with a flamboyant tone on the noun he spoke to them.
“And I suppose that explains the hugs that he gave to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” Rainbow then asks.
“Absolutely,” Discord nodded.
“But, um... what about Mark?” Fluttershy spoke up.
“Pshaw! That human is hiding his real emotions underneath the shell that was forged from his first professional job,” the Draconnequus scoffed. “I don't believe that any of the ponies will be able to break him out of it,” he said with a slightly sad tone. “And though sad it may be, it will take a miracle of our Princesses' caliber of magic to break him out of his shell,” he also sighed with a dismissive hand.
“Yeah, well, I'm hoping that he'll break out of it soon,” Rainbow proclaimed with a subtle scoff at the creature's words. “And with how many more mares there are than stallions in this entire country, he'll learn to know about being able and capable of having a relationship with a mare,” she added to her argument. It was then that her curiosity had allowed her to look to Twilight and say, “Yo, Twilight.”
“Yes, Rainbow?” Twilight replied.
“How long do you think it will take until all of their hair grows back? For the both of them?”
“Oh! I was also wanting to ask Fluttershy that question, given that she knows more about mammals than we do,” Twilight said as she looked to the veterinarian who was a few feet close to her. “And I believe that those two are mammals. Would that be correct?” she asked her good friend with a grin on her face.
“Hmm? Oh! Um... y-yes... to that question,” Fluttershy replied with a nod. “The two of them are mammals like us, taking the milk from their mothers during their foal phase.... or baby phase, if I remember it correctly,” she softly lectured to her friends, who decided to pay attention to her.
“Seems I know about that, too,” Pinkie Pie then said, prompting the mares to look at her.
“Were you able to set up the party for our guests?” Celestia asked her.
“Yup! And it's all set up so that it's only all of us in this hallway, including Discord if he wishes,” Pinkie confirmed while inviting the Draconnequus to the party at the same time.
“Well, I need to make my home a little clean before I let myself in, but I will be there,” Discord accepted as a flash of light appeared before he disappeared once more.
“Oh, I do hope that he won't make a mess of the place when he gets there,” Rarity hoped.
“You needn't worry, fair Rarity,” Celestia said to her assuredly. “If anything, Discord will most likely get the surprise of his immortal life,” she giggled at the thought before allowing herself to laugh at the likely scenario that the humans, including the one who had hugged her earlier, would react to. The hypothesized scene then played out in the rest of the ponies' heads before they too laughed joyfully.
(*****)
Within the nurses stationary room, to which both James and Mark had allowed themselves in after politely asking the other nurse ponies to let them in, the men had taken out a few bags of chips from the lower cabinet near them for something to fill up their stomachs without spoiling their appetites. Before the silence could be broken, they each had to at least get a mouthful of the snacks into their mouths for consuming. Two minutes pass by, and the muscular man decided to speak after swallowing his few munched chips.
“So what were you able to find out from our contact with those ponies who saved us?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“Don't think that my answering your curiosity will save you from what I have to say about your behavior towards them,” James said to him. “Because as soon as I satisfy your inquiry, you and I will have to talk about how to be more approachable to the ponies of this world,” he said to him with a stern finger pointed to him.
“Okay, okay! Sheesh! And how are you not afraid of these walking and talking ponies with horns and wings, huh?” he coiled away from him.
“I am still possessed by my fear of them,” James clarified, causing Mark to raise an unbelieving eyebrow at him. “But my fear is justified; I know fully well that the unicorns and Alicorns have magic that they utilize via their horns to cast any spell that they wish, while the pegasi are fully capable of moving and controlling the weather for this country, and how the earth ponies make up for that with their endurance and strength. And all of the mares who saved us from dying on the ground so happen to obviously possess the same traits that even you have observed,” he lectured him.
“But what exactly do they all do? I mean, you did know that the Alicorns are the rulers of the land, but... how?” Mark asked him.
“The crowns and royal attire, dumb ass,” James rolled his eyes at him before continuing his lecture. “But not only do they each have their own responsibilities, but they also happen to be a part of some charity or awareness program,” he nodded before taking another chip to eat. “Princess Celestia so happens to play a major role in a charity for the widows and orphans who lost their significant others during the last few wars that she had been a part of at one time or another. Her behavior told me that even she had lost a few lovers in the past, thus giving her the motive to donate her share of the country's currency to said charity.”
“But along with her work at a charity, along with signing certain amendments to the old laws, she also happens to have quite the loving nature that almost literally begs of me to notice of her. The same nature that I have noticed from those who so happen to have a caring, motherly role to every subject or person. But not only that, she also happens to be addicted to cake. This had not gone unnoticed by my observational skills when I had said that one of my weaknesses was red velvet cake. Her eyes widened with a subtle movement, showing me that she enjoys the dessert in general with a ravenous passion. Thus, I was able to notice that she is a very loving mare who desires to be loved in the same way that most of her subjects experience every day.”
“But what about Princess Luna and Twilight? What were you able to see from those two?” Mark challenged him. He soon regretted challenging him with that question.
“The same mentioned Princess is able to raise and lower the sun for every passing day,” James smirked. “And as such, her sister, Luna, so happens to raise and lower the moon for the nights that pass by. And even without truly knowing her history, I could tell that she is regretful of doing what she had done in the past. And she still holds onto that guilt. I will be able to know more when we get to Twilight's castle. But until then, I can say, without any doubt in my mind, that she is also able to share the same charities and responsibilities that her sister works through. But not only that, she also has the power to see into the dreams of her subjects, including us, so that she can help the ponies out with stopping their nightmares for their growth as fillies, along with communicating with them in order to help with their dreams. Thus I can conclude that she also wishes to have some... pony to love, if not us.”
“Now, with Twilight? She was once a unicorn who wanted to be a teacher of the more advanced spells. And was also a protege of the first mentioned ruler. But as time went on, and long after Princess Luna's redemption, she ascended into becoming an Alicorn when she fixed a spell that an old unicorn wizard pony had not finished before their time had passed. Who it was, I don't know. But I'm certain of it,” he confidently said to himself out loud.
“Now, how, in all of this country that we are newly residing in, do you know all about that?” Mark made a point to ask.
“The way that she was about to lecture her protege about the culture of humans, to which she had strictly learned from a pony's point of view in a history lecture at her old school, was the clincher for the back story that I was able to figure out from her,” James said. “She was just a little filly who was more capable of performing magical spells than any of her classmates. Her story was one that was just as familiar to mine as any other pony or human could speak or write about. My story was how I was always at the top of my class, but with an outcast status that the other students gave to me in high school. Thus, she and I are similar in that respective background.”
“And for the other mares? I'm sure that you don't share a similarity with the others, James,” the taller friend of his pointed out.
James could only look down for a moment to think about the deductions that he had made about the new friends' back stories.
“Applejack had lost her parents a long time ago, evident by the hat that she wears in honor of her dad, along with her sweet and honest disposition that she learned from her mother. And at one point, she went to a city many miles away from here to live with her family's distant relatives. This is shown by how she always keeps herself clean, before and after her work is done. The sweat that I saw from her forehead told me that story. And being as polite as she was with us, I was able to see her background. When I lost... her... it left a huge gap in my heart and soul,” he sadly reminisced. “And thus, I see more of that part about myself in her than I do with me,” he nodded before continuing. “And when she saw something that reminded her of where her heart was, she came back here, discovering where she was destined to stay in for all of her natural life.”
“Now, for the unicorn mare named Rarity? Her story is obliviously easy for me to read. I had seen how she not only makes the absolute best ensembles of suits and dresses, but also lingerie. This was shown to me by how she was making those poses that you so saw as well,” James said to him with a wicked, knowing smirk. “ She is a well celebrated seamstress and fashionista, but she wasn't always like that today. When she was just a little filly, she was stuck on making costumes for her classmates, because of a play that was being made in her school. And when her horn had taken her to a giant boulder, she was furious until something happened to show that the same rock was filled to the brim with gemstones. And after using those beautiful formations of carbon on said costumes, she realized how she was meant to give her version of high fashion to the world. And when you and I created our business as private investigators and authors, I had seen that we needed to not let our fashion senses be a topic of discussion. And yet I still bug you about those suits that you used to wear before we got here.”
The two men laughed a bit, knowing well what it would have all meant to them in the end.
“We now go to Pinkie Pie,” the man began to say once more. “Her occupations were already pointed out to us both,” he chuckled again. “But what she wasn't able to hide from me was how she was once on a rock farm.”
“I'm sorry, let me clean my ear first,” Mark interrupted, putting his pinkie finger into his ear with the motion to clean it out. “I thought you just said that the insanely happy pony used to work on a rock farm, unless I was hearing things,” he cleared up his motive.
“I did, and it is true,” James nodded in a serious tone to him. “The same pony so happens to have been born on a rock farm, under a loving but quite conservative family. This was seen by how her contact with her family was rarely seen at best. But when she was there as a filly, she had also seen the same thing that her very close friends saw. And it was that one phenomenon, as I should be allowed to call it, that had given her the resolve to smile. And with that, she created her first ever party. It was for her entire family, and they so happened to have loved it. And nowadays, she makes herself known as one of two premier party planners. She had met the other one at some point in her life, resulting in a form of battle before she called it off. But I'll get to that at a later time. The flour that I found on the edge of her forehead, to which has self-rising properties appropriate for what she makes, had already said to me that she is a baker of treats that every pony in this town loves to eat. When I was growing up, my family was far from poor, but still had to make ends meet. And that end was money. But I had learned a while ago that keeping myself in the past, or holding grudges, was not the way to live. So that is why I always make it a point to keep myself as happy as a clam.”
“You really have a profile made for all of them, haven't you?” Mark speculated.
“Indeed I have,” James confirmed. This made Mark facepalm himself.
“With the rest, no doubt.”
“Yep.”
“Go on.”
“Thanks.”
By this time, their chips had already been eaten. But they were still happy with how they were able to get a drink of water from their cups.
“Fluttershy so happens to be a veterinarian that already has a fear of nearly everything. But upon looking at her, I was able to see that she can be quite assertive if it is needed. Her ability to look at us with only a small amount of fear told me that she has had mental training in such things. When she was as small as her friends, she had accidentally been thrown out of her spot on the clouds by her friend Rainbow Dash, to which I am sure that she apologized many times about, even today. But on the shy one, before she could even pummel to the ground, thousands of weightless butterflies had saved her, giving her cause to sing about her new experience. And when the same event happened near her, she discovered her ability to communicate with the animals that she now takes care of to this day. Before my seventh birthday party, I was just the same way about meeting other kids. But it was my grandparents who were able to help me remember that I never needed to live in fear or shyness. And when I had heard those words, I made myself the center of attention in the living room where all of the kids saw me dancing like a crazy kid as my cake and drinks were passed out to the invited guests.”
“I am now wondering about Starlight and Rainbow Dash, and how they all fit in,” Mark admitted, curious as to how they both fitted in.
“Well, I'll tell you, Track,” James remarked.
“Rainbow Dash so happens to be an athlete that has been placed into the active duty roster of a military unit that is a total counterpart to the Blue Angels of the Air Force in our country. This was shown by how much exercise she gets every day with her whole body, along with her wings. And as it stands, she was the very same young flier that had allowed herself to win many competitions as a little filly. But the same phenomenon that I had mentioned being made? It was all her doing.”
“How did you figure that out, Field?”
“She was starting to allow her desire to win the race to take over. With her adrenalin rushing up like so, she sped past her competitors in a speed that builds up when she creates a sonic boom. But that same explosion of sound had also resulted in a circular rainbow that had exploded all across the country, prompting the same friends that she had made to follow where their hearts were. This was her... 'Sonic Rainboom', as it is. And thus, she was responsible for not only discovering her calling in life, but for helping her soon to be friends to discover their Cutie Marks.”
“Well, it all sounds like a great story, but I believe that I should like to hypothesize how Starlight fits in,” Mark spoke up, hoping to allow his learning of his friends talent of observation and deduction to be fruitful.
“Then by all means, do so,” James beckoned him to say.
“As a little filly, she was in an orphanage. Now this... was evident by how close she stays with her new friends. But they did not have such a great start,” Mark began to list out.
“Oh, this is going to sound like a good story,” James commented out loud.
“When she was just small, I think.... that she had a close friend who discovered their Cutie Mark before she did. With that occurrence seen by her, along with the fact that she has had no parents to look after her, she was going down a path of darkness that was noted by how she would remove the Cutie Marks of the ponies in a distant town with some old device that extracted said talents from them. With that there, she had believed that every pony should be equal in that, while she kept her talents hidden before Princess Twilight and her friends confronted her. And after allowing the Princess to listen to the back story, the same Princess found it in her heart to forgive her. And nowadays, she is the protege of Princess Twilight. And now... I believe that you would say... that her situation is almost the same as ours, but quite different in some angles.”
“Quite correct, my friend,” James confirmed to him. “Our former jobs, as we both discovered a long time ago, were being run by hypocritical bureaucrats that only wanted to fill their pockets, going against what the same laws have always upheld. But we have only absolved about ten people, out of the sixty-nine murderers, thieves, drug pushers, and other such criminals. Their cases were the ones that held a place in our hearts, especially if there was children in the middle of them. But now.... we are to utilize our talents to help our new rulers to resolve the case that still haunts them. Are you with me, Track?” he stuck out his hand to him in a fist.
Mark could only look to his shorter friend with a flat look on his face which made poker players look emotional. He knew fully well that his friend, whenever a new case of murder was being spotted by them, would always volunteer the both of them to do so. But in the end, even if he was able to make a successful argument as to why they shouldn't do it, his friend would just defy that notion. So he took his hand and flattened it out for him.
“How will we even solve this crime, if it's unfamiliar to what we've seen?” Mark said to him, wanting to know what his friend thought.
“We keep our minds sharp, our eyes open, and our hearts warm. That's how,” James answered with a small grin.
“And I suppose that we should let the rulers know about how we wish to solve the case, right?” Mark asked him.
“No,” he replied.
“No? But--” Mark was about to protest before his friend raised up his hand.
“If we are to solve this new case, then we need to keep our stealth up,” James explained to him. “If the rulers catch wind of what we are doing, then we will have to explain it all to them. And you know how much I want to create a dramatic entrance,” he grinned mischievously.
“Aw, shit,” Mark sighed. 'Yep. There's no going back now. ….How the hell did I get roped into this?'