Chapters Dark sky was looming ahead, and it was filled with a massive amount of stars and a bright white full-moon. A testament of the almighty power to which or who created that particular universe.
'What's going on?' Asked my mind.
The feeling suddenly kicked in. A splitting headache that seemed like when someone hit your head with an imaginary baseball bat, by a professional baseball player.
I clutched my forehead with my left hand. Or more precisely, hoof.
After a few seconds tormenting pain that felt like an eternity, the feeling was finally gone.
".... What the fuck... I'm alive?" I muttered.
The phenomenon why I was always whispering to no one at almost every situation was nothing of anyone's concern. Was that because of the fact that I was an introverted person? I did technically never really care about it.
'Forest, grassland, hills, mountains... my hands!'
"What's wrong with me? Where... where is this place?"
Enlightenment then also kicked in.
"Am I a... pony?"
Apparently, from my point of view, I was a light-brown coated pony, with a neck-long, dark mane.
Curiosity was the nature of a human being, curiosity has driven the mankind to create wonders since the dawn of mankind on their homeworld, the Earth. So I stood up to get in front of a mirror or any reflective surface to examine myself. Or just wanted to.
"W-whoa..."
And I fell down like a toddler that tried to walk for the first time, correction, a foal.
"For the sake of..."
I was never a religious person. How could one believed something, ridiculous stories, that clearly created by the other humans only for their own ends was beyond me.
After a few trials and errors, I finally grasped it, of how to be to walk like a pony, although it was actually a bit wobbly.
"So it's just like crawling eh? Hmph..." I sighed.
"Wait, am I really a pony?"
Something then appeared in my vision. In a seemingly far distance, I could see the flickering lights of a civilization. A castle exactly. On a side of a mountain.
"... This, is..." I whispered, still. Confusion mixed with fear and joy. Confusion because I didn't know if I could live on this world. Fear because I was actually a talentless guy that never did something good in my whole life, so why would it be different this time? And joy because I was actually alive and young again.
I put my hoof in front of my head again, and closed my eyes. In other words, I facepalmed, or facehoofed.
'I can't believe this. I'm in that actual child fucking show. Great. And everything is also can be seen with actual, real-life, clearance. Even you can also feel everything like an actual, living pony, no life insurance included, sadly. Nah, never get such a thing anyway, why people would pay for such thing is beyond me, it clearly doesn't prevent one from getting injured or... The fuck am I thinking about?'
Then I also realized that I was alone in a some sort of plains, without any directions to go. In the deep of night.
I patted my head again out of confusion.
"Ha, I'm a fucking unicorn now." I surprised myself after I unconsciously managed to pat my head.
'Now how to figure to cast a spell.' I thought. In that show, casting spell was essential for every unicorn to perform everyday's activities. No spells, no life.
'Concentrate.... come on, just a simple spell...'
Then there was light. More specifically a white light that beamed out from my horn.
I was brimmed with joy like a child who got his wished present from the actual Santa. Actual tears were also flowed from my eyes.
"I... can't believe this..." I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Is this the feel when someone's getting an acid trip? Doesn't matter. Now, where to go now?"
I scanned the horizon to get some view of another civilization.
'Gotcha!'
There, in another direction, another shimmering, but much smaller castle, surrounded by other smaller housing buildings could be seen from my position.
'Good thing I wasn't in some sort of creepy jungle or something like that. Luck shines to those who apparently doesn't need it. Well, I actually need it but, fuck. I'll just go then.'
With a silent resolve added with the illumination from my new magical horn, I trotted my way to the village of the ponies while thinking of some plans to get help from the purple pony princess without actually revealing myself that I was once a human. Or tried to.
Yeah, yeah, I knew a lot of things from that show. So what?
'Highly doubt that hiding such thing would be working to her. It would also probably fine if she knows that I was once a human before. Hope I can get a permission to live here if my intention to left that shit excuse of a life is blown out. It's also uncertain in which episode I landed. But since the castle is already there, she's probably fine that I wasn't really a pony before.'
—||—
The cool, calm wind of the steppe breezed against my path to the lights of civilization.
'Was I actually died then get resurrected? How the hell can I forgot that? Fuck it. I'm young again now. Whomever did this is probably an actual top-grade god. Does there even exist such thing like that? Doesn't matter. Just keep walking, trotting. Having a bad life could rot away someone's sanity, apparently. And did I just died as a virgin? Heh... the universe could always find a way to mock me apparently.'
That was really a long night.
Just a Lost Stallion (Edited)
Had already watched that particular show, although it was a bit of long ago, a bit I meant years, well only the important events of it, everything in that bright and colorful land just didn't really surprise me anymore. Aside from the fact that everything can be seen in very little detail of course.
'... What's this?' Something was inside of my pocket. Then I reached out to it with my newly transformed hoof. To be specific to my neatly fitted dark suit's pocket, that probably was a cheap one too, the one I wore when one was going to be buried, which was somehow also managed to get transported to this world too by whatever unknown force it was.
'Heh...' I smirked to my current attire.
If the universe had a face, it must be laughing at me because struggling with hoof to grab one item from your pocket was the task for no newbies. And I was a newbie in that case.
"Fucking dammit, how can a pony grab a thing with this excuse of a stump?" I muttered.
The item just dropped nonchalantly on the dirt road below because of my clumsiness.
I just stared at it and raised my eyebrow.
It was an oval-shaped, golden-colored gem that can probably be good used as a necklace because it would be too big to be used as the eye of a ring. In addition, it also radiated some sort of faint glow. A faint white light that almost invisible if you didn't put it inside of a particularly dark room.
Under the influence of curiosity, and because of the staggeringly increased rythm of my heartbeat, I concentrated myself to turn off my lighting spell to examine it more closely.
'How about a levitation spell? How the fuck those unicorns did that? Levitation... levitation....'
"Whoa..."
The golden gem was hovering in front of me, surrounded by a shimmering, faint cloud of light-brown... light. Or whatever it was.
"Well, that was easy."
'How weird, heh. Guess who can do levitation now? Yeah! Power unlocked, levitation. Is my life a fucking RPG now? Wait...'
I examined the gem again much more closely this time.
If other pony could see it, my pupils probably went wide at that moment.
'No fucking way, is this really that gem? Holy cow! It must be the real one! But it seemed a tad, bit, bigger, in the game, at least. The original should be as big as half of my head, I assume.'
Magic the Gathering was a pretty popular card game in my lifetime, as a human. Actually it wasn't really popular due to the amount of participants that were all time low in my country. And truth to be told, I never bought any of those cards, whether the digital version or the paper version of them. But eh, it was one of many good ways to waste my short life because why not then? Being a rather poor person with underweight problem and suicidal thoughts was also shit anyway.
The Gem of Becoming, its history lost in time, once belonged to the great enemy of everyone, in that game, the power-hungry dragon-planeswalker Nicol Bolas, a person who could travel between the multiverse via unknown magic, was hovering right in front of me. Or just the mini version of it.
Or was it really the real one?
I shook my head.
'And this spell, it feel so... easy, even for a first-timer like me. Is it because this whole unicorn thing or because of this gem? Well, in the game it provided Bolas his essence to life and to cast powerful spells. Nah, first, find a shelter and a way to get food. Fuck, I'm already hungry and it's fucking cold.'
Shaking any thoughts, I put the faintly glowing gem back inside of my suit's hidden pocket, which was neatly placed under my breast, then continuing my trot towards the famous village of that child show, which was somehow attracted more adults than the actual children. For me, it was just a cartoon show, nothing more. I never hoarded any kind of dolls or any other shit that resembled of any character from that show, or the fuckable ones, which were despicable for me.
'How could those people wasting their money to collect such crap is... hell. Fuck it. Just walk, trot, now.'
— ||—
Finally, after a long, winding, trot, I could see that old-english style village, or was it a town? With a clearance of an ultra HD resolution, illuminated by the moonlight and the town's numerous light sources.
'By the cow... Fuck. I can't even do the proper cursing.... that was a fucking long walk. Is there even exist such things like a proper cursing?'
I clutched my forehead, to my dismay. Tried to. I didn't know if it was called clutching if you didn't even have a finger.
'Shit. This would gonna be cringy as fuck. And don't forget the sheer cliché-ness of this kind of situation. A new pony in town, a crazy pink-mare that suddenly pops up from nowhere, better keep myself anonymous for the time being then...'
"But maybe..." I stroked my nonexistent beard. Why I almost regularly did that was beyond me too.
'This is still too early for that. The sun isn't even out yet. I could just go to the castle to get some more information about magic and also to keep me warm without causing too much fuss. Alright then.'
And to my luck everyone was still asleep in that particular hour.
—||—
Looking left and right through the sleepy town like a hunted prey, I was trotting slowly and surely until I reached my destination.
"Fuck..." I quietly cursed because i saw a silhouette of a pony was trotting towards my position.
—||—
Berryshine was trotting on a street of Ponyville, wondering, and cursing about the cruel fate that befall her. Although drinking alcoholic beverages, especially wine, was a thing that she could say 'Nobody beats me in this kind of contest!', everything would always come with a price. And being drunk wasn't really paid the price, in fact, it only increased her debt to the society.
"Stupid debt collector... 'hicc' if I were a princess, nothing 'hicc' like this would happen..." She muttered while was being under the influence of alcohol. Being a single mother was pretty hard when you also had a habit of drinking, which also could lead to other complications such as sleep deprivation, liver disease or even heart attack. There might be exist a sort of healing magic, but could it even reach to an extent such as to repair a broken liver? Or a physically broken heart? Even if such thing exist, why would she deserve to get it anyway? She was even struggling to pay the tax and her daily basis, added with the daily basis of her sole daughter.
Wandering to Faust knows where, Berry Punch's didn't seemingly pay caution to where she was currently walking at that particular hour.
"If ya jus were here 'hicc' my love... this all 'hicc' would never be a problem..." Muttered the drunken mare with a sad tone, her head was hanging low all the time.
—||—
'What a crazy mare.' I solemnly thought. 'Wait, that was even pretty sane talk actually. The problem of the kingship society, queenship, princess-ship, whatever, is that the one on the top would have too much power while the commoners would be largely live in poverty and are usually also harboring dismay towards their leader, even in this seemingly peaceful land. I wonder if Celestia, or Luna, may have brainwashed their subjects, or those ponies are really that stupid. Well, most of them.
After Berry Punch trotted away, and after I double checked the street, I continued my sneaking acts towards the library.
"What the-" Then I fell down.
'Fucking pesky shrub...' I rolled my eyes and got up. 'Nobody's in sight. Proceed with the sneaking act.'
What?
—||—
'Okay, so here's the castle. Now what to do, what to do... hmm...' In front of me stood the castle, the pretty but ugly castle-treehouse of friendship, a palace where the purple pony pegasus-unicorn, or alicorn princess ruling her subjects... was she even ruling something because last time I checked Celestia, and maybe also Luna, the actual alicorn leaders of that particular country, was still being in charge of this all.
'Well, she saved this world quite a lot of times actually. Nah, why the heck am I judging her? Now how to figure to sneak in. Teleport? That seems too risky for a newbie in magic like me. I could lose my head or my genitalia or, nevermind. Leeroy Jenkins? Too loud and too stupid. Blast the door with an unstable magic that could even attract more attentions? Heck. Getting myself inside while everyone is sleeping is a fucking stupid plan. You know what? I'm gonna sleep on that particular park bench because... nope. Fuck, this town is actually fucking creepy.'
There was only silence that was occasionally broken by the sounds of crickets.
And also by the sounds of suddenly meowing cats.
"Holy-!" I almost screamed. My heartbeat was racing wildly because of the sudden assault from the cats' shrilling tone.
'Just wait until I find you, shitty pest...'
I didn't really like cats either. Or any kind of pets. Too much work to do, too little resources. What was the point of having pets if you couldn't take care of them? Anyway.
'Fuck it, I'm going the polite way because why not then? According to this condition, this is my safest bet for now. Wonder if anyone could hear I knock this door because this is apparently a pretty damn big castle.'
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Hello~ is any...pony awake?"
Silence. Then I tried to push the door because it didn't have any handle at all.
"Ngh....!"
'Of course it's locked you nut.'
"Very funny brain. Damn, I'm slowly becoming insane too." I muttered.
'God damn it.' Exhausted and fatigued, I finally took a conclusion:
I was going to sleep in front of that damn door.
"Goodbye 'hoam' stupid world."
I just curled right in front of the castle.
'This is so fucking demeaning...' Was my last thought for that particularly long night.
—||—
The sun was shining, the birds were chirping. Overall, that was a great morning to go out to perform any outdoor activities.
"Hmmm, are you making pancakes Spike?"
"Of course Twilight, but this one is a bit different. The difference from the regular ones is that there will be apples involved." Claimed the purple baby dragon.
"Yeah, it's acknowledgeable." Smiled the alicorn princess. "Hm, I can also feel that there's something different today. Last night I felt something, like a sort of magical disturbance..."
"Well, I didn't feel anything." Remarked the little firebreather while was baking the pancakes.
Twilight just put her right hoof on her forehead. "I'm gonna out for a while to take some fresh air. Just in front of the castle."
"Don't be too long or there will be nothing left from the pancakes."
"Yeah yeah..."
Twilight slowly trotted her way from the kitchen to the huge front door while also pondering about the last night's disturbance.
'It almost seemed like that something big would happen, but it is unknown whether it would be good or bad. Even Luna didn't visit me last night, hmm...'
Arrived in front of the door, she finally opened it while was still pondering about the last night's event.
—||—
"Aaaagh!"
I suddenly woke up due to the loudness of a girly scream that was emitted by a certain alicorn princess who was standing beside me. My eyes and head were also hurt as hell due to the fatigue.
"Wha- er, hello there... heheh..." I sheepishly replied, still half whispering.
"By Faust, you almost gave me a heart attack! By the way, why were you sleeping in front of my home?"
I rubbed my eyes because I still felt like shit in that particular morning.
"I... uh..."
"What's wrong Twilight?" From the back of her came that particular purple baby dragon that had the same height as a foal wearing an apron with a bright white heart in the middle of it.
"Well, this particular gentlepony just slept in front of the door without my knowledge, so I was surprised of course."
"Hey, you've never experienced when someone's lost, Miss Sparkle?" Here came my not so smart reply.
I could imagine that my inner self facepalmed, or was it facehoofed? So hard it went through its imaginary head until it permanently stuck. Oh, did I say that it also blew itself up to utter oblivion too?
"A lost stallion? Don't you then have any relative who lives in Ponyville?"
Looking left and right, very slightly. "Erm... no..." I answered. My voice wasn't also particularly high at that moment.
"So, you're just lost? Why were you actually lost in the first place?"
"Erm, an accident with... some wild animals?" That was more of a question than a statement.
"Really, that wasn't really convincing." I could feel that she just innerly facehoofed.
"Mhm." Added the baby dragon that seemingly agreed with his surrogate mother, hands folded, his head went up and down, eyes was still being closed.
"Would you then believe me if I came from a human world?"
My mind was particularly blank at that time, what did you think then?
"What! But how did you come in Equestria? Did you came through the portal? How did you know about it's existence? When did you exactly come to Equestria anyway? Is your throat okay?" Rambled the alicorn princess with the full might of an interrogation officer while on steroids.
"Twilight..." Spike muttered.
"Oh right, I'm... sorry for my previous rambling. Please get inside first."
Judging by my current condition, that was my best option at that day. And because of my current goal was technically to just to get inside.
"Thank you, Miss Sparkle." I politely answered.
I went inside just as she commanded, and get struck by the awe of the sheer detail of that castle. Everything was so shiny and detailed unlike from the cartoony counterparts.
"Nice home you have here." I commented.
"It's a gift from my mentor, to be exact. But I assume that yo've already known it since you've already known my name. Are you sure you're okay with that kind of voice?" She looked at me again with that suspicious expression.
"I'm fine with it, ehem." I cleared my throat. "And about my knowledge, well, I just knew a human girl named Twilight Sparkle that has the same style like you, so I just assumed that you maybe has the same name like her..."
'Really?'
"Hmm, please follow me."
'Did she really believe that?'
My mind was blank and I just trotted along with that suspicious purple pony princess.
Walking through the corridor, and after we passed a numerous amount of rooms, we finally arrived in a sort of library, I meant the library that belonged to her. There was also that tall pyramid stack that made from books instead of cards. One of the good things about that library was that I could read those books because those were apparently written in latin alphabets.
"Spike, get the quill and paper."
"Got it, boss." Spike saluted. And just like an obedient servant, he ran to get the said items. Or did he?
I then decided to look at the neatly shelved books from her collection.
"This is a pretty impressive collection." I commented while was skimming the lower sections of the library, with a bit of hoarse tone.
'How about a plan before she send a letter about me to her dictator-ish mentor? Celestia can just pop out from nowhere, then if she knows about the existence this gem, she can easily take it away. Even Twilight can do it too. Goddammit. Does she even already aware that I'm currently harboring a seemingly powerful magical artifact that may possibly become a big threat to this land?'
Although my fear about it was baseless, my heartbeat raced again this time and paranoia started to consume me. To be honest, I was always paranoid to everyone on this world. Especially to anyone who apparently had much greater power than me. Magical power. Well, the magic really made the difference.
"Not really." She paused, then continued to observe the book collection of hers. "There was an accident that caused the destruction of the previous version of this library. Almost everything from my previous researches and collections were lost in that accident."
In response to her grief of her lost collections, I just nodded.
'How about a mind control spell? Like from one of those Magic cards. But instead of a full control, just erase both their memories about the event of this morning... or just give them suggestions to forget about the fact that I'm not from this world and then just give them some false information about me... but would it really working to a seemingly magically powerful being like her?
I pondered a bit about that decision, and finally took a conclusion:
This couldn't go on like this.
"Sorry Twilight, welp, I almost forgot the pancakes so I made another portion for our guest here." Came the little dragon with three plates of pancakes, then he put them onto the table almost perfectly just like a house maid.
"Are those apple cinnamons?" I asked him.
"Yup. Specially made by me, Spike the master chef." Boasted him with a hint of pride.
"That looks very nice." I commented with a smile.
"Thank you sir, always happy to serve." He then bowed himself.
"Spiiike..." Called his alicorn master.
"Oh right, sorry." He ran back again to get the quill and paper, which were actually just lying around at the corner of the library.
"But first, let us have a nice breakfast." She smiled. "Come on Spike."
"Really Twilight? Hmph..." She just dropped the quill and paper he was currently holding on the ground. And continued to join the breakfast while still standing because of the lack of chair in that room. It actually didn't really matter because the table was approximately only a foot tall from the floor.
And we all were eating in silence.
'Holy crap, what to do now?' This time I was the one who eyed them with suspicious look while was levitating the fork and preparing to slice the pancakes.
'Just fucking try it or fuck it. Fuck.' I sighed inwardly.
Then I stabbed the fork on the pancakes and closed my eyes.
'Concentrate... mind control spell... concentrate...'
Nothing. There was no weird feeling or some big change of things in my thoughts.
'Did something even happen?'
Then I opened my eyes to check if it was actually working. To my surprise, there were actual strands of blue-ish mana, I assumed what those things were called, which were interconnected from my head to both Spike and Twilight's head.
And such things also weren't really subtle of course.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Shouted the mare in front of me to her surprise.
"Whoa..." Spike was struck in awe instead.
If other pony could see it, at that moment the eyes of all of us three were actually glowing with bluish light.
'Alright, here it is.'
"Forget about this whole eating act." I whispered to make sure that this spell was actually working.
And they both dropped their forks to the ground.
"You..." Twilight just stared at me while also repeatedly blinking. "How can I be here..."
I continued to press the spell on.
"Forget about this morning's event. You both just wake up and I came inside politely via knocking the door, then you both recognized me as Ra, a common stallion who came from Fillydelphia to Ponyville because I was broke, so I met you, Twilight Sparkle, to get some help, and you offered me a room to live in this castle and I accepted it.... for free. Then Spike went to the kitchen and made this apple cinnamon pancakes for us three." I whispered the whole sentence and by continuously staring at her eyes.
Then I closed my eyes. 'Stop this spell.'
'Wait...'
I opened my eyes again, and the strands of mana were also gone. And they both just stared at me blankly.
"Uh, Twilight?" I called her.
She just blinked a few times. "What is it, Ra?" And smiled.
"Nothing, it's just, you just dropped your fork."
"Oh, right, heheh, silly me." Using her telekinesis again, she then picked her fork that fell on the floor before, and just continued to eat her served breakfast blissfully.
Then she took a pause.
"Hmm, how about your voice Ra? Are you okay with that? Your voice is just like a fifty years old stallion with all those whispers, you know."
"Worry not, I'm just fine with this voice."
"If you insist." Then she continued her meal again.
'Hmph...'
"Hey Spike." I called the little dragon.
He just blinked a few times while was still holding the plate.
"Um, yeah?"
"Don't forget this." I put his fork with my telekinesis, then placed it on top of his plate.
"Oh, thanks. I wonder why it fell on the floor..."
"Well, you just easily dropped it." I said with a smile.
"I suppose it doesn't really matter now." He shrugged and just continued to eat his pancakes.
'Holy cow, was that really working?' My heartbeat was really racing like hell at that moment.
"Uh, hey Twilight, you didn't forget our agreement, right?" I asked her to get the clarification from her.
She just stopped her eating act. "Oh you silly, how old do you think I am?" Remarked the alicorn with a seemingly warm smile.
"So, in which room then would I stay?"
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot that, heheh, guess I'm really that old, am I right?" She just scratched her head sheepishly. "But let's just eating first. Don't you like apple cinnamon, Ra?"
"No no no, of course I like it, heh..."
Without hesitation I levitated a stuck of the pancake to inside of my mouth, with the fork of course, and chewed it.
"Hey, this is pretty good!"
'Really?' My inner self rolled his eyes due to my bad, unoriginal joke.
"Glad that you like it too." She smiled again.
'Goddammit Twilight, stop with your unnerving-inducer smiles.' I thought while was eating along with observing the alicorn princess.
—||—
The sun was still shining outside, while the princess and the newcomer, the light-brown coated unicorn were walking in the castle's corridor.
"So, here it is."
She turned to the left and opened a door of one of the many rooms that castle provided.
The room was, how could I say, pretty big. There also lay a seemingly comfortable, white-sheeted, king-sized bed in it, although it was pretty bland due to the lack of decorations. And in another corner near the window was a large, wooden cupboard with a princess-sized mirror embed at its front side.
"So, what do you think? Yeah I know. It's pretty bland but because you're a stallion, I think a room with mare-ish decoration won't suit with you, I guess."
"Wow, I appreciate this very much, Miss Sparkle. This is actually just more than enough for me."
She smiled. "Alright then, just call me or Spike if you need something. I leave you alone for this time being because I still have some homeworks to do, princess stuffs and such."
In my response, I just saluted her.
"Oh, and by the way, just call me Twilight. I'm not really comfortable being called with such formality under friends anyway."
"Got it, Twilight." I smiled in my reply.
"See ya!"
And with that she just trotted back to the inner parts of the castle.
—||—
In my new bedroom, I was looking at the scenery outside. Its radiant beauty wasn't get caught by my mind because I was currently pondering of something about my rash action before.
"What have I done..." I muttered.
I just sighed in response of it.
'Welp, need to go to the bathroom.'
Putting off the clothing of a pony was no task for a newbie if you didn't know how to do it, especially without hands. But thanks to telekinesis I could breeze all of it with only the power of my mind.
'Another demeaning thing to live on. But it seems fine since the whole community is composed of naked ponies, it will be fine to be naked anyway.'
"It. Will. Be. Fine." I muttered to myself again like a madpony. Did you think it would be easy to be naked in public?
Reflexively I also saw my reflection on the mirror that stood beside me. 'Wait is that my cutie mark?'
A picture of a pair of golden horns with an egg-shaped, golden gem that floated in- between of the horns' curvy tips was marked on both of my flanks. Just like those actual horns symbol I saw sometimes ago before. Horns that belonged to the greatest enemy of the multiverse, of Magic the Gathering, the dragon Nicol Bolas. All while I was also holding the shining golden Gem of Becoming with my telekinesis too.
'You've got to be kidding...'
I just stared blankly at my reflection, then I closed my eyes.
Words couldn't describe about of how many litres of air I inhaled at that moment.
Revelations, More or Less
'Where's the friggin bathroom anyway?'
Pacing through the corridor, I looked left and right to find the door which contained the word 'bathroom' or any sign that indicated it in front of it, but it was a futile attempt.
So I went to the library instead.
Peeking through the library's door, I then knocked it to get a clarification from the whereabouts of that particular alicorn princess.
"Oh, what's it Ra?" Answered the alicorn after she quickly turned her head on towards me. In front of her, on top of the table were lying a numerous amount of books and a scroll, and a large map. The same table where we three had a breakfast before, an improvised one to be exact. How weird indeed.
"Uh, what are you doing exactly?" I forced my voice to get in the desired level of tone. Well, it was hard when your voice was sounded like a fourty or fifty years old stallion, although my body was technically still in around of twenties. My sense of warning also spiked a bit, if one could measure it of course.
"What am I doing? I'm just trying to pinpoint the location of a particular item according to this scroll that I got from a seemingly ominous pony a few days ago."
'Phew... wait, what item? Better gonna do this quickly.'
"I, uh, just want to know where the bathroom is."
"It's at the end of the corridor, then turn left." Said her without looking at me.
"You should give it a label so it won't confuse pe- the others, you know."
"We've just never been getting too much guests since the first day this castle has been standing, aside from our closest friends and the princesses of course, so that consideration just easily went in the bucket long ago." Remarked Spike while was holding a particulary large, but seemingly old book. "But don't worry, I'm going to make a sign or something to make it clear, if Twilight is also agree with that."
"Nah, it doesn't really matter now. Gotta go fast." I then hastened myself towards the said room.
—||—
The sounds of water dropping from the shower head filled the room where I was currently being in. And I was soaking wet beneath that shower, with eyes closed.
Contemplating.
'Working in this land also seems to be a good idea to blend in with the locals. But what would it gonna be exactly? With this kind of power, manipulating anyone would be just a piece of cake, even the princesses aren't really immune of this. I suppose. And there's also Discord. He's going to be a nasty thorn if I don't know how to beat him aside from using the Elements, which I can't even wield it, maybe. Damn, already showing villainous thoughts huh? Heh...'
I smirked under the bombardment of water molecules that came out from the shower.
'Shit, gotta follow her this time if she'll really going on an adventure.'
With haste and telekinesis I quickly turned off the shower.
"... And I forgot the goddamn towel."
—||—
I peeked my head again through the door of the library and knocked the door again.
"Oh, hey." Her eyes were still focusing at a particular scroll which I couldn't read from that distance.
I cleared my throat. "Ehem, can I... come in?"
"Yeah, yeah, just get inside." Answered her, still not losing her focus.
I shrugged off any embarrassing feeling due to my nakedness and just walked in.
'Come on, really? I'm a friggin pony now.'
"Oh hey Ra." Spike called me from behind a pile of book.
"Spike." I greeted him.
"So, how's with your... progress?" I focused on Twilight's work and was walking slowly towards her.
"I'm just having this nagging feeling about an event that apparently will happen, in short time. A big event. Three days ago ominous traveler just knocked my house and gave me this scroll, and last night I felt a magical disturbance that apparently nopony other than me could feel it."
"Mhm..." I stroked my chin with my left hoof.
Actually I couldn't think of anything at that moment.
"Did you feel something weird last night Ra?" She finally looked at me.
I just shrugged.
"Alright, this will never be going anywhere. So, is anyone thirsty of an adventure?"
"You really want to follow it? It could be just a prank or maybe much worse than just a harmless prank, you know." Questioned the baby dragon
"Spike, you've already known that dangerous adventures aren't really a new thing for us."
"Well, there's nothing wrong by worrying..." Spike just rubbed his back neck. "Would you also call the girls too?"
"They all are probably busy. Besides that, it's apparently not really that big, I mean this one. It's just something that you can find alone, if you understand it and if you know the art of teleportation too of course." Explained the alicorn with a smile.
"Ehem, uh, can you give some enlightenment about that scroll?" I asked her.
"Oh yeah, sorry. It's technically just a poem. A poem about a hidden treasure, or an item with a high value, I suppose."
"Can I see it?"
"Just look at it."
I stepped forward a bit to get a clear look of the said scroll, then I innerly read the poem:
If you read this, herald of the Horned One, gratulations Blessed is the mind of the ambitious Pursue your way with passion And don't let anything stand in your way
Now, begin it where sweet waters start And take it to the canyon down Not far, but too far and too step for walk Right beneath the golden crag
Finally go through the blue curtain Then you'll see a hidden pass Lit your way, but be quick Or else be swallowed by the inferno
If you passed it, you'll see a door and a lock Place the gem in it, and don't forget to take it back Inside the room, a prize is waiting For you'll need it when the time comes
"At first I thought it was for me, but herald of the Horned One? I believe it wasn't actually about me and Celestia since we both don't really fit with the description."
'Yup, apparently I'm really becoming a lackey of the motherfucking Nicol Bolas. If this whole show is real, why also not with the others? Just fucking kill me again now.' I inhaled another large portion of air again, and sighed.
"Did you already tell Ce- Princess Celestia about this?" My mind was also filled with concern this time.
"No, I didn't really want to bother her about every little detail just like in the past. For Faust's sake, look at me then, what am I?" Said her with a hint of annoyance.
"An... alicorn princess?"
"Correct. Now you know why I should take my own matter in my own hand, with the help of the Elements of course, if everyting should go awry." Explained her with a smile.
I just nodded because I didn't know what to say about it.
"Oh, hey, that's a pretty cool cutie mark by the way." Said the baby dragon towards me from behind a pile of book.
"Oh this, thanks..."
'Welp, here goes the whole secrecy and stuff. Should I mindfuck- I mean, change their memories again or, hmph, let's just see where this will actually go.
"What's with your cutie mark... hmm, that's interesting. A pair of golden horns with a floating gem on top of between those curves..." Her eyes went wide. "By Faust! could it possibly that you're the herald of this Horned One?" She asked suspiciously, again.
"Uh, possibly..."
'Why the heck I'm becoming a herald of that homicidal, power-hungry dragon is fucking beyond me... yeah yeah, anything is beyond me. Na, technically uh, nah. Welp, sucks for I being me, again.'
"Wow, I know it that this all somehow intertwined each other. And can I ask about the identity of this 'Horned One'?" Asked Twilight that also somehow filled to the brim with joy.
"I.. don't know how to say it... or if he even in this universe..."
"What do you mean by that? Is he also a visitor from another world?"
"He's a planeswalker, and yes, he's a visitor from another realm, okay." I pointed my hoof towards her.
'And an insanely, evil one. I don't know what would her reaction to me be if she knows that I become a herald of the emperor McEvil D., of the multiverse, aside from Yawgmoth of course. The Eldrazi don't count because those things are just like hungry animals, massively hungry animals.'
"A planeswalker?"
"It's a term for a person who has the ability to travel between worlds, universes, multiverse."
"Wow, that's... enlightening. By the way, why did he choose you as his herald?"
"I didn't know about that, okay."
'Just tell some lies and she would shut herself up.'
"It was probably because of my... incapability to be a proper unicorn. You know, being a normal unicorn and such. And by coincidence, we met each other and... walla, he offered me the power so that I could become a normal unicorn again, in exchange, I shall give my loyalty to him."
'Two lies and still counting. Crap, I totally forgot that the gem is still in the bedroom...'
"Hmm, why would he look for ponies to become his herald? What is his intention anyway... do you know another pony that got such offer from him?"
"No, and I think it would be special just for me..."
'I think people can call me Ra the Truthbender from now on.
"This matter has to to be investigated more deeper, if this 'Horned One' can appear anywhere and bestow anyone with unknown power, he could be a threat to Equestria." Twilight locked her eyes at me again. "And what's with this 'gem'? Do you also already have it?"
"So, you want to see it? Let me take it from the bedroom first. Wait here."
"No, I'll follow you personally." She insisted.
"Fine." I sighed.
"I come with you too." Added the purple baby dragon.
"Well, the more the merrier." I retorted back.
—||—
"So you really want to see what this piece of jewelry capable of?" I looked at the both of their eyes.
They both locked their eyes.
"We shall go back to library again so Spike can take some notes of it." Spoke the purple alicorn with cautious tone.
'So much for not using the memory manipulation part.'
"Alright then." I shrugged.
—||—
In front of the table, Spike was holding a quill and preparing to write on a stack of paper that were neatly lying on the table while Twilight was just observing me in just approximately three foot away from me.
"So here it is then, are you both ready?"
They both saw each other again and nodded.
"Well," I tilted my head slightly to the left. "Ehem, here goes nothing."
