Fred Walsh's Adventures in Equestria

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Departure
Chapter 2 - Arrival
Chapter 3 - Thoughts and Insomnia
Chapter 4 - Guest Room
Chapter 5 - Science and Prophecies
Chapter 6 - Battery
Chapter 7 - Library part 1
Chapter 8 - Library part 2
Chapter 9 - Lunch
Chapter 11 - Avoidance
Chapter 12 - Alarm
Chapter 13 - Shock
Chapter 14 - Gems
Chapter 15 - Jeweller and Interrogations
Chapter 16 - Meeting
Chapter 17 - Preparations
Chapter 18 - Balcony
Chapter 19 - Daemonium
Chapter 20 - Cleanup
Chapter 21 - Wormhole Part 1
Chapter 22 - Wormhole Part 2 / Epilogue
Chapter 10 - Depression and Dimensions

Chapter 1 - Departure

Chapter 1
*Video footage from a wrist-mounted computer*

The video displays the face of a 22-year-old male, with blue eyes and dark brown hair, where at the front to the left slightly, it curves in the rough shape of a small tornado.

“Well, I might as well use this to document my journey through Equestria, and then watch it later and wonder what kind of drugs I was on.

“In the meantime, assume I’m not high on anything. Anyway, I’m Fred Walsh, and I somehow entered Equestria, the land of colourful ponies. I mean, I was a fan of Friendship is Magic, but I never really expected to end up here. Does this prove that theory about imagination being nothing more than observations of an alternate universe hold truth? Well, either that or universes are created through the power of imagination. Either way is kinda screwy with your mind.”

Fred Walsh unlocked and opened the door to his house. He was wearing a laptop backpack because he had just returned from a LAN party with some of his friends, which would’ve went much smoother if the power hadn’t kept going out. Fortunately, all the participants were using laptops. Unfortunately, the wireless router was on the AC power.

Fred took off his shoes, then went into his bedroom and put the bag down next to his desk. Then, the power went out again.

Fred sighed. He didn’t have a torch with him at the moment, but remembered his watch. It was more of a wrist-mounted smartphone that can’t call people than a watch that Fred built himself. Fred pressed the home button to light up the display and then navigated to his bed. 'I’m too tired right now, it’s 2AM and I can’t be bothered with anything.' Fred landed on his bed with a thud, then unstrapped the watch and put it on his bedside table before the screen timed out from inactivity and turned itself off.

Fred managed to sleep well for a few hours, when a rumbling sound jolted him awake. He quickly darted out of his bed and put on his watch before he looked for the source of the rumbling. Fred was briefly reminded of a Twitterer’s instincts to tweet before finding shelter during an earthquake. His first guess as to where the rumbling originated was somewhere outside, possibly heavy vehicles driving past, even though it’s a suburban residential street. Fred looked outside for vehicles but didn’t see any in the dawn light. The rumbling didn’t sound as if it was coming outside anyway.

“What the hell!?” Fred exclaimed as he realised the rumbling seemed to be emanating from the middle of his room. “Okay, who broke the laws of physics?” Fred questioned nobody. With a flash of bright light and a CRACK loud enough to be heard for miles, a blue and white-coloured gap ripped through his floor. Fred tried to shield his eyes and ears from the light and noise before realising he was falling through the portal.

“SHIIIIIIIiiiiiii…..,” was the last thing Fred ever said while on Earth.

Chapter 2 - Arrival

Chapter 2

“Despite being a fan of science and technology, I’m pretty sure that portal or wormhole or whatever broke at least half the bloody laws of physics. It just doesn’t make any sense!

“Laws of physics apparently being arbitrary aside, it happened and that’s that. Maybe the laws of physics are local for each universe, though that still wouldn’t explain how the portal worked. I suppose I should think about it another time.

“You know, I probably could’ve easily saved the LAN party with a quick ad-hoc network. Why didn’t I think of this earlier? I could’ve saved the night! Damn it!”

Princess Celestia silently closed her eyes sighed in relief as the last pony exited the throne room. Court was done for the day. She decided to sit and relax on her throne for a few more minutes before retiring to her chambers for the fresh summer night.

As Celestia stood up to retire, a thundering CRACK and a blinding flash of light dazzled the alicorn momentarily, before a white and blue spatial anomaly opened out of nowhere in the centre of the throne room, about five metres off the floor.

“What is the meaning of this‽” Princess Celestia shouted across the room. The guards readied their spears holstered on their backs and prepared to confront this anomaly. From the portal spewed an assortment of books, plaster and cables when screaming could be heard, coming from inside the portal.

“…iiiiIIIIII-OOF! Ow…” Fred Walsh was flung out of the portal and rammed the ground with a thud. The guardsponies quickly surrounded him as the portal closed in on itself.

Everypony lost track of time between when Fred hit the floor of the throne room and when he gained enough strength to start moving. The guards tightened their grip on their spears, ready to attack if the unknown creature tried anything.

Fred managed to roll over and move into a rough sitting position when he noticed about twelve armoured ponies with spears surrounding him. Not too far away from them was the pure-white alicorn known as Princess Celestia. Fred’s eyes widened as his mind ticked over. 'That show is real? Fancy that. I should probably not show my knowledge of the show. I don’t want anyon- anypony having an existential crisis.'

“Wh...,” Fred managed to get out half-conscious. He tried again, “In the name of uh… whichever deity exists, where and when am I?” Fred found the strength to speak coherently again.

“WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE DID YOU COME FROM, CREATURE‽” Princess Celestia overruled Fred’s question loudly.

“Ow! Okay,” Fred flinched from Celestia’s voice, then shook his head to clear it, “I’ll answer first. I’m Fred Walsh, and I’m from…” Fred looked up at the ceiling, where the portal once was, “Planet Earth, though I have no idea if I’m even in the same universe anymore… Or if the laws of physics still apply. Can you answer my question now?”

Princess Celestia answered Fred’s question. “You are in the land of Equestria, home to ponykind. Just what are you doing here, invading my castle?” Fred noticed a distinct lack of a date given.

Fred considered asking again for the date, but decided against it, despite it sometimes being more important than knowing the place. “Hey, I’m not invading! I was enjoying some sleep when that wormhole thing opened and broke the laws of physics! Hmm… I guess you’re the good guys, though.”

“Might I ask how you came about this conclusion, creature?” Princess Celestia curiously asked, even though he was correct.

Fred mustered up the strength to stand up to his full height, startling the guards and they took a step back. “First off, I already said that my name is Fred.” Hey, that rhymes, “I’m a human, not a ‘creature.’ As to how I came to this: Well, the bad guys would probably kill me instantly, the neutral guys would either: help me, ignore me or run away like little sissies, and the good guys would be wary but wouldn’t actually kill me until they had a decent reason.” Fred finished his well-thought out answer.

“I still don’t trust you,” Princess Celestia wasn’t convinced that Fred wouldn’t try to assault any of her subjects, “Guards, place him in the dungeon. I’ll figure out what to do with him later. And somepony clean up this mess!”

Fred decided to co-operate, He exhaled deeply. “Fine, I’ll come along.” While the guards, keeping a close watch on Fred, escorted him out of the throne room, he observed Princess Celestia also exiting the room, taking a route upstairs to her bedchamber. Instead, Fred went downstairs into the dungeons of Canterlot Castle. A cell was unlocked for him and he walked in.

'I wonder why I haven’t seen Princess Luna yet', Fred thought before looking out the bars on his cell window. He had a clear line of sight to the moon, where he saw the distinct shape of the head of a pony embedded in the moon.
“Wait a second!” Fred hurried to get the attention of a guard before they all left. One of them turned around and looked at him.

“What is it, human?” The guard questioned Fred.

'Well, it’s an improvement over ‘creature,’ that’s something at least.' “What’s the date? I don’t particularly have a reference point.”

“It’s the…,” the guard paused for a moment while he recollected the date, “7th of July, 796.”

That’d be about 204 years before Nightmare Moon’s return. “Thanks, dude.” Fred expressed gratitude toward the guard. The guard snorted and strode off.

A/N: INTERROBANG. That is all.

Chapter 3 - Thoughts and Insomnia

Chapter 3

“I’ve said multiple times to people that when you are is much more important than where you are. Take the situation I’m in right now: I’m in Equestria, but that is pretty much meaningless. If that’s the only information given, I could be in Equestria before it was founded, far into the future, or anywhere in between. Anyway, as it turns out, I’m in the year 796. That places me 204 years before Nightmare Moon’s return, meaning I have some foreknowledge into the future. At some point, I’ll have to tell Princess Celestia about what I know, but now is not the time.

“As for why she threw me in here, I guess that I can understand being wary of a random unknown thing falling across the inter-dimensional maelstrom - you know, that would make a great band name! Anyway, it seemed to be a more temporary thing. It was rather late, especially in what is probably summer right now – hey, I don’t know if the seasons match up.”

*At this point, the camera is tilted away and the feed cuts out.*

After Fred had finished using the video camera, he changed the date on his watch (more of a wrist-mounted computer than a watch) to set the time and date.

“Oh, glorious Epoch, hear my call!” Fred chanted as he attempted to change the year. As he expected, however, it didn’t, due to the OS’s inability to handle pre-1970 dates (the time of the UNIX Epoch). Instead, he changed it to 1996. ‘Better have it slightly inaccurate than have it not work at all.’

‘Now, for the fun part: Setting the time.’ Fred had absolutely no idea what time it was supposed to be. In his time zone on Earth, it was roughly 5am when he left, now it was about 7:30am. Doing some guesswork, guessed that he would be just in a separate time zone. Fred disregarded logic and estimated he was around 9:30pm, remembering he travelled in time as well as space. He then set the watch to sleep mode to conserve power, but still be accessible quickly.

Despite Fred’s sleep being interrupted by a spontaneous wormhole, he found it difficult to leave the realm of consciousness due to the few hours of sleep he did get. He stood up from the floor he was sitting on, and looked out of his bars into the dimly lit corridor between cells. Fred looked carefully, but couldn’t see signs of any ponies in the dungeons. Fred believed this to be unusual for a moment, but after some thought, it was probably the norm for Equestria. ‘I’d have to check, but Equestria probably has low crime rates. Just as well, I would’ve annoyed the hell out of anypony down here while vlogging earlier.’

Fred took a final glance at the dungeon hallway, then turned his stance toward a bed comprised entirely of hay, resting at the far end of the cell. Fred lay down on it due to having nothing else to do. ‘I probably have no chance of managing sleep, but damned if I don’t try!’

Princess Celestia always found it difficult to sleep, ever since she unwillingly was forced to banish her own, and only, sister to the moon. For a whole month after the event, she had no luck sleeping whatsoever. Celestia could never forgive herself for what she had done, her mind always searching for alternatives to permanent banishment, but she couldn’t find a single option. She was riddled with insomnia. It never truly left her conscience.

But tonight was worse. The Princess behaved too irrationally due to Fred Walsh’s arrival. ‘I shouldn’t have been so offended at his presence. He didn’t choose to come here; at least I don’t think he did. I just let my anger invade myself like that. Composure is what separates us from the horrible creatures of Everfree…’

Celestia trailed off as she yet again recalled the events and repercussions of Nightmare Moon’s banishment. The Elements of Harmony were never intended to be used against another bearer. The incredible power they contained had an effect on everything surrounding the former Everfree Castle. The energy released spiralled in all directions. Some of it she absorbed herself, which formed her ethereal mane, another reminder of that night. Most of it transformed the castle and a huge expanse around it into a twisted mockery of life: The Everfree Forest. Lastly, the remaining energy from the elements that actually struck Nightmare Moon – Very little by comparison – carried out its job to prevent the wicked mare of darkness from destroying Equestria, or worse.

Princess Celestia couldn’t bear the insomnia anymore. She stumbled out of her bed and walked out onto the balcony. From her tower, she could see a large portion of Canterlot, but that isn’t what she wanted to see at the moment. Celestia turned her gaze upward, toward her sister’s moon to do some thinking.

Princes Celestia was jerked out of her deep thought by the chimes on the Canterlot Clock Tower. She turned her gaze downward to look at the time. A mental scream escaped. ‘5am already‽,’ realising the length of time she had spent in deep thought. Following her schedule, she was already late for sunrise. She quickly lit up her horn to continue the solar/lunar cycle on its appropriate path. Then, still feeling restless, the Alicorn left the balcony. It was time to set a few things right.

Unlike Princess Celestia, Fred Walsh managed a few hours of sleep before he was awoken by the sun shining in through the cell window. He was briefly startled by the change of sleeping arrangements from normality due to the human memory, but recent events returned quickly.

Fred became aware of two sets of hoofsteps traversing the dungeon. ‘That must be for me; not enough for a new prisoner.’ Even before he could actually see the two ponies that were here for him, Fred still knew who one of them was. The radiant light Princess Celestia gives off is unmistakeable.
As the two ponies came into view, Fred recognised the other pony escorting the Princess as the guard pony who told him the date last night.

Princess Celestia spoke first as Fred stood up: “I’d like to apologise for last night. If I thought before sending you to the dungeons, I would have realised that you’re not a threat to myself or Equestria.”

“It’s alright,” Fred began, brushing himself off, “I’m actually kinda used to this, being Australian and a PC gamer as well.” Celestia motions to the guard, prompting the unicorn to levitate a key out from a space in his armour to unlock Fred’s cell door; it swung open with a light squeaking sound.

“Lieutenant Bullhorn, please show – Fred Walsh was it?” Princess Celestia asked.

“Yep, that’s me.”

“Please show Fred Walsh to one of the guest rooms.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Lieutenant Bullhorn nodded.

“You may stay there until we figure out how to send you back to your home.”

Fred thanked Princess Celestia before he was guided to his new room by Lieutenant Bullhorn.

Chapter 4 - Guest Room

Chapter 4

"Well, that was a change of scenery, going from a cell to a proper room. Something seemed a little bit off about Celestia though. There are very few situations in which you visit someone minutes after the sun rises, even it was the apology. Hmm… Actually, I think she looked rather tired, as if she didn’t even get any sleep. Though the Princess might have lost sleep, I don’t think this incident could’ve been enough on its own. There’s more to it; I’m just what set it off. This goes back a while.”

*Click*

The door opened with a nigh-inaudible squeak.

“That’s well oiled,” Fred commented at the door as he walked into the Canterlot Castle Guest Room. “Thank you, sir,” he turned around and nodded to Lieutenant Bullhorn. Bullhorn simply nodded back before returning to his duties.

Fred Walsh closed the door, then turned around to survey the guest room. Below him, the floor’s design was various shades of blue, flowing in an interesting pattern. Fred became distracted with the carpet and drew faces on it for a few minutes, working out that the best direction to draw in was toward the entrance.

‘Okay, that’s enough.’ Fred continued to examine the rest of his new living space. Going counter-clockwise around the room he now noticed was circular, (he was previously too busy making faces on the carpet) the wallpaper was also a medium-dark blue to contrast the floor. Moving on to the right-hand side of the room, there sat a wooden work desk, which also included a vanity mirror. On the head of each part of the vanity mirror sat a deep blue sapphire. ‘This must be the Blue guest room, it seems. Hey, why not theme your guest rooms? I wonder where the others are.’

Situated at the back of Fred Walsh’s new living quarters sat an inviting balcony. He curiously sauntered toward the doors before sliding them open to witness the view of Canterlot and beyond. Outside, the summer sun shone brightly, the fresh morning beginning to warm up. The balcony was well-lit too due to its orientation eastward.

Below, Fred could see a few small, colourful dots going about their business, in between constructions of varying sizes, from a little bit higher than a pony, white-and-gold towers making up the majority of Canterlot. Of course, more than just the city could be seen from the balcony. Outward, past the awakening metropolis, Fred could see the great expanse beyond the mountain Canterlot was situated on. In the far distance, he could make out a few black dots. ‘Isn’t that where Ponyville should be? Well, this is 200 years early. It’s probably just starting up now.’

Fred turned and went back inside, leaving the majestic view behind. He slid the door closed before scratching an itch that cropped up on the back of his head. The sunlight had been baking into his hair for the past five minutes and flinched madly when Fred’s hand touched his cranium.

There were still a few things left to explore in the blue guest room, but it had to wait. ‘Hold on a second,’ Fred realised something. ‘That armour makes all the guards indistinguishable, changing their coat and eye colour, so how the hell did I know that Bullhorn was the same guard from last night? I’ll have to look into that.’

Fred spun toward the door before power-walking towards it to find an answer to some questions; question #1 was about Equestria’s crime rates, and question #2 for the royal guard’s armour enchantments. First, he would check the library. However, before he could even traverse the length of his room:

KNOCK KNOCK

Fred was briefly startled by the unexpected noise, but after regaining his composure, he finished power-walking to the door and opened it.

“Hello?”

“Mister Fred Walsh?” A feminine voice spoke out.

“That’s me,” Fred replied.

“You’re wanted in Science Laboratory 3,” The unidentified mare requested.

“Ooh, science. Sure, why not?”

Chapter 5 - Science and Prophecies

Chapter 5

“I’ve never been called mister before, I mean apart from what’s printed on movie and plane tickets. Though, those don’t really count.

Anyway, I’ve always been interested science. So many things that it can do! But the best part is the explosions, especially when combined with chemicals such as potassium chloride; it makes the flame turn purple.

“In retrospect, my night of arrival here was probably one of the worst first contact scenarios ever recorded – Well, possibly because it’s the only one that’s ever happened… Actually, it technically doesn’t get recorded until I make it back to Earth.”

Fred Walsh opened the door to follow the mare who requested him to do some science. He hadn’t properly seen her yet. Now that he finally had a chance to look, Fred saw the mare was a Pegasus, with a maroon coloured coat. Her mane and tail were a bright gold, and on her flank was the two-dimensional image of a 10-toothed spur gear.

“So what’s your name?” Fred decided to strike a conversation en route to the science lab.

“Senior engineer Jenga Redheart. Most call me Jen,” She replied.

‘I wonder if she’s related to the nurse in Ponyville. That’s a fanon name. Might be, but it doesn’t really matter.’

“So, what are we going to be doing in the science lab?”

“We – The science team and I – Need your help with all the debris that you fell through the wormhole with,’ Jen answered.

“I take it word of the wormhole worked its way around the place,” Fred commented.

“Pretty much; most of the palace knows.” She responded. The two passed a light-brown unicorn stallion with a dark brown mane and tail, but didn't pay much attention.

“Anyway, I should be able to help identify the mess that came with me. Anything else?”

“We’d also like to examine your physiology while you work,” she answered.

“What do you mean?” Fred was curious but cautious.

“While you help the science team sort the debris, some of us will scan you.”

“Alright, but no bad touches,” Fred Joked, then checked his wrist computer’s current battery charge level; it was at 58% charge. ‘About enough to last a week if I’m lucky and conserve it extremely carefully,’ Fred worriedly thought to himself.

At this point, Jenga took notice of Fred’s device, “What’s that on your leg thing?”

“These,” Fred pointed to the ‘leg things’ she was referring to, “are called arms. As for this,” he displayed the device on his wrist, “is a kind of computer I built to stick on my wrist. I’ll explain in a moment.” Fred paused the conversation as the two finally reached the science lab before he could continue explaining. He then pushed the door open and gestured for Jen to go first. She nodded with a smile and entered, Fred followed.

The two other ponies in the room looked up from a table full of junk to greet Jenga and Fred. Both of the ponies wore lab coats.

“Computer?” Jen continued the conversation as she and Fred approached a table.

“Right, you don’t have those, do you? It’s essentially a really advanced calculator.” They began to sift through the debris.

“Calculator?”

Fred took a breath as he prepared an explanation for the calculator, and computer by extension. “A calculator is basically an automatic abacus; able to calculate – key word – equations near-instantaneously.”

“That sounds handy,” Jen nodded approvingly.

“Hey, what do you know?” Fred excitedly pulled out a piece of the rubble. “A pocket calculator!” he quickly blew off the dust from the pieces of plaster that settled on the calculator. Since it doesn’t turn off and is solar powered, the device’s display slowly began to fade into operation.

“So, how does it work?” Jen asked quizzically. Fred turned toward her, then noticed in his peripheral vision one of the ponies in lab coats – a unicorn – was scanning him with his horn. Fred looked at him for a moment before displaying the calculator to Jen.

“There’s a bunch of things inside that I can’t explain very well, but to the average Joe, you punch in a number – for example 32,” Fred pushed the ‘three’ and ‘two’ keys respectively, “choose an operation – let’s press addition, AKA plus, then the number you want to add to the first, in this case, 10, then press the ‘equals’ button.” Fred paused for about a second. “thirty-two plus ten equals forty-two.” He gestured to the ‘42’ now on the display.

“Impressive, what magic is this?” Jen asked.

“It isn’t. Earth doesn’t have magic. Although, Arthur C. Clarke did say, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’”

“This could revolutionise Equestria!” She took the calculator from Fred’s hand before moving it to another table so she could dissect it. Fred admired Jen’s ability to manipulate objects with her hooves and mouth, despite lacking the manual dexterity brought on by human hands. He then continued to sift through the rubble to find other interesting items.

Most of what fell through was just plaster and wood. Fred was worried at this, though. ‘This probably means that my house collapsed from the portal. This’ll be great fun to explain if I get back home. Now, what else is in here?’

An hour later, most of the rubble had been cleared and the remains were:
• A pocket calculator
• Clothing
• A rubber ball
• A hand cranked torch where the generator had broken off
• Broken earphones
Various other bits and bobs were around, but Fred took interest in these. He was allowed to cut off the wires of the broken earphones and take hand crank generator; he had an idea on how to solve his wrist computer’s power issues.

Fred had the earphone cables looped around his right arm with his hand holding the crank. Fred was en route back to the blue guest room after a lecture; its sole purpose seemed to be that the unicorn scanning him earlier placed a perception spell on Fred so ponies unaware that he was a human wouldn’t become alarmed. Fred turned a corner that led past the antechamber to the castle’s throne room, where he saw an earth pony wearing a black cloak and wielding a wooden staff walking slowly out of the castle.

He spoke, his voice sounded old. “They do not heed my warnings!”

Fred was curious at the old, but probably crazy, pony. Fred approached the stallion. “Warnings?”

“The mare in the moon shall walk among us once more!”

‘Is he talking about Nightmare Moon’s return at the Summer Sun Celebration in the year 1000? I shouldn’t know that yet, remember to act normal.’ “Mare in the moon?” Fred had to play dumb.

“Do you not know about the tale of Nightmare Moon?” the crazy prophet asked.

“Enlighten me.”

Over the next few minutes, the prophet recalled the tale of Nightmare Moon and her banishment due to her jealousy. “And she will return! On the one-thousandth year of the summer sun celebration! But nopony listens to me!”

“It might be because you sound rather insane. Anyway, assuming this is true, th-“ Fred was interrupted.

“It IS true!”

“…Then what can we expect as warnings?”

“The future is uncertain, but you will know them when you see them!”

‘He sure does like to exclaim things.’ “I’ll try to keep it in mind.” Fred turned to continue his travel to the guest room. “Try writing it into a book or something.”

Fred passed Jenga again. “That pony is insane,” she scowled.

“Sure seems that way.” Fred paused for a moment before continuing to go to his room.

Chapter 6 - Battery

Chapter 6

“That prophet pony ends up being right with his predictions in the end, but he’s just way too insane for anypony to take him seriously enough to actually consider what he’s talking about. You know, that prediction was eerily similar to Predictions and Prophecies. Guess it must’ve made its way into the book somehow.

“Anyway, science! I hope the pocket calculator helps out with Equestria’s scientific advancement, so long as I didn’t end up screwing something over. Then again, changing things with time travel shouldn’t be possible. It screws with your mind, but I think that predestination is the most likely thing to happen. That’s why time travellers never meet their past selves. The conversation would end up giving both past and present traveller the creeps.”

The door of Canterlot Castle’s blue guest room opened with the same quiet squeak as before, and Fred Walsh walked in, accompanied by some earphone wires and a hand crank. He hoped to MacGyver a battery charger for his wrist computer before it drained. Fred shut the door and walked the short distance to the table on the right side of the room, then deposited the wires and crank onto it. He briefly was distracted by the vanity mirror also residing on the table which doubles as a desk, reminding him that he hadn’t yet examined the other half of the room.

‘I suppose the work can wait a few minutes.’ Fred twisted his head to gaze behind himself. A few seconds later, the rest of his body joined him. Continuing from where left off – the balcony on the far side of the room, opposite the door – he continued examining counter-clockwise.

He almost missed it, but Fred spotted a door roughly 2/3 of the way around the room. The door was painted to blend with the wall design, so it appeared camouflaged. ‘Hm, wonder what’s in there…’ He stepped over to the door for a closer inspection. It seems to have been constructed out of wood, as most doors are. The handle was made of brass and similar to the latch type on some Earth doors, but modified – at least from Fred’s point of view – to compensate for pony physiology. He turned the latch.

Fred opened the door slowly and peeked inside… It was a bathroom. 'Well, that was anticlimactic. Necessary, though.' He closed the door shut once more. He didn’t need to go at the moment.

The last object native to Fred Walsh’s semi-temporary room was a canopy bed with a wooden frame. As with the rest of the room, it followed the same ‘theme,’ being blue on both the frame and covers. He sat down on it for a moment to test it. ‘Rather soft, probably filled with feathers. Nothing seems to be poking through, though. It’s probably enchanted with something that prevents feathers from poking out.’

‘Well, that concludes the tour of the room.’ Fred returned to the desk, now being used as a workbench, passing through the centre of the room which was empty and clean. Back at his makeshift workstation, he began his work on MacGyvering a generator.

Fred started by using his fingernails to expose some insulation on the wires. He had already removed the speakers back at the lab. Since they were old rubber iPod earphones, they were easy to dig into. Fred wrapped the formerly-right earphone piece of the cable around his right hand’s index finger twice to give himself some grip on the cable. With his other hand, Fred used his thumb and middle fingernails to slice the rubber insulation from the cable. The rubber split and was pulled off in seconds. He undid the bindings on his index finger, then wrapped the left earphone cable around it and repeated the procedure.

Fred removed his finger from the cable and grabbed the other side, realising that the audio jack was still attached. He checked to see if it would fit in the wrist computer at all; the power input was larger than the audio jack, “So it should be capable of providing current… Assuming it even works.”

Since Fred ripped the hand crank off the torch, some wires came with it, and it was clear where he could attach the leads of the makeshift wire. He didn’t have any solder (or a soldering iron for that matter); he instead opted to twist the exposed wires to make a connection. Now that both wires were connected and the audio jack sitting in place, Fred grabbed the hand crank and placed it on the edge of the table, with the crank on the outside. With his left hand, he held it down; with his right, he began to turn the crank at a reasonable, but consistent, speed.

After about ten minutes of constant cranking, Fred stopped to check on the battery in the wrist computer. He tapped the home button and ran a battery widget app. With a smile and a nod of approval, he read the battery level: 62%. For a hand crank generator, it was a fairly efficient one. Still, there was a long way to go to reach 100%. Fred turned off the display and kept cranking.

Chapter 7 - Library part 1

Chapter 7

“There are obviously better ways to charge a battery, but they’re not particularly available at the moment. Obviously, there’s the option of the charger, but I don’t have that with me, nor is there a power outlet anywhere on the planet, so that’s kinda useless.

“I once came up with some crazy idea on an IRC channel where you use the display as a solar panel, so it powers itself as you use it. It wouldn’t be very effective, almost to the level of troll science, *chuckle* but it might extend the battery by a small amount. Another idea I had was a modified geothermal generator, where it uses the heat of the components to power the computer. Not sure how well that would work either, but as before, it could extend battery life. I think I read an article on those later.

“…I suddenly want to cook bacon on the underside of a laptop.”

After about an hour, Fred Walsh had finally charged his wrist computer to 100% battery, which should last him a good while, even without energy conservation.

Fred checked the time, but it seemed a little off. He strapped it back on his left wrist, leaving the makeshift charger on the table/dresser. He walked over to the balcony to check if he could see a clock tower. It wasn’t a very good view, due to the balcony’s orientation west, but he could make out the time on a clock tower to the south. At the time, it was 7:44am. Fred’s watch was only fifteen minutes behind, but that was quickly rectified.

‘Wait, wasn’t I going to do some research at the library? Better get on that.’ Fred remembered he was going to look up Equestria’s crime rates and the enchantments on the Royal Guard’s armour. ‘Now, where to find the library…’

Fred began his journey to find a library in the castle, assuming there even was one. He searched casually throughout the castle, passing many guards who took notice of him, but were informed that he was friendly.

Sometime later, Fred had given up on finding the library on his own and thought it best to actually ask somepony to point him in the correct direction. He decided to ask somepony approachable for the library’s location, and met Jenga again. Fred was about to start the conversation, but was pre-emptively interrupted:

“Fred! I wanted to talk to you, but you weren’t at your room,” she began.

“I was trying to find the library, if there even is one here.”

“Doing some research?”

“Pretty much,” Fred replied.

“Yeah, it isn’t part of the main building. I’ll lead you there.” Jenga started walking down the hall and motioned with her right hoof for Fred to follow.

“You said you were looking for me?”

“I wanted to confirm the analysis data when we scanned you earlier.”

“That just doesn’t sound right,” Fred muttered to himself. “Anyway, what needs confirming?”

“Let’s see…” she opened up her left wing to take a look at some parchment with writing on it. “Humans have two lungs, compared to ponies’ single lung.”

“Yeah, but if you’re wondering, it’s not an organ redundancy thing. I think we can get a lung surgically removed for whatever reason, but that puts us at a disadvantage. A lung injury will probably kill us, though,” he wasn’t quite sure on the specifics, but Fred believed he was mostly correct.

“Also two kidneys, I take it a similar story?”

“I haven’t heard of kidney injuries, but transplants happen fairly often. It’s possible to survive on a single kidney as long as you watch your toxin intake.

“If you’re going to continue with organ questions, which are a bit unsettling,” Fred continued, “did you find the appendix?”

“I don’t think Doctor Green mentioned that in his report,” she looked at the parchment under her wing again.

“It’s a pointless organ anyway, except for self-destruct appendicitis.”

“Self-destruct appendicitis?”

“Well, appendicitis. It’s a disease that I made self-explanatory.” He looked up, “Now can we please move away from bodily organs?”

“Alright, I also wanted to learn more about that wrist thing - You called it a computer?” Jenga said as she and Fred exited out onto the castle grounds.

“Essentially, I hacked it together from broken phone parts – phones being a technological communication method – plus some other parts, such as a walkie-talkie and an AM/FM Radio.”

“That didn’t make much sense to me.”

“Sorry, this is a bit too advanced if you’ve never seen a computer before… It just occurred to me that I still haven’t found a decent name for it yet. My childhood fantasy of it was ‘superwatch.’ ‘Smartwatch’ would make more sense, but that sounds tacky.”

“Scavenger Watch?”

Fred pondered this for a moment. “That works, it fits the method I built it from, and I can probably influence its connotation if it ever comes up.”

“What does it actually do, specifically, anyway?”

“Good question. Lately I’ve been using it to record video, talking about what’s going on here,” Fred unlocked the watch and started the camera. “Smile!”

Jenga spent a few seconds stunned before smiling at the device pointed at her. He snapped a picture with a click emanating from the speaker.

“Although, there aren’t many practical uses for the Scavenger Watch that would work in this universe, without the infrastructure that took decades to build. Although, I remember wiring in a part of Trevor’s broken neuroheadset. He smashed it in rage and it wasn’t covered by warranty. Alas, I have no idea how to get it to work.”

The library was just a few steps ahead. Fred recognised it as the library he saw in the first episode, albeit a bit less shiny. It was still primarily stone, but the gold that he remembered contrasting it was missing. ‘It must’ve been added on later.’

The two ascended the staircase. Jenga knew she should wrap up the conversation. “What were you going research, anyway?”

“It’ll probably turn into an information freefall, but I’m starting by checking the crime rates – I noticed that the dungeons are empty compared to Earth – and also the guard armour.”

“That’s always a bit confusing to someone who hasn’t seen the guards before. They’re smithed with an enchantment to preserve anonymity, but still be able to differentiate between guards.”

“Guess that makes sense, thanks.”

They reached the top of the stairs and Fred walked in to begin his research.

Chapter 8 - Library part 2

Chapter 8

“Conversations on bodily organs are generally kind of gross. I resisted the urge to just end the conversation immediately and run like hell.

“The library expedition certainly explained a bit, although I did get a bit carried away. This happens often, but generally I end up in Wikipedia freefall. After an hour or so of clicking through, you find yourself god-knows-where.

“Other examples of information freefall include TVTropes. Once you click that link, you’re trapped; there’s no going back, not without help.

“Knowledge is power, as they say… Then again, they also say curiosity killed the cat, but personally, I think it was ignorance; curiosity was framed.

*knock knock*

“hm?”

‘I didn’t think of it before, but the library gives me a decent excuse to use some knowledge without being suspicious,’ Fred Walsh began with his initial idea of finding the Equestrian Census to get an idea on recent crime rates, assuming it was public information as it is on Earth.

The library was empty, strangely enough. He had at least expected a clerk or somepony watching over, but it seems this wasn’t the case. He began to search the bookcases systematically because he had absolutely no idea what the Census would be labelled under. Libraries on Earth use the Dewey decimal system and it doesn’t exactly have a specific author.

It took a few minutes, but Fred found the Equestrian Census of the year 790 in a reference section separate from the rest of the books. ‘In retrospect, I should’ve checked here first. Now, let’s see…’ he flipped through the pages to find the country’s crime rates.

“Here it is,” he decided to speak to himself – nobody was around to hear him anyway - as he found the appropriate page. “In 790, there were 10 crime incidents… Is that in the thousands? Huh, literally just ten.” He was truly surprised with Equestria’s crime rates in comparison to Earth’s thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands. “It’s probably few enough to still be breaking news stories.” Fred continued reading the individual incidents. There was a case of assault in there, but extra information in the pages said that it stemmed from a heated argument the day before. Another interesting incident was grand larceny of somepony’s house. ‘How he managed that at all, I can’t say,’ he returned to his internal thoughts.

The other cases were minor and not worth looking into, so Fred closed the cover of the Equestrian Census and placed it back on its position on the bookshelf.

‘Since I’m here, might as well learn some other things,’ he began his information freefall.

Fred spent a few hours in the library before finally returning to his guest room. During the walk back, he contemplated the things he learned. After the census, he decided to delve into some history books, one of which included the story of Nightmare Moon’s banishment that he knew from the show and the strange earth pony prophet he conversed with a few hours ago.

After hitting the history books, Fred moved onto educating himself on a few aspects of magic. Even after all the years pony society had behind them, little had actually been discovered on the inner working of magic, apart from observation on what happens in certain situations. Magic was a form of energy in Equestria that he fathomed Earth sadly lacked in contrast. Even before Equestria’s founding, many spells had been invented; most of them by the late Starswirl the Bearded. Fred didn’t bother looking into the spells, considering he didn’t have magic anyway.

He did, however, read into the more theoretical aspects of magic. It seemed to flow around the world and was absorbed by the ponies for their racial abilities – Earth ponies’ attachment to their namesake, pegasi’s wings and their ability to fly – Their wings are too small to actually generate sufficient lift - the magic lowers their mass and improves their wings’ force, and lastly unicorns’ magical abilities – allowing them to cast spells ranging from basic telekinesis to more powerful spells such as conjuration.

An interesting thing included in the books was that newborn foals retain some magical reserves from the mother. It can lay dormant for a while before all being released in a short period. Fred had departed his universe at new years’, so he was unaware of the significance.

Fred Walsh entered his room for the third time this morning, before checking the time: 11:04 AM. ‘Damn, I’ve been up for a while, but at the same time not very long.’ He sat on the bed for a few minutes before standing back on the floor. He decided to see if he could figure out how to use that piece of Trevor’s broken neuroheadset he attached last week.

Trevor was one of Fred’s friends. Trevor was very interested in gaming peripherals – a big fan of Razer’s gear. About a month earlier, he discovered neuroheadets and set his mind on getting one. A neuroheadset is basically a headset with a bunch of small attachments to ‘read’ the mind of the user. Though expensive, they were becoming popular for their abilities of hands-free control in video games.

The flipside to Trevor’s enthusiasm in gaming and peripherals is that he has anger management issues. After a rather unfortunate series of losses in Counter-Strike, he accidentally smashed the device in rage. The kind of damage he inflicted on the headset wasn’t covered by warranty, so he put the remains away and Fred eventually managed to attach one of the receptors to his Scavenger Watch. So far, he had no luck interfacing with the piece.

‘This would be easier if there were drivers for operating systems other than Windows,’ he thought as he began his latest attempt to utilise the receptor. This time, he would power the device and attempt to read raw input from it. It took a lot of fiddling, but Fred eventually managed to find the correct signal for the receptor to begin reading input. He wrote this into a custom driver that his watch – running Android – could understand.

He eventually stopped his efforts as he’d made the most progress so far and it was time to take a break. He also had to catch up on his vlog.

*knock knock*

“Hm?” Fred got up off the bed to answer who was at the door. He closed the video recorder he was using to record his adventure.

*knock knock*

The door knocked again and he opened the door; outside stood a short white stallion with black hair.

The pony spoke: “The Princess has invited you to lunch, if you would like to attend.”

Fred checked his watch; 12:21 PM. He realised that he hadn’t eaten since 8PM back when he was on earth, during the LAN party. ‘Holy crap, I haven’t eaten in over 16 hours!’ “Yep, I’m definitely taking up on that offer.”

Chapter 9 - Lunch

Chapter 9

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice I hadn’t eaten in over sixteen hours! Although, I can generally go without breakfast or dinner, but I can’t go without lunch. Screw normality and breakfast, LUNCH is the most important meal of the day!

“Dinner back at the new years’ LAN party was alright; the power wasn’t spontaneously going out until we actually started playing our games. If I ever get back, I’ll definitely organise a redux, hopefully where the power won’t be screwing up. Mental note: Bring a generator.”

Fred Walsh followed the pony to the castle’s mess hall. He noticed the stallion was an Earth pony with the cutie mark of a rolled up scroll with some lines to the left. He guessed it signified a fast messenger. Fred could see how true that was. The stallion looked a bit jumpy, as if he was used to running quickly and often.

Throughout the escort to the mess hall, Fred continued adding to his mental map of the castle, so he could find his way around notable points, mainly so he could get to his room in a reasonable space of time, instead of stumbling senselessly as he did trying to find the library without Jenga’s help.

Fred and the messenger approached an open set of double doors after going through the lengthy corridors of the castle. “The princess wishes to speak to you. She’s at the rear of the room,” he gestured into the room. Fred thanked the pony before he walked into the mess hall. The messenger trotted the other direction to work on other duties.

Fred stepped through the frame separating the hallway from the cafeteria and observed the mass of guards and castle residents all conversing over lunch. He estimated around 350 inside the room at that time. They were all seated on tables in 4 rows, with some breaks between them for mobility. The entire area reminded him of Hogwarts. At the far side of the room, as the messenger stated, he sighted Princess Celestia by her multi-coloured, flowing mane. She looked up towards Fred, beckoning him over. He noticed she still looked fatigued, though not as much as the morning.

Fred began to walk the length of the room, feeling self-conscious, being the only non-pony in the area. He quickened his pace.

After he traversed the hall, the country’s monarch motioned him a seat near her before speaking: “Fred Wash, once again I’d like to apologise for my behaviour last night-“

“Princess, you were justified. I would’ve done the same thing in your position, having a completely unknown species fall out of a wormhole right in front of you,” Fred interrupted her. “Although, I find it strange that you apologised the first time right at the crack of dawn.” He stood next to a wooden chair, but hesitated to sit down.

Celestia was momentarily taken aback by his interruption before a frown made its way to her countenance. Her eyes looked down. “I don’t want to make the same mistake I made against my sister.”

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head. “It’s something I’m not proud of; I wish it to remain personal.”

“I read the legends. It’s about your sister, isn’t it?”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it,” the alicorn calmly stared at Fred, but in the ‘don’t ask again’ way.

“Alright, alright,” he sat down. At this point, he realised that she wasn’t wearing any jewellery as he normally remembers seeing her in the show. ‘Better not ask about it. She probably doesn’t have it yet and I’m trying to avoid any incidents.’

A little bit North of where Ponyville would eventually be set up, there was a small encampment set up on the edge of a large area of dirt.

A unicorn in a black-and-red cloak covering his head and body mumbled to himself, “We’ve been here for half of this forsaken day. When are we going to find those-“

“Over here!”

The cloaked stallion moved over to the voice’s origin – a deep green unicorn, bathed in a purple glow from a recently dug hole. “Excellent, now we just need to find the rest and we can begin preparations…”

Chapter 11 - Avoidance

Chapter 11

*Although this story isn’t rated so, this chapter is a little dark*

“That conversation could’ve gone a lot better. With this many skeletons in her closet, it’s a wonder the princess is even ruling Equestria. I may be the tipping point that caused her depression to relapse. If that’s the case, it’s my responsibility to fix this. That might be more of a challenge than I initially thought.

“I think Celestia’s avoiding me now. She wasn’t at dinner last night, though I didn’t want to be there either so that may be invalid. You can’t help someone or somepony who doesn’t want help, it doesn’t matter whether or not they need it.”

The next morning, Fred sat on his bed to figure out how he could get the solar princess to talk about her problems. ‘Obviously, the option of a direct confrontation’s just going to get beaten up and thrown out the window. Subtlety’s going to have to be involved.’

‘First, however, I’m going to have to find her.’ Fred stood up. His bare feet – he doesn’t sleep with socks, and didn’t have time to put them on before he was taken anyway – barely sank into the shallow carpet of the blue guest room. He began his search for the Princess as he contemplated the best course of action.

Fred gripped the brass latch of the door and dragged it down, then pulled the door towards him. He looked out to see anypony nearby. Strangely, there wasn’t any activity in his area, and very little in the castle overall. He anticipated the palace to be a little bit livelier. ‘Just my expectations though. No idea how it would actually be before arriving here… I also didn’t predict I’d end up here either.’

‘How should I start the conversation?’ he began as he turned left down the corridor. He thought he’d check the throne room first, as he did previously. Along the trek through the halls, he encountered sparsely few ponies en route. ‘So today’s the 10th of July but I have no idea what the day itself actually is. Maybe it’s a weekend?’

Once again, the throne room doors were open and both it and the antechamber were empty except for Fred. ‘It would explain why it’s so quiet and empty.’ He left the antechamber the way he came and continued walking.

Fred occasionally got bored and distracted, so he leaned on a nearby wall to chill for a while. He decided to look through his Scavenger Watch to see if he could find something he’d forgotten as he occasionally does. Once on his home machine, he found 4GB of Power Rangers episodes that he copied from DVDs.

‘Assuming I can go home, I might dual-boot this with Windows 8 once that’s out. It should support the architecture, if I remember correctly.’ He searched both the apps and the file system itself, but found nothing that he had forgotten. The only interesting things were his MLP music - which he promptly encrypted, just in case - the vlogs, and the source code for the custom neuro-receptor drivers, which he’ll continue coding later.

Done procrastinating, Fred checked the time - 7:04 AM - and locked the watch before continuing to find the Princess.

He turned a corner and spotted what he believed was the faint glow of Princess Celestia at the other end of the hall, but as he traversed the distance, the light seemed to fade away. By the time he reached the end, it was gone completely. ‘Could’ve sworn it was her…’

‘I still don’t have a good, subtle way of starting the conversation,’ Fred thought as he continued wandering the castle hours later. He ate breakfast in his room, though didn’t see the Princess in the cafeteria when he passed.

He unmistakably caught her tail turning a corner in his eyes, but when he powerwalked to where he saw her, she was gone. He took a deep breath through his nose as he wondered where she kept going, and caught an overwhelming smell of ozone. Fred wrinkled his nose as he moved to the point the smell was strongest; he could spot a very faint hairline shimmer for a few seconds before it disappeared. ‘She teleported. Celestia really is trying to avoid me. Subtlety’s not even useful if I can’t start a conversation in the first place.’

In deep thought, Fred Walsh returned to the blue guest room. As he contemplated recent events, he continued coding the neuro-receptor drivers for the Scavenger Watch.

Princess Celestia wanted to help Fred get home, but didn’t want him prying into her personal life. She already can’t forgive herself for her actions against her sister, and doesn’t want it to get worse. In an attempt to both take her mind off things and escape Fred, she started court, even though it was a Sunday.

The entire day went past with not much happening, just ponies with various problems as usual. The princess set the sun at 9:16 and was going to close court after one last pony. Or, group of ponies, in this case.

Seven ponies, all obscured by identical, blood-red cloaks, entered the room. From her throne, she could make out three unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies. Celestia was intrigued by the well-organised group for a moment, until one of the unicorns held back while the remaining two charged spells in their horns. The pegasi and earth ponies split evenly and ran towards the guards, now on alert. The pony that held behind closer to the throne room’s doors shut them heavily. The guards unholstered their weapons but were quickly taken down by the unicorns’ spells, before getting bucked by the pegasi and earth ponies.

“What is the meaning of this‽” Princess Celestia screamed as she jumped out of her throne.

Loud bangs could be heard from the doors at the other side of the room as the guards on the other side attempted to break in, but the doors were held shut too well by one of the unicorns.

Fred Walsh figured that the best way to map out the input from the neuroheadset fragment was to put it into a two-dimensional graph. It wouldn’t be nearly as accurate as the full device, but it was nice to be doing something.

He examined the graph on his watch, seeing if he could influence it with his thoughts, when he saw a huge spike in the 20-40Hz range. ‘That can’t be me, what the hell‽’ he mentally exclaimed right before bells started ringing all throughout the castle. ‘This can’t be good.’

Chapter 12 - Alarm

Chapter 12

*I’m also kinda concerned about the darkness in this chapter, but it should be over next chapter.*

“Alarms are bad, alright? They always are. There is no possible way in hell, frozen or fiery, that it could mean anything good.

“I found it strange, though, that I picked up a signal from the neuroheadset piece just before the alarm sounded. It doesn’t even make sense. Welcome to Equestria, me, I guess. Better get used to things being completely illogical. Even the laws of physics only apply when they feel like it. This makes me want to just go home and set my physics books on fire. I might do that if I remember by then.”

As the castle alarm blared, Fred Walsh whipped open the door to the hallway. Outside, he could see what would have to be at least a quarter of the castle guard all sprinting toward the throne room. He watched about twenty pass before following. The guards noticed but didn’t seem fazed about his inclusion with the legion; they were too focused on getting to the Princess.

After a bit of running, he arrived at the antechamber. The main gateway to the throne room was shut, and appeared to be locked. The guards were pressing against it, trying to break it open. Fred joined them for extra man/ponypower

Some of the Pegasus guards were flapping their wings to push the door open from the air, but strangely, they couldn’t generate lift. The unicorns couldn’t cast any spells, either.

Fred noticed an emerald-coloured aura enveloping the door.

“Who the hell is holding it shut with magic, and how are they so strong‽” Fred exclaimed, but quietly as he assumed the guards already knew.

“Whoever he is, he’s damn powerful,” Fred recognised the pony who responded as Lieutenant Bullhorn from a few days ago. He still didn’t understand the armour enchantments, but wasn’t in a position to question them. “Something’s draining our magic. I can’t cast anything!”

“It’s likely being focused against us, somehow,” Fred commented.

“This isn’t working, we need to work together!” Bullhorn shouted loudly. The rest of the guards nodded in agreement. “Ready? One, two, three!” Everypony, and human, slammed into the door simultaneously.

BANG

The doors cracked open for a split second before they were pushed back. “Damn,” Bullhorn started. “Again! One, two, three!”

BANG

The doors buckled again, and a blast of heat escaped the crack. “Once more! One, two, three!”

BOOM

*SNAP* “AARGH!” A male voice could be heard screaming from the other side of the door as it swung open violently. The telekinetic hold on the door was released, and the legion of ponies swarmed inside the throne room. As Fred followed, he noticed a dark grey unicorn in a blood red cloak. He was unconscious and a sizzling could be heard from his horn. ‘This was probably the pony holding the door. But wasn’t the aura green?’ He then saw an emerald ring fixed upon his horn.

Fred couldn’t examine for long as he spotted an earth pony, also wearing a blood robe, out of the corner of his eye. He barely dodged a kick from the pony’s back legs in time. Fred looked around for help, but Everypony else was focused elsewhere. ‘I probably still have that perception filter applied, fortunately.’ The pony tried to buck Fred again. He dodged diagonally, hoping to get around to the right side to defend himself. He wasn’t good at fighting, but hoped he could knock over the pony by kicking with his own legs. He managed to connect, but it only staggered the earth pony momentarily, before regaining his balance and bucking Fred over, successfully this time. As if on cue, three guards came to fight the earth pony.

Fred was winded, so didn’t continue the fight. He began to stand up from the stone floor, surveying the situation as he regained his breath. Overhead flew a Pegasus wearing a blood cloak, yet the guards still couldn’t pursue him, as they still couldn’t fly or use magic, strangely. The battle on the ground was faring better. One of the pegasi was subdued, and within minutes since the door broke open, Fred could only see the flying Pegasus remaining as he evaded capture.

He looked around to find Celestia, to ensure she was alright. ‘Predestination should be in effect, but I’d rather not find out whether or not it’s wrong.’ Right then, he noticed a unicorn stand up from a hiding place behind the princess.

The unicorn could use magic in lieu of nopony else being able to, and used it to amplify his voice to the whole throne room. He spoke: “If you don’t leave right now I’ll kill her!” he shouted, brandishing a knife to Celestia’s throat

Everypony froze in shock.

Chapter 13 - Shock

Chapter 13
*Fred rubs his forehead with his free hand.*

“Being in a situation where another wants to kill you? You can’t even hope to prepare for that in the slightest. That’s how I’m sure we all felt when that cultist brandished the knife at the Princess. We all froze in horror at the sight. Why do these ponies even want to kill Celestia anyway? Some sort of cult, with those robes.

“The door into the throne room was ridiculous to break open, with that unicorn holding it. This’ll be a great thing to get to the bottom of. Murderous cultists, strange gems and lots of nonsensical magic... Damn these laws of physics.”

Everypony and Fred Walsh were frozen in fear and shock. Princess Celestia, the ruler of the land of Equestria, was right in front of them, with a knife to her throat. The unicorn holding it there was obscured by blood-red robes and clearly wasn’t looking for anything besides the assassination of the Princess.

“I really didn’t expect quite the defence, but no matter,” the remaining unicorn said, whom Fred believed he was a cultist. “We will destroy the sun tyrant’s regime, and replace her with our true lord and master, Potens Daemonium!”

‘So he wants to kill the princess and replace her with a demon.’ Fred looked around. Celestia’s mane, normally flowing in the colours of Aurora Borealis, was dead still. Even her magic was being drained. He checked for the cultists, and could only see three from his position on the ground at the back of the throne room: The unicorn holding the Princess hostage, the earth pony he fought earlier, and an unconscious unicorn previously holding the door. What intrigued Fred was that they all wore some kind of jewelry. The earth pony cultist wore a silver-looking amulet with an amethyst in the centre. It could be seen hanging out of the robe. The remaining unicorn wore a horn ring, also with an amethyst. The doorstop, instead of an amethyst on his horn ring, had what appeared to be a glowing emerald.

‘So the one holding the door was insanely powerful, the guards and Celestia have no magic, but the amethyst wearing ones do have it… Is he stealing it? That’d make sense for how powerful he was.’ Fred contemplated a few things as the cultist continued his speech.

“While I admire your determination, I’m afraid you have failed.”

Fred moved toward the unconscious unicorn, being careful to avoid the sight of the remaining cultist. He reached the pony and quickly looked around at him. His horn was cracked and his face was scrunched in pain. The emerald was still glowing. ‘If this is blocking magic, removing it might do something.’

“Goodbye.” The cultist moved the blade toward Celestia’s throat.

Fred gripped the ring and yanked it off of the unconscious cultist’s horn, despite the remaining heat on it. Right as he removed the ring, he heard a boom, accompanied by a flash of white light. He turned back to see the cultist flying across the room, who then smacked onto the ground and slid for a few metres. The guards immediately bounded to apprehend him. The knife embedded itself up in the ceiling with a metallic TWANG.

As the guards rushed around him, Fred stood up from the floor, clutching the emerald ring in his left hand. Within moments, the final cultist had been caught, and the others were being collected. Fred inspected the emerald ring as he walked to the princess, who was sitting down, traumatised at what she had witnessed fist-hoof. The ring was no longer glowing

She took notice of the jewellery as Fred commented, “I don’t think this is an ordinary emerald.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I think this was what blocked everypony’s magic in the area. I pulled it off one of the cultists the moment that last one was flung across the room.”

“My subjects have never had a reason to kill me before. It goes against the very values Equestria was founded upon!”

Fred remembered the Hearth’s Warming episode, but thought it best not to act upon it.

The princess continued, “I’m getting to the bottom of this. Take the ring to the lab. I’ll get it analysed there,” she stated with a mix of determination and anger.

“The other cultists had amethysts. I’d say they’re significant too, considering they could use magic,” Fred inputted.

“We’ll collect those as well.”

The two finished their conversation and headed toward Science Lab 3 to discover what the gems really were.

Chapter 14 - Gems

Chapter 14
“Whoever wants to kill the princess planned it, but didn’t think it through well enough. Apparently, Doorstop and Leader – I don’t know their names - were hospitalised, and the rest are being detained.

“I’m intrigued by those gems. They’re obviously not just decorative; that ‘emerald’ seemed to block magic while the amethysts defended against it. These’ll be interesting to look at.

“Looks like Celestia’s put aside her depression with vengeful anger. Who would’ve guessed that almost getting murdered changes one’s perspective on things? I’ll stop trying to help for now; I don’t have anything at the moment anyway.

“As it turns out, I left the neuro-receptor running during the whole event. It’s definitely recording fear, which hardly makes sense, but there you go. I might be able to adapt this into something useful.

“When are the others getting here?”

It was unorthodox for the castle’s scientists to be called in on weekends, let alone this late at night, but considering that a human fell out of a spontaneous wormhole a few days ago, and that Princess Celestia was almost assassinated, normality didn’t particularly exist at the time.

The three members of the Science team were shocked when the Princess told them directly about the attempt on her life, and were happy to help analyse the equipment recovered. It didn’t take long for them to go back to the castle, even considering the time of night.

“Tell me your secrets,” Fred Walsh was holding the emerald ring near his face, speaking like Gandalf as the ponies, and Celestia, entered the lab. “I don’t think it likes me.” He placed the ring on a bench. The team was momentarily confused before each moving off to a different item to examine. Jenga Redheart took the knife, freshly pulled out of the ceiling, leaving a lovely mark up there. Doctor Green (still crimson) took an amethyst amulet, and the third scientist – Unicorn, grey coat, white mane; Fred hadn’t yet gotten his name – took the emerald horn ring.

It took merely a few minutes before the scientists finished their analysis of the equipment. Jenga stated her results first, “Well, the knife appears ordinary, along with the holster it came with,” pointing to the knife and a belt confiscated from the cult leader.

Next up was Dr Green, “These are amethysts, but I don’t recognise the magic used to enchant them. However, they seem to work by defending against magic used offensively.”

“Like the not-emerald?” Fred piped in.

“Most likely,” Green replied. “Doctor Cross, your analysis?”

“Is it kryptonite?” The human couldn’t resist.

The grey unicorn ignored him. “Same as you, doctor, I don’t recognise the magic either. It seems to draw upon all magical reserves in a radius and give it to the caster. It doesn’t seem to be currently active, though.”

Celestia spoke up: “So one of them wields this to disable our magic and hold the door, while the rest can use it freely with the amethysts.”

“Correct, it seems.”

“So why did his horn explode?” the Princess shuddered at the thought.

“My best guess would be he couldn’t handle the forces attempting to push the door open.”

“What does that mean?” Jenga asked.

Fred thought up an analogy: “Like arm or hoof-wrestling with strong muscles but weak bones, possibly.” Everypony in the room listened. “Imagine you have two ponies: Brick and Stick, and they want to arm wrestle. Brick’s this burly dude and stick is a weakling, so it’s pretty obvious who’s going to win. Stick’s a sore loser, so somehow he finds out a way to strengthen his muscles without work, so he can beat Brick, and then tries again. They wrestle once more but eventually Stick’s bones snap because he can’t handle the strain.”

“Now that makes sense, if a little gruesome.” She agreed with the analogy.

“Do you mind if I take a look at the ring myself?” Celestia asked Doctor Cross.

“Go ahead, princess.” He replied.

The alicorn telekinetically held the emerald horn ring for roughly twenty seconds before her eyes widened in disbelief. “This is the magic of the Elements of Harmony.”

Everypony was intrigued and confused. Doctor Green was the first to say anything, “I thought the Elements were just a myth.”

“They’re quite real, but I can no longer wield them. Though these gems contain the harmonic magic, they aren’t the elements themselves.”

They don’t seem very harmonic to me,” Fred stated.

Jenga spoke up, “Then what in Equestria gave them this magic?”

“I can’t say,” the Princess continued. “The last time the Elements were used would have been eight hundred years ago.”

‘I remember the princess’ torc and crown from the show. Weren’t they amethyst? I wonder…’ Fred realised something. “Those ‘harmonic’ amethysts block magical attack, right?”

“They do,” Doctor Green answered.

Fred turned to Celestia, “Then wouldn’t it be a good idea to wear one of those to ensure this doesn’t happen again?”

“That’s actually a good idea, Fred Walsh.” Celestia took one of the amulets and wore it. It looked rather crudely made, but practicality was important. ‘I’ll work on aesthetics tomorrow.’ “I don’t think there’s much more we can do tonight.”

Midnight. Everypony else had gone to bed, but Princess Celestia couldn’t sleep again. This time, it wasn’t her thinking about her sister, but rather the close-call earlier that night. There were too many questions the Princess was asking herself; it was easy enough to retrieve gems in Equestria, but
It made no sense that they were harmonically enchanted; she hadn’t even seen something like this before. In an attempt to understand, she believed that answers may be found at the resting place of the Elements of Harmony – Everfree Castle, better known as the mythical Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

Celestia stood on the balcony connected to her chambers, looking South past Canterlot, to the Everfree Forest. Despite the old castle’s size, it was obscured by the forest’s foliage, but the Princess knew where to go. She spread her wings and flapped them a few times to begin her flight off the tower.

As she flew, she truly hoped that the Elements hadn’t been stolen. Even if they were, it shouldn’t be possible to use them maliciously.

Within minutes of leaving, the Princess’ powerful wings had flown her near her destination. She began to descend. The castle was clearly visible, and it was extremely clear how badly it had stood the test of time. The stone in the walls and ceilings had crumbled, the area had overgrown with vegetation, and some of the towers had lost all structural integrity and collapsed in on themselves.

Celestia landed gracefully and folded her pure white wings against her body. Behind her was a chasm with a broken rope bridge dangling on the far side, while in front of her stood the remains of the chamber that housed the Elements.

At this time of night, it was incredibly dark both inside and out of the ruins, even with the moon overhead. The princess channelled a light spell to improve her sight before venturing inside. The front door required a strong push to open, due to underuse. A pedestal in the centre of the room held all six of the Elements, safe and untouched. She tested the elements to ensure they weren’t fakes, but they were legitimate; the energies inside were dormant but detectable – they hadn’t been used since the last incident with Nightmare Moon. Plant life had partially grown over the currently-inert stones and it was clear nopony had been here in a long time, raising more questions. The Elements of Harmony are unusable to those who aren’t friends, nor does it work for those who wish malice, yet the gems recovered were affected by them somehow.

To ensure the Elements could only be wielded, let alone actually used, by only those with friendship in their hearts, Celestia magically hid the sixth Element within the other five – It would only reform itself in the correct circumstances.

Nothing had entered this chamber between Nightmare Moon’s banishment and Celestia’s return, which left more questions. ‘If the Elements aren’t directly involved, how did these gems get enchanted by their magic?’

With nothing else able to be done, the alicorn departed the old castle to return to Canterlot, hoping she could sleep slightly easier.

Chapter 15 - Jeweller and Interrogations

Chapter 15
“That’s definitely the longest time I’ve held a conversation with the Princess since she started avoiding me after that discussion about universal signatures. I suppose she’ll prefer if I don’t talk about the depression, but I still think something must be done. Hopefully I can figure something out before I leave, assuming that can happen.

“Well, the crystals certainly seemed to be what we all expected of them, but I don’t think any of us saw the Elements of Harmony being involved. I’m interested in learning how the cultists acquired these gems; it’d be best for the country if they didn’t get any more of them.”

Due to the attempted assassination, the Canterlot Castle Guards were much more alert than they were previously. There were always at least two watching over Princess Celestia wherever she was today, which happened to be one of the city’s jewellers.

The Princess, in possession of a bag containing the amethyst horn rings and necklaces confiscated from the cultists, entered the shop, flanked by two guards.

At the desk, there was a unicorn stallion with a white coat and dark blue mane and tail, with a cutie mark of a Leo Diamond. He was deeply engrossed in carefully inspecting an uncut diamond, with a magnifying glass, and wouldn’t have noticed anypony entering if it weren’t for the bell mounted on top of the door.

Alas, the stallion was too immersed to know who, exactly, entered his shop. “Welcome to Marquise Jewellery,” he stated with a distracted tone, “Prime Cut, how can I help you?”

“What else does a customer come here for?” Celestia replied rhetorically.

‘Have I heard that voice somewhere?’ the jeweller looked up from his magnifying glass and was startled; he somehow didn’t notice the ruler-deity of Equestria entering his place of work. “P-Princess Celestia, I’m so-“

While the unicorn was busy apologising, Celestia remained nonchalant. “Calm yourself, please.”

“Right, so uh… What can I do for you?” he attempted to regain his composure.

“I thought I should wear something more suiting for myself,” the Princess thought it best to not mention the events of last night, “and I would like the amethysts contained in here,” she placed the bag on the counter, “to be included.”

The unicorn began to contemplate what kind of jewellery would work best for the Princess. “I believe I have a good idea on what will suit you.”

After the negotiations with the jeweller, Celestia and a few other guards headed down to the castle’s dungeons to begin questioning the cultists. Somehow, they thought it a good idea to attempt to assassinate the Princess, managing to get very close. It was time to figure out how and why.

Times rarely called for interrogations, but Princess Celestia knew that aggressively demanding answers often only gets you false information. There had been an instance 150 years ago where somepony had even written an entire worded confession, which turned out to be a complete fabrication a few years later. He hadn’t even been involved in the crime he was accused of.

The one who would most likely know anything was injured from a telekinetic blast, and impact with the ground, so the cultists were being selected randomly in hopes of finding some piece of information.

Each of the ponies was in separate cells so they couldn’t interact and collaborate on a false story. Out of the five non-hospitalised ponies – 1 unicorn, 2 pegasi and 2 earth ponies – Celestia and the guards started with the remaining unicorn.

“Let us start with the basics: Why did you attack us?” the Princess began the interrogation at the pony’s cell.

“Because it is our duty!” he yelled back.

“What do you mean your duty?” she was suspicious.

“To the true ruler, Potens Daemonium!” The cultist mentioned the same demon that Leader had last night.

“Who, exactly, is Potens Daemonium?”

“Our lord and saviour; he will return us from the darkness!”

‘He’s either delusional or indoctrinated. Either way, this seems larger than just this group,’ Celestia thought before the unicorn continued rambling.

“There are many subjects all throughout Equestria and we will prevail!”

The interrogation continued for a few minutes, but no new useful information was extracted from him. Finished with one, they began questioning another. A pegasus was brought into the interrogation room. She looked a lot more passive than the last.

“What is your cult about, exactly?” Princess Celestia asked the pony.

“Well, my brother entered into this thing, I just thought it was a fad; eventually I decided to take a look at what he got himself into, and it seemed great.” She smiled.

“So you also thought it a good idea to attempt to murder me?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time. I’m… having second thoughts now,” She frowned.

Celestia looked at her suspiciously before asking her next question: “Who leads your cult?”

“We are all but disciples of Potens Daemonium, we wish to summon him. Our lord’s messenger speaks to us but is never close to anypony.” The cultist fidgeted before she continued, “We’re summoning him, this I’m sure of. I’m not sure if I want to do this anymore.”

“Where are they?”

“It depends, but there’s a meeting tomorrow night, around eight o’clock, at 13 Starswirl Street."

“Thank you.”

The remaining cultists were interrogated for the next few hours, but no more useful information could be gathered. Celestia and some of her best guards, including Bullhorn, were gathered in the throne room to go over what they had learned in an open discussion. Fred Walsh was there also, due to his help last night.

The princess summarised her recap: “The cult is bigger than just these assassins, they’re trying to summon a demon, and there’s a meeting on Tuesday.”

“Does anypony else find it strange that I show up a few days before this happens?” Fred pointed out.

“Now that I think about it…” one of the guards replied.

“I hope I’m not a demon, or the Antichrist, for that matter.”

Bullhorn rejected the idea, “If this cult is out to eliminate the Princess, then you can’t really be their lord, considering you helped thwart them.”

“Either way, we have information on the cult that we can use,” Celestia interrupted. “We’ll investigate this meeting tomorrow.”

‘Ah, it’s a Monday.’

Chapter 16 - Meeting

Chapter 16
“Accusing myself of being a demon is something I never really expected to do with my life. Sometimes, I need a reminder that normality stopped existing a few days ago. I don’t recall being a demon, though I do enjoy songs about them, such as Tribute or The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

“Either way, it’s not like it matters. I’m still against this cult. They went against the very foundations of Equestria when they tried to kill the Princess! That’s like replacing the walls of a building with wet sand and expecting it to survive a kid with a spoon the next day or something!”

One of the accolades that Princess Celestia had heard about Marquise Jewellery is that Prime Cut does his job very efficiently and effectively. In just over 24 hours, he had already completed his work. Princes Celestia entered the store to collect her jewellery and pay the stallion for his hard labour.

Upon first looking at what he had crafted, Celestia knew it would be perfect for her. The jewellery came as a tiara and a torc; both of which were carefully crafted in magically hardened gold, with beautifully carved swirl patterns. Each was also adorned in a single deep violet amethyst in a diamond-shaped rose cut. With a smile, the Princess carefully placed the tiara on her head and the torc at the base of her neck. It was a perfect fit.

She then levitated a sack full of bits over to the jeweller. “Thank you for this wonderful creation,” she beamed.

“I’m glad you like it, your majesty,” Prime Cut smiled back. “Oh, would you like the remaining amethysts back?”

‘Whoops, I almost forgot, and they’re not entirely safe.’ “Yes, please.”

“Here you go,” Prime Cut returned the bag of harmonic amethysts back to Celestia.

“Thanks again.” She left.

With the remaining harmonic amethysts not used in the construction of Celestia’s defensive and visually appealing jewellery, the castle’s science team had decided to test out their effectiveness against magical attack, with help from some of the royal guard. In the indoor training grounds, unicorn-shaped mannequin had been set up with a horn ring, carrying one of the gems.

As soon as Doctor Green placed the harmonic amethyst on the pony stand-in, his magic stopped working on it and could no longer telekinetically lift it. He stood away from any potential destruction, and while holding a clipboard, gestured for one of the unicorn guards to attempt some magical attacks.

The guard began with a basic stun spell that all military unicorns are trained in, including the non-combatants. He charged the spell and released it. The white blast rocketed toward the target, then suddenly disappeared, save for a brief, minute flash in the amethyst. Doctor Green scribbled some notes.

As the guards are trained in more than simple defensive spells, the armoured unicorn charged a more powerful spell. While they are trained to avoid killing another pony if it can be avoided, injury is a preferable alternative. From the guard came a narrow beam of light and heat; it wouldn’t do much damage, but would hurt. The beam stopped short of the mannequin, with the amethyst again glowing. The scientist recorded some more observations. At this point, the test had begun amassing an audience of off-duty guards looking to get some practice in.

Without words, some of the ponies joined in. They all cast a powerful yet slow blast, which normally had the power to send a pony flying. Alas, it did nothing but cause the crystal to glow brightly for a second. Doctor Green wrote a note on his clipboard: ‘Thermodynamics – Where is that magic going?’

The audience gave up their normal attempts to defeat the testing dummy. By then, it was getting late and it was near the time to prepare to infiltrate the meeting. Before the test was packed up, Lieutenant Bullhorn thought he would have a try.

He inhaled before charging his horn. He held both the spell and his breath for a few seconds before discharging. At the same moment, a loud screech could be heard, and the mannequin toppled over. Green nodded in satisfaction as he jotted down his final notes for the examination: ‘Vulnerable to sonic attacks as well as physical.’

The amethyst was removed by hoof and the doll returned to the others in the training house before the scientist unicorn left to report his findings.

Two of the castle’s guards, a pegasus and Bullhorn, were en route to the cult meeting. Both were out of their armour as they needed to be covert, and they also wore the harmonic amethyst jewellery, with a perception filter, in case things take a turn for the worse.

As the two approached 13 Starswirl Street, they could see a few ponies entering the assembly. Neither party paid any mind as they entered. Inside, roughly thirty ponies, including the infiltrators, were comfortably housed.

Right as the city's clock tower hit 8:30, the meeting began. An earth pony in red robes stood on a raised platform at the end of the house.

“Gentlecolts,” he spoke very formally, “as you no doubt have become aware, our attempts to... remove opposition has led to failure. However, we must proceed with our plans.”

Bullhorn and the other pegasus covertly looked quizzically at each other, both thinking the same thing.

After a brief pause, the cultist continued his speech. “After our last unsuccessful efforts to summon our lord, we will try again soon, an-” he paused mid-sentence. “It appears that we have some... less than honest ponies in or midst; ones who would prefer to have our operation destroyed than bask in the glory of Potens Daemonium!” He points at the infiltrators.
Right as all the cultists turned against the formerly disguised royal guards, they bolted out the door. Since the door was small, a bottleneck formed, allowing the two to gain distance. As they ran away toward the castle together, Bullhorn alerted a waiting strike team by way of a magically amplified shout. Within moments, the guards were backed up. The cultists realised it would be best to escape themselves in order to continue their mission.

“Well that went horribly!” Fred Walsh exclaimed at debriefing.

“It's not all a loss,” Celestia replied. “We did learn they attempted to summon their god once before and are going to try again.”

“What's that even supposed to mean, anyway?” Bullhorn asked.

“This is seriously starting to sound like they brought me here.” Fred shook his head.

“If they're going to try again, we must be ready,” the Princess said as she looked toward everypony.

Chapter 17 - Preparations

Chapter 17
“Called it. Those cultists brought me here while trying to summon a demon. How they took me instead, I have no idea. More importantly, how they can summon beings from another universe is a bigger mystery.

“Hmm... Even though it shouldn't be possible to pull beings across the multiverse, my best guess would be that whatever hellish dimension they tried to pull Potens Daemonium from, they missed, getting me instead. Well, it's probably difficult for a three-dimensional lifeform to see into the forth spatial dimension and pinpoint a specific object. Serves them right for screwing with physics.

“Anyway, those guys are going to try again, I feel things are going to get worse.”

With the news of the cultists' impending attempt to retry summoning Potens Daemonium, the castle was on high alert, to be ready for when the time comes. As Fred Walsh wandered the corridors of Canterlot Castle, he noticed that many of its inhabitants were frantically running about, attempting to prepare.

He passed some guards talking to Celestia and overheard some of their conversation.

“We didn't find anything, ma'am,” one of them said.

“What happened?”

Earlier, the princess sent a team to investigate the meeting place that was crashed the night before, to find anything that could be useful.

“When we got there, everything had either been taken or burned. We recovered nothing,” He summarised the mission results. “No ponies other than us were at the scene, they fled before we arrived.”

“So we didn't learn anything useful?” she asked.

“I'm afraid not.” he replied.

Fred kept walking.

Next, he passed the training grounds where the off-duty guards were practicing teamwork-based mechanics. Bullhorn was getting good use out of his sonic attacks, as his namesake implies.

'He could probably take out more than a few ears with those sound blasts... Isn't that a brand or something?' Fred continued onward.

The castle was taking the matter seriously, as they should. It was already proven the cult could alter reality across the multiverse, despite even Princess Celestia not possessing that kind of power.

As Fred Walsh traversed the castle corridors, watching everything happen, he questioned what he could do to help when the time comes. 'I have no idea where to get holy water, so that rules one thing out. How do you even fight a demon anyway?'

In thought, he wandered to the lab, where Jenga was busy with a bunch of wires and other parts as she attempted to create a second calculator.

“Hey, Fred.” She looked up from her work.

Fred waved in response. “It's rather worrying, these cultists.” he sat down

“How so?” she asked.

“I'm convinced they dragged me to this universe, they tried to kill the Princess, and we're expecting them to summon a demon. It's confusing how the hell they can even manage this.”

“How do you fight a demon anyway?” she asked.

“Shoot, I missed that lesson. I dunno, holy water?” 'That was how Van Helsing did it, among other things.' “I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing.”

Jenga responded. “I doubt anypony knows how to fight a demon.”

“So we're all flying blind... Great,” Fred commented. He unlocked his watch in a semi-random attempt to learn about fighting demons, but without an Internet connection, or knowledge on how big Potens Daemonium would be in the first place, he had no clue on what to look for.

Fred decided to do some vocal speculation. “Well, Potens Daemonium sounds like a large-sized bastard, so a one-on-one is out of the question. If that's the case, it'll take legions to bring it down. Guess that's why the guards are training that way.”

“I'm not versed in fighting, but I certainly want to help,” Jenga mentioned.

“I agree. I'm not about to just sit here, damned if I don't do something.” He banged his fist on his knee. 'Hmm... I do have that fear detector I discovered.' He unlocked the Scavenger Watch again to see if he could get any readings from the neuro-receptor. Alas, he could only see minor readings, which is a good thing, considering the correlation with the last time it spiked.

*Rumble*

With a heavy scent of magic empowering the building, the Cult of Daemonium, who had been working their hardest to achieve their goal, finally accomplished it.

In the centre of the room stood a ruby, situated on a pedestal. Everypony – unicorn, pegasus and earth pony – were feeding magic into it. The gem responded by glowing brightly in the same colour as all the robes they wore.

On an indoor balcony, an earth pony stood proudly. “It is time. I have spoken to our leader, and he is on his way!

The ruby shone brighter, and eventually shot a beam upward through the ceiling.

“Come to us, Potens Daemonium!”

A few kilometres out from Canterlot, a wormhole began to open. Despite the ruby's colour, the portal shone blue, similar to the one Fred Walsh entered Equestria in. The inter-dimensional gateway sparked and it even seemed to glow a fiery yellow-red colour from within.

The wormhole was massive, at least fifty metres (164 ft) in diameter. With a growling sound, a red claw emerged.

*Rumble*

“What the hell was that‽” Fred exclaimed.

“Oh Celestia, I think those cultists succeeded.” Jenga looked up.

“Filius a canis,” he muttered.

“I've gotta see outside.” she rushed out the door.

Fred stood up, quickly looked around, spotting the knife and holster. 'Screw it, I'm bringing this with me.' He grabbed the weapon and dashed out.

Chapter 18 - Balcony

Chapter 18
*The camera shakes as Fred runs*
“Well, as it turns out, the castle was definitely right to be on high alert. Judging from these earthquakes, Potens Daemonium was just summoned. I think I'd be right to say we're screwed.”

*Rumble*

“I have no clue whether or not fighting this hellish bastard's even possible. I truly hope that the defence forces are up to scratch and able to combat... Him? It?

“On the bright side, I definitely wasn't a demon, but I still have next to no doubt that the cultists summoned me here by accident while trying to bring their guy over here.

“Alright, then, time to go and hope for the best."

With a fast pace, Fred Walsh and Jenga Redheart reached one of the castle’s Southern balconies. Standing frozen on the aesthetic construction was Princess Celestia, who was thoroughly paralysed as she stared down the mountain Canterlot was situated on. The pegasus and human followed suit and looked out to see what she was afraid of.

At the base of the mountain there could be seen a blue glow, ever shrinking The portal. Recently emerged from the wormhole was a humongous dark red creature climbing up the mountain. There was no doubt that it was Potens Daemonium. It was bipedal, similar to Fred, but the similarities mostly end there. The demon had two strong legs, with black hooves at the end. Its arms were thick at the shoulders, but the wrists were only half the diameter. The beast’s hand was extremely bony, with sharp claws for slicing. The head was wide, with soulless black eyes and two curved horns above its long, pointy ears, though they didn’t seem able to influence any magic.

Jenga was the first to say anything, “Oh, Celestia, it's climbing up the mountain... Princess!” she tried to draw Equestria's ruler out of her frozen panic.

Sirens began blaring seemingly everywhere to warn the whole of Canterlot about the imminent attack. That, coupled with Jenga, was enough to grab the alicorn from her fright.

“This may be the one of the worst things in Equestrian history,” she gasped fearfully.

“Only if it's not stopped,” Fred replied, still holding a knife in its holster.

“How, exactly, would that even be possible?” Jenga questioned him.

“I have no idea, but I didn't get dragged all the way out from my home and into Equestria just so I could die here,” Fred responded, equipping the holster so he could free his hands. He activated the neuro-receptor on the Scavenger Watch to observe the reactions of the populace down below, but it wasn't nearly as effective as it was when Princess Celestia was confronted by those cultists a few days ago. 'Possibly it has to do with magical prowess? Though, magic was being drained. Amplified, possibly, but-'

A masculine voice interrupted Fred's quickly derailing thoughts. “Princess!” It was Bullhorn. “The evacuation warning's gone out but I'm not sure how many citizens are going to escape in time.”

“I'm not letting this monster set a single foot in my city,” Celestia firmly stated as she turned back to the balcony.

“You can't be considering fighting that thing yourself,” the unicorn objected.

“If Potens Daemonium makes it to Canterlot, it won't matter whether or not I'm still here,” she said with closed eyes.

Out from the castle, a number of pegasus guards, adorned in their golden armour, flew out to attempt to contain the demon, but their attacks were ineffective, as it was able to swipe at them heavily, and any successful attacks did no noticeable damage.

Fred spoke up in light of the defence forces' attempts, “A direct confrontation's out of the question. It's not even going to do anything. Daemonium's not going to fall that way.”

Jenga quickly thought up an idea:“What if we attacked from the inside?” she suggested. “There's gotta be something worth hitting.”

“That's more than a little bit gross, but if it's possible to get in there, you might have a point.” he replied.

“If you're seriously going to go in there, Princess, I request to join,” Bullhorn said stubbornly, pre-emptively refusing to take no for an answer.

“I'm coming too,” Jenga joined in.

Fred pondered this, briefly. “Can I come?” 'Wait, I can't fly... Neither can Bullhorn, for that matter. How's this supposed to work?'

Princess Celestia took a moment to respond: “Okay, but I don't know if I can protect you.”

“We're joining so we can protect you, Princess,” Bullhorn countered.

“I can levitate you two,” she nodded toward the stallion and human, “if we have a plan.”

Jenga looked outward to the battle scene, with the pegasus guards slowly losing against Potens Daemonium. She spotted something useful and came up with an idea.“As unusual as it may be, the ears would prove a good entry point,” she pointed out.

“As I said before, gross,” Fred reiterated his statement from earlier.

“Alright then, let's get moving,” the alicorn stated. Her horn ignited with a faint yellow glow, and a similar light engulfed the two unable-to-fly males. Shortly afterward, the unicorn and human lifted off the ground.

A quick “whoa” escaped Fred as he lost connection with the balcony, and he spent a second flailing his legs, attempting to find a support. After that moment, he relaxed in the sun goddess' embrace. In contrast, he noticed that Bullhorn stayed still the entire time.

Princess Celestia and Jenga Redheart both looked out from the balcony at Potens Daemonium, silently agreeing upon their destination. Simultaneously, they leaped off the tower to enact their plan.

They needed to stop Potens Daemonium before it reaches Canterlot.

Chapter 19 - Daemonium

Chapter 19
“Well, one thing's nice. You have to admire Canterlot's structural integrity. Despite being situated on the side of a mountain, it holds together, even while under attack from a freaking demon. That's quality construction... Or magic... Probably both, actually.

“Of course I'm not going to let Potens Daemonium take over Equestria. I'm here, I don't know how long I will be, or if I even can return home. I'm not just going to sit there and die. Damned if I don't do anything to help.”

Flying was quite a different experience for Fred Walsh. His only previous experience of not being on the ground at all consisted of aeroplanes, jumping and of course, the wormhole that brought him to Equestria in the first place.

It was an exhilarating feeling. Princess Celestia and Jenga Redheart flew side-by-side toward Potens Daemonium's ear, keeping out of sight, while the alicorn kept a telekinetic hold on Bullhorn and Fred. To the human, the pull felt light yet still strong, like he was swimming in air, though a tad windier.

The demon was preoccupied with the royal guard, and didn't notice the spontaneous attack team coming toward him, and they managed to swoop in undetected. Before the group landed, Celestia a spell and seemed to channel another. Then, they set hoof/foot inside. Fred noticed they didn't make a sound on arrival. However, before he could contemplate the reason, a voice sounded in his mind.

“Okay, my little ponies... and Fred. This should let us communicate silently. We don't want to be heard inside the demon's ear.”

“Princess Celestia? This'll take some getting used to,” Fred attempted to reply to the psychic broadcast.

“Agreed. Smart idea, though,” he recognised that as Jenga.

“Let's move.” Straight to the point of the matter was Bullhorn. Without anything left to say for the time being, the Princess lit up the area ahead and they journeyed deeper into the ear.

The team had to be careful to stay balanced due to the demon's mountain climbing, which caused the insides to sway back and forth.

“Rather clean in here,” the pegasus broadcast a passing comment after some walking through the ear.

“Well, I can add this to my list of things that I never expected to do, which I need to make.. You seem to know quite a lot of things about biology for an engineer,” the human pointed out.

“I like to know how things work, including biology. It's not limited to mechanical contraptions.” she answered.

“Fair enough, I guess,” he replied.

After a short walk through Potens Daemonium's ear canal, free of obstructions, the four arrived at the being's eardrum and paused.

“How are we going to get past here?” Fred broadcast. He watched as Bullhorn stepped in front of the group and charged his horn. The human plugged his ears as he realised that the unicorn was about to use his magical namesake. With a sonic blast, the demon's eardrum shattered.

A pained roar could be heard from outside, then everything began to vibrate strongly. The team scrambled to find something to hold onto as Daemonium attempted to remove them from its ear. Celestia's guiding light temporarily went out from the unexpected development, causing everything to become a worrying pitch black.

After around twenty seconds of non-stop shaking, it ceased. Princess Celestia stood up and recast her light spell to end the darkness. Everyone climbed out from various areas and regrouped at Celestia.

The alicorn broadcast, “That was a close one, is everypo- everybody alright?”

“Well, the demon definitely didn't like that,” Jenga responded.

“Good. That means we're on the right path,” Bullhorn replied.

“On the bright side of that, Bullhorn is one of the few I've known who can use caps lock so effectively.”

“Let's continue, I'm sure we can't be far from ending this... nightmare.” Fred noticed the Princess paused briefly in that last sentence.

Potens Daemonium was halfway up the path to Canterlot when its ear fell under intense pain. It didn't know the origin, though fortunately, in a frantic attempt to remove the cause, it stumbled a few steps down the mountain, buying the city and its inhabitants a little more time to evacuate, even if it did daze the impromptu strike team.

Princess Celestia, Lieutenant Bullhorn, Jenga Redheart and Fred Walsh stood at the end of the demon's ear, near the shattered eardrum, looking out to its brain.

“If we're going to destroy this monster, we have to sever a crucial connection in its brain.” Jenga, knowledgeable as ever, began to search for the proper section.

“What's the best spot to cut? I brought the cultist's knife along.” Fred un-holstered and inspected the weapon before replacing it.

“It's probably a dangerous option for us to go prancing around, damaging random brain matter. Give me a moment to find a good spot of tissue.” she distracted herself as she examined Potens Daemonium's brain.

“This must be the oddest week I've ever had, from nerd to demon hunter in just a few days. What about you?” he gestured to the other three, though the pegasus was occupied.

“The guard's primarily decorative. We've never had a threat this big before, at least in the history I've known. Then there's also your appearance.” Bullhorn was the first to reply.

The Princess didn't broadcast anything, but the human expected she was thinking about Luna. He decided it best not to do some contemplation of his own at the moment, lest he arouse suspicion by accidentally sending his show knowledge out.

“I think I see where we need to cut. Follow me,” Jenga finished her brain examination and led the others deeper within, navigating to the stem.

Fred decided to check for signals with the neuro-receptor again. He could see lots of activity – He was inside Potens Daemonium's brain, after all. He logged it into a file so he could potentially research it later before deactivating the device. As it was a single receptor and not a complete headset as it originally was, he couldn't determine thoughts, only exceptionally strong brainwaves and/or emotions, such as Celestia's fear when the cultists showed their faces a few days ago.

“Okay, we're here!” Jenga stopped at the brain stem.

Fred walked up to it and stopped. “What happens after I cut this? It's not going to be especially stable.”

“Good point, we'll have to leave in a hurry.” She looked slightly worried now that he had pointed that out.

“I'll teleport us out once we're done.” the alicorn reassured the others.

Potens Daemonium had finally climbed the mountain to Canterlot. Though the evacuation had been going for some time, it was not nearly long enough to extract the whole population of the metropolis. Ponies fled from the demon as it climbed over the city walls.

Nothing alive was in range at the time, so it gripped the most destructible nearby object, which happened to be the clock tower. The building came out of the ground with some effort and the abomination hoisted it overhead, preparing to throw.

Echoes could be heard from outside the head.

Celestia gasped. “I think it's reached my city.”

“We're out of time. It's now or never.” Fred sprinted to the brain stem and brandished the knife, pressing it against the tissue. “This universe is protected, you bastard.” He sliced through the brain.

Everything began to spin as the demon fell. Everybody rushed to Celestia as she charged the teleport out. Once in range, she released the spell, and they all left the beast's head.

The four re-materialised with a yellow flash on the balcony they departed from. They were just in time to witness Potens Daemonium's hellish red body be crushed by the clock tower it picked up.

“Well, that was certainly well timed,” Fred managed to say after a few failed attempts at broadcasting through the now-inactive telepathic channel.

“Indeed,” Bullhorn replied.

A/N: Jenkins.

Chapter 20 - Cleanup

Chapter 20
“Well, we killed Potens Daemonium, bitches.

“I think while inside his head, I had one of those 'what the hell am I doing?' moments. I used to be a person who had a few friends and played video games, and now I've fallen through a wormhole and fought a demon. Who else can say that? Also, can I even say that? It won't really be taken seriously, not to mention my very existence here infringes on copyright. I'll have to think about this.

“Speaking of saying, In retrospect, I used a cliché when I said that it's now or never. Screw it, the meaning still applies for now.

“Amazingly, there were no casualties, other than the demon. City damage was high, though. It tore out the whole clock tower with its bare hands! Fortunately, given enough time, Canterlot can be cleaned and destruction rebuilt.”

Fred Walsh witnessed the eyesore that is the body of Potens Daemonium taking up a large portion of Canterlot. From the castle's Southern balcony, he watched a number of volunteers attempting to clean up the mess. He could see the unicorns breaking the corpse into smaller parts, while the earth ponies and pegasi moved them inside somewhere. 'They might be just storing those remains for movement elsewhere, or that's a crematorium.'

It was only a few hours after the demon had been stopped, and most of the city's residents had already returned once the evacuation was no longer in effect.

With some time remaining before sunset, Princess Celestia was going to make an address at the castle gates about the event that had transpired. As the cultists were still a potential threat, even though their icon had been destroyed, precautions had been put into place. The alicorn had her magical protective jewellery on, spare harmonic amethysts were equipped by some of the guards and imperceptible physical barriers had been set up in case of non-magical projectile attacks. The wielders of these barriers were two unicorn guards, standing a few metres either end from their leader-deity, ready for anything.

Still on the balcony, Fred had a decent view of the upcoming speech, and the perception filter cast on him was still in place, so nopony would freak out if they looked.

“Attention subjects,” the Princess began with a magically amplified voice in front of a crowd, “a few hours ago, Canterlot's evacuation warning sounded when a demon known as Potens Daemonium attempted to destroy the city. As you can see, the threat was destroyed and safety has been restored. The culprits behind the monster's appearance was a sinister cult which summoned it, and they have shown themselves before.”

At that moment, a mass of the cultists charged from the back of the audience.

Fred Walsh, still watching from the balcony, caught sight of the red-cloaked ponies.

“Irrumabo, they're back,” he muttered before sprinting downstairs, though the route was long.

Meanwhile, the chaos at the gates continued. Civilians were panicking and fleeing as the cultists ran in. A group of three unicorns charged a missile together in a magic pool, to enhance its power threold.ef They released it toward the alicorn. Celestia flinched as the spell barged toward her until it dissipated with a purple glow from the amethyst jewellery. 'Fred Walsh was right; these harmonic amethysts will be useful.' The Princess telekinetically grabbed the three ponies to immobilise and disable them.

Bullhorn ran outside to assist, sonic blasting a few cultist earth ponies off their hooves. Other guards sprinted into action, protecting the populace and fighting off the attackers.

A herd of four ponies, two earth and two pegasi, charged toward the Princess. The earth ponies were halted by two guards while the pegasi hit the hidden physical barrier around her. The ponies holding the barrier looked strained from the forces. Two cult unicorns realised the source of the barriers and cast knock-out spells on both the guards, then were arrested themselves.

The battle raged for a few minutes, still with frightened civilians around, when finally the attackers were down to one: The messenger who started it all. The earth pony charged toward the Princess in a mixed emotion of rage and... sadness from loss?

“My leader lies defeated!” he screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran. “Now you will join him,” he finished darkly.

Celestia charged a defensive spell but she dissipated it when the final cultist was suddenly jerked sideways from Bullhorn's sonic blast. Guards approached the red-cloaked pony and arrested him as they did with the others.

Fred Walsh exited the castle, noting that he was late to the battle, which had been resolved. He couldn't fight well anyway but wouldn't hesitate to help. He slowed himself to a stop when he reached the gate where Celestia stood. The perception filter was still active so worry wouldn't arise from any onlookers.

“Princess, looks like that got taken care of.” He tried to hide the fact he was a little out of breath.

The two stepped to the side as the guards pushed the now-captive messenger into the castle to the dungeons. They heard some quiet rambling as he went past.

“My master... he's gone... I can't hear the voices anymore...” he sobbed. The human and alicorn gave each other a look somewhere in between confusion and relief.

Some of the civilians moved to revive the unconscious guards now that the dilemma was over.

Bullhorn approached the Princess. “Area secured, your majesty.”

“That cult certainly doesn't know when to give up,” Fred sighed. “Your speech definitely spoke true, though.”

“We should get inside,” Celestia suggested.

The sun had set and the moon rose in the sky. Princess Celestia observed the moonrise on one of Canterlot Castle's Eastern balconies. Now free from the threat of The Cult of Potens Daemonium, her regret the events against her sister had returned. She was preoccupied with the cultists to think about it since Fred Walsh's appearance, but nothing else was available to draw her mind away.

The aforementioned human was aimlessly strolling through the castle's corridors until he spotted Celestia looking out at the moon from the balcony. He changed his path to find out what she was doing.

“Princess, you okay?”

She gave a sorrowful sigh. “Since your arrival, I've been thinking about how I treated my sister all those years ago.” As she confessed, Fred looked up at the moon. “She changed for the worse, but I didn't think my actions through, and now I will never see her again.”

He noticed a lone light orbiting the moon and remembered the prophecy in the first episode of the show. 'The stars will aid in her escape.' “I don't recall a star orbiting the moon.”

The princess was confused at Fred's change-of-topic, but turned her gaze to what he was describing. She observed the slowly moving object for a few seconds before her countenance turned to a mix of both worry and excitement. She knew what would eventually happen. Luna would return, but as Nightmare Moon.

Celestia whispered, “My sister's coming back... But I won't be able to stop the corruption inside her.. Not on my own. I can't wield the Elements any longer.”

“The Elements of Harmony, I read. So, you'd need to find new bearers for when the time comes.”

“I will have to prepare.” She left the balcony in contemplation.

'It's also night-time. I should go and sleep,' Fred thought before leaving to turn in for the night.

Chapter 21 - Wormhole Part 1

Chapter 21
“Wow, those cultists sure love to keep the pressure on. I have no idea how many of those guys there are, but they've failed repeatedly, and I'm fairly certain that we got the one who started it all. I wonder if they'll actually back off for once.

“It's a good thing that Celestia now knows about Nightmare Moon's return. Saves me the trouble of causing an existential crisis and there was no way I could possibly look forward to that. Still, she knows that it's going to take plenty of work. New bearers for the Elements, knowledge of the date of return and even getting Ponyville founded – Who chose that name anyway... Or rather, will choose?”

The day appeared far brigher than others in recent memory, though not in the literal sense. Everything just seemed happier, somehow. Those in her vicinity may have noticed the correlation with Princess Celestia's mood.

The alicorn, ever since she learned of her sister's eventual return, has been extremely cheerful. She arose noticeably more energetically than previous mornings since discovering that she could redeem herself for actions long past. It's possible that she's the happiest she's been in a long time.

Of course, preparing for Princess Luna's return would require much preparation, she knew. Picking out a suitable location to influence the return, for example. But for the time being, planning had to wait until some other things were completed.

Further interrogations of the cultists that attacked Celestia during her address yesterday, they discovered the most recently used base of the cultists, and a team was dispatched to investigate. As Bullhorn's sonic attacks have been effective against the harmonic amethysts, he lead the group of five ponies in case any more surprises lay in wait for them

Upon arrival at the house, the exterior seemed completely normal, nothing to really differentiate it from the others on the block. Inside, however, was a different story. Banners were hung on every wall. They depicted a silhouette of Potens Daemonium standing tall amidst a sea of crimson fabric.

Traces of magic lingered in the air, from a powerful spell cast some time ago. The more powerful the spell, the longer is stays. Unfortunately, it was impossible to determine the spell cast at this late of an arrival, even with the residual magic.

At the back of the main room, a static platform rose from the floor, obviously set up so those down below could observe the speeches of the messenger. In the centre of the room stood a wooden pedestal. A three-pronged metal claw protruded from the top of the pedistal to hold various gemstones atop it, but no such gem presided on it. Instead, there were fragments of what was a single ruby scattered on the floor nearby. They radiated a faint glow.

Bullhorn ordered the others, “We'll take these gems back with us, but be careful. These are likely what started this whole mess.” The team collected the ruby fragments, dismantled the banners and continued searching the place. Nothing else stood out, so they returned to Canterlot Castle.

Doctor Green was on call to examine the fragments of the ruby retrieved from the cultists' assembly point. In the lab, the gems were placed on one of the tables, separate from everything else such as the other gems or the knife. He began scanning the rubies with his horn, taking extreme caution. After all, they're the most likely culprits for what caused the entire cult in the first place. Every so often, he'd scribble something in his scientific journal.

Some time later, he gave his scientific report to Princess Celestia.

“What have you learned, doctor?” she asked

“The rubies are definitely harmonic, there's no doubt about that. What I find most peculiar, though, is that they each have different universal signatures.”

She was surprised. “What does this entail?”

“I believe that the Elements' interaction with the ruby gave it connections to other universes. It's likely that one of these leads to Potens Daemonium's home, and another may lead to Fred Walsh's origin point,” he explained.

“So it's a multiverse cluster?” she questioned curiously.

“Or something to that effect, yes. I believe that when the cultists attempted summoning the demon for the first time, they aimed at the wrong shard and retrieved our human friend instead.”

“Too bad we can't use it to send him home without the spell they used,” she mentioned. “It sounds as if the messenger-cult leader found the harmonic ruby, somehow contacted the demon through it, then sought to summon destruction to Equestria.”

With the ruby analysis completed, Princess Celestia returned to the throne room, hoping things would be comfortable and not deadly for once. She believed it was time to commend those involved for their help in the cult mayhem.

A crowd, mainly that of the palace guards and the staff, were gathered in the castle's throne room. Fred Walsh, Jenga Redheart and Lieutenant Bullhorn stood at the base of the stairs, while Celestia presided at the top, in front of the throne.

“Lieutenant Bullhorn,” she addressed a light brown unicorn stallion with dark brown hair.

'Oh, so that's his appearance without armour... Wait, didn't I pass him while first going to the science lab?'

“For your bravery and assistance in defeating Potens Daemonium and its associated cult, I award you a promotion from a Lieutenant, to the rank of Captain. Congratulations, Captain Bullhorn.”

The recently-promoted unicorn saluted the Princess with his hoof before returning to the other three.

As he passed Fred, the human joked, “But now you have to wear a specific hat.” Before the unicorn could respond, small tremors began to shake the room.

'So much for a peaceful day,' she mentally sighed.

“It's been a while, but I'm damn sure I've felt this before,” Fred vocalised his thought process. The rumbling grew louder and felt as if it was coming from the middle of the throne room. “Stercore, incoming wormhole!”

The moment he finished that sentence, a loud crack broke out, yet softer in volume than the last wormhole. The portal, too, appeared in a different colour than blue. Instead, it glowed a yellow-white. To add to this, there didn't seem to be any gravitational pull, such as the one that posibly collapsed Fred's house.

“Well, that's different,” the human noted as the guards placed themselves defensively around the anomaly. 'Also, is that crack softer or am I just getting used to these?'

Along with the theme changes, the wormhole's event horizon was vertical – pointed at the walls instead of the floor. It expanded to a size slightly larger than Fred, but nothing came through. On a hunch, he used the Scavenger Watch to look for radio signals from the on-board equipment – Notably, the Wi-Fi adapter, AM/FM receiver and also his inbuilt walkie-talkie, which he now realised he hadn't coded support for yet. 'How did I manage to not notice a critical communication flaw? Well, I'm paying for it now. What else is here? Maybe I can try something else.' He received weak radio signals on the AM/FM receiver and, amazingly, an open Wi-Fi network called BC-N-Sci-Guest. Still acting on impulse, he connected.

Fred waited a moment to be assigned an IP address, then began broadcasting packets throughout the network in hopes of opening communications with the other side, while keeping open a diagnostic tool of his own to track incoming packets. It was a long shot, but he didn't have any other communication method.

He broadcast “FREDWALSH” in the packet. He thought, if the wormhole did lead to home, that his departure may have been the catalyst for the research. 'That seems slightly egomeniacal, but I'm unaware of any other spontaneous wormholes at this time.'

It took a few moments, but Fred amazed himself when he actually got a response. Examining the packet, the text read “ON OTHER SIDE?”

“Huh.” He nodded, then used the watch to send a reply: “YES”.

Then, Fred received a link to an internet site he recognised; a web-based voice chat system. He opened it with the browser. As he loaded the page, Princess Celestia took notice.

“I think I'm establishing communications to the other side,” he pre-emptively replied. “Ah, here we go.”

“Is this for real? I thought that guy was dead,” a male voice spoke out. It sounded Canadian.

“I hope so, I haven't seen that address connect before,” a female voice replied to the first.

“Can you lot just explain why there's a yellow wormhole right in front of me?” Fred interrupted.

“I'll give you the rundown,” the former voice began. “A wormhole somehow opened, and collapsed your home a long time ago. We're trying to replicate the anomaly a bit safer.”

“Yeah, I did worry when this much debris came along for the ride,” he transmitted through the watch.

The female voice spoke next: “Just come though and we'll explain everything. You'll also be the first thing to travel inside our wormhole.”

“Okay, give me a moment.” He disconnected, then looked toward Celestia and the others. “I'm going home... Cool.”

“So on the other side is your universe?” Jenga asked.

“They've certainly been busy. Wormhole physics was just theoretical when I departed, and only ever seen in fiction.”

“Right then, guess it's time for some goodbyes: Princess Celestia, thanks for being hospitable and not immediately killing me when we first met. You'll find your sister again, just be ready.”

“Jenga, thanks for no bad touches,” referencing their encounter the first morning while en route to the science lab.

“Bullhorn, excellent work on your promotion and good luck for the future.”

Fred Walsh began to walk towards the patient wormhole. Before entering, he turned around and pressed some buttons on the Scavenger Watch to open the video recorder. “I don't really want to waste more time and raise their power bills any higher, but one last thing:”

Chapter 22 - Wormhole Part 2 / Epilogue

Chapter 22

*In the background behind Fred, a yellow glow can be seen.*

“This is Frederick Brian Walsh and this should be my final documentation of my odd journey in Equestria. As it turns out, Midgård managed to produce that portal behind me, which slightly concerns me about how long I've been gone. As I said once before, it's more important to know when you are rather than where you are. The science is enormous! I'll find out more on the other side.

“I once believed that I was high on something when I first arrived, but since then, I've begun doubting that. I'm sure I would've noticed a hallucination by now. Also, I doubt they could last this long.

“Well, it looks like Equestria will live on. If the wormhole is stable and reproducable, I might visit again... Though that might not be the best idea, depending on the reactions of everyone in Midgård. I'll cross the bridges when I get to them, which includes how to tell what I've seen..”

*The camera pans to see everypony around him.*

“Bye, guys! If I ever return, I'll tell you what the wormhole feels like. I wasn't focused on my first arrival.”

*The feed cuts out as he steps into the wormhole.*

It had been a few hours since Fred Walsh returned home and Princess Celestia had been reflecting on the events of the past few days; primarily how close she came to death from that cult, and their persistence when it came to defeating them.

It occurred to the Princess that her royal guard was obviously not suited to the tasks of defeating extreme menaces to the Equestrian populace. They were better suited for smaller threats, such as security breaches or occasional investigations, though the larger problems, such as Potens Daemonium, required a different approach. Celestia decided to take a lesson learned from the past week: A small, though well trained, team can be much more effective than a large army. The impromptu strike group formed during the demon's attack showed clear proof of her idea.

Thus, the alicorn concluded that a specialised unit of ponies would be much more applicable for more pressing situations. First and foremost however, a name needed to be selected. Around a table were gathered potential candidates for those who may join the team, including some such as Bullhorn and Jenga, to help pick a title.

Princess Celestia revealed her first idea: “The only one I can imagine at this time is Celestia's Army, but that is too forceful,” 'especially noting that an army is not what I want in the first place.'

“What about The Knights of Good?” Bullhorn made the first suggestion.

“Close, but I don't think that accurately describes the idea behind it,” Jenga critiqued. “I was thinking that Celesita's Army is closer in terms of intended meaning, but could use some alterations. How about The Solar Task Force, or STF?”

“I agree with that one.” Bullhorn nodded. “How are you always so good with names?”

“A secondary talent, I guess.” She smiled.

“It's settled, then.” Celestia stood up. “The Solar Task Force is a specialised unit of ponies dedicated to defending Equestria from unique threats that the Royal Guard is unable to. They also will defend those in need and keep an eye out for potential new bearers for the Elements of Harmony; ensuring they are bearers and protect them. We'll need the Elements to be usable when the time comes for Nightmare Moon's return.

Hoofsteps echoed on the tiles of Canterlot castle. The source of which were the legs of a lone earth pony calmly trotting down the corridor. He had visited the castle a week earlier, before the entire cult fiasco, to deliver a warning which went unheeded. As before, the aged pony was dressed in a black cloak and he possessed, holstered, a plain wooden staff.

The supposedly-insane prophet crossed the antechamber before entering the throne room. Princess Celestia sat in wait on her seat as court was in session. She recognised him as the pony she disregarded a week ago. Now that she thought about it...

“The signs have begun to show themselves!”

“After the events of the past week, and the star in orbit around the moon, I realise that you were correct from the beginning. I'm sorry for not heeding your warnings,” Celestia apologised.

The prophet nodded. “I have come to learn that on the one thousandth year of the summer sun celebration, Nightmare Moon will return. That star is only the first sign; there are more to come, and more hardships on the way.”

“I'm listening.”

Fred Walsh felt weightless as he effortlessly traversed the yellow wormhole back home. 'This feels interesting, like floating in a void, except I can breathe and not get the bends.'

He continued to float through the tunnel, feeling confused. 'Awfully long travel time; I've been in here a minute while the blue wormhole/cult summoning took only a few seconds.'

In boredom, he checked his watch for the time, then promptly disregarded it as the differentials between Equestria and Midgård left tracking the clock pointless, especially while travelling between locations. 'How long is this? Seriously...'

'Although, the wormhole slightly reminds me of the time vortex, though it looks completely different.'

About thirty seconds worth of flight ahead of him, Fred saw a build-up of light. He believed it to be the exit. 'Finally, I'm nearly out of here. Not long to go.' With approximately ten seconds left before he could return home, a massive wall-like structure, taking up both the inside and outside of the wormhole, suddenly barged in his direction, which painfully hit him directly in the chest, redirecting him elsewhere.

Fred's body collapsed from the unexpected blow and the entire wormhole turned red as it twisted endlessly and violently. He quickly gained velocity falling through it. 'I'm supposed to be going home! What the hell is going on‽ This is not how wormholes work!'

Probably won't be continued...

Chapter 10 - Depression and Dimensions

Chapter 10

“That settles it; Celestia is on the verge of bloody depression and has been ever since she had to banish Luna. That can’t be good for anyone in any universe, let alone the ruler of Equestria, and she’s not going to get better until her sister returns, which isn’t for another 204 years.

“Hmm, maybe if Celestia knows Luna will return, it might lighten her spirits. Though, she’ll need to know that Nightmare Moon will return first. That prophet might be a good way to tell her, but he’d need proof before she believes anything.

“This is going to be hell to fix, and I’ll have to be careful to make sure I don’t reveal my knowledge of the show to anypony.

“...Wait, did I just say that I have to get Celestia to see one of the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return?”

After lunch had concluded, Fred Walsh once again returned to his room by utilising the mental map he had been building. He didn’t really enjoy the meal that much; he wasn’t paying attention. He was too worried about Princess Celestia’s well-being the entire time.

‘She’s keeping those feelings inside. I’m not a psychologist, but I know damn well that’s a bad option. I’m not leaving until I know she’s going to be ok.’ Fred stepped out onto the balcony to think about what he could do. He looked out to the West again and noticed that the dots he thought to be Ponyville had now disappeared. ‘Odd, could’ve sworn that was Ponyville. Mustn’t’ve been, then; leaving me to wonder what it was. Guess it probably doesn’t matter.’

Fred found the outdoor view a little distracting for his current mindset so he stepped back in and closed the door to continue pondering the sun princess’ condition. He deeply considered her depression for quite some time, he lost track of it.

‘Screw it; I’m not going to get anything done in here.’ He purposefully left the room to find the Princess, assuming she wasn’t busy with day court or something else. He didn’t really care if Celestia would try and keep it inside; talking to another about problems can make a difference, even on its own.

‘Back to wandering the corridors senselessly, I guess. But first I’ll try the main chamber.’ Fred took a left from the blue guest room to find the princess. He doubted he’d make it in, but he expected her to be in the throne room holding court.

Fred navigated the corridors between his room and the antechamber leading to the throne room fairly efficiently now thanks to his use of the major walkway. When he reached the double doors to the throne room, they were open and it was empty. ‘Well, other than that prophet, I haven’t seen anypony even walk to or from the throne room. Maybe she doesn’t do it today.’

Fred turned and walked back through the corridors to work out a new plan to find Celestia. He passed science laboratory 3 again and heard the princess’ voice, along with one of the scientists from earlier. He looked inside.

“What’s a universal signature, anyway?” he heard the princess ask.

The unicorn stallion she was conversing with – crimson coat and dark brown hair – spoke next: “Basically, every universe has a certain unique energy pattern present in local matter. Fred Walsh has a signature different from ours. It’ll start to degrade as he regenerates his cells with local materials.”

Fred butted in, “So I’d be stuck here if you can’t see enough of my pattern?” He temporarily put aside his goal to learn some science instead.

The unicorn confused at his sudden appearance, but recovered quickly. “I’d estimate a month tops.”

“So we have a month for me to get back to Earth,” ‘A month to help Celestia.’

“Although my country is Equestria, our planet is also named Earth,” Celestia inputted. “It’s slightly confusing.”

Fred pondered this for a moment. “Midgård it is, then.”

“That’s all I have; it’s in my report, if you wish to read it,” the stallion gestured toward a few pages of parchment stacked on top of each other.

“Thank you, Doctor Green,” the alicorn ended the conversation.

‘Crimson but called Green? Well, it’s either his last name, or his parents’ idea of a joke .It’s probably rude to ask.’

Celestia turned to leave the lab, but Fred interrupted before she could, “Princess, at lunch you said you didn’t want to talk about your past, but you can’t-“

“Fred Walsh, you are welcome to stay in the castle until we can send you home, but I’m not going to talk about it.” She didn’t quite storm off, but her steps were faster and heavier than normal.

‘Shit.’

Very little happened for the remainder of the day. Fred didn’t see the princess since the conversation in the science lab, not even at dinner, which he still felt out-of-place. He asked one of the bakers, and it was okay for him to eat the meals in his room in the future.

It had gone dark. Fred glanced at his watch; it read 9:37 PM. He decided it was time to turn in for the night, so he made his way to his room through the dark corridors, and into bed. ‘Comfortable… Anyway, I’ll look for Celestia tomorrow.’