Author's Note

Hello, yes I'm still alive. Sorry this took so long and that it's not longer, but I hope you enjoy. Also Happy Thanksgiving.

Chapter 13

“What’s the best option here?” I wonder, taking a moment to run through my options in my head. The world around me slows to the point it appears to not even move as I think. “If I tell them the truth it might attract more attention than I want, after all Ponyville is a pretty big deal for these guys. On the other hand, if I lie and tell them I’m going somewhere else I could come back to bite me. Chances are they’ll ask each person where they’re all going in front of the whole group.”

“When they gave us our papers they were written in plain black sharpie, so I forged a second name on the back of my original slip just in case. But is it wise to lie at this point?” I let out the breath and time appears to return to its normal flow. “I’m going to hell that’s where.”

“Sorry, what was that?” Marie asks, leaning in to hear me.

“Don’t get me wrong.” I start to say, planning out every word before speaking. “It’s cool that I get to go, but you have to admit, the most shit seems to go wrong here.” I hold up my paper, the back with the forged name facing me, the front displaying my location to my curious comrades, “Ponyville.”

“Sweet, good to know someone trustworthy will make a good impression on the most famous place in Equestria.” One looks around after finishing his sentence. He cups his hand around his mouth and leans in. “You want us to keep this secret, I mean I like these guys and all, but they can be pretty vicious, especially when it comes to Ponyville.”

“Actually yeah, I’d appreciate that.” I say, giving One a smile with a bit of false weakness, ”I don’t really want to be pushed out more because I drew the golden straw.” I slip the paper back in my pocket and look over at Marie and Marco. “Do you guys mind keeping this a secret as well.”

“Nah man.” Marie assures resting her hand on Marco’s shoulder. “We got your back and we’re happy for you. Although you do have a point, the most batshit stuff does always seem to go down in Ponyville.”

“Marie's right, our lips are sealed.” Marco says, giving me a smile.

At that moment the doors of the room sing open and Silver walks in, accompanied by four other royal guards. “Alright everypony, get into groups of three and pick a guard to accompany you.” Silver says gesturing at the guard ponies behind her. Three of them were female and the fourth I recognized right away.

“Fine Tip?” I ask walking up. “How did you get roped into doing castle tours?”

Fine Tip looks over at me and sighs. “Apparently my behavior in the cafeteria was ‘improper and not befitting a royal guard’, so they said I needed to do some more grunt work.” Fine tip takes a few steps forward and walks past me. “So who do I get to show around?” Suddenly the room goes quiet, no one really wanting to go with him. In the silence I notice a faint wave similar to the power I felt in the portal room radiating from Fine Tip’s golden armor.

“Is your gear enchanted?” I ask, which seems to surprise Fine Tip.

“Uh, yeah.” he answers a bit hesitantly. “How could you tell, this armor’s custom, most guards don't have any magic in their armor.”

I focus more on Fine Tip’s armor and realise I can’t just feel the power, but it seems to let out a faint hum. “It’s a bit hard to miss.” I say. “That hum is a bit distracting if I’m being honest.”

My last sentence seems to get Silver’s attention as well as the unicorn guard Silver brought with her. “Did you say you hear a hum?” the other unicorn asks.

“Yeah, it’s like a constant low hushed piano key.” After saying this Silver eyes go wide and she takes a step forward.

“Wait, you can actually hear the magic in Fine Tip’s armor?” Silver asks, walking a small circle around me. Before looking up at the others in the room “Can any of you also hear anything?” The whole room goes silent and listens for a second which gives me more time to really listen to the sound of Fine Tip’s gear. After a few moments the rest of my team all say that they don’t really hear anything. “Stange.” Silver mutters.

“Is there any reason you seem so fixed on this Silver Dagger?” I ask.

“Well yeah, here in Equestria only unicorns can feel magic and very few of them can actually hear it.” Silver does another curious circle around me before looking back at my face. “Can you think of any reason you might be able to hear magic?”

I think for a moment, not only to figure out if there was actually a reason, but also to think of an excuse so the others don’t question me. “I guess I do have sensitive ears, for example I could hear dog whistles back home.” This isn't a total lie, I was able to hear much higher frequencies back when I had my hearing implants, but I haven’t had those for years now.

“I suppose that could explain it.” Silver says, pausing a moment. “I guess it doesn’t really matter. Anyway, now that that’s over, time to get going.”

The other members of the team split off into their groups and began to file out the door. “See y’all later.” I say before going back over to my lager bed and laying back down. I mean to merely rest my head a bit, but eventually I succumb to the calming embrace of sleep.

* * *

“Where are we?” I hear an echoey voice ask from behind me.

I scan the black void around for the intruder, finally I spot a large dark blue Alicorn standing about twenty feet away almost fading into the background of my mind. “I was wondering how long it would take before you started poking around in here. Although I must admit I expected you to wait at least a few days.” I say, approaching the mare.

“I was curious to know what the dreams of a human looked like, however I am surprised at the lack of thought here.” Luna defends. I let out a small chuckle before coming face to muzzle with the smaller pony. “Wha… how did I get so small?” She asks, looking over her body, only to find her wings missing. “HOW?” the mare growls in my face.

“Don’t worry, nothing here is permanent, but this is mymind, so you can only appear in whatever form I let you.”

“That’s impossible, no pony has that much control over their dreams.”

“Well I’m not a pony, am I?” I say, lingering on a stray thought for a moment before waving my hand. “And now neither are you, not fully anyway.” The Alicorn who had once stood in front of me was now replaced with a slender woman with dark blue fur and a long elegant black dress. Her face however was still the same, if not a tiny bit smaller.