Daedalus' New World

Twilight was nervous, sure, but she was mostly excited. This human, just three hours ago, had been fighting them in the old castle and now they were sitting just a seat away on the train that the eight of them shared alone. They had gone through Ponyville and, as expected, most of the ponies there seemed afraid of him though they didn't run and hide like they did for Zecora. Whether that was because they were becoming more accepting or if the Elements being with him made them calmer, she wasn't sure. They had stopped at the library to pick up Spike, then sent a quick letter to Princess Celestia.

Dear Princess Celestia,

We found the creature at your old castle in the Everfree and he attacked us soon after we entered. Fortunately, injuries were mild. He seemed unprepared, like he wasn't fighting very hard, but got a lucky hit on Rainbow. Her wing was broken but she's okay now. We used the Elements of Harmony on him and apparently purified him. He told us that he was under the control of his master and the Elements removed that control. Privately, Applejack confirmed that he had been honest so we don't think there's a reason to worry anymore. He apologized to Rainbow for hitting her and healed her wing, though I'm not sure how. It didn't look like magic and I was too nervous to ask at the time. He introduced himself as Daedalus and agreed to come to Canterlot without a problem.

Daedalus is mammalian, seemingly an evolution of some type of ape. He's tall, a little taller than you, and bipedal. His face is flat with a small nose, mouth, eyes, and ears. He's got brown hair on the lower part of his face and the top of his head, but the rest of his body is covered in all black clothes. During the battle, I hit him with some low level stun spells but they seemed to burn him pretty badly, though the injuries are healed now. I think he's very susceptible to magic. He also seems friendly enough now that he's not being controlled. He doesn't know where he is or how he got here and said that ponies don't really exist where he comes from.

Princess in Training,
Twilight Sparkle

She received a response very quickly just as they were getting onto a private train that had been waiting for them just in case. She hadn't told Daedalus but the last two train cars were full of Solar and Lunar Guards that had been ready to help her if she needed it, though fortunately they hadn't needed them and had solved the issue themselves.

Dear Twilight,

I'm very happy that you and your friends are okay. When Discord told us that you had to go alone, I admit I was scared for your safety but you've made me proud. Even in the face of a completely unknown danger, you and your friends did your best and completed the mission. We've rerouted the train as you are the only ones on it. You'll come into the Guard entrance in the castle where Captain Armor will meet you. He'll escort all of you to us where we'll meet you and speak to Daedalus. Just stay safe and be careful, Twilight.

With Love,
Celestia

Twilight felt her face flush slightly as she read the message from Celestia, happy that she made her teacher proud. Setting the letter in her saddlebag, she turned her attention back to Daedalus and pulled out a notepad. He didn't seem that dangerous, after all he had only hit one of them once and most of Rainbow's injury had come from hitting the ground. After they had purified him of his master's control, he had even been nice enough to heal the injury he gave her. Although, that brought up a question. "Daedalus?"

He seemed zoned out, gazing out at the landscape outside the train as it headed toward Canterlot. Hearing his name, he jolted slightly and turned to her with a questioning hmm? Giving a friendly smile, Twilight levitated a scroll and quill higher, giving him a sheepish look as his eyes locked onto the floating objects. "Do you mind if I ask some questions to get to know you and where you're from better?"

"If I can ask some questions too, then of course." Daedalus returned her smile, giving a nod as he got up and moved to the seat across from her. Her friends moved closer as well as she caught their attention, with Rainbow leaning over the back of Twilight's seat to look at Daedalus in clear interest. "You can go first, Twilight."

"Okay! First, what's a human?" Twilight asked, excited to learn more about him as she dipped her quill in the ink and prepared to write down everything he said.

"Homo sapiens is the scientific name. We're a race of evolved apes, though the exact ancestor isn't really known. We have little in the way of natural defense or weapons and instead we're incredibly good with tools. Being the only species in my home that's sentient, we became the top species on the planet and populated pretty much every landmass. There's about seven billion of us all together." Daedalus answered, leaning back in his seat and getting comfortable.

"That's... a lot of people. Equestria only has about three hundred million ponies, and it's estimated that the explored world only has two billion people, all sentient races included." Seeing the confused look he gave at her response, she guessed at one of the two things he could be confused about. "There's a lot more than ponies in our world. Gryphons, dragons, changelings, ponies, minotaurs, centaurs, buffalo, kirin, zebras, diamond dogs, and many more. Also, parts of the southern hemisphere aren't mapped yet, about twenty two percent of the world. Your turn!"

"How are you holding the paper and quill?" Daedalus asked, receiving shocked gasps from pretty much every pony, only Twilight just giving a wide eyed look.

"You don't know what magic is?" When he shook his head, her eyes widened more. "Every race on Equis has magic, though it manifests differently for every race. Pegasi can fly and manipulate the weather, earth ponies are attuned to all plant life and are much stronger, and unicorns can can spells through their horn. And ponies like me, alicorns, have the traits of all pony races, though there's only four alicorns. There's also crystal ponies and thestrals, but they're much smaller populations."

"Magic doesn't exist where I'm from. It exists in most ancient mythologies but magic itself doesn't exist in the modern day and likely never existed." Daedalus said, a curious gleam in his eyes as he looked at her. What he would give for magic, but he wasn't sure if it would be a genetic trait or something of the mind or soul. Plus, he wasn't really willing to consume the little alicorn for it.

Twilight clearly wanted to ask more, but nodded to Rainbow instead. The pegasus smirked, finally getting to ask the question that's been bothering her for the last three hours. "How did you know I was behind you? And how did you heal me?"

"Two questions." Daedalus said with a chuckle. "Pick one."

She huffed at him, then gave a small smirk as Pinkie giggled softly in response to Rainbow. "Okay, the first one. How'd you hit me?"

"I could hear your wingbeats displacing the air and was able to use that sound to pretty accurately gauge where you were. From there, I just spun around and swung my fist and hit where I thought you were." Daedalus explained as he gave a simple shrug. "What are the princesses like?"

"Well, there's two Princesses of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They're both alicorns but much older and stronger than me. They're immortal and have ruled Equestria for about two thousand years and Princess Celestia is responsible for raising and lowering the sun, just as Luna raises and lowers the moon. There's a lot more to them than that, but that's the basics."

"Immortal and controls the sun and moon? They sound less like ponies and more like deities." Daedalus commented idly as he wondered how much of that was propaganda and how much of that was true. The age was likely true as if alicorns were rare, they wouldn't be able to easily hide their replacements. But controlling the sun and moon? That one was hard to believe even if magic was real and it was a different world.

"Yuh huh!" Pinkie responded, nodding her head rapidly as she hopped over the seat to sit next to him. "They're both really powerful and have been doing it for a thousand years! Every day and every night! It might be hard to believe but I promise it's true!"

"Do the sun and moon not work that way where you're from?" Twilight asked, giving Daedalus a curious look.

"No, they don't. We don't have any immortal near-deities who control them. The sun is over three hundred thousand times the mass of the earth and more massive objects create larger gravitational fields. The earth orbits the sun naturally, and the moon orbits the earth." Daedalus answered, giving a curious hum at the idea of this world's sun being smaller, or if it was the same size as Earth's.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Two hours later, Daedaus glanced out the window as the questions finally ended then paused at the sight that greeted him. He knew they were heading to a city called Canterlot but wasn't sure what to expect from a city that was a pony pun on 'Camelot.' Whatever he was expecting, a city built on the side of a mountain wasn't it. The city outright required support struts to remain in place, holding up a massive platform that held half the city. Looking at it, every engineer he had ever consumed screamed in horror and he knew the only reason that horrible city hadn't fallen to the base of the mountain was magic. Giving a low sigh, he shook his head. The action caught Rarity's attention as her refined voice broke the momentary silence. "Are you alright, Daedalus?"

"Yeah, I am. Just, why is there a city on the side of the mountain? I get that it's probably held in place by magic but it seems ridiculous, it wouldn't have been needed if it had just been built at the base." Daedalus commented, not really expecting a serious answer.

"Oh, that's because Princess Celestia built her castle there after she left the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree. The unicorn nobility were quite against being separated from their princess, so they followed her and built a city around her castle." The white unicorn answered, giving a small giggle. "The nobility were like lost dogs, following their mistress wherever she went."

"Ah didn't expect ya to know that, Rares." Applejack responded with a smirk. Daedalus had come to learn that the orange earth pony was a hard worker and helped run her family's farm with her older brother, grandmother, and little sister. "'Course, if it's about the nobility, you of all ponies would know it."

That got a laugh out of the ponies around Daedalus and Rarity gave a sheepish smile as her cheeks tinted red. "Well, yes but I still answered his question."

Giving a soft chuckle of his own, he turned his attention back toward the city and noticed something odd. Up ahead the track split into two paths and his keen eyesight allowed him to tell that the train would veer off to the right. The original track continued straight to the city, climbing a rising rail supported by marble pillars before reaching the city proper. The track that the train would take turned off and began to circle the mountain, seemingly coming in from the side. Idly, Daedalus considered the possibility of it being a trap set up away from civilians before ultimately dismissing the worry. If they really wanted an advantage against him, surrounding him with biomass wasn't the way to do it. Even if they worked well together, a large ambush would always have slip ups. Instead, he decided to fish for some information. "What can I expect when we arrive in the city?"

"Well, we'll most likely be met by some Royal Guards at the platform and escorted to the princesses. We'll meet in private where they'll ask us to explain everything that happened and everything you remember before arriving. They'll likely have us under a truth spell, and then use another spell to make sure our world isn't dangerous to you or the other way around. Once everything's sorted, the princesses will go from there based on what you want to do." Twilight explained easily, giving a relaxed smile to Daedalus. "I know it must be strange and confusing being in a new world, but we'll make sure you're taken care of and help you get settled in!"

Daedalus let out a quite hum with a worried frown creasing his brow. The truth spell wasn't an issue since it probably didn't stop him from leaving things out but the scan of his biology was worrying. He could easily recreate his natural biological processes in his body and mimic a normal creature but hiding the Blacklight entirely was another matter. Even if his cells mimicked natural human cells, traces of Blacklight were present in every single one. Perhaps just tell them the truth of what I am, if censored? They undoubtedly wouldn't be happy to find a sapient viral bioweapon that can end the world in their nation. It would likely be safer to disappear from the region entirely. Twilight said the southern hemisphere is partly unexplored and if there's as many sapient species as she said, there's likely other nations as well. Perhaps even ones that couldn't detect what I am. Though, if the unicorns and alicorns can use magic to detect Blacklight then they may have means of tracking me easily as well. If Rainbow's speed is any indicator, pegasi are fast. Faster than me, at least.

Gazing out the window, Daedalus watched as they rapidly circled the city on a rising incline, the main entrance to the city fading behind them as they approached the wall. In the distance, he saw the entrance led straight into a recess in the wall, normally barred by a heavy metal gate that was studded with glowing gems but currently open. Inside, Daedalus could see a rather large unloading platform with three stations just after entering. Two of the stations had trains present while the third was empty with a group of armed and armored ponies lined up orderly. Most of them wore gold armor that barely covered them with identical white coats, blue manes in a Roman style tuft, and wielding spears with swords strapped to their flanks. Only one stood out, a slight taller white unicorn with a blue striped mane that reminded him of Twilight's. His armor was purple and trimmed in gold and he only carried a sword. From the differences, Daedalus assumed he was higher ranking. "Why do all the guards except the one in the front look the same?"

Twilight followed his gaze to the rapidly approaching gate and squinted her eyes as Pinkie leaned over Daedalus' lap to look as well. "Oh wow, Lessy, you can see really far away! I can barely see inside the gate so you must have SUPER eyes!"

Raising his eyebrow at the nickname, Pinkie returned his gaze with a wide and friendly smile. Chuckling softly, he nodded his head and reached out, gently patting her fluffy hair. "If you really want to give me a nickname, call me Jay. It sounds better than Lessy."

"Okay, Jay!" She beamed, happy at his acceptance of a nickname. That settled, he turned to look at Twilight. Seeing her smiling warmly, he shook his head lightly and smiled back.

"Anyway, the Royal Guard's armor is enchanted to make each guard look identical with the exception of wings or horns. It's so if they ever arrest a pony or break up a fight, they can't be recognized again so they aren't harassed off duty. In all honestly though, it's incredibly rare for an arrest to happen, most things the guards get called to are public arguments and the occasional drunk pony. It's still a nice feature though." Twilight explained, giving a sheepish smile at the end. "And the one in the front is my brother, Captain Shining Armor. He'll most likely be escorting us to the Princesses."

Giving an understanding nod, Daedalus looked back out the window as they entered the shadow of the recess as the train slowly came to a stop. Out the corner of his eye, he could see Twilight glancing at him, and figured she wanted to ask more questions now that he has shown he had incredible eyesight, hearing, and could heal injuries seemingly without magic. For some reason, she had avoided questions of any of his abilities. Perhaps assuming they're natural to humans? Or maybe waiting until we're with the Princesses to avoid having to ask me twice?

The group of eight disembarked the train after Twilight woke up Spike and stepped out onto the guard's platform. As he stepped out of the train and into the sunlight, he saw more than one guard giving him a wide eyed look, probably from his height. With his chosen height of six foot six, the average pony came up to about his stomach with Twilight being a little taller and around his chest. Captain Armor stepped forward and greeted them. "Welcome to Canterlot, Mr. Daedalus. Normally, we would escort everypony together, however I have to take the Elements aside for a private debriefing. Unfortunately, it's confidential." The Captain explained, giving an apologetic smile to the tall man. "Lance Corporal Silver Starfall will escort you to the Princesses where a meal will be provided. Their Majesties find it easier to converse over good food. Is that acceptable?"

"More than so, Captain." Daedalus answered, giving a small smile as the girls voiced their assent. "I thank you for the hospitality and kind treatment I've received so far in this nation, despite the method of my arrival."

Being thanked seemed to set the Captain more at ease, but Daedalus could see a hint of unhappiness in his eyes. The Greater could guess why, being that just a few hours ago he was attacking the unicorn's sister. With a final nod, one of the unicorn guardsmares lined up behind the Captain stepped forward. She, like all the others, had a white coat and blue hair with brilliant pink eyes. "I am Lance Corporal Silver Starfall, Mr. Daedalus. If you'd please follow me, I'll escort you to meet the Princessses."

"I'll see you all there." Nodding to the girls beside him with a small smile, he stepped forward and started to follow Starfall. The guardspony turned smartly and led the way into the castle as the others dispersed, returning to whatever duties they had been pulled from. As they walked in silence, Daedalus glanced around the castle and took in the construction of it all. The large building was made primarily of marble with pillars ever present in the design of the halls. High, arched ceilings gave plenty of room to fly above them and wide hallways gave plenty of space to pass by each other. Windows lined the outer wall as they followed a hallway on the edge of the castle, stained glass allowing tinted light to filter in and warm the building. Every hundred feet or so, they passed another guard patrolling the halls and occasionally ran into a maid or butler bustling around the castle and keeping it running. This castle is less a defensible position and more a work of art. There's no choke points, plenty of room to circumvent or attack from above, entrances all over the places, and so many routes to defend or block off. Are attacks that rare? Or are the Princesses truly demigoddesses and so no one would are attack? Either way, the design will make escaping this place substantially easier.

Taking a right turn, Starfall led him into a corridor that seemed less populated. He couldn't hear the hoofsteps of any patrols ahead of them, only far behind. The windows were gone as they were now inside the castle proper. Instead, glowing orbs of gold and azure hovered near the ceiling, letting off enough of a glow to light the halls up similar to daylight. Giving his guide a curious look, he saw she was already looking at him as they walked forward. Her bright pink eyes gazed at him with understanding. "I don't know what's bothering you but I know everything's going to work out in the end. Trust in the Princesses and they'll trust in you. Everything will be alright and you'll find yourself with less to worry about. They value honestly above all else."

"What makes you think something is bothering me?" Daedalus asked, raising his eyebrow. She wasn't exactly wrong, the impending reveal of his nature was weighing on his mind as they approached the supposed demigods who would discover him.

"It's my special talent. I can tell when ponies have something heavy on their mind. It makes me a good pick for distinguishing bad ponies from the troubled ones who just need a little help." She said, giving him a reassuring smile as they continued forward. "Just trust in the Princesses and they'll never do you wrong. Even if you're dangerous and powerful, as long as you don't intend to hurt anypony, you have nothing to fear. Hay, the Princesses even released Discord, the lord of chaos, and made him a friend."

Frowning lightly, he felt that her statement of 'dangerous and powerful' was a little on the nose. And what was this about special talents? Letting out an audible sigh, he looked back at the Lance Corporal and gave a small smirk. "Alright, I think I'll trust in your Princesses. But if things go south, I'll find you."

Returning his playful banter, she smirked back at him. "I wouldn't count on it, you're a bit too squishy. Why, one kick and you'd be down."

Chuckling softly, he stopped just beside her in front of a large double door emblazoned with the symbols of the sun and waxing moon, surrounded by the stylized art of two alicorns circling each other. It reminded him of an alternate yin and yang symbol. "We're here, Mr. Daedalus. You may enter when ready, the Princesses are just inside and expecting you."

"Thank you for the advice, Miss Starfall." Daedalus said, smiling at the little mare. Returning his smile, she stuck out her hoof. Grasping it and giving it a shake, he extracted a sample of her genetic code and contained it ready for consuming later. Letting go and turning to the door, he knocked twice to let them know he was about to enter then pushed the doors open. For better or for worse, he was about to meet with two supposed demigods and reveal to them that he was a sentient super-lethal bioweapon.