The Scholars Attempt At Survival

{DAY 31}

Maybe I should've just stayed alone and isolated in the forest… or perhaps I should've built some modern weaponry before interacting with these ponies…

I don't know jack shit about royal etiquette or the customs of this world. What if my existence as a being without magic was somehow an affront towards their Ruler? Like God granted everyone magic and since I don't have it I must be a devil or something along those lines…

I hope not.

It doesn't help that I'm ABSOLUTELY under dressed. A single leather skirt that I had (thankfully) washed before I went to bed last night was all that protected my dignity. At least it wasn't short, being around shin length.

That was my only saving grace if I'm being honest… I'm absolutely fucked.

It's been a few hours of soaring above the clouds, just how much further is it? Or am I getting exiled out of the country or something… Not to mention, judging from the rate at which objects below me are moving, we have to be traveling many times faster than a plane…

Goodbye Ponyville treehouse library, I never even learned how to read so I wasn't able to indulge myself in you…

In another life maybe we could've become good friends…

As I mused the destruction of my nonexistent bond with an abandoned location, I looked over the edges of the chariot to see the scenery around me swiftly changing.

Somehow, I couldn't feel a twinge of air resistance against me, it didn't even feel that chilly. Two nice Pegasus stallions were pulling the carriage against the air with their wings…

Now isn't that interesting? That most definitely shouldn't not be possible with my understanding of physics…

Then again, this is another world, who's to say my understanding is the best one.

To my side, seated quite nicely was the mare in front of my door, a bit of a smug expression plastered on her face as she stared at my looks of amazement at the scenery.

”The Equestrian Empire is the most beautiful country anypony could ever visit,” She says in a haughty voice as I look over and deadpan at her, ”But this is nothing compared to the Capital, or the Canterlot Castle…”

“Mmhmm, sure,” I say, obviously uninterested in her boasting, looking back towards her to truly show how little I cared and… damn, yep, no matter how snobby, rotten or annoying, ponies are cute.

“Very humble, aren't you?” I mutter to myself as we fly over… a train!?

My eyes widen as I stare, the smoke, the sounds, the smell…

It's an engine. The first one I've seen in a while…

My eyes followed the train tracks ahead of it to see where it was going, before I was stopped by a wall. Not just a wall, I mentally zoomed out a bit as I took it all in. The snobby messenger was not wrong in the slightest…

Canterlot is absolutely stunning, a giant central circular city with hundreds of thousands of buildings and houses. Even from how high I was because of the carriage, I was only barely able to see it's edge. The streets looked like a winding and impossible to navigate yet ethereal labyrinth from above.

The greatest part was the castle that was jutting out of the cliffside, a feat of architectural engineering like no other, made of marble and stone, radiating an aura of wealth… forget the city! That cliff dwarfed the entirety of all pony made structures, reaching up twice or thrice higher than the chariot could ever reach…

I stood up in surprise, just how is any of that possible!

Shouldn't the weight of those structures destroy them entirely!? What about the square cube law!? HOW DOES ANY OF THAT MAKE SENSE!?

”D-dios Mio…” I muttered under my breath, falling back in my seat, the structures that defied every law of physics fighting against my common sense.

Just… Just how utterly huge is this place? How big… is Equestria? No, how big is this world…?

I felt all the hairs on my body raise at the question…

[Level Up! 1 —> 2]

Or from the fact we were now descending towards the ground. I did the same as we were ascending, but I gripped as hard as I could onto the chariots side, feeling the cool metal edge helped calm my monkey brain that currently thought I was free falling.

We eventually landed onto the floor and I get out slowly, my legs incredibly wobbly from the hours I spent stuck inside the chariot.

I do a few stretches to help loosen myself up a bit before cracking my neck and taking a deep breath.

“Well, mind leading the way, pendeja?” She seems to question my incredibly flattering nickname for a moment, “It's Span…Sponish for beautiful…”

She seems to buy it as she holds her head high and begins to lead me into the castle. We had landed right in the palace barracks, a sort of airplane runway lay across the ground behind us.

I turned to the two nice pegasus stallions who had brought us here and gave a small head nod of which they responded in kind, before unbuckling themselves from the chariot.

I turn back to the idiot leading me to my presumed death and sigh, following as she meanders through the barracks with relative ease.

“If you don't mind me asking, pendeja, why am I being by her majesty, Princess Celestia?” And is she even allowed to do this? It must be against SOME law…

”Well, you are supposedly an incredibly important creature! You are the first unknown sentient creature to enter Equestrian soil in over a hundred years, after all…” I can sort of understand why I would be brought to Princess Celestia. I mean, if a sentient creature unknown to humans had entered the United States, the President would be one of the first to make contact with it…

I just hope they don't put me in Pony Area 51.

The mare trotted her way up to the entrance of the castle from the barracks, a few stallions at the entrance that crossed their spears at her, before she floated a small badge from the inside of her dress out and they let us through.

The halls were wide and smelled of… expensive, I have no clue what to describe it as other than that.

The floors had a long red luxurious carpet that never seemed to end.

There were a few branching paths but the mare maneuvered her way through them with a skilled expertise, I inevitably found myself at a main hall like area with a few spiral staircases that lead up to the next floor.

From the outside it was large, but it seems most of those were to house workers and staff. As we walked up the stairs, the feeling of the soft carpeting was to die for. After over a month of walking barefoot, it seemed like heaven…

I need some shoes, good ones…

Inevitably we ended up at the front of a door, at which I prepared my mind for an encounter with the Princess…

Only for… Nothing? The room was spacious and fit for royalty, sure, but I seemed to note a distinct lack of Princess.

“Unless I'm mistaken… I don't see any Princess here…” I mean, she could be invisible… I don't know much about this place, nor what the Princess looks like or can do, so I may be sorely mistaken…

”Well of course, we have to get you ready to meet her after all!” Ready to meet…? I look at her confused as I walk into the room. The idiot claps with her two front hooves as a few stallions in butler outfits rush out of god knows where and she closes the door…

“Fuck”

What happened next could've been classified as sexual assault if it was done by a person, as one of the unicorns magically untie the rope keeping my leather skirt up and take it off, staring at it with distaste.

“H-hey! Watch what you're doing!” I shout out as I use my hand to cover up my junk, the other hand being used to keep the skirt on, “Unless you've got some pants, the skirt stays on!”

They seemed quite perplexed by my words… Right, pants don't exist here. They don't seem to mind it as the pull of their magic is greater than the grip strength of my middle-fingerless hand and they rip it off of me, throwing it onto the bed.

Wait a second… a big, royal looking bed, stripping me naked… That ominous talk about the Princess having made “arrangements”...

Don't tell me… is the Princess this world’s equivalent to a monster fucker? They're getting me prepared to go to bed with her!? I mean I've been suspecting it from a while ago due to the hints that have been dropped here and there, but it's safe to assume this world’s gender roles are switched…

So what, she has a fetish for non-pony men? Ugh… I really don't want to sleep with a horse…

As I was lost in thought about the Princess's debauchery, I felt the familiar sensation of getting pushed from behind by a pony. My hands were now completely used to hide myself as the servants came and managed to push me into the bathroom.

“I-I CAN SHOWER BY MYSELF! LEAVE, ¡PERVERTIDO!” I shout out as they seem to take the hint and all leave the bathroom with me alone.

I take a deep breath, I can guess what they wanted me to do quite easily. I don't think i smell since I've been bathing in the river but considering how I've just been using basic animal fat soap instead of the professional scented stuff they were used to, as well as the fact that I had no shampoo or conditioner so my hair was greasy as all hell, they must be wanted me in here pronto.

Also, I'm nor sure about ponies but most animals have a better sense of smell than others, so maybe I do stink to them…

I sighed and frustratedly slapped myself a bit… If push comes to shove, I'll display my distaste and she'll leave me be… worst case scenario, I can run away. I mean, how hard could it be?

I'm regretting coming here more and more by the second.

I lock the bathroom door and look over… Even the shower was massive…

The tap indicated running water and a working plumbing system, as well as a basic level of hygiene, the liquid soap near it showed they had at least basic knowledge of bacteria and the like.

I might as well use this opportunity to freshen up a bit. Properly as well.

This is the Princess’s room after all, so that means that she's paying for the water bill. Not me.

I walk into the shower and turn it on. The knows and turnable handles were very noticeably the opposite of ergonomic, at least for humans.

I managed to turn it to the correct heat, not too hot, not too cold, but a sort of lukewarm that only just bordered on turning too hot to be enjoyable.

I let my worries wash away in the flowing water as every muscle in my body relaxed.

Let's look through my system as I do this…

[Name: Darwin
Level: 2
Race: Human
Class: Scholar (Man) - Learning = EXP
Class Points: 0*

-Stats

Strength: 25 —> 25
Agility: 14 —> 14
Dexterity: 27 —> 27
Endurance: 29 —> 30
Reflex: 11 —> 11
Intelligence: 20 —> 23
Comprehension: 23 —> 25
Magical Precision: N/A
Magical Power: N/A

Bonus Points: 2

-Skills

[UNIQUE - Genius: 300% Learning Speed. 200% EXP Gain]

[UNIQUE - Unforgettable: What was once learned cannot be Unlearned. Heightened Resistance to Mental Attacks]

[Craftsmanship: Allows the user to speed up the creation of items and structures they have already made by 200%. All items you've previously made have a 100% success rate of being crafted]

[Observation: Gives you a short description of anything you want by using your own knowledge]

[Survivalism: 200% Crafting speed for items if you use tools you've made yourself]

[Danger Detection: Gives you a subtle instinctual warning whenever your life is threatened]

[Pragmatism: Removes all pain and emotions once a day for 1 minute, allowing you to think clearly without distractions]

[Mark Territory: Select a small area as your “Territory”. Animals with territorial instinct such as wolves, will avoid entering this . You will always know where your territory is]

Skill Points: 2*]

Yep, everything is normal…

Two skill points I can use… I'll save one in the bank and use the other on either Pragmatism or Danger Detection…

I should check my available skills as well while I'm at it.

[Available Skills: Enhanced Senses, Spatial Awareness, Logical Deduction, Mental Mathematics, Silver Tongue, Stamina Freak]

Now that's a pleasant surprise. Stamina Freak I'm guessing is what I got for having a high endurance and raising it through physical labour instead of getting hurt. Silver tongue… well, the phrase Silver Tongue means someone who is good at lying or flattery, I must've got it when I lied to that cute mare about the word Pendejo.

Logical Deduction I probably got from a lot of instances, Mental Mathematics… probably from me doing math to approximate Daring Do’s strength.

Hmm, there are a lot of options here, so many to choose from…

Right now I think Silver Tongue is the most useful skill I can have. After all, flattery will get you everywhere.

I looked over to the side, wondering which one of the many bottles was shampoo.

I'll just pick whatever…

This one has a mango on the label, and I like mangoes so this seems like the best choice.

I squirt a little of it into my fingertips to see if it had that strange oily feel of conditioner, and thankfully it didn't, meaning it was most likely shampoo.

I won't bore you with the details of me bathing, but after a nice half an hour of showering I left the shower and used one of the complimentary towels on the side.

Well, less thirty minutes for a shower, more fifteen minutes of showering and fifteen minutes of enjoying the heat.

I open up the door slowly, peeking out to see if those impatient stallions were still outside, before sighing and running my hand through my hair.

It had grown out quite nicely to around a little below my chin, and I kinda looked like a wet cat from what I saw in the mirror, my hair weighed down by the water.

Now that I look at it properly, it was a thousand times longer than before... Once it grows out a bit more and I get the time I should try to style it… Maybe cornrows? Braids also seem nice…

Whatever, I walk out the door, towel around my waist as I quickly change it for my leather skirt that was still on the bed.

The room was empty, those stallions must've left when I said I could shower by myself. I'm assuming they just think of me as a primitive individual who didn't know how to use the bathroom.

I used the towel to dry off my hair a bit, by the time I was done it had fluffed and curled up to my eyebrows.

Walking to the door, I opened it to see the blue pony yet again.

“What was all that about?” I ask as she snickers to herself.

”You are meeting the ruler of our glorious country, of course you'll have to look your best…” She replies as if it was obvious, which it was.

“And that's all this is, right? A meeting? Nothing more, nothing less?” I ask as she turns her head in confusion like a puppy…

”Why of course! What else could it be?” That seemed genuine so maybe I was jumping to conclusions before…”Now, would you please follow me?”

This Pony… she's a bit gullible and arrogant when it comes to Equestria but she doesn't seem like a bad person… pony.

I sigh, and bring myself to follow her as she walks down the stairs. Honestly the castle was so large that I kinda forgot how many twists and turns we made before we ended up in some sort of garden area.

A variety of different flora I had never seen before scattered around in utterly astonishing patterns, like a sea of petals and colour's.

There was a small pitch black obsidian gazebo-like structure at the centre of the garden, a single path of stone leading towards it, sitting down and sipping on a cup of tea being a large, pure white pony Unicorn… No, she has wings as well.

A mane of flowing greens, blues and pinks that seemed to move majestically even without the help of wind, sparkling spots all around it.

A golden tiara on her head and some strange large iron necklace made of gold as well… but this gold was strange, it seemed a much lighter shade than regular gold, same with the tiara…

Not to mention her horn isn't Proportionate, it's instead many times longer, same with her wings, though it was hard to tell with them folded by her side. The teacup floated effortlessly to her lips as she took a sip and brang it back down, the porcelain clattering against the plate.

Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be incredibly serene at the moment, a regular light blue stallion pony unicorn by her side, refilling her cup by lifting the teapot.

It looked like a scene straight out of a painting.

She seemed to acknowledge my pretense and open her violet eyes, as they slowly drifted towards me, a soothing smile on her face.

I nodded my head as a similarly calm smile appeared on my face.

I walked forwards and took what I presumed to be my seat.

The stallion beside who I presumed to be Celestia poured me some tea as I nod at him, adding two sugar cubes from the tea set laid out and a bit of milk from the creamer.

”Might I say, your Majesty, you seem incredibly pendeja today,” Said the blue mare by my side. Now that I think about it, this mare and that stallion have basically the exact same shade of blue on their coat, the only difference was their mane, ”Ah, pendeja means-”

I continued to smile, taking a sip from my cup before Celestia interrupted.

”Yo sé lo que significa pendeja,” As she spoke, I did a spit take to my side, coughing out the tea that had traveled down the wrong pipe as I saw the Princess look at me with a hint of mischief in her eyes, ”It seems our guest is quite the prankster, isn’t he?”

A nervous grin framed my figure as I stiffened up a little.

“Haha, will I assure you I was just having a bit of fun, amiga,” She raises her eyebrow in response, “But beside that, I would like to know why such a prestigious pony such as yourself call a meager Scholar like me.”

Might as well own up to that Scholar title I gave myself.