Riddle Dimensions

"So, how does this work?", Phil asked.

"Easy! We will select a question from this book, ask it to you, and you'll say if it is true or not. Got it?", Sweetie Belle explained.

"Yes, got it.", Phil replied.

"Here it says that humans have to eat meat to survive...is it true?", she asked.

"Well, yes and no. Yes because we do eat meat, and no because we don't need to rely on meat to survive. If we did, the animal species would be entirely extinct by now, and without food, the human race would proceed to eat themselves until there is one last human standing. And that human would die of starvation.", Phil answered. Seeing that the three fillies were doing 'English, please?' faces, he simplified. "In other words, we also eat veggies and fruits.", he continued. The three ponies replied by doing the cliché 'Ooh'. Scootaloo proceeded to scribble in her notepad.

"An' here it says that humans lack harmony an' often...kill each other...is this true?", Apple Bloom asked.

"Like before, yes and no. Yes because, unfortunaly, we do lack harmony, and most humans aren't friendly among each other. No because we arent extremely violent and kill the first other human we see. Sure, there are bandits who assault and sometimes kill other humans, but not everyone is a bandit.", Phil answered.

"What about this one: Humans are selfish, and plan to...dominate the entire galaxy?", Scootaloo asked.

"...NO.", Phil answered quickly.

It was a very long time of Q&A with the little ponies. Phil was glad when the book reached chapter 6, so he could finally stop answering those ridiculous questions. Less than a quarter of the statements there were actually true. Phil fell on his back to rest with the moment, but a question interrupted him.

"So, where he will sleep?", Apple Bloom asked. Phil immediatly got up when he heard that.

"Have you forgotten that we caught him in the Everfree? It's obvious that he lives there!", Scootaloo pointed out.

"What do you mean? I don't live here. An accident with Smiley's machine sent me here.", Phil explained.

"Ooh.", they replied.

"And what is this 'Everfree' you are talking about?", he asked.

"The Everfree is a strange, mythical forest.", Sweetie explained.

"Clouds move on their own," Scootaloo added.

"An' animals take care of 'emselves..." Apple Bloom added.

"All on their own!", the three spoke up at the same time. Phil raised an eyebrow.

"Seems pretty normal to me.", he commented.

"If your world's clouds and animals move and take care of themselves on their own, I'm glad not to be there.", Scootaloo replied.

"Okay. For me, it's stranger to live in a world where weather is maunally controlled and animals rely on their owners to live rather than living in a place where they take care of themselves. No offense, though.", he responded to Scootaloo's reply.

"So, where will he stay in for the night? The sun is starting to set, and my sister will snap at me if I return home late again.", Sweetie remindered the others about the original subject.

"Surely he cannot sleep at our clubhouse.", Scootaloo pointed out.

"Oh, I know! He could sleep at the basement of the farm!", Apple Bloom suggested.

"Well, atleast it's better than crawling through an air vent. I promised to myself not to do it again.", Phil commented.

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about sleeping behind a pile of hay.", Phil said.

"I'm afraid there's no turnin' back right now. It's alterady sunset, an' mah sister says it's not safe ta wander 'round night.", Apple Bloom replied. "An' this hay is ta prevent her or mah brother from seein' ya sleepin' here. If ya sleep in the open, they might see ya there if they come in.", she continued.

"What's the problem in them seeing me? Couldn't you just ask them if I could stay here?", Phil asked.

"Uh, me an' mah friends don' know how other ponies would react upon seein' a human. So, it's best for us to hide ya.", she explained. With that said, she headed out.

'I hope I can get out of here ASAP.' Phil thought.

Apple Bloom finally reached upstairs, and to her surprise, she found Twilight talking to Applejack. Since she was in hearing range, she could hear what they were talking.

"What d'ya mean, Twi? Don' ya know humans are non-existant?", Applejack asked.

"I know, but, since what happened in the library just today, I honestly think they're hiding something.", Twilight responded.

"An' what exactly happened there?", the farm pony asked.

"Spike told me that they came in asking a book about humans, and that when he asked them why, Sweetie briefly answered 'Oh, we have fo-', and Apple Bloom put her hoof on Sweetie's mouth, while answering that they just got curious about them.", Twilight explained.

"Mmm, now that ya said it, I can sense they ARE hidin' somethin'.", Applejack replied.

Apple Bloom gulped. She knew there was no lieing for her sister. She proceeded to sneak around the path, hopefully not being seen, and...

"Hey, you there, missy!", Applejack yelled while pointing her right hoof towards her younger sister. Apple Bloom gasped, and slowly made her way next to her sister and Twilight.

"Yes, sis?", she asked.

"Why ya came late home? Didn't I told ya to come back before 17:00? It's alterady 18:30!" she scolded.

"Oh, um...I got too distracted with my friends, an' I lost track of time! Sorry!", she apologied and ran inside.

"...she's not tellin' the truth."

The next day...

Apple Bloom hastily woke up from her bed after a hard night of sleep. She couldn't take the fact that she just lied to the Element of Honesty that incidentally was her own sister. She could, of course, reveal the truth. But, on the other hand, she didn't knew what they would do with Phil. So, it was two choices: Keep a rare human but keep guilty, or Reveal the truth to remove guilty, but also presumably give a bad fate to the human. It was a tight choice. And she knew that Applejack would keep pressing her to tell the truth. She got out of her bed and walked downstairs for breakfast.

"Mornin', granny, bro', sis'...", she said.

"Mornin'", they replied back. Granny Smith on her casual tired voice, Big Mac on his low-pitched voice, and Applejack with an annoyed tone. Apple Bloom sighed, and proceeded to eat breakfast and then get ready for class(which convieniently would have at October 20th because Equestria's dates are different from Earth's dates. This meant that, on Earth, October 20th is Saturday, and in Equestria, it's Monday).

Acessing...
Analyzing Map System
Analyzation Complete
Location: Ponyville center, Equestria

"Oh, hi Apple Bloom!", Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo called out.

"Hi...", she replied.

"What happened? You didn't told the truth, did you?", Scootaloo asked.

"No...it's jus' that Twilight told mah sis' about how we suddently asked for a human book, an' how Sweetie was about ta say that he foun' Phil.", she answered.

"It's my fault then.", Sweetie apologized. "If I wasn't so wide-mouthed, I wouldn't blurt out about that human.", she continued.

"Human?", a very familiar voice called out. The three turned aroudn to find their two nemeses.

"Oh, please, don't tell me the three blank-flanks still believe in those worthless stories about humans.", Diamond Tiara commented.

"Yeah! Humans are pathetic.", Silver Spoon added.

"You don't even know anything about humans, Diamond Tiara. You too, Silver Spoon.", Scootaloo countered.

"How so?", Diamond countered, staring daggers.

"Because we have fo-", Sweetie joined in, only to slap herself in the mouth. The two fillies bursted out in laughter.

"You have FOUND a human? That's....that's rich!" Diamond mocked.

"And you expected that we would respect you for simply claiming that you found a human?" Silver added. They kept on laughing, but fortunaly for the crusaders, the school bell rang, meaning the two would have to go to class.

"See you at class, blank-flanks!", Diamond and Silver said at the same time.

"...I hate my mouth.", Sweetie commented as the three headed inside.

"Alright, alright, chill down, class!", Cheerilee said, causing all of the students to remain quiet. "Thank you. Today, we will talk about one of Equestria's most mythical creature.", she said. All ponies leaned in. "I'm pretty sure each of you have heard fantasy stories about the humans when you were younger. Today, we will talk about them.", she commented.

'What a coincidence.', Apple Bloom thought.

"What a coincidence!" Sweetie mentioned.

"What do you mean, Sweetie?" Cheerilee asked.

"Oh, um, it's because earlier today, me and my friends were having a discussion about humans.", she explained, but obviously not telling the full truth.

"They claimed that they have found a real human, and that we all should respect them!", Silver 'fixed'. Everypony (minus the CMC and Cheerilee) started laughing.

"Silence, class!" Cheerilee orded, gently hitting her stick on the chalkboard. "Silver Spoon, another time and you'll have a little chat with me after class.", she scolded. Silver groaned.

"Next time, you won't be so lucky.", she whispered to Sweetie's ear.

"Anyway, as you know, humans are tall creatures who, unlike us who stand on four feet, only stand on two. This means they aren't as good as we are on running. However, they make it up for having fingers. They have five fingers, each with their own name. The first finger is the thumb. The second is the index. The third is the middle, the fourth is the ring, and the fifth is the little finger, but it can also be called 'pinky'.", she told. Snips raised a hoof. "Yes, Snips?"

"So, this means their fifth finger is pink?" he asked. Cheerilee chuckled before answering.

"No, it isn't. It is just a nickname for their finger. Moving on, most humans generally wear clothes and never stay without them. This is because they don't have much fur in their body.", she continued. This time, it was Scootaloo who raised her hoof. "Yes, Scootaloo?"

"I think it's not like that. I think it's because they have a rule amongst themselves that prohibites standing naked in public. Just my idea, though.", she said.

"It seems to be a nice idea! I'm writing this.", the teacher replied as she wrote down on a notepad. As soon as she finished, the school bell rang. "Lunch time!", she said. All students ran outside as fast as possible.

"Geez, Sweetie, you really need to control your mouth. If you keep like that, you might end up blurting out everything!", Scootaloo scolded.

"Sorry..I just cannot hold it!", she apoloziged.

"Hey, you three!", the same voice called again. "You can't simply have those ideas out of the blue. Who did told you about it?" Diamond asked.

"Phil Eggtree, of course!", Sweetie blurted out again. When she realized that, she sighed.

"And who is this 'Phil Eggtree' you talk about? I never heard about him in town, so don't tell me he lived there!", she asked again.

"He's a biologist pony who just moved.", Sweetie 'answered', oblivious to the Golden Rule of Ponyville.

"If he just moved, Ms. Pink cotton candy would have alterady gaven him a 'Welcome!' party, now wouldn't her?", Silver countered.

"He's not the partying time, of course.", Scootaloo answered. The two fillies grunted and walked away.

"That was very close..." Apple Bloom commented.

"They are lieing, aren't them?" Silver asked.

"Yes, they are. And we will discover the truth." Diamond answered.

End of Chapter 3