Crossing Over the Arcane Hiatus

Chapter 4: The Warden is In

Uhh where am I?

I tried to bring an arm up to my head, but that only resulted in pain. My head was aching, probably due to a massive migraine, and my broken leg wasn’t doing much better. I was face up, sprawled out on the floor; I was alive still, that much was apparent, and the sun was also out. The sun… it hadn’t been easily visible before in the forest.

Where was I? The last thing I remember was Applejack and then… nothing.

After several minutes of staring up, I realized I wasn’t even on grass, or dirt. I rubbed my fingers along the surface and it was hard and smooth, probably some sort of stone. After tapping my fingers it was discovered that the floor was solid, and was definitely some sort of stone.

Maybe it was concrete? Did ponies use concrete? Think dammit! Remember the show…

It felt like a day passed. Occasionally there were muffled sounds of commotion, but other than my own breathing and my heart thumping against my chest it was dead quiet. Except for the constant ringing in my ears. I gained some amount of strength and lifted my head up. There was a wall directly in front of me. Slowly looking about, I realized I was in a room. A stone room, at that. Everything was stone. I then looked back up and noticed it hadn’t been the sun I was looking at, but a light dangling from the ceiling. There were no windows, and there was a single door to my left that led into the room. It seemed to be made of iron, and it had a slight gap in the bottom. Occasionally there were shadows moving, and along with them soft footsteps and the sound of people… no, ponies, talking. My ears were ringing so I have no clue what was being said.

I was still studying my surroundings. The room was cubic, maybe fifteen feet in dimensions. I was in the center, and there was some sort of cloth thrown over me. Tired, I threw my head down and there was a pillow beneath me. Turning my head around I noticed the room was completely empty; there were no sort of furnishings in the room. The only other things that were out of place were two chain links that were imbedded into the side of the wall, assumingly where someone could be chained. My hands were probably too small to work on any hoof-sized shackle, so that’s maybe why I was on the floor. Or maybe it was my injury, and they didn’t want to make it worse.

How is my leg, anyway?

It took some strength, but I sat up and noticed my clothes had been completely removed and swapped out with some of the clean ones I had. So someone must have redressed me, and it seems I was given a bath not too long ago. That must mean they also figured out how to open the bags. I pulled my pant leg up to inspect my broken leg and discovered it was in a cast. I put my hands on my head wound expecting some sort of scab, but my head had been wrapped in a bandage. So had my chest, apparently. They must’ve found a wound I didn’t even know about, or maybe it’s new. Applejack did buck me after all.

At least I was treated before I was put in here. The room however resembled a jail cell, with gray-stone surfaces everywhere. I gave my leg a quick shake, and the pain was considerably less.

Maybe they gave me painkillers? You’d think I’d be in some sort of hospital bed… I wanted to see what time it was, but they took my watch. They took everything from my pockets. And my belt. And I was coughing.

Do they even know I’m awake?

My question was abruptly answered when a guard (guardpony?) opened the door and stuck his face in the room. The glistening gold of his helmet blinded me from the light it was reflecting. His coat was pure white, and he had holes for his wings in the decorative golden armor that ran across his body. He suddenly became wide-eyed and shut the door in a hurry. The sound of several locks being set could quickly followed. My hearing was starting to come back, so I just sat there and listened to a conversation that took place outside the cell.

“It’s awake.”

“Good, alert the Princesses. I’ll go get the researchers.”

“What is it, do you think?”

“I haven’t got the slightest clue, and I’m afraid to find out. Now get the Princesses.”

“Yes, sir.”

So I was about to meet the Princesses, huh? I guess that was understandable; I could see it now… ”A strange creature appears in your country and threatens two of its citizens with a weapon and tries to set a forest on fire.” I guess I was in some serious trouble, since of all places I could be in, it had to be a cell. Was it in the castle dungeon? Did this castle have a dungeon? Well, what castle doesn’t have a dungeon? Then there was foot… or more accurately hoofsteps, outside the cell. The door was unlocked and one of the guards stepped in rather cautiously. Behind him stood some pony in a lab coat that was holding a syringe in its mouth. The stallion was obviously a doctor, and had a light brown coat with a darker shade for a mane.

Note: I am deathly afraid of needles. I quickly shuffled my way across the floor into the farthest corner of the room and put my arms up in defense. I tried to speak out but for some reason I couldn’t talk, and then I realized my throat was aching. All that came out was a slight groan. The doctor, much braver than the guard I might add, approached as another royal guard stepped into the room, came up beside me, and pressed a hoof down against my chest. I felt no pain there, so I guess my ribs weren’t broken. That or I was hyped up on painkillers. The doctor steadily and carefully approached me, aiming for the good leg with the syringe. Even though it was obvious what was about to happen, I was still caught off when he drove the needle into my thigh, immediately tensing it up and my reflexes had pulled it back. This scared all the ponies in the room and they immediately backed off. The first guard got so scared by this he ran out of the room. Then everything became blurry again and I looked up to see the doctor taking the syringe out. The last thing I remember from being in that room was the doctor talking to the other guard as a few more ponies walked in.

When I came to for the second time, my vision was still blurry but I was in a different room. I was lying in a sort of beanbag chair and it was much nicer and softer than wet grass or cold stone. I was still coughing, and I noticed my leg bad had been propped up on something, probably a pillow. My good one however, was chained to the floor. As my vision gradually returned, the first thing to come into focus was a rectangular table sitting right in front of me, and the room itself. It was maybe 20 feet across by 40 deep. I was at one end, and at the other end stood two royal guards in front of a large door. I don’t know if they were the ones from before, but they could be since all these Pegasus guards looked that same. They both nervously tried to avoid looking at me. To my right there was a quill with ink, and lots of paper. I was tempted to grab for it, but when I tried to sit up both my legs shot pain up my spine, so I silently slumped back into my seat. To my left there was a large ivory chest, with no evidence of a lock mechanism. There was no visible combination lock or anything, and it didn’t seem to have any sort of handle to open it either, just some sort of symbol which slightly resembled a pentagram that was etched onto the top. The chest was significantly large, almost as big as the table. That’s when Princess Celestia entered the room, accompanied by Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle.

“But Princess Celestia!” Twilight clamored, the lavender unicorn entered in between the two royals. Just like the cartoon, her mane was a darker shade of violet with lighter purple and pink highlights. “My friend Fluttershy says it spoke to her! We don’t know if it’s as smart as any regular pony, but if it’s smart enough to talk there’s no reason you should mistreat it.”

“Twilight, my faithful student,” Celestia began, “I don’t intend to mistreat it, but we don’t know what this thing is. For all we know it’s the reason our scholars have been having trouble. It also threatened two of your friends with a weapon, and it could have been trying to set Whitetail Woods on fire.” The alicorn was almost twice as tall as Twilight, and about a foot more than me, and her mane seemed to defy physics as it waved in a windless breeze. Her coat, like the guards, was pure white if not more so.

“Exactly Twilight,” Luna chimed in, “This creature could be dangerous. We need to be as careful as possible.” Heh, if they wanted to be careful they wouldn't come to interrogate me themselves. Luna was the mirror image if her sister, with her mane being a navy blue and her coat a much darker shade. Twilight sunk back behind the two royals. The three of them together approached the table and sat before me. There was a long pause before one of them spoke up, and it was Celestia.

“Who, and what, are you creature?”

I gulped and did my best to speak, but all that came out was a slight squeak.

“Who, and what, ARE you creature?” Celestia repeated herself.

I pointed to the quill and paper.

“Twilight, write this down.” Celestia instructed and Twilight quickly ran over and took the quill along with a sheet of paper and began writing.

“The creature appears to have a rather low intelligence,”

I snorted.

“But does seem to be sentient. It wears clothes that only fit its form, and they have supreme stitching quality. Its brown mane only grows on its head, and there is no evidence of a tail. By reports it also seems bipedal…”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, sister,” Luna suddenly spoke up. “But it was pointing to the paper. Maybe it wants to write something?”

Celestia seemed rather amused by the idea, and motioned for Twilight to give me the paper and quill. Using her magic it was set before me nicely, and on it Twilight had written everything the Princess said before word for word. Cautious to make sure they knew I wasn’t doing anything hostile, I hastily scribbled down a message on the paper, and outstretched my arm handing it to Celestia. All three of them were stunned by this feat, and Twilight levitated it out of my hands and read it aloud:

"Can I please have some water?" Twilight read aloud.

If physically possible, their jaws probably would have hit the floor. Probably five minutes went by before anything was said,

"…Amazing” mumbled Celestia under her breath. Luna, equally surprised, quickly brought herself together as I sat there gaily with the best poker face I could manage.

“G-Guards,” quietly spoke Luna, “G-Get us some water, will you? A lot, please.” A small smile appeared on my face.

“It knows Equine…” uttered Twilight.

”Equine?” That must be their name for “English.”

No longer than a few seconds passed when a guard appeared with a large pitcher of water and three glasses before running away and out of the room. Luna poured me a glass with her magic and set it down on the table. I carefully reached over and grabbed it, chugging down the entire thing. My throat was still aching and I motioned the glass towards the pitcher while looking back at Luna. She refilled my glass, and I drank too quickly and coughed, so I slowed down. This happened again two more times before Celestia nudged the entire pitcher towards me. I happily took the entire thing and drank a good third of it. The three were still staring in disbelief at me, and Twilight still had her mouth agape, and it was pretty funny really. I put the pitcher down and began to smile while clearing my throat. Celestia, and very anxiously, set her hoof on the paper and quill and slid it back across the table to me, never breaking eye contact.

“Go on,” encouraged Celestia. “Write something.” That’s when I started coughing again and finally cleared my throat.

“Umm…” I said at last, fighting back a cough. “I can speak.” I wanted to try to put forward a good impression so I did my best not to laugh. All three of them had their mouths agape again. They looked to each other, then back to me, and then back to each other again, and back to me again. Celestia was the first to say something. Again.

“Y-You can talk?”

“That’s what I said.” At this moment Twilight smugly looked at Celestia and then returned her attention to me.

Luna cleared her throat and began speaking now. “Who and what are you, and why are you here?”

“My name is Christopher Roland, I am male, a Human, and I don’t know why I’m here. But you can call me Chris.” The air was so tense you could practically cut it with a knife. They still had those speechless expressions on their faces and they all tried to regain their composure. Only Celestia was succeeding at that.

“What’s a Human?” Twilight asked herself out loud. Celestia and Luna both seemed just as confused, and Luna gave the paper back to Twilight, who snapped out of it and went back to writing.

“Write down everything,” Luna told her. “Everything that is said.”

Twilight eagerly ran back over to the side of the table with the stacks of paper and nodded. She rolled up the one I wrote in and set it aside and pulled out a fresh sheet. Before any of their questioning could begin, I asked my own.

“What are your names?” I already knew the answer to that, but it might be best to play dumb. “And where am I?”

“You are in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria.” Celestia spoke, “My name is Princess Celestia, this is my sister Princess Luna, and that is my student, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight wrote that down, and the interrogation began.

“Why did you set the forest on fire?”

“I didn’t. And anyways it was only one tree that caught fire. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Why did you threaten those ponies?”

“I didn’t. Or at least, I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry if I did.”

“Why did you run?”

“I was hyped up on adrenaline and feared for my life. I was being chased after all."

“Where did you get that scar on your arm?”

“I had a cut and I burned it shut with the end of a stick days ago. That pattern was made from the stick.”

“Where did you come from?”

“A planet called ‘Earth.' I'm not sure if that's this world or not. It probably isn't."

“How did you get here?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

“What is this?” Luna produced my iPod.

“That’s lets you listen to music, but it’s portable. And where’d you get it?” Celestia was now completely content at this point and motioned to the ivory chest. Her horn began to shine and the pentagram that was etched into the top disappeared, opening it. Out came my backpack, empty duffel bag and its contents, the tent which was still completely burned to ashes, and what was taken from my pockets. I noticed my knife had been wrapped in some sort of ribbon.

“We’d get to this eventually,” Celestia began, “What is all this?”

I guess I’d start with what was already out. “This is a pen. It’s like a quill but has a built-in supply of ink that doesn’t need to be constantly replaced.” Twilight’s face lit up and Luna picked it up intrigued by it.

“This is a phone. If someone else has one, the two of you can talk to each other without being in the same room.” The three were taken back, and Twilight forgot to write for a second, but then scribbled it down before looking back up.

“This is my wallet, it’s what I carry my money in, but I don’t think it has much value here.” I set all of it on the table along with the coupons, and it was still stained in my blood. At least they were dry. I took out what was the bookmark and explained it, and Twilight seemed to look at it in fascination. I produced my fake ID.

“Err… this is my identification. It makes it so I can drive legally.”

“Drive what?” Luna asked, “A ship?”

“Yes…” Celestia raised an eyebrow as I awkwardly put everything back in the wallet. Then I noticed my watch among the items.

“This is a watch. It’s like a clock, but it’s smaller and portable. It wraps around your forearm like so.” I promptly put it on. I don’t think the ponies know what a watch it. Did they have watches? I reached for something else.

“This is a map of the state where I lived.” I opened it and placed it down. Celestia was looking all over it.

“Erm, this is called a lock pick. It helps me open simple lock mechanisms without a key, like what might be on a door. And this, eh… is a matchbook. Inside are these matchsticks, and with those I can create a small flame for a short period of time.” Celestia’s eyes widened and I knew what she was thinking. “…and I told you before. I did not start that fire.”

“And in that bag are the rest of my clothes, some food and water, and a couple books.”

Then it came to my backpack, which seemed like it hadn’t been opened yet. I could see they were eagar to know what was inside, so I took the small advantage I had over the situation.

“Before we start with that…” I looked up. “I have been very kind considering what’s happened to me. I had been injured and thrown in a cell, and this interrogation has more so turned into a presentation if anything. Before I continue I need to know exactly what will become of me.” The room was now silent except for Twilight’s writing which soon stopped. Celestia and Luna looked at each other.

“You will probably…” Luna began.

“Probably?”

“You will,” Celestia corrected her sister, but soon stopped herself. “It is too early to say, human. However I will say that you will not be detained against your will.”

“Alright…” I was more or less pleased. At least I wouldn’t be mistreated. I took out the laptop and presented it to the them

“This…” I began, “I’m not quite sure where to begin. It’s kind of like a multi-tool, In a sense. It works in the same way similar to my phone. But there are other things it can do like,“ I glanced over at Twilight, “Instead of writing on paper you can press the keys down and type with this. It will save all documents you type so they can be opened later.” Twilight had just finished writing what I said, reread what she wrote, and looked up in astonishment. The Princesses were equally surprised as I showed them the keyboard.

“It’s in Equine…” Luna mumbled. I set the laptop aside and took out the car battery.

“This is like a mobile power source. It can be charged up with electricity and then carried around for later use.” I was taking apart the wiring I had rigged it to when Celestia started to slowly lean in and try to touch it. “Don’t!” I stopped her, noticing her… shoes? She quickly retreated and I pointed to the two prongs sticking out of the top.

“Do not touch these two at the same time. Especially with metal. They should only touch what was made for them.” I motioned to the wires.

“One wrong move and you could easily be electrocuted. There is also a very strong acid on the inside, so if this breaks open that would be bad news.” Celestia was in shock now. Luna slightly giggled at her sister and leaned in to the presentation. I took out the duct tape and dictionary.

“Eee-nguh-leesh?” Twilight tried to read the cover.

“’English.’ I corrected her. “That’s the language I speak, and seeing as your language and mine are similar, this may be similar to yours as well. It’s a dictionary.” Twilight perked up while muttering something to herself.

“English…” Celestia repeated to herself.

“What about that?” Luna pointed a hoof at the duct tape. “It seems like a tape of sorts.”

“It is, and it’s called ‘duct tape’. It’s very strong and resists pulling, but can easily tear.” I tore off a bit and stuck it to the table.

“Duck-tape?” Twilight asked worryingly. “Like the animal?”

“No,” I reassured her, “It’s not made from ducks. It’s called ‘duct’. It sounds similar but it’s spelled with a ‘T’ at the end instead of ‘K’.” I set it aside and took out the remaining objects from my backpack.

“Here’s some rope, here’s an empty book, a pencil, pencil sharpener, and a calculator.” I laid them all out on the table.

“Now about this…” Luna set the destroyed tent on the table and dropped it on everything.

“That was my tent, and I do believe I have an umbrella in there somewhere.” The tent was picked up in a white glow and set back in the chest.

“There is nothing harmful here, so no weapons, and I pose no threat.” Only now after looking through everything I noticed my belt was missing from the bunch. I look at them and it seemed both Princesses went to speak but Twilight beat them to it.

“Why were you camping in the Whitetail Woods if you didn’t know how you got there?” she asked. Equally curious, the Princesses leaned in too.

“Well… I was hiking in the woods when there was a storm, so I set up my tent and took cover. That's the just of it.” I told her. Luna tilted her head in skepticism and Celestia went to speak, lifting up the knife.

“If you have no weapons, then what is this?” She set it down in front of me. I forgot about that. My switchblade was wrapped in some sort of intricate bow.

“Well, yes, I guess. It is a knife, and I use it for self-defense.”

“But you have killed with it. It is covered in blood.” Celestia said with determination.

“Yes…” I reluctantly said, “but some of it is actually mine. I don’t know how long ago it was when I was first found by you… ponies, but I cut myself the day before that by accident. That’s why I had to burn the wound shut so it wouldn’t get infected.” I lifted my sleeve up to show them the burn again. “And also, Humans are omnivores, meaning we eat both meat and plants. So yes… I have killed and cooked some fish and a raccoon or two using that.” I sheepishly sunk into my seat. Knowing this was a kids’ show, murder is probably worth whatever the maximum sentence was. Is there a pony-court? Oh man, this whole scene would make for one hell of an episode. I looked at Celestia and then back to Luna.

“But any knife can be used to kill.” I added. “I carry it around mostly for self-defense.”

Twilight seemed exhausted from writing; she had written through some twenty pages at least. The Princesses huddled together and then Celestia spoke,

“We will discuss the rest of this later, as it’s nearing nighttime. We’ll need to lower the sun and raise the moon.” looking back to me, “and about where you’ll be staying...” Celestia was now hesitantly shifitng her attention to Twilight.

“My faithful student,” Celestia seemed almost ashamed by what she was saying. “Why don’t you take …Chris… to your old home here in Canterlot for the night? I’m sure he won’t pose any threat to you in his current condition, and there will be guards stationed at your door. Perhaps you can teach him about our culture and learn of his?”

“Of course Princess!” Twilight was suddenly alert. “Come! I can’t wait to learn about this stuff some more!”

“About that…” Celestia began. She placed mostly everything back into the chest and the seal reappeared on the door. The only things she left me were my backpack, all the books, a pen, my map, wallet, and clothes. Now she turned to me.

“And Chris, We will discuss… the situation in the morning.”