Alignment 2: Introductions

>As you slowly regain conciousness, you're aware of a soft breeze blowing over you and an early-morning sunbeam bathing you in pleasant warmth

>You hesitantly open your eyes, squinting in the sunlight

>You are Celestia

>And you kind of really don't feel good today

>You're slightly nauseous, and there's an ache in your temples that almost hurts enough to distract you from where you are

>You rise on unsteady legs

Urgh....

>You've overexerted yourself with magic before, but it's never felt like this

>You look around and find your sister happily snoozing in the grass beside you

>It's actually kind of cute, but you need to get home

Luna.  Wake up.

>You say, tersely

>She closes her eyes tighter, and turns away from you

>She doesn't like mornings

>But, you're too irritated to care much

>You kick her sharply in the flank

>She jerks awake, startled

>'OW!  What in the hay was that for?!'

>You never remembered her voice being that grating

We need to get going;  Father is probably wondering where we are:

>You say through gritted teeth

>Every action and sound is amplified by this damnable headache

>Luna rises to her feet and shakes the grass off of her

>'Very well, Sister.  Proceed.'

>You wince

>Fucking noises

>Your horn begins to glow, and one brilliant flash of golden light later, you're back in the Equestrian throne room

>As your vision clears, you notice the Royal day guards at their posts beside the throne, but the throne empty

>It's probably too early for Father to be up

Luna

>She perks to attention

I think I overexerted myself yesterday, because I'm feeling terrible today.

Tell Father I'll talk with him later, but right now I'm going to my room to rest.

I'd appreciate not being disturbed.

>Luna looks at you, concerned

>'O-okay.  Go get some rest and feel better, Sister.'

>You put on a pained expression, nod quickly, and begin walking away

>As you leave, you hear Luna ask one of the guards about any news that happened in your absence

>He says something about capturing a minor discordant that was terrorizing a village near here

>You'll have to investigate that later

>Right now, you're only concerned with resting

>You enter your room, and hit the bed with an uncerimonious thud

>You curl into a tight ball, willing yourself not to vomit as your head aches and spins

>After what feels like hours, you fall mercifully unconcious

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*Several hours prior......*

>You are Anon

>A couple hours ago you woke up in the middle of a forest

>Not a weird forest, just a forest like back on Earth

>A quick inventory of your pockets revealed:

>Your cellphone;  at half battery, with the clock reading 1:37 pm

>Your wallet;  leather, containing not much more than a few bills, a debit card, and an I.D.

>Your Swiss Army knife;  never go anywhere without it

>And looking at your current situation, that's probably a really good thing

>Lastly, your mp3 player;  Full of all the best music and fresh off the charger

>Knowing the basics of outdoor survival, you know you need water before anything else

>Also, civilization tends to form around water, so finding a river or a lake is probably the best chance you have to be found

>Braving the limbs of a tall pine tree, you climb to get a sense of which direction you should go

>In the distance, you see a ribbon of emptiness in the dense cover of trees

>It's either a river or a road;  both good signs

>After shimmying down the tree and orienting yourself, you head off in that direction

>The going is relatively easy;  The forest seems to be first-growth

>However, it still takes you a few hours to reach the river

>The forest was cool and slightly humid, but the exertion you put out still left you parched

>You emerge from the forest, and running along the river is a small dirt road, beaten flat by countless hooves

>You cross it, and make your way down the bank to the river

>After drinking your fill, you climb back up, and examine the road

>The most recent set of hoofprints seems to be heading downstream

>However, the size of the hoofprints concerns you a bit

>Judging from the size, it looks like whatever made these is about four feet tall

>They look like horse tracks, and there are no human tracks in sight

>Whoever's riding this must be the size of a hobbit

>As you walk down the trail, you absentmindedly check the time

>1:37 pm

>Okay

>....

>Wait

>You check again

>Sure enough, it reads 1:37 pm

>Meaning that entire trip took less than a minute

>You pull out your mp3

>It seems to be working fine

>Bizzare

>You pocket your gadgets, and continue walking

>After about 20 minutes, you hear something like laughter coming from the trail ahead

>You pick up your pace;  If there are people there, you don't want to miss them

>As you get closer, you hear conversation

Hello?

>You shout, because you still can't see anyone

Hey, I'm lost, and could use some help!

>You continue walking, and round a corner to see two small horses

>At least, you think they're horses

>They kinda look like goats, too

>One's mint green, and the other is a pale purple color

>What the fuck?

>Their owners must be around here somewhere, but you can't hear them anymore

>Both of the horse-things are eyeing you nervously

>You crouch down, and extend your hand so they can smell it

>They don't move

>In fact, they don't take their eyes off you

>You stand back up

It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you....

>You say, in the most soothing voice you can

>You're not really good at that whole 'nurturing' thing, but you can try

>You walk forward tentatively with your hand outstretched, so as to pet them

>Apparantly, they're not having any of this

>They take off down the trail

>Well, fuck

>Whoever owns these horses is going to be pissed

>Maybe you can catch them and bring them back?

>You start running after them

>They're sticking to the trail, so you don't have to track them

>And, your 6 foot gait is giving you a distinct advantage to catching up with them

>However, after chasing them for maybe ten minutes, whenever you get close enough to catch them, they get a sudden burst of speed

>You're exhausting rapidly, and you're extremely frustrated with these horses

>You can kind of tell they're starting to tire as well, but they just won't let you catch them

>After a few more minutes, a village begins to come into view ahead of you

>You slow your pace;  whoever owns these horses isn't THAT far from home, and you can maybe get some help corralling them

>As the horses enter into town, you can hear someone shout:

>'HELP!  THERE'S A MONSTER TRYING TO CATCH AND EAT US!'

>That makes some sense

>Maybe the horses could smell the danger coming, and that's why they were so spooked?

>Seems legit

>And it looks like you arrived just in time to help

>Maybe

>Depends on how big this monster is

>Okay, fine;  you're going to hide like a bitch in this village

>You enter the town, and see the two horses hiding behind a large, white unicorn

>Wait, unicorn?

>It's dressed in golden plate mail, and is eyeing you with malice

>From behind the unicorn, the green horse points at you with a hoof

>'There he is, officer!  It's that monster that tried to eat us!'

>Woah, wait, what?

>Did that horse just FUCKING TALK?!?

>You backpedal slightly at this new revelation, and start to explain yourself

Woah, hold on here, I didn't-

>The unicorn's horn starts to glow, and you feel a sharp pain in your neck

>From the source of the pain, a warm numbness spreads throughout your body

>Within seconds, you collapse

>Unconciousness takes you soon after

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>You awake at a later time, on a pile of straw

>You groggily open your eyes to an empty stone room with a heavy wooden door

>The lack of windows prevents you from telling time by the sunlight

>You check your pockets

>It seems they didn't take anything

>Strange

>You pull out your phone and check the time

>1:38 pm

>God damn it, phone, you're useless

>You examine the room

>Pile of straw in a corner

>Hole in the ground in another corner

>Slot in the door for a tray

>Small, barred opening in the top of the door

>.....

>Seems like you're in jail

>Fucking sweet

Hey!  Anybody out there?

>...

>Silence

>Not seeing an obvious way out, you shrug, pull out your mp3, plug your earbuds in, and attempt to relax

>No point in worrying, right?

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>You are Luna

>Upon returning home, Celestia immediately retired to her room

>You're concerned, but you're sure she'll be okay for a little while

>You trust her to know if she needs help or not

>Right now what has your attention is the news of a minor discordant being held in the castle prison

>There must be something special about this one;  normally minor discordants are left alone to do whatever

>You ask the guard what happened

>He says this discordant was actively hunting ponies

>Which isn't entirely unheard of;  occasionally large predatory beasts will pop through

>However, they're usually relocated to unpopulated areas quickly

>The reason this one was spared is because apparantly it tried to mimic language in such a way to lull its prey into a false sense of security

>Upon hearing this, you cock an eyebrow

A significant amount of intelligence would have to be required to pull something like that off

>One of the guards nods, and shifts uncomfortably

>'Well, if you'll pardon my speculation, I think the real reason it was captured is because they think it might be sentient.'

>Now you're intrigued

>If this guard is right, it will be the first time a sentient being from another plane has visited Equestria

>And you may have just thrown it in a dungeon...

Guard, what cell is it in?

>The guard answers, and you begin to make your way down to the prisons

>As you walk, you try and rationalize the situation before you

>As much as you find the possibility of an intelligent being from another universe fascinating, you need to keep an objective eye on this

>It really could be a clever mimic

>And this being could very well be incredibly dangerous

>You continue walking, steeling yourself for this encounter

>But as you get closer, you begin to hear.... something

>It sounds like singing

>But it's unlike any singing you've ever heard before

>And it's coming from the discordants cell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6e9HuSlINM

>Equestrian music is, by and large, very happy

>It's not entirely uncommon for an entire town to burst into joyous song for no reason other than somepony smiled a certain way

>But this....

>You're frozen in place, enraptured in this song

>This song tells a story

>A DEEP, MEANINGFUL story

>A story of love, which you're accustomed to

>But also of loss, searing and painful

>You listen to the words wafting from the prison cell, and your eyes water

>The voice itself cracks and breaks occasionally from some disuse, but the tone, melody and lyrics combine in such a way so as to produce a medly of raw, heartbreaking beauty

>'All the love gone bad, turned my world to black...'

>'Tattooed all I see...'

>'All that I am...'

>'All that I'll beeeee~~~...'

>Wide-eyed, you fall sideways into the stone wall and let the words wash over you

>You've never had something as simple as a song touch you in such an emotional way before

>It seems he's not done yet

>You're sure it's a 'he', not an 'it'

>'I know someday you'll have a beautiful life...'

>'I know you'll be a sun...'

>'In somebody else's sky, but why.. why...'

>'Why... can't it be....'

>'Oh, can't it be~ mine?'

>You clench your eyes tightly as you begin to sob, occasional tears etching dark streaks in the fur of your face

>Any questions about this creature's sentience is washed from your mind

>That level of emotion just isn't seen in animals

>But that doesn't mean he's not dangerous

>You take a few deep breaths to settle yourself

>Meanwhile, the discordant seems to be winding down his song

>'Doodoodoo-doo-doodoo-doooo...'

>Regaining a sembalance of your composure, you knock softly on the door

>The discordant continues singing, either not noticing or ignoring you

>You knock louder

>'Huh?  What?'

>'Is someone there?'

>You exhale quickly in anticipation

Yes. Hello.

>You didn't think this far ahead

>What do you ask him?

>Luckily for you, he takes the initiative

>'Hello, yourself.  If I might ask, why am I in a prison cell?'

>He seems to be polite

>And he knows where he is

>So he's intelligent

From what I understand, you were trying to catch ponies to eat them

>A slight pause from behind the door

>'Oh.  Well, as I was trying to explain to the.... unicorn that knocked me out, I wasn't trying to eat them.'

So what were you trying to do by chasing them back home?

>He goes on to explain that he woke up in a forest, and was looking for signs of civilization

>Apparantly, on his world, ponies (or goats, or horses, or horse-goats; He seemed to refer to ponies by any of these names) are beasts of burden

>As such, he thought he was going to get into trouble for scaring someone's livestock off, and tried to catch them to bring them back

>He claimed to not know ponies were intelligent, or capable of speech

So, once you found out ponies were intelligent, why didn't you explain yourself?

>'I tried, but this fucking.... unicorn.... knocked me out before I could.'

>He pauses slightly

>'That was a unicorn, wasn't it?  I'm not just tripping on something, right?'

>You explain the four breeds of ponies to him

>'Oh, okay.  And, are they supposed to be all different colors?  I've never seen a green horse before today.'

Your species is all a uniform color?

>'Well, no, but.....'

>He's silent for a second

>'Good point, I suppose.'

>'What's your name, anyway?'

>You debate what to tell him

>Your full title might intimidate him

>And, despite everything you've heard about strange beings being dangerous, you can't help but like this creature

You can call me Luna

>'Luna, huh?  Well, my name's Anonymous, but you can call me Anon.'

>'I'd shake your hand and introduce myself formally, but, you know...  The whole imprisonment thing.'

>He chuckles

>You giggle

>Despite being mistreated, he doesn't seem openly bitter about it

>And with that, your mind is made up

Well, it was nice meeting you, Anon, but right now I need to go have a discussion with a few ponies.'

>1'Well, if you need me, you know where to find me.'

>He laughs

>'But seriously, if you could tell someone that this was a huge misunderstanding and to let me out, I'd appreciate it.  The prospect of sleeping on hay and shitting in a hole don't seem very appealing to me.'

>You cringe slightly;  That doesn't sound fun

I'll see what I can do

>With that, you run up the stairs, winding through the halls and into your father's bedroom

>He's awake, but only just, and is sitting at his personal table enjoying a bit of breakfast

>He sees you, and smiles

>'Good morning, daughter!  I was beginning to worry about you and Celestia when you didn't send any word.'

>You laugh nervously

Yeah, about that....

>You then tell him about what happened yesterday, with Sombra, the Crystal Empire, and the army of ponies

>He looks at you, concerned

>You then go on to tell him about your and Celestia's actions, resulting in the disappearance of the Crystal Empire, but the salvation of Equestria

>After a brief silence, he says:

>'Well, I'm not pleased with the manner in which you went about it....'

>You look at the ground, slightly ashamed

>'.... I am grateful you dispatched that problem before it got out of hoof.'

>You look back up, and he's smiling

>'And I'm also glad you're both okay.'

>He may be the king, but he's also your father

>And he tends to worry more than he should

>Which, in all honesty, makes this kind of a long shot....

Father, the reason why I sought you out this morning is actually in regards to the Minor Discordant in the prison

>He puts on an exasperated look rather quickly

>'Ah yes, that.  I'm not sure what to do with it.'

It's a 'he', Father

>He looks at you, concerned

>'How do you know that?'

>You go on to explain to him that once you arrived back at the castle today, you heard of the Discordant

>You investigated it yourself, and after much thought you've concluded that he's sentient, intelligent, and confused as to where he is

>You ask as to what's going to become of him

>'Oh, well, I figured we would just ship him off to parts unknown, like we do with the other dangerous Discordants.'

But he's not dangerous, Father!

>You don't know that for certain, but you're willing to take a chance on it

>There's just something about him.....

>You don't know what it is, but you want to know more about him

>But your Father is still skeptical

>'You're SURE he's not dangerous?  How can you know for certain?'

>That's a good point

Well, he seemed really level-headed for someone that was just imprisoned

Even if he is dangerous, I don't think he's a threat to us

>He looks like he's considering it

And besides, Celestia and I are your two best warriors

If anything happens, we'll be here to handle him

>He appears to be deep in thought

>After what seems like forever, he finally says:

>'Go tell the guards to let the Discordant out.  He may stay in the castle, so we can learn his culture and more about him.'

>'However, it's up to you to keep an eye on him;  You will be blamed for any trouble he gets in.'

>So he's making Anon your pet

>Well, it's better than nothing

>You nod quickly, and exit the room

>As soon as you're out of his line of sight, you begin beaming like mad

>You quickly trot to the jailer's office, smiling wide the entire way

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>You are Anon

>Still in your prison cell

>You slept for a bit, listened to music for a bit...

>Honestly, fucking nothing has happened to you for the past...

>You check your phone

>1:39 pm

>.....Full minute

>Well, not ENTIRELY nothing

>You had a pleasant chat with a mysterious voice from the other side of your cell door

>She said her name was Luna

>And then she ran off

>You begin pacing in your cell

>You've been in here for a while, and you're starting to go a little stir-crazy

>While thinking about that conversation

>Who is she, and why does she care?

>You're assuming she's a horse, but...

>Your thoughts are interrupted by your cell door opening

>In walks a purple... alicorn, you think

>Whatever the one with wings and a horn is

>It looks feminine, though

>She's wearing a small tiara, and what appears to be ornamental armor

>She turns to you, and smiles

>'Hello, Anonymous.  I'm here to let you out.'

>That seemed out of the blue

O-okay?  Thank you!

>A thought hits you

Uhm... Did Luna send you?

>She chuckles

>'You could say that.'

>'My name is Princess Tsuki De'Lune, Second Child to the Throne of Andromidae, Noble Heir to the Title of Master Warcraft

>She closes her eyes, and beams at you

>'And I'll take that handshake now'

>She looks puzzled

>'As soon as you tell me what a handshake is.'