Author's Notes:

Hello readers! This chapter and the next one (maybe) are going to be a little slow. I'm trying to give you some knowledge on the characters and their personality's. A lot of your questions are still left unanswered, but all in due time.

But I have a question for you the readers, in this chapter I do something and go into detail about something and not into something else into thee begging (You will know what I'm talking about). I want to do this more and make the concept of this thing more scientific and better explained through my own ideas. I personally like a story with detail. My question is what do you think? If a good bit of you say go for it there will be some chapters dedicated to it in some way that is still taking place and is relevant to the story.

Sincerely,

Dontaskaboutit

Edited by dawn seeker

After the introductions I stood there for a few seconds before I started to look around for something to drink. After a second or two I spotted a magic fridge or the more technical term magia glaciem unit which is nothing more than a box with a ice enchantment with a gem that acts as a receiver for a transmitter somewhere that most likely siphons off mana from the planet and transfers it to the gem that then powers the enchantment. If you are wondering what it looks like it is just a simple stand up refrigerator that is white. The only difference is that it has a floating blue gem about the size of two fingers put together on the top.

But seeing this setup scares me a little in the terms of this world's advancement in the scientific field. Even though this fridge uses magic, magic is still a form of science since it is a manipulation of matter and the energy called mana, to achieve a specific goal or to work for some sort of function, and I am quite fluid and versed in this field of science since I spent many, many, MANY years studying it and all other forms of science. I saw earlier that they had a game console and a Television, BUT with magic those are two easy to accomplish feats. I would get into how that is easy to accomplish but I don’t want to bore you, so moving on to my fears. This fridge has the most inefficient setup when it is much easier, and less wasteful, to use a direct current setup, which means the transmitter that uses up a lot of mana to both keep itself running, keep the runes and spell working, and transmit the mana, plus mana is lost on the way to the receiver, this whole system just uses up too much mana to achieve the specified goal. But the direct current only requires the item and receiver to do all that at a lower cost.

Now you might be thinking, “A planet has a unlimited mana pool, and therefore can not be depleted, so why are we even having this conversation?” well for most planets I would tell you good job, you get a A+ and a gold star, now make sure you study for the midterm! BUT that only applies planets that have a spinning core, and if my observations are correct this one does not. Since I got here little over two hours ago ( Including my one hour and forty five minutes of wandering before I found this place) the clouds outside have not moved, the sun has not moved an inch, and finally my compass does not work (yes, I have a compass). That is bad. But seeing that there is still life here the inhabitants have found a way to deal with this. But with this stuff and this ‘transmit - receive’ style of mana supply, they are draining the planet's pool, and fast. (Note to self: Gather information on this topic later. Maybe I could help them, or at least the planet.)

I went to the ‘refrigerator’ and opened it up to see what was inside. In the background I could hear Pandora, Purple (Yes I know her name but Purple is what my mind labeled her to be called.), and Celestia talking. Well it sound like Celestia and Purple scolded Pandora, while the draconequus had no fucks to give.

Inside the ‘fridge’ was a assortment of beverages. Daffodil Dew, Ponspi, Canterlot Original, and many more sodas I did not recognize. I kept skimming the unit until I found something great. Something amazing. Something so out of this world that I am on the verge of tears. What I found was the liquid of GODS … chocolate milk!

It was a gallon (Imperial system check.) of chocolate milk with a red cap (Whole milk maybe?) that was halfway empty. Right next to it were drinking glasses (Keeps them cool I guess?). I grabbed one and poured myself a glass of the divine fluid. After that I stood back up with my glass and turned around to watch Purple and Celestia yell at Pandora (who still looks like she does not care.) in a hush-hush tone. Even though they thought they were being quiet I could still hear them load a clear.

“Seriously Pandora what in the name of Faust were you thinking! Not only did you insult me and everypony-” Celestia was saying before I interrupted.

“Everybody.” I corrected.

“... What?” she turned around and asked spooked and confused.

“Nothing just talking to myself. Carry on.” She stared at me for a moment before turning back around and continuing her hushed scolding.

“... -in this room. Not only that you endangered yourself and the rest of us by not helping us fight him.” scolded Celestia.

“Who attacked first? Hmm, Oh, that’s right Luna! What did he do? Yes, haha, how could I forget, he defended himself. Damn, better lock him up in Tartarus for that one!” replied Pandora with very thick sarcasm.

Purple decided to join in, “It does not matter! He could have hurt somepony!”

“Somebody.” I corrected for a second time.

Purple turned around and looked at me with a curious expression and said, “Excuse me, what do you mean by “somebody”.”

I politely smiled and said “Oh nothing, just correcting your terminology.”

Purples right eye twitched “Excuse me, I'm sorry but I could’ve sworn you just said you were correcting me?” asked the mare. (Oh no, not someone who thinks they're never wrong.)

I deadpan at the response “Yes that is exactly what I said. You and Celestia keep using the terms “somepony” and “everypony” and I’m going to go out on a limb here, but you probably use “pony”, “ponies”, and “anypony” too. All those terms are extremely racist, especially since you live in a world with multiple sentient species. The correct terms to use for this type of world are “somebody”, “everybody”, “everyone”, “someone”, “anybody”, “anyone”, and any term that can describe multiple species at once like “people”. Seeing that you don’t use terms like these leads me to believe that you either didn’t know about any of the other races until recently or you have a racist society.” I explain in a monotone way ending with a sigh.

By the end of my little lecture Purple looks like she is about to blow a gasket “HOW DARE YOU CORRECT ME! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU-”

I cut her off knowing just what to say to end this “Muffin button.” I say in a childish way with a childlike informative tone.

Her anger instantly turns into confusion “What?”

Now it’s time to bring it home, “What?”

She then develops a thousand yard stare and stops talking, a clear sign of her mind shutting down and rebooting. I smile with victory. (Works every time.)

I take a glance to my left and spot my image on a mirror. After so many years my image has changed a bit. I still look as young as ever, but my once dirty blonde hair is now a metallic silver from both time and extensive magic use. My eyes were also the same cold death blue, but also thanks to using magic for so long, they glow blue when it gets dark, but usually they were covered up by my Alucard esc sunglasses. I had long ago replaced my London style jacket with a Gothic Victorian black trench coat with a gray tee shirt underneath. My pants were just a simple pair of faded black jeans with sigils placed on the knees. There purposes is to reinforce the knees (you’d be surprised by how often they will rip when in battle.) and provide protection and style. I had on my brand New Blackhawk tactical boots. Finally on my left side was that same sword I made all those years ago.(But with a few special enchants.)

I look back to the group address the other two, “Okay while her mind is rebooting, one I will answer almost all questions when everyone awakens. Second, if you promise me Celestia, you may have your magic back.” I then reached over with my right hand and put it on the guard of my sword, and with a flick of my thumb, brought the blade out just far and fast enough to cut my hand. Then I used some magic to hold the wound open so my healing factor does not close it back up. I then reach out towards Celestia waiting for her to shake my hand.

She stared at my hand in mild shock and then slowly looked back up at me “What is this?”

“Shake my hand and fulfill your end of the promise.” I said with a kind smile.

“And what promise would that be?” she asks with a defensive look.

“I promise to give you your magic back, as long as you never use any of your power against me.”

“Okay, and why did you cut your hand?”

“Oh, this is just to enforce the terms of the promise.”

“Which are?”

“I will give you back your magic, in exchange you must promise and shake my hand that you will never use your power against me, to do so will result in you being stripped of said power until I decide to remake this very promise.” I said, still with a kind smile.

“So I have to make a deal to get MY magic back!” she said with a bit more volume.

“Who tried to incinerate me with a spell so hot it could almost match the sun in kelvin for no reason?” I say with a more neutral expression taking its place upon my facial features.

She looked down at the ground in shame with a sad expression with her ears splayed back “Okay …. But you have to include Twilight's magic to.” she reached out and shook my hand.

*Celestia P.O.V.*

“Deal.”

I thought about what he said and bowed my head in shame. I’m a princess for my mother's sakes, I’m suppose to ask questions first! I reached out and grabbed his hand with mine …. and nearly fainted.

My breath left me, the air was cold to the point it felt unreal, and my chest felt like it was full of lead. My heart stopped and so did my thoughts of everything but what was happening. My vision went black and white and I saw a tall being clad in faded old black robes with its aged skeletal hand on ours slowly wrapping a chain around them. When it was all the way around it tightened around our hands to the point I thought they would break and in an instant, it was over and everything returned to normal.

*Dust P.O.V.*

Well that went well. This one didn’t pass out from fear, but she looks like she just seen a train wreck with one train full of puppies and the other baby pandas. I let go of her hand and let the wound on my hand heal, which it did almost instantaneously. She quickly retracted her hand and held it close to her with her other hand and asked “W-W-What did you d-do?”

“Oh nothing much, all I did was make this promise binding, so if either one of us breaks our promise they have to keep to their side of the promise.” I say nonchalantly. then I heard some groans coming from both the couch and chair. I put down my glass of awesomeness and walk over to the blue one designated as Luna to check on her to make sure she hasn't suffered and unseen damage while Pandora went to Celestia’s side.

Luna was slowly regaining consciousness after our little ‘tussle’. I walked over to her and place my hand on her head. when I did she flinched back, but did not verbally respond to the action. Her eyes opened and after a few seconds of blinking she saw me. Her eyes went wide (no memory loss, that’s a good sign) and she tried to jump back but the couch she was laying on got in her way. I grab her shoulders “Easy now, you don’t want to get back up to fast, you took quite a shot to the head. Just calm down I’m not going to hurt you, the proof being you're, A.) Not chained and B.) Still alive.” once she calmed down I let go of her and stepped back. “How do you feel?”

She tried to get up but she immediately grabbed her head and hissed, “My head hurts a little but we should be fine stranger.” She replied while rubbing her head softly.

“That’s good, at least you’re durable.” (as durable as a German engineered tank). I looked over at the chair where Cadence, on the chair, is finally waking up from the sleep spell. She gets up and rubs her right eye with her right hand while yawning with her left arm in the air stretching. After stretching she smacked her lips together a few times and looked around the room. She had a confused look when she saw Purple standing as still as a statue and Pandora looking at Celestia’s hand flipping it over while Celestia talked about what she saw. Then her eyes skimmed over to Luna finally sitting up on the couch, she smiled when she saw that, then her eyes eventually fell on me.

“Eep!” *crash*

(Keep a straight face Dust. Come on you can do it!!!) a smile was slowly working its way onto my face after that. After she saw me she fell off the chair, rolled a few times, and then crashed into the pool table. Now she is upside down with her hair in a mess, and everyone, even Purple, is staring at her while this deafening silence hangs in the air.

But that didn't last long.

“HAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHA!!!” Howls Purple.

“Hehehehehe.” chuckles Pandora while her and I go over to help the poor girl.

“Pfft!” goes Sun Butt as her terror instantly turns into amusement while she tries to stifle her laugh with her hand.

“Owww” is Luna’s response to the loud noises around her.

I simply smile and help the poor girl up. “Are you okay Cadence?” I say as I help get her to her feet.

“Yea I’m okay … how do you know my name?” She says while backing away from me.

I point at Pandora “She told me.”

“Guilty as charged.” confirms Pandora while raising her hand up half way.

Cadence stops in her tracks, “oh.”

“Okay, as said before, now that everyone’s up, it’s question time and I have only one for now. What’s four princesses and a daughter of chaos doing in some building in the middle of a forest?” I ask as I sat on the chair Cadence was previously sleeping on. I then used magic to teleport my glass of chocolate milk in my hand. If you are wondering how that looks, just imagine the glass just appearing in my hand, no flash, it just appears. I spent a day figuring out how to do it without the flash and succeeded.

The four mares and one draconequus either came closer or just turned towards me. Luna and Cadence turned the couch around to face towards me, and then they sat down and relaxed a bit. Celestia sat on top of the pool table and then crossed her legs and arms. Purple just brought up another chair from across the room and then got herself situated.

Pandora came over and sat on the right armrest of the chair I was on, She then crossed her legs, giving me a nice view of her toned legs under the jeans, she then put her left arm along the top of the chair and responded to my question, “Well we are all here because even though we are important and can have everything and anything we want, we like to get together every now and then in this secret hideout and just hang out without having anyone around to bother us. We don’t get to come here often with my father checking up on me every hour on the clock, and with the princesses doing their duties, so you're lucky we were here since there is nothing around here for miles.” she says while taking my glasses and wearing them herself. “How do you see with these on! It’s like looking through solidified fire!” I chuckled a little and answered her while squinting.

"My eyes are really sensitive to light thanks to a few past mistakes I can’t reverse. I got those glasses from a friend who made them for me. They filter out most light to the point everything looks like a decently lit room for me. May I have them back? This hurts and it’s hard to see.” I ask with my hand held out as I looked up a little at her.

She then had a ‘oh’ look on her and then she put them back on my face herself .... giving me a good look of her breasts … she is either really oblivious or she’s doing it on purpose. My money's on the later. “Thank you. Now that my question was answered, ask away!” I announce with a smile. Purple’s hand shot up like a rocket. I point to her. She then teleports a piece of paper and …. oh no … I hope that quill and ink well is just for looks.

“What are you?” she asks with her … quill at the ready.

“First off no written documents on my answers.” I then snapped my fingers and the paper and quill disintegrate.

“BUT-”

“No buts! Second, I am a human, a race of extremely intelligent, but very violent and dangerous species.” I answer with a neutral expression. everyone but Pandora gulps while she just chuckles a little. Celestia was the second to ask her question.

“Do all humans possess the same level of magic you do. I can’t sense your magic but just from what you demonstrated you have very high magical abilities.”

“No. No humans, nor almost anything for that matter, have the same level of magic I do. But there are some beings, human or not, that posses a … gift similar to what gives me my abilities.” I then felt Pandora playing with my hair.

“What gift is that?” asks the being playing with my hair.

“The gift-” I close my eyes and focus on making my magic radiate. I felt the familiar sense of pressure in my eyes, the glorious, intoxicating pressure. I then open my eyes “-is a stigma.” the others gasp as they see my eyes. If you are wondering the once cold blue eyes .. are still there but they now glow. In front of them is a rune. The rune is impossible to copy, trust me I tried, it consists of a red star with shifting red sigils in the five arms of the star, then there are two red rings the go through each arm of the star. In between the rings is a slowly spinning ring of magical symbols and sigils from many different realms and forms of magic that change every time that pass through the arms of the star. Finally outside the outermost ring is another ring of symbols and sigils, but this ring is a constantly changing and evolving stabilization ring that passes through the tips of the arms to control and contain everything within that ring.

“I myself hold the last Alpha stigma in existence, but there are many other stigmas in existence. Some give there bearer full control over a specific school of magic, I know of a few with said ability, and I’m best friends with one. Other stigmas can give a being future sight, the ability to turn living things into mana, dream walk, mind control, see lifespans, see the makeup of any piece of matter and energy, memory transfer, and many other abilities. Every stigma though is unique. Even though two fire stigmas are fire stigmas the two beings that bear them have a different gift given to them by the stigma, but both users get the same drawback. Every type of stigma has a drawback depending on the stigma. A good example are those with a Lino Doue stigma, which give the user the ability to devour any intelligent species, like you, and turn it into mana, increased strength, and a limited healing factor depending on what they ate. The drawback is they eventually start to crave the flesh of their own kind and they are easily angered. Another example is the stigma I possess, the users of the Alpha stigma gain an understanding of all magic and can easily learn anything just from observation and they can read at a very rapid pace, but the downside of this power is …. the power itself. Alpha stigma users are very unstable. They are nothing more than a weapon of mass destruction waiting to go off, hence why they are killed on site or awakening. The Alpha stigma, and many others, are only awaken or discovered when the bearer has seen something highly tragic personally to them. When a Alpha stigma user awakens … that day is usually the last day they live. They go mad and start destroying everything around them and eventually themselves because of the power overload. If they did survive their awakening they are a ticking time bomb and could snap at any moment. That is a Alpha stigma user's burden. I know of one user whose burden is the hatred towards him of almost everyone and everything around him. But sometimes some users get stuck with a double curse …” I finish while bowing my head in sorrow and letting the stigma power down. A single tear falls from my eye, and that tear is made of blood. Why? Because I have no more tears.

Silence lingered in the room. No one talked or even moved until … I felt myself be gently embraced by two arms and wings, one arm with feathers and one with soft black fur. One wing of soft skin and the other soft orange feathers. Neither one of us said a thing she just held me while I calmed myself down … is this what a hug feels like? It’s been so long .... it helps a lot.

I finally calmed down and raised my head but Pandora did not let go, “*sigh* Okay next question.” after a few minutes Cadence finally asked the dreaded question.

“How did you get here?”

“.... Damn It….”