NOTE OF IMPORTANCE!!! This chapter is from Twilight's perspective, given our lively human main character is currently out for the count. Just wanted to let you know to avoid any confusion. Sarah should be back in the next chapter or the one after that, depending on how the plot evolves. Anyway, carry on.

I traced a path in front of the doors leading from the waiting room of Ponyville General, my wings twitching with nervous energy as I worried at my bottom lip with my teeth.

“Calm down Twilight,” Rarity spoke up from one of the couches, “I’m sure Dr. Tenderhoof and his staff are doing the best they can to help the poor thing.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow added as she hovered overhead, “I bet he’ll have that thing patched back up and out of there in five seconds flat.”

“I can’t calm down,” I forced out as I spun around to continue my pacing, “for all we know Dr. Tenderhoof has never seen a creature like that. It’s not like we know anything about it. It just showed up and started bleeding out on the Cutie Map for Celestia’s sake!!”

I paused as Applejack placed a hoof over my withers, “Look Twi’. I know this is something we’ve never seen before, but I’m sure the doc is doin’ everything he can to fix that creature up. You’ll see,” she gave me an encouraging smile, “he’ll come out of those doors any second now with a barn’s worth of good news.”

I sucked in a deep breath, holding a hoof to my chest before pushing it away, letting out my air as I did so. “Thanks Applejack. I’m just so worried that we won’t be able to help it. So far as we know it’s the only creature of its kind in Equestria. It certainly doesn’t look like anything I’ve read about in any of my books.”

“I haven’t heard of anything like it either,” Fluttershy added from her seat next to Rarity, “at least not from any of the books I’ve read about exotic creatures.”

“Oh, does that mean I get to throw it a So-Glad-To-Meet-You-And-Welcome-To-Equestria Party?!” Pinkie squeaked from the couch on the other side of the room.

“We don’t even know if it speaks Equestrian.” I explained, “For all we know it could be some dangerous predator that would eat a pony just as much as talk to one.”

Fluttershy whimpered, hiding under Rarity’s tail with wide eyes, “Oh, I really hope not.”

“Don’t worry Flutters,” Rainbow said as she mimed punching imaginary foes, “if that thing so much as growls at somepony I’ll Rainboom it into next week.”

“I hope it doesn’t come to that.” I muttered to myself as my wings pulled tight against my sides, “I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”

At that moment, the doors leading into the treatment wing opened, revealing a light brown unicorn. He removed his surgical mask, revealing it to be none other than Dr. Tenderhoof.

I raced up to him, the girls following close behind as he slid off his mane net, “How is it doctor? Will it be alright?”

He smiled, “The creature will be fine Princess, we were able to set the broken bones and stop the internal bleeding. The head injury was a bit tougher, but we managed to stabilize it without too much trouble.”

We all let out a collective sigh, although it was short lived as his gaze hardened, settling squarely on me as he spoke, “Princess, there is something you should know. There are some very unusual things about this creature. I would like your opinion on something if you wouldn’t mind.”

I met the other girls’ gazes for a moment before turning back to the doctor, “What kind of unusual things?”

He tilted his head to indicate the doors behind him, “It would be simpler to show you.” His gaze fell onto my friends, “Would the rest of you mind waiting out here? The particulars of the patient should probably be addressed by a Princess before we let other ponies interact with the creature.”

That caused the others to cast worried glances my direction, “You don’t think the creature is dangerous, do you?” Fluttershy asked.

Tenderhoof shrugged, “It could be completely harmless, but until I know for sure, I’m keeping the patient as isolated from ponies as we can, just to be on the safe side.” He turned his gaze back to me, “Shall we go, Princess?”

I sent one more nervous glance over my shoulder before nodding, “Sure, let’s get this over with.”

Tenderhoof nodded, leading me through the double doors and down several hallways before coming to a stop at a lone recovery room.
“I should warn you,” he said carefully as his light blue magic gripped the knob, “what you are about to see might be a bit shocking.”

I bit my lip as he opened the door, preparing myself for something truly horrific. Yet when I stepped into the room, I was struck by how seemingly normal everything was. The room wasn’t coated in blood or filled to the brim with terrible fumes. Not even the sheets were out of the ordinary, other than the fact that the creature was so long its hind legs extended several inches off the end of the bed. Its body was covered almost completely by the bedspread, the only exception being its left front limb and its head. Its face was oddly flat, with two small eyes and a pair of equally small ears on the side of the head. Its mane was a dark brown and came down to rest softly over its shoulders, while the completely bare skin was a creamy white. Aside from the mane and a set of thin eyebrows, the rest of the creature’s body seemed to be devoid of fur. My eyes moved down it body to the visible limb, noting that the shoulder area still had some severe bruising. An I.V. was hooked up to said limb just above the wrist, although as I spotted what was below the tube I was struck with confusion.

Tenderhoof seemed to notice where my gaze had landed, “Yes, we noticed it too. The creature seems to share a similar bone structure to minotaurs, including a set of fingers on the end of each upper limb. Given how the creature is set up skeletal wise, it would be my opinion that it is bipedal in nature, leaving the upper extremities free to manipulate objects.”

“Fascinating,” A notepad materialized in my magic grip, along with a full inkwell and a quill, “did you notice any other similarities between it and the minotaur?”

He cleared his throat, his cheeks going a slight red in color, “Well, we did find one other thing, but you might want to brace yourself. It made one of the nurses faint when she saw them.”

“Saw what?” I asked.

He simply pulled the sheet towards the bottom of the bed, revealing the creature’s chest area. However, as what was hidden came into view, my quill froze mid-word, my mouth hanging open as my eyes widened in shock. Laid bare for all to see, with only a thin black piece of clothing to even hint at modesty, were a pair of the biggest teats I had ever seen. Mrs. Cake had only gotten about half that size when she was nursing the twins!

“A-Are those what I think they are,” I managed to croak out, my wings on full display as I tried to get my mind to stop short-circuiting.

Tenderhoof nodded, “While we conducted an examination to see if the creature was currently with a foal, we were shocked to discover that she in not currently lactating. Even more surprising, was the fact that she seems to have not yet had any offspring at all.”

My notepad and quill fell to the floor with a clatter, my magic maintaining just enough grip to set the inkwell on the countertop, “You mean those are what they look like normally?” I couldn’t wrap my head around it, how could a creature have such huge teats when there was absolutely no need for them? It didn’t make any logical or evolutionary sense!

Tenderhoof cleared his throat, “While the creature’s, ahem, assets were a bit of a shock, they aren’t the reason I brought you in here. You see there’s something strange about this creature’s magic signature.”

Now he was speaking my language. I picked up the quill and pad, readying them for use as I turned to him, “Alright, so what’s so unusual about it, stunted mana lines, inverted spell flow?”

He seemed to mull over his thoughts before he answered, “That’s just it, other than some residual chaos magic, which could be the cause of the creature’s sudden appearance in your castle, its magical signature, doesn’t exist.”

I froze for a second time, one eye twitching for a moment as I turned to face the doctor, “What?”

He seemed to be sweating under my scrutiny, “What I’m trying to say is that when the patient first arrived at the hospital, it had so little magic present in its body we were worried about it being mana starved. Yet the most incredible thing is that between the healing spells we used on it and the natural magic in the air, the creature has absorbed almost eighty kilothuams* in the last four hours.”

I openly gaped at him, “Eighty kilothuams? That’s more than the average unicorn has in their entire body! Is it still absorbing magic?”

He nodded, “My theory is that it will continue to absorb magic until its body reaches it natural capacity. If the current rate of absorption is anything to go by, I’d estimate that limit to be somewhere around three to five hundred kilothuams.”

I winced, unsure about how to process that. Most unicorns processed a natural reserve of magic between sixty and one hundred and twenty kilothuams, although exceedingly powerful mages had been known to get up to two hundred and fifty at their prime. Even after becoming an alicorn, my own magic topped out at four hundred and seventy-three kilothuams, and I was probably one of the most gifted magic users alive. If Tenderhoof was right, then this creature had the potential to be one of the most powerful beings in Equestria, for good or for bad.

“Do you have any idea why this creature was so drained of magic?” I asked, quill and pad forgotten on the bedside table, “Surely there must be some explanation as to how a creature with that much magic could be reduced to nearly nothing.”

He gave me a critical look, “Understand that this is only a theory, and is purely based on my own observations and opinions. I’ve taken a look at the creature’s belongings, and all of them, from the tiniest button to the pack itself, exhibit the same rapid mana absorption that the creature is. Therefore, it is safe to assume that whatever happened to it took all the magic from its belongings as well. But the magic field is present everywhere on Equis. You can’t find a single stone or twig that isn’t filled with magic, and removing the magic from that item would be nearly the same as ripping it apart on the molecular level. The only way I can think of that would explain how these things are completely void of magic, would either be because they have some unknown mana blocking ability, or they originated from a place that has next to no mana field, if any at all.

My eyes widened, “Are you suggesting that this creature isn’t from Equis?”

He shrugged, “That’s just my opinion. I have no proof other than what I see before me. I don’t expect you to believe me, but that is what I have observed.”

I shook my head to clear it, lest my brain explode from the possibilities, “Right, we’ll worry about that one later. Was there anything else you wanted to show me, doctor?”

“Yes, there was one other thing that I thought needed a second opinion.” He took hold of the sheets with his magic again, “I should warn you, the patient is wearing a set of clothing over her genitalia, similar to what she is wearing over her teats. Given her fully clothed status when you arrived, the nurses and I have concluded that it is meant for comfort and modesty, despite similar clothing being viewed in our society as lingerie.”

I blushed, nodding that I understood, “Proceed doctor.”

He nodded in return, pulling the sheets down past the creature’s hips, revealing said undergarments to the open air. However, my mind was rapidly diverted as its legs came into view. A small part of my mind wondered if I was going to need to see a dentist if things kept going like this, because my jaw once again dropped to the floor as I gaped at what I was seeing.

The creature’s left leg, from the mid-thigh down, had been completely replaced by an artificial substitute. Dark green material and polished metal met my dumbfounded gaze as I followed the impossibly smooth curves all the way down. As Tenderhoof moved the sheet completely off the creature, I saw that the fake limb even had a part that mimicked the creature’s remaining hind paw, oddly shaped as they were. There seemed to even be sections where the parts could move and bend like real joints, along with what looked like pistons and gears to absorb the shock caused by running or jumping.

“This is amazing,” I whispered, leaning in to examine the limb in closer detail, “I’ve never seen an artificial limb this advanced before.”

“That’s not the only thing,” Tenderhoof said, moving me to one side before igniting his horn, “take a look at this.”

A wide arc of magic shot out and highlighted the metallic limb, causing the section under the beam to become semi-transparent. I leaned in close as he moved the beam up towards the union were metal met flesh, trying to see what he was wanting to show me. I winced slightly as his beam moved into living tissue, revealing nerves, blood vessels and bone to my eyes. Yet as I looked closer, I realized what it was that had shaken the good doctor.

“You see what I mean?” He asked, pointing out the plate that connected the limb to the creature’s body, “The wires here run straight up and connect with the nerves that control the major muscle groups. Unless the designers had no idea what they were doing, this setup allows the creature to control this prosthetic just as easily as she can control her real leg. The mechanical parts are seamlessly melded into her natural systems until there is next to no difference between the two.”

“Could we remove the leg for further study?” I asked as he terminated his spell, “technology like this could revolutionize the medical industry.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple.” He cautioned, “You see, the limb is connected to her body by several complex locks, which would require a specific key to undo. While it might be possible to fabricate a key that would work, the real problem is the nerve connections. If not properly disconnected, or if we mess up when reconnecting the limb, the possibility is very high the patient could suffer permanent nerve damage, if the mistreatment of her nerves doesn’t throw her into shock.”

I winced, trying to avoid that mental image, “Understood. Thank you for showing me this Dr. Tenderhoof. I will take this into consideration going forward.” I turned, picking up my belongings as I opened the door, “keep her under surveillance, and let me know when she comes too. I want to be the first pony besides the medical staff to interact with her, just in case she’s dangerous.”

He nodded, “Oh, one more thing Princess. While we were repairing the fractures in her skull, we got a good look at the creature’s teeth. While I cannot say for sure, I feel I should warn you that the creature has canines.”

A thought nibbled at the back of my mind, trying to make itself into a full memory, “Meaning?”

He seemed truly uncomfortable now, like his job might be on the line for what he was about to say, “We believe the creature is an omnivore, Princess. It might not need to eat it all the time, but part of the creature’s diet seems to be,” he swallowed thickly, “meat.”

I felt a cold chill run down my spine, a thin sweat running down my brow before I could wipe it away, “T-Thank you doctor. I will keep that in mind. Um, I’ll speak with the town guard about keeping this room under security. We can’t assume anything yet, but I would rather be overcautious than let a dangerous creature run loose in Ponyville.”

“Thank you Princess,” Tenderhoof said with a sigh, “I’ll keep you posted on any new developments. Oh, right, take the creature’s belongings with you.” He levitated the large pack towards me with his magic, “they might prove useful in discovering more about what kind of place it came from.”

I took the pack in my own telekinetic grip, feeling the steady drain on my magic even as it floated next to my right ear, “Thank you. I’ll make sure that the guard knows about this so that you can go about your work without worry. Goodbye doctor.”

“Goodbye Princess.” He replied.

I walked back into the waiting room, where I was immediately stopped short by one rainbow pegasus.

“So, what’s the scoop Twilight?” Rainbow asked as she hovered right in my face, “Is there some crazy magic that’s going to turn that thing into a ten-story monster?”

I pushed her back a hoof or two with a gentle magic push, “No, at least not that I know of. There were just some unusual things concerning the creature and where it’s from.”

“Oh, did Dr. Tenderhoof have some idea as to where it came from?” Fluttershy asked as she and the others walked up.

“Well,” I rubbed my neck with one hoof as I tried to come up with an easy way to say it. It was only an unsupported theory after all, although given the complete lack of any kind of actual data concerning how and why the creature appeared in the castle, it was so far the only thing we had to go off of. “while we don’t really know where the creature is from exactly, Dr. Tenderhoof has a theory, given the strange magic absorption that the creature is exhibiting.”

“Magic absorption?” Applejack muttered, “You mean that things is drawing in magic like some kind of sponge?”

I nodded, “It’s already absorbed more magic than the average unicorn has in their entire body, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. The thing is, the only reason it seems to be doing so is because it originally came from a place with either a weak or none-existent magic field.”

“But I thought the magic field surrounded all of Equis,” Rarity inquired, “it’s imbued into every rock and blade of grass on the entire planet. How could the creature come from a place with no magic?”

It took all of about two seconds before Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock, “Wait a minute, are you telling us, that thing is an alien?!”

The other girls gasped, and only grew more surprised at my nod of agreement. “I’m not sure how else to explain it, but I’m hoping we can find out more about what kind of place this creature came from by studying the items in here.” I floated the pack into view, “Maybe if we can understand more about the creature, we can figure out if it will be a threat to Equestria or not.”

Rainbow pumped one hoof in the air, “Sweet, we get to mess around with a bunch of alien tech. I call test-firing the laser weapons!”

I yanked the pack out of her reach before she could open it, “We don’t have any idea if those even exist, Rainbow. And besides, even if there are weapons of some sort in here, they will be kept under very close watch until Princess Celestia says otherwise. Actually,” I turned my attention to Spike, who had been standing politely to my left since I walked back into the room, “Spike, take a letter, addressed to Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence.”

He pulled out a triplicate of scrolls, his trademark quill at the ready, “Go ahead Twilight.”

I cleared my throat, “Dear Princess Celestia, I am writing to inform you that something very unusual has happened today. Well, more unusual than usual.” Rainbow snickered behind her hoof, “The girls and I were going over where the Cutie Map might send us next and how we would go about preparing for said friendship mission. However, our meeting was cut short when a creature of unknown origin appeared on top of the map table. It was gravely injured, to the point it only had the strength to look to Fluttershy for help before passing out. It is currently recovering at Ponyville General, and has been unconscious up to this point. The doctors have assured me that the creature will live, although there were some unforeseen developments. For one thing, it appears that the creature comes from a place that is devoid of magic, as evident by its rapid absorption of both natural magic and magic used in the healing spells administered by the hospital staff. One other note of importance, during the healing process, the doctors got a good look at the creature’s teeth, and have informed me that the creature is omnivorous in nature. In laypony’s terms, it eats both plant matter and meat.” I ignored the gasps that came from the others at those words, “Due to the inherent danger of keeping a predator around injured ponies, I will be posting a small contingent of the town guard at the hospital to keep everything secure. I will also be studying the creature’s belongings in order to try and discover more about how it came to be in Equestria and where it originated from. I will keep you and the other princesses informed of any new developments, please give the extra copy of this letter to Luna when you receive this one. Sincerely yours, Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike signed the letter with a flourish, copying it down onto the other scrolls before rolling them up. A trio of green fire blasts, and the letters were on their way out the open window on the left wall.

“Um, Twilight dearie,” Rarity asked, “did I hear you correctly when you said that the creature ate,” she swallowed thickly, “meat?”

I nodded, “But that doesn’t mean the creature is any danger to us. Omnivores can eat plants just as well as meat. I’m sure something that can eat fruits and vegetables like us can be reasoned with. We just need to keep an open mind.”

“Lots of creatures are like that, Rarity,” Fluttershy added, “Harry the bear eats fish from time to time, but he can live off of berries and roots just fine if he has to.”

“So, you’re saying that thing in the next room isn’t going to wake up and start trying to eat any of us?” Applejack asked.

I shook my head, “Not to my knowledge, at least I hope not. But, that’s why I’ll have the guard keep an eye on things. Just in case I’m wrong and the creature is dangerous. The thing is, unless it’s a lot stronger than it looks, I don’t think she’s going to be much of a threat.”

“She? That thing’s a female?” Applejack seemed a bit dubious of my pronoun choice.

“Yep.” I perked up at the chance to share some of my findings, “the creature is definitely female. Once the doctor and I got a good look at some of its bodily features, it wasn’t hard to tell.”

“Features meaning what exactly?” Rainbow quipped.

I opened my mouth, only for my cheeks to heat up as a fresh image of what exactly came along with the creature being female. Rarity saw my flustered state in a heartbeat, walking up with a slightly worried expression, “Darling, is there something the matter, you’re blushing like a schoolfilly talking to her crush.”

“Well, um, you see,” I forced out through my embarrassment, “the creature is a mammal like us, so when she has young, she has a pair of things she uses to feed the foal.”

“Oh, you mean he has teats like a mare?” Fluttershy asked.

I nodded, “It was slightly shocking to see them, especially when we found out that she isn’t with any offspring at this time. Mostly I think it had to deal with their, umm, size.”

Rainbow snickered, “What, were they like lopsided on her body or something like that. Or were they just so small they looked like they belonged on a much smaller animal?”

I shook my head, “No, there were actually bigger than I expected,” my blush intensified as another mental image came to the fore, “much bigger.”

“So how big we talking here?” Rainbow pressed, “Pear-sized? Apple?”

I shook my head as I hid my face behind my hooves, unable to look at them as I answered, “They had to be at least the size of a melon, maybe a cantaloupe.”

Complete silence met my words. I slowly lowered my hooves, taking in the completely gob smacked expressions of everypony. Rarity was beet red from the neck up, her eyes reduced to pinpricks as her mouth hung open. Applejack just looked frozen in shock, her face twisted in confusion while her eyes stared at something a very long way away. Pinkie was humming to herself, completely oblivious to the bombshell I had just dropped, while Fluttershy and Rainbow were standing next to one another, wings flared and faces tinted pink as their jaws hung low.

“Hold on a minute,” Rainbow sputtered out, “you said she doesn’t have a foal. You mean she has teats that big on a daily basis?! How in the world does she even move with that much weight?!”

Pinkie walked up to Rarity’s side, tapping the stupefied fashionista once or twice to snap her out of it. Rarity sputtered for a moment before turning to Pinkie, “Oh thank you darling. I don’t know what came over me.”

“No problem,” Pinkie replied, walking up to Applejack, “just trying to help. I don’t like seeing my friends all confused. Surprises are fun and all, but if it’s so bad you break the one you’re supposed to be surprising, then it’s no fun for anypony.”

Applejack shook her head a few times before nodding to Pinkie. Pinkie winked in reply before everypony turned back to me. “So, what now Twi’? Are we just goin’ to wait until that thing wakes up before we do anything else?”

“No,” I replied, “I’m going to head down to the local guard office to get a security detail down here. I’m not going to let that thing go unguarded until we’re certain that it’s not a threat to anypony. Meanwhile,” I hefted the pack in my magic grip, “I’m going to study every inch and everything contained within this pack. It might give us some clues as to what we might expect from the creature when it wakes up.”

“Well, Ah guess Ah’ll head back to the farm until then,” Applejack said as she walked up to the front doors, “got a lot of chores to do and Ah’m not about to have Big Mac take all of it on himself. Ah’ll see you girls later on.”

With that the orange farm pony departed, followed quickly by Pinkie. “I’ve got some baking to do with the Cakes, but make sure to get me the moment the creature wakes up. I need to be there to throw her a Super-Special-Glad-You’re-Alright Party.”

Fluttershy caught Rainbow’s eyes, sharing some unspoken agreement between them before she turned to me, “I think Rainbow and I will stay here, just in case anything happens that needs your attention.”

“Yeah, Flutters can help the docs if there’s any medical stuff,” Rainbow added, “and I can be here in case anypony needs to get their flank kicked.”

I rolled my eyes, “You do that. Oh, Rarity, I was hoping you could help me with the creature’s clothing.” I undid the zipper of the pack and looked inside, using my magic to pull out the various articles of clothing that could be found within. “Would you mind taking a look at these while I focus on the other items?”

Her eyes lit up like fireworks, her magic nearly snatching the cloth from my own in her haste to look at them, “Oh I would be delighted darling. To be the first to look at clothing from another world,” she made a high squee sound, “oh the possibilities are making my head spin. Do keep in touch, dear. If you need me I will be at my boutique, going over these amazing articles.” Her lips pulled into a wide grin as she walked out the door, her eye already roaming over the various bits as they floated along in her magic.

Spike looked up at me expectantly, “So what now?”

“Now we go and get that guard detail taken care of.” I answered.

We made our way out the front doors, taking several streets through Ponyville proper until we came to a stop in front of a drab grey building. It was a nondescript rectangle in shape, with windows barred by metal grates on all sides but the front. While the Ponyville guard didn’t see much action, apart from the various disasters that seemed to roll through every week, they still had an established presence within the town.

We stepped into the main office, my eyes taking note of the haphazard filing system once again as a few guards dressed in silver armor walked past. I had asked several times if they would allow me to go through their files for them, but I had always been politely turned down for some strange reason. It took a moment or two, but one of the guard finally noticed my presence and raced up to me before throwing a sharp salute.

“Princess, is there something we can do to help you?” Unlike the Royal Guard, the armor for the Ponyville guard lacked the uniformity spell that made the members look alike, so I could see the stallion’s dark blue mane sticking out of his helmet, his maroon coat a stark contrast to the silver plate.

“Yes,” I said, “I need you to send a small group of guards to set up security at the hospital. There’s an unknown creature being treated there and I want to make sure nopony is in any danger until we can verify it’s not a threat.”

He snapped another salute, “At once Princess. Was there anything else you had to tell us?”

I paused for a moment, thinking about what could possibly happen at the hospital should the creature wake up, “Yes, actually. Have all the guards posted at the hospital know that if the creature wakes up, but shows no overt signs of threatening behavior, they are to let the creature be unless given reason to act. I would rather not scare the poor thing by having a bunch of stallions in armor tackle it the first time it moves.”

He seemed slightly confused, and maybe a bit embarrassed for some reason, but he quickly put those aside as he schooled his composure. “Very good Princess, I’ll let the captain know what you need us to do. If that is all, I need to inform my superiors about this assignment.”

I nodded my permission, and he dropped his salute before racing into the back rooms of the post. Spike dutifully followed me as we walked back through the streets of town, staying uncharacteristically silent until we got to the doors of my castle.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” He asked in a hesitant tone, “What if that thing can blast your brain with some kind of mind beam, or turn your body into goo with just a touch?”

I rolled my eyes, “That’s ridiculous Spike. Not even magic can do that kind of stuff unless you use some very powerful spells. And from what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think the creature even has the ability to use magic, at least not instinctively. After all, if it comes from a place devoid of magic, then there would be no biological mechanics to use magic even if it had access to it.”

My words seemed to placate him somewhat, “Um, sure, I guess. I’ll just keep my trusty magic testing gear handy, in case something goes wrong.”

I let out an exasperated sigh, but I let it go as I walked into my personal lab, hearing Spike walk further into the castle to do some of the basic chores. I couldn’t really fault him for worrying, but sometimes I wondered how much those comics of his effected his perceptions of the world. I shook my head to clear it as I closed the door behind me. After all, there was an entire pack full of items that needed to be cataloged, studied, re-cataloged and then sorted according to use, type and significance.

I carefully lifted each item from the pack, setting them neatly on the large tabletop in the center of the room. I arranged them according to size and seeming function until I had everything present and accounted for. All and all there were about two dozen items, some of which seemed to be different versions of the same item, along with several nondescript bags.

The first item I picked up in my magic was a bright green bag with some pictures on the outside. It was roughly the same length as my foreleg, with a rigid structure and a pair of drawstrings at one end. I pulled out a magnifying glass from one of my tool drawers, levitating it close to the label so I could examine the text. Yet to my surprise the text was completely readable. Either there was something strange going on here, or the native language of the creature’s people was common Equish. I made a note of it on one of my notepads, taking the time to actually read the block-like script.

“Astounding,” I muttered to myself as the meaning of the pictures and text became clear, “it’s a temporary structure, designed to hold four of the creature’s species at a time.” I eyed the drawstrings, contemplating pulling it out of its container and building the tent right then and there. I shook my head, placing the tent back on the table in its proper place, “I’ll get to that later. Right now I need to take a look at the other items before I can delve into details.”

The next item was an assortment of blue bags, made from some unknown material that was reflective, perfectly smooth, and seemingly waterproof. On the front was a depiction of a mountain, reflected in the waters of a lake. What I assumed to be a logo was emblazoned above it, along with the words, Mountain House. At the very bottom was a yellow rectangle with the words Macaroni and Cheese centered within, also in the blocky text that seemed to be commonplace on the items. I levitated the package over, flipping it so that I could read the back. As my eyes made their way down the lines of text, they began to grow larger, until I was openly staring at the image-style instructions printed along the bottom third.

“Either I’m reading this incorrectly, or these containers of food won’t spoil for the next several years!” I squinted as I re-read a section, “and all somepony has to do to make it edible is add hot water to the contents and mix it up! This is amazing! If we could make food like this we’d never have to worry about food shortages again!”

I wrote several lengthy notes on my notepads before placing the bag back where it came from. I debated about what to go over next, when something small and reflective caught my eye. It picked it up and levitated it up to my face, my eyes narrowing in concentration as I scrutinized the object. It was roughly rectangular in shape, about four inches long and about two and a half wide. One side was completely smooth and black, while the other side seemed to be covered by some kind of armored case. There were two sets of small holes on either end, with two larger holes on what I thought was the bottom edge. Two small buttons adorned the left edge, with another taking residence at the right limit of the top edge. Other than the highly reflective surface on the one side, it didn’t seem to be anything all that important. Yet when I pushed the button on the top of the device, the screen lit up with light and images.

I nearly dropped it in my surprise, although once I got over my shock I was able to get a closer look. Taking up the entirety of the screen was an image, one that seemed so exact it had to be a picture. There were five creatures in the photo, all dressed in dusty brown clothing, mottled with other shades of cream and brown in complex and seemingly random designs. They were also wearing helmets, along with what looked like body armor, although it was the strangest armor I had ever seen. Yet, as I looked closer, I saw that the middle creature had similar facial features to the creature at the hospital, until I realized that it was in fact the same being. Her eyes were a striking blue in color, and her lips were curled into a bright smile. She had a long tube-like thing in her arms, as did most of the other creatures, along with a backpack that covered most of her upper body on that side. I shifted my gaze from the photo to the little icons that were superimposed on the image, and I noticed that each one had a small set of words under it to define what it represented. One was a set of eighth notes on a purple background, underscore by the word music.

“Ooh, I wonder what kind of music in contained in here.” I mused as I wondered how to access the seeming storage device. Did you have to speak a special word or move it about in some specific way?

I was just about to put it back down when my magic brushed up against the screen. To my amazement, the screen shifted to the left, revealing more icons to my eyes as the others moved off the screen.

“Amazing.” I said as I used a small mote of magic to touch and slide across the screen, shifting the icons about with each movement. “An interactive surface that responds to physical contact. Simply astounding!!”

I moved the icons back to the right, and then pondered the music icon. “Maybe if the screen is designed to respond to touch, one must select the appropriate archive with physical contact.”

I ‘touched’ the music icon with my magic, and it expanded until it took up the whole screen. I was then presented with a string of words, separated by thin lines along the horizontal plane. The first spelled out, ‘playlists’, followed by ‘artists’, ‘albums’, ‘songs’, ‘genres’ and finally ‘composers’.

I wasn’t really sure what would happen, so I selected the ‘artists’ tab. The tab highlighted in blue before the screen shifted to the right, replacing the previous tabs with several new ones. I noticed that the words presented now could very well have been names, or maybe band titles if there was more than one artist. Also, much to my delight, they were all alphabetized, meaning that somepony had at least some idea on how to properly organize things around here.

I used a mote of magic to scroll down on the screen, looking through the various artists until one of the names caught my eye. I had seen the small image next to each name, but hadn’t really put much thought into it. Now I saw staring at what I assumed was a male of the creature’s species, with thin blonde fur around his mouth and under his chin along with a hat similar to what Applejack was so fond of wearing.

I selected the artist called Trace Adkins and watched as the screen skipped to the right again, revealing a blown-up version of the image I had seen already, along with three lines of text below the image. Without even thinking, I selected the first of the text lines, hoping to see sheet music or something like that. I was not expecting sound to suddenly come blaring out of the device, making me yelp in surprise and nearly make me drop it. Once I got my nerves under control, I lifted the device back up to eye level, listening to the music as it played out of the tiny holes at the base of the device.

My quill was going so fast I could almost smell the paper burning, but I didn’t care as I tried to write down every word as it materialized from this amazing device. I had no idea how it was doing all of this, but at the moment, I was too excited to care. The song came to an end far sooner than I would have liked, yet I knew that this was far from the end of that.

“I need to get some music professionals in here to see this,” I said to myself as I navigated back out to the main screen, “there’s so much here it could take weeks of study just to get through it all. Oh, I can’t wait to see where things go from here.”

Author's Notes:

Yay! We got through to the good stuff, at least for now. I hope you guys are enjoying the books so far, it wasn't easy writing it when I'm not in my writing mindset. A round of applause for all of you who put up with my BS in order to get your reading fix.

*round of applause*

* Also, little side note, a thuam is the standard measure of magic used in Equestria. I stated in the chapter what some of the upper limits of magic can be, but to give you a little more context I'll state it this way. For a standard levitation spell, it takes one thuam to lift one kilogram of material per second cast. Therefore, if you wanted to lift a metric ton of random stuff for ten seconds, it would take a total of ten kilothuams, or ten thousand thuams of magic energy to do so. Do keep in mind that even though unicorns might have natural reserves strong enough to lift an elephant with no trouble, that does not mean they have the knowledge or control to do so. After all, an out of control combustion reaction is nothing more than a big explosion. Raw power and the skill to control that energy are not the same thing.

Anyways, hope you all are enjoying the book so far, just don't expect any new posts for a while. I've got finals and other junk that will be taking up most of my time for the next month or so.

Until then, I'll see you next chapter,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon.