Awareness came slowly.

Oh wow. It's rare that I get sleep that restful.

I can't remember the last time I-

Wait. Wasn't I doing something?

I don't remember going to bed...

The memories came flooding back.

The town! The house! The agents! The river!

The dart...

I opened my eyes.

The first thing I noticed was that I was in a room. A room with concrete walls painted with dull grey paint. The second, was the dark glass window embedded in the wall directly in front of me. Third, I couldn't move.

Whoever these people were had strapped all of my legs, wings, and head to the rails of a gurney with thick braided nylon bands so I was sprawled out like a bear rug. I opened my mouth to shout, but my jaw was clamped shut too.

I looked down my muzzle to see the glint of a metal muzzle. I grunted in frustration, but the knowledge of the muzzle only brought awareness to my horn, which felt off. I crossed my eyes to look up.

When I finally saw what was wrong I rolled my eyes.

Someone had "helpfully" stuck a tennis ball on the tip. Probably so I didn't gouge anyone's eye out in retaliation.

Hilarious.

"Gawd damn it!" I growled through clenched teeth.

Well, at least I could kind of communicate.

I only thrashed a little in the restraints. Before I remembered I didn't want to waste energy trying to escape, all that would do would tire me out if who ever put me here did their job right. But I did try to slowly test how far I could move in them.

The answer was "not much".

I ignored the Other. I didn't want to talk out loud to it, because this was obviously an interrogation room, and I didn't want any information said to the demon to be recorded.

Also I had an escape to plan before they vivisected me.

My thoughts raced.

Did this agency deal with aliens or magic? Both? Neither and finding me was a freak accident?!

I needed answers.

I glanced around the room once more. The only new detail I noticed was the big rectangular crack in the wall, painted the same dull grey as the walls. I assumed it was the door, except there was no door handle... Although now that I thought about it, the door was likely remote controlled from the observation room.

"Hm." I hummed in thought, continued to glance around, hoping for something. Anything!

But then I glanced up at the tennis ball impaled on my horn.

So maybe they knew about magic... But did they know about-?

I channeled a tiny amount of energy up the spiraling horn. Not enough for it to glow, but enough that I could feel the tennis ball wiggle itself if I held still.

I suppressed the urge to smile grimly.

I was not out of the fight yet.

The door chose that moment to start clicking as its locks disengaged.

I calmly stopped channeling and let the tennis ball rest.

The door opened, revealing more grey painted concrete, and very briefly, the leg of soldier wearing green and tan camo, and tan combat boots. That was all I could gather before a man wearing a white lab coat blocked my view. He calmly closed the door behind him.

He didn't really have any distinct characteristics. But he was like the image in your head whenever you thought of the word "scientist". But not like Doctor Brown or Rick Sanchez. No, he was well groomed, short salt and pepper hair that was still more pepper, short beard, eyes that would never hold the spark of true inspiration, and did nothing but pour known chemicals into more known chemicals all day and jot down the already known reaction as if he was pushing the boundaries of knowledge.

If it wasn't for me being an arguably "unique" alien, this man would have never discovered anything.

He scribbled something on a clipboard.

I didn't say anything, but watched him warily.

He didn't look up from the board for a minute, looking through several sheets of paper.

Yeah, this guy played at being a scientist. Why read off a paper when you have a truly unique specimen laying on the table in front of you?

...Or was I really unique? Had Celestia and Equestria mastered FTL travel and gotten here before I did?

It was possible I suppose... But wouldn't Celestia and her ego demand to be known to all who could perceive her?

I set it aside as an unlikely scenario, not totally willing to throw it out quite yet.

"Well now." the man stated finally looking up from his board. He smiled good naturedly. "Let's get a look at those peepers."

Did this fool really think I was a wild animal?

He pulled a pen light out of a pocket and turned it on, shining it in my eyes.

I made a point of staring directly at his face, not following the light.

The flickers of unease began to creep into his eyes as I unflinchingly glared.

"Well... Um... Okay then..." He turned off the light and wrote something new on his board. "You gave the boys a fright little one." He snapped his fingers in my ears, noting their natural response. "Don't know where you came from, but it's a good thing we found you first."

There was no way...

"Can't have you wandering around in a strange place can we?" he smiled warmly again, continuing to write on his board.

He did.

"One. One. Two. Three. Five. Eight. Thirteen. Twenty one. I think therefor I am. Three point one four one five nine two. Little blue planet third from the sun." I stated harshly through the muzzle.

The man froze as if he had suddenly been flash frozen.

"Y- Y-" he tried to stammer.

"To be, or not to be. That is the question. Ra-ra-Rasputin lover of the Russian Queen. I see a red door and I want to paint it black." I ranted through clenched teeth.

"Y- you-" he began to back away.

Good. I now had his attention.

"I am become death, destroyer of worlds. Do I have your attention?" I almost snarled.

"Y-yes..." he stuttered, his face still agape in fear.

"Good. Now I want to know where I am, who you people are, and what your intentions are." I demanded.

Was it a good idea to poke the government agency? Probably not. But shockingly, I wasn't in the best mood. And regardless, I wouldn't be forgetting the mistake I had made anytime soon.

Hopefully.

The doctor seemed to regain a bit of composure and glanced at the one way window. Probably seeing if he get any clue from his superiors on what to do. His phone buzzed in his pocket. In which he pulled it out and gave the little black square a glance.

"Ok." He breathed, regaining most of his composure now. "I am Doctor Stevenson, and I'm part of a government agency that deals with extra-normal phenomenon. The National Paranormal Investigation Agency if you want an exact name. It is our job to apprehend, contain, and study anomalies too... Alien for the common citizen to understand." He clutched his clipboard to his chest.

"Hm. Fascinating." I hummed. "You're a ripoff of the Global Occult Coalition."

I guess my mood was worse than I thought.

"I beg your pardon?" he gasped.

"Not important." I sighed. "So if I'm understanding you correctly... You think I'm too 'strange' to be allowed to roam free?"

His phone buzzed again, which he drew out of his pocket with a practiced swipe. His eyes reflected text on a white background as he read. Finally he slumped slightly as if to say 'God damnit really?'

"Cute." he snorted as he put his phone away. "I see you're familiar with our culture."

The urge to push this man's buttons was too tempting to resist.

"More than you evidently." I snorted dismissively. "But I suppose you want to know where I come from, who I am, and what I am yes?"

"Wait now hold on-"

"A very long time ago, a very far distance away from here, there existed nothing. So much nothing in fact, that all the nothing imploded in on itself into something-"

"Cooperate or we will discipline you!" he exclaimed in frustration.

"Why whatever do you mean Doctor? Are we not having a civil discussion?" I asked innocently. He seemed to inwardly stew as he lifted his clipboard and scribbled something down again.

"What did you mean 'More than us'?" he hissed through slightly clenched teeth.

Ooooooooh. Touch a nerve did I? How dare I, a flithy alien know more about humanity that one of their own best and brightest?

Oh so you do have a use?

Give me what you owe and I might be willing to accommodate you.

"Why Doctor is it not obvious?" I asked with mock concern. "When was the last time you went out with friends and saw a movie in the theater? When was the last time you scrolled through Twitter? When was the last time you touched grass?"

I knew I was cruising for a bruising, but it had been so long since I had trolled someone.

And he was such an easy target.

"You work tirelessly to keep truth away from the masses. You work tirelessly to keep power in the hands of the rich elite by any means necessary. Don't deny it, I could tell the moment you stepped foot in this room you were hired more for your loyalty than any natural ability. Your public hates you. They hate every lie. They hate every hypocrisy. They hate their very lives because you willingly keep them in such a poor state to maintain your status quo."

The good Doctor had frozen again during my rant. He slowly pursed his lips.

But I wasn't done.

"And despite me only being here for... What? A week?"

Technically the truth if you only counted since my 'reemergence' as Luna, but they didn't need to know I had lived amongst them for nearly three decades already.

"You then have the gall to point your grubby fingers and blame me for all of your problems, despite your problems stemming back decades, if not centuries. All in the name of keeping your charges 'safe'. You do not know who I am. You do not know what I am. And you do not know what I've been through. So tell me 'Doctor'... Do you really think I'm the issue when you won't even look in the god damn mirror?"

You could hear a pin drop as silence reigned.

Yeah? I'm still waiting for an answer from you too.

And suddenly I could see.

It wasn't like I was blind before. But now it was like someone had removed the cap off a camera, allowing me to see a whole new spectrum of color.

Except it wasn't color.

The walls looked the same, as did every other nonliving object. But the Doctor... And all five of the people watching from observation... And the two guards standing out side the door... They were alight with small orbs of what I could only describe as light.

The orbs, which I somehow knew was their "soul", were shrouded in what seemed to be colored mist. But again, it wasn't color. Not like how everyone knew them.

It was their fear.

The guards were surrounded with varying shades, tinged with caution that something could suddenly leap out with giant pointy teeth.

The six scientists however? Their fear was largely the same hue.

I knew too much.

I knew too deeply into how the system they upheld worked.

With only a few words I had revealed I was not a simple creature to be underestimated.

Stevenson had regained enough of his composure again, and wrote something down on his clipboard.

"And how would you know?" he finally asked. "You dare come to our planet to lecture us?" He lifted his arm and gestured with his hand.

It took a second, but suddenly my binds seemed to vibrate, sending intense shocks down my limbs.

It was like the one time I had grabbed a live electric fence as a small Lucas, only all over.

"Grrrn..." I grunted, doing my best to restrain myself.

"You talk about how I know nothing about you, but how could you compress millennia of history and culture into merely a week? Humanity is a complex species. How could a simple horse know more about humanity than humanity?" he spoke smugly.

Diplomat for a first contact situation this man was not.

"Same way I know about the two guards, and your five buddies behind that window." I grinned.

I saw the gears slowly turn in his head as he fully realized what I said. His eyes began to widen as he turned around towards the window so I couldn't see how much he was truly panicking. Although that effort was in vain judging by how much his hands were shaking when he pulled out his phone and began texting.

I was done playing around.

I became a living shadow one more, allowing my restraints to fall to the gurney uselessly.

The five orbs in the observation room began to panic and tried to get their comrades attention.

Stevenson's phone began to buzz violently.

The reflection of a giant black Alicorn shrouded in mist rose on the window.

I levitated the tennis ball off my horn and gently tossed it at Stevenson, hitting him in the back of the head.

He slowly turned, realization creeping across his features.

"Boo."

https://youtu.be/tuHzagjqOLU