‘Ok so there are mini-horses in the town… right, well it’s not that bad I guess.  I can fly so they can’t hurt me.’

I saw a Pegasus horse flying around in the sky above the quiet village of equines.

‘…They still can’t hurt me.  And if they do, I’ll pick their brains with my tongue.’

The implications of that thought only hit me a few seconds later, and I was instantly disgusted by the aspect of putting my tongue inside the skull of a living creature.

‘The fuck!  Am I a psychopath?  There is no way I’m going to put my tongue in another creature!  Unless of course I get hungry.’

Keeping close to the tree line I moved deeper into the forest.  Of course meeting the local citizens was a top priority, because not only that I like interacting with people, but more importantly I wanted to meet a creature one on one to see the overall reaction to me.  If one horse-thing saw me and ran into town, the others might come to help out.  But it would be like the boy who cried wolf.  Once they’re there I won’t be in sight and far away.  This will make them believe whoever I met was lying.

It was a flawless plan.

Now who to meet with?

*quack*

‘OH SHIT!’

I looked around and I found myself near a cottage, populated by different types of animals.  But right now I was actually flying above the trees and next to a flock of ducks whom are currently descending toward said cottage.

‘Ok well curse me and my deep thinking.  I got so distracted I actually wondered into an… animal shelter?’

It looked a lot like one; there were many different types of animals that were both wild and domesticated.  I saw a small pack of dogs in a corner of the cottage, and almost instinctively went over to pet them… then I realized I didn’t have hands to do so, so I didn’t go near them.  God I love dogs.  Especially goldens, those are my favorite because you just need to potty-train them, and they’re very fun as puppies and are lazy so the owner can do whatever he or she pleases when the dog isn’t hyped.

“All right little bunnies, let’s get-what are you?” a timid voice made itself known behind me.

I spun around slowly, and came face-to-face with a canary yellow Pegasus.  I was surprised it spoke English, but I pushed that to the back of my mind and counted it as good luck.  She also wasn’t panicking, so that was a good sign.  But she was analyzing me carefully, so to keep from scaring her I let her analyze me.

‘Analyze faster… no faster… ugh faster.’

She still stood there, and after about thirty seconds, timidly, she started to flap her wings that were too small to keep her afloat.  Much to my surprise she started floating up to me.  

‘Ok play it cool, and back up a little.  If she’s an animal rescuer, she’ll try to help me when I’m scared, so I should play the scared animal part.  But not too scared, maybe just cautious.’

I kept in my new character, and backed up a bit from her advances.  She slowed to a stop a few meters in front of me with a concerned look on her face.

‘Andrew’s victory condition is now 60%.

The Pegasus looked a bit confused, but her features softened to a tender smile that went straight to my heart.  I started to actually feel at ease from that smile alone, and I figured that’s how she’s able to tame wild animals like the ones that flock outside her house.  It’s an interesting concept, and one I wasn't familiar with.  But I’ve been playing games for so long that I can get into sync with any new world and its wacky rules.

“There, there.  I won’t hurt you.” she said tenderly.

‘Well if she keeps this up, she might actually tame me… nah I’m Andrew fucking Gilman.  No one is my master.

“If you come with me, I’ll take care of you.” she said hovering closer to me.

‘Yes master… WAIT WHAT?!

After my mental shenanigans, I inched closer cautiously toward the small yellow Pegasus.  She smiled with glee and I wanted to put her in a cage and stare at her for hours.  But no I’d rather not do that, because the horse-things will get mad.

I went closer to her and went right up to her face slowly as I was eager to finish this first encounter with the equine race.  The yellow Pegasus started petting me above my face, with a content smile on her face.

“My name is Fluttershy.  What are you?” she said curiously.

‘Fluttershy eh?  Well I can accept that.  I don’t expect her to call herself Andrew after all.’

And of course I can’t respond to her because Advisors… can’t speak… or can they?

‘Didn’t Dr. Breen talk to an Advisor in the screen?  Maybe I can use telepathy or something.

I tried to concentrate on Fluttershy, and her content smile turned to a confused expression.  Like she had seen something at the corners of her eyes and she started looking around.   I quickly stopped whatever I was doing, and I noticed that some other animals were surprisingly looking around at the other animals that did the same thing.

“What was that?” Fluttershy asked, looking around.  “Is everyone ok?” She floated down to the creatures below.

They started nodding their heads and making some sort of motions, to say they were ok.  At this point I realized that animals were the sentient beings here.  I wondered if humans exist here.  I’m sure this isn’t Earth, because I’ve never heard of a pony civilization.  If there was one, we’d have heard about it by now, since the whole world has been documented by now.  The only places we have trouble with is the ocean and some really dense jungle areas.  And this place doesn’t look like a jungle.

“Oh well, oh I know, how to find out what you are!” she said with excitement in her voice.  “I’ll ask Twilight for a book about rare and mysterious creatures.” The yellow pony did an about face and flew off toward the town.

‘Well... mission successful?  I think.  Whatever, I’m happy I didn’t become public enemy number one, but that was kinda anti-climactic and disappointing.’

Looking around for something to do, I found a small bush that was roughly my size.

‘Fuck it.’

I positioned myself over the bush and fell on the poor defenseless shrub, effectively flattening the thing, but it created a really nice bed for me.  I waited and observed the animals that scurried about the lawn and noticed the gate was open.  I instinctively closed it with my powers.

*Slam*

A few animals watched the gate for a few moments with worry, considering its sudden movement.  Some had the look of fear and some dismissed it as the wind.  The traumatized ones stared at it for way longer than the rest.

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Fluttershy made her way into town, and chose to walk the rest of the way to the library.  She was an earth pony at heart.  In fact most earth ponies would normally have a similar special talent to Fluttershy’s and she would normally have a talent that has to do with the sky.  But regardless of the oddity of her cutie mark and talent, she is loved by many.  Many animal enthusiasts wish they had Fluttershy’s skill with animals.  But everypony can only wish, but never mean.  Everypony that has a cutie mark would never give it up because it’s their livelihood.

Fluttershy walked by many ponies during her trek to Twilight’s library.  She tried to keep her distance as she tried to mind her own business.  She kept trotting around until the library was in sight.  When she saw it her features lit up with excitement and she started moving at a brisk pace toward the library.

Reaching the library's door, she knocked timidly.

“Fluttershy?” came a voice from the other side of the door.  It opened to reveal a purple dragon with green spikes.  “Oh hey Fluttershy, I knew it was you.” he said cheerfully.

“Oh, am I really that predictable?” inquired Fluttershy, lowering her head.

“No, you’re just the only pony who knocks on the door of a public library.” he stepped aside for Fluttershy to come in, which she did gratefully.  “Looking for Twilight?” Spike asked curiously.

“Oh no, I’m looking for a book on mysterious creatures.” replied Fluttershy, looking around the shelves.

“Oh, I know where those are.” Spike ran across the room and absentmindedly grabbed a ladder that he ran past and brought it with him.  Spike then jumped on the ladder and let it slow itself to a stop at the right shelf that was half way across the room and ascended the step ladder to its center most mass.  Once there he grabbed a book and jumped down.  “Here it is.” he stated with a smile.

“Oh wow, Spike you’re amazing!” Fluttershy said in admiration.

“Thanks.”

“Spike?  Who is it?” asked a female voice from upstairs.  A purple unicorn came out of the doorway upstairs and immediately upon entering the room, her face lit up. “Oh hey, Fluttershy!  What brings you here?”

“Hello Twilight.  I was trying to find a book on rare and mysterious creatures.” she said with more confidence being around her friends.

“Really?” Twilight started descending the stairs. “Why’s that?”

“Well, I found a weird creature that has the ability to fly, but has no wings.  I want to know if it’s anything Equestria has heard of before.”

Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs and stared directly at Fluttershy.  “Fly without wings?” a grin spread across her face. “Hahaha that’s pretty funny.”

“Umm... I’m not joki-”

“You almost had me there.  Who put you up to it?  Rainbow?”

“Umm, no actually I found-”

“Oh no wait!  It was Pinkie!  Rainbow doesn’t have the creativity for something like that.  Pinkie on the other hand, can think of things more wacky than her.” Twilight giggled and then looked at Fluttershy’s unimpressed look. “Ooooh, uh sorry, go ahead.” Twilight motioned her on with her hoof.

“As I was saying.” started Fluttershy softly. “While I was tending to my animals, a weird creature that was able to fly without wings wondered into my yard.  Umm, I’m not sure what it is, but when I tried to get closer, it backed away, so I assumed it’s never seen a pony before.  But it didn’t do the same with the animals, so I’m not sure if it’s been around ponies before.”

“Uh, really?  Well I’m sorry Fluttershy but I can’t believe that something without wings can fly.  But how about I help you find out what it is.” responded Twilight with a grin.

“Uh, I don’t know Twilight, he seemed a bit uncomfortable around ponies…”

“Maybe I can observe from a distance?” Twilight offered.

Fluttershy’s expressions turned from unsure to excited. “Oh that’s perfect!  I think we can do that.” answered Fluttershy, nodding her head in agreement.

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I couldn’t help but roll around until the bushes sticks were pushed down so they wouldn’t poke me in my Advisor fat.  After five minutes of doing the same motion, I was able to find a very comfortable position.  I rolled on my side and felt some sort of different poking in what I assume is my back.

‘Wait is that the thing that Advisors have on their back?’

I felt it up with my back and I realized the reason I didn’t notice it before.  It was implanted in my body.  I quickly remembered that arms were attached to that and I tried to locate any new limbs I didn’t realize I had before.  

No such luck.

I was basically an Advisor that just got out of its life-support.  I wonder if I have the powers to crunch metal barrels like the Advisor did, when I first saw them in Episode 2.  Although, I was brought out of my fantasy of crushing sheet metal by some prodding in my side.  I tried to look around and spot the disturbance, but my neck being the neck that it is.  Or more likely not the neck it should be.  Couldn’t turn to face whatever was disturbing me.

I floated up and looked at the creature.  A bunny.  A little white bunny with crossed arms that was glaring at me and stomping his feet impatiently.

‘What do you want, Bugs?’

I thought to myself since I couldn’t speak.  He pointed to the bush I crushed that was right outside Fluttershy’s cottage and he started miming ‘no crush’ with his bunny paws by shaking his head no and then hitting his other paw like it was crushing it.  Needless to say I realized animals are more sentient than I originally perceived.

‘What does he want me to do about it?’

I looked at the bush and an idea formed in my head.

‘Why not try to fluff it back up?’

And I began to try to fluff it back up to its original, un-murdered state.  It started to be surrounded by heat waves that bent the light slightly as I tried concentrating on.  It was like the aura that the Advisor used when picking things up, so I assumed it was just that.

The bush started to inflate due to my attempts to revive the defenseless shrub and even though it was still obvious I crushed it, I was able to get it into a zombie state, where it was neither dead nor alive.

The bunny looked at the bush with bewilderment all over its face, along with some other animals that happened to see me do the miracle.  

“Oh, there you are!”

I looked up from the bewildered bunny, to see the Pegasus Fluttershy flying toward me with a smile on her face.  She had a saddlebag strapped to her filled with four books, two on each side.

“I wanted to make sure you’re ok with me bringing a friend over.” said Fluttershy.

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Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes.  Not even twenty meters away, was a creature without wings, that was just hovering there in front of her friend just listening to her words.  But Twilight’s researcher side took hold, and she took in every aspect of the creature.

For one, it looked like some sort of larva.  If this is the case, then whatever it’s turning into must be powerful, if it can manipulate its own weight to the point where it can lift itself off the ground.  Another fact was that it had some strange machinery built into its back.  She assumed it was to help it stay afloat.  Then, was the cloth that it was wearing, that had a neck with strange writing on it.  She also noticed the foreign visor, that acted as an eye.  She couldn’t make out the symbols, but she wouldn’t risk getting closer until Fluttershy gives the ok.

The creature bobbed its head and Fluttershy turned around and waved her hoof to come closer.

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I watched as the purple unicorn took tentative steps toward me and slowly made her way towards us.

“This is my friend, Twilight Sparkle.  She wants to meet you.” stated Fluttershy confidently.

The unicorn however, meekly said. “Hi.”

‘May I poke your brain?  Why thank you miss.’

I tried to do the same thing I did earlier, and I found myself doing a small screech into their minds.  Each creature of the shelter looked in my direction.  Fluttershy looked at me with shock, after finally putting the pieces together and realizing that was me whom screeched into her mind earlier.  Her friend however figured it out far faster than Fluttershy, and her expression went from nervous to enthusiastic.

“Whoa, that was amazing!  You can speak to minds directly!”

I only just met this unicorn, and I’m already impressed with her enthusiasm.

“That’s just a feat of science that you can do that!  I see the cloth that covers you and the machine on your back.  Who built you?” she ended with less enthusiasm, but the question hung there.

Truth is that was the right question to ask for both our sakes.

‘Yeah, who built my body and why?’

The question imbedded itself in both the unicorn's mind and my own.  Fluttershy however, looked at her strangely.

“Built him?”

Twilight snapped out of her trance and looked away from me to her friend. “Oh umm, I noticed it has machine parts like the visor, and with that idea alone I’m going to assume that he was built… but by whom and why?”

They both looked at me deep in thought.

‘This is going to be a long day.