Nineteen Years Earlier

Pain was something that immediately registered in Rayan’s brain, only difference is that it seemed to be everywhere, not just his injured finger or head. His body felt the equivalent of being set on fire. Or at least that’s what Rayan thought, of course though he wouldn’t know as he couldn’t say from experience.

That didn’t stop the half-yell half-whimper that found its way out of his throat. It garnered immediate attention from the person that might have been outside the door, but then again the person could have also been in the room. That didn’t matter a whole lot though as the reaction also consisted of a call to a doctor.

By that point though Rayan was tossing around in the bed he was in, and as soon as anyone got close enough they grabbed his arms and legs with the assistance of another passerby. Surprising enough, they were having difficulty holding the boy down and so when the doctor arrived, a very mild sedative was administered.

It took affect within a minute and Rayan calmed down, some of the fire going with it. The Doctor made his presence known at that point as well, as he started checking the boy over for any natural cause of the pain. The result was that he couldn’t find a single cause for pain.

So he took a look over his body, and it was a weird sight even though he knew Rayan came from an orphanage. Dirty black hair was on top of his head that was relatively short, and bandages covered his upper face, covering his eyes and side of his head. The side of his head as the doctor took note of the blotch of blood on the side, but that wasn’t the cause of the boy’s pain.

In reality the boy came in with a small cut on the side of his head from blunt force trauma, he had no internal damage except for the already existing abnormalities in his cell structure that caused some different things in him. None of those could cause pain though and as such, he couldn’t solve it.

The Doctor shook his head and took the wrapping off Rayan’s head seeming as though new bandages were needed. What he didn’t expect was the gray eyes that looked abnormal to him. He got that the kid was blind from the scans done, but his eyes weren’t normal in any regard.

His answer to that thought was given when Rayan weakly said, “I can see, I-I can see.” That’s all he seemed to say for a second straight before looking around the room at all the apparatus scattered about. He seemed to forget about the pain he experienced and most likely still was, but his mind once again only responded to the most prominent things, and at the moment it was his sight.

The Doctor was stumped, the scans said he was blind, but he could see fine. Even the kid said that he could see now which meant he was blind. What the Cass happened? What the Doctor simply left to report the findings to his superiors, the child was unnatural. Not only that but it was reported to the hospital that he came into contact with the Alespids and survived.

Maybe those creatures had something to do with it? The Doctor was entirely unsure of anything involving the child at that point.

Back in the room though the two people who had previously held Rayan left, it seemed that they were no longer needed so they wouldn’t stick around. Rayan didn’t even know they left since he was so absorbed in his own world of wonder.

Unknown to him though, is what that burning really was, but he didn’t even register the pain anymore. What he also didn’t know was the faint glow his eyes seemed to radiate, but that still was of no concern to the boy. What he did know however was that he could see, and that’s all that mattered.

He sat there for an unknown amount of time, and it really didn’t matter to Rayan, he was having fun looking at things all over the room and playing with his undamaged body parts and seeing how they worked at the joints. It was weirdly fascinating to him and it was fun to look at all the colors that were previously hidden from him.

So when a couple of men in scrubs came in and started wheeling his bed out the door and down the hall, he was filled with wonder. He just sat back and watched all the people and things pass by him, and that was oddly fun in Rayan’s mind. The people gave him smiles as he passed by them and older men and women said hello to him.

He passed by several doors, just sitting back and watching the things as he went down the people filled corridors. That is until the men taking him turned abruptly into one of the doors, and right in the middle was a big machine. The machine was rather large and took up half of the room with a section in the middle that looked like a metal slab with a pad on the furthest side of it.

It was on that slab that they placed him, and one of the men then gave the instruction, “If you could sit still for us we would be happy to give you a treat afterwards. It would also be nice if you answer some questions, but you don’t have to if you don’t want.”

Rayan simply laid there while that was said, and replied with, “OK mister, ill try to be still. What kind of questions though, are they funny questions?” while Rayan spoke his reply, the two men went into a room that was attached to the one Rayan was in.

The room they were in had several monitors that would display vital signs and Rayan’s brain when activated. The second man answered his question, “No there not funny questions but some may be a little weird.” With that said the two men began to press a sequence of buttons to start the machine, and as a result a low hum began.

The first man spoke again this time, “Now do you know where you are?”

Rayan answered, “Well I think it’s a hospital ‘cause that’s where sick people go right?”

The first man answered and questioned back, “Yes you are in a hospital because some very nice people are concerned about your health. Now do you know why you’re here?”

“No not really, did something bad happen to me?”

The second man jotted down notes as the boy answered the questions; seeming as how the boy was supposed to be slightly retarded, but was carrying a fairly good conversation for his age. Also the fact that he didn’t remember what rendered him unconscious. The first man told him what happened by what they were told from the orphanage matron.

Rayan came back with the question, “Why did they do that?”

All the first man could say was, “I’m sorry but I don’t know why they did it.”

The second man started to write things once again, this time on his curiosity which would have been passed off by anyone else. He had been doing his job for a while and knew that a boy with the issues that Rayan possessed should not be like that. He should be blissfully unaware. This kid though, it was as if he was possessed by something that wasn’t natural.

On the monitors, he made a note were taking notice of an unnatural amount of activity in certain places, as well as places around his lungs, stomach, and eyes. Luckily all the things on the monitors was being recorded so he didn’t worry about copying down those and focused on the conversation.

Rayan was currently saying his full name which was long, it consisted o two first names one middle name, and three last names. The second man had trouble writing down Rayan Dante Corvon Dalent Zarestell Verespen. The spelling was the damn kicker as he had to rewrite most of them as they didn’t sound like they were spelled. Asking was actually embarrassing as the kid said the name with such damn confidence.

After that the first man continued to ask about trivial things, such as ‘where do you live’, ‘what do you like to do’, and so forth. The boy answered with enthusiasm even though a couple of the answers were rather depressing to hear. He kept jotting down notes though as that was his job. He looked over at the monitors every once in a while to see that the points at which showed unnatural signs were changing constantly.

By the time they were finished; eleven pages of information were copied down. And the second man, who had copied it all, had a major writer’s cramp that refused to subside. Then they just took him back to his room, all the while Rayan kept a jovial smile on his face.

                                                              General's location, Alespid Air Base

After the human military had appeared, the two had made hast to their retreating partner. The three being the ones who had found the boy cowering on the ground, it was strange when they arrived back, as The Prophet had greeted the two males and his daughter back without guards.

The smile that stretched across the old Alespid’s face was large, and he spoke of the boy again. About how the boy would play a pivotal role in the future, but to the General, he was speaking of fantasies until his words came true. His daughter, who no doubt kill the two males if they spoke of the supposed insanity The Prophet suffered from, so they kept it shut.

So for a total of an hour of The Prophet’s ramblings, the three returning Alespids went to their respective resting places which didn’t differ much from a human’s room.  Or in the case of the second male in the group, a bar that he would most likely try to pick up a female. General didn’t give a damn about him or The Prophet’s daughter; he was more interested in the human child.

It gave off such a strange presence that didn’t particularly feel like a human’s. in all reality, the child was a lot less afraid than he expected it to be, but then again, he was blind and of low intelligence most likely. But that didn’t detract from his interest, in fact it added to it.

He would most definitely ask The Prophet’s daughter if she felt the presence as well. It was obvious that she left because being near the human her father spoke of gave her some form of discomfort. As to why, General didn’t know, it was just a child with a weird presence.

The idiot male that was with them that spoke rudely of The Prophet was oblivious as always. Which drove General to want to replace him with a smarter partner, but he would have to speak with The Prophet’s daughter first, since she would be tagging along for a while on General’s team, he wanted her consent. Not that he needed it; it was just a formality to see what the guest wanted.

One way or another the damn idiot was getting replaced due to his incompetence and ignorance. General looked into his mirror to see the reflection of a creature that looked battle hardened inside and out. Gray skin covered his body, human eyes, a nose that was sunken into his face, slightly elongated cranium, muscles that would make a human bodybuilder shy, piercing red eye color, thick primary fingers and a smaller thumb. What the mirror didn’t show was his thick legs which consisted of hard muscle and his clawed animal like feet.

Attractive by Alespid standards but hideous to human eyes, not that he cared much, but he thought, Maybe ill give a try at picking a female up soon. It’s been years since I last enjoyed the company of one. With that he left his room to talk to The Prophet’s daughter, and then to the bar to see if he had a chance at a female.

                                                                            Ponyville present day

Over night the strange feeling started to subside by Sweet Apple Acres but it didn’t diminish near Fluttershy’s cottage. Or at least that’s what Twilight thought. It seemed that way as Applejack made a comment to Twilight as she passed by Applejack’s cart. It simply consisted of her asking if something had been done because the family began to feel a bit better.

Twilight still hadn’t received a response from the Princess though, and Twilight was beginning to worry. The Princess would usually send a letter to at least calm Twilight if not saying she would try to fix it.

So Twilight did what she usually would to try and calm herself, she sorted and read books. Spike took note of her worry though and made the offer to send another letter, but Twilight turned the offer down. The Princess would respond eventually. So that’s how her second day was spent after discovering the strange anomaly.

The third day however was started by Spike shaking her from her sleep. Twilight replied to this with a simple groggy, “What?”

Spike gave the excited answer of, “Princess Celestia replied to your letter Twilight. Come on get up and ill make some breakfast while you read It.” the reaction was instant as Twilight sat up and snatched the letter with her magic. Spike went downstairs as she unrolled the letter. Inside it read:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

It seems that Ponyville is not alone in this experience. I have received several complaints of strange things occurring that have no explanation. The most prominent is strange emotions affecting the surrounding area in which they are found.

The emotions themselves range from sadness, to anger in some places. This is the first ever happening of this strange event and I don’t wish anypony to be harmed by it. Please be cautious Twilight as we do not know what this is, but I recommend getting everypony in the affect radius of it out of that area.

You’re Teacher,

Princess Celestia

Now that Twilight understood what she had to do, she hopped out of bed, fixed her bed mane, and ran to the door. She opened it and called back to Spike, “I’m going to be right back Spike, I have to go talk to Applejack and Fluttershy.”

Before Spike could respond, Twilight shut the door and ran through Ponyville, giving hellos to those that said hi to her. It wasn’t very difficult to find Applejack as she was coming out of Sweet Apple Acres when Twilight approached.

“Applejack, I just got a letter from the Princess, she said you should get out of you’re house until the feelings go away,” Twilight said and proceeded to pant from the exertion of running so far.

Applejack gave a worried look before saying, “But Twi, what about Th Acres, ah jus can’t leave it alone, ah need ta buck th apples an Macintosh gots ta plow th fields.”

Twilight only had to think for a split second before replying with, “Well how about you come back and work your hours when you need to and just sleep somewhere else to be away as much as possible.”

Applejack had to contemplate for a few seconds before saying, “Ah guess I can do that, but ahm gonna be a while ta git ready an I gotta find a place ta go for me an the rest.”

Twilight smiled brightly and said, “Well I can spare two beds if you need them.”

“OK Twi, ah’ll talk ta th family an figure it out.”

With that Twilight made her way to Fluttershy’s house in a similar speedy fashion, and gave a similar message, minus the bed part because Rainbow Dash dropped in and heard the conversation, so Rainbow offered a bed for a while.

With that Twilight went home and had her breakfast. She still couldn’t help but wonder exactly what was happening for this to happen. In the end though she decided that if her friends were safe, it didn’t matter.