Chapter one has been slightly modified.
Morning came rather fast for Riley as he awoke from a lack of sleep to find a plate of steaming hot food hay pancakes, poached eggs, milk, and a letter next to the plate. Riley instantly dug right into the food even though it was piping hot but he was still hungry from last night.
During eating, Riley checked his injured hand to see how the cut was doing only to find that there was none anymore. How'd... How'd this happen? he asked himself, knowing that healing this fast wasn't natural.
All of the food tasted really good but Riley felt like eating something hard and crunchy before he caught sight of a crystal like vase that made his mouth water. blBut he quickly shook that desire out of him before he could get up and take a bite outta the vase.
As soon as he was done, the human grabbed the letter and opened it up as it was from Princess Celestia stating that she'd like to meet him in the library after he was done eating.
But before Riley could ask himself where the library was located, several guards bursted into the room, weapons ready and ordered Riley to follow them.
Riley obeyed and slowly followed the group of Royal Guards as they escorted him to the library. Riley looked all around, taking it all in as he noticed a few paintings depicted on the windows. The human suddenly stopped at one of the paintings on the window showing six individual ponies; two earth ponies, two Pegasi, and two unicorns, with beaming lights coming from their heads towards a dark alicorn.
The next window painting is of a strange creature smiling evilly as a bar with strings kept three ponies up in a bubble above a fire. Right next to that one was the same creature from before except this time he was all whited-out as two alicorns swirled around him.
The other painting was the same creature but the six ponies from the first one surrounded him and with the same beaming lights coming from their heads.
Anger began to arise in Riley's chest for some reason as he continued to stare at the four window painting in front of him.
"Hey!" a sudden voice rang out to him as he mentally shook himself from his thoughts before he turned around and stared at the group of Royal Guards who had their spears ready. Riley looked down at himself to notice that his whole body was shaking.
Riley closed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled slowly to calm himself from the unnecessary anger building up in his chest before he resumed their escort towards the library.
As they continued on their way, Riley began to feel more like a prisoner rather than a honored guest within the castle before they finally reached a pair of double doors.
The leader of the escort, the human presumed, knocked lightly on the double doors before entering by himself. A few seconds has passed before the escort leader reemerged and motioned everypony to follow into the library. Riley shielded his eye for a moment when entering because of how bright it was before he unshielded his eyes and looked around in amazement.
The library was at least had three stories with bookshelves as along its circular walls, a gigantic window overlooking most of the castle below, stairs leading up and down to probably to more of the royal library as there was a huge hourglass right in the middle of the whole area. Celestia was right next to the hourglass as there was a small table with several books stacked upon it.
Celestia looked up and smiled at Riley as he gave a confused look at her in return before she cleared her throat.
"Alright, would you all please leave me with Riley." Celestia said as the Royal Guards bowed and left except for the captain who looked at her in confusion and worry.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." she assured the captain who continued to give her an unsure look before obeying and bowed before leaving Riley with the princess.
"Well, good morning to you, Riley. Did you get any sleep?" the princess asked, noticing the bags underneath his eyes as Riley shook his head in response. Celestia chuckled a bit before she motioned the human to come closer to her.
Celestia began by telling a brief history of how Equestria was brought to be. The sun princess avoided telling about anything that resembled close to King Sombra, Nightmare moon, or Discord in fear that the information about them will surface themselves through the boy and Celestia couldn't risk that kind of thing.
Instead, Celestia told about how life was back then, the challenges that came to when her and her sister came to power, the changes that took place over the course of the years, and a lot of other stuff. Riley listened carefully to all of what Celestia was saying, absorbing all of the information she was giving him as he thought long and hard about it all.
"Okay, I get it all but there's something I don't get though." Riley said before he turned his attention to the princess who kept her same calm expression. "There's Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies, Alicorns, Gryphons and whatnot, but what species am I? Where do I fit into this?" Riley asked as he stared at Celestia with a bit of sadness within his eyes.
Celestia let out a sigh and put a hoof on his shoulder before she looked at him right in the eyes. "That's an easy one, you're a Human."
"A...Human?" asked Riley as he let the word roll around inside his head for a bit.
Celestia nodded as Riley was a little happier to finally know at least something about himself but there were so many questions still swimming within his mind.
"Well, its good to finally know what I am, but the more important question is who am I? Where'd I come from? Is there anybody looking for me right now?"
Celestia's smile faded into a frown as she looked at Riley with a sympathetic look. She wanted to tell him how he really showed up to her and her sister, what he actually possesses and anything else she knows about him but she was too scared of what consequences will follow if doing so.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not even sure about that one." Celestia admitted as Riley batted an eye to her before letting out a heavy sigh.
It's... It's quite alright. I should have known you didn't have the answers either..." Riley said before putting his head down on the table.
Celestia felt bad not telling him what she knew but if it was the only way to ensure the safety of all of Equestria and even himself, it had to be done for all of their sake.
"I have some things to attend to, will you be okay by yourself?" Celestia asked as Riley just nodded.
The princess exited the library, leaving Riley alone. After a few minutes has passed, Riley lift his head up and took another look around the library. There had to be thousands upon thousands of books crammed onto shelves but he guessed none of them held any answered questions he had.
Riley looked down at the book Celestia left out and decided to look through it. After flipping through a few pages of the book, he stopped at one that quickly caught his attention.
"The fall of Discord." Riley read, not remembering Celestia talking about this part in her history lesson.
Riley glided his fingers over the printed word of Discord like he felt a little connection before taking a look which was the same as the one on the window. Suddenly, a millions of images began flooding the human's head before his vision went to black.
The sun princess casually walked through the halls back to the library with a squadron of guards behind her. As soon as they reached their destination, Celestia slowly entered only to find the library empty and Riley nowhere to be found.
"He's gone! Keep on your guard everypony, we don't know what he's capable of." one of the guards commanded out as they readied their spears while Celestia stayed quiet and surveyed the scene.
A laugh suddenly echoed around the room, making almost everyone jump in surprise.
"Oh what fun it is to see you all so tense!" an upbeat voice chuckled out as all of them looked up to see Riley sitting crisscross on the ceiling.
The guards pointed their spears at Riley as he only smiled widely before he began floating down from the ceiling upside down.
"Oh you guys, sometimes you can be quite bothersome." Possessed Riley said before snapping his fingers, making the guards' spears instantly turn into snakes that wrapped around them, immobilizing them.
The possessed Riley chuckled in delight before making dozen of books fly off their shelves as some of them began spilling random things out of their pages. Celestia suddenly felt like something from her was missing to see that her horn, wings and her crown right on Riley.
"Look mommy, I'm a princess too!" he said in a girlish tone before laughing hysterically at his own joke.
Disc...I mean Riley, stop it." Celestia quickly corrected herself as Riley stopped descending down once he came face to face with Celestia.
"Riley? Now that's an interesting name. But it seems your a tad bit late because you see, this 'Riley' will begin to realize that these blackouts aren't ordinary. And soon he'll start connecting the dots. Then what'll you do? How will you protect everypony from us?" Discord Riley explained with smile on his face.
Celestia's heart raced with fear. She had to do something before he's averted back.
"How does it feel to be checkm-" Possessed Riley began before he began to cough violently as blood spilled out of his mouth. Without warning, he dropped the rest of the way to the floor before gripping his skull and began spazzing out uncontrollably. "W-What's hap-happening?!"
Just as I thought. Every time any of them manifest through Riley and use their magic, they risk damaging the body. The longer they use magic, the more the body gets damaged, Celestia noted while watching Riley spaz out before his eyes switched back to normal as his eyes rolled back into his skull and into unconsciousness.
Everything seemed to revert back to normal like nothing has ever happened as the guards stood idly by while the sun princess looked around to see what triggered this possession before seeing the book she left out on a very specific page. Using her magic, she closed the book and sent it to its proper place before turning her attention to the unconscious Riley.
Celestia knew that soon as he awakes, it would only be a matter of time before he figures out he has a special connection with most infamous villains in history. She couldn't allow that to happen... Not yet.
Celestia lowered her head until the tip of her horn touched Riley's forehead before she concentrated her magic. She wasn't sure how hard it'll be to actually get into his mind with immense Dark Magic running through him. The princess suddenly found herself within his memories with little to no resistance at all.
Wasting no time, Celestia skimmed through his memories until she found the ones she was looking for; the book and the window paintings. Celestia concentrated her magic, creating a magical barrier around the memories, creating a Memory Lock Spell to prevent Riley from remembering them for now.
There, that should do it, the princess thought before finding herself back in the library.
"Guards! I need you to cover up the window paintings. You mustn't let Riley see them again." Celestia demanded as the guards saluted and rushed off to do their duty.
A sudden cough caught the princess' attention to see Riley waking up. He slowly pulled himself up and rubbed his eyes like he just woke up from a nap before he gripped his head in pain.
"What happened?"
"You blacked out again, do you remember what happened?" Celestia asked, silently praying that the spell worked. Riley scratched his head in wonder as he tried to piece together what happened.
"I remember listening explain Equestria's history and then you had to leave. That's all I remember." Riley recalled as a wave of relief washed through Celestia while thanking the spell for working.
"Riley, I want you to listen carefully to what I gotta say next, I've decided to send you to Ponyville to live with my former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"What, why? Why can't I stay in the castle?" Riley inquired a little hastily.
"I don't want you to be cooped up in the castle and shielded away from society. I think its better for you to experience our lifestyle as you'll have your own social life, establish friendships, and experience a whole lot more than being in this castle. And who knows, you'll probably find the answers you're looking for."
Riley thought about it for a moment. He really didn't want to leave the castle just yet to be brought into a society that he's still learning about let alone being set apart from everypony else because of what he is.
But then again, maybe the answers he's been looking for lie some place out and if he's lucky, there in this town. It didn't take long for Riley to decide.
"Alright, I'll go. If my answers to who I am lie elsewhere than here, I guess I'll live with this 'Twilight' character." Riley replied as Celestia nodded and motioned him to follow her.
While in the hallways, Riley noticed what little light that shunned through the curtains which was odd to him considering that they were opened when coming to the library. So the question now is, why are they closed now?
Before curiosity can get the better of Riley, they entered the throne room to see princess Luna standing near the throne, looking a little sleepy from lack of sleep also.
"Good morrow to you both." Luna greeted honorably before she nodded her head to her sister who nodded back in return. "I shall tend to see a chariot for your departure."
With that said, Luna walked out the doors, leaving Celestia and Riley alone. Riley kept his eyes on the floor the whole time, thinking about if this was the right choice to go.
"You look uncertain about your answer." Celestia pointed out, making Riley jump a little.
"N-No, that's not it at all..." Riley began to say before letting out a sigh. "Yeah, your right. But the reason I was hoping on staying was because your the first and maybe the only pony who treated me like one of your own kind. You and Luna both. I guess I was just hoping we'd be friends."
Celestia stared surprisingly at Riley for a moment before smiling. "We are friends, no doubt. But as your friend, I want you to experience a life of your own than feel like a prisoner of the castle."
It was Riley's turn to look at her in surprise that she knew how he felt within here. Or was it just a coincidence?
Luna reemerged back into the throne room with several Royal Pegasus Guards before walking up to Riley and throwing her hooves around him in a hug, stunning the human.
"I bid you a safe journey." Luna said as Riley struggled to whether hug her or not before wrapping his arms around her.
"Thanks." Riley said before they broke their hug and he turned to Celestia who just nodded politely to him.
Riley let out one more sigh before he followed the group of guards. Once everypony has left the room, the princesses' turned to each other.
"Are you sure he'll be okay? What he begins to...act up again?" Luna asked with much worry in her tone.
"I'm absolutely certain he will be fine. I've already got somebody watching over him."
"Who?"
Celestia smiled at her sister who only gave her a unsettling look that she knew who she was talking about.
The carriage shook violently against the strong winds but it didn't seem to faze Riley as he stared sadly out the window. Even though his heart was set on moving to this town, he felt like he missed something. Something he thought he should have looked into but he wasn't sure what it was and now he won't have the chance.
Its been more than thirty minutes into their flight as Riley was beginning to feel like they weren't getting anywhere as they struggled to push further. Riley let his mind wander for a while for the remaining time of the trip.
By the time they eventually reached their destination, the sun hung high in the sky. The carriage came to a halt next to a large tree decorated to look like a house. Riley looked at the sign posted outside the tree house which read 'Golden Oak Library'.
Riley watched as two guards walked up to the tree before knocking on the door. A few moments later, a purple pony opened the door and looked quite confused of why there was Royal Guards at her door.
Riley examined the purple pony to see a horn on top of her head and wings spread out as he finally noticed she too was an Alicorn. He continued to watch Twilight and guards discuss something before one of the guards signaled him to come.
Riley's heart began to pound within his chest, fearing that Twilight would freak out because of his appearance. He reached slowly for the door before sweat began to drip down his forehead but he proceeded anyway by opening the door and stepping out.
The purple pony's eyes widen with shock as the Royal Guards quickly departed back to Canterlot. The human and Twilight stare down one another before she cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry to ask of this but how did you get to Equestria?"
Technically I d-"
How'd you meet the princesses?"
"Interesting st-"
"Why did Celestia bring you to me?"
"Because she wan-"
"Strange, why do you look different from all the rest?"
"What kind of ques-"
Twilight kept shooting questions left and right, overwhelming Riley until he couldn't take it any longer.
"Twilight, please!" Riley blurted out, making Twilight stop her interrogation session as she stared stunningly at him. But before she could open her mouth to ask another question, Riley butted in.
"Your princess told me about you, well, just your name. Now, can we put aside the questions until AFTER we properly introduced each other?" Riley slightly pleaded as Twilight suddenly became red with embarrassment.
"Oh, sorry. Welcome to Ponyville...er..." Twilight started to greet before suddenly remembering that she hasn't learned his the human's name. Riley mentally chuckled to himself before introducing himself.
"It's Riley and thanks."
Twilight stuck out her hoof towards Riley like she was expecting him so shake it. Riley was a little skeptical about this since they just met and he half expected her to want to make physical contact with him, but soon he gave in and grabbed her hoof.
The moment Riley's hand touched Twilight's hoof, thousands of images began flooding into his mind. Too many images kept flashing by, he could comprehend them all. Riley's knees buckled as he fell to the dirt, gripping his head in agony.
"Hey, are you all right?" Twilight asked in distress before rushing to his side.
"Don't touch me!" Riley sneered out as Twilight backed away from him and stared in a bit of sorrow, not really certain why he snapped at her.
As soon as the images subsided, Riley struggled to his feet before staring at Twilight. He wasn't a hundred percent positive that these images he witnessed weren't what they were but more like memories he doesn't remember having.
Whatever she did, intentionally or not, she's knows something and she is hiding it, Riley thought angrily before hiding his true feelings underneath.
"Sorry, got a terrible migraine there for a moment. I'm fine now." Riley lied as he gave a fake smile to her to assure he that he was fine.
Twilight wasn't sure if Riley was telling the truth or not but had no choice but to believe him.
"Okay...well, how about we go and grab something to eat, you must be hungry from your long journey." Twilight said as Riley's stomach growled at the mention of food before Twilight escorted him to the café.
While they walked through town, Riley couldn't help but notice all the residents stop and stare at him. Some in wonder or disgust, some in confusion and some in fear, which made him uncomfortable of even being here.
They both arrived at the café as Riley caught a whiff of the sweet aroma hanging around that made his mouth water. They sat at the furthest table before a pony approached them wearing a formal outfit.
"Ahem, welcome to the Harmony Brews Café, my name is Savoir Fare and I'll be your waiter today. Now what would you two..." Savoir began to say before his voice trailed off after catching sight of Riley.
"Well...um, if you please...excuse...me..." Savoir shakily stuttered out as sweat dripped down his forehead and he stumbled to get his hooves to work before quickly trotting into the café.
Riley buried his face into his hands and almost felt like he really was a monster.
"This is going to be pointless..."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is how am I suppose to have a social life here if everypony is just afraid or looks at me in disgust?" Riley asked as Twilight rubbed chin with her hoof like she was thinking before something came to her.
"Then you'll just have to win them over." Twilight suggested, making Riley uncover his face and stare at her in confusion.
"So how in Equestria, or however you say it, do I do that?" Riley inquired but before Twilight could answer, something slammed into Riley that sent him sailing through the air for a second before crashing into the ground.
Riley's vision swirled as his head pounded heavily due to slamming into the ground. As soon as his vision returned back to normal, he found a cyan Pegasus with q rainbow mane sitting on him and giving him an antagonized look.
"What are you? What do you want?" The Pegasus asked hastily.
"What?! Get off of me!" Riley yelled out while he struggled to get free but despite the Pegasus's size, she kept him pinned to the ground.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight scolded before using her magic to lift Rainbow off of Riley and levitate her to Twilight's side.
"Twilight?! Why the hay are you helping this thing?" Rainbow protested as Riley balled his hands in a fist and growled in annoyance for that insult.
"That 'thing' is a human and his name is Riley." Twilight explained as Dash looked between her friend and the human, not sure whether to believe.
Riley could see a sense of suspiciousness on Rainbow's face which made him take note to watch himself around her before Twilight released her magical grip on her friend.
"Rainbow, can you do me a favor. Can you gather the rest of our friends, I want to introduce them to Riley." Twilight pleaded as Rainbow gave one more look to Riley before taking off at a fast rate.
"Sorry, you'll have to excuse Rainbow. She can be a little rough to newcomers, especially ones that are not Equestrian. But I assure you, she will come around soon." Twilight tried to cheer up Riley but he wasn't too sure.
Twilight wanted to say something else to try to cheer him up but instead got up from the table and walked right into the café, leaving Riley alone.
Maybe it was a bad idea to come here. Nopony likes me and treats me like some kind of monster. I don't know what to do... Riley thought before Twilight suddenly retuned with two steaming plates of food with her magic.
They both began to eat but Riley didn't eat as much as he wanted to due to what happened earlier and he was having a bit of trouble using the utensils instead of his hands. Twilight noticed Riley's behavior but before she could ask him what's wrong, she saw her friends coming.
"Riley, I would like to introduce my friends." Twilight said before fly over to them as Riley turned around to face them to see them all, except Rainbow Dash, staring at him with a hint of fear in their eyes under their excitement.
A wave of familiarity washed over Riley as he tried to figure out why they looked familiar to him before Twilight spoke up.
"First we have Fluttershy." Twilight pointed to a yellow Pegasus.
"Oh...nice to meet you..." Fluttershy whispered only loud enough for Riley to barely hear her before she his most of her face behind her mane mostly in fear.
"This is Rarity."
"Nice to meet you dearie, your garments look unique." the white unicorn commented in a somewhat fancy tone.
"And this is Applejack."
Applejack just tipped her cowboy hat in greeting before giving a half smile.
"Pinkie Pie."
The pink party pony blew a whistle shaped like a mustache to almost look like she actually wore a mustache that spewed confetti as she sprayed silly string of all sorts of colors right on Riley, making him crack a smile and chuckle in amusement. Something he hasn't done at all till today.
"And you've already met Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow continued to give him her suspicious gaze but gave him a hardy 'hello', which was enough for Riley. The girls then crowded themselves around the table as they all asked him questions that he had no answers to but he responded as truthfully as possible only to hear Rainbow mutter something about being a liar.
After Riley was done eating they decided to show him around in which they only showed him the Hospital, Train Station, Ponyville Theatre, the marketplace, Sugar Cube Corner, Carousel Boutique, and the Quills and Sofas shop before ending up back at the library where they hosted Riley's 'Welcome to Ponyville' party.
Riley watched the girls dance and have fun when he should too but there was a lot of things on his mind then fun. He surveyed the room to see balloons hanging on the ceiling as streamers and confetti littered the floor. Almost every inch of the library was decorated in party décor.
The rest of the party must have went quickly for him because the next thing he knew, he was in a spare bed that was barely big enough for him as he tried to get some shut eye. Riley tossed and turned to get comfortable but no matter what, he couldn't do it.
Riley looked up at the wall clock which read two o' clock in the morning before Riley decided to get up and tipped toed to Twilight's room. Once there, he saw Twilight sound asleep in her bed.
What's the real reason Celestia brought me here other than have a social life. What secret are they all hiding from? Riley thought as his hands balled into a fist.
"Whatever you and the princesses' are hiding from me, I'll exploit them soon." Riley half whispered before he walked silently back to his room.
Riley's body seemed to be floating in a sea of darkness as it looked like he was asleep. Everything was quiet for a while before three figures which were Sombra, Nightmare Moon and Discord appeared floating over Riley's body, looking down upon him.
"This can't be what we're working with. It looks like an abomination ten times over." Sombra growled in annoyance.
"I don't know Sombra, he looks kinda cute." Nightmare admitted before her and Sombra got into a heated argument over how Riley looks.
"Companions, companions, it doesn't matter what he looks like, it should be that we're all here as tyrants." Discord intervened as Nightmare and Sombra looked at each other before using their magic together, creating a magical zipped and a straight jacket, immobilizing Discord entirely.
"Its strange though, I've seen you two manifest through the boy and noticed that you weren't using your full magic. And I can't help but get the feeling that the boy's will is keeping us at bay." Nightmare wondered before Discord was finally able to break his little prison.
"Ahhh, let whatever this thing have his fun, his determination will soon crumble and we can do whatever we want when it does. But in the meantime, chess anypony?" Discord asked before a chess board with pieces appeared between them all.
Sombra's horn glowed but instead of blowing up Discord's chess game like he would normally do, he moved one of his pawns two spaces forward, pleasing Discord greatly.
"Hello? Where am I?" Riley's voice called out, catching attention of the three. Riley's eyes were still closed but there was physical evidence that he was aware of the situation. "Please who's there?"
The three villains stared at each other in confusion, not really sure what to do at this moment till they smiled devilishly before saying four words in unison.
"We are your Demons."
