//------------------------------// // Back in Equestria? // Story: Eris' game // by Java Joe //------------------------------// Days later, the whole Discord / Discordia thing had been forgotten and they were on their way to Tuscany for a week of relaxing, cooking and drinking wine. They had use of a small villa in the Etruscan countryside, and along with it would get cooking lessons using local produce as well as instruction in wine making. Instead of taking a train or tour bus they had decided to rent a car. About 2 hours into their trip, Twilight was dozing in the front seat when suddenly she came awake. "Pull over!" she said forcefully. "What?" "You need to pull over right now!" Making sure they had enough room to do so, Rick pulled over by the side of the road. When Twilight didn't get out of the car and just looked around a little strangely he had to admit he was confused. "Sooo, what's so important that we needed to stop here?" "Can't you feel it?" she asked. "Sorry babe, I'm not feeling anything. Are you sure you're okay?" "There's Equestrian magic over there Rick, " she pointed to a circle of cypress trees off to the side a little ways. "It's faint, really faint but we need to check it out." And with those words she got up out of the car and started making for the trees. Rick turned off the car, made sure everything was locked up tight and followed her. They arrived at the circle of trees and Twilight just slowly walked around it, her hands extended towards the trees as if feeling for something. Her forehead glowed and the air before her took on a different appearance, almost as if there was a doorway hidden in plain sight. She motioned to Rick to take her hand and then walked forward into darkness. With his one free hand Rick fumbled for his cell phone, the flash could be used as a flashlight but it drained the battery really quickly although at the moment he felt this wasn't a bad thing. However before he was able to pull it out, there was a soft glow that appeared before them as Twilight conjured up a ball of violet light cupped in her outstretched hand. It wasn't enough to illuminate everything around them but it was definitely enough to see by. Rick slowed down a bit, looking at the floor of the cave. It didn't look natural, or at the very least it looked like it had been worn down by many, many travelers over the years. He bent down to touch it when Twilight, rather excitedly called him over. "Rick! Come here and look at this!" Twilight called. She was staring at a wall in the cave. When he walked in, she held the light close to the wall so he could see the carvings in it. "Cool, " he said and was going to continue when he noticed what the carvings looked like complete with her distinctive cutie mark. "That's Celestia right?" Twilight nodded. Somehow, even though they existed in different universes, here was actual evidence that at some point in time another had made the trip from Equestria to Earth. Rick thought back to his first meeting with the princess when she took one look at him and tried to kill him. Had it not been for Twilight throwing herself in front of the princess Rick surely would have died. A quick look at Twilight and she was thinking the same thing. Celestia had come into contact with humans before and she still held a grudge. "So what do we do now?" "I know what I want to do, but first " Rick pulled out his phone and took a couple pictures of the carvings. "Feel like exploring deeper into the cave? Maybe we'll find something else." Twilight thought for a moment. "Okay, but not too far and we come back after half an hour at most." Every so often they passed a fresco or carving of sorts and each scene showed scenes of Equestria. Sometimes there were ponies of different sorts. Other times the scenes showed griffons or dragons. Deeper and deeper they walked, and stranger and stranger they felt as they did. The air seemed to get thicker as they progressed, the light from Twilight's magic seemed a little darker, the echoes from the walls seemed to get further and further away. Rick was starting to feel a little dizzy and was going to suggest to Twilight that maybe this wasn't a good idea but for some reason couldn't make the words come out and was seemingly being drawn forward. At one point he stumbled, unable to keep his balance so he crawled forward on hands and knees. In the dim light he could see Twilight beside him doing the same. Then, as if an errant breeze had blown out a candle, Twilight's light went out. "Twi?" he hissed, for some reason he didn't want to speak too loudly. "Yes?" she whispered back. "Are you okay? I can't see much of anything right now." "I'm okay, but I can't see anything either." He heard her straining, but she was unable to make more than a faint spark. "So what do we do next?" "I think my eyes are adjusting to the darkness, I can almost make out a faint light down a little further. Can you see it too?" Rick asked. "Yes, I can almost make something out. Let's make our way slowly over there. I don't want to run into any walls or anything on the way." The two of them slowly crawled over towards the light and as they approached not only started to feel better but could see that it was daylight although far away. Emboldened by this they started to go a little faster and faster until they were practically running in their desire to get out of the cave. A few moments later they burst forth into the sunlight and the biggest shock of their lives. "Twi! " Rick exclaimed. "You're a pony again!" And it was true. Somehow, at some point through the cave Twilight had gone back to her pony form. But that wasn't the truly big shock as Twilight stared open mouthed at Rick. "So are you..." Rick looked down at himself and where his hands should have been there were now hooves, dark brown hooves to go with his coffee coloured coat. So he did the only thing he could have done given the situation. He blacked out and fell unceremoniously to the ground. He became aware of somebody calling his name from far away, focusing on the sound he awoke to find Twilight in her pony form calling to him and gently slapping him on the cheeks with her hooves. "What happened and why are you a pony again?" Rick asked, the past few minutes being a complete blur to him. He struggled to get to his feet noting that he had two more than he should have not to mention a complete lack of hands. The memories came flooding back, somehow not only had Twilight been turned back into her unicorn form, but he was also a pony as well. He looked at Twilight but she seemed as mystified with all this as he was. But their coming here was not unknown as three individuals immediately felt their presence where before there was nothing. Princess Celestia sensed an old and forgotten portal from Earth had been activated. She cursed, thinking that if even one human had made his way here, then others would be coming back as well and everything she and her sister had worked so hard to create might come crashing down on them. She immediately went to her sister's bedchambers. Luna was dreaming when the feeling that one of the ancient portals had opened once again. She immediately came awake just in time for Celestia to show up at her door. The two sisters looked at each other, no words needed to be said and they immediately launched into the air heading towards the portal and ready to take whatever action was necessary to fix it. Discord also felt it and also knew what it was. Humans had come back to Equestria after so many thousands of years. This was perfect. Humans were partially responsible for the chaos and strife that created him and now that they had come back, his power would grow even more. Maniacal laughter filled the air as he roared in glee. The only thing left to do was to locate said human which shouldn't be an issue. After all, how many bipeds do you see every day in Equestria? "Sunrunner! Pack my things, we're going on a little trip." "Where to mistress?" Sunrunner asked obsequiously. "Ponyville." Inside her mind, Trixie heard all this and she allowed herself the faintest glimmer of hope. If they were going to Ponyville then maybe the citizens there would recognise her and possibly help her by ending her life. She didn't want to die but the choice between dying and staying trapped as Discord's slave was an easy choice to make. "So. Any ideas?" Rick asked. His mouth felt a little odd, too many teeth and a tongue that just felt strange in his mouth. He really felt for Twilight now, never having imagined that she'd feel odd about the whole becoming human thing. "Right now, no. I'm just as shocked as you are. But this feels like Equestria, the leylines and magic feel the same, " she looked around not knowing where to go next. "Tell you what, let's see if we can get back to Earth. At least that way I can move the car out of the way. No telling what's going to happen to it just sitting by the side of the road with all our stuff in it." He turned to go back into the cave but bumped his nose on what was an invisible barrier. He tried again, only to be pushed back again. "Okay, so either this is a one way trip or somepony knows we're here and is trying to prevent us from going back. In either case, I don't want to hang around here waiting to see which one it is." Twilight agreed and they made their way through the trees until they came to a bit of a clearing. Twilight looked around a bit and said excitedly, " I think I know where we are! C'mon follow me!" and raced away. Rick, still a little unsteady on all 4 hooves took a little while to catch up to her but he did manage to find his stride and then his earth pony body managed to easily keep pace with his wife. Rick was never a good runner in his human body, he suffered from shin splints and after a few minutes they made running almost impossible. However this form was made for running and it was like he ran with his entire body and not just the legs. Without meaning to he found himself smiling, enjoying the feeling. Taking a glance at Twilight he saw her smiling and enjoying it as well. They came across a fence and easily jumped it. It was only when he jumped over it that he recognised his own work. This was the same fence he had put up at Sweet Apple Acres all those months ago. Running through the orchard they came upon the sound of apple bucking and saw Applejack doing what she did best. "AJ!" Twilight shouted as she ran towards her friend at top speed. "What the buck?" Applejack said as she heard a familiar voice call her name. Her eyes went wide when she saw her friend and a pony she didn't know tearing across the orchard towards her. "Twilight Sparkle? It is you!" she cried as she raced towards the lavender unicorn as fast as her hooves could take her. Both ponies came to a stop and hugged each other happily. AJ was going to ask how she came to be back when the coffee coloured pony beside Twilight had a little trouble stopping and crashed into a tree, apples falling down like rain around him. He shook his head to get rid of the stars that obscured his vision and focused on the two fillies. "Howdy stranger, " AJ said with a smile, "need a little help?" "Thanks AJ. Haven't quite gotten used to stopping yet, " he responded in a voice that sounded somehow familiar yet strange at the same time. She stared at him, then back at Twilight, then checked out the cutie mark of a cup on his flank, her mind putting everything together and realised who the clumsy earth pony was. "Rick? That you?" "Yeah. Surprise!" he said as he pulled himself to his hooves and gave himself a good shake. "How? I mean both of y'all left months ago an' Celestia said there was no way fer you ta come back. Then when you do it's as an actual stallion and I gotta admit a good looking one too. Twilight, gotta say y'all are gonna have to keep a close eye on this one or else there are gonna be a lot of fillies throwing themselves at him." "Nah I'm not worried about that. We just got married less than a week ago, " Twilight said with a grin. "That's great sugarcube!" "So what about you and Dash? You two decide to tie the knot?" Rick asked. "Actually we're getting hitched next week, " she said with a smile. Twilight and Rick immediately congratulated her on this. She invited them to the wedding, assuming they were going to be around for it. They looked at each other and for the first time since coming back to Equestria hoped they could stay longer but didn't know. They agreed that should they be able to, they would. "I'll take that and all y'all should know that yer always welcome here at Sweet Apple Acres. Yer family and hey, now yer a pony too!" AJ said to Rick in a congratulatory way. "Anyway c'mon down to the house. We'll have some pie and talk about what y'all have been doing since you left." Once safely ensconced in the Apple family parlour, the two fillies chatted and gossiped about what had happened since Twilight left. "Y'all should be happy to know that Spike and Rarity are gettin on like a house on fire. She pretends like it's nothing but you can see it in her eyes when she talks about the little fella. He's practically moved into the Carousel but he's also at the library every single day, workin hard and keeping it in shape." "Good for him. Oh he's going to be so surprised when we show up, " Twilight said. "What about the rest of the fillies? How's Pinkie Pie?" "She was all mopey when you left, but nothing keeps her down for too long. She went on being Pinkie Pie, throwin' parties and generally making a spectacle of herself. Doubt that filly will ever change. But there is news with Fluttershy. It weren't long after you left that her and Big Mac started seeing each other. We don't know if it's serious yet, Mac ain't the most talkative sort and Flutters don't talk much either but they've been spending a lot of time with each other. So what about you two? How'd you come back?" "Honestly, we don't know how it happened but we did uncover something a little disturbing. Celestia knew about humans before she ever met me and I don't think she was happy about it. We found some carvings and frescos in the cave that brought us here showing scenes of Equestria and one of them showed Celestia. I don't know how old they were at least a couple hundred years but I'd hazard they were closer to a thousand or more. That was before the time of Nightmare Moon." Rick said. "Rick has a bit of a theory that there's been a lot more contact between our worlds than Celestia has ever admitted to. Records have been sketchy at best and it could very well be that at some point there was actual commerce or trade. Some foods are the same, languages are similar I mean Rick actually speaks Neighponese but he's never set hoof there. Our worlds have influenced each other greatly in the past and he thinks that something happened to drive our people apart and might have actually led to the stories of pink skinned goblins with hands that used to scare you." They all sat there for a minute, digesting what had been said when the door burst open and three fillies ran in talking excitedly amongst themselves. "Girls! Keep it down, we have company!" AJ shouted. "Sorry AJ, we was just talking about the Princesses. They was just in Ponyville asking whether anypony had seen a stranger recently, " Apple Bloom said. She noticed at that moment Twilight and the coffee coloured pony sitting in the parlour along with her sister. "Hi Twilight! I never knew you was back! Who's yer friend?" "Oh c'mon Apple Bloom you mean you forgot me already? Remember the big scary guy you met at the party who then built that fence for you and AJ when Big Mac hurt his back?" Rick asked. Apple Bloom looked a little confused at recognising the voice but there was something different about him. "But, wasn't you a human back then? When did you turn into a pony?" "Just today. Twilight and I came back for a visit and I decided to go incognito and keep a low profile, " he looked around suspiciously and said, "nopony is supposed to know I'm here so don't let any pony know if they ask okay?" he said with a wink and smile. Apple Bloom smiled back and winked in return. She turned around to leave, the fillies then left after taking an apple pie back to their secret clubhouse. As they left they mentioned something about getting their cutie marks in comedy tonight. "So why didn't you want them to tell anypony y'all are here?" AJ asked. "Honestly until your sister came in I didn't think anything about it. She mentioned the princesses asking about strangers and it's an awfully big co-incidence that this happens just as Twi and I show up and are unable to get back through the cave. It could be they're not looking for us in particular, maybe they're looking for a generic human. Something about all this is bothering me. I don't know what it is yet but until I know, I don't want Celestia to know I'm back. That goes double for Twilight here." "Are you saying you don't trust the princess?" Twilight asked a little uncertainly. "Not at all. I'm saying that I don't know what her role in all this is. Think about it. We know that others have come to Equestria before us and the princess knew about it. We come through that cave but can't get back, there's a spell or something blocking our way. Celestia might be okay with me personally but right now I don't want to take the chance that there's something else going on until we're able to figure it out. Call me paranoid if you want, but deep down you're probably thinking the same thing." Twilight and AJ shared a look that confirmed what Rick was thinking. "I think I should head over to the library as soon as possible. Maybe there's a book or scroll in the archives that talks about this or could shed some light on it." Looking at Rick, she thought for a moment and said, "I don't think I can teleport both of us there. Would you be okay making your own way to the library?" Twilight asked. "Sure. No problem. Do what you need to do." "Great, see you soon, " and with those words she disappeared in a soft bamf of inrushing air. "Well, I better be on my way. It was good seeing you AJ. Say hi to Dash and the rest of the family for me." Rick started to leave when AJ asked him to wait for a few moments. She came back with a set of saddlebags stuffed full of what smelled like apples. "Here ya go sugarcube. I dunno how long y'all are going to be around but y'all are going to need some vittles. So there's some apple goodies in there, some cider and some plain ol apples just in case. Y'all don't be a stranger now and come back to see us real soon." She gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek and helped him to strap on the saddlebags. Shifting his flanks back and forth he got the bags sitting comfortably and was on his way. It was a nice day and as much as he wanted to hurry, a galloping pony might attract attention so he made his way back to Ponyville in a quick but easygoing manner. It didn't take long at a trot to get there. This equine body of his was starting to feel natural. He worried a bit about the car and the reservations back on Earth but with luck they'd be out of here in no time and could maybe blame their delay on a flat tire or something similar. He took a slightly roundabout way to get to the library to make it look like he was just out for a trot. Who knows who might have been spying on the library or on the lookout for a stranger. Provided he didn't gawk or appear to be lost and simply went about his business as if he had every right to be there it shouldn't arouse any kind of suspicion. He made it all the way to the library and calmly walked in without anypony being the wiser. Or so he thought. There was one pony that noticed his passing, who didn't recognise him and knew exactly what to do given the situation. Making his way to the small kitchen, he left the saddlebags there and went to find Twilight in case she needed help. She was busy in the cellar looking over the archives to see if there was any mention of Earth or humans. "AJ gave us some food in case we get hungry later and I've left it in the kitchen. If you need me for something, I'll be upstairs, " he said. Twilight just nodded but never looked up during that time. Rick knew she was in study mode so there was not much else she would or could do right now. He wandered upstairs feeling a little useless here as he still had trouble reading Equestrian and after all those months back home on Earth never thought he would have to read it again. He puttered around the library, pulled a few foals books off the shelf to practice his reading but eventually got really bored with reading "see Dash. See Dash fly. Fly Dash Fly". Eventually boredom caught up to him and he fell asleep.