//------------------------------//
// The Encounter 
// Story: It's All In Your Head 
// by treetoptrooper 
//------------------------------//

	“Are you ready for your worries put to rest, Arc?”
“Whatever you say, Twilight.”
It was time to finally get the word out. Arc and Em had planned this for a while now, and now they could let someone else in on their secret.
“Get ready,” the lavender pony smugly ordered.
Arc bent down onto one knee and looked up at the unicorn in front of him. Her horn glowed bright with magic and she had a smirk of confidence on her face. Just as pretty as she was back in the day.
I heard that, Romeo.
Be quiet for a second.
A flare fired out of Twilight’s horn. “Okay, I’m starting now.” The swirl spiralled down and connected with Arc’s forehead, causing him to grunt and flinch. He felt light-headed and a bit dizzy for a while before he noticed Twilight’s expression slowly change. 
I think she sees me!
Her mouth fell open and she said something, but Arc was too woozy to recognize what it was. The feelings in his head left him and Twilight fell onto her rump. “You were right… she’s in there! I saw her, but I still don’t believe it! It’s all so crazy!”
Arc stood up, still feeling a bit disoriented. “You’d better believe it.”
“When did you first find this out? Did you do something to trigger it? Have you been affected by it in any particular ways?” Twilight was pressing Arc’s face in between her hooves as she spoke, desperate to hear all the details.
He pushed her away from himself to speak. “Well, a long time ago I decided to drop out of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and to go work at the Royal Canterlot Library for some extra coin to spend on my adventures.”
“So that’s where you went. Everyone kept asking me where Mr. Bookworm was.”
“Yes, so as I was saying, one night while I was working I heard this voice calling out for help from the restricted Annex section. I decided to go check it out, and lo and behold when I opened a book in there the voice went into my head and turned out to be none other than Em herself.”
“Em?”
“Empyrea, it’s just shorter. Anyways, we talked and became good friends over the ten or so years that we spent together. Eventually she decided that it was time that we got serious about how she got in the book in the first place and why she escaped into my head. From there we’ve just been becoming better and better friends.”
Twilight’s eyes darted around the room as thoughts raced through her mind. “Why was she in the book? What does she need you to do? What does she need me to do in that case?” she asked in a frenzy.
Arc explained the story that he had been told by Em, everything about the Ethereal ponies and their fall at the claws of Eksago. She seemed to believe the tale well enough – for now. However, he wasn’t exactly sure about what role Twilight would play in their quest other than somepony to tell about their plan. 
“Oh my gosh, I’ve gotta tell the princess!” Twilight snatched up a scroll in her telekinesis, but Arc quickly burned it up with a blast of magic. 
“Don’t. Whatever you do, do not tell Princess Celestia anything about this,” he ordered.
The unicorn looked shocked at his actions. “W-why not? This could be a global crisis we’ve got here!”
Arc facehooved, but immediately regretted making the already flustered pony even more embarrassed. “Weren’t you listening to what I told you? I found Em in Celestia’s library, right? Well she might not want the Ethereal ponies coming back at all. She could come after us all.”
Twilight seemed to get where he was coming from. “Sorry, I’m a bit crazed right now. I haven’t had this much of a breakthrough for a while, so I’m a bit panicky.” She weakly smiled at him, and the sight of it plastered a dorky smile on Arc’s face.
She’s pretty cute when she’s confused.
Arc yelped in pain as a shock went through his head, making Twilight jump in fright. “Are you okay?” she asked him.
“I’m fine, Em’s just being a mule.”
What was that for!?
Just to remind you that we’re not in Ponyville to check out your crush.
For the love of Celestia, she’s not my crush! She once was, and she isn’t anymore!
Don’t go getting your mane in a tangle over some teasing, Arc. All I want is for you to keep pretty unicorns out of your mind for now and focus on the situation at hoof.
Oh, the irony in those words drive me crazy.
What’s that supposed to mean?
Just complimenting you on your looks, don’t get so defensive.
Well, erm…
“Um, Arc?”
He looked up to see Twilight curiously staring at him. “Sorry, I was talking with Em,” he explained with a soft chuckle.
“Well, if you won’t let me get you any bigger help for you, than what can I do?” she asked.
“Uh…”
Hey Em, why did you make me go see Twilight in the first place?
Ask her to check around her library for some books on these kinds of things.
“For starters you could look around your library for some books concerning cloaking spells, hidden locations, and maybe even some info on the Ethereal ponies.” Twilight nodded and left to go search, calling out Spike’s name as she went.
Anything else?
Not right now, but we’re gonna need to take her with us on our search for the Ethereal ponies. However, just her isn’t be enough for this; we’ll need to recruit some other ponies to help out along the way.
So we’re gonna get an entire army to find the Ethereal ponies?
No, we’re gonna get a group, a party, a team, a squad, whatever you want to call it. If we gather too much attention to us then Celestia will get suspicious.
This adventure is getting better and better by the second.
------
The summer night of Ponyville really was something that Arc had never felt before. The air was cooler than at day and the moonlight managed to reflect off of nearly everything, making it strangely bright for a midnight hour. Back in Canterlot it was too clustered to notice these natural things.
Arc sat out on the balcony that extended from the top of Twilight’s library. Said mare refused to take a break from her research and still worked indoors. Em was awfully quiet that night, which could sometimes be a good thing. Little voices in the back of your head could get annoying after a while.
As he stared out into the quiet hills beyond the town he heard a ghostly whistle. It was a tune that started out high and ended low with waves of pitch in-between. 
What was that?
What was what?
Arc searched for the source and soon noticed a figure standing on a hill, backlit by the moonlight. It was an equine as far as he could tell, but what were they doing out there? It seemed to wear some sort of coat that slowly waved in the wind. The longer Arc stared at it the more unsure he felt, as though they were a symbol of some sort.
He turned away for a second, but when he looked back the figure was gone. Deciding that he needed to go to sleep, he went back inside to get some rest.
------
Arc stepped back into the red room from the nights before, his shirt and tie instantly appearing. Em patiently sat at the table in her silky blue dress. “Welcome back, Arc.”
“Why’d you call me in here? Do you need anything in particular?” he asked as he sat down at the table across from her.
Em poured the always ready wine into their glasses with a straight face. “I need to ask you something, something that’s a bit more personal than normal.”
“Yeah?”
The mare shifted slightly before she went on. “Am I really… good looking? You said I was before, but I wanted to know the truth.”
Arc was initially shocked by the question, but managed to answer – albeit in a broken form. “Y-yeah, you’re one of the most beautiful ponies I’ve ever seen, Em. Why do you ask?”
Em just sighed and shook her head. “No reason, but thanks for answering…”
They continued with a bit of small talk from then on, but Arc noticed that his Ethereal pony companion was a bit on edge and looked like she was hiding something else. After a while he decided to ask her about it so he could help her out. “Em, is something wrong?”
She looked around as though she had just woken up from a dream. “Sorry?”
“You seem a bit high-strung. Is something bothering you?”
The normally cynical pony turned away from him, now in a shy mood. “Yes… something really is…”
“What is it?”
“For over ten years I’ve been living inside of your head, talking to you and getting to know you better. I’ve also been looking through your memories over all that time.” She seemed very hurt as she let out the last bit. “Yet still, I haven’t found anything about me back there. Why aren’t I part of your memories, Arc?”
To be completely honest, he had no idea. He thought about her a lot and did memorable things with her, but it seemed like she wasn’t even in there once actually inside. However, he soon thought of something that might be the ticket – of course, it was the cheesiest ticket ever.
“Maybe it’s because you’re looking in the wrong place,” Arc replied.
This seemed to get Em fired up. “I’ve looked through your entire mind, Archaic. I’ve even lived in your mind for at least a decade. I think I know that I’d be looking in the wrong place or not.”
“No, you don’t understand. Maybe you’re not part of my memories.”
“W-what?”
“I think that my thoughts about you are stored somewhere else… like maybe a more special place.”
Here’s the real kicker.
“Like where? Where could my memories possibly be?”
Arc took a short swig of his wine. “Like in my heart.”
“Excuse me?” Em was clearly confused by his resolve. “You can’t store thoughts inside a heart! It’s just full of blood and stuff.”
“No, that’s not really what I meant – I was getting more along the lines of soul, like you’re part of me somehow. Now you see, maybe the memories that really mean the most to you are stored not in your mind, but in your heart. You definitely mean a lot to me; you’re pretty much my only friend and also the reason why I hit the road. It’s just a theory, but you know.” Em was about to stand up from her chair, but Arc stopped her. “Please don’t try searching my heart, just don’t. Breaking the secrets of the heart can ruin a pony, I once heard.”
Yay preachiness. That was the most preachy I’ve been in a while.
His friend seemed relieved once he had explained. “I don’t care where those feelings and memories are being stored, just as long as they exist somewhere in you.”
Arc appreciated the serious mood, but decided it was time to cut it short. “Jeez, we’ve gotta lay off on the sappy stuff. It’s not like we’re never gonna see each other again or something.” His words triggered Em’s naturally sassy attitude to return.
“Well sorry, but I don’t see how caring for somepony else is such a bad thing. Maybe I should just try to get out of your head and then never speak with you again, go off on my own in this new world and abandon you forever hating every minute that I had to spend with you…”
“Yes Em, I get what you’re saying.”
A smile appeared on her face. “Good. Now, I think you should actually get some sleep for a night. Ever since our first midnight meeting I’ve been calling you back again and again just for some talk.”
“In that case, see you later.”
------
When in the mind of a pony, you don’t experience the things happening around you. Examples could be having water dumped on you or falling off of something. Arc visiting his own mind was no different, as he couldn’t hear the voice calling his name or the hooves shaking him until he had left Em’s apparition.
“Archaic! Wake up! Something’s going on!”
Arc almost instantly woke up and found himself eye to eye with Twilight. “What is it?” he asked and pushed her away from himself.
“There’s someone outside and he’s just standing on the rooftops. He called for you.”
Could it be that figure on the hill?
“Me? By name?”
“No, but he did say to bring out the newcomer. You’re the newest pony around, right?”
“Right,” Arc said as stood up from his seat and galloped downstairs. He dashed right through the front doors of the library to find a crowd of ponies standing around what he assumed to be the town hall. They all murmured to each other and stared up at something high up on the tip of the building.
“There you are.”
The shadow leapt from the spire, causing the ponies below to instantly move out of the way. It landed with a light thump in the clear spot of the crowd and let out a quiet laugh. “You’re the one I’m looking for. You’ve got something that I need, and I’d really love it if you gave it to me without a struggle.”
What’s he looking for that I have?
Probably the unicorn in your head. Don’t let him do anything bad to you, alright?
“Well, who are you? And what do you need from me?” as Arc spoke the group split to let him and the figure look at each other.
“Let’s see here – what is something that you have and no one else does?” the equine chuckled to himself. “Or should I say, somepony.”
How did he know?
I have no idea. This one definitely isn’t normal though, that’s for sure.
“What do you mean?” Arc asked, trying to hide Em from this figure.
A gust of wind blew through the area, pushing the hood of the cloak down. Underneath was a pegasus, but he definitely wasn’t normal. His short mane billowed like smoke despite being so small and was colored golden yellow with white streaks running through it, while his coat was an slate blue. The figure had a ghastly smile filled with shark-like teeth and made his purple, reptilian eyes open wide. “I need something from your head, kid. I know you have it, because I’ve been following you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Another gale blew, flaring the pony’s cloak into the air and revealing the rest of his body, showing the torn cloth wrapped around his legs and his strangely slender body-shape. “Give it to me.”
He wants to take me away. But how will he even manage that?
He won’t.
“I apologize for the sudden outburst. What I’ll tell you that the Ethereal one needs to come with me, son. This means either you come quietly, or I will take it out of your head by force.”
The small crowd was now murmuring amongst themselves and shuffling away from the two ponies. It was a good thing too, because this could get ugly.
“Tell me who you are and why you want them.”
The pegasus  whipped his mane in the air. “My name is Angle. I serve the darkest kind, and I need your precious little pony in there to come out for me. That’s all I’ll tell you.”
“The darkest kind, huh? Now I feel even less inclined to come with you, Angle.”
Anger reappeared in the grey pony’s eyes and he bared his dagger teeth again. “You’ve made a mistake, kid. I’m gonna ask you one more time to cooperate. If you don’t, I’m gonna have to take action.” His last phrase made the crowd around them gasp and begin to disperse to safer environments.
Wow, what a cheese-ball. Check this guy’s dialogue out, huh Em?
Arc, shut up. Angle might actually hurt the ponies here if we don’t do something.
We obviously can’t go with him, so what should we do?
If you really wanted to be brave – or stupid – you could always try fighting.
That doesn’t sound like a good idea. I know some offensive spells, but not much.
Well what then?
“So, you decided what you’re gonna do yet?” Angle called, pretending to check his hooves.
Arc thought for a while, then suddenly had a brilliant idea. “I’m not going.” As soon as he finished answering he blasted the ground with a beam of magic, kicking up a dust cloud and enabling him to run off as fast as his legs could carry him.
That kind of worked. Where do you plan on going now?
I have no idea, just away from here!
Arc’s pace quickened as he heard an angry growl from behind him that was soon followed by hoofsteps much faster than his own. Although it was puzzling that the pegasus didn’t merely fly after him Arc was running away as fast as he could.
“Arc!”
Twilight rounded a corner ahead of the running unicorn with a purple aura surrounding her horn. “I’ll cover you, just keep going!”
Arc nodded as he passed by and watched Twilight bring up a barrier in front of his pursuer. However, he found himself having to stop almost immediately as he heard is friend cry out in terror. When he turned around he saw Angle menacingly approaching Twilight and the barrier nowhere to be seen.
“Foolish filly! Your puny magic can’t stop me!” the glaring pegasus laughed, seeming to have almost forgotten all about Arc. With a swift spin he bucked Twilight and sent her spiralling into the side of a nearby building.
Oh no, we’ve gotta help Twilight!
Just keep going, Arc! He’s obviously trying to draw you back there so he can get at me!
But what about Twilight? He might hurt her! And you said that we need her help!
Don’t worry about her; she’s an Element of Harmony, remember? We’ll help her out later, but for now we’ve gotta just get out of here and find some place safe to go.
Arc looked on at the wounded Twilight who struggled to stand up. A blast of magic fired out of her horn and smashed into Angle, knocking him down to his knees. She noticed Arc looking at her and shook her head, trying to tell him to keep running, but had a hard hoof stamped onto her head and she was pushed down into the dirt. 
“Insolent little pony. I’ll teach you your place,” Angle hissed, gripping where he had been blasted by Twilight’s magic with his free hoof. He lifted her off of the ground and tossed her into another wall for good measure.
He was stopped from beating on the poor pony any longer when a streak smashed into him and pushed him into the ground. “Get your dirty hooves off her!”
Angle looked up to see a sneering pegasus mare with a bright rainbow-colored mane positioned over top of him. In a rush of rage he threw her off of himself and got back on his hooves. “Another Element of Harmony already?” he chuckled, trying to keep a lid on his anger.
Soon several other ponies rushed up to Twilight’s side and helped her up. “What do you want with us, ya big blue bully?” a mare with a Stetson hat asked Angle.
“I merely wanted to take that new pony back with me for unimportant matters, but your purple friend had to rush in and get in the way,” Angle explained.  His eyes flashed an eerie green color and he suddenly disappeared into thin air.
“Where’d he go? I’ve gotta teach that guy a lesson!” the rainbow-maned pegasus growled, darting around the area in a fruitless search. “He can’t be that far away!”
“You’d be right about that.”
The pegasus turned around to see the other ponies knocked down and Angle gripping Twilight with a bandaged wing. His eyes flashed once again and he was gone - this time Twilight was too.
------
Arc, do you know where we are?
Not at all, but we seem to be at some sort of forest.
That they were. Arc stood just barely on the verge of a dark and wooded area, unsure of whether to enter it or not. Strange animal-esque noises came from the depths of it and added to the atmosphere. He had never seen it, but it appears that Em had.
Wait, this might be the Everfree Forest. This place was a big hoot back in the day when it was first discovered due to its strange nature that did things by itself. In Everfree there’s no pony controlling the weather or day and night – it’s all just the forest.
So this place has got to be super old then, huh?
If it is Everfree. It might not be, you know.
Arc peered into the shadows of the trees for a moment before getting spooked by the hooting of an owl and pulling back.
Should we go back to Ponyville? Or should we go in?
Angle might still be there, so we shouldn’t go back. I’m not sure what’s in this forest, so only go inside if you really think we should.
He hesitated at first, but soon Arc took a light step into the shadows. This place is so creepy.
I can help you out, just give me a second…
Arc waited like Em told him to, then suddenly felt a bolt of energy run through his body. What was that? What did you do to me?
I messed around with your head a bit – now you should be courageous enough to go inside.
She was right. Arc felt the bravery flowing through his body and boldly took another step into the eerie woods. He didn’t like the idea of someone playing with his mind, but as long as it was in his favor he was game.