"Twilight!" A pink pony yelled, while crashing through the doorway of the library and broke Jace mid-sentence as he was describing the plane of Ravnica to Twilight Sparkle.
"How dare you break your promise with me!" She yelled toward Twilight again.
"Pinkie, can't you see I'm talking with somepony? I'm sorry, and I never promised you anyways!" Twilight said to her.
"Okay, maybe you didn't exactly promise, but you said you would! And who's that?" The pony said.
"Pinkie Pie, this is Jace. Jace, this is Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter." Twilight said.
Jace knew who this pony was before Twilight had even told him, he had remembered her from Twilight's memories. Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter. A spirited, fun-loving pony, who could become quite obnoxious at times, but it was all in good heart.
Jace attempted to read Pinkie's mind and then realized... he couldn't.
But why was this? He could read Twilight's mind with ease, not even trying, it seemed that Twilight was the only pony whose mind he could read, recalling he couldn't hear Fluttershy's thoughts either.
And he didn't understand this.
"Well, hi!" Pinkie said, "Where are you from? How'd you get here? Oh, you're a unicorn! Can you do magic? Are you better than Twilight?"
Pinkie rambled on and on with questions and Jace laughed.
"Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed, "Did you see Fluttershy on the way back?"
Twilight was trying to get Pinkie to be quiet, she didn't want Jace feeling uncomfortable and bombarded.
"Hmmm... No." Pinkie answered.
"I need Fluttershy. Something weird happened with her Element, and I want to see if anything odd is happening with her."
Pinkie Pie raised her hand.
"Ooh, ooh! I'll get her! I'll get her! But you have to time me! Okay? Okay, ready, go!"
And then Pinkie Pie was back out the door.
"Sorry about Pinkie..." Twilight said to Jace.
"Oh, no harm done. She's just a curious little pony is all." Jace said understandingly.
Then, the crystal on his back started to pulsate rapidly. He hadn't felt it surge this powerfully since his pursuit with Chandra, and it scared him. Was she here? Or had she done something that triggered a change in it?
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.
Jace was confused. How did Twilight sense how distraught he was?
"I can hear it in your head..." She answered his unspoken words, "I'm sorry, I don't know how, I can just hear your thoughts. I thought you had been channeling them to me. But, now I know it's not on purpose. I don't mean to..."
This confused Jace even more. No one could read his mind! He had always made sure of that...
Then, the crystal stopped pulsating.
Twilight looked at Jace, and was about to say something, when Pinkie Pie burst through the doorway again.
"Flutter. Shy. Is. MISSING!" She exclaimed, "She's not at her cottage, and Angel hasn't seen her all day, and nopony's seen her since she walked to tell me you BROKE MY PROMISE! The critters even said she wasn't anywhere near the forest!"
It had been about 30 minutes since Twilight sent Fluttershy to relay her message to Pinkie Pie. What had happened between then?
Twilight looked back at Jace.
"What happened, Jace? What did you do?" She accused.
Jace felt hurt, he hadn't done it!
"I don't know! I'll fix this, I'll find Fluttershy, I promise." Jace said.
"Do you Pinkie Pie Promise?!" Pinkie Pie asked Jace, breaking his stare with Twilight.
"Uhm... yes, Pinkie. I Pinkie Pie Promise..." Jace promised.
"Okay, I'm not worried anymore, nopony can break a Pinkie Pie Promise." Pinkie said with a smile.
"Pinkie, can you take me to Fluttershy's house, please?" Jace asked.
"Of course I can!" Pinkie said, "Follow me!"
"Twilight... I'll be back. With your friend, I promise." Jace said to Twilight.
Twilight looked up at Jace... she looked sad and worried, "I hope so..." She said, as she turned her back to Jace, and walked upstairs to her room.
Jace began to say something, but thought otherwise and followed Pinkie Pie out the door.
They galloped out of the town, and onto a dirt path. On their way to Fluttershy's cottage.
Suddenly, Jace felt a strong tug randomly on there way. He stopped walking, much to Pinkie's surprise.
"What are you doing? Hurry, you can't break your promise!" She said.
"Wait, Pinkie. I feel something..."
Someone recently planeswalked here, he could feel it. The same thing he felt after he planeswalked somewhere, the essence left after the planeswalk... either another planeswalker found their way to Equestria...or someone planeswalked away.
Fluttershy! When he had touched the crystals, it must have triggered her spark! Fluttershy had planeswalked away, he knew it.
He didn't know where she was, though, and that was the problem... she could be...dead, for all he knew. And it was his fault. Why hadn't he been more cautious?!
"Pinkie," He said, "I need you to take me to Fluttershy's now. This is urgent."
And it was true. He needed to save his new friend. It was his fault if she was in trouble in the first place.
For the first time in his life... He was worried for someone.
Soon, they made it to Fluttershy's cottage.
It was also a tree, like the library. Except, he could feel how much this place resonated the essence of the forest. Fluttershy was very fond with the forest and all of it's creatures, It reminded him of another planeswalker he knew.
A bridge crossed a stream, and then led to a very short path, which made way to the cottage's door.
"This is it!" Pinkie said, "Why are we here anyways?"
"Pinkie, could you do me a favor?" Jace asked.
"I don't know, probably." She said.
"I need to be alone. Tell Twilight I'll be back at her house by mid-day tomorrow. Can you do that for me?"
"On my way!"
And then, once again, Pinkie ran off.
Jace walked the perimeter of Fluttershy's cottage. There were chicken coops in the back, and a whole section of field was surrounded by a thin, wiry fence. Inside of the fence, creatures scurried and played, crawled and jumped every which way. Everywhere he looked there was some new creature for him to lay his eyes upon.
Then, he eventually came back to the front door of the cottage.
He knocked, before realizing this was a dumb thing to do. It wasn't as if someone would answer.
And he opened the door and walked inside.
The inside of the cottage mirrored the outside completely. Birdhouses hung from the sealing, with families of birds living inside of them. Small critters ran across the floor, away from Jace as he walked inside. He sat down on a sofa near a window. He could feel the imprint Fluttershy's presence made on this cottage, and could feel how much power and energy this cottage resonated, mimicking the same feeling he could feel in the deepest of jungles.
He knew these feelings would help him find Fluttershy. He would have to completely redo what had happened to her, and to do so, he would have to wait until the right time the next day. He would need to have the feeling of Fluttershy's presence be imprinted onto himself though. So, he decided he would spend the night here. Then, the next day, he could go about re-opening whatever rift Fluttershy had opened.
Or he had opened.
Jace sighed. He felt bad... he had come to this plane, on accident and put an innocent being in danger...
He thought about how hurt Twilight had seemed. He felt horrible. He would make it up to her someday. This feeling... it was new to him. This whole place was new to him. Everyone was so nice and kind to each other... at least from he had witnessed they were. And now Fluttershy was missing and it was his fault. He would save her. Even at the cost of his own life. He wouldn't allow the nicest creature in all of the multi-verse to suffer for something her had done. Jace lay his hoof over his eyes.
It wasn't too late. Not late at all actually. But Jace's eyelids began to grow heavy.
Peacefully, he drifted into sleep.
Jace barely dreamed of anything. The only thing he could remember was seeing another pony, this one with wings AND a horn, looking at him. She was black and blue, with a long, beautiful flowing name that sparkled as if it were copying the sky on a clear night. Her eyes penetrated, as if looking into his soul and sifting through the good and bad. She wore a beatiful crown atop her head. Then, as if realizing who he was suddenly, her eyes grew wide. Suddenly, she ran the opposite way, and Jace's dream was just darkness.
He woke up early the next morning. It would be a few hours before he could try and save Fluttershy.
He got up and stretched his legs.
Then, Jace froze as the door to Fluttershy's cabin was swung open.
In walked Fluttershy, "And this is my cottage." She said to someone.
Jace was speechless
Fluttershy saw him, "Hey Jace, I met one of your friends..." She said.
Behind Fluttershy was someone he recognized... SomeBODY.
Not a pony... a human. In Equestria.
"Jace?!" Garruk called from the doorway.
Jace couldn't speak. He was abashed. He couldn't wrap his mind around this. Why?! Why had HE been turned into a pony, yet here Garruk was... completely normal?!
Garruk was here.
In Equestria.
And he was a human.