...Another, peaceful morning in Ponyville. So quiet, so tranquil, so... filled with rising, black smoke..?
I fumbled around in my now suffocating bedsheets, rising in a panic as the smoke drifted in along the ceiling of my room. A fire? Here!? My mind raced with a sudden anxiety as I leapt to my hooves, taking the bedsheets with me; I had to find Sis! Dashing out into the hallway with my bedsheets trailing behind, I stumbled out into the living room proper, coughing through the black smoke and trying my best not to inhale too much of it.
"Sis? Sis!" I cried, fighting with five layers of fabric and hoping to Celestia that she was okay. Was she still in her room? What if she was still sleeping?!
...A quick glance towards the kitchen, however, found me the mare in question, safe and sound. She was a small, rather wild-looking white unicorn, with a spiky, blue, two-toned mane and large, round eyes of the deepest shade of red, and although she, herself, was alright, whatever was in the pan she was levitating seemed a little worse for wear, as evidenced by the smoke and the fire extinguisher she was desperately trying to put it out with.
"Oh, uh, morning, Scratch!" She smiled, cheerfully, spraying the smoldering substance in the pan with a healthy dose of white foam. "Just, uh, you know, cookin' up some breakfast, here!"
I immediately ceased my struggle with the bedsheets tangled around my legs, taking a long, deep breath and letting it all out in a huge sigh of relief. Okay, so, no, we weren't in any mortal peril; it was just my sister being a giant klutz. I slowly wiggled free of my soft, cottony shackles, walking over and snatching the pan and the extinguisher out of her magical grasp with a levitating spell of my own.
"You know, waking up to breakfast usually doesn't involve me almost getting a heart attack." I frowned in annoyance, as I got to work cleaning up her mess. A few broken plates, sugar spilled all over the floor; probably all knocked over when she realized she'd left the pan on the oven and came running.
"Heh, sorry little bro, it's just you were sleeping so peacefully, I couldn't bring myself to wake you up~!" She gave me a sheepish grin, and despite my irritation at being so rudely awakened, I couldn't help but grin back, even as I rolled my eyes. I could never really get mad at her; she was my fun, loving, incredibly klutzy older sister, after all. Besides, this was her apartment, and she was letting me share it with her. Being a down-on-his-luck journalist that was currently out of a job, I had nothing to complain about.
"Yeah, yeah... let's get the windows open to let all this smoke out..."
Using my magic, I lifted all the windows as far as they would go, opening up the door, as well. Sis deigned to help by grabbing a nearby cloth and whirling it around in the air like a propeller, ventilating the room. It took a while, but eventually, we cleared the living room of the offending smog and returned it to a somewhat presentable state, albeit still with the lingering smell of something akin to burnt toast. I wiped some sweat off my forehead, getting my own spiky, red mane out of my eyes; something told me this was gonna be a long day...
"So, now that that's all taken care of..." Sis started, sidling up beside me. "Good morning!" She let out a yell, giving me her obligatory 'good morning' punch right on the shoulder. I winced a bit; she really didn't hold back, on those.
"Right... well, how about I make some omelettes, then?" I suggested, rubbing on the welt that was now starting to form on my bruised hide. Sis gave out a hearty cheer, and with a shake of my head, I dutifully got to work. I guess I didn't need that extra hour of sleep, anyways...
***
"...So, Bro, you going to the Library again, today?"
"Uh, yeah, how'd you know?"
"Duh, I know you wouldn't pass up a chance to see your sweetie TwiTwi!"
"A-As if! She just asked me to come over for a while; apparently she has something for me."
"Oho, she has something for you, alright..."
I gracefully let the innuendo pass as my sister and I continued eating our cheese and hay omelettes; there really wasn't any arguing with her when she got like this, and I'd rather not do it at the breakfast table, anyways. I considered, though, bringing up her own relationship with her 'friend', Octavia... but immediately thought better of it since, knowing her, she'd probably get back at me in some way or another. Luckily, just as I was about to say something that I might've regretted, later, Sis finished eating and got up from the table, taking her dish to the sink.
"Well, I'm gonna be going out with Tavi, this afternoon, so you two behave yourselves, you hear? Twilight's a princess now; better watch your step!" She teased with a grin, already getting ready to leave. Who does she think I am, anyways...? Again, some words I might've come to regret almost slipped out of my mouth, but common sense and a healthy fear of super noogies kept me quiet, once more. I opted instead for a disgruntled sound of agreement through a mouthful of omelette, just as a knock sounded at the door.
"Oh, that's probably her!"
Sis trotted up to answer, swinging the door wide open with a welcoming grin for the beautiful, grey mare, outside. The mare had on some saddlebags, and was wearing her usual white collar complete with pink bowtie that I thought really complimented the sheen of her long, black mane... Er, n-not that I'd know anything about that...
"Good morning, Vinyl Scratch, Scratch Pad." She greeted, politely bowing her head in her usual fashion. "I take it you're both doing well?"
"Yep, mornin', Tavi!" Sis replied, ruffling the other mare's mane, to which she just grimaced, patiently waiting it out.
"You know I hate it when you do that, Vinyl." Tavi said, fixing her mane after she was done. Sis just laughed and grinned, poking Octavia in the ribs.
"I know. Why do you think I do it so often?"
The other mare simply rolled her eyes, before looking at me and giving me a gentle smile.
"I'll be borrowing your sister, for a while, then. I hope you don't mind?"
"I don't think you need to worry about that," Sis interrupted before I could reply, "He's already got himself a hot date with Miss Librarian, you know!"
"Oh, Twi?" Octavia's eyes widened, a hint of a smirk appearing on her demure lips. "Do tell!"
"I'll tell you on the way! You wouldn't believe what happened this morning, though; we almost had a fire in here...!"
And with that, they left before I could even get a word in, edgewise.
...Phew. As much as I loved her, it could be a real hassle dealing with Sis' hobby of teasing me about every single girl I meet (and then telling Octavia all about it...). I mean, it's not like there was anything going on between me and Twi, and I doubt that would happen anytime, soon; we've already known each other for about a year, now, and although she eats up those sappy romance novels like the ravenous bookworm she is, she seemed a little denser when it came to actually picking up on romance, herself. Add to that the fact that she's a princess now, and somepony like me... well, I didn't really stand a chance.
"Well, a guy can dream, I suppose." I thought, wistfully. Anyhow, now that I was awake, I decided I might as well go out for a walk before I met up with Twilight at the Library. No good in wasting a perfectly fine morning, after all.
Grabbing a piece of toast and some saddlebags of my own, I headed out the door, stepping out to a cool breeze and bright sun as I made my way down the wooden stairs of the apartment complex. It was a fairly new building, but the plastered walls were painted a flamboyant, gaudy orange, which didn't exactly fit with my idea of a stylish pad. Beggars can't be choosers, I guess... However, I wouldn't have too much time for my idyllic thoughts. Just as I hopped down the last of the steps, the sight of a certain, mint colored pony going down the cobbled street stopped me dead in my tracks: Lyra Heartstrings. I froze, looking this way and that; there weren't too many ponies out this early in the morning, so no chance of blending in with the crowd... Cursing my luck, I started trotting off in the other direction, hoping that I wouldn't be spotted.
"...She hasn't noticed me yet. If I just start walking the other way..."
Unfortunately for me, just as I was about to sneak off, Lyra turned her head in my direction, and I could practically see the excitement on her face as she started trotting towards me. I quickly pretended not to notice and tried to walk away, anyways, but her extremely loud cries of "Scratch!" dashed any excuse I would've had for just turning that corner and bolting down the streets.
"Scratch! Just the stallion I was looking for!" She said, beaming, walking up to me with her bright yellow eyes glowing in anticipation.
"Oh, uh, Lyra! I... didn't see you there." I lied, sheepishly looking in the other direction.
"Haha, geez, you never did pay too much attention, did you?" She laughed, tapping my hooves with hers while I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, you gotta come to the bookstore with me!"
"Bookstore?" I raised my eyebrows, genuinely intrigued, now. Usually she was just dragging me off to some weird human convention or a music shop...
"Yeah. The newest 'Too Human' book just came out, and they're having a signing over at the bookstore!"
Figured. It always came back to humans, with her.
"Well, I guess I don't have anything better to do, right now..." I answered, truthfully. Even though her habit of dragging me around every time she got excited over some new thing was kind of annoying, I was planning on heading that way, in the first place, and if she was going to the bookstore, I might as well go with her.
"Great! I know you like books and stuff, so you should buy yourself a copy, too. It's only five bits!"
"I'll... think about it."
We went on our way, Lyra gushing on about all the different books in the "Too Human" series while I half-listened and nodded where I thought it'd be appropriate. Ours was a funny relationship: we've been 'friends' since kindergarten, although that was mostly just because I didn't have many others, and because our mothers were pretty close. I was quiet as a colt, and never any good with other ponies, so I usually just kept to myself. Lyra, on the other hand, was the outgoing social butterfly that would talk with anypony if they gave her the chance, but that grated on a lot of pony's nerves, so she didn't have too many close friends, either. Still, she was pretty much the only one who ever talked to me when we were young, so even though she could be a little annoying... I guess I appreciated the company. Most of the time. She was cute, at least.
"...And then he ripped that monster apart with his bare hands! So cool!" She cried, stamping her front hooves on the ground in excitement. I let her ramble on about the latest feats of Too Human's demigod hero for a bit longer before pointing out that we were already at the bookstore.
"Well, this is where I have to get going," I said, feeling slightly guilty when I saw how quickly her smile faded in disappointment. "I promised Twilight I'd meet her at the Library, later, don't want to keep her waiting..."
"Oooh!" Lyra's face lit up again as soon as I mentioned it, suddenly leaning close like a curious kitten. "Really!? You have a date with Twilight?!"
"It's not a date!" I whispered back, tersely, looking around to see if anypony had heard us. "I'm just meeting her for something, okay?" I tried pushing the mare away, but to no avail. Why was everypony so interested, all of a sudden?
"Ohoho~, suuure you are!" She said, giving me a sly smile and tapping on my hooves again like she was in on some sort of conspiracy. "Well, you go have fun on your not-a-date, then, okay?"
I rolled my eyes, spouting a slightly embarrassed 'Whatever.' before continuing my walk, waving good-bye as she stood in line for the book signing.
"Say 'hi' to Twilight for me!"
Okay, so, with all the distractions out of the way, I finally started making my way towards the Ponyville Library. I was lost in my thoughts the whole way there, as I reflected on Sis and Lyra's reaction to me going out. I mean, how could it be a date? I've been over to the Library plenty of times, before (though never at the Librarian's request, I'll admit). Twi was probably just calling me over to show me a new book, or something.
...Would've been nice if it were true, though. Maybe a little romance wouldn't have been all that bad; Luna knows how boring it could get when my idea of good fun was staring at the ceiling for hours on end. Lost in my daydreaming, I was at the Great Oak Library before I knew it, softly knocking on the entrance door before letting myself inside.
"Hello? Twilight?" I called out, unable to spot the Librarian among the giant stacks of books that lined the inside of the tree. The library seemed to be uncharacteristically messy, today - Twilight usually kept the books in immaculate order - and though I'd just stepped in through the front door, a cloud of dust rose up to greet me, dirty clumps sticking to my normally pristine white coat. I quickly waved the dust away, coughing as I made my way deeper into the Library.
"Twilight? Are you there?"
I was about to call out again when a fallen pile of books suddenly started shaking beside me, and I jumped back in surprise as a small, purple dragon popped out of it, yawning like he'd just woke up.
"Oh, hey, Scratch!" The little dragon held up a lazy claw in greeting, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "What's up?"
"Hah, Spike, it's just you..." I breathed a sigh of relief, holding a hoof to my chest to try and steady my pulse. Hey, I startle easily, okay?
"Uh, are you alright?" Spike tilted his head in concern.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine..." I waved him off, averting my gaze elsewhere. "Er, is Twilight in right now?"
"Huh, when isn't she? C'mon, I'll take you into the basement to see her." The dragon hopped up out of his pile of books, wading through the maze of other books stacked high, and I followed behind him as I tried my best to not knock anything over.
"So, what's up with the mess?" I asked, inching past a dangerously tipping pile of literature.
"Twilight wanted to get some cleaning done before the Princess got here, so we took down all the books to start dusting the shelves." He replied, off-handedly. "I, uh, kinda fell asleep in the middle of it, though... don't tell Twi, okay?"
"Woah, wait, what?" I interrupted, "The Princess is coming to visit?"
"Uh, yeah, Princess Luna. Didn't you know?"
"Well... no, I didn't." I lowered my head in thought, pondering what this would mean. Sure, I didn't get outside too often, but even I would've heard about a visit from one of the Princesses. Heck, everypony in Ponyville would be up and about getting ready to welcome Luna with some sort of celebration. If this was a private visit, well, what exactly would they be meeting about...? I began to feel that Twilight calling me over wasn't as much of a coincidence as I thought.
"That's okay, I guess. She won't be here until tonight, so you take your time with Twi, okay?" The little dragon snickered, putting a not-so-subtle claw over his mouth to try and mask it. "Just to let you know, that Chineighse restaurant down the street is her favorite!"
I just rolled my eyes, punching him lightly on the shoulder as we walked down the steps to the basement. Even Spike was teasing now, huh? It must be contagious.
"Twilight! Scratch is here to see you!" The dragon called out when we got to the bottom. The lights were dimmed, but I could just make out the slender figure of Twilight through the darkness, sitting at a table among a veritable fortress of books stacked in piles around it. At the sight of us, Twi let out a small gasp of surprise, and, using her horn, quickly levitated all of the surrounding books into several neat stacks on top of the desk while simultaneously bringing up the lights to a bright glimmer.
"Ah, Scratch! You're early!" She exclaimed in a rush, quickly closing the book she'd been reading in front of her and turning around.
"I am?" I scratched my mane, trying to remember when exactly Twilight said I should come over. Was I supposed to be here later? I guess I was never all that good at keeping track of things...
"Haha, it's okay! Really..." She breathed a small sigh, fluttering her wings to fan herself. Wings I somehow forgot she had... It was funny how you could get used to such a big change so quickly; when she first became a princess, I was stumbling all over myself trying to keep proper etiquette. But as a few weeks went by and I realized that she was basically the same Twilight she's always been... well, now it's pretty much the same as when we first became friends. Thinking back on it, she hasn't really changed all that much...
"Um, could you leave us down here for a minute, Spike? There's something I need to talk to Scratch about... Alone." Twilight said, pointedly ushering Spike back up the stairs with her magic. Spike just chuckled as he walked out, throwing me a 'good luck' sign with his claws.
"Sure, sure, I'll leave you two down here. Alone. All by yourselves..."
The little dragon was interrupted by a door slamming in his face as Twilight closed it shut in annoyance. She gave another big sigh, before turning to me with a cheery smile, eyes alight with that certain familiar spark I've seen when she gets really immersed in her research.
"Okay, so. You won't believe what I found yesterday!" She started, slowly levitating the book she had been reading between us. It was an ancient, heavy thing, with all manners of wildly tangled, but, at the same time, strangely uniform patterns embossed on the outside of it's brown, leather covers, its pages yellowing with age. It might've just been my imagination, but I felt something... something coming from it, as if the book itself was teeming with some sort of magical energy. Whatever that something was, though, I'd never felt it before, in my life.
"Is this the thing you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked, trying to hide my slight disappointment. Figured it would be a book. For a minute, I was even entertaining the thought that this might've been about a rebellion in the name of the Princess of the Night... and, yes, people have told me that my imagination tends to run wild.
"Yes. I found it down here in the basement, just lying around in one of the storage bins. I don't know how I've missed it for so long; you can feel it too, right?"
"Mm. So that tingling feeling in my hooves isn't just my lack of sleep kicking in?"
"This is serious! The only things that could give off a palpable, magical aura are heavily enchanted, magical artifacts. You see..."
Twilight held it up for me to inspect, slowly turning each page to reveal...
"The pages are blank." I observed. She nodded, levitating the book over her head and going back to her desk.
"That they are. And don't you find that strange? There must be something more to this book than a fancy cover and some blank pages... and that's where you come in."
A variety of leaden tomes landed in front of me with a thud as Twi levitated them over from her many stacks of books. "Magical Codebreakers", "Spell Detection for Dummies"... it seemed like almost every textbook from my arcane-cryptology classes were here.
"I was trying to see if the book held some sort of code in its spell-matrix that would reveal the contents of the page, but I haven't had any luck. I remembered that you've had some instruction on things like this, though, so maybe you could help me out...?" She asked, giving me an earnest, pleading look that I, being me, pretty much couldn't refuse.
"...I'll see what I can do." I said, looking away sheepishly as I scratched my mane. I didn't want to say that she was probably way more knowledgeable in the subject than I was, already; the way she reads, I wouldn't be surprised if she could give my former professors a run for their money. And besides, the whole situation was starting to get a bit interesting. An ancient, obscure text whose contents were apparently worth hiding? Sounded like the beginning of a good ol' adventure novel, to me...
"Great! If we get started now, I'm sure we'll get it cracked open, in no time."
***
"...Well, this isn't going anywhere."
I laid back my head on the rapidly growing pile of instructional texts on the floor, flailing around weakly in exasperation. Geez, if I ever have to read another textbook again in my life, it'll be too soon.
"Come on, Scratch, we can't give up!" I heard Twilight say from within her veritable fortress of literature, a pile about three times the size of mine, all of them read thoroughly and with complete understanding. "There's gotta be something here that can help us with this!"
Sometimes I wonder where she gets that determination from. I sighed, slowly getting back up to my hooves and heading towards Twilight's desk, where we'd stowed the mysterious book, for now.
"I think I'm just gonna give the thing another look. Maybe there's something we're missing, here..."
A tingling feeling shot through my body as my telekinesis took hold of the tome (what was that?), and I could've sworn I heard a quiet voice right as I picked it up (was it my imagination?), but, other than that, nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen as I flipped the book this way and that, leafing through all the pages and shaking it up and down. Although I wasn't quite as enthusiastic as Twilight, I had to agree that there was something fishy about this thing. The only problem was, what exactly was it? I saw Twilight poke her head up from out of her little book fort for a bit, pausing to see how I was doing before speaking.
"Say, um... if you're hungry, do you... do you wanna go out and get something to eat, before we keep going?" She asked, "I know a really good Chineighse place just down the road..."
Hm, well, we had been working for a while, and I was pretty hungry... What time was it, anyways? I looked up at the cuckoo clock on the wall of the stairs: a quarter past five. I grimaced as I realized I'd missed lunch a long time ago, rubbing at my belly to try and stem the rumbling as my stomach was reminded that, yeah, I needed some food.
"That sounds like a good idea." I agreed, laying the book down, for now. Maybe we'll figure something out, tomorrow...
However, right as I started to look away, the book suddenly began flipping through its pages in a flurry of paper, slowly coming to a neat stop on the first page. I eyed it curiously; was it finally about to do something? Taking a closer look, I noticed that there was a strange, blue symbol on the inside of the front cover. A symbol that I'm pretty sure wasn't there before... It looked very similar to the twisting patterns on the outside of the book, though more organized and confined within a perfect circle, and it seemed to draw my gaze instantly, because I couldn't look away.
"Ah, great! I'll go get dressed! Oh, but, where's that outfit Rarity made for me...? Maybe on the bedroom shelf..."
I heard Twilight talking, but the words seemed to get quieter and quieter, along with everything else in the room, as my focus fixated onto the strange symbol in the book. That tingling feeling in my hooves started up again, this time even stronger than before, and I walked up for a closer inspection, leaning my head down and squinting my eyes. There was something about the emblem that tugged at me when I looked at it, a weird feeling that compelled me to move in closer, drowning out the rest of my senses as the blue glow dominated my line of sight. I couldn't even draw myself back, almost as if it were pulling me in-
"Scratch!"
I jumped up with a start as Twilight called out my name, looking around in confusion. What... the heck just happened?
"Scratch! Are you alright?" She asked, now standing beside me with a worried look on her face. I shook my head to try and clear that buzzing feeling, wobbling a bit on my hooves.
"I... I'm fine. Not really sure what that was." I began, before quickly recovering, turning to Twilight in excitement.
"But, anyways, I think I found something! There's some kind of symbol on-"
I stopped mid-sentence as I looked over at the book once more. The emblem had... disappeared, not a trace of it left on the now empty inside cover.
"Um, I don't see anything... are you sure you're okay?"
Twilight's expression was even more concerned than before, and I was left feeling like an idiot. I couldn't have just imagined that... I shook my head, forcing myself to smile in reassurance.
"Yeah, I'm alright... I think. I'll, uh, probably feel better after we eat, right?"
The other mare held her concerned gaze for a moment longer, before smiling slowly, nodding in agreement.
"Okay. I guess we're both a little hungry! We can get back to cracking this book open after dinner..."
We climbed the stairs out of the Library basement, making a bit of small talk in anticipation of our meal, but I couldn't help but linger behind for a while, looking down at the strange book from the top of the staircase. It was like an invitation, sitting there on top of the table under the dim basement lights, but an invitation to what, well, I just couldn't say. Turning out the lights, I followed Twilight out the door.
***
"...an Yllisvian spell pattern on odd numbered pages, but that doesn't really do much, does it...?"
I tapped my hooves on the hard maple-wood of my desk, still poring over the book with all of my references surrounding me. I'd asked Twi to let me borrow the mystery text for a while to see if I could get anything done, but it'd already been a few hours since I got home and there was still no progress, the book remaining as stubbornly empty as it was in the Library. I sighed, laying my head down on its aged, yellowed pages and lazily flipping up the corners with my magic. Maybe I'll work on it tomorrow...
I don't know how long it took until I drifted off into dreamland, but it was sometime during the night. Unfortunately, my would be happy dream session was interrupted by an unceremonious awakening.
I got up with a start, eyes fluttering groggily as I sat up in my bed. Or, at least, I thought it was my bed. Upon more focused observation, I realized that what I was seeing at the moment was the sight of the road outside of my sister's apartment. From outside of the window. Several feet above the ground. I flailed about in panic, tossing and turning comically this way and that before I realized... I wasn't actually falling. Huh. Okay. I guess I must be dreaming, then...
I gazed about with an intense stare, slowly getting used to my sudden weightlessness as my pulse settled down to its normal rate. There weren't any ponies about this late at night, for which I was thankful for; everybody thought I was weird enough without having to witness my occasional freak outs. Well, it was all just a dream, so I suppose it wouldn't have mattered, anyway. I did an awkward little frog stroke to climb further up into the sky, spinning around a bit before regaining my balance and standing upright to take a look over the city.
This was actually really fun; no wonder those pegasi spent all their time flying around. I could see practically every major landmark in Ponyville from my perch up in the clouds: Town Hall, Great Oak Library, Sugarcube Corner... It was getting late, and lights were going off all around town, but there were still enough to illuminate the majority of the buildings, casting cozy shadows and reminding me why I called this place home. It... really was the most peaceful town in Equestria. Leaning back in the air, I relaxed, determined to enjoy this dream while it lasted. Though, suddenly... I got to thinking that this whole dream was strangely real, a little too real for a dream. And maybe it wasn't a dream at all...
Tilting my head thoughtfully at this occurrence, I closed my eyes, trying to will myself into descending, and smiled in satisfaction as I felt gravity pulling at me once more. If this wasn't a dream, then there was probably one other explanation I could think of... I leveled myself with the window that looked out of my room in my apartment, touching a tentative hoof to the chilled glass to get a feel for exactly what I could do. My hoof went right through it, and I grinned as I silently drifted back into my room, looming over the shoulder of my prone figure to take a quick peek at the book I rested upon. There the symbol was, the faint, blue glow of it's outline shining through the few pages covering it.
Since I was never really one for lucid dreaming, there was probably a good chance that the book was involved somehow. But, exactly how it managed to do this and why was still up for debate, and a better question was, how was I supposed to get back into my body?
However, as I wasted time mulling over my thoughts and questions, a change slowly came over the ancient book. It was subtle, at first, the pages gradually taking on the blue glow of the emblem, and it was a few moments before I even noticed what was happening, but by then it was too late. Suddenly, the tome burst into light, rising into the air with its pages turning furiously, a large, pulsating sphere of energy forming overhead. It was like a vortex, and as the sphere grew bigger, so, too, did the cyclone grow in intensity. The strange thing was that nothing in the room seemed to be affected... that is, nothing except me.
I clawed desperately at anything I could get a hold of, but, me currently being in an ethereal state of existence, could do no more than throw myself about helplessly as the strange vortex dragged me into its glowing depths. Was this it? Was this how I died? Before my life could start flashing before my eyes, however, a soothing voice came to me, echoing in my head and somehow filling me with a familiar sense of comfort. It was a mare's voice, soft and lilting with a melodious cadence.
"An invitation..." It said, simply, and time itself seemed to stand still as it spoke.
"An invitation. Do you accept?"
What was it talking about? An invitation? Didn't really look like I had much of a choice. Still, something about that voice seemed to assure me that I could refuse this... 'invitation', if I felt so inclined. I took another look at the swirling vortex in front of me, which had slowed to a gentle spin as if waiting for me to answer. Then I weighed my options
On one hoof, I realized that this was most likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I'd probably never have something like this happen to me, again. I mean, how often did you get turned into a ghost and sucked into some strange, glowing portal? On the other hoof, I had NO idea what this thing was 'inviting' me to, and it could very well involve extreme danger and/or death. It was a tough call; common sense screamed at me to say 'no' and forget this all ever happened. But a tiny, tiny part of me, the adventurous part buried underneath mountains of doubt and hesitation, uttered a soft, equally tiny 'what if...?'.
What if I did say yes? What could happen? Looking back on my relatively short life, so far, I find that it's a question I'd frequently asked myself, in the past. Yet... for all those times I've asked, I've never actually bothered to find out exactly what could've happened, what could've been. If I'd gone with my Dad to live in Seaddle, instead of staying in Baltimare with Mom and Sis. If I'd asked Lyra out to prom back in high school, instead of wimping out, last second. If I'd focused my time on my dream of writing a novel, instead of goofing off in school just to land a dead end job in journalism...
And it was only here, thrust into this ridiculously bizarre situation, that I realize how badly the monotony of daily life has gotten to me. In a situation where any reasonable pony would understandably be fearing for their life, I found that I was... excited. I wanted to accept; this wasn't going to become another 'what if'. I mean, really, what did I have to lose?
...If I'd realized the answer to that question, back then, I wonder if I still would've said yes. As it were, the glowing sphere seemed to react in time to my answer, its rotation quickly gaining in speed once more.
"May you rest well with your decision..." I heard the voice say, as my room was bathed in a brilliant, blue light. The vortex continued pulling me in, and a small, faded picture of me and my Sis was the last thing I saw before my vision blacked out.
***
I rolled over in my bed as I felt the weak rays of morning sunlight hit me in the face. Ugh. I hate it when Sis opens my curtains...
Getting up with a yawn, I tried fixing my mane, the ends sticking up as stubbornly as usual. While I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, though, I got to thinking that my bed felt rather funny... kinda like grass. And dirt. Well, either last night actually happened, or I was still dreaming.
"So where am I, this time?" I thought, observing my surroundings. The place wasn't familiar, just a plain, grass clearing hemmed in by leafy, green trees, the first rays of light just breaking through the cloudy skies to illuminate the area. It was too, well, normal to be the Everfree, and the other forests around Ponyville didn't grow to be this tall, either. Probably safe to say that I had no idea where I was... It was a nice place, though; I wasn't much of an outdoorspony, but the clearing had a bit of a calming effect on me, like I hadn't just been potentially warped hundreds of miles away from home.
Oh. Yeah, I should probably be a bit more worried about this, huh...? Well, what's done is done, and to tell the truth, the thought of being somewhere brand new was exciting, exhilarating even, considering the strange set of circumstances. I resolved to at least explore a little before I started thinking about a way back.
Just then, however, a rustling in the bushes off to my side reminded me that I was in a strange forest that could quite possibly hold several, hungry predators. I quickly got up from my usual laying about, unsure of what to do. Should I run? Hide? Wait until it goes away?! I was leaning heavily towards the first option, but backed myself behind a nearby tree, instead, waiting in the shadows and watching for whatever it was to hopefully come out into the open. I figured that just flat out running might attract even more attention than I already had, and I needed to see exactly what I was up against, anyways; at least then, I'd know if I had any hope of outrunning it.
The minutes ticked on by as I lay waiting in apprehension - what a way to start the morning. It was too soon to say for sure, but it didn't seem like anything was happening... was it gone?
I really should've known the answer to that one. Too late did I turn around to face the rustling of leaves behind me, before a large, shadowy figure pounced out of the darkness, slamming into my sides and throwing me to the ground. I let out a yell as I scrambled to get back on my hooves, but my assailant was fast, almost supernaturally so, and in less than a second it was on top of me and pinning me to the floor with impossibly strong forelimbs.
I struggled against the monster's grip with all of my might, but with my decidedly under-developed muscle strength, I could do no more than squirm helplessly as it looked on in amusement. Great, only a few minutes into my big adventure, and I was already going to end up as breakfast for some wild beast. Now I wish I'd studied more practical magic back at the U... I closed my eyes, waiting for the beast to finish the deed...
...Waiting. Waiting... Okay, done waiting. Popping one of my eyelids open to sneak a peek at what exactly was taking so long, I saw the beast still looming above me, simply watching without making a sound. Contrary to how strong it seemed to be, the figure was actually quite thin and lean, with what looked to be raggedy, loose clothing covering its tall frame; it was hard to tell with what little light there was, and I was still hyperventilating too much to really care. After another apprehensive moment, though, the creature suddenly... let go, backing off to rise on its hind legs. It was even taller than I thought: easily two or three times as tall as I was.
"Huh," I heard it speak. It's voice was male, a scratchy baritone filled with foal-like curiosity, "You aren't the unicorn I was looking for."
...Phew. So it could talk. And it didn't want to kill me... yet.
Something told me this was gonna be a long day.