//------------------------------//
// Their Journey- Part 1 
// Story: The Blood of a Heretic 
// by ArmOfSorrow 
//------------------------------//

The next morning, I was awoken from my sleep by the girl, whom I had not yet bothered to ask for her name. When she saw me open my eyes, she hastily withdrew her hand from my shoulder and limped back several paces.
"Uh.. Inquisitor, The Princess had called for you. Her and your six... uh... friends are waiting in the garden so that we can start." She said, as she shuffled her feet. 
I sat up and stretched, stifling a yawn before saying "Just call me Aston, girl, it has had no consequence so far, so I doubt it will start now." As I spoke, I stood up and began to don my robe, not bothering to question why she was the one to come wake me up. "How is your leg feeling?"
She glanced up at me from where she had been fiddling with her hands. "Oh, it... still hurts a lot, but I can put a little bit more weight on it than I could yesterday."
"That's good, I suppose. Now let's go, you've got some portal making to do." I said, and strode through the door into the hallway, following the mental map I had made the day before. 
It took a couple of minutes, but I made my way to the gardens, and stopped at a stone slab set into the ground, in between two statues. One appeared to be a dragon, and the other, an ordinary looking pony. 
"Ah, hello Princess, girls." I greeted the party standing before me. "Do we have everything we need to begin?"
"I already gave them a list of what I think I need. We should be able to start as soon as Ms. Celestia allows." Said the girl from several paces behind me, where she had lagged behind.
"Her title is Princess, girl, and you would do well to remember that." I said sharply, giving the girl a look which she avoided looking at.
"S-sorry, Princess. Forgive me."
"It's fine, little one. You are not a subject of mine, and new to this world, I can understand a mishap or two. " Said Celestia, walking past me and giving the girl a nudge.
Frowning at the Princess' leniency, I strode over to the girls and began to speak with Twilight.
"Do you know what you're taking with you? I plan on having the girl place the opening portal in our capital, and afterward we'll be heading directly to the Inquisitor's headquarters. I would imagine they'll scan you for any hostile Fae and then take you to meet with His Majesty himself." I said, looking at the saddlebags that Twilight had strapped to her back.
"Oh, I'm just taking a map of Equestria, quills, scrolls, some books for entertainment, drawings of the inhabitants of our world, extra quills, extra scrolls, plenty of inkwells..." Twilight said, continuing on to the point where I couldn't bear to listen any more. She planned on taking a great many things for a simply diplomatic/reinforcement trip lasting roughly two or three Earth days. I saw zero use for a retractable telescope, yet she... had one anyway.
"Um.. Aston?" I heard Fluttershy say very quietly, from where she was standing behind Rainbow Dash.
"Yes, Fluttershy?" I answered, poking my head around Twilight's to see.
"Why don't you call her by her name? Didn't you bother to ask?"
"Call who by her name?" I asked, momentarily confused. "Oh, the girl. Well, as far as I'm concerned, she's a prisoner until she can prove once and for all that she really wants to help us. Until that moment comes, for all I know she's plotting to stab me in the back. Attempt, to stab me in the back."
"Oh.. Well I don't think you should be so mean to her... if... you don't mind. She may not have completely known what she was doing. It couldn't hurt..." Fluttershy trailed off, looking away and pawing the ground.
I sighed. Fluttershy here did have a point, the girl hadn't really done that much wrong, as far as I knew. Even now, as I looked at her discreetly from beneath my hood, she simply stood there looking at the ground, waiting for someone to give her an order and only speaking when Princess Celestia asked her a question.
"Maybe. You do have a point, Fluttershy. I suppose I can treat her a bit more fairly until I speak with the High Inquisitor. He'll be the one who decides whether she'll be hung or imprisoned." I said bluntly. "I know what your species thinks of executions, and since she's just a girl I'll try and argue in her favor. Twilight will be there, after all." I saw Fluttershy cringe out of the corner of my eye, but paid no mind to it.
"Twilight! Make sure to bring me lots of cupcakes and cakes and pies and cookies and sweetbreads and candy and mfhfhgf." Pinkie Pie began, until Twilight stuck her hoof in Pinkie's mouth, who only resumed a few seconds later. "I want to see if the the deserts are just as good in Aston's world as they are here in Equestria!"
"I'll try, Pinkie. Just remember that this IS a diplomatic trip for me, and an even more important trip for Aston. I might not have time."
"Twilight, if it's such an important trip fer ya, why'd ya take one o' yer chemistry sets?" Applejack said what was going through my mind as I watched the three of them interact, with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy simply watching.
"Because I'd like to test the acidity of the soil, water, and anything else I may encounter. It's pretty important for me to get a scientific view of Aston's world including a diplomatic, magical, and social view as well. It would help with my studies of Friendship and who knows? Maybe I'll meet some interesting ponies there as well."
"People." I said, idly.
"Huh?" Twilight said, her and her friends turning toward me.
"We don't collectively refer to each other as ponies in my world. We're people. Some may take offense to that, if they can get over your very strange appearance." I stated, before abruptly turning away and walking toward Princess Celestia and the Girl. "We have to get going, so pack up and be ready." I said back to them, impatiently. This idle chit-chat was beginning to make me antsy.
"...Strange appearance? Is there something wrong with my mane?" I heard Twilight ask behind me, quietly, to which her five friends repeatedly assured her there wasn't.
"Girl, let's go. Are you ready to construct the portal?" I asked, towering over her petit frame.
"Y-yeah, all the supplies are right there." She said, and slowly pointed to a pile of alchemical supplies  stacked beside the stone slab.
"Go to it, then." I said, and watched for the next twenty minutes or so as she painstakingly constructed the summoning signs for the portal, frequently smudging parts out and redoing them, which worried me. Eventually, she stood and claimed she was finished. "So how do we start it?" I asked, walking around the circle of glyphs and powder.
"Do you have fire?" The girl asked, giving a short nod when I withdrew a small flint and a throwing knife from my robes, to serve as a steel. 
The Girl crouched down on her uninjured knee and began to strike the flint above a small pile of powdered chemicals in the center of the circle. When it eventually ignited, instead of exploding like I expected it to, a brown and green wave emanated from the center, stopping by the boundaries and fluctuating between earthen colors of brown, green, and greys.
"Excellent." I muttered to myself before turning to the Girl and the group of ponies. "Well then girls, Princess, say your goodbyes to Twilight, because I would truly like to get on our way."
I turned my back to the group, and began to pat my many sheathes and robe pockets, checking for any supplies that weren't where they were supposed to be, barring any I had used. 
'Right, I have my sword, all but one knife, my stiletto, my disposal supplies, my flint is with the girl...I didn't bring anything else, did I?' I thought, cursing my momentary forgetfulness. 'No, that's everything.'
I turned back to the group to see the six girls all in a tight embrace, with little spike standing behind them off to the left, looking downcast. Figuring that it was something worth bringing up, I strode over to him and kneeled down, offering a condolence.
"Spike, why do you look so? Twilight will only be gone for a couple of days, and then we'll be back with help. Everything is going to be okay, you know." I said, shrugging my hood off my head and giving him my best smile. I doubt it was very good.
"It's really not that, Aston, it's that Twilight hardly ever takes me on any of her adventures anymore. I get left out all the time during picnics, I wasn't invited to Twilight's birthday party, and they even left me behind to go to the Equestria Games! Now, she's going to another universe for the first time in history and I have to sit here and wait for her to come back and tell me all about it." Spike said, flopping down onto the ground with a humph. "My job as her number one assistant also means that I should be around to help her with everything!"
I thought about his statement for a minute, thinking about what I should say. "Well Spike, I'm completely sure that you're a perfect assistant, but in my world, Dragons were looked down upon, hunted, and sometimes even eaten. I'm sure that, even though you're completely capable of  handling yourself, Twilight wouldn't want to put you in any danger, at least until our races can work out an agreement. Do you understand? Besides, none of the other girls are going."
At precisely that moment, Twilight asked from several feet away "Aston, would you mind if Rainbow Dash came along? All the other girls have to return to Ponyville, but Rainbow Dash could be useful in carrying supplies or even showing off what us ponies can do!"
"NO." I shouted, seeing the frustrated glance that Spike was giving Twilight.
"See, she even asked for Rainbow to go before she asked if I could." Spike said, crossing his arms.
"Well Rainbow Dash isn't coming, so you don't need to worry about that. Now, I apologize, but we have been dillydallying for far too long this morning, with idle conversation, and we need to go."
With that, I stood up and motioned for the girl to stand by the portal, which she thankfully understood and obliged, limping over to stand beside it. 
Walking over to Twilight, who was nervously saying goodbye after my angry denial, I grabbed her by her mane and dragged her over to the portal. Seeing the girl standing in front of it, peering through the misty veil, I swiftly kicked her rear, pushing her into the portal. I heard Rarity gasp, and Rainbow Dash and Spike give a small giggle, and then I threw Twilight into the portal after the girl. Now that raised gasps from everybody there. Or, everypony, as my Equine acquaintances would have said. 
Turning around, I bowed to Celestia, and caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash and Spike quickly whispering and gesturing to each other, before I took a step backwards and fell through the portal myself.