//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: This Grey Feeling 
// Story: The River: Worlds Should Never Collide 
// by It Never Ends 
//------------------------------//

Wake Up!

Raza opened his eyes as he felt his heart beating fast, he took a big gasp of air in and then quickly sat up. He groaned in agony. His head was in great pain, like somepony had just cut his skull open, shoved about a thousand sharp objects in it, and violently shook it. After what felt like a century of endless pain, it started to ease up soon his head felt better. He opened his eyes to see that Colgate was laying right next to him and she was. . . naked? Wait how did he know what that was? Back in Equestria nopony ever wore clothes, at least the majority of the time. Still that word naked how did he know it? But what was more freaky was that she was no longer a unicorn mare but a. . . a. . . 

Human 

"Human?" Raza repeated, he knew that word all too well.

Raza heard Colgate groaning, he looked at her. Her new form was completely different to what she was before. She no longer had a light blue coat, but some kind of light skin color. Though surprisingly she still had the same ice-colored hair with a dark blue streak. Colgate turned over to her back, Raza saw that her cutie mark was still there but for whatever the reason he felt embarrassed for looking at her behind, almost like it was wrong. He stood up and looked around, trying to get a better look at their new surroundings. All he saw was a city street, with a couple of street lights keeping the light alive in the road that was nearly all covered in darkness, thanks to the light Raza could see tall buildings all over the place, taller than most of what he had back in Equestria. Though this was a different world Raza could tell that he and Colgate had ended up in a city of some sorts. 

"Colgate. . . Oh right." Raza said, he felt stupid for not waking her up sooner.

You should leave her

There it was again. The voice that was causing him so much trouble, the voice that was the reason that Colgate and him were now here. In this place! Raza was angry but also sad, he had hoped that voice was just some kind of figment of his imagination but it was real, it wasn't going to leave him alone, and Raza feared that he would never get rid of it.

"Leave me alone." Raza said, kneeling down to Colgate.

You are a fool

"Yeah you've called me that already, back at the Everfree remember? Or did you forget?" Raza said, the tone in his voice was obviously annoyance.

Don't mock me. . . You'll regret it

"I already regret you being in my head." Raza said, the truth couldn't have been clearer in that sentence. "Now be quite."

I'm no good to you quite. . . The same way you are no good to me being idiotic

"Great. If I become no good than you can leave and go bother somepony else." Raza said, he started to shake Colgate.

Someone

"What?" Raza said, he stopped shaking Colgate. "Why did you say it like that?"

New world, new grammar

"Of course." Raza said, turning his attention back to Colgate.

As I said I'm no good to you quite

"Whatever." Raza said, Colgate groaned as she opened her eyes. "Good you're ok."

"What's going on?" Colgate said, repeatedly blinking her eyes.

"I'm exactly sure." Raza answered, happy that Colgate was alright but now they would have to think on what to do next.

Colgate continued her eyes rapidly, they hurt a lot for some reason, almost like they had been closed forever and had opened for the first time. She sat up and for a moment, Colgate wondered about what had just happened but not a second to late it all came back to her, like a hoof to the face. She remembered meeting up with Raza, following him into the Everfree forest, getting mad at him for lying about Lyra, who was still missing along with Bon Bon, and finally. . . The River. That River that Raza had shown her. The one Lyra had told him about. How it literally grabbed her, dragged her into it, and Raza trying to pull her away from it but eventually failing and now here they are. . . But where is here.

"Raza?" Lyra said, finally managing to keep her eyes open, but they still hurt.

"Yeah?" Raza asked, kneeling by her side.

"Where are we?" Colgate asked, looking at the few things around her made her feel foreign.

"Right now that's the million bits question for me to." Raza said jokingly, trying to make their current situation a little light.

"Oh. . ." Colgate said sadly, that joke was a fail for him.

She obviously didn't get the humor

"Yes thank you, I can tell on my own." Raza said, with Colgate around he would have to talk with this voice mentally in his head. 

Wasn't that funny to begin with

"Yes thank you for sharing your opinion now shut up." Raza said, this voice was scary but also annoying. What a great combination for him to be stuck with.

"What do we do now?" Colgate said, she was scared but tried to stay calm since freaking out wouldn't help neither of them.

"I'm thinking. Right now but right now we should fine some kind of shelter for the night." Raza said, that would be a good start especially since he didn't know what to expect for the days to come.

Finally a good idea

"I liked you better when you were degrading me and yelling at me with the scary voice. What's with the smart aleck attitude now?" Raza asked, Why did this voice start off as some kind of demon back in Equestria but now started acting like an irritating acquaintance, now that they were in this new world. 

Let's just say I'm feeling more at home here

"Do you even have home?" Raza asked, might as well gather some information on this voice.

Once upon a time

"How sad." Raza said sarcastically, this thing had to be cow craping him. "Like I said you were better scary."

Be careful Raza. . . You might be surprised on how SCARY I can really get

Raza didn't answer the seriousness in the voice's tone made it very clear that this thing was still dangerous. He also remembered that when this thing got mad it would give him one heck of a headache and that's the last thing he need right now.

That's what I thought

"Alright Colgate we need to go." Raza said, standing up and looking around again. Where are they going to go?

Colgate nodded and tried to stand up but fell back down. Colgate looked down at her down are where her hooves and her eyes widen. Raza just stared at her in confusion but soon he knew what had shocked her. It had just accorded to him the same way it had accord to her that Colgate was so confused by what had happen to them, that she had never actually looked at her new form. In fact Raza had never even looked at himself, he looked back at Colgate who was still looking at herself still shocked. Raza took the chance to look down at himself and noticed something interesting. He was wearing a shirt and pants? Where did those come from? Had he been wearing pants when he went to the river? No he would have remembered that. That was pretty weird but kind of trivial when compared to the situation they were in now, he needed to focus more on where they would find shelter. Colgate on the other hand was still shocked by what she was seeing, no longer did she have hooves instead some kind of long legs, like that of a Minotaur but still completely different. But what really freaked her out was when she looked at her front hooves, they sure as hay weren't hooves anymore but instead those things that Lyra had kept drawing since they were kids, what did she call them? Hands? Yes that's what they were called, hands. But how could these be real? How could any of what had happened be real? How could Raza be so relaxed about this? Was he freaking out on the inside like her to? And how in Equestria did he managed to stand up so perfectly without falling down. Her head hurt, in such a short amount of time that she had spent on this world all it did was bring her more confusion. She clenched her eyes shut and cover her face with her hands, all this was just to much to taken in and the worst part was that she knew that they would more than likely be stuck in this world for Celestia knows how long. As she felt tears starting to escape from her eye, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up and saw Raza smile at her. Despite his knew appearance she felt that same comfort feeling coming from his smile, she smiled back as she realized that she wasn't alone in this. Raza was here to and they would both have to rely on each other now more than ever. 

"Hey Raza?" Colgate said, wiping away the few tears that made it out of her eyes.

"Yeah?" Raza asked, though he wasn't sure if what Colgate would ask he could answer.

"You think we'll be ok?" Colgate asked, she knew that this wasn't the best question to ask since they had just woke up her but she need to know if Raza had any faith in them being safe in this new world.

"We'll. . ." Raza managed to say, he wasn't entirely sure on how he should answer that since he himself know how this world was or its inhabitants. 

Go on. . . Tell her what you really think of that. 

"I think we will." Raza said, he wasn't one for lying but giving up was also something he wasn't one to give up so easily. "Though I'm sure we'll have to be careful since we don't know anything about this world but as long as we stick together we should be fine."

"Right." Colgate said, Raza was right as long as they stick together they would be fine and that was enough to give her hope. She reached out her hand. "Help me up please."

Raza grabbed Colgate's hand and helped her up. Colgate's legs still felt funny and wobbly. It was irritating that she was a full grown mare who now felt like she had to learn how to walk again but at the same time she had to admit for some reason she was thinking that this was kind of exciting in a scary way, a new body to figure out wasn't something that happened to a pony to often unless you were one of Twilight's friends but that was another story. Colgate shook that thought away, why the hay would she find having a new body exciting? Maybe Lyra's obsession with whatever they were was starting to rub off on her. Lyra. Lyra? Oh Celestia Lyra! Colgate now remembered about her sister's situation, she was still missing and so was Bon Bon. Colgate felt like smacking her face for forgetting about her sister's disappearance but considering what had just happened it seemed resemble that she would get lost in her thoughts about all of this, that and the fact that her hands felt to soar to use. Still that didn't stop her from feeling like a horrible sister. An idea just struck Colgate. What if what happened to her and Raza happened to Lyra and Bon Bon, would that mean that they would also end up in this world to? If that was true than they would have to start looking for them immediately. Colgate did her best to keep her balance, long enough for her to look at Raza.

"Raza!" Colgate said, she notice that her shout scared Raza a little, which wasn't intentional, but she was glad that Raza managed to not let her fall.

"What's wrong?" Raza asked, he wondered what got Colgate so excited.

"I think Lyra and Bon Bon are in this world to." Colgate said, saying that out loud made her realize, that was a big claim to make but it gave her more hope in finding her sister.

Raza was silent for a while as he just stared at Colgate. She wondered if that was the right timing to tell him, after all they had just been awake for about ten minutes. This was all a lot to take in and the chance of finding Lyra and Bon Bon in this world that Celestia knows how big it really was just seemed to add on to it. No, this was her sister she was talking about. The pony she's know her whole life and whose always had her back, she wasn't going to let anything stop her from finding Lyra. Not her world or this one.

"Raza can you please answer?" Colgate asked, though she wanted to start looking she didn't want to pressure Raza. Who knows what was going on in his head?

You would be wise to say no to looking for that idiot

"Shut up I'm thinking." Raza said, wanting to say yes but he had to think of their present situation. How big was this world? If Lyra and Bon Bon were here how, long they search for them? Would they even actually find them? These were some confusing and scary thoughts.

You'll be wasting your time looking for a blind idiot and a soulless body

"What the hay do you mean by that?" Raza asked, he was angry that the voice would call his friends those things but a part of him made him wonder if that had some kind of literal meaning towards Lyra and Bon Bon? "Hey I asked you a question? What did you mean by that?"

If you go searching for answers that stay hidden within a dark road you may not like the what you find.

"What are you –" Raza felt somepony tapping him.

"Raza?" Colgate said, he had been staring into space for about three minutes already, she was concerned that something was bothering him. "Are you ok?" 

"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine, just got a lot on my mind." Raza said, that was an understatement.

"I know what you mean but can you please tell what you think about looking for Lyra and Bon Bon?" Colgate said, she understood how he felt but she needed an answer.

"Alright." Raza said, how should he answer this? There was so many questions unknown about this world to them. What's the best course of action to take? "I Think. . ."

"Yes?" Colgate asked, being nervous was understandable so she kept her patience. 

"I think we should find shelter." Raza said, even though she was in a new body the disappointment in Colgate's eyes couldn't have been more clearer to Raza and he felt bad since he knew Colgate really wanted to find her sister.

"Oh. . . Ok" Colgate said, she wanted to protest and go off on her own but what could she do on her own? She had no clue on how to use this new body. Plus she didn't know anything about this world, how big it really is, it's surroundings, and worst of all what the species here is really like. She'd be hopeless on her own but so would Raza.

"But once we get a goodnight's rest, collect our heads, and plan our next step we can go looking for them." Raza said, the smile on Colgate's face was as big as Pinkie Pi's were back on Equestria.

"Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!" Colgate screamed, to her own surprised she had managed to somehow jump hug on Raza.

"Colgate please." Raza said, she wasn't as heavy as before since she was no longer a pony anymore, but with how his own body was feeling he wasn't in a position to hold anyone up.

"Oh right! Sorry." Colgate said, quickly letting go and tried her best stand up but ended up falling on her butt again. "Ow." 

"Here let me help." Raza said, reaching down toward Colgate.

"No, no. I can do it." Colgate said, she had remembered Lyra stand on her hind legs before when they were fillies, with ease. If her little sister could do it than she could to. "Ok here we go." 

Colgate struggled and fell down a few times before she finally managed to stand up straight. She raised her hand victoriously but it was short lived as she feel back down again. She started cursing in her head, once she was calm she tried standing up. Again she managed to stand up instead this time she focused on keeping her balance. Raza tried not to laugh, but this was pretty entertaining and mind distracting. Colgate had managed to stand up for a good five minutes. 

"Ha! Got it." Colgate said, standing up somewhat proudly. 

"Great job, ready to go?" Raza said, it was about time for them to go look for somewhere to sleep.

"Yeah." Colgate said, taking one big step as her legs struggled to keep balance. 

Raza noticed how much Colgate was struggling to move, not to mention how big of steps she was taking and to be honest he wanted to laugh, despite the situation they were in but there was still some humor to be found in his friend's attempt to walk. Raza managed to keep his laughing from escaping out of him.

"Colgate you sure you don't need me to carry you?" Raza said, though he wasn't sure if he could even do that. How much strength did this new body have anyway? Still he couldn't wait for Colgate to start walking like a natural human.

"No, no I got it." Colgate said, taking more big steps with more speed. "See I got it." 

"Ugh. . . Colgate I think you –" Raza didn't get to finish as Colgate lost her balanced fell into Raza. At first he struggled to keep himself and Colgate from falling down but soon found that Colgate wasn't as heavy as he thought she would be. Colgate looked up at him and blushed.

"I'm sorry." Colgate said, her face was red from the embarrassment of falling down so quickly. 

"Umm. . . It's fine. I think I should carry you until you learn how to use your legs." Raza said, he'd hope that Colgate at not seen the red on his face.

"Yeah that might be our best option." Colgate said, this was pretty embarrassing for her usually she was the one offering help to others.

Raza nodded his head and picked Colgate up, for some reason he felt very uncomfortable holding onto Colgate while she was naked. Why did it bother him? Back at Ponyville usually ponies didn't wear clothing and those who did, their clothing didn't cover the whole body. Still holding onto her as she was made him feel weird but he shake the feeling away and started walking not sure where he was going but right now following the road was their best bet. 

"Where the hay are we going to go?" Raza thought, the road was empty but that gave him no ease of mind.

Go left here

"Thanks for the directions but I'll stick to my instincts." He said, speaking to the voice in his mind was easy but he needed to make sure not to get lost in his head otherwise he might walk him and Colgate to somewhere worst.

Really? Tell me something Raza if the path you seek is in front of you than how can you expect to follow it when you're walking with blind eyes? 

"I'm not –" Raza stopped himself when he understood what the voice meant by that. As much as he hated to admit it he would need this voice's help in certain situations, this being one of them. "Alright fine." 

Finally trusting me?

"Don't push your luck." Raza said, not going to give the voice any kind of satisfaction. 

You're welcome you idiotic fool

Raza turned to left and continued walking straight. Colgate wanted to question where Raza was going but she knew that he was basically winging it, she would do the same if she was the one leading them. Though she had to wonder if wherever they would end up staying would it be a safe spot to stay for a night. This was an unknown world to them Celestia knows what could happen. Even than there were many questions ahead of them.

Now turn to the left and go down that alley

"An alley?" Raza said, at first he didn't like the idea of heading down an alley but understood that right now that was the best place to stay at least for one night. 

The best you'll both do right now

"Yeah I figured that." Raza said, sleeping in alley something he'd never thought he'd do, though he was sure Colgate felt the same. At least he wasn't alone in this though that wasn't exactly a good thing.

Raza found what looked like a nice spot to sit and put Colgate down. He saw that there were some old boxes around, which would have to be their beds for tonight. Dear Celestia he couldn't believe this was happening, dealing with all this was easier said than done now that he realized how cruddy there situation was. 

"We'll be sleeping here?" Colgate asked, watching Raza set up some boxes in a bed style fashion. "Raza what are you doing?" 

"Making our beds." Raza said, putting the boxes in separate spots. 

"That's what I thought." Colgate said, she didn't want to look at him since she could feel tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

Raza noticed that Colgate was wiping her eyes. He sigh knowing that this was just as hard on her as it was on him if not more, at least he could use his arms and legs. Raza walked over to Colgate's side and put his hand on her shoulder. 

"Colgate." Raza said, she looked up at him and saw him smiling. "We're going to be fine I promise."

Colgate felt a small sense of ease build up in her, it wasn't a lot but it was a comforting feeling. Though they were just words she could see that Raza meant what he said. She smiled back and decided that crying wasn't going to help them or her sister. Lyra that's right they still needed to find Lyra and Bon Bon.

"Raza can I ask a question?" Colgate said, he looked at her ready for whatever she would ask.

"Do you really believe that Lyra and Bon Bon are here?" Colgate asked, wanting an honest to Celestia and Luna answer. Raza knew this question would come up again.

"Yeah I think there's a very strong possibility they are here." Raza said, truth be told he didn't know what to fully believe in but having hope never hurt.

"Thank you Raza." Colgate said, she laid on her boxes and tried to sleep.

"You're welcome Colgate." Raza said, laying down on his box and tried to sleep.

Liar

"Umm... Raza?" Colgate said, she needed his help.

"Yeah what's up?" Raza said, readying himself to answer her question and ignoring the voice.

"Can you lay with me?" Colgate said, usually she wouldn't say this to anypony but she was cold right now. "I'm freezing."

Raza hesitated to answer. He understood why she asked that after all he had a shirt and pants at least but Colgate was completely naked. He didn't know if he should say yes or no? He didn't want her to feel cold but he couldn't stop feeling that it would be weird to do so. Wow did this bother him more than it ever would have back in Equestria. 

"Ugh. . . sure." He said, he scooted over to her and put his arms around her. He felt weird but had to put that aside, the last thing he needed was for Colgate to get sick.

"Sorry if this feels weird but I'm cold." Colgate said, she had to assume that Raza felt weird, she did to but if she got sick that would only make matters worse for both of them.

"No it's fine I understand." Raza said, things just seem to be not going their way at all and it had only been what an hour at most. 

"Think we'll make it back home?" Colgate said, that was the last question she wanted to get off her mind but after the big day she had exhaustion was taking over and before she knew it she was sleeping. 

Raza was glad Colgate had fallen asleep not only because she needed to rest after everything that had happened but also because he wasn’t sure how to answer that, he could always say that yes they do since he had said he believed in all his other responses. . . Oh who was he kidding, he couldn't think straight on anything in fact everything he had said to answer any question that Colgate or he himself had were just rushed through thoughts he came up with and wanted to believe but had no real hope in. Lying to himself just seemed to be the only thing giving him comfort and Colgate to and that made him hate himself, lying would eventually just cause more problems down the crazy road he was stuck on, a road he felt alone in. He was starting to fall asleep and though the thought of sleep was pleasant he could help but think one last thing before falling asleep. He was lonely with a strange feeling, even though Colgate was here with him and though he hated to admit it, that voice he despised so much was also here yet he still felt alone. . . Alone with this. . . This. . .

This grey feeling