unWANTED : Walk with Acceptance

by travelingbard

Ch. 6- An unknown sight

“OWWWWW!” Zero yelled as he staggered back, rubbing his face.

“WHAT?!”

Twilight ran to the mirror and placed her hoof in it. Her hoof sank through the mirror’s surface, causing it to shine and shimmer.

“I… I don’t understand,” she said, withdrawing her hoof and came around to stand behind Zero. “It should work.”

She nudged him toward the mirror again, but Zero met the same resistance with it. She pushed harder, but Zero wasn’t going through it.

“AH! Twilight! Stop!” Zero said, his face smashed against the unyielding surface. “It’s not working!”

“This is impossible!” she said, pushing him more, “It has to work!”

Zero pushed against the glass and twisted out of Twilights grasp. He tumbled into the corner of a nearby table and Twilight disappeared through the mirror.

“AHHHHHHH!” screamed Zero, clutching his right shoulder.

Applejack came running to him and knelt in front of him. “ZERO! Are you ok?”

Zero glared at her slightly and said through gritted teeth, “NOT…REALLY…”

“What happened?” Spike asked. “Why can’t you go through the mirror?” He extended his claw and Zero eventually took it, once the pain subsisted. He walked backed to the mirror and pressed his hand against it.

“I don’t know,” he said, trying with all of his might to push through, but to no avail.

A thought occurred to him.

He turned to the dragon and asked, “Can you go through?”

Spike nodded his head. “Yeah. I’ve been through a few times. I come out as a dog, though.” He suddenly had a look on his face and said, “A small dog. Gosh, I wonder what I would come out as now?”

“What would I look like?” Discord asked with a thunder struck look on his face.

Before anyone could give a guess, the mirror lit up again and Twilight walked upright through it, looking somewhat disheveled.

“That was stupid,” she said.

“What was, your highness?” an orangish Pegasus in golden armor asked.

“I had to wait until the street was cleared to come back. I thought it would last forever.” She dropped to all four’s and walked over to Zero.

“Why doesn’t it work?” she asked her eyes full of confusion.

“Maybe… maybe he can’t go through.”

Everyone turned to Soarin.

“Well, no duh, Soarin,” Rainbow Dash said emphatically, “It’s obvious he can’t go home.”

“No, I mean he really CAN’T go through.”

“What do you mean, Soarin?” Twilight asked.

“Well,” he started, scratching the back of his head and blushing a little, “I was reading ‘CAPTAIN KNIGHT: INTO THE VOID’ #4 comic book the other-”

“Oh my gosh,” Rainbow Dash said.

“No no, I have a point here! So I was reading it the other day. It the one where Cap. is sucked into another dimension thanks to Doctor Goons Stargate and can’t get back until he frees the ponies of Riangard from the tyrannical rule of Prince Black Heart.”

“I remember that one,” Spike said. “That’s the one where Cap. finds out he can use magic.”

“Yeah,” Sorain said, “After he defeats the ‘LEAUGE OF LIE’S’ third member, THE POWERFUL MAGICIAN in #6,”

“That was a great fight!”

“I know, right! The way magician starts throwing rocks and Cap. just punches them out of the air!”

“AH, I loved that! OH! And when Staple comes and she-“

“Boys!” Twilight yelled, looking at Spike and stomping her hoof on the ground, “You can talk about comic books later!” She turned back to Soarin with a stern look. “What is your point, Soarin?”

“Well, Cap. can’t return to his world until he defeats Black heart and uses the STONES OF RULE to open a portal back home. Maybe Zero needs to do something or have something to help him get back home.”

“Oh, come on!” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s a comic book! When has anything in a comic book happen in real life?

“When did anything happen in DARING DO happen in real life?” Soarin countered.

“Hey, I helped Daring Do save Equestria from Ahuizotl and-”

“When has a human ever entered Equestria?” asked Luna. Rainbow and Soarin stopped their bickering and looked at her with surprise.

“Whether Zero must take on a heroic deed or must find an ancient artifact is besides the point,” she continued, walking right up to Zero. “The point is now that we know he cannot use the mirror to go home. What will become of him now?”

Zero stared into the dark mare’s eyes to find she wasn’t asking out of spite or anger, but out of worry and concern.

“I can run some test on him,” Twilight said.

Zero whirled around to her with horror on his face.

“Don’t worry,” she said, “I won’t cut you open or anything like that. I’ll just strap some wires onto you and take a few samples.”

“Wires?” Zero asked worriedly. “Samples?”

“Regardless of what you do, Twilight,” Luna said, “I must report this back to my sister.”

She walked over to the glass doors that lead out onto a balcony and opened them, letting a gust of fresh air blow through, sending papers everywhere.

“AHHH! MY NOTES!”

Twilight began to scramble around, gathering the pieces of papers with some help from the others while Zero walked over to Luna.

“What will you tell your sister?” he asked.

“I will tell her the truth. ‘That the human known only as Zero is unable to return home and must reside here for the time being’.”

“Will she get angry at that?”

“Most likely. But I will make sure she will not blast you into…whatever my sister is feeling blasting you into.”

Zero gulped at that imagery, but held out a hand to the dark pony. “It was nice to meet you, Princess Luna.”

“And you, Zero.” She took his hand with her hoof and shook it. Then she unfurled her wings and took off towards the mountains.

Zero watched her go until something floated by, catching his eye. He caught the paper right out of the air before it could go over the railing and out of reach.

“Wow.”

Zero turned around to see Applejack standing behind him with a stack of papers in her front hoofs and a surprise look her face.

“I ain’t never seen somepony move that fast before. Well, maybe after Dash’s done her rain boom thing.”

“Her what?”

“Never mind.”

Zero walked over to her and took the stack of paper from her and walked with her back into the library.

“So,” Applejack said, walking over to the little yellow filly with the reddish mane and big red bow in it, “Now that you’re stuck here for the time bein’, I rekon you need a place to stay.”

“I guess so.”

“OHHH!” Squealed the little one. “Can Zero stay with us?”

“If he wants to, Apple Bloom.”

“Zero isn’t going anywhere,” Twilight said, gathering stacks of paper from everyone, “Until I have my data.”

“Twi,” Applejack said, “You can’t go experimentin’ on poor Zero here. He’s been through enough today.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said.

“I’m sorry, Twilly,” a tall white unicorn with a blue mane said. “I agree with Applejack and her sister. Zero’s been through a lot today.”

“But-”

“Come on, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Sorry, Twilight, but I agree with them.”

“You too, Fluttershy?”

“Zero must be tired from everything he’s gone through today and-“

“No.”

Everyone turned to Zero with shocked faces. Fluttershy looked taken aback by his outburst.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, “I didn’t mean to yell that.” He cleared his throat and tried again.

“I am tired, but if it would help Twilight figure out why I can’t go home, then I’ll gladly do any tests she need me to do.”

Zero walked up to Twilight and knelt down to look her in the eyes.

“What is it you need me to do?”

**********

BEEP…

BEEP…

BEEP…

BEEP…

“Hmmmm…”

Zero turned towards the voice the best he could, but being strapped to a chair and the neck brace thing made it rather difficult. Everyone had left hours ago and it was just Zero and Twilight alone in her lab.

“What is it?” Zero asked over his shoulder towards the voice.

“Oh its nothing,” Twilight said, tapping at one of her machines she just threw together a while ago, “I’m just thinking if I’m doing this right.”

A worried look flashed across Zeros face.Oh man, what does that mean?

Twilight came hurriedly into view.

“I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just…”

“What?”

“It’s just …hard.”

“What do you mean?”

The sound of a sharp beep and paper printing filled the lab. Twilight trotted over and looked at it, deep in thought.

“What does it say?”

“………………HUH? OH!”

Twilight floated a marker to the paper and marked a few places.

“Sorry, Zero. It’s hard to concentrate on you and this at the same time.”

She hurried over to another machine and jotted down the numbers of its display.

“So....... what are you doing again?”

Twilight walked out of his view and a series of crashing ensued.

“Nahh, crud.”

“Hey! You okay back there?!”

“Yeah, I just need to build a new spectrophotometer now.”

Zero mauled this information over in his mind as the room filled with the sound od plastic and metal scraping together lightly.

“Spectro… Hey. What do you need to measure light for?”

“Oh, I’m just seeing what colors you can take.”

“What would happen if I couldn’t take a color?”

“I don’t know.”

Zero tried to turn his head as much as possible to glare at the pony. A few gelled electrodes bald head popped off of his.

“Are you telling me you were just going to see what would happen if I got hit by the wrong shade of pink?”

“Oh calm down. If you were sensitive to pink, you would have exploded when you saw Pinkie Pie. Now hold still. I have to reattach these electrodes you popped off.”

Zero leaned back in his chair as Twilight rubbed some gel on his head and reattached the electrodes.

“Tell me again why I agreed to this.”

“So you can return home?”

“Hope I don’t die before that.”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby. Now I’m almost done with making a bascis on you. Just a few more minute.”

Zero took a deep breath and noticed a strange light on the opposite side on the wall.

“Hey Twilight. What’s that reddish glow along the wall?”

Twilight turned to look at where Zero was trying to point.

“Where?”

“High on the wall.”

“Oh that? That’s the color of the sunset happing outside.”

“Sunset? What’s that?”

Twilight turned with a look of utter astoninment on her face.

“You’ve never seen a sunset before?”

“I don’t get out much,” Zero said, shaking his head.

“Well we can finish the tests later then,” Twilight said, levitating the electrodes and wires and neck brace off of Zero. “Come on. Let’s go see it”

Zero stood up and raised his arms over his head stretched his back. He grabbed the blue shirt Rarity made him and pulled it over his head as he ran after Twilight up the stairs as she led him through hall after hall, the sounds of hoofs and bare feet on stone floor filling them.

“Come on! We’re almost there!”

They ran up another flight of stairs to what Twilight said was the tallest tower the castle had, used as an observatory. When they reached it, Twilight opened the doors that led to the roof and Zero was greeted with a red and orange sky.

The view was incredible.

Zero stood on the roof and saw that ponies were walking around in the town below. He saw the mountains to the north and a huge forest stretched to the south farther than the eyes could see. In the east was a gigantic cloud with what looked to have buildings and a rainbow water fall. And in the west was a lake and…

“Wow,” was all Zero could say.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Zero could only nod and sit on the slightly slanted roof.

“Princess Celestia is really pulling out the stops on the sunset today.”

“Huh?”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you. Princess Celestia and Luna raise the sun and moon every day.”

“They do? Every day?”

“Yeah. The weather, sun, moon, or even season’s aren’t automatic like it is in your world. The Pegasi create the weather and move the clouds while the earth ponies plant crops and such.”

“Earth ponies?”

“Ponies without wings or horns.”

“Oh. Like Applejack and her sister.”

“Yes.”

“So what do the Unicorns do?”

“They use their horn as a conductor for the magic that is in the air. They call upon it when they need it and us spells that help with everyday life.”

“Wow. So what do you call yourself then, Twilight, seeing as you have wings and a horn?””

“An Alicorn.”

“A what?”

“An Alicorn. A pony with almost unlimited magical powers and considered as royalty and, in ancient times, Gods.”

“You consider yourself a god?”

“NO! Not at all! I consider me to be a pony with wings and a horn. I’m no god.”

“But do you consider yourself royalty?”

Twilight moved her hoof a little back and forth as she said, “Ehh. Im not of royal blood, but I do have a castle and I am one of the four Alicorns of our world, and the youngest.”

“Youngest?”

“Yes. I became an Alicorn almost 4 years ago. Cadence became one while I was still a filly, and Celestia and Luna were born Alicorns 1000 years ago and-“

“1000 YEAR’S AGO?! Holy crap, how are they still alive?”

Alicorns are immortal, Zero. “

“Really?”

“As far as I knew.”

“Are you immortal?”

“I really haven’t tested that yet. I’m not going to stab myself in the heart just to see if I’ll live through it.”

“No, but you’ll just shine a bunch of colors at a human to see if he’ll die from it.”

Twilight bowed her head in shame as her wing unfurled from her back and touched the roof.

“I’m sorry, Zero. I didn’t mean for anything to hap-“

Zero interrupted her by playfully punching her in her shoulder.

“Come on, Twilight, I was kidding. You may act like a mad scientist, but I can tell you just really love your work. I trust you.”

“Thanks, Zero.” Twilight said, laughed and ran a hoof across her face. She let out a yawn.

“Wow. It’s gotten late. The sun set without our knowing and the stars are out already.”

Zero looked up and gasped.

The orange and red sky was indeed gone. In its place was a black sky full of tiny little dotes and one big light in the east peaking over the cloud city.

“Come on, Zero. It’s late. You can sleep in one of the guest… Zero?”

Twilight was making her way down the roof until she realized Zero was still up there. When she got back to the roof, she found that the human was standing as tall as he could, stretching his hand as far as he could towards the sky.

“Zero? You ok?”

A tear rolled down his check as his hand closed on thin air.

“Zero!” Twilight climbed the rest of the ladder and went to him. “Zero, what’s wrong?”

“It’s… beautiful.”

Zero wiped his eyes and looked at Twilight.

“Sorry. It’s just that I’ve… I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“You’ve never seen this?”

Zero shook his head and he sat down.

“Is it ok if I just stay up here tonight?”

Twilight hesitated, and then nodded. “I’ll get you a blanket.”

Twilight descended the ladder again and found what she was looking for on one of her desks in the observatory. She came back to find that Zero had already fallen asleep, flat on his back with his face towards the heavens, a small smile on his face. Twilight levitated the blanket over the sleeping human from the hole as to not wake him up.

“Good night, Zero. Sweet dreams.”

She descended again and made her way through her castle.. The castle staff had already gone home for the night, but the guards were still patrolling the hall. They bowed as she passed them and she nodded back, her mind on other things.

“Everything alright, your highness?”

Twilight turned as an orangish Pegasus in golden armor walked up to her and bowed.

“Yes, Flash. Everything is fine.”

“Up late again with another project of yours?”

Twilight thought of a response as she opened the door to her lab.

“You can say that.”

“How is he, by the way?” Flash Sentry said, leaning his spear against the wall as he closed the door with his back hoof.

“He’s… adjusting…I think.”

Twilight gathered up her note that were struned around the room and started to switch off the machines on the tables. She gathered up the wires and moved the chair from the middle of the room. She gave out a heavy sigh.

“What’s wrong, my princess?”Flash said, coming up to her and kiss her.

“Oh, it’s just this whole thing about Zero and Princess Celesita being mad at him being in Equestria and stuff.”

“I heard about what happened at the hospital. Why is she so mad about Zero?”

“She wouldn’t tell me,” Twilight said as she moved her machines to one side of the room. “All she said was ‘Zero does not belong here’ over and over again. She wants him out.”

“What will she do to him now that he can’t go home?”

“I don’t know.”

Twilight was filing the last bit of her notes when a Zero bag caught her eyes. She levitated it to her and looked at the contents inside it; a few pieces of paper with stats and math equations on them, a small tube of something, a key from the broken piano, a guitar pick, and a few books. Twilight lifted the books out to examine them closer and read the tiles.

THE ART OF WAR

THE WIZARD OF OZ

THE COMPLETE HUMAN ANATOMY

“This would have helped me a few hours ago,” Twilight said, placing all three books on the nearby desk. She sat down on the cushion and lit a candle.

“So everyone else is gone,” Flash said, sitting next to her. “I thought we could… maybe…you know…”

“Sorry, Flash. Not tonight.” Twilight turned and kissed him on the cheek. “I can help you on your studies later.”

“I have a test this week, Twi. I don’t want to fail.”

“And you won’t. Not with my tutoring. Why you decided to take cultural economics is beyond me. You don’t even like it.”

“I know, but I want to make my dad happy by acing the semester. Then I won’t have to bother with it ever again.”

“Well I have a lot more to do on Zero’s basis before the night is over.”

“Basis of what?”

Twilight cracked open the anatomy book and started jotting notes down.

“Well, if anything happens to Zero while he’s here, like say he breaks an arm or something, we can fix him up and stuff.”

“What about the machines you where putting away earlier? What were they for?”

“To jot down his brain wave pattern, heartbeat, blood flow, bone density, color absorption; you know, stuff like that.”

“Uh huh,” Flash said as he got up and gently turned Twilight’s face towards his. He kissed her and placed his forehead on hers.

“Don’t stay up to late, my princess. You have a meeting with the representative of Manehatton at 8.”

“I do? About what?”

“It’s about the statue their making in honor of saving them from Triek.”

“Uhhh. Not other one. I appreciate the gesture, but I’m sure the ponies could spend their tax bits on something other than a statue.”

“You should tell him that tomorrow morning.”

Flash hugged her and kissed her again.

“I’m going to finish my rounds and head off to bed. Get plenty of sleep, please.”

“Good light, Flash.”

“Good night, your highness.”

Flash grabbed his spear and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Twilight with a new book that entertain her well into the night.

Author's Note:

OK. This is the first time I've added a chapter AHEAD of schedule (not that I really have one or follow it, but you get my point). This feels great. Now I can work on the next chapter.

OH! Speaking of which!
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 were originally 1 chapter, so all of this happens in 1 day. But I wanted to tell more of Zero's back story without really telling it.
( IT'S STILL A SECRET, GUYS!!!!!)
So, now that that is over, the story can continue as planed. (I have the layout and outlines of all the chapters. I just need to get to writing them.)

Stick around, folks! Next chapter will be coming...soon!!!!

Comments

[EchoTheFloof]

i havent read it yet but if i find an assasin with a blue sword that speaks in haiku to be the main character im gonna die from sheer awesome