Gifts and Curses

by flamevulture17

19. Truth

[Chapter 19]

Truth

---

The fact that it was barely half past five was hard for Andrew to wrap his head around the incredibly short amount of time that has elapsed for going through a lot since waking up that morning. Now that he thought about it, each event that followed had been slightly less of a burden that he'd have to deal with, and now that he was standing in front of a Princess of the magical land of Equestria, it made his situation significantly easier to handle with her willingness to help. However, his mood hardly got any better.

But first, he had to confess.

“Like, what do you want to know?”

“Are you familiar with a creature called humans?”

“Oh, well, yeah, I mean sure we're not all bad, we're just-”

“We?” Twilight interrupted.

“Uh...”

“Please, Andrew,” Luna began. “We will believe you if you confirm it for us. We must know.”

“Confirm what?”

“Are you one of them?”

“A human?”

They nodded.

“Yes, I am. But I woke up today like this and all I want to do is get back.”

“Back to...?” Lyra trailed off, leaning her head closer to him.

“Back to my human form and back home in St. Louis.” Andrew pouted.

The mares looked at him silently and with sympathy. Surely their investigation got them this far, but they realize what they found was more than true, it was right in front of them.

“If you could tell me how I can do that, I'd very much appreciate it,” he continued.

“We'd certainly be more than happy to help you return,” Luna stated. “But in order to do that, we need to know more about what happened.”

“I don't what happened. I was just minding my own business when something scared the living crap outta me last night.”

“Last night you say?” Luna said. All three mares let those words sink in. The more bits of information Andrew gave, the more it connected him to the mysterious surge the night before. Only he was just as confused as they were on what cause it.

“Yeah, and the next thing I know, WHAM! I'm a horse with a horn.”

“Correction, pony.”

“Right, but unicorns don't exist where I come from. Let alone talking ones. They're just mythology and fantasy.”

“How can unicorns not exist?” Lyra asked.

“They just don't, neither do pegasuseses...ses-”

“Pegasi.” Twilight corrected.

“Yeah, magic isn't supposed to be real either. I mean, it's not scientifically possible.”

“Of course it is,” Twilight blurted out.

“No way. How?”

“Magic resides in all ponies,” Luna explained. “Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike each share a specific connection with magic, but unicorns are especially unique in concentrating its power by channeling it through their horns, thus are able the preform different kinds of spells of different magnitudes. But one must first learn to use magic through practice and training to master its great power.”

By now, Andrew was completely lost by her explanation with a cynical look on his face. Not that he didn't understand it, but didn't believe it. It was vague on specifics and something considered impossible to any rational human being. Andrew likes to think he is very rational.

“However,” she continued. “Since you were merely transformed into an alicorn, like myself, I'm still wondering how you managed to teleport yourself from your world to ours.”

“But it wasn't me, it just... happened. I don't know why. And why does everyone keep saying I'm an alicorn. I'm not like you.”

“You know that for a fact?” Twilight cut it.

Andrew looked at her with an annoyed face. “I'm pretty sure my hair isn't all waving by itself and I have no wings. I don't want any of that. I don't want to stay this way.” His voice cracked like he sounded more angry that cooperative. Although each of the mares were all aware of his change in attitude, they didn't want to make it worse. But, it seemed like whatever they tried to say to him didn't go over so well with him.

There was a silence for a few seconds as Luna exchanged glances with Twilight and Lyra. Without a word, Luna stepped closer to Andrew as the others took a step back. The Princess was practically in his personal space. She closed her eyes as her horn started to glow a pale blue, but before she could lower her head close to his, Andrew retreated.

“WHOA whoa, back up! What's going on?”

“Please relax, Andrew. If I may, allow me to use a simple spell so that I can determine the deeper meaning about why you're here.”

He stood his ground, staring at Luna's sincere blue eyes, thinking whether it was a good idea to trust her. The assumption that the spell she was talking about would result in another inconvenience was a factor in his decision, but not nearly enough to stop him from cooperating. Besides, she offered to help and it would be a foolish to refuse it.

“Okay then.”

“Thank you.” Luna illuminated her horn again. “Hold still.”

“Will it hurt?”

“It won't.”

Andrew let out a sigh, nodded, and closed his eyes, too. The Princess angled her head downward once more. The tip of Luna's horn hovered above Andrew's own horn for a second as his horn started to glow as well, involuntarily. As each horn touched at the very tip, both of their magical aura's merged together and began to glow brighter with each passing second.

As this happened, Andrew felt very strange. It was as if someone was tickling the center of his brain. He felt goosebumps resonated all over his skeleton. The bones themselves felt like they were being poked by thousands of tiny invisible needles, at the same time. The tingle in his forehead was not painful, but a sensation unlike anything he's experienced before.

Luna encountered a similar sensation. It was the first time using the spell on her own species. It was more vivid that the other instances using the same spell, like she was literally inside Andrew's mind, yet not in control. However, while connected to his mind through the enchantment, she was able to navigate parts of his consciousness like memory and emotions fairly easily, but had extreme difficulty accessing his subconscious. She was able to mimic the feelings he felt from recent experiences for the few seconds their horns were in contact, but the moment she attempted to fight her way into the deepest part of his mind, everything went dark.

*BAM*

Suddenly, a strong pulse blew onto Luna's face, knocking her back several feet before sliding to a stop, still able to stay on her hooves.

*SMASH!*

As soon as Luna settled back with Twilight and Lyra, she heard the unpleasant sound of shattering glass directly in front of her. She ripped her eyes open to see if Andrew was okay, but witnessed the exact opposite. All three mares were in shock as they hurried over to the devastation.

Andrew flew clear across the room in the opposite direction as Princess Luna. Instead of striking a wall, he was shot back first into the pink-tinted window beside Pinkie Pie's bed, shattering it to pieces. His body was thrown through the window and tumbled uncontrollably to the street below.

As Andrew fell, he was aware of his plight but could do nothing to stop his tumbling descent. During free fall, he braced for what was certainly inescapable pain of slamming into the ground...

...until he something broke his fall.

He landed on something soft and strangely fluffy. His body bounced a couple times before resting on the soft surface. Even though Andrew rested in a fetal position on top a foam substance of some sort, his body was still tense in fear. His eyes remained sealed shut and his blue-green hooves covering face. He heard the sound of glass shards raining down on him while most of them flew right by him and hit the ground, pieces flying in every direction.

Then came an calm silence as the late afternoon sun beat down on him, moving ever so slightly westward.

…

“Hey mister!” intimately squeaked a female voice. “You alright?”

Seconds later, he gathered the courage to open his eyes. He did so carefully. He found a light-blue pegasus with crazy rainbow hair, too close for comfort.

“That was quite the stunt,” she said.

- - -

Princess Luna, Twilight, and Lyra rushed to the shattered window pane in search of the turquoise stallion. All they saw was the angled roof of Sugarcube corner directly beneath the window and a bunch of glass fragments sprinkled everywhere. With Andrew was nowhere in sight, they assumed the worst.

“Go down and see if Andrew is okay!” Luna shouted.

Twilight and Lyra immediately complied by simultaneously teleporting to the street below. Luna spread her wings and cautiously flew out the open window, avoiding the sharp blades of broken glass on her way out. She followed the exit point and glided to the where she expected to find Andrew in a critical condition. She was wrong.

Luna found Andrew resting on a white cloud several meters from the ground. He appeared completely unharmed, free of serious injury, but had a few scratches here and there on his forelegs and face. Her mouth was slightly agape in surprise and terrible repent for what had happened. Fortunately, there were no other townsfolk in sight that heard the crash. However, she did find a certain multi-colored pegasus by his side, speaking to him.

She fluttered down to them.

- - -

Two unicorns suddenly appeared on the store front of Sugarcube Corner, startling the apples out of an orange farm pony. Applejack jumped when Twilight and Lyra rematerialized next to her without warning.

“Applejack!” Twilight cried.

“What in tarnation is goin' on Twilight?”

“We have a probl-” Twilight looked around. “Where's Andrew?”

“Well, ah was talkin' to Rainbow Dash here,” Applejack pointed to a cloud suspended in the air. “When we seen somepony come crashin' down from that there window.” The farm pony seemed rigorously concerned with what caused it. “Y'all sayin' it was Andrew!? What happened?”

“He landed on that cloud?” Lyra said. All three mares looked up, and sighed in relief. “What's that cloud doing there anyway?”

“Rainbow put it there.” Applejack replied. “She's up there right now.”

- - -

“How the hay are you on here?” said Rainbow Dash, looking around him. “You're a unicorn.”

Before Andrew could answer with an uneducated guess on such a vague question, a midnight-blue alicorn floated down and leveled out on the cloud.

“Princess!” Rainbow jumped at the very sight of Luna and bowed. “I- uh... what-”

“Please, Rainbow Dash, be calm,” said Luna. “Did you place this cloud here?”

“Yup, that was me.” Rainbow grinned, unsure if the Princess was gratified or displeased.

Luna looked at Andrew, who returned a trembling look of confusion and contempt. She said it wouldn't hurt, but that was clearly the opposite of is considered safe. It was an act of betrayal.

“I deeply apologize for what happened, Andrew,” Luna began.

“Andrew?” Rainbow uttered, but her words went unheard.

Luna continued, “I did not know that would to occur. This had never happened before and I honestly never thought it could. I am so sorry.”

Andrew gave a weak smile, indicating to the Princess of his acceptance. He felt slight pity as well, easily convinced that Luna was deeply sincere about it through her words. He was also slow to realize what actually broke his fall.

“So how did this foam pit get here?” he asked, shuffling around to find his balance. “It wasn't here before.”

Luna and Rainbow Dash gave each other a funny look.

“Foam pit?” Rainbow said. “You're on a cloud you silly.”

“What? No way-” Andrew looked down and found nothing but a uniform spread of white mist hovering in mid air that appeared to naturally sway in the breeze. His eyes flickered wide and began to panic.

“Wa wa wa what the hell is this!?” he yelled while flailing his limbs aimlessly trying to gain his center of gravity. “Get me down!” His mind was terrified of the impossibility, both for the fact that he was literally being held up by floating water droplets and that the cloud had a no visible surface. It felt frictionless and cold.

“Please calm down, Andrew, a pegasus has the ability to walk on clouds and manipulate them,” Luna reasoned. “You must keep still.”

It didn't do much good. Andrew continued to panic as the very idea was physics defying. He tried to get to his feet, but kept slipping, rolling over, and crawling on the surface of the white cloud. Rainbow Dash attempted to get him to relax, but was bucked in the head and fell off the cloud. She flew back up and landed next to Luna, keeping her distance. The Princess continued to reason with him, and with each word, it slowly got through to Andrew. He eventually came to a full stop, lying one side refusing to move another muscle.

Luna noticed the condition of the single piece of clothing covering his body was in bad shape. There were obscene wrinkles and gaping tears where the glass cut the material (which she assumed was silk, but was actually cotton) it was made out of. When he finally stopped moving, she got a fair peek through one of the tears of the shirt. Confirming her suspicions, several feathers from the tip of a wing were visible, but the rest of the shirt was intact obscuring the entire appendage. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped.

“Luna? Rainbow? Is Andrew okay?”

Rainbow Dash body was too frozen in surprise to move as her gaze bounced between the unmistakeable features that made up a pegasus wing and the horn on Andrew's forehead. She was unable to comprehend the sight before her. Luna, on the other hoof, leaned to one side to glance down at the group beneath them. Twilight, Lyra, and Applejack were looking up at them with a worried look upon their faces.

“He's fine,” she replied. “I'll bring him down to you.” Luna returned to address Andrew. “I'm going to lower the cloud to the ground, okay? Stay calm.”

With that, Luna leaped into the air and pushed the cloud down to ground level where it finally came in contact with the gravel where the cloud dissipated before them. As it faded away, Andrew was gently placed onto solid ground. He quickly shuffled to his hooves and regained his balance. He reverted to heavy breathing as if he just wrestled a bear while his legs struggled to keep his body in balance. He was a complete mess, but unharmed.

“How is that possible!?” he asked intensely.

Twilight began to explain. “It's simple really-”

“No it's not!” Andrew shouted. He pressed his hooves into his forehead and squeezed his eyes tighter. “Ughh! What did you do to me!?” He glared at Luna with an fierce look. Even the other mares were also eager for an answer.

“I'm not sure. It was a simple mind spell.”

“Mind control!?”

“No! Nothing like that. I was merely observed your thoughts and feelings. In no way did I have any control. It was necessary to truly understand why you are here, but when I tried to peek inside your subconscious...” Luna paused. “All went dark.”

“And you threw me out a window,” Andrew finished her explanation for her with a smile.

“I didn't do it on purpose. That never should have occurred. I'm sorry.”

“Whatever.”

“Are you okay?”

“It was actually kinda fun.”

Everypony looked at Andrew.

“But you could have gotten seriously injured,” said Twilight.

“I know, but still, that was like something out of a movie, but actually being the one to try the stunts. It did hurt a little, but not anymore. Besides, she saved me.” He pointed at Rainbow Dash.

The light-blue pegasus blushed. “I didn't know you were gonna come crashing out a building. Why didn't you just use your wings?”

Andrew's smile turned into a frown. “Because I don't have any. See look I'll show you.” He began to wiggle his way out of his washed-up shirt, which can pass for rags from the way they've been treated recently. Oddly enough, he felt it snag against something halfway off his body, and it definitely wasn't his horn. The shirt would no further, resting over his head. What made it odd was that he could literally feel what snagged it in the first place. Either it was the contour of his body, or something else entirely.

“You need some help getting that off?” Lyra offered.

By this point, Andrew had stopped trying to slip out of the cotton trap himself with his forelegs stretched in front of him. His posture was like that of a cat stretching its front paws.

“Yeah.” He responded in a uneasy voice and an peculiar scrunch look on his face which nopony could see. “Could you pull the rest of this off?”

Lyra gestured to Applejack to help her remove the clothing from his head. They each grabbed a sleeve with their teeth and began to pull.

“OW ow ow!” he shrieked. “Hold up!” The mares immediately ceased tugging to fabric, but by then, they've already taken the shirt off completely. Andrew shook his body like a dog drying itself off, but a tingling sensation ran down the skin under his fur, down the length of his body. He noticed the expressions of each pony had changed dramatically, save for Applejack. Unsuspecting to Andrew, the most unbelievable feature was not his wings, but what lay behind them, or lack thereof. There was no cutie mark on his flank. Twilight and Luna assumed it was side effect of the transformation and that humans don't have cutie marks.

Finally, he turned his head around to view his back.

Andrew found what appeared to be turquoise feathers protruding out the sides of his body. The very moment he laid eyes on his wings, he snapped his head forward again with a very pale color to his face. His breathing became more unstable as he began to hyperventilate in a fright. The rest of his body followed suit by shaking violently.

“We need you to calm yourself, Andrew,” Luna demanded. “We thought you already knew.”

Andrew's unsettled gaze met Luna's eyes. She noticed the gloss in his dilated golden eyes increase and begin to fog up with a coat of fluid that stirred like the shell of a soap bubble. He exhibited no other physical emotion from the lack of expression on his face, but she speculated that he was very unhappy.

Without another word, Andrew quickly looked away closing his eyes, and suddenly broke into a full gallop down the street as fast as he could. With his wings still stretched out, they dragged through the wind that rushed behind him. A single droplet of water ran down his face. Nothing like this has ever made him feel so melancholic. He finally snapped.

“Wait!” Luna cried, holding up a hoof. It did no good. He was too far away.

Andrew vanished around a corner, leaving everypony staring at the empty street where he ran off to. Each of them felt a different level of empathy for Andrew. Lyra took it the most. They continued to stare for a few seconds until Lyra broke the silence.

“What should we do?”

“Should I fly after him?” Rainbow Dash suggested, getting ready to take off after him.

Luna sighed deeply. “No.”

“Where do you think he's going?” Twilight asked.

“I don't know. He believes it was our fault and blames us for bringing him here.”

“Ah reckon he needs our help more than ever,” said Applejack. “Ah seen that look before.”

Luna returned her gaze in the direction where Andrew went. Her heart had gone cold from the intense weight of her actions that afflicted them both, but it wasn't in vain. While spectating the complexity of his mind, she found something unusual, yet remarkable. The moment she saw it, she understood what it meant and was able to feel the complexity that defined Andrew's connection with this world and the human world. It changed her perspective of the world from that moment on, but how to tell the human would be a challenge. Applejack was right, he's been through too much already.

“Girls,” Luna began in a soft voice. “There is something I need you to do.”

“Yes, Princess?” They all said simultaneously, save for Lyra.

“Stay put. I must go after our friend Andrew.”

“But Luna-”

“Twilight please! Just do this for Andrew's sake. I want you all to wait inside Sugarcube Corner until I come back. Understood? This is something I must do alone.”

Each pony looked at each other and then nodded, save for Lyra.

“Thank you,” Luna finished. She inhaled slowly and exhaled loudly, letting all the stale air rush our snout. She flapped her wings and rapidly took off in search of the distressed human/alicorn.

“C'mon y'all,” Applejack addressed her friends. “Let's go.”

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack headed for the front door of the sweet shop. Lyra, however, did not move a muscle. She stood still, watching Princess Luna fly off as she disappeared behind the roof of a house. Twilight turned to her unicorn friend.

“You okay, Lyra?”

“I can't stand to see him like that.”

“Well, you're not the only one. We all feel the same way, too.”

Lyra slowly faced the lavender mare.

“We should trust Luna to set things right again,” Twilight continued. “Andrew needs a little time.”

“But didn't you hear him? He doesn't want to stay like that. It hurts him to be stuck in that body and since he is human, he cannot accept magic as practical. He is desperate to go home. I'm surprised he made it this far.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Think about it, Twilight, what would you do in his horseshoes? Being put in a position where everything you saw and did was supposed to be impossible.”

“I don't know.” Twilight felt the logic in Lyra's words and her spirits fell to Lyra's level. “I never thought of it that way.”

“Nopony thinks about what he truly feels and just simply neglects his existence. We only want information out of him and never stop to understand his perspective. I don't think that's right. He needs to be treated like a friend, but all we've done is build the fear he has of us.” She turned her gaze away from Twilight towards the barren street. “I have to go talk to him. Be honest with him. He needs a true friend.”

Twilight stood at a loss of words that would make a difference to change her mind. Her mood shifted dramatically from weak empathy to a burning regret for contributing to this mess. After all the exciting things she's learned in the past several hours, it couldn't make up for the sudden feeling of remorse. There was nothing she could to but let Lyra try her best to lecture him. But one thing still remained that Twilight wanted to tell her mint-green friend.

“Lyra?”

“Yes?” She stopped after beginning to walk away.

“Before you go, I just want you to know something.” Twilight pawed at the ground, unsure if what she was about to say was appropriate.

“What is it?”

“You know how I'm Princess Celestia's faithful student? Well, Princess Luna-”

“I know.”

Twilight's expression changed from nervous to confused. “What?”

“She told me about it.”

“When?”

“Right after you ran off to the library at Sweet Apple Acres by yourself. She didn't say much though. It was pretty blunt.”

“Oh. Well what did you say?”

“I told her I'd think about it. I didn't give her a definite answer yet.”

“Why not?” Twilight was secretly eager for her to say accept Luna's offer.

“Look, I'll talk about it later. I gotta go.”

With that, Lyra darted off into the distance, leaving Twilight standing beside herself.

“Aren'tcha comin' Twi?” called Applejack sticking halfway out the front door of Sugarcube Corner.

“Yeah!” Twilight trotted over to the farm filly.

“Where is Lyra goin'?”

“She-” Twilight looked down the street one more time. “She's got a friend to find.”

---

Through the edge of Ponyville, a turquoise alicorn ran as fast it could and as far as its legs could endure. Few ponies in its path quickly jumped out of its way as it ran by without looking back. A trail of dust stirred up behind it from the loose terrain. Each pony was largely in awe of the unusual alicorn's swift appearance as if they've just seen a ghost. Many seconds later, they saw Princess Luna trailing after the fleeing stallion above their heads.

Andrew was completely broken. His mind, his emotions, and now his legs began to die of sheer fear and exhaustion from betrayal and hurt. His only thought was to keep running until he could run no more. No longer did he care about anything that involved his psychological health or the shape of his physical condition. Everything seemed to be turning against him at every turn, and the ponies where no exception. The moment he witnessed those extra set of limbs, not only did it scare him, but it destroyed the weak trust he shared with the Princess. Never before had he felt so dejected from everything fallen upon him in the last eight hours or so. He thought if he ran fast and long enough, he could outrun the wings on his back.

He'd finally made it as far as the white fence of the Apple orchard. While galloping, his vision was blurry from tears that settled on his eyes. Andrew wasn't about to admit that he was crying, but even that embarrassment wasn't enough to pull him out of the mixed state of anger and repent. The wind was warm, but his heart wasn't.

Andrew kept going along the dirt path until found a familiar white gate. Instead of stopping to properly opening the gate, he leaped over the wooden fence. Upon landing on the farmland, the uneven soil threw him off balance. He tumbled off his hooves onto his stomach in a cloud of dust.

“Oof!”

Sliding only a yard or two, Andrew came to a stop near an Apple tree coughing up dirt particles.

He lay in his impact spot, squeezing his eyelids shut. For the several seconds on the ground, he took the time to pant heavily to let his negative emotions flow out his body. His heart rate slowly began to decline as he waited for the dust to settle. Although his breathing had substantially decreased, it was still fast paced when he rose to his hooves to continue on. His marathon run had ended, but his escape was far from over.

At a slower pace than before, Andrew walked with a limp, advancing further in the farm. He kept a keen eye out for one specific apple tree. To find that particular apple tree, he kept an eye out for stray apples laying of the ground.

After a minute or so, Andrew found the first apple, then followed by more apples scattered across the land ahead of him. Taking one step at a time, the density of the spoiled fruit increased to the point where he had to kick some out of the way just to take a step. He still could not get over the fact that he had hooves instead of feet.

Following the apples, he eventually came to the tree surround by the a red sea of orbs and a large gap void of those orbs. Assuming it was the right place, it was where he teleported no more than three hours ago with his pony body upside down in a mangled mess. Letting the scene sink back into his mind, he took a deep breath and sat down on the soft dirt, directly under the apple tree.

What followed was the longest silence he experienced so far that day.

…

Many seconds pass.

…

Then half a minute.

…

Then a full minute.

The only sound around were leaves rustling in the light breeze of the afternoon and faint chirps from distant birds.

Two minutes go by. It took a over a hundred and twenty seconds for his anger and fear to settle down. He became calm enough to think clearly about why he ran. He thought how immature it was to flee like that, but that's all he really was, immature. Surely he was afraid of himself, but that fear was narrowly based on impossibility and absolute disbelief. Finding out he was a pony with a horn and wings was just the beginning, the thought of living with it would be the hardest part. Andrew hoped he wouldn't have to live with it. Ending this nightmare was his only priority.

Three minutes go by. It felt longer than that really. He had forgotten how much it pained him to have left his own reality so fast, all because some random act of 'magic' thought it would be funny to screw with him. Having this happen to him never, in a trillion years, should have happened. Impossible, was the correct word. Even more upsetting was it affected, not only himself, but his friends and his only sibling back home. The series of events that led to his disappearance made him worry even more. Even though he's only been gone three hours, give or take, that time might be longer than desired. He has no real way of getting back he could think of. But what about his phone. It still works in this world. There must be a way back. There must be a reason why his cellphone worked between realities.

By minute four, Andrew was completely lost in a sea of thoughts he chose to forget, and the ones he wanted to forget, but could not. Other thoughts rolled into his head. Most prominently, the truth behind some of his favorite songs. His favorite example: Leave Out All The Rest. If there's one song that described his entire day, and maybe his entire life, it's that one song. He sang the last verse of the lyrics in his head, over and over and over again.

Forgetting all the hurt inside

you've learned to hide so well.

Pretending someone else can come

and save me from myself.

I can't be who you are.

I can't be who you are.

Those words make him feel better every time. This was the perfect time to let the song play in his head. His eyes were closed, his head angled down, and nothing to do but wait. Wait for time to tick away his life as it turned upside down, one move after another. He wished that this world (his body and these ponies) was just a dream. A wish that had gone unanswered.

There was no denying it. This was not fake. This was real.

Andrew finally looked up as minute five clocked in the outdoor silence. He stared at the bark of the tree for a moment before sighing.

“What now?”

…

“You could tell me what's wrong.”

A voice from behind startled him, but not so much to make him jump. Andrew recognized that voice almost immediately and did exactly what it said.

“How did you find me?” he said.

“I had a feeling you'd come here,” said Princess Luna in a bittersweet tone.

Comments

[Northwest Brony]

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