Rifts

by Eldamaur

Chapter Three

After a few moments of awkward silence Iron left the room, leaving Tristan to his thoughts. He took the opportunity to more thoroughly examine his surroundings. It seemed to be a guest bedroom, as there were no very personal looking bits of furniture and everything was covered in a thin layer of dust.

It looks like my luck is finally changing! Sure, I’m tied up and at their mercy, but for giving myself up as dead last night that’s quite the improvement. Still, these ponies just seem...off. If I was one of them I’d have turned me into the guards the moment I was unconscious. Everyone has a motive, so what are they planning?

He heard commotion coming from another part of the house and, though he couldn’t make out the words, he could easily discern three voices. One was obviously Iron, and the other two were higher in pitch, which meant they were likely the two foals from the other night.

I hope I didn’t injure the little unicorn too badly, I’m not sure I could live that down. Though, if I had done some serious damage Iron would have undoubtedly turned me in, no matter the motive otherwise. After all, she is its mother, isn’t she?

A short while later Iron came back into the room, looking slightly frazzled. She had a plate of something and a glass of water expertly balanced upon her back and placed them down on a table next to Tristan. He smelled something familiar, though not particularly welcome, wafting from the plate.

“Eugh, cooked carrots? Is this for me?” Tristan said with a grimace. Iron looked genuinely surprised, and a little confused.

“Well, yes, I don’t want you to starve! And you don’t eat carrots? You were practically covered in them when you came here!” she asserted.

“Right, right, thanks...but I can’t exactly eat anything while I’m tied up, can I?” Tristan replied sarcastically.

“Oh, right,” Iron responded, looking a bit worried. “Well, I really don’t think I should untie you, you know...” she trailed off, staring intently at the floor.

“I can wait until Motley gets back, no worries, and the water does sound great,” Tristan assured her, to which she looked visibly relieved. “If you don’t mind though, could I ask you a question or two?”

“S-some questions? I don’t know...I suppose a few wouldn’t hurt,” Iron replied, looking increasingly nervous, though she still poured the water into Tristan’s mouth for him.

“I’ll get straight to it, then. Why did you allow me to live? I break into your home, assault your child, and almost kill you, and you don’t turn me over to the guards? Why?” he queried after the water was finished, hoping that she would tell him the real reason and not some convenient lie.

Iron hesitated for a moment, staring in Tristan’s direction, but not really at him. “...There has already been so much death...if I turned you in, they would have killed you. You could have killed me, but you didn’t. You even cried after you stopped...those were real tears, tears of an intelligent creature, one that obviously had emotions. How could I let you die?” Iron managed to say, tears welling in her eyes. “I couldn’t stand to have blood on my hooves, no matter what the reason. I’m just not strong enough to bear that burden...”

Tristan looked at the now crying mare and felt a poignant shame that he was the cause of her breakdown. He tried to think of ways he could comfort her but just didn’t know how, and so he just let her finish crying.

I really must be a bad person to cause this kind of anguish...I’ll have to try to make it up to her, somehow. I still have plenty of questions, but I should avoid the more sensitive ones. I’m sure they must have plenty for me, as well. I hope Motley gets back soon.

Iron finished her little breakdown and wiped away her tears with remarkable dexterity given her form. “S-sorry, it’s ju-ust, so much has happened, and now this? I’m a good pony, why does all this have to happen to me?” she stammered, attempting to gain control of her emotions.

“Well, I’m not sure how much it matters but...I’m sorry. I wish none of this ever happened either, and if I could change what I did I would, but I can’t. I’ll try my best to earn your forgiveness, but I’m not sure anything I could do would make up for what I did,” Tristan offered meekly, not really expecting a reply.

Iron was quiet for a moment as she sniffled away the last of her tears. She then looked directly into Tristan’s eyes and said in barely a whisper, “...I forgive you.”

“W-what? Really? Just like that, no strings attached, no anything, while I’m still tied up? Are you serious?” Tristan verified, unable to believe it could really be that easy.

“I still don’t trust you, and I can’t say that I even want to be your friend...but yes, I forgive you,” she replied softly. “Holding grudges can do terrible things to a pony, and they never do any good. So, for better or worse...I forgive you.”

So, just like that, she forgives me? I can’t say that I would in her position, but luckily it’s not my choice to make. Wish I could be more like that...I still have some grudges from elementary school! It does seem like she’s a tad emotional though, better make very sure to steer clear of touchy topics.

“Well, thank you for that. I’ll try to be worthy of that forgiveness. The other thing I wanted to know about, though, was the rifts in general,” Tristan began. “Earlier you looked afraid of me when you learned I came through one, and you called me a rift spawn. Care to elaborate? Why do these rifts happen?”

“Oh! Well, I’m no expert in the subject or anything, but I can tell you what most ponies know,” Iron responded, sounding more comfortable with a less personal subject. She settled down and made herself comfortable before beginning her tale. “A while back some pony researcher, I can’t recall the name, invented a way for non-unicorns to pass from place to place instantly. They did it with these neat portals, and a few of them were opened up here in Stalliongrad. However, before long, something unintended started happening as a result.

"Strange lights and sounds were being seen and heard from certain places. I saw one of the lights myself before anypony knew what was going on, coming from the Sovereign Forest, the very same you say you came from. Nopony knew what they were, but we found out later that they were actually portals to other worlds, other dimensions, ripping open without provocation, to all sorts of places!

“Sometimes living things would come through, and they-” Iron descended from intelligible speech to the strange language she actually spoke without warning. She continued on for a moment, oblivious to the fact he couldn’t understand a word she was saying, until she noticed his bewildered look.

She said something unintelligible to him, and, with a shake of his head, he responded. “Yeah...I can’t understand a word of that, whatever Motley did must have worn off.”

Iron was startled by his speech and her ears swiveled to and fro, trying to make sense of the foreign sounds. She gave him a blank stare for a moment and then let out an exclamation that sounded like she understood. She gave Tristan a sheepish grin and motioned for him to stay put.

“Yeah, not like I have any choice in the matter. I suppose there’s nothing for us to do until Motley gets back, then,” Tristan said. He knew she couldn’t understand him but he still felt the need to respond, though he felt like he was talking to a pet rather than an intelligent being.

She left the room, closing the door behind her, and Tristan was alone once more. Given that there really wasn’t anything he could do at this point, he merely squirmed a bit in his bindings to try to get a bit more comfortable and attempted to get a bit more sleep while he waited.

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Tristan was awoken by the sound of screaming. The screams were coming from the direction that he assumed the rest of town was and they sounded frantic and scared, a noise that transcended the language barrier. Whatever was causing that kind of distress he didn’t want anything to do with.

At first he considered yelling to get Iron’s attention, but he then reasoned that it might attract attention from whatever was happening outside, and it wasn’t like Iron wouldn’t have been aware of what was going on. If she was going to be of any help she already would have been, so he figured he was on his own.

He attempted to carefully slide off the bed without making too much noise so that he might inch his way over to the door, only to land on his face. Grumbling from the pain he began to move at a very slow but still noticeable pace. The screams were not dying down, and he heard shouts and even an explosion accompany them, causing him to put even more effort into his pitiful attempts at movement.

Whatever’s going on I do NOT want to be tied up if it ends up involving me! Where the Hell is Iron, shouldn’t she at least check up on me or something? Whatever, I’ve got to do something myself if she’s not going to help!

Finally getting to the door, he attempted to use the wall as leverage to hoist himself up to his knees, succeeding on his fourth attempt. He used his chin to turn the door handle and fell backwards, causing the door to open just a crack.

He nudged the door open to where he could get through and found himself in the hallway he saw during his initial break in. He looked around for something at his level that could be used to cut the rope but found nothing, the knives were in drawers he had no hope of opening and he didn’t know what else would suffice. As he was about to give up hope of freeing himself he noticed something that could be of use; the sword from earlier had been put back on its plaque on the wall.

Another minute of inching his way forward got him to the wall where it was hung. Remembering how it was so poorly secured, he got to a somewhat upright position again and rammed into the wall. The plaque shuddered a bit but stuck fast to the nail that held it, prompting Tristan to try again and again to knock it free.

Eventually it did just that, falling with a clang onto the floor, leaving a terrible gash on the wooden floor. He wormed his way towards it, bruised and battered from using his body as a battering ram, and carefully rubbed the ropes against the blade as best he could.

The sounds of screaming from outside had almost completely subsided during this time, though he could still hear more in the distance. He continually jerked the ropes over the sword again and again, finally feeling some relief when one of them snapped loose, freeing the bottom part of his arms.

With his new freedom he grabbed hold of the sword and carefully cut through the rest of his bindings, trying to avoid tattering his filthy clothes any more than they already were. When he was finally free he gave his legs an extremely satisfying stretch and went to see where Iron was, sword still in hand.

She wasn’t in any of the main rooms, and neither was his backpack, which meant she must have either left the house or be in one of the smaller rooms. He decided it would be best to search them before trying to leave the house, and so he opened the first door that didn’t lead to the room he was being kept in.

The door lead to something he only just now realized that he really needed: a restroom! Though it was designed for ponies and rather strange it still had the basics, and so he knew what to do. After leaving that room there were only two possible doors left to try.

One of them has to be Iron’s room, and that would mean the other would be for the children. I hope Iron isn’t too mad, or scared, about me being up and about...oh well, too late to turn back now!

He hesitantly opened the first door, sword at his side in the least threatening manner he could think of while still keeping it ready in case it was needed. The moment he opened the door three screams came from the inside, revealing Iron and the two foals huddled in a corner, with Iron protectively covering the two.

Iron stopped her screaming when she noticed it was Tristan, though she looked fearful that he was out of his bindings. The two foals, however, kept screaming, both looking absolutely terrified of Tristan. Iron calmed them down as best she could until they were down to frightened whimpers, neither daring to look away from Tristan.

Tristan edged to the opposite corner of the room, with his free hand open in what would hopefully be interpreted as a sign that he wasn’t hostile, finally slouching down to sit with his back to the wall. Iron began babbling something at him and he simply gave her a tired stare, causing her to stop her attempted communications.

The four sat in their respective corners for a while longer, listening to the faint screams outside and what sounded like a battle. Tristan knew he didn’t want to get himself involved in it, and judging by the way Iron and her foals were huddled together, they didn’t want to either.

The sounds of battle were slowly becoming less distant as it seemed that whatever was happening was getting closer to the house once more. Tristan nervously tested his grip on the sword, unsure of what was about to happen. When the sounds came even closer he heard something that instantly sapped his courage: a cry that sounded exactly like the one he had heard come from Mecha-Bull.

His eyes widened in fear as he shrunk down further into his corner, remembering his previous encounters with the beast. Iron and the foals heard the cry as well; each of them responded by flattening their ears to their heads in distress. Tristan felt he needed to do something to help them, but he knew he couldn’t do anything against Mecha-Bull.

“I’m sorry, but our best bet is to just be quiet and sit here...just stay calm, all right?” Tristan said in what he tried to make a soothing tone of voice. The trio all looked at him, clearly still very much afraid of what was going on outside, but still keeping it together.

The seconds passed like hours as they listened to the combat outside, wishing for the battle to move elsewhere. It came closer still, then turned, diverting its path from the house and going down a different path. They let out a collective sigh of relief, only to hear something else from outside.

A voice that Tristan could still recognize even in a different language rang out; it sounded as if Motley was involved in the fight! Iron’s eyes widened as she realized what was going on. She looked despairingly down at the foals who were clinging to her for support and to Tristan, her eyes pleading him to go see what was happening.

Oh no, no way I’m going out there! I was lucky to survive the two encounters I had with that thing earlier, I am not going to put myself at risk again! But...if Motley gets killed, and if I could have done something about it...I only have two allies in this world, and he’s one of them. Plus, without him, I can’t understand anything any of these damnable ponies say...oh, I know I’m going to hate myself for this later, if there even is a later.

Tristan slowly got to his legs, urged on by Iron’s pleading look. He made his way towards the door, hesitant of leaving his sanctuary, and gave one final look back at the three. Iron had tear stains running down her muzzle, though she wasn’t actively crying, and was looking at Tristan with sympathy for what he was doing. The two foals both had their heads buried in Iron’s sides, neither willing to face the outside. With a long sigh Tristan opened up the door and stepped outside the room.

He made his way through the rest of the house to the entrance. The sounds of battle still raged on outside, with the yells of ponies, snorts from Mecha-Bull, and clangs of metal. He tentatively gripped the doorknob and turned it, sword at the ready.

Outside was a chaotic nightmare. Fires raged, consuming several houses, and dead ponies littered the streets, either dead from stabbing, trampling, or being turned to stone. The stench of blood and sweat filled the air, causing Tristan to gag a little.

He looked further down the street and saw the battle raging on at its fullest. Mecha-Bull was angrily swiping about with its horns, puffing out bits of smoke, and charging at any ponies on the ground. Several of the guard types from before were fighting it valiantly, taking every possible window of opportunity to unleash more firepower onto their foe.

Tristan did notice a slight smidgen of hope for the ponies; they were actually making progress! Though he had no idea how it happened, a few of the metallic scales were missing from its side, exposing greyish-brown pulsating flesh underneath. All of the ponies were aiming for it but Mecha-Bull dodged with surprising agility for its size and kept up the offensive to such a degree that the ponies couldn’t possibly coordinate a strategic attack upon it.

None of the ponies, nor Mecha-Bull, seemed to notice Tristan standing, overwhelmed, in front of Iron’s house. Tristan was snapped out of his stupor by the familiar cry of Motley Trade. Motley was among the fighting unicorns, hurtling fireballs of his own at Mecha-Bull, though Tristan noticed that his fireballs seemed a good deal smaller and less vibrant than those of the guards.

While the guards did have their target none of them were making any progress, and Mecha-Bull was dropping ponies like flies. Mecha-Bull was corralling the unicorns into a dead end, forcing them to all attack his strong side, while the pegasi soared about overhead desperately looking for a good way to aid their comrades.

Tristan’s heart began beating faster and faster at the thought of what he was about to do and his mind screamed at him that he was going to get himself killed. He knew that if he didn’t do something Motley would be killed, and even the whole town could be lost. As such, he grit his teeth and set off towards the fight at a sprint.

One of the pegasi noticed him for a moment and was distracted by his sudden appearance, causing it to fail to dodge a burst of green smoke. The pegasus fell from the sky like a rock, literally. Tristan didn’t slow his pace or bother to reconsider his reckless charge; he knew that there was no turning back from what he began. He got closer and closer to Mecha-Bull, eyeing the exposed vulnerable spot and preparing his sword for a strike.

Mecha-Bull was still oblivious to his charge, being fully occupied with the pegasi and unicorns in front of it. Before long it would finish cornering them, ensuring their doom. Tristan finally got close enough to attempt his attack and let out an unbidden primal warcry as he leapt forward with his sword for all he was worth, flying towards the vulnerable area at a speed he would never have dreamt of going at outside of a life or death situation.

Time seemed to slow down during his brief flight, giving him surprising clarity in the space of a mere second. He saw himself closing in further, further, right on target, he saw Mecha-Bull turn to face him before contact could be made, he saw his sword deflect uselessly off Mecha-Bull’s metallic scales, and he saw his life flash before his eyes as he realised he had failed.

He spun with the impact and landed on the ground, staring directly up into Mecha-Bull’s mighty girth. Panicking, he furiously rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the crushing blow from one of Mecha-Bull’s hoof. Though he ached all over he sprung to his feet, seeing all eyes on him, including Mecha-Bull’s. He decided to do the only thing he felt he could in the situation - run as fast as he possibly could. Unfortunately, he failed to lose Mecha-Bull’s attention, and a moment after he began to sprint he heard it cry out and give chase.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit! Not like this!

Before Mecha-Bull was able to reach him he dove to the side into an alley on the street, letting his pursuer’s momentum keep it going past him. He found himself cornered, with only a few crates to afford him any protection. Without thinking he clambered onto them, before noticing the rooftop was still far out of his reach. Before he had time to formulate any sort of a plan Mecha-Bull was already back, charging straight at him, guards close behind.

Seeing no possible escape route, Tristan lunged forward from his perch, attempting to leap over Mecha-Bull. Either by luck or by design, however, Mecha-Bull thrashed its head, slicing a deep gash in Tristan’s abdomen with the tip of its horn. The shock of the injury stunned him, and he limply fell to the ground on his back. A hoof was raised above him and he weakly tried to roll out of the way, but was unable to avoid a hit. A hoof caught him in the abdomen, crushing down upon him. Pain worse than any he had ever experienced before rippled through his body and his eyes widened as he realised that something must have ruptured.

His vision began to swim and everything rapidly became blurry as he weakly spluttered out some blood that was welling up in his throat. He saw shapes moving in front of him and tried to move away from the commotion and attempted to make sense of the noises he was hearing. Despite his efforts everything was slowly dissolving into static and blackness. He gave one last spluttering cough and lost consciousness.

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Tristan woke up in an indistinct haze, numb all over, vaguely noting that he seemed to be in a bed. He heard noises coming from around him that seemed to be voices and saw shapes swimming through his vision but was unable to make out anything. At his awakening several of the voices around him became agitated and something large and white loomed over him. He felt a very slight pressure on his arm and lost his grasp on the waking world.

The next time he awoke he was a great deal clearer and could actually make out his surroundings, though he was still quite numb. He was in what was distinctly a hospital, complete with sterile white walls and floor. There was a window but no sunlight came through, letting him know it was currently night. He was hooked up to what looked to be a few machines, though they didn’t look like any that he had seen in hospitals before.

What just happened? Is this the real world, or the pony one? Or is the pony one real? Hopefully my parents will be by soon to tell me I had an accident or something...but what if I wasn’t hallucinating or whatever? But no...that thing stomped on me, no way I’d survive that if it was real. This has got to be a normal, human hospital!

He experimented with his arms to see if he could move them, finding that he could, though not very much without ripping out all the things attached to them. He carefully moved the covers off of him, making sure to not disturb his connections, to try and take a better look at his body, hoping for some clue as to what had happened.

Removing the covers revealed bandages covering everything from his armpits to his waist. Efforts at moving his stomach yielded only pain, even through whatever numbing agent was at work. He was still wearing his pants, which looked like they had been washed. Probing of his head revealed that there were only a few bandages there and his skull seemed to be wholly intact.

If all of that was some kind of hallucination or coma dream then I should have head trauma, shouldn’t I? And those bandages on my stomach...that’s consistent with getting trampled, just like Mecha-Bull did. So that would mean that I’m still in crazy land. I guess they must have some pretty advanced medicine, though they do have magic, don’t they?

If I’m still in this pony world in...I think Iron called it Stalliongrad...wait, why would it be called Stalliongrad? That’s a pun! Ignoring that point for now...I’m not being guarded, and I’m being taken care of somewhere other than Iron’s house. Unless Motley runs a hospital that must mean the other ponies don’t want me dead any more!

That leaves what I need to do now. Let’s see...in the movies the protagonist would rip out the life giving attachments and drunkenly wander the halls to cause a mess. So, being sane...at least I hope I’m sane...I’m not going to do that. And the only other option is just lying here, but it could be worse, certainly.

Having resolved to stay put and not make things harder than they already were Tristan settled himself down, enjoying the comfort of a soft bed without the buffer of constricting ropes. Before long sleep took him once more.

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He awoke to see light streaming in from the window and two ponies standing next to his bed. One was a nurse, tan in coat with the stereotypical hat, while the other was Motley Trade. The two ponies seemed to be in a bit of a debate and were oblivious to his newly awakened state, though Tristan still couldn’t understand any of the things they were saying.

Tristan conspicuously cleared his throat and gave an expectant look to Motley, startling the two out of their conversation. Motley looked Tristan over and said something to the nurse, which she responded to by backing up a few paces. Motley’s horn became surrounded in the now familiar incandescent glow and Tristan braced himself for the effects of the spell.

“Well that was certainly easier the second time. Can you understand me all right, Tristan?” Motley questioned in a casual tone.

“Yeah, thanks for that, I take it Iron told you the other one wore off?” Tristan replied, glad to finally be able to communicate again.

“Yes, sorry about that. I didn’t expect to take so long, and then...well, you know what happened next. That was the beast you described to us, wasn’t it? One of the things I went to do when I left was ask about it; apparently it just trampled its way through whatever obstacles were set for it and came to town...this whole day has just been a disaster,” Motley finished sadly with a distant look.

“That thing certainly was a monster. How did you save me, though? I remember it actually stomping on me, and there’s no way I should have survived that. And how did you get me out of there?” Tristan queried.

“Well, you actually saved me, and a lot of other ponies, in a way. Earlier in the fight one of the most talented unicorns I’ve ever known managed to blast off some of its scales, exposing a weak spot. Unfortunately, he was turned to stone soon after doing so, and the beast was all the more enraged at the attack. We just couldn’t get a good shot at it, until you distracted it.” Motley began.

“As for how we saved you, after your little chase, once it was distracted enough by stomping on you, one of the guards got a good shot on it and staggered it, allowing the rest of us to overwhelm it at once. It’s dead now, and we were able to drag you off. Your wounds were grievous, but Doctor Needles-”

“Wait, did you just say Doctor Needles?” Tristan interrupted.

“Err, yes, I did,” Motley replied, slightly miffed about being cut off.

“Thats...terrifying,” Tristan said, only half-sarcastically.

“Yes, well, as I was saying, Doctor Needles was able to patch you up pretty well. You had a ruptured stomach, a rather deep gash, and several broken ribs along with other more minor problems, I believe. If you weren’t already near a hospital you would have undoubtedly died. He was able to fix your stomach up a bit right away and set the bones, but real healing will take time,” Motley continued.

“Wow,” Tristan began, rubbing his bandages a little more carefully. “Sounds like I was pretty lucky. Anyway, I can’t help but notice I’m in a hospital...I take it that means that the guards are cool with the whole, ‘me living’ thing, then?”

“Iron and I managed to convince them to let you off, given the circumstances. There was some talk about experiments and testing though...I think I heard one of them mention the word ‘dissection’ at least once,” Motley responded with a smirk.

“It’s nice to know that I’m not going to be hun-” Tristan started. “Wait, wait, back up a moment. What?”

Motley began to laugh, causing Tristan to glare at him for a moment, before joining in the laugh as well. The nurse, who had been becoming more and more irate at being ignored, ended the joviality with a harsh look in Motley’s direction as she dutifully checked over Tristan’s hookups.

“I believe the patient needs to get some rest, don’t you? And weren’t you just telling me a moment ago about how you had some very important things to see to? You had best be on your way, Mr. Trade,” the nurse stated in a calm but somewhat hostile tone.

“Right, right...I do have things I need to get to, just stick in bed for now, I’ll be back before long with something you’re sure to like. Don’t worry yourself about the future for now, just don’t do anything stupid and you’ll be fine. I’ll see you in a few!” Motley said, turning around and briskly walking out of the room.

The nurse, satisfied with her assessment, turned around to leave as well. However, before she got to the door, she turned around to address Tristan. “You may have some ponies who are willing to vouch for you, but don’t think for a moment anypony really trusts you. I don’t want any trouble from you, or I’ll be calling the guards right in, Beast. Am I understood?”

“Yes, yes, no troubles from me!” Tristan responded quickly, taken aback by the sudden show of hostility. The mare left the room at last, but not without giving Tristan a final death glare.

Well, isn’t she just a little ball of sunshine? I guess it’d be too much to hope for instant acceptance from all of those ponies, though. Given what’s been going on the last few days, I got off pretty easy with that. All the same...better stay sharp around that one.

As for right now, I’m confined to a bed, there’s certainly not a TV or anything here, and I have absolutely nothing to do. Lovely. I hope Motley gets back soon.

The next two hours were spent twiddling thumbs, counting tiles, and invoking the wondrous powers of imagination. Finally, as Tristan was about to attempt simply getting more sleep, Motley returned, accompanied by the sour nurse from earlier and Iron.

“Mr. Trade. Mrs. Striker,” she said to them each with a curt nod. “I’ll be attending to my duties at my desk if you require assistance.” She left the room quickly, not even bothering to check Tristan. Motley and Iron seemed oblivious to her mannerisms and approached Tristan without commenting on it.

“Good to see you’ve returned! But it’s been a good while; your spell didn’t work that long last time. How can I still understand you?” Tristan greeted.

“That’s the thing I wanted to give you,” Motley levitated an unassuming circular metal pendant on a chain he was wearing towards Tristan. “See, the spell wears off of living things pretty quickly, but it can last years if put on an inanimate object. Anything said within five feet or so of this pendant will be translated into the language the listener is most comfortable with. I’m not quite skilled enough to perform an enchantment like that, so I had to go get the help of one of my friends.”

“Wow, impressive! But I wasn’t within five feet, so how could I understand it?” Tristan asked, still getting used to the whole idea of magic being real.

“Well, it’s a little complicated, but you can think of it like a buffer of sorts. Any words passing through the effective radius are enchanted to where they’ll be heard in the listener’s native language. It doesn’t really affect the mind, so much as it affects the words themselves!” Motley replied, looking pleased with himself for knowing so much.

“You could have just said, ‘It’s magic, it just works,’ that’s usually enough for me,” Iron added.

“I think it’s fascinating, actually,” Tristan began. “We don’t have magic where I come from; it’s just the kind of thing you hear about in myths and legends. Thanks for the pendant, by the way!” he finished, allowing Motley to slip the chain over his neck.

“So there’s absolutely no magic in your world? How could anything survive? Does your sun just stay in one place?” Motley asked, genuinely confused.

“Things get by just fine. Do you really rely on it that much? And the sun staying in one place? Perhaps this place is even more different than I originally thought, but what? The sun moving isn’t magic, it’s just, well, science!” Tristan answered.

“Alright, enough of this science and magic talk, I’ve been through too much these last two days to deal with that,” Iron cut in, looking exasperated. “I just came in here to see if you were doing all right, and to thank you for going to help Motley the other day. I was a little afraid you’d just run out of the city, to be honest.”

“You two are the first friendly beings I’ve met since I got here; I couldn’t just leave you. Besides, where else could I go? If I left I was dead, if I tried to help you I was probably dead, but not surely. And me sitting here now proves I made the right choice,” Tristan explained.

“Regardless of the motivation, I’m glad you decided to help. Anyway, Iron and I had better get going, jobs to work, children to feed, and all that. You’ll be here for a while with those injuries, but we’ll try to visit you when we have time,” Motley remarked.

“It must be lonely sitting there all by yourself all day with the private room and all. I could try to get you a book if you’d like,” Iron offered, eyeing the spacious yet almost completely empty room.

“If the translation spell works for them, I’d love one!” Tristan excitedly declared, to which Motley nodded his head in affirmation. “If I’m going to be here for a while anything about...I just realised I don’t know what this place is even called, actually.”

“It’s Equestria,” Motley quickly supplied.

“Right. Yes. Of course it would be. Equestria, Stalliongrad, and let me guess...Manehattan?” Tristan sarcastically commented.

“Wait, so you do know some places?” Iron innocently inquired.

Tristan was just silent for a moment, giving her a blank stare. “You know what, I’m just going to accept that. Doesn’t translate right, must be it. Yeah, I’m sticking with that,” Tristan said to no one in particular.

Iron and Motley looked at each other worriedly but neither were willing to ask about what Tristan was going on about. After saying their goodbyes they left Tristan alone in the room once more to contemplate his strange situation.

Iron and Motley did not return that day, much to Tristan’s disappointment. Doctor Needles was the only visitor he got, and that was only for the unpleasant business of further bone repair and a quick introduction. He was anxious to be up and about but kept Motley’s words in mind about not doing anything stupid, and so ended the day peaceably.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tristan was awoken by the sound of a great deal of hooves clopping on the tiles outside of his room. A moment later a full squad of guards, eight in all, billowed into the room, all but one standing at attention along the wall. The one guard who kept moving to Tristan seemed to be the leader and was followed by a breathless Doctor Needles.

The lead guard briskly assessed Tristan with a scrutinizing gaze and spoke to Doctor Needles in a deep voice. “The subject is stable enough to move, correct?”

“Yes...but...he shouldn’t...be moved...unless necessary...” Needles wheezed out, not used to having to keep up with trained guards.

“Princess Celestia herself has deemed it necessary, and it is our duty to enact her decree that it is to be brought to her. Prepare it for immediate transport via chariot. We will be waiting outside,” the head guard said in an overly official tone.

“Umm...do I get any say in this?” Tristan meekly protested, only to be ignored by everyone in the room.

Moments later he was strapped to a mobile bed, sans wires and monitors, and carried through the hospital. All around ponies either stared at or cringed in fear of him, most stopping whatever they had been doing completely. All Tristan could do was give a weak grin as he passed by them, trying to make himself seem as nonthreatening as possible.

He was taken outside in such a way that the sunlight shone directly into his eyes, disorienting him further. By the time his eyes adjusted he had been loaded up into a chariot that was hooked up to two of the pegasi guards, next to another chariot filled with the unicorns and ponies without wings or horns.

He wasn’t able to emit even a single protest before the chariot lurched and began on its way, not on the ground, but into the air! Tristan could only see the sky above him and the sides of the chariot, given his position strapped to the bed.

Well, not even a chance to say goodbye to Iron and Motley! Just when they start treating me like an actual civilized being, there’s this bunch of crap. And did they say...princess?

Tristan yelled out several choice expletives that were lost to the wind as they sailed ever higher into the sky. All he knew was that if he screwed this meeting up, he was completely and totally doomed.

Comments

[LaughingZombie]

Well that battle was anti-climatic, though realistic. Still, I always enjoy a good epic battle when the time comes for one. It's such a rush.

[Eldamaur]

1713320 Aha, someone got it! Yes, it was indeed a Gorgon. Given how the rifts work (more on that soon) I needed a lot of different creatures. I play D&D 3.5 weekly, and so I have a D&D Monster Manual. Expect a lot of creatures, either directly from the book or slightly altered, in the future.

[Alondro]

Chapter 3 note: >>>“A while back some pony researcher, I can’t recall the name, invented a way for non-unicorns to pass from place to place instantly. They did it with these neat portals, and a few of them were opened up here in Stalliongrad. However, before long, something unintended started happening as a result.”>>>

Goddammit, Twilight. What have you done now?

Oh come on, you KNOW this all happened because Twilight messed up a spell! When has she NOT almost caused the end of the multiverse these days?

[Rough Boulder]

1912588 and apparently where she makes cutie marks switch places in s3e13 she (may) become an Alicorn.

[Trihors]

That fight was a fucking disappointment. But chapter was good enough, now... to the next one!

[Merlin Of Cloudsdale]

I notice that I'm not the only one saying this,but while that chapter was well done and it gave some well needed explaining to the story the battle was a bit rushed at the point Tristan joined in. Before he did the battle was well described and nice, when Tristan joins in though it loses that quality of writing that it had before, it felt a little rushed. Maybe a bit more detail into Tristan's actions while he is fighting would help it, though I would advise to also make sure it doesn't drag on. Finding that point in creating a battle scene is tricky, but is great reading when done right. Overall though, good chapter.

[Hex217]

I will never understand why people let out war cry's, it just gives away the element of surprise giving away there position.

[Savant Sentral]

Now you're thinking with portals.

[pinkshadow369]

Man I've never seen any story get this much review b4. By the way. 4 the love of god someone tell me y equestria is a pun. I don't get it.