> Shadows and Regrets
>  by flamevulture17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. Inertia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


[Chapter 1]



[Inertia]














Monday



February 24




Like all other days, the sun's powerful rays showered down over the earth to give the landscape a warm embrace for all walks of life to absorb. Without it, life could not exist, without it, the world could not flourish the way it did, with all its beauty and ugliness working in seemingly perfect balance.

Across the American Midwest, however, that warm embrace was especially hot, extremely unusual for that time of year, ruthlessly squeezing the energy from even the most potent of living creatures and the most adapted of motionless plants. Most people would blame climate change and the rest didn't care and went about their lives. St. Louis is said to be the gateway to the West, a port city of the great Mississippi river that stood proud with its unique and iconic arch of silver.

To Andrew Fera, it was nothing special.

Off in the suburbs of the city, he couldn't be any more right. With and the dull designs of the houses on the quietest of side streets, bland and boring were words that could not do him enough justice. To add to that, the heat was almost unbearable, but nothing the body wasn't built to handle. The only way to counter it was a nice blast of cool air from the greatest invention ever, air conditioning.

Andrew dragged his feet along the pavement of the sidewalk as he waddled down his street on his way home from school. What a perfect way to spend a hot day on a winter month, sitting inside a classroom, reading out-of-date science books and controversial English novels in the name of public education. Of course if anyone knew anything about school, it was only ever useful when you liked it.

Approaching his ultimate destination, Andrew mentally berated himself for not bringing a water bottle with him. Dehydration was one enemy too strong for him to defeat. He just had to hold out long enough until he got to his doorstep. Another minute outside was another minute of hell. Andrew started to feel light-headed and dizzy. His jeans and t-shirt sagged while the hoodie tied around his waist came loose every few strides.

It just wasn't his day. After a weekend lacking productivity, it just had to end. He rather enjoyed his free time without an agenda.

Finally reaching the porch of his home, Andrew fiddled with the keys in his pocket until finding the right one. Slipping it in the slot, he finally gave in and dropped to his knees as the door swung open, completely out of breath.

Without taking time to take off his backpack, he crawled to the stairs directly in front of him and Andrew flipped on his back to lean at the base of the stairs. The brief relaxation relieved the strain of his dying muscles that screamed in agony, leaving his body in an exhausted heap. With his arms numb from the heat, it took some effort to move them again without a resurgence of aching pain.

For several minutes, he sat there wishing he could lay there for eternity never to be disturbed again, but the sound of blunt footsteps from above brought him from the brink of death.

“Do you always have to over exaggerate like this?”

The sound of that voice was like dunking his head in a bucket of cool water. He felt better already. Clearly knowing the answer was a yes, Alex stepped over Andrew's slumped form and headed for the kitchen to get a drink.

The exhausted teen immediately snapped up as his younger brother left him alone, forcing every joint in his arms and legs to pop.

“I'm up! I'm up!” he said, flailing his arms. “Get me a soda, too, will ya?”

“I'm not getting a soda.” Alex called out from the kitchen.

“Toss me one anyways. I'm dyin' over here.”

Alex smirked, amused by his brother's typical comedic reaction to eighty degree weather. It's not even that hot outside. He opened the fridge and grabbed a Snapple for himself and Dr. Pepper for the starving boy on the floor. He returned the same way he came and tossed—quite literally—the soda can right on top of his brother.

Andrew was slow to catch the incoming soft drink, bouncing it of his wrists and sending it impacting his face.

“Ouch.”

“Hehe, you said toss it,” Alex laughed again, unsure if was appropriate to.

“I didn't mean literally,” Andrew replied.

“It was still funny though.”

Andrew smiled. “Your aim is getting better.”

Alex rolled his one good eye, and blinking profusely with his dead one.

Andrew picked himself off the ground awkwardly and opened the can without careful thought. All of a sudden, the soda can nearly exploded in his hands, a plume of fizzling bubbles shooting out the top like a geyser. He immediately covered the top of the can with a palm before the liquid got in his eyes, letting the excited carbonation die down.

By the time it was finally over, Alex couldn't help but laugh harder this time. His laugh was short lived after seeing the disappointed expression of his brother drenched in sticky cola. Instead of ignoring it and rudely heading upstairs, he grabbed a towel from a nearby closet and handed it to Andrew.

“You gotta be more careful,” said Alex as his older brother wiped his face clean.

Andrew said nothing, as if the relatively small accident was some sort of traumatic event. In fact, the sudden surprise brought a vivid memory above all others, snapping him out of his moderate mood.

All he could do was frown and breath heavily.

“You okay man?” Alex asked.

Andrew had forgotten he was there, turning his head slowly. “What's wrong?”

Andrew inhaled, then sighed. “I don't know, I guess was just scared, that's all.”

“It's just coke, it does that all the time.”

“Yeah, but this was different.”

“Different, how?” Alex's curiosity shot up.

Andrew hesitated before answering. Unsure of whether to outright say what had occurred to him that shook his mind, what struck him most was the fact that he had forgotten what day it was.

“What's today?” he said.

“Today? Monday.”

“No, the date?”

“Um, the twenty-fourth I think. February. Why? Is that why you freaked out? You forgot the date?”

Andrew closed his eyes for more than a moment. How could he have been so clueless? He's been so distracted lately that it had never occurred to him of the most significant event in his life. He pinched his nose and spoke.

“Do you remember what happened on this day?”

“Yeah, I woke up, went to school, suffered, and came ho-”

“That's not what I meant.” How could his brother forget as well. “I can't believe it's been a year.”

“OH! You mean...” Alex snapped wide at the realization. “Oh wow, it HAS been a year! How could I forget?”

“Then why did you?”

“I don't know, I guess it's been a long day. School's been beating me up all day.”

You have nooo idea, was Andrew's mental eye roll. It was then that a silence fizzled, allowing him to think about that day one year ago. It seemed so far away, but at the same time it felt so close.

For something of that magnitude to completely alter his understanding of what's possible and absolutely redefine what he felt about his friends and family. To think his life was just like any other one minute, and the next minute he transforms into unicorn-pegasus with no good explanation how.

For the months that followed the event, he couldn't sleep. He'd lay awake at night. Pondering. Speculating. Hoping. Hoping that someday he'd find the answer the what happened and why. It was so unexpected. So weird.

“I'm going upstairs,” echoed a voice right next to him as the beat of footsteps stumbled up the stairs to the second floor. Andrew hardly noticed Alex leave. Hell, he even forgot that his brother right beside him the whole time. All he could do was murmur to himself.

Andrew stared straight ahead, not a care in the world. The dry, sticky soda on his skin was of no concern anymore, only the brief contemplation gluing his eyes into space.

He took a sip of his soda, and laid back against the first couple step at the base of the stairwell. A little moment of recollection and relaxation couldn't hurt, he was too burnt out to move after all.

After about several minutes—which was long enough to hear his thoughts in the silence and regain his strength—Andrew got up and followed after his brother, leaving his half empty soda can where he lay seconds earlier.





- - -




Later that night...



“What did you put for for number eight?”

“Um, I got C.”

“3 grams of salt? Now way, you did the math wrong. It's A, 6 grams of salt. What about number fourteen?”

“D.”

“You're really bad at this, aren't you? How do you get nitric acid from a selenium sulfide solution?”

“I like how it sounds.”

“Well your preference on what the answer sounds the best is not helping. You know what, I'm not even going to ask you for number twenty.”

Andrew was listening to his two friends Steven and Peter hash out their answers for a take home quiz for their chemistry class via Skype call on his laptop. Since they were in the senior class now, they agreed to take the same classes before year's end when the fate of college could separate them. Andrew tried to convince each of them to take advanced chemistry instead of physics, but were all too reluctant to agree. Though, he didn't give up, eventually persuading them to accept on the grounds that he help them pass.

Now Peter was having a hard time struggling with his quiz while Steven was busy guessing the answers without a care in the world. Andrew said not a single word since they called him up after logging on to Skype an hour before midnight. His face drooped in boredom as solitaire and waited for it to end already.

“What about you, Andrew?”

Andrew shot his head up. “Huh?”

“What you get for twenty?” Peter asked.

“I don't know.”

A pause ensued as a quiet static bleed from the speakers. Andrew didn't even notice Peter finally stop talking, he was too busy losing every solitaire game he played.

“Are you even doing the quiz?”

“No.”

Andrew could clearly hear a grunt from the other end of the line from Peter. Steven, on the other hand, let out a chuckle.

“Why am I even friends with you guys?” Peter barked.

Andrew abruptly stopped playing his current game after hearing that question.

“What did you say?” He asked in a dangerously serious tone. One part of him knew he was joking, but another part could help but feel like it was a genuine question.

“Come on guys, help me out here, this thing is due tomorrow.” Peter begged in an agitated fashion, not making the situation any better for himself.

Andrew could not come to terms to what Peter was hinting at. Yes he's a little loud and yes he says things before thinking about them, but this was an all time new for him. He couldn't tell whether he was being serious or just plain crazy.

“Why would you say something like that?” Andrew growled through the built-in microphone of his computer.

“Look man, I'm sorr-” Peter was cut off as his connection was disconnected. Andrew had kicked him from the call.

“What did you do that for?” Steven objected, knowing all too well what just happened.

Andrew didn't answer, staring at his computer screen with an indignant scrunch and an audible breath. Lately his mood has gone all over the place and he did a poor job of hiding his anger at that point.

“Andrew?”

“What!?” he exclaimed.

“You alright?” Steven muttered with caution, hoping not to set his friend off the rails.

Andrew sighed forcefully. “I'm fine.”

“I know that's not true.”

“What do you care.”

Before Andrew could end the call as he so desired to, Steven spoke up again.

“Does this have something to do with that day a year ago?”

Andrew's heart skipped a beat. With his cursor hovering over the 'end call' button, seconds away from kicking Steven off his computer.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He narrowed his eyes over that red button that would postpone his problems for the day.

“How's your brother doing? It must be hard to lose vision in your left eye.”

That virtual red button mocked him with it's ultimate power. The power to end this altogether.

“I know you weren't there, but Peter, Dale, and I helped to save Alex.”

Andrew moved his index finger closer to clicking his mouse. No mercy.

“You're lucky. I wish I had a brother. Alex seems like a good guy and I know you think it was your fault, but don't blame yourself for what happened. It was no one's fault. It was just a freak accident, nobody knows how it happened. What's done is done and you need to learn to pick yourself up and let things go, man. I can see in class that you seem distressed, sometimes happy, but mostly down. Yeah, mostly down. I don't want to be the one to call you out on it, I left that to Dale, but I'm asking now. Is everything alright? It's okay if you don't want to tell us everything, just don't lie to us.”

…

Steven wasn't much of a talker, even less so when talking about anyone other than himself. He was usually laid back, not terribly smart, and full of himself to the point where wearing sunglasses at night would make him look cooler.

This was also a new, bu strangely the opposite of Peter's attitude just a minute ago. It worried him. A deep breath was all that he needed to keep his strength up. Steven was right, he wasn't going to tell him everything.

At least, not yet.

“I'm fine.”

*click*

If only his friend knew the real story. After ending the call on Steven without a proper answer, the static vanished, replaced by stillness. All he could do was sit there in silence. No thought. No movement. No nothing.

Andrew closed solitaire and slapped his screen shut. He slowly twirled in his chair and pushed himself to the center of his bedroom. The darkness of the hour poured through the windows, but the light of his desk lamp painted the walls with a yellow tinge that fought back.

What was once a sight of the accident where Alex was nearly killed that day, the entire room felt unfamiliar once again. Not long after the incident, it had been stripped of its contents for carpet replacement, then new redwood shelves were added and the walls saw a new coat of paint. His room used to be turquoise. It was white now. Blank white. White as the moon.

Even the smell was different. He didn't like it at first, but had gotten used to it within a week. A cross between iron and ashes.

Andrew sank further in his chair, raising a hand to his temples for comfort. He turned his head every which way, looking at every edge and corner of the room hoping to remember more of what happened in more detail. The worst part was that the memory was fading over time, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He's had enough. He didn't want to get too distracted by the past, he still had that chemistry test to complete. He still had all night to get it done.

Spinning around, Andrew flipped open his computer again and decided to play more solitaire to kill time. He wished something would relieve him of the intense boredom and nagging nostalgia that never seemed to leave him alone.

*ping ping*

A message popped up on his Skype chat box. It was Dale.

Call me, it read.

Andrew thought of whether or not he should. He wasn't in the mood after what Peter said.

Then again, Dale is his best friend. He would never say as stupid as that. A guy who got his act together and looked on the bright side of things. He was his most reliable source of support, taking the opportunity to cheer him up whenever he felt down in the dumps. Kinda like he was feeling now.

…

Well damn.

Andrew dialed up Dale's Skype number and waited. Curse logic, why must his human brain do that to him all the time.

Not two rings later, the connection was established to Dale Larsen across airwaves.

“Hey man, what's up?” Dale's voice echoed through the cascading static. Andrew waited without a word, slumping back in his seat. “Hello?”

Andrew's mood hadn't quite improved, even after hearing the voice of his best friend. With two hands, he rubbed the stinging pinch from his eyes. For him to stay up that late on a school night was becoming a normal thing, one that he wished hadn't developed into a habit impossible to break.

“Andrew?” Dale repeated. “Talk to me, man. Don't tell me you turned into a unicorn again.” A nervous laugh escaped the impatient teen at other end.

Andrew finally looked up from his expressionless gaze. Trying to recover his cool from earlier, he continued to have trouble getting it out of his head. At least he didn't have to remind Dale of the significance of this day.

“I know you're there, I can hear you breathing.” That was clearly not true. Andrew tried to be as silence and absent as possible. He couldn't even hear his own breath, but he could smell it. Chicken strips and ranch dressing, with a hint of Dr. Pepper.

“Should I walk over to check you're still there?”

Andrew leaned back and closed his eyes to stretch. He couldn't let Dale talk to himself all night.

“Dale?” he whispered.

“There you are buddy!” Dale shrieked quietly. “For a minute there I thought I was talking to myself.”

“You were.”

“Aw don't be like that, where's your sense of humor?” Apparently Andrew had misplaced it somewhere. “You still have one, don't you? Hehe.”

“Could you maybe talk less?” Andrew sputtered. He was so close to banging on the desk out of annoyance, one snap short of frustration.

“Okay geez, I'm sorry, you're acting weird again. Does it have something to do with the past? Ya know, last year?”

“Yes and no.” Andrew managed a meager sign. “I mean... it's Peter.”

“Ha, what he do this time? Put ice down your shirt.” Dale chuckled at his own joke. All in all, it was something Peter would do. Being the funny guy in their circle, he's done crazier things in his time as reputation showed as class clown. When he wasn't in the midst of a prank, Peter was a hard dude to read.

“He questioned our friendship.”

Dale stopped laughing and cleared his throat of all humor. He shared half the concern. “Was he joking?”

“I— I don't know,” Andrew stuttered.

“Come on, you know him, he's just messing with you. Don't let it get to your head.” Little did Dale know, that's exactly what happened.

“But what if—“

“Don't!” Dale retaliated. “Don't do that to yourself. Just give it a pass.” If Dale could see his friend now, he'd see a mellow mess of a teenager shaking his head at a crisis of merit, the kind common for people his age. “We'll deal with it later. So what are you doing now?”

“Nothing important.”

“Great! Why don't you come over.”

“At eleven-thirty?”

“Why not, you seem like you need some cheering up. I'm free to talk all night.”

Andrew imagined semi-perfect teeth behind a cheeky smile from his enthusiastic friend. He considered the offer for a second. Maybe he did need a pep talk, plus it'd be a cool idea to retell the story of his visit to Equestria with Dale again, even if he didn't believe him, still.

“Fine. I'll be there in five minutes.” It took less than that to walk down the street to Dale's house.

“I'll be waiting.”

Those were Dale's final words before ending the call on his end, leaving Andrew to the silence he so longed for. He shut down his computer and readied his backpack of his school work just in case.

One last thing. Andrew shuffled under his bed for his duffel bag, the contents of which remained untouched since the incident. It was kept as a reminder, having waited all this time to revisit the things that accompanied him to another world. Part of him was afraid of some unseen equine disease, running the risk infection, but after a year, his fears fell flat and fell hard. The other part was premature nostalgia.

Andrew stuffed the bag in his other bag and threw it over his back. He tied his shoes, grabbed his keys and jacket, and turned out the light. Leaving his room, he stopped by his parent's room to notify them of his future whereabouts before leaving the house. Both his mother and father agreed to let him stay over if need be. He wasn't planning on it.

Right at the top of the staircase, he looked over to Alex's room. Considering the thought a second, Andrew found himself walking to his brother's bedroom door. A few slow knocks later and long wait later, the door creaked open and stayed that way. Through narrow opening, Alex peeked out at Andrew.

“What?” he said groggily as if he was sick.

“I'm going to Dale's house. You wanna come with.”

A pause left Andrew nervous again.

“I'll pass,” the boy finally forced out before closing the door.

Andrew sighed and spoke quietly. “I'm sorry.” He turned to descend to ground floor and leave through the front door into the night. He could swear he saw a tear form in his brother's left eye, the scar that reminded him of his regrets. Alex would never see through his left eye again and neither of them still could accept it.

It really must be hard for him. Andrew promised to find a way to make it up to him. He didn't care how, but he's been doing such a poor job of keeping his vow in exchange for personal grief. For now he'd put aside his thoughts of Alex to spare him from further guilt and focus on something else.

It was freezing outside, probably full forty degree cooler than daytime. Amazing and deadly how temperature behaves, heeding to no one and huffing its savage evil upon Andrew's face. A subtle reflection of his own fears appear to manifest with the weather.




Strange.


Everything is different, but he felt like nothing has changed.


For the next few minutes, all he could think of was Lyra.
> 2. Recoil
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


[Chapter 2]



[Recoil]












A near deafening silence echoed in the darkness. Even though it may always be that why, this was different. A cold light poured from the black of night and fabric of space, poking through the shadow of day.

Gaining more and more energy, a spinning singularity began to form not ten meters from the ground, shooting spokes of white light that bled onto the surrounding area as it grew brighter with each second, illuminating the suburban environment. With the fluctuating rip in reality reached a certain intensity, the waving sound of wind was overrun by the sound of a brief thunder that shook the earth beneath.

Suddenly, as if shot from a cannon, two rolling figures emerged from the light. They were thrown outward and became projectiles as they hit the damp soil. Bouncing a several meters, they tumbled until they collided with a dense object, striking it with painful force.

After coming to a halt, the light of the portal vanished, the night taking its rightful place once more.

The two grunting figures lay twitching and wincing after the immediate impact, resting one on top of the other. They could only wonder what went wrong.

Lyra was already struggling to remain alive and regain normal muscle movements in her limbs and other motor functions responsible for motion. Her eyesight, however, was of utmost concern to her. She couldn't make out if she was blind or if it was just pitch black. She went with pitch black. The uncertainty of impairment mocked her mercy.

Now, after a few more seconds atop a squishy surface, her brain was back at half capacity, which was more than enough to think with ease. She immediately thought of what happened. She was cut short when the squishy surface wiggled and pushed her off. She got to her hooves and shook off excess numbness while frantically trying to search for her assailant.

No use if she can't see. Her horn was too burnt to preform even a simple illumination spell. She rubbed her eyes and tried again, this time only making out the blur of dark blue next to her.

“What have you done!?”

Lyra nearly jumped out of her fur at the intimate voice of none other than Princess Luna, booming like a manticore's roar. She cowered fearfully away from the voice. With such booming authority and dripping anger, the mint unicorn huddled beside herself.

“Where have you taken us!?” Luna's voice demanded, slightly quieter this time.

Lyra could barely see the form of the Princess of the Night in front of her. She might as well be talking to her conscience who might as well have taken the voice of Luna. That is, until a pale blue light took shape over the tip of the alicorn's horn.

“L-Luna?” she croaked.

“Answer me!”

Lyra cringed. She had no idea what was going on. Her teleportation spell should have worked, but if that's the case, why is Princess Luna with her. She was too afraid to take a guess why. Only briefly, she took advantage of the newfound light and stole quick glances at the new terrain around them.

A tall wooden fence enclosed the area where they stood. Caged from all sides, it rose out of the shrub nearly twice her height. Just behind her was an old apple tree without the apples, which she now knew what what broke their tumble. The floor was was littered with decomposing apples that have fallen long before she arrived.

Towering behind Luna was a large white house, or what she thought was a house. Or white. It was like no design she had ever seen, the architecture so precise, perfect and dull. At first sight, it seemed unique, until that is she looked left and right to find similar structures with only slightly different details and shades of gray.

Finally, Lyra looked up. The night sky loomed over the land, but she saw less stars than she would remember if she was in her won backyard. Only a few of the brightest could be seen, but that's not what concerned her most. One portion of the sky was unmistakeably the Orion constellation. Maybe the spell didn't work and she's still in Ponyville, but what of these huge rows of houses.

Several seconds went by as Luna waited for her to speak. Thankfully, her vocal chords were one of the things undamaged by the spell. Only problem was her anxious fright, frigid guilt, and incoherent thoughts worked to reveal her shame.

“I-I j-just wanted to—“

She paused, running out of breath immediately. The pause turned into silence. She didn't know what to say. What could she say? How could she explain herself now that Luna had apparently sent the incantation spiraling out of control, sending her off course, assuming she was off course.

She wondered why Luna hadn't interrupted her, yelled at her, or even spoke after stumbling over her words. Looking back at the alicorn, she knew why.

The light on the second story from the house behind her turned on as a silhouette of a tall creature peered out the window. Luna had cut the light from her horn just hoping it didn't spot them within the darkness. The figure seemed to do the weird gesture of scratching the top of its head before leaving.

The light was still on.

“Where are we?” Lyra whispered.

Luna didn't respond. She was too busy scouting the area for anything that might look like a threat. Scanning a three sixty sweep of the yard, she silently took to the air, pushing a strong gust of air downward. She flew like an arrow straight up to get a better view of where they might be.

Lyra was alone now. She would admit she deserved it to be abandoned, but this wasn't the best time to be left behind.

*screeeech*

Her situational awareness snapped to the house again as soon as the high-pitched noise hit her. Quickly she lurched back and ran behind the apple tree for cover. She poked her head around to see just what exactly scared her.

Another, much more luminous light spilled from what she believed to be a porch, only without the usual back door. Only a absurdly large window pane that stretched from floor to ceiling. After her eyes adjusted to the brightness, her gaze fell upon something that made her heart flutter.

Standing in the opening to the house was a tall creature, a young skinny biped of some kind. Perhaps it was... no way.

Did her eyes deceive her? Was she hallucinating? Imagining? Crazy?

No.

She couldn't believe it.

A human.

A young human male. One with clothes. A short mane. And shoes.

This may as well be the moment she's been waiting for. Mountains of questions piled around up her mind without context. She was excited and afraid to come out from her hiding spot at attempt to talk to it. But what would she say? What could she say? Did it speak her language?

Of course it spoke her language. If Andrew could speak Equestrian, maybe this one can too. Does my hair look good? She thought.

Lyra found that trying to suppress the overflowing happiness was more difficult as time went on. And time felt slower now she was looking at this human from a distance.

However, it looked different than she pictured a human to look like. Her own interpretation based on verbal testimony by an unreliable source known as Andrew Fera were just a smidgen off key. Her cartoon hoof drawings were malformed and disproportional, closer to that of a minotaur. Most of her sketches were just plain sloppy.

This presumption did not surprise. She knew what she was getting herself into and was ready for anything, even if it meant failing at imaging the physical appearance of an actual human. A guilty as can be, it's everything she's been preparing for, and now she gets put her skills to good use.

The unicorn watched as the human stepped onto the grass carrying some sort of long, blunt object. Wait a minute, it knows somepony is here! The human must have been attracted by the noise Luna was making, taking precautions as it investigated the situation.

Speaking of the princess, where is Luna anyway?

Lyra could not take it anymore, she couldn't stay hidden forever. Being misunderstood for a thief or shady trespasser would not be the greatest of first impressions, so she needed to make sure she meant no harm.

Shaking to the bone, Lyra began to step forward from behind the shadows. She didn't even make it two steps before a rapid whoosh blew past her.

She watched in horror as the human was swept off the ground a few feet and tackled to the ground by a dark blue blur.

“NO!” Lyra quickly called out as she ran over to them.

As the unicorn galloped closer, she found Princess Luna standing defensively over the human laying on the grass with a hoof pressed against it mouth. She could tell it was in absolute shock, its eyes laded with more fright than a filly who just woke from a nightmare.

Even with the vulnerable state of the creature she had pinned to the earth, Luna refused to let up her scowl and growl. Slowly but steadily she lifted her head but kept her hoof where it was. Even through the silver slipper she wore, the creature's skin was warm to the touch.

“What is thy purpose for sneaking up on Us!?” she said authoritatively. Apparently her old way of speech slipped through. Before she could suffocate it, Luna removed her hoof from its mouth. “Explain thyself tiny beast!”

“Luna stop!”

The Princess turned her head around but maintained her body height as she pressed down on the creature's chest to keep it subdued. She felt the rapid pulse of its heartbeat increase further. “Lyra, this thing hath attempted to—“

“—investigate what was trespassing on their property... and who was making a ruckus out here.” Lyra finished flatly, much to Luna's disgrace. The mint unicorn could help but shake her head. “Luna, the spell worked.”

It was then that Luna backed away, however the creature did not so much as have the courage to escape, let alone move.

“What spell?”

“The one that brought us here. It worked. I've done it. I've finally done it!” Lyra was practically radiating with glee, although ignorant of the terrified expression on the human's face. His hands were curled into tights fist glued to his stomach, shaking from both the cold and from fear.

It was Luna's turn to be horribly impressed and extremely disappointed. Her waving mane and tail slowed to a gentle frequency, now glowing from the sparkles of stars within. She exchanged a frown of confusion at Lyra and at the strange creature on the floor. She could see how frightened it appeared to be, staring wide from its little eyes.

She had no reason to attack the poor thing. Luna took some steps back to let the creature free, but the creature remained shivering on the grass.

“I do apologize for my actions, young one.” Luna planted her hooves into the soil and stood firm. “Allow me to be pardoned of my wrongdoing, my name—“

“Luna,” Lyra began, rolling her eyes. “This isn't some diplomatic situation. This human is just a kid. You've scared the life out of him.” It was in Lyra's best interest to teach Luna the ways of casual etiquette and informality. Ever since becoming her student, she thought she'd take it upon herself—atop her normal studies—of getting the Lunar Alicorn to shape up and become a more modern mare.

“Human?” Luna's ear flicked.

“Oh yes, well you see, I've finally created a spell stable enough to follow out good friend Andrew into his human world. This here is a human. A real live human. Oh my gosh!” Lyra's joy was spilling over again, but had enough confidence in her to contain it a little longer.

“A-Andrew?”

Just like that, a weak voice from below spoke with a questioning tone. Both ponies snapped their heads to the human laying down. Lyra must have been mentally occupied by the fact that it was their first time she'd heard a human speak because she had not taken a good look at the human since before Luna tackled it... him... argh!

The clothes on his body were minimal, only one layer over the torso and a thick gray covering for his legs. Assuming it was some sort of sleep wear—the kind Bon-bon would occasionally use when she was cold—the aesthetics were hardly pleasing. She cared not for looks, but for practicality.

Luna and Lyra stood staring at the young human, waiting for something to happen, may it be a single word, a movement, or even a breath. He remained still, shaking vehemently under the orange glow of the flood light above.

Lyra decided to take the first move. She didn't come this far to allow a human to suffer in the cold.





- - -





What was left of his sanity might as well have left altogether after his previous encounter with blunt force that led to serious brain damage. Alex just wasn't ready for any more surprises. This foolishness had to stop.

This, however, was more than just a surprise. If the universe had a personality, he'd say it hates him.

Standing over his body was not another hallucination, nor the result of another concussion, but the real thing. Even with his one working eye, it was unmistakeable. Two ponies. Two very similar looking creatures to the one his brother turned into a while back. And now exactly a year later, the cavalry shows up. This has got to be some really messed up coincidence.

At least now he knows what that noise was from earlier and who was yelling out here a minute ago. Hopefully his limited vision would atone faster to the dark because what startled him next was the teal one advancing cautiously towards him.

He flinched, only to save him the time of whatever it was about to do. His response was to stay completely still. He didn't want to believe it. As the pony stepped closer with care, he could make out a sort of warm smile from it. Its eyes were a striking orange yellow, gold to be more precise, and its fur color only reminded him more of Andrew.

Then he saw the horn on its head. Yup, definitely reminiscent of what Andrew used to look like, the vivid memory shoving its way to dominate his mind. It carried a leather saddlebag, slung over the unicorn pony's back like a typical cargo for horseback.

It was now that the creature stood too close for comfort. He wanted to scurry away, but was far too afraid and cold to try. If her were to meet his fate, it be with his dignity intact. Alex closed his eyes.

“Hello.”

His heart jumped a few beats. The immediate voice was not what he was expecting. It was definitely female. Even through one word, that sweet tone was of pity and worry. It was also vaguely familiar, oddly enough. He cracked his right eye open.

The pony was still there, looking at him with her head tiled. She briefly glanced back at the larger one behind her before extending a hoof out towards him.

“Do you need any help?” she said.

Even with his eyes open, his nerve shot up with an impossible mix of alarm and relief.

“W-who—“ Alex wasn't allowed to finish as the intimidating figure of the large blue horse exited from within the shadows. Her features just screamed importance and beauty.

All of a sudden, and second source of light emanated from the blue one, originating several inches from the top of his head. This one has a horn too!? And— really? Wings too!?

Alex's mental evaluation of the pony creatures was all done in silence. He just laid there on the ground with shoulder pressed into the grass. His shuddering couldn't be more violent.

“Let me help you up,” the small one offered.

Alex did not resist. He let the unicorn help him up with her forehooves. As he stood, he rubbed his eyes just in case and ran his fingertips down his face while a sigh left him. Once he was done with a deep breath, he proceeded to smack his head with a hand over and over again.

He stumbled back, stepping onto the freezing concrete of the porch.

“Are you alright?”

Alex looked at the mint pony once more, this time with more glint in his eye. Her eyes met the same level of curiosity as he smirked. That smirk turned into a laugh.

“I never thought I'd see this again, but this is crazy.” He scanned the area around him. “Hold on while I bash my head against something hard.”

“No no don't do that!” The unicorn shouted, running around to stand in his way as he tried to leave. “Please don't hurt yourself. We're deeply sorry for hurting you like that.”

If her plead wasn't convincing enough, the fact that the pony didn't catch the joke was somewhat amusing, much to his guilt. Alex didn't make any more sudden moves to avoid further injury to add to his insult.

“What is your name, dear human?”

His eyes went wide this time and his heart dropped on ice. This new voice from behind was far more strict and demand, yet maintained a sort of calm elegance that spelled sincerity.

Slowly, very slowly, he turned to face the navy winged-unicorn once again. Her glowing horn provided more light to the dark, but now that she was closer, he thoughts went numb at the very sight of her.

His lips quivered. The tall flying unicorn had herself a felt necklace with a white crescent moon in the middle and a black tiara or crown behind her sharp horn. What was most impressive was the way her hair move along with her tail, seemingly on their own. The night was calm and the dark was still. No wind.

That's just nuts.

He forced a smile on corners of his mouth. He breathed in. If he wanted to rid himself of the shock these ponies gave him, he might as well cooperate and converse with them.

“Why did you attack me?” he said.

“We thought you were after our student. We only did so to protect her.”

“Your student? 

“Yes, our protege and pupil, Lyra. I am her teacher and Co-Ruler of the land of E—“

“Lyra?” Alex cut her off and turned around to looked at the mint unicorn with his mouth open just slightly for a grin to poke through. “Is that your name?”

The pony smiled brightly. “Yes! Lyra Heartstrings, nice to meet you.” She held out a hoof.

Alex didn't take it. He instead huffed humorously and rubbed his forehead while he walked over to the reclining chair that sat idle on the porch. He then sat down with a hand on his cheek. “So it wasn't just some elaborate prank, he really was telling the truth.”

The two ponies followed after him. Lyra spoke first.

“Who are you referring to?”

“He is not going to believe this.” Alex continued to talk to himself, lost in the speculation of thought. He acted as if he was hit hard by a revelation, only this revelation manifested itself into mythical ponies. He was far too busy with laughing and looking off to the side, while his heart desperately fought to jump out of his chest. “This is unbelievable, he's gonna freak when he sees this.”

“Might I ask who?”

Alex looked up.

“My brother, Andrew. Who else?”
> 3. Wake
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


[Chapter 3]



[Wake]











In the safety of Dale's bedroom, Andrew took comfort on the bed, critically analyzing every fine and foul thought that came to him. He hadn't said a single word since arriving other than hello. After several minutes, he opened his backpack and took out his journal.

Dale sat casually on his work desk beside the bed, surfing the internet on his laptop without cause. So bored and so tired, he yawned several times during the awkward silence the two shared. He could hear the scratching of a pen across the rough texture of aging paper.

“What are you doing?” he asked, looking over to see his best friend writing something down in what looked to be a vintage notebook.

“Writing in a journal,” Andrew replied, keeping his focus downward.

“You don't have a journal.”

Andrew got more annoyed by the second.

“I do now,” he said condescendingly.

This clicked in Dale's mind. One more thing he didn't know about his closest friend. “Why did you decide to get one now all of a sudden?”

“Because today is—“

“I get it, I get it.” Dale grunted hard. “You don't have to keep reminding me. I mean, today of all days, who would have thunk?” He mild interest stemmed from the constant trip down memory lane. Andrew just wouldn't stop bringing it up, as if it's still relevant. He needs to move on.

“You inspired me to make one for myself.”

“Me?” It was then that Dale remembered why. “Oh. So you waited all this time to start. Why?”

“I just wanted it to be special.”

The continuous dribble of black ink shaping into words as Andrew responded was simultaneously amazing and disturbing. Dale still wondered if his friend had indeed lost his mind to the increasing abyss of self-pity and past torments.

“You're weird, you know that.”

“I'm not weird,” the teen defended.

“Yes you are, you should listen to yourself sometime. You're obsessed with what happened in the past. Can't you just, I dunno, get over it?” Dale twirled his palms in the air to emphasize his point. He then leaned back and hunkered up for the incoming backlash.

Andrew immediately stopped writing, his pen halfway through a sentence. He rotated his head threateningly slow. The infectious glare he shot—if given the right dosage—could stop a beating heart in seconds. As horrible as that sounds, Dale developed the immunity needed to fight the needle. He expected as such.

That stare. That angry stare that his distraught friend had tried so hard to conceal beneath the mask of neutral expressions for so long, only to wear out the optimism.

All he did was stare back.

“What is wrong with you?” Andrew finally said.

“What is wrong with YOU?” Dale shot back. “You really have gone to the deep end, haven't you?”

This just wasn't Andrew's night. His stress got the best of him and now Dale had to get roped into it. Although he hated pinning his woe up for all to see, Dale was hardly going to let it go too far.

“Chill out man, just tell me what's wrong,” Dale said as if he hadn't repeated himself many times before in many different ways.

“How about no.”

“How about yes. What, are you afraid to tell me?” It was time to use a different tactic on Andrew. If he wanted to be that way, so be it, but Dale was not about to give in. Fight fire with fire. 

“What are you scared of?” Dale teased. “Do you lie awake at night thinking about it? Do you want it to eat from the inside Well guess what, bro, I won't let it. So wake up and move on.”

Little did he know, it was closer to the truth than he thought, except for the last part. Andrew had built up rage after hearing that. What he did next was no less than surprising. He lifted his leg and kicked Dale right in the gut.

“OW, what the hell!” He yakked, clenching his stomach and pushing away.

All Dale got was a scowl. Andrew didn't even look like he was sorry, but exhibited a genuine anger that he had only encountered few times before. Apparently it set him off more that he wanted.

“Sorry dude, but it's true.” With his full attention on Andrew, there's no way he'd be caught off guard again. “I know it. Steven knows it. And Peter is... just Peter. Just don't take this too personal, we're not trying to hurt you. We just want to help.”

The red on Andrew's face paled a bit, but he still wasn't convinced.  Dale could almost see pockets of steam radiate from the skin on his face.

The greatest relief since this whole mess had started was the next gesture by his distraught friend. Andrew buried his face in shame and blew a heavy sigh. It was about time he sizzled down a notch.

“Fine, you win,” he said under his violent breath. “What to you want from me.”

Dale cracked a tiny smile.

“I want you to tell me the truth. What is really going on? Why are you hiding your feelings? Why are you so stressed out?”

“I'm not stressed, I just got a lot on my mind.” Andrew continued to rub his forehead to illustrate his point. He'd have to do better than that to get through to Dale of how troubled he actually is. Maybe an friendly argument will do the trick.

“That's the very definition of stressed,” said Dale after a quick laugh. “At least in my book.”

“Call it whatever you want, but things are heavy on me as it is without all these distractions.” Andrew leaned back and crossed his arms defensively.

“Oh yeah, like what?”

The teen shrugged. “Like school for one thing.”

“It's school you're worrying about? That's a surprise.” Dale couldn't be more sarcastic. Instead he pondered for second, stealing a glace at the pencil on next to his cellphone. “How about this, you tell me what's really bothering you, and in return, I let you in on a little secret. Deal?”

Andrew looked up at him, doubt sparkling in his eyes. Somehow, Dale found his weakness. “A secret?” he questioned. “What kind of secret?”

“Do we have a deal?” Dale repeated, refusing to accept denial.

“Is it personal? Or disturbing? Or both?”

“I guess you'll have to find that out when you agree.”

“Fine whatever just tell me.”

“No no no, say it like you mean it.” Dale jabbed his finger in his eager friend's face, right up to the nose.

With what little courage he had left to overcome his reluctance, Andrew held out his hand. Dale smiled wide and shook it. The deal was set.

“So what don't I know that you do?”

“First tell me what's wrong?”

“Wha- hey wait a minute! Your said you'd give me your secret.”

“No no, you agreed to tell me what's really bothering you, and then I tell you my secret.”

“I didn't—“

“Yes you did.”

Arguing wasn't going to work anymore now that Dale deceived him for a secret, twisting the words in his favor. He sighed with one swift brush of his hair.

“You're right, I'll admit it.” Might as well say it and get it over with. “You know how I told you what happened in my room that night? Well I—,” He paused to regain confidence. “I was half expecting another loud noise to scare me again. You know... right before I turned into a pony.”

Dale was almost surprised to hear that. Almost.

“Why would you want something like that to happen twice?” He said. “On a day like this no less.”

“I can't help it. It's all I've been thinking about.” Andrew played with his fingers with every word. He was now a little nervous for a mixture of reasons.

“See what I mean,” Dale grunted. “I told you not to let it go to your head. Seems like you didn't take my advice.”

“I didn't choose to be turned into a unicorn. It sounds weird even saying it like that. But still, it's like a permanent scar that I'm not sure I want to heal just yet.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dale leaned in further.

Andrew grabbed his bag and dug through it to find his digital camera.

“Do you still believe me that I went to a land of nice sentient ponies?”

“No.”

“Then take a look at this.”

Andrew flipped through several of the old images stored on the camera to find the right one. As soon as he found the picture he was looking for, the one of only two photos that remained the only evidence of his visit to the town of Ponyville, an brief smile appeared on his face. He then handed it over to his friend.

Dale was almost ecstatic to have finally milked Andrew of his fears, but after coming so close, he is still so far away. Dale felt like he didn't even know his best friend anymore. Still the same man on the outside, but a new person on the inside.

Dale took the camera and looked at the screen.

“What's this?”

“That's my proof I'm not crazy, or lying!” Andrew replied happily. “I didn't make it all up, I was there. I saw a whole world so different from ours with ponies everywhere living in houses and high on sugar. It was so unreal, but it's true.”

Dale continued to study the image on the camera closely as Andrew spill over with that fantasy of his. Sure the unicorn thing was insane on its own, but the pony world thing was a bit too much.

The photo was something else. It was definitely a picture of another unicorn, like Andrew, but not Andrew. Its mane was a pale blue and paper white, styled in a much more feminine look. Andrew could have photoshopped it, but later time he checked, he didn't have photoshop, and even if he did, he sucks at it anyway. Maybe it's a puppet, or a costume. Maybe he'd ask.

“Is this real?”

“Real how? Like that fact that it's the pony I told you about that helped he get home real, then YES! How many times do have to tell you. She saved my life, along with a nice group of ponies along the way, including a princess.”

Impressive story, Dale mused as he stroked his chin. As if Andrew hadn't said many times before following that fateful day, he remembered every detail. Although he didn't believe the whole story, he did keep track of each part. Better make sure Andrew is consistent with his recollection of his otherworldly visit.

“Okay, then what's her name?

“Lyra.”

“What does she do?”

“She plays music, the lyre actually. It sort like a small harp with—”

“Yeah yeah I know what a lyre is.” Dale mumbled. “And where exactly did you say she lives?”

“You don't believe me, don't you.”

“Maybe a little now that you have some sort of evidence.” Without warning, he tossed the camera, back and his friend. “I can't think of any way you could have faked this.”

“That's because I didn't, and I'm not done...” Andrew sat up and held out the camera again. “Look, I have a picture of me too. The first one is of Lyra, and the second one she took of me.” He went to the next photo, clearly showing the pony that was Andrew. “Look at the date, February twenty fourth, seven thirty six. About four hours after I teleported away.”

The more Dale thought about it, the more he didn't want to believe. But the facts kept piling up, and before he knew it, he was on the verge believing Andrew really did get sent to some magical place of princesses and ponies.

If only he had more proof, then he'd give sincere apology for not believing him sooner. But for now, he was on the edge of his seat.

“So?”

Dale broke away from a thought bubble and snapped his head to the side. “So... what?”

“Ugh never mind. Why do I even bother trying? You're never truly convinced.”

“Hey,” Dale shot back, but with less doubt. “I'm starting to think you're not completely crazy, you got me there. But this is just a photograph, you'll have to show me this world, or better yet, why meet one of these nice sentient ponies on day, then I'll believe you. Tangible evidence, science, and all that jazz. I also don't like the way you thought of me as a distraction.”

It appears he got the message through to Andrew. Both messages. He fell completely still and stoic the moment to word hit him. He also looked to have lost hope in his efforts to persuade his best friend that his head was screwed on right. The two began to linger a bit with a long awaited silence.

Andrew hugged his knees and rocked back and forth. Dale just leaned his head against his armrest and rolled his eyes tot the ceiling.

“So what's your secret?” Andrew finally croaked.

“Hm? OH!” Dale snapped up and coughed. “You're not going to believe what I'm about to show you.”

Andrew rolled his eyes, waiting to be either extremely disappointed, or incredibly shocked. There was no in between.

“Remember what you said when you tried to do magic?” Dale noted. “When you were a unicorn.”

Andrew's smile vanished immediately and turned upside down while he narrowed his eyes. “You're pulling my leg here?”

In retrospect, he might as well have been doing it literally.

“Yeah, I mean we tried a bunch of times to get you to do it with your horn and all when your were a unicorn, and I finally figured out how to do it myself.”

Now this secret sounded more like a joke. The only person who had a sense of humor was Steven, but this was just ridiculous.

“What do you mean 'figured out'?”

“I know how to do it?

“Do what?”

“Magic.”










“You're—“ Lyra choke on her words. “But you— how— Andrew?  Brother?”  Her face melted from overwhelming joy and undertaken daze. Her mind was still trying to process it all. For Alex's perspective, she looked like she just won the lottery.

“Andrew?” Luna repeated aloud to herself. “The alicorn Lyra has been looking for?

“That's right, my name is Alex by the way.” He raised his hand awkwardly. “I don't know what you're talking about, but my brother is not the... um... unicorn you think he is.” Alex cringed.

He tried to keep his cool and composure, only to find himself smiling and clenching his chest constantly. The initial shock must have taken his will to move along with his breath.

“Is he here!?” Lyra chirped as her limbs buzzed of excitement. “Can I see him!? Can I talk to him? Come to think of it, I've never actually seen Andrew as a human. Or even a human altogether. What does he look like?”

“Whoa slow down, calm yourself!” Alex held his hands in place to stop the elated pony from coming any closer. “Why are you so excited? It's actually creeping me out.”

“Aren't you surprised to see us standing before you in your world?” Princess Luna cut in.

“Very,” Alex stated sarcastically, the sighed. “The last time something surprising happened, I nearly lost a brother. Even worse, I nearly my life.”

“WHAT!?” Both equines gasped, unbelieving of what the human said.

“Yeah, well you, the 'magic' that turned my big brother in a blue unicorn's body made him disappear for half a day and almost killed me at the same time. So yes I'm surprised, and no, I was not expecting for you to even exist. I mean, we through Andrew was making it all up.”

As Alex finished, he was startled by the sudden intimate contact by a warm, fuzzy mass. Lyra had thrown her forelegs around the young human without a second thought and hugged him tight. Before he could realize what just happened, she spoke close to his ear.

“I'm sorry.”

“That's quite enough,” Alex quickly pushed her away, a bit more shaken up now that situation took a dramatic turn too far. “I-I appreciate it and all, but never do that again.

Little known to the ponies, the trauma of such action set off warning bells screaming in his head, no matter how small. His psychological scars of the past took longer to heal than his physical wounds. Apparently his mind was far more sensitive to the fear of harm and taking on instant regressions of paranoia hurt more than pain itself.

Alex hugged himself tight, both from the cold and the aching tension from earlier.

“Are you cold, young human?” The blue alicorn asked. He nodded. “Then let us find you someplace warm. May we come in?” She pointed to the house.

“I'm not sure that's a good idea.” His reluctance stemmed from multiple reasons, disbelief still the dominant one.

“Why not?” Lyra chimed.

“Well for one, my parents are home, and two, you're... um...ponies.” He gulped hard. “Where do you normally live? Not in a house like this, but maybe something close to a stable?” Alex cringed. Of course they don't live in either, horses don't live in houses and these colored talking ponies are much too intelligent and sophisticated to be kept in a normal farm stable.

He could quite make out the expressions on their faces. Insulted and baffled were the two he immediately thought of. Hopefully he hadn't offended them too hard.

“Why wouldn't we live in houses?” Lyra chirped. “All ponies do. We're not cows. Although some cows live on the outskirts of Ponyville, but not many.”

This just gets better and better. Better as in a crazy knock to the head. Alex's jaw fell open.

“Whaaaa?”

He remained seated when the navy alicorn stepped forward.

“Perhaps we could sneak in unnoticed whilst your mother and father carry on their residential duties.” Luna suggested, smiling. Lyra looked up at her mentor.

“Are you sure we should do that, Princess?” 

“Most certainly. We are most fortunate to not have caused a scene upon our arrival. We must remain in the shadows, the rest of his kind must not know we exist, for it will put both our races at risk. We do not know the customs and cultures of this world, we are not to interfere with the natural balance of this world.”

Makes perfect sense, Lyra laughed in her thoughts. Maybe she was right, maybe humans weren't ready to be made aware of the existence of a world different from their own. Or Luna was just making an excuse to leave this wonderful place out of unsound fear.

She nodded reluctantly.

“Would you allow Lyra to stay with you one night?” Luna said. “One night only. We will leave in peace by dawn.”

“Wait, just me? What about you? And why are we leaving?”

“Have you forgotten dear student, I am the keeper of the night. Night is my day, I am awake when ponies sleep I must also find a way back to our realm. It is of great importance that we return to Equestria as soon as possible.”

“But we just got here.” Lyra pouted. “Besides I don't think any of that applies here. We're not in Equestria anymore.”

“Exactly my point. This is not our world. We do not belong here. You are not exempt of your wrongdoings.”

“What did I do?” Lyra questioned where Luna was going with this.

“You hath stolen from Our private bedchambers and toyed forbidden magic!” Luna roared loudly. A little too loud, in fact. Her old style of speech made the scolding even worse, carrying far more weight than conventional speak. “Thou violated the oath to the terms of royal protege and therefore lied to Us.”

Oh... that where she was going with this. After several seconds of analyzing Luna's complexion, Lyra cowered shamefully. The Princess was dead serious. With the darkness still overshadowing the porch floodlight, she got away with the tears that now began to flow in her eyes. She looked away.

Alex watched the bickering end in such a way. He was terrified of the Princess now, as if being physically attacked by her wasn't enough. He tried his best to conceal his frightful gaze.

“Now human, will you comply to—“

“Alex!?” A voice echoed from somewhere in the house.

The boy quickly twirled his head to look through the sliding glass door. Alex saw his mother approaching from down the hall. The woman reach for the door and exited the house onto the porch to find her son scared to dead on a chair.

“Who are you talking to, honey?” His mother asked curiously.

“U—uh...” Alex looked back over to where the ponies were standing, only to find empty space. They weren't there anymore. Relief swept over. “Um...”

“I heard a loud voice out here, is Andrew out here with you too?”

“N-no, h-he's at Dale's house.”

“Then who were you talking to?”

“Myself. I was talking to myself.” Alex was quick to answer. It didn't take long for him to forget what happened moments earlier, thinking it really was all in his head. He quickly stood up out of his seat and ushered his mom back inside. “Lets not stay out here any longer, it's cold outside.”

As naïve and bubbly as a mother can be, she let her son playfully push her back inside. Alex swiftly slammed the door closed and turned out the light.

With one last peek outside, the darkness took over again. No ponies. Maybe his brain suffered more damage than he thought. Hopefully his mom caught on to the fact that Andrew wasn't home.
> 4. Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


[Chapter 4]



[Magic]











All Alex could think at that moment was what he put in his drink. It seemed too farfetched to have sneaked something else other than soda in his drink form earlier and had just taken this long to kick in. Or maybe it was a very clever fabrication of his mind playing him for a fool. Even though the headache and bruises were real, he may have just fell of the porch and his head.

After rushing his mother back to her room without answering any of her silly questions, he quickly made his way to the bathroom to check for extended damage in the mirror. So far all he got was a minor bump to the head and muscle pain in his lower hip. Other than that he was fine. No major blow to the head nor loss of IQ.

But it still doesn't make any sense.

Alex flushed out the blood from his face with cold water. For some reason, his breathing was more labored. Certainly he couldn't imagine that. Shock and awe has that affect. Perhaps the best idea was to go back outside to see it's they're still there. Perhaps it's silly to do so.

Yup, silly. It's all in his head. Nothing good will come of this if he loses his mind a second time.

He wasn't in the mood to prepare himself for bed like brush his teeth, change into pajamas, or even shower. As worked up as he might be, this night was killing him inside for all the wrong reasons.

Alex splashed one last handful of cold water on his cheeks and exited the bathroom. He went back downstairs to the kitchen to grab himself a late night snack before lights out. His usual was granola bar, but he felt an apple would do the trick. After all, fruit had more nutrition, and after what he has seen, maybe that's what he needed more of.

He turned out all the lights his parents had left on and ascended the staircase. With the whole house in darkness and ambient outdoor light just enough to see, it was unnerving to say the least. Something didn't quite feel right.

As soon as Alex reached the top of the stairs, he stopped to listen as something buzzed around in the air. It sounded like a faint tingle, a high pitch unheard by aging ears, slipping from somewhere around him. Before he could follow the source, it stopped. For a few seconds afterward, the sound did not return.

Again, he shook his head free of more nonsensical thought and shrugged. He took a slow bite and walked over to his room.

The moment his hand reached his doorknob, there it was again. The sound far more noticeable than before. He swore it was familiar, but couldn't quite put a finger on it. Both curiosity and annoyance struck him as a reason to find where the sound was coming from. First he had to get his flashlight.

Wasting no time, Alex practically ran burst in his room like the first man in a police raid, but upon doing so, he was met with a shocking discovery. The boy froze, dropping the apple and his jaw at the same time.

Standing in the middle of his room side by side were the two ponies he met earlier. Their curious stares were more visible from the light as tall blue one with the self-flowing hair seemed to be performing a magic spell with that horn of hers.

“Greetings young one,” she said. “I take it these are your accommodations?”

Alex forced back to reality—or at least empirical reality—and quietly slammed his bedroom door shut. Back in the dark hallway again, he leaned his arm against the door while his breathing took a toll.

How the hell did they know where my room was? Precognition or plain luck?

“Come on you wimp,” he whispered to himself over each fast breath. It didn't take long for him to calm down to a safe level. “They're not real.”

Another moment to rethink his plans for the night, which involved changing into pajamas and going to bed, led him to believe that this might be the end of a sick dream. For all he knew, he fell asleep on his desk and reconstructed a scenario in his dreams in which sentient mini horses of all colors take over the world. All he had to do was end the dream by going to sleep or killing himself.

There's no way he'd do the latter, so the former option remained. He deliberately hit his head on the door twice before reentering his room.

The ponies were still there, only this time the teal colored one held out the apple he had dropped in her hoof. With the mindset that this was still a dream, no matter how real it felt, he locked his door and waddled past her.

“Keep it,” he muttered. “I'm not hungry.”

The teal pony retracted her offer and looked at the apple. Before taste testing it, she levitated her journal from her saddlebag and observed the apple before taking a quick note. She then cautiously took a single bite, and when she was satisfied with its flavor, the whole apple disappeared inside her mouth. Alex watched with awe and disgust. The smile on her face made him smile for some reason.

“Dear human,” began the navy unicorn known as Luna. “This is where I bit you farewell. I leave you with my student Lyra Heartstrings to rest here for the night. I must tend to the night.” She looked down to Lyra. “We leave first thing in the morning. When we get back to Equestria, we will discuss the consequences of this ordeal in detail. For now, rest. I must do my duty as princess.”

With that, she closed her beautiful eyes and bowed in the direction of the human, whose suspicion and fear of her matched that of Lyra. Her horn glowed briefly, and just like that, she was gone.

Alex violently flinched, knocking over several of his books on the shelf beside him as he tried to regain balance as if he had lost it for a second. In reality, he couldn't quite control his reaction to flashes of bright light. It was all just a painful reminder.

Lyra tried to go to his aid, but he held out arms offensively. She kept her distance as she was forced to watch the poor human struggle to find his breath. Once she was sure he was alright, she sat where she stood and waited. She couldn't take her eyes off of the human, despite there being alien objects on what she assumed was his work desk.

There were no posters on the wall, no mountains ranges of clothes rising from the carpet, and not a single toy littered the room. He had outgrown toy long ago, but still had some action figure under the bed. In fact, that's where most things went when he wanted the room clean. Alex preferred to keep his room as minimal as possible.

The only evidence of hobbies and interests were on the small bookshelf next to the short wooden desk with some comics and light novels and a couple of video games. He hadn't touched them in weeks, having lost interest to pick up his controller and waste away five hours a day.

From Lyra's perspective, the room was no different than what she was used to, minus the mess. However, her analysis of the room couldn't compare to the analysis of his features, which was met with a mix of confusion and wonder. The first thing she noticed was his left eye. There was what appeared to be a scar on his eyebrow and the color of the pupil was different that that of the left. Were all humans like that? Did something happen? Perhaps it was the result of the magic mishap with his brother he told her about.

Following the silence was a rhythm of conscious breath Alex took to settle his body and mind. Like the trauma councilor said, long . He didn't like his councilor, but the advise helped. He laid on his bed, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, ignoring the mini unicorn left in the room.

Lyra couldn't contain her glee. Her nervous and lighthearted expression bled through her cheeks as she did what she could to remain calm. Every thought she had was a reflection of her joy.

Seconds turned to minutes. She waited for him to do something. Anything. She wanted her learn everything there is to know about a human's behavior, anatomy, and culture. She didn't care how long it would take, just so long the exchange of knowledge was best for both worlds.

The human began to snore. Not unlike ponies, Bon-bon used to snore. She sighed. There goes the idea of talking to him. She mentally scolded herself for being too afraid to speak after apparently angering him.

Lyra yawned. It was pretty late. Oddly enough, there was a small clock on the bookshelf that  read 2:03am in large red glowing numbers. She'd have to ask how such device works later.

She didn't want to intrude on Alex's slumber. There wasn't another soft comfy spread for her to sleep on other than his bed, so instead she slowly walked to the foot on the bed and took off her saddlebag and placed it on the carpet as a pillow. The carpet was plush enough to sleep on. With a flick of her magic, she put out the lamp attached to the ceiling and did her best to sleep with a human just two feet from her.

She had done it. She made it to the human world. Now all her dreams would come true.










Andrew deadpanned.

“I'm not in the mood for your jokes.”

“No seriously.” Dale urged. “Check this out.” Dale held out his right arm with a normal yellow pencil in hand. Andrew was not impressed. Not one bit. This was an embarrassment for the both of them. He waited for something stupid to happen.

But... nothing stupid happened. Heck, nothing happened at all. Just the white noise of silence. He'd rather watch paint dry than watch Dale stare at a pencil for ten seconds.

Something must have gone wrong with Andrew's hearing. A faint very high frequency ringing pinched his ears. Maybe it was sound bleeding through the wall from the outside, but they lived in a quiet neighborhood far from late night traffic. After plugging his nose and clearing his eardrums of pressure, the subtle noise was still there. He looked around the room as it seemed to get louder by at least a decibel. It was definitely not his imagination.

He looked back at Dale, only to see a sharp pencil floating a dangerous two inches from his eyeballs. He recoiled from the intimate danger, jerking backward on the bed with enough force to hit his head against the wall.

“ARGH!” He rapidly recovered to yell out of pain and hostility. “Dammit, what the hell du—“

Andrew stopped his verbal assault short.

That pencil... is floating!?

The deadpan expression fell away. Any previous anger Andrew put on display was instead replaced by shock. No words could describe what was going on. His mind was treading deep water.

But- but- but— a pencil is floating in midair. Midair! Pencil! FLOATING!

This has got to be some illusion, right? Andrew thought hard to himself. Dale was no magician, even he couldn't figure out even the simplest of card tricks. But this? This is just insane.

“What—“

“Isn't it cool?” Dale interrupted gleefully.

Andrew darted his gaze back and forth between Dale's hand and the pencil. A pale blue mist, almost like a luminescent glow, shifted in waves as it radiated from his skin. The pencil also had the glow, but much less obvious.

No words, just brain mush.

“I figured it had something to do with what happened to you somehow rubbed off on me,” Dale stated. “I don't know how, but think it has something to do with being around you when you were a magical pony. For all we know, you might have been radioactive.”

Andrew gulped the dry saliva crackling on his tongue. “H-how?”

“I don't know. It's cool huh?” With one flick of the finger, the pencil suddenly shot straight upward and lodged itself into ceiling. “It's still a work in progress.” He said smiling.

Andrew snapped his head back to follow the pencil shoot up like a rocket projectile. He blinked once while his eyes just sparkled from the revelation. His mouth was open all the way as well. He kept it that way for a while before slowly looking back down at his friend.

More surprise when another pencil was floating just above Dale's palm. Andrew suddenly sprung his arm forward and slapped the pencil out of the air.

“Stop that!” he shouted.

“Okay dude,” Dale said throwing his hands up as if caught by police. “I was just showing you something cool.”

“Do you have any idea what this means?”

“That I can lift things without touching them?” Dale gave a cheeky smile.

“It means I'm right! It was all real. We both just saw it! Magic is real!” Andrew's cheeks puffed as a mix of excitement and confusion dripped from his lips.

“Well yeah, how else do you explain what I just did. Maybe—“

“This is amazing.” Andrew cut him off, but not to interrupt. The anxious human thought to himself out loud as if he was a delusional nutcase. “If magic is real, maybe I can see how this all happened. Maybe I can use it to contact Equestria, or maybe even go—“

“HEY!” Dale yelled with a quick bop to his head. “What's go you so paranoid all of a sudden? I thought you'd be more alarmed about this.”

“I'm not paranoid. I think this is great, we can finally get to the bottom of this.” Andrew stood up and exited the room.

“The bottom of what?” Dale followed after him.

“Why I turned into a unicorn. Stuff like that doesn't just happen, there's gotta be a reason for it.: The both of them reached the kitchen. Andrew opened the fridge for another can of soda, this time root beer. Dale leaned against the door frame to the kitchen.

“And what makes you think that reason was intentional, for all we know it could have just been a freak of nature. You know, like another universe—one with magic—collides with ours and magic bleeds into ours.”

“You have no idea what you're talking about.” Andrew opened the can and deliberately took an obnoxious sip. “That kind of stuff is just pure fantasy. It's untested physics.”

“Then how do you explain this.” Dale lifted the soda can from Andrew's grip this time, pulling away from his mouth before he could drink. It nearly spilled all over the floor. His friend immediately snatched it from midair and covered the top with his hand.

“Don't do that!” Andrew leaped back one big step. “You're way out of control.”

“Sorry, man.” The teen defended with his hands raised. “It just that now that you know of what I can do, I don't have to hide it anymore. I've been meaning to tell you for months.”

“Months? How long have you known? Andrew carefully sipped the liquid dripping from the can to make sure it tasted the same as before. For all he knew, magic could have contaminated it or changed the taste. “Better yet, how what gave you the idea to just randomly try magic?”

With Andrew's interest growing tenfold and his acceptance of magic as real already at maximum, there's nothing Dale couldn't say that his friend wouldn't believe.

“Remember the time I picked a fight with Jacob in the hallway at school?” He began as we gestured Andrew to follow him back to the room.

“That jerk? I always wondered how you managed to send him to the nurse.”

Dale sat back in his chair. Andrew sank back on the bed. “Good thing I didn't get suspended, too. I was so scared he was gonna beat me to a pulp, but when he threw the first punch, his fist just stopped before it hit my face. I noticed my hands were glowing a blue tint and I felt cold inside, like I my blood was made of ice.”

“What happened after that? How did you manage to hit him back?”

“I didn't. He hit himself.” Dale chuckled, seconds away from bursting into laughter. “He punched himself three times and fell backward into a trash can.” The giggling intensified. “He tried to get up, but stumbled into the girls bathroom. He was chased out of there like a wild animal and fell on the floor before running away. I've never seen that man cry before.”

It was at this point where Dale let loose his laughing spree. He clenched his gut before looking at Andrew to see his reaction. His friend held an ill grimace, one not too happy.

“What? Everyone thought I hit him, they didn't see any magic. Neither did I.”

“Dude, that's the funniest thing I've even heard.”

“Then why aren't you laughing?”

“Because you kinda sounded sinister when you were talking, like evil villains in the movies. I'm worried you let the power go to your head.”

“Don't be silly, I have control of it now. I've been practicing.”

“Sure sure, that's what everyone says when they get power.” He crossed his arms playfully and rolled his eyes. “Haven't you seen Chronicle?”

Dale sighed. He knew his friend was right, up to the point of exploiting his use of magic down the road to destroy the city of something. But at least he wasn't antisocial or it would be a serious problem.

“You can't go around using magic for everything, especially violence.”

“I never said I was going fight with it! EVER!” Something must have ticked in Dale's head. His sudden shout recoiled back onto Andrew as he retreated away to let the man sizzle down. Dale rigidly whirled around to put his back to him, returning to his original state of silence and stern browsing the web on his laptop.

“Okay okay, I didn't mean to go that far.” Andrew glanced at the clock at the end of the desk and exhaled. “You know I better get home, we still have school tomorrow, or technically speaking, later this morning.”

He stood up and stuffed most of his things back into his backpack, all except for his journal. In fact, he couldn't find it. It wasn't where he had left it earlier.

Andrew quietly sighed and strip searched the bed and all around it for his journal. Short on luck, he checked in other places he knew it shouldn't be, but looked anyways. After a minute, something didn't smell right.

He turned around to face Dale, whose slumped figure obstructed what was on the desk in front of him. There was a reason he paid no mind to Andrew raiding his room. He walked over to Dale, revealing that his privacy has invaded without his knowledge.

“Hey!” Andrew barked, springing into action as he thew his arms out to grab his journal from Dale's hands. This wasn't without counter force. His friend effortlessly defended from his attempt to swipe the journal away. “Give it back!”

The mild struggle ceased momentarily, the two of them tangled at arms with each other. Dale shot him both a glare of malice and a glint of empathy. Andrew caught sight of his friend's eyes and pushed away.

“What's wrong with you!?” His growl was no more threatening than that of a kitten.

“Don't take this the wrong way, I was just curious. You made me curious by pissing me off a second ago.” Dale half glanced at the current page of the journal. “I never knew you so poetic.”

Only a sigh could leave Andrew. “I don't write very good.”

“Don't belittle yourself.” Dale shut the notebook and timidly handed it back. “You have quite a way with words.”

Andrew snatched it safely in his own hands as balance was restored. He quickly put in in his backpack. “Don't do that again. Even though you're my best friend, there are some things you shouldn't mess with.”

Right on cue, Andrew covered his mouth with a hand as a long awaited yawn forced its way out. Dale proceeded to do the same.

“I gotta go home and sleep.”

“Why don't you sleep here?” Dale offered.

Andrew paused halfway out the door and looked at his friend with eyes half closed.

“No no I'm fine, I like my room, where it's nice and private.

“Yeah yeah, one night won't hurt, it's already pretty late. Besides, you look too tired to walk. Just sleep here and we'll walk to school in the morning. Take the guest room.”

The choice was simple. Andrew managed a meek smile—nearly falling asleep where he stood—and sighed. He didn't even have to say anything for his nod was easy enough to understand as an agreement to stay for the night.

As he parted the room, Dale closed his laptop and rolled right into his comfortable memory foam bed. He fell asleep almost immediately while forgetting to turn off the light on his desk.

> 5. Surprises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


[Chapter 5]



[Surprises]










The next morning hit Andrew like a train. Sweat dripped down his temples as his heartbeat drummed twice as fast as his breathing. He sat up and clenched his chest, the burning sensation only lasting a moment. Though, that didn't stop him from springing out of bed and hobbling to Dale's kitchen for water.

He was lucky, any longer and he might have collapsed from exhaustion. Since the house had no second floor, the kitchen was not ten paces from the guest room, enough to make it before the pain go to him.

One quick drink of water to set his mind straight and cool down the unexpected inferno rubbing around within his chest. Fortunately, the refrigerator was full of refilled water bottles, courtesy of Dale's mother. A great way to save money too, especially in this weather.

After chugging down a full bottle of cold water, Andrew didn't stop there. He continued until a half of his second bottle disappeared down his throat. His last gulp felt infinitely refreshing, but there was one thing that still bothered him. He rushed over to the sink and slash a good deal of water on his face to wake him from both the fire and the fear.

Andrew shut off the faucet and leaned against the counter almost like he was drunk. He'd never been drunk before, but he imagined this is what it felt like. To feel hopelessly weak and out of control seem to fit the description, but one key player in the lightheaded fuzz and fizzle bubbling in his brain remained.

Why?

That was the question of the day. One word long and it still rattled his brain. The answer would not come lightly, he just had to remember what it was that threw him off balance in his dreams. It's happened a few times before, but nothing like this. This was different. This had a familiar aftereffect that might have had something to do with what he had witnessed the night before.

Dale's magic? Even thinking about it made the ache worse. There's no way he was dreaming again, he was at his friend's house after all. Only one explanation as to how he got there was obvious, but did he fully believe it?

The droplets of sweat that dribbled to his nose combined with the water from earlier to tingle his senses as they dripped from the tip of his nose. It took a moment for the itch to be slapped away by his hand as his finally moved from his rigid state of panic that struck him.

Andrew dried his face with a towel and hobbled back to the guest room. He was stopped by ran into something, or rather, someone.

“Whoa, you okay there buddy?” Dale's voice peaked in his ears. He felt a pair of arm catch him from tumbling to the floor. For some reason he hadn't noticed Dale standing in the doorway. “I heard you run in here panting like hell. You alright?”

When Andrew stabilized, only half dizzy this time, he responded in kind.

“I don't know. Do I look okay?” Maybe not so kind after all.

“You've only slept over half a dozen times, this is the first where you seemed extremely disturbed after waking up? Are you sure nothing happened?”

The concern radiating from Dale put Andrew into a better mood, given that even his behavior was off center. There was no reason to use excuse himself of being overly rude to his best friend in the morning, especially in his own home. With that household manner now in mind, he already failed at it when he came to visit the previous night.

“Just a little headache.” Andrew withheld the whole truth. Even he didn't know what was wrong.

Without asking, Dale helped him walk back to his room and sat him down on the bed.

“If you say so,” he said as he made his leave. “Well school starts in half an hour, better go home and get ready.”

The fact that there was enough time to walk down the street to his house and back didn't motivate him in the slightest to move from where he was sitting. He didn't need anything from home, he had effectively planned ahead by bringing his binder, class notebooks, and the like. Everything else was already at school in his locker. With it being so early in the morning, the sun hasn't yet risen, and neither would he just to waste energy going home and back.

Andrew normally slept in his clothes, so he wouldn't have to burn time changing every evening and morning dealing with that daily charade. It made life easier. One of the many things he has adopted to save time, cut out useless routines, and simplify his day.

Dale's mother had to leave for work as early as five in the morning, so the embarrassment of his fiasco of making a mess of himself in the kitchen wasn't so bad. He'd have to clean it up before he leaves.

He lay there for what felt like ten minutes, but turned out to be twenty. He knew that of course when Dale burst in the room, knocking loudly on the open door.

“Get up man!” his friend shouted. “We gotta go or we'll be late.”

Andrew literally catapulted out of bed and checked his music player for the time. Five minutes till school starts. It takes seven and half minutes to walk there, four if they book it.

So that's what they ended up doing. Andrew swiped his bag from the floor and rushed out the door with Dale in the lead. There was no time to clean up the puddles of water on the kitchen counter, getting to school on time was far more important.

Both teenagers jogged down the street to the boulevard and started to run. As long as the lights were green on the large intersection, they were fine. Nothing like a morning jog to start the day.








Meanwhile, around the same time, Andrew's little brother Alex was just waking from a sleep so deep, it further convinced him that the night before was only as real as a lucid dream. Almost Matrix level lucid, with sensory simulation and everything, but there was no way to know for sure.

Alex rubbed his eyes free of the sandy residue that glued his lashes together and took one slow and satisfying breath. It was all he needed to smile away the problems of the past and peek around the corner to the future.

Being the one to get out of bed quickly as opposed his brother, there was no reason to break that tradition. Besides, his school right across the street from the high school that Andrew attended began at eight o'clock, a full half hour later than his older counterparts.

Tuesday oh Tuesday, he mused to himself. You're nobody's favorite.

The first thing he would do is get up and stre—

“Woah—Oof!”

If it weren't for his semi-quick reflex, he would've face-planted the floor with serious consequences. He just got up, way to start the day.

“Ow.” Alex sat up to see what he tripped on. His eyes blew wide.

He rapidly scurried away from the sleeping creature at the foot of his bed. Reaching the wall at the opposite to his bed, he tightly pressed his back against the wood and hugged his knees as closely as possible. He shivered madly from the cold of the room brushing his skin and the fact that the memories came crashing in.

Last night was real!

There was no way to know for sure if he was losing his mind or still asleep. He hoped this would end as soon enough, this was just getting ridiculous. Wait for any sudden movements from the blue creature, he devised a plan to find out what was going on, dream or not, and hopefully get his brother on board with this since this all started with him.

His attention shot back at the thing lying next to his bed when it rolled over to reveal two golden eyes half open. As soon as their gazes met, Alex's fear doubled and the pony's sleepy expression vanished, replaced by surprise.

“Oh!” her voice squeaked as she leaned up into a more natural position. “You're awake.”

Alex bore a look of shock and awe, but not quite as strong as the night before. He stared unblinking to the very strange looking pony in his room. He was afraid to speak.

Lyra, as he remembered her name correctly, seemed just as inclined to study his form as he was of her.

Unbelievable.

Incredible.

Weird.

The silence penetrated the two for a while, each examining the other. It was Lyra who felt the need to break in.

“Are you okay, Alex?”

Holy sh— she knows my name. Well of course she knows my name. I told her my name yesterday. My name is easy to remember. All my friends know my name. I didn't think transdimensional beings had names. My name is easy to pronounce. Typical of a four letter name. Did I mention my name?

Alex's internal panic attack was in overdrive, frantically rushing to settle down calmly. It certainly wasn't doing a good job. All Lyra saw was his eye twitch a few times. She also notices the was shivering with his forearms wrapped completely around his long folded hindlegs. Again, she couldn't bear to watch a creature suffer, especially a human.

She swiftly used her golden magic to levitate the bedsheets from the mattress over to the quivering human. She was saddened by how he reacted a moment later. Alex's eyes popped out of his sockets while the burst from his cowering position, fleeing from the scene out the door closing it on his way out.

Lyra did not like where this was going, and she clearly had to work on her impressions. Although not her first interaction, the second was equally important and she blew it already. She thought to herself, maybe I should think before I act.

The unicorn then rummaged through her squished saddlebag and pulled out her journal to jot down her failure. It helped her avoid similar issues in the future and record the behavior of humans regardless if it was good or bad. It would help her develop a clearer picture of the species for knowledge's sake.

The room got quiet all of a sudden. The light spreading through the window was quite the sight as the serene a minimal environment reminded her of home when she was younger, a brighter and free filly whose first steps of learning were to explore the world. And what better way to do that than nature itself. The sun gave her the warmth to go higher and the light to see further. It was a nit hotter than she remembered for this time of year.

Her reminiscence was interrupted by a tapping sound from the nearby. Lyra looked up out the window again and—oddly enough—found Princess Luna right on the other side. She trotted over and struggled to open the window with her magic.

“Luna?” she began. “Did you find out where we are?”

Something must have distracted her because it wasn't until she asked the question when she realized the state Luna was in. Her mane and tail her in awful shape and her fur was covered in a layer of dust, not to mention her breathing became a fit of nonrhythmic gulps for air as if she just finished a flight marathon.

“What's wrong, Princess?”

Luna gave herself time to steady her heart rate and simmer down to normal. She didn't look to thrilled to have gone through one hell of night with one major problem.

“We must leave immediately,” she said definitively.

“What are you talking about?” Lyra was not liking the severity of her tone.

“This realm is out of control!” Luna hissed. “We cannot stay!”

At this point, her panic returned briefly before Lyra reassured her... or at least tried to.

“Please Luna, you're worrying me. What are you so worried about? I thought you were just going to do your duty as princess of the night.”

“That's the problem,” Luna spat. “I cannot to my duty!”

“Why not?”

Luna paused to save her last outburst. She swiveled her head right to left to make sure no residents were looking at her from the shouting, then pushed Lyra back through the open window as she squeezed her body through the opening. Recomposing her emotions that have gone astray, she looked Lyra in the eye.

“The moon moves on its own!” she shouted in whisper. “The sun as well!”

This was news to Lyra. She had assumed everything was the same everywhere, universe to universe. A fatal mistake in her mind.

“What do you mean, 'move on their own'?”

“These celestial bodies we call the sun and the moon follow a different set of rules it appears.” Luna's tone seemed to calm a bit, but the severity of her concerns remained. “What am I supposed to do? I've tried my magic to move the moon, but to no avail.”

“Well we are in a different universe, most likely.” Lyra twirled her hoof. “That or we teleported across the galaxy in a wormhole to this world with a similar sun and moon but with different physical properties.”

The princess scrunched her nose, not showing a sliver of understanding of the words Lyra spoke to her. It was all scientific gibberish to her ears.

“But my magic—“

“I don't think it works here.”

Luna gasped hard. The fear stricken complexion of the Princess of the Night shattered her internally. She never thought she see the day where her magic to raise the one thing that meant nearly everything to her to be rendered useless, all because of Lyra.

She now focused her attention on her irresponsible pupil, eyebrows bearing the sign of anger.

Lyra noticed it right away and cowered, flattening her ears in shame. Before things could get worse as Luna began to advance and tower over the poor unicorn, the bedroom door creaked open just a tad.

Both ponies snapped their heads to the bedroom doors to find a human's forehead peeking around the corner.

“Greetings young Alex,” said Luna, dropping her angered face temporarily.

Alex slowly crept back inside the room and quietly shut the door. He continued to remain speechless and eyes focused on the alicorn as he simultaneously hugged the wall and tiptoed to his bed. What seemed to be a precaution on his part, the ponies we more concerned with he was doing rather than his mental state. Housing two mythical creatures just wasn't what you'd call “normal”.

Instead, continuing to stare at Lyra and Luna, Alex backed away the way he came and left the room again. Both ponies glanced at each other. Lyra was the first to follow after the fleeing human.

She pulled open the door with her magic and found the hallway empty. He was nowhere in sight. She could hear thumps receding to the lower level down the hall and around the corner. She followed after him and as she reached the top of the staircase, she found him opening the front door.

As soon as he left the house, Luna walked right up beside her.

“He sure was in a hurry,” Lyra said. “It's as if he was running from us.”

“Was it something I said?” Luna mused.

“No, I think it's us. Humans don't know about us ponies, and we don't know much about them. I think we need to learn more about them before we—“

“No,” said Luna. “We must return to Equestria at once!”

Lyra whirled her head around to give a her best puppy eyes and pout. “But Luna-”

“No excuses. Our time must be short here, this worlds must not know of our existence and us of theirs. You have done enough damage as it is.”

The mint unicorn could feel the disappointment dig deeper and Luna's trust in her falling apart. Apparently she didn't account for the Princess's temper and underestimated her authority. She had failed countless times to get one step closer to the human world but was stricken down by the warnings Luna had given her toying with powerful and forbidden magic. And yet, despite numerous experiments, here she was, standing in the human household in the world she sought to explore.

She also didn't intend to bring Princess Luna along with her. That was not part of her plan. There was nothing she could do but argue with the alicorn of the merit of her actions and value of this opportunity.

“Now,” Luna began once more after a brief silence. “I need you to preform the spell to transport us home immediately.”

Lyra sighed. “Right now?”

“Yes.”

The shameful mare lowered her head. Why did Luna force her leave the most important thing to her behind? That did seem like a fair thing to do, especially for a princess. It's not like Luna to be such a buzzkill, unlike her sister Celestia. What was she so afraid of?

It was then that Lyra had to find out why? She activated her horn, and before she knew it she teleported away in a flash, too fast for Luna to stop her.

Princess Luna's face radiated with anger. She was about to yell her disobedient student's name when noises blared from her right. She instantly fled back into the bedroom and closed the door half way. From the end of the hall, two more humans appeared in nice clothing, what Luna assumed to be a man and a woman.

“Have the boys gone to school yet, hon?” the man said.

“I'll check.” the woman responded.

Luna watched as female human walked her way but stopped to check the room across from her. She didn't stop there as the woman walked was inches from opening the door to Alex's room, but not before Luna immediately cast a spell and stood motionless.

The woman cracked the door open to look inside. From her height, Luna got a good look at the human. Even though she had never seen a female human in person before, she could say the woman was quite beautiful. Her complexion indicated she was well groomed and smelled of a nice lavender fragrance.

Luna watcher as her gaze scanned the room. She was about to retreat a second later when she stopped. The woman spotted something laying next to the bed. Luna's heart dropped when the human inspected two saddlebags. Lyra's saddlebags. Full of papers, a journal ans some books.

This isn't good.

The woman took the bags with her as left the room with a curious look on her face. Luna waited for the footsteps the fade before dropping her invisibility spell. This is not good at all. How will she get them back? But most importantly Who were those people? The kin of young Alex? Parents perhaps? Mother and father?

What ever the case, Luna could not leave without Lyra and her stuff. She'd have to track down where that sneaky mare went off to.









Alex tried for the duration of his walk to school forgetting about the ponies last night. That was until a flash of light blinded him as he strolled down the street.

He opened his eyes to find a miniature mint-green unicorn of strange proportions appear directly in his path. He stopped and quickly backed away.

“Stay away from me,” he said casually as if the thought of being followed by a colorful pony was nothing out of the ordinary.

Alex crossed the street to flee from the obstacle in his path and continued on. He didn't understand why the such a creature would reveal itself to him again in broad daylight. Once again, he brushed it away and didn't let her distract him. He was already late for class.

“Wait!”

Alex didn't give attention to the pale blue-green pony and kept on walking, ignoring the fact that she had just appeared out of nowhere somehow.

“I need your help.”

Her voice was right next to him now, but didn't let that stop him. He heard her hooves trotting beside him as he speed walked.

“Please Alex, I want to meet your brother.”

Alex stopped walking and looked down at her. “Why are you following me?”

“You know where Andrew is.”

“Why wouldn't I, he's at school.”

“Is that where you're going now?” Lyra tilted her head, letting the sun light up the left side of her face, adding glide to her glee.

There's no way I'm getting out of this, Alex complained to himself.

“Umm... Yes.”

The mare's face made a sound that Alex never thought it could made. It sounded as if a rubber duck was squeezed hard.

“Can I come with you?” she asked happily.

“Are you nuts!?” Alex shouted louder than he wanted. “The whole school will see you. You can't just walk around saying hi to everyone. Everyone's gonna freak out when they see a talking mythical horse.”

“Oh yeah,” Lyra giggle point. “Good point.”

“You know what, just— stay back to my house and stay in my room until I come back. I'll bring Andrew with me then. Just stop looking at me like that.” The pleading face Lyra had on was indeed creeping him out. It's odd how he was able to recognize the face of a pony, like she's almost human.

“But I want to talk to him now,” Lyra begged.

Alex ignored her cry and looked away. He pointed towards his house as if indicating a dog to return home. He didn't wait for her to comply as he still could believe he was ordering a pony back to his room. As crazy as that sounded, it wasn't worse than last night.

He turned around and began to job down the street. Lyra watched as Alex rounded the curb and disappeared behind the house on the corner. She stood there considering her options of facing Luna after teleporting away, or play spy to find Andrew with to risk of exposing herself to the humans.

Her decisions was easy as it took just seconds to figure a plan and teleport to the rooftop of the house on the corner.