When Kyle feels his life going down the drain, fate gives him a chance on a new world, one teeming with unbridled magic. Worrying that his past will prevent him from finding peace, he finds that settling in might not be as hard as he thought.
Kyle has lost so much. His life is in shambles, and everything feels like it is falling apart. When he was about to lose the last thing that he held dear, fate intervened and gave him a brand new chance at life on a brand new world, one with unfamiliar creatures and a land teeming with magic. With this new opportunity, he fears that his past will prevent him from finding peace within himself, but with the help of a few new friends, he might just have a chance.
I would like to thank The Abyss for the revised story page. Name changed from When the Time Comes.
A small smile crossed Kyle’s face as the wind whipped past him, blowing away his troubled thoughts. He felt weightless, almost like he was flying. He opened his eyes and took in his favorite sight: the night sky.
“I’d forgotten what peace feels like,” Kyle thought, trying to burn the image into his mind. He pulled his eyes away from the sight he so loved and forced them to the object he was hurtling toward. Laid out before him was the gray, intertwining strips of asphalt that made up the city below his apartment. His contentedness was shattered as he witnessed the device of his eminent demise. Memories flooded his mind despite his best efforts to suppress them.
Kyle sat on the bed and held his mother as she cried, gently rocking her back and forth. He tried to hold back his tears but failed when he felt warm drops hit his arms. Everything crumbled around him as the sorrow and guilt crushed him under its weight. “How cou-could this happe-en, how could s-she…” she stuttered out before she was cut off by a fresh wave of sobs. “How can s-she be dead? She was only ten! H-how can she be dead?”
Kyle didn’t know how to answer that so he just held her tighter. He looked over at his brother. He was trying to hold it together, but the sorrow proved to be too much as tears streamed down his face. It tore him up inside. There was nothing he could do, short of bringing her back to life, to stop the pain. Pain that he caused, yet no one blamed him and it just hurt more.
He forced his eyes closed trying to push the past from his mind but to no avail. The memories continued to flood past his mind’s eye.
Kyle sat in the waiting room of the hospital his mom worked at. He got here as fast as he could when he received the phone call, but he had been sitting here for the last hour with no news. He scrutinized the tile floor, trying to distract himself from the horrible truth that was lying somewhere behind those doors. Movement drew his eyes as the doctor walked through the doors and headed straight toward him. Fear settled over his heart like steel bands in a vice. It only tightened when he saw the doctor's face.
“I’m sorry. There was nothing we could do,” the doctor said, sorrow filling his voice.
Kyle couldn't accept the doctor’s words. He had to be lying. There was no way that he could be telling the truth.
“No, that can’t be right they… I just spoke… There has to be something you can do!” The words flooded from his lips. His mind was in complete turmoil. He just couldn’t understand how they could be dead. He was talking and laughing with them just a few hours ago. How could this happen! First his sister, now his mom and brother dead in just a few short years. There was just no way. “NO, NO! You have to go back in there! You missed something! You had to have missed... They can’t be…” The words caught in his throat as he fell to his knees.
He wept. The tears were ripped from his eyes just like everything else dear to him. The pain was overwhelming. Kyle quietly thanked the one who pushed him from the window for ending his suffering. No! No, he wouldn’t allow himself to think like that! Terice wouldn’t want that and would have killed him again if she knew he was thinking that way. Though this was the end, he would not let himself succumb to his pain. If there was an afterlife, he would look her in the eyes and say that he kept his promise!
“Ashly, it seems I am going to see you sooner than either of us had hoped,” Kyle whispered.
“I'm not sure about this, Twi,” Spike said, concern evident in his voice. He took another glance at the arcane circle Twilight was scrutinizing. It was part of her latest project, one that Spike was sure could only end badly, as he’s pointed out multiple times in the last few hours. She was touched by his concern. Unfounded as it may be, it was still nice to know that he cared.
Twilight continued to inspect the circle. It was a multilayer construct devised by Starswirl the Bearded and improved upon by Twilight, herself. The outermost ring of the circle was filled with runes to shape and give form to the magic put into it. The middle section of the circle consisted of arcane lines to give the energies a pathway to follow and the center was blank, leaving a space for her to stand. The whole construct gave off a faint, but unmistakable glow of potential magic. The light was slightly eerie, pulsing as the energies flowed through it. Add to the fact that the shadows cast by the furniture seemed to dance and move in the corner of your eye and it gave the whole room a look straight from a horror flick.
A horror flick that, if Twilight asks, Spike did not stay up late and sneak out to go see against her wishes. Where he didn’t see an evil scientist raise monsters from the aether using a mixture of science and black magic and definitely was not the reason he insisted that a light be left on at night for the last month.
“Oh, relax, Spike,” Twilight chuckled. “I have taken every precaution I can think of and then some. You have nothing to worry about.”
“It's not me that I’m worried about,” he retorted. Images of black creatures raising from the floor and surrounding Twilight came to his mind. “You don’t know what adding these runes to the spell will do! For all you know it will cause a rip in the fabric of reality and summon forth monsters from the aether to devour you!” Spike covered his mouth when those words slipped out, but the damage was already done. Twilight looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes in disappointment.
“Spike, I told you that I did not want you to go see that movie, and this is why!” Twilight reprimanded Spike, her glare hardening. “That flick is nothing but science fiction nonsense and holds no actual credence in reality. Besides, I know exactly what adding these runes will do. The magic circle is a backup in case I need a little extra magic to hold the spell, and in no way will it summon demons from Tartarus, I promise.”
Spike gave one last wary glance at the magic circle before relenting. “Fine, but if anything bad happens, then don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
Twilight sighed in exasperation, “Again, nothing bad will happen. Now, if I can have some quiet, I need to concentrate.”
Spike opened his mouth to say something else, but shut it with a snap when he saw the dark expression on Twilight’s face. Once she was sure Spike wasn’t going to ruin her focus, Twilight levitated a scroll and quill to her. The purple mare scanned the paper one last time, making sure she didn’t overlook anything and checked the final box marked Triple-Check Checklist. With a nod, she set the paper aside and walked to the center of the circle. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on the spell. Twilight's horn filled with magic, causing a purple glow to emanate from it. The magic continued to build, forming another layer of light around the first. After a few seconds, the runes and lines of the construct began to glow brighter. Spike saw the light cast from the circle and dashed behind the couch, fearing for his well-being. With a blinding flash of light, Twilight released the magic, casting the spell. A moment later, Spike poked his head out from behind the couch and looked at Twilight standing there, no evidence of anything having happened.
“So… did it work?” he asked, moving from his hiding spot.
“No, Spike, it didn’t,” Twilight huffed as her features contorted into a frown. “What did I do wrong? I triple checked everything.” Twilight sat down hard, summoning a stack of parchment that had every note she’d made relating to the spell. With an exasperated groan, she tossed the papers into the air, yelling, “What am I missing? Maybe if I...” Her words were cut off as a loud ripping sound came from above her.
Twilight whipped her head up toward the sound, letting out a gasp as she saw the cause: a rip in the fabric of space-time. How did she get that instead of a window, like the spell was supposed to make?
“Okay ,Twilight, don’t panic,” she thought. “I can fix this! As long as it doesn’t get any bigger, I will be able to close the tear.” She focused her magic to reverse the spell when her concentration was broken by another tearing sound. She watched with abject terror as the rip continued to widen until it was big enough to swallow a pony whole. Fear overwhelmed Twilight, taking all hope at concentrating to reverse the spell with it. With rational thought and dignity thrown out the window, she began to gallop around in circles as the panic overtook her.
“Oh no, nonononononononono, NO, NO, what have I done? I’ve caused the end of the world! NONONONONONO! What is Celestia going to think? Her personal student caused the end of not only Equestria but all of Equus! What do I do? What do I do? whatdoidowhatdoidowhatdoido?” Her panicked rambling came to a screeching halt as a loud thud echoed from the center of the room. She stared at the crumpled being laying on the floor. It was like nothing she had ever seen.
Twilight took in the sight of the strange creature. It was most likely a biped, judging by its much-too-short forelegs compared to its hind legs and spinal alignment. If its usage of clothes were to be taken into account, then it was a safe bet to make that it was sapient. She couldn’t make out much of its face as it was obscured by its dark brown, almost black mane. Twilight would surmise that the creature, if standing, would stand at about twenty hooves tall, making it around the same height as Princess Celestia. At the end of its forelegs were appendages similar to the talons of a griffon, but fleshy. Twilight took in everything that she could of the strange creature, unable to take her eyes off of it.
**********
“Ashly, it seems I’m going to see you sooner than either of us had hoped,” Kyle whispered. He closed his eyes, waiting for his inevitable end. When the seconds continued to tick by and nothing happened, he opened his eyes. Instead of the asphalt, he found an indescribable expanse awaiting him. The more he stared, the more he saw, until it seemed he was seeing everything at once.
Kyle had no idea how much time had passed since he’d entered this place. He could have been there for hours, days, weeks even! All he knew was the strobe like flashes of images and characters kept pushing into his mind, filling it with far too much information. It felt like his head was being smashed in a vice and being ripped apart at the same time. It was excruciating and it wouldn’t stop.
After what felt like days, though it could have been only seconds, he came to an epiphany. He wasn’t seeing images of his past, but glimpses of others; other worlds, other realities, and answers to an infinite amount of questions. This realization only gave way to more pain as he tried to fight in futility against the onslaught. The universe continued to shove knowledge into his mind with the subtlety of Donkey Kong wielding a sledge hammer. The images continued to assail him and Kyle felt that he was slipping away, being pushed further and further into the recesses of his mind. He knew that if this continued, everything that was him would be lost, crushed by everything else.
Through the onslaught, Kyle felt something shift, almost as if something was trying to reach out for him. With a newfound hope for being released from his torment, he let himself be taken. Ever so slowly, the pressure on his mind ebbed away as the torrent of information ceased its flow. Eventually, his surroundings gained substance and pulled his mind back from the breaking point. The more he began to make out, the more relaxed he felt.
Kyle took in the details of his surroundings, noticing that even though he could see everything, it still felt distant. It didn't take him long to realize that he was in a library. Seeing this brought back memories of a better time. Everything was made of wood. The shelves, roof, and floor looked to be carved out of a single piece. There were several doors in the room. One lead outside, if the window next to it was any indicator. Another two doors lead deeper into the structure, but he wasn't sure where since they were closed. The last door he saw was on the second floor, with stairs leading up to it. Kyle noticed all the books. It almost looked like there were too many. Every flat surface was filled with reading material. Even the window sills were covered. Every piece of furniture was pushed to the sides of the room, making space for a strange circle that filled nearly the entire floor.
“What a strange horse,” Kyle mused, his gaze falling upon a figure that sat in the center of the equally strange circle. The purple pegasus mare, at least what he thought was a mare, had a well-kept purple mane with a violet and pink highlight running through it with a matching tail. Her coat was a lighter shade than her mane, and she had some sort of tattoo or marking on her flank of what looked to be a six-pronged star with smaller stars surrounding it. Kyle continued to ogle the strange creature when he noticed a flash directly in front of it and papers of some kind appeared. He also took notice of the foot-long horn protruding out of her head. How he missed it earlier, he couldn’t say. He watched in amazement as the papers just floated before they were surrounded with in a purple glow that matched the unicorn-pegasus-thing’s horn. Then, as the papers seemed to be thrown up into the air by their own accord, Kyle felt a tug.
Kyle felt another tug but this time it wasn’t gentle like before this time it was as if he was being dragged forward by a truck. A rip formed in front of him and he was forced through it at high speed. The next thing Kyle knew, excruciating pain was flaring throughout his entire body. It felt as if a professional football team had decided to dance a jig on top of him wearing cleats. He was in too much pain to move, so he just laid where he impacted the floor and let out a small whimper to show his displeasure, which caused a fresh wave of pain to flare in his chest. Through the agony, he was vaguely aware that something was approaching him.
Slowly the mare came into view. She moved with slow, but deliberate steps, almost as if she were afraid that if she moved too fast, Kyle would lash out at her, but she seemed determined not to let that stop her. He chuckled at the display. She was afraid of the helpless creature crumpled before her? How ridiculous. The chuckle turned into a violent cough and he nearly passed out from the wave of pain the sudden fit gave him. It was getting harder for him to breathe and he tasted metal. With a growing sense of dread, Kyle realized that the metallic taste was blood and the reason he was having trouble breathing was was from the blood pooling in his lungs. A chill seeped through him that sapped his strength, and he realized how dire the situation was. He was drowning on his own blood.
Desperation made Kyle attempt to call out for help, hoping someone would hear him, but the only sound that came out was a choked wheeze. The last thing he saw before blackness took him was the unicorn’s horn shining and a bright flash encompassing him for the second time that night.
**********
Twilight snapped out of her shock when the creature gave off a pained groan. Taking a deep breath, she slowly approached the unmoving creature. When she made it into the biped’s line of sight, it gave a small giggle, which quickly turned into a hacking cough that sprayed blood across the floor.
“That’s too much blood. Why is there so much… Oh sweet Celestia, it’s bleeding into its lungs!” A look of terror crossed the creature’s face at the sight of its life blood being expelled. It appeared like the creature was trying to say something, but all that came out was a gargling sound before it lost what tention it had in its body. Twilight readied her magic and in a flash she was at the hospital with the biped draped over her back. Twilight ran straight to the reception desk, but found it empty.
“Somepony, anypony help!” Twilight yelled at the empty reception desk. She turned her head to the being on her back and whispered, “Please hold on! Please, please don’t die!”
Nurse Redheart walked out with a cup of coffee in hoof. “What's all the...” Redheart dropped her mug and it shattered with the rest of her question at the desperation radiating from Twilight. She had never seen so much fear in the young mare’s eyes before, not even when she faced down Nightmare Moon all those years back.
“Twilight, what’s wrong?”
“Hurry, it’s going to drown in its own blood if we don’t do something now!” Nurse Redheart looked at the creature draped over Twilight’s back and saw its labored breathing and in an instant she took action.
“Doctor Horse, prep for surgery! Tendercare, trauma victim in reception area. Get here now!” Redheart shouted into a mic behind the reception desk. “Twilight, take a deep breath and tell me what happened. Anything you can think of will be of help.” Before Twilight could respond, Tendercare ran in and levitated the creature onto a way-too-small gurney. She motioned for Twilight and Redheart to follow.
“Can you tell us what happened to this… Whatever this thing is?” Nurse Tendercare asked, taking a good look at the biped.
“It came through a portal I accidentally created when testing a new spell.” Twilight trotted beside the gurney. “As to what it is, I have no idea, but you have to save it! It’s my fault it’s like this! It wouldn’t be here if I didn’t mess up that spell!”
“We’ll do all we can, Twilight,” Nurse Tendercare assured. Turning her attention back to Redheart, she said, “Redheart we need a tracheostomy and an x-ray, stat.” They rushed along the corridor until they reached a set of doors when Nurse Redheart stopped, holding out a hoof to prevent Twilight from entering.
“Sorry, Twilight, but you need to stay out here.” Redheart then motioned to a bench. “You can sit in the reception area for now.”
**********
“I knew that something like this would happen,” Spike thought as he looked at the widening hole. He turned his attention to Twilight. She was obviously in full freak-out mode. It would be kinda funny if the situation wasn’t so dire. He racked his brain, trying to figure out what to do. His thoughts coalesced to one: send a letter to the princess. Spike ran straight for the room that he shared with Twi, grabbing a quill and paper. He quickly wrote out a short message to Princess Celestia and sent it with a puff of flame.
“Okay, Spike, go downstairs and help Twilight. You can do this,” he said trying to psych himself up for what he thought was going to be an epic battle. He ran out of the room and was halfway down the stairs, preparing a battle cry, when a thump reverberated through the room, stopping him in his tracks. He slowly turned his head towards the source of the sound and froze. “That isn’t what they looked like in the movie,” he thought. “What is that thing? It appears to be a monster, but nothing like the black, ethereal beings in the movie.” Then the last thing he could have expected happened: Twilight levitated the creature on her back and teleported away. He stood there, staring blankly at the spot where the monster and Twilight had been. After a few seconds, his mind finally rebooted and everything that had transpired sprang forward. “Why did Twilight teleport away with the monster? Why didn’t she banish it back to the rift it came from?” Spike was too wrapped up in these thoughts to notice Celestia had appeared on the landing below him.
“Spike, I came as soon as I got the letter. Where is Twilight?” Celestia asked with worry.
Hearing the princess’s voice gave him a start. He whipped around and put his claws up in a defensive manner. It took him a moment to recognize Celestia and put his arms down, still freaking out at recent events as he tried, unsuccessfully, to explain everything at once, “Hole, monster, Twilight, teleport!”
“Spike, take a deep breath and try again slower this time,” Celestia said in a calming breath. “And, perhaps, elaborate as well?” Spike nodded and did as she suggested before trying again.
“After I sent you the letter, I came back downstairs to see if I could get Twilight to calm down after this monster came out of the hole.” Spike pointed to the rift above their heads. “Then I saw Twilight teleport away with the monster to who knows where!”
“Spike, calm down. Twilight can handle herself. She will be fine. For now, let's take a look at this hole.” Celestia turned her attention on the rip, giving it a critical eye. Her gaze drifted to the floor and lingered on the circle, a small frown appearing on her face. She walked over to the circle and wiped away a single symbol. The glow faded, and, with a flash, the portal closed, causing Spike to jump forward in an attempt to get away from a nonexistent threat. Unfortunately, he forgot that he was still on the stairs and ended up tumbling the rest of the way down.
Spike got up slowly and shook his head to clear the spinning. Once he regained his bearings, he saw an amused Celestia trying to cover her mirth with a hoof. Spike saw right through it though, and it ticked him off that she was laughing at him at a time like this.
“Yeah, real funny. Twilight is off who knows where with a dangerous monster and you’re laughing at my pain,” Spike grumped.
“Don’t be like that, Spike. I have faith that Twilight is fine and I am more that willing to take you to her to prove it to you,” Celestia laughed.
“Please, if it isn’t too much to ask, could you?” Celestia’s smile softened at Spike’s concern. Though he tried to hide it, his young age did tend to show through every now and then. Celestia cast a scrying spell and located Twilight in the waiting room of the Ponyville General Hospital. With a flash, they left the library behind.
It took Spike a minute to get his bearings when they arrived. Once the world stopped spinning, Spike shot to his feet, ready to jump into battle at any second, but relaxed once he saw where he was. He looked around the room, confused.
“Princess, Spike what are… Oh no, THE RIP!” Twilight cried. “Oh, no! I need to go back to the library and fix the hole before it destroys Equus!” Twilight prepared to teleport back to the library, but stopped when Celestia held up a hoof.
“There is no need, Twilight. I have closed the portal already,” Celestia said with a warm smile.
Twilight's features showed relief that quickly morphed to shame as she hung her head, ears splayed back. “Princess, I’m sorry I endangered all of Equestria with that spell,” she said barely above a whisper. Spike could tell that there was more on Twilight’s mind than her mistake with the spell. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he had a feeling it had to do with the creature and why she teleported it to the hospital. He walked up to Twilight and gave her a reassuring hug. She returned the gesture with a strained smile.
“Do not worry. That spell wouldn’t have endangered Equestria, my faithful student,” Celestia reassured Twilight, “but I would like to see the creature that came through. Could you show me to it?”
“It’s in surgery right now. It was bleeding into its lungs.” Twilight turned her gaze up to the princess’s glistening eyes, ears pressed to her skull. “Please, Princess if there is anything you could do to help... It is my fault this happened.”
Princess Celestia smiled warmly at her student, “I will do what I can to help.” She walked to the double doors separating the waiting room from the rest of the hospital, a golden aura surrounding the door as it opened. She walked into the corridor, letting the doors swing closed behind her.
Spike expected the princess to be kicked out at any moment, but the seconds ticked by and nothing happened. He began to worry. Spike was still under the impression that this creature was an evil monster from beyond, and, as such, was planning something nefarious. Twilight mistook his nervous shuffling for worry over the creature. “There’s no need for worry. It’s going to be fine. Celestia, herself, is looking over the creature.”
“Yeah... right. Everything is going to be just fine,” Spike replied with a nervous chuckle.
The room settled into an uncomfortable silence as they waited for somepony to walk out and tell them the news. Neither one was willing to break the silence. Spike continued to glance at the clock, wishing that something would happen. The waiting was killing him. After what seemed like days, Nurse Tendercare and Princess Celestia walked through the doors.
With instantaneous relief, Spike let out a breath, relaxing at seeing the princess was okay. He opened his mouth to ask if everything was taken care of, but before he could utter a single word, Twilight cut him off.
“Is it going to be okay?” she asked, worry obvious in her voice.
“Yes, dear Twilight. He will be fine,” Celestia answered putting a slight emphasis on he.
“He. So it is a male of its–I mean, his species,” Twilight’s eyes glazed over as she lost herself in thought.
“Looks like we lost Twilight to her scholarly side again,” Spike deadpanned. He walked up to Twilight waving his claws in front of her face. “Yeah, she’s gone.”
Celestia chuckled at Spike’s display then cleared her throat, “Twilight I need somepony to watch over our visitor. Would you–”
Before Celestia could finish her question, Twilight rocketed through the double doors only to come back a few seconds later with an embarrassed grin on her face.
“Um… hehe… What room is he in?” Twilight asked, fidgeting with her front hooves.
Celestia laughed good naturedly and said, “He’s in room two-oh-four.”
Spike went to follow Twilight but was stopped by the princess. She gave him an appraising eye before speaking, “Spike, I want you to give this creature the benefit of the doubt and don’t label him an enemy just yet.” He gave her a doubtful look before he steeled his gaze, gave her a nod, and ran to catch up with Twilight.
Kyle stirred from his slumber, desperately trying to fight off the waking world. Unfortunately, reality was a demanding mistress. Consciousness shrugged off his attempts and he found himself fully awake, with a throbbing pain in his head, a queasy stomach, and a dry, scratchy throat.
“Oh god, how much did I drink last night?” he asked himself. “This is the worst hangover I’ve ever had.” He tried to move his hands to his head, but stopped when his arms screamed out in agony.
“Why does it hurt to move my... everything?” he thought. Like a wave, the memories crashed down on him and his eyes snapped open, an action he instantly regretted. The bright lights of his surroundings sent a stabbing pain through his eyes and directly to his brain. He quickly closed them and waited for the throbbing of his head to lessen before cautiously trying again. He scanned the room, hoping that it was all just a bad dream, that he would find himself back in his apartment laying on his bed, but his eyes were filled with the sterile white of a hospital. Even though some of the previous night’s events might be true, he held on to the hope that the rest was just a dream. That was until his roaming eyes landed on the purple unicorn pegasus—he wasn’t sure what to call her—was sleeping in a chair with her head on his bed.
“So it wasn’t a dream. You are real,” he said reaching out a hand toward the pegasus unicorn in the futile hope that he was hallucinating. The movement awoke the sleeping equine. Her eyes fluttered open and found Kyle’s outstretched hand mere inches away.
She let out a startled scream, jumping back from the bed and flaring her wings open. Kyle, not expecting this reaction, screamed as well, trying to move backwards, only to yell out in pain. The mare folded her wings and moved forward with what appeared to concern filling her face. “Sorry, I forgot where I was for a second. How–” she was cut off by Kyle screaming again. Summoned by the noise, a white horse with a bun of pink hair ran in to investigate, a purple lizard on its heels.
“Twi, are you okay? What happened? Did it hurt you?” the purple lizard asked in rapid succession, looking between the purple unicorn and Kyle. At hearing the talking lizard, Kyle screamed again. They all shifted their gazes to Kyle, causing him to flinch in embarrassment.
“You… lizard… talking… but, but…” Kyle gave up trying to form words and just stared at the trio, dumbfounded. They settled into an uncomfortable silence. Kyle was too shocked to form coherent thought, and the rest were unsure of what to do. After a few uneasy moments, Kyle regained enough of his senses to speak and broke the silence
“Uh… Hi.”
A little too eager to end the awkwardness, the three creatures said, in unison, “Hello!” They looked at each other and gave a nervous laugh. The purple lizard and white horse looked at the purple one while an unspoken conversation took place between them. The interaction only took a second, and at the end of it, the purple unicorn pegasus nodded and looked back at Kyle.
“Ahem, my name is Twilight Sparkle. This here is Spike and Nurse Redheart,” she introduced pointing out the other two. “Now, I know you must have a few questions and I am more than willing to answer these for you.”
Kyle stared at Twilight Sparkle for a long moment before pulling in his thoughts enough to know that he should give his name in return. “Um… yeah hehe… I’m Kyle Pierce… It’s nice to meet you…”
Twilight’s forced smile turned more natural. “It is nice to meet you as well, Mr. Pierce.”
Kyle relaxed a bit at her soft smile and friendly tone. He took a moment to get a better look at his surroundings and noticed that he seemed to be in a hospital room with an ECG attached to him. “Um… where am I?”
“You’re at the Ponyville General Hospital,” Twilight replied.
“Where… why am I in a Hospital?”
Nurse Redheart stepped forward and cleared her throat. “You were brought here by Twilight. You had some pretty serious injuries.”
“Injuries, what injuries…? Wait, how serious?” Kyle asked.
“Very. You could have died if Princess Celestia hadn’t come to help. You had several broken ribs, your shoulder was dislocated, you had a broken femur, and your left humerus was broken in three places. In addition, one of your ribs punctured your right lung, and you had internal bleeding in your lower abdomen,” she explained, looking over a clipboard at the foot of Kyle’s bed. Kyle lost more and more of his color as the list was read off. By the end, he was feeling faint.
“How… how am I not dead?”
“Like I said, earlier, if it wasn’t for the Princess, you very well could be. You owe her your life.”
Kyle looked down at his limbs looking for casts and noticed, with mild interest, that something else was missing. He knew that he should feel embarrassed that he was missing his clothes, but couldn’t take more than a slight interest. He pushed that out of his mind for the moment, inquiring, “Um… why don’t I have any casts?”
“You can thank Princess Celestia for that as well. She completely healed your bones. She would have done more, but we don’t know enough about your respiratory and muscular systems to safely repair them. However, we were able to stop the internal hemorrhaging.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. How did she do all of that?”
“She used a spell to mend your bones and stop the bleeding.”
“Spell… as in magic?”
“Um, yes.” Kyle laughed hard. It was absolutely absurd. There’s no such thing as magic. His laugh broke down into a coughing fit that took a few minutes for him to recover from. The other occupants of the room looked at Kyle with what he guessed was concern in their expressions.
“Are you alright, Kyle?” Twilight asked, taking a step closer. Kyle nodded, regaining his breath.
Kyle wiped his eye as he replied, “He-he, oh man for a second there I thought that this was all real and that I’d somehow made my way to a land filled with talking ponies, but after hearing that, I know I’m dreaming.”
Twilight gave Kyle a confused look. “But... this isn’t a dream. This is real.”
“Haha, yeah, right, and I can run faster than a speeding bullet and fly.” Kyle could tell Twilight didn’t get the reference. He sighed, “Okay, just for the sake of argument, let’s say I believe you and this isn’t a dream. Could you demonstrate this magic to me or is it that only the Princess is capable?”
“I can show you a few spells, yes.” Twilight’s horn began to glow purple and a glass on Kyle’s bedside table was enveloped in the same luminescence. The light from her horn brightened and suddenly the glass turned into a brass sculpture of a unicorn rearing up on its hind legs. Kyle’s jaw dropped to the ground at the sight. He could feel the power from the transformation and knew what he witnessed was no trick. She’d actually transmuted the glass, right in front of his eyes.
“Wha… but… how?” Kyle stammered, at a loss for words. It felt like he’d lost his mind, seeing something that so clearly violated the laws of physics. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose, releasing it through his mouth. Kyle continued this process until his thoughts were in order. “That shouldn’t be possible, at least from everything I’ve learned of physics, and, yet, here it is.”
“So, now, do you believe us?” Spike asked looking a tad bit annoyed.
“No,” Kyle said not taking his eyes off the statue. “Hey, Twilight?”
“Yeah?” Twilight said with an amused grin playing at her lips.
“Could I get a closer look at that statue?” He warily moved his hand closer to the brass unicorn.
“Of course you can,” Twilight chuckled, clearly amused by his reaction.
She levitated the brass statue to Kyle. He lightly grabbed the cast statue and nearly dropped it, not expecting it’s weight. It was a rather basic figure without much detail. The tail and mane were a bit longer and ended in a slight curl. There was a small smile played out on the statue’s face. Its eyes were nothing more than their basic shapes. Kyle continued to shift the statue around in his hand as he looked it over.
He stopped looking over the statue, continuing to spin it around in his hands as he lost himself in thought. He couldn’t make sense of any of this. Who was this princess and why did she help? Why would she take the time to do something like that? After several seconds, he finally looked back at Twilight. “Why was it that the Princess was here in the first place? Does she live near here and just happened to hear that there was some creature that was transported to this world, or what?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, she doesn’t live near here, and she wouldn’t have been here if Spike hadn’t overreacted.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… Spike had gotten the idea that the spell I was casting would open a portal to the nether, and, as such, sent an emergency-only memo to Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, glaring at Spike.
“It’s not like you didn’t freak out and end up running in circles when the portal opened,” Spike retorted.
Twilight’s face grew red as she whispered harshly, “I thought we agreed, last night, not speak of that, Spike!”
“All I’m saying is that you can’t hold what I did over my head when you’re guilty of it yourself.”
“That’s not the point, Spike! You used a code red emergency letter when everything was under control!”
“Says the pony that was running around screaming, ‘Oh no, what am I going to do, I’ve doomed all of Equus.’” Kyle couldn’t help but smile at their argument. Anyone that looked on could tell that these two were quite close, and it brought back bittersweet memories. The world slipped away as he lost himself in thoughts of his earlier life. At some time during his reflection the attention of the room shifted back to him and he became aware that Twilight was asking him something.
“Sorry, I spaced out there for a second. What were you saying?”
“I asked if you were alright. You’re crying.”
Kyle lifted his hand to his face and noticed the wet trail on his cheeks quickly wiping them away. “Yeah, I’m fine, just thinking. It’s nothing to worry about.”
“Alright, if you say so…” Twilight replied she seemed skeptical about his response but she didn't call him out on it.
“How about we change the subject, and speaking of change, what happened to my clothes?”
“Oh, your clothes were covered in blood, so I had them cleaned for you. I hope you don’t mind.” Twilight put on a smile that, to Kyle, seemed to be a bit forced.
He gave her a skeptical stare for a second before asking. “So why did you take all of my clothes? If you don’t mind, can I at least have my underwear back?”
Twilight blushed and started to shift on her hooves, looking down at the floor. “Um, well, I thought that you might be more comfortable without those on, so I took them off, and, well, I might have kinda sorta ripped your pants in the process… But don’t worry! I took them to my friend to be repaired. She is wonderful when it comes to clothes and should have them back to you, as good as new, by tomorrow.”
“Ah... I see. Well, as soon as they’re done, could you get those back to me? It’s rather embarrassing to be laying here in the nude.”
“Oh, of course! I completely understand,” Twilight’s blush worsened as she said this, but before Kyle could question her about it, Spike spoke up.
“You do? ‘Cause I certainly don’t. I mean, we’re in the fur, unless it’s for special events, so why do you find it embarrassing?”
“Well, there are many reasons that humans wear clothes. One of which is because the cold affects us more. Unlike most mammals, we don’t have much hair to protect us from the cold. We also find it embarrassing to be naked in a public setting, but that comes more from a cultural aspect. We’re taught from a very young age that it is inappropriate to be nude in front of others.”
Spike was quiet for a bit with his head tilted to one side in thought before stating, “Humans are weird.”
Kyle couldn’t help but laugh at the comment. “Yeah, I agree with you, there, Spike. We can be quite strange.” Kyle let out a huge yawn. “Sorry, I don’t know where that came from.”
Nurse Redheart shook her head. “You’re recovering from some major injuries. It’s no wonder you’re tired.” She gave Kyle a warm smile then turned to the other two. “We should let him get some rest.” Both Twilight and Spike nodded and followed Nurse Redheart out, saying their farewells.
Kyle laid back and stared at the ceiling for a long time, trying to come to terms with what had happened to him, and the strange world that he found himself in. Despite his best, efforts he couldn’t help but feel that he was missing something, but was unable to figure out what it was. He decided that this was a problem for another time, so he did as the nurse suggested and tried to sleep.
Kyle walked through the street as the cold rain drenched him to the bone. The overcast sky matched the grey stone of his surroundings. Everything about the normally boisterous city was subdued by the downpour. Even the colors had lost their hue. Looking around, Kyle found that he didn’t recognize any of the nearby buildings.
“Excuse me, sir. Um, sir?” Kyle, said trying to get the attention of a passerby. The stranger continued on without a sideways glance. Slightly miffed, but undeterred, Kyle tried to flag down the next person to walk by. “Miss! Miss! Excuse me, Miss?” She walked right by Kyle, as uncaring as the last person.
Kyle lost his patience, and, on impulse, tried to grab the next person to pass him, but his hand passed right through her. Confused, Kyle tried to grab the woman again with the same results. Panic took over as he tried again and again to reach out and grab somebody, phasing through them each time. Kyle ran, looking for someone, anyone, to acknowledge him. As he ran, the world blurred by, faster and faster. The next thing Kyle knew, he stood in a small mountain town, but not just any small mountain town. This was Indian Springs, the town he grew up in. Kyle stopped running and let his eyes wander across the familiar sights of his hometown.
Kyle took off again, hoping to find someone to dispel this nightmare. He found his way to the home he grew up in, ripped open the door and shouted, “Mom, James, Ashly! Are you here? Hello?”
Kyle waited for a response, but got none. His fear welled inside him with every passing second. He couldn’t take it any more and sprinted upstairs to the bedrooms. He burst through each door as he got to them, but found each as empty as the last. Panic took over, fear and desperation pushing Kyle to sprint back down the stairs, shouting, “Mom, Ashly, James! Where are you? Come on, talk to me!”
Kyle searched every room of the house, but each was vacant. Then he reached the basement door, stopping short of opening it. When he reached out for the door, an uneasy chill washed over him. It was like a small pull at the back of his mind, a nagging feeling that something was amiss. His unease stopped him dead in his tracks, hand a short distance from the doorknob.
“This is the last room for me to check. Why am I hesitating? They have to be in here. It’s the only place they could be,” Kyle muttered trying to dislodge his unease. Steeling his nerves, he gripped the knob and slowly opened the door.
On the other side, he could barely make out the top two stairs before they faded into complete darkness. He tried the light switch, flicking it on, but nothing happened. With each step, his discomfort grew, but he pushed it aside and pressed further into the darkness.
After what felt like eons, Kyle made it to the basement floor. He rested his hand on the concrete wall to guide him to where the flashlights were kept. After a few minutes of shuffling, he bumped into his destination: a small work bench. Feeling along the bench, Kyle found the drawer that contained the sought-after flashlight. He flicked the switch, light flooding the basement, his unease somewhat fading. He did a quick sweep of the walls, but found nothing until the light passed the midway point, where a shimmer of light caught his eye. His unease quickly turned to despair, telling him to turn tail and run. Ignoring what his body and mind were telling him, Kyle shakily lowered the beam to the glint on the floor. He froze, the flashlight falling from his grasp and clattering to the floor, and, for a moment, the entire scene shone before his eyes.
There, in the middle of the basement floor, was his younger sister, lying in a puddle of blood. Kyle’s legs collapsed under him, and he crawled toward her, uncaring about the blood that now stained his hands and knees. He clutched his sister’s cold, limp body to his chest.
“No, no, no,” Kyle wailed. “NonononononoNONONONONONONONONO! NOOOOOOOOOO! NO, no, no, no, you’re okay! It’s going to be okay! I’ll call the ambulance, you’re going to be okay…” He continued to hold his sister’s body, trying to wipe the blood from her face, only to smear it as his tears fell, leaving small trails in the crimson liquid. He knew there was nothing he could do. His sister was dead.
Kyle was shocked out of his stupor by a maniacal laugh. “Ahahahaha! Yes, they’re all dead, and do you know who’s responsible, Mr. Pierce?” He didn’t recognize the voice. It sounded both male and female, yet neither. He couldn’t even estimate its age. The only thing he recognized was the emotion: a sickening joy at Kyle’s pain and anguish. Its almost singsong infliction, in light of what was in front of him, made Kyle want to puke. He would’ve too, if he wasn’t seeing red.
“Who’s there? Who are you? Show yourself! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!” Kyle screamed into the house.
“Ohoho, but it wasn’t I who killed your loved ones,” the voice taunted in a gleeful manner.
“If you didn’t kill them then WHO DID!?” Kyle lept to his feet, trying to find the source of the voice.
“It was you, of course,” the voice gleefully replied.
“I… I could never kill…” Kyle fell to his knees once again, losing what little control he still had and began sobbing. “I… They… It was all beyond my control.”
“Is that what you tell yourself to make you feel better? Your little sister died—”
“ENOUGH!” Kyle’s tormenter was cut off by a booming voice. Startled by the new voice, Kyle whipped around trying to find the newcomer, unable to figure out where it originated. Even though he couldn’t see who had spoken, he could feel her presence. She seemed… familiar.
“Terice, is that you?” Kyle asked confused.
“Nay, we art Luna, Princess of the Night and Protector of Dreams. Prithee tell us, what art thou?” As Luna spoke, the basement dissolved and was slowly replaced by a swirling mass of stars. All fear and sorrow melted away as he stared at the galactic view. He knew that this was the Milky Way Galaxy, and the only way he could be seeing it this way was in a dream.
Once Kyle calmed down enough, he replied, “I’m a human. My name is Kyle.”
“We hast ne’er heard of such a creature, let alone seen one. From where dost thou hail?”
“I come from a planet called Earth…” He looked around for a second before asking, “This is a dream, isn’t it?”
“Aye, ‘tis but a dream, though We have ne’er seen one as dark.”
“I wish that was just a dream…” Kyle lost himself to his memory. The memory of how he lost his sister threw his soul into turmoil. He was so caught up in his pain that Kyle hardly noticed when he was enveloped a feathery embrace. Unable to hold back his torment, Kyle broke down into heavy sobs, holding onto the Night Princess as if his life depended on it.
“Shh, shh, ‘tis alright. Bid thy bosom’s sorrow adieu,” Luna said, rubbing Kyle’s back. The tears continued to fall as Luna comforted him.
The sobs eventually changed to whimpers, then to hitched breathing. Even though Kyle’s tears had stopped, they continued to embrace. Kyle couldn’t find the strength to remove himself from the comfort Luna gave him. It had been far too long since someone had held him this way, and it took all of his will to not pull Luna tighter into his arms. For her part, Luna seemed to find a great amount of pleasure in being able to comfort another soul.
Eventually, Kyle reluctantly extracted himself from her embrace, a reluctance she seemed to share. Kyle finally beheld Luna in her entirety Her hair seemed to be caught in a non-existent breeze and was brimming with stars on a backdrop of blue hues that faded to a translucent purple near the edges. She had both wings and a horn like Twilight and her coat was a dark shade of blue, reminiscent of late dusk. Combining all of these aspects left Kyle speechless and unable to look away from the Princess.
An uncomfortable cough from Luna brought Kyle out of his stupor.
“Oh, um... “ he was still unable to form coherent thought, let alone words. Feeling desperate to stop the awkward silence, he grasped at the first thing that came to his mind. “You’re… you’re beautiful.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he flinched. He couldn’t believe he’d said that.
Luna’s cheeks turned a rosy shade of red as she blushed and looked toward the swirling mass of stars, falling back into an uneasy silence. She coughed in her hoof again before responding. “Oh, um… We thank thee. Um…” She paused, looking around for something to shift the conversation to and rested her eyes upon the starry expanse they stood in. “Dost thou enjoy mine stars?”
Kyle latched onto the question like a drowning man to a life raft. “Yes, yes. I love the stars. They’ve always brought me peace.” Kyle shifted his gaze to the galaxy that surrounded them with a soft smile forming on his lips. “No matter what happened during the day, no matter how bad of a mood I am in, all that I need to do is look up at the night sky and I feel better. It was something that my sister and I shared. She loved to stare up at the night sky, as much as me, if not more. After I lost her, the only thing that made my life bearable was gazing at the sky. I’d remember all the nights we would spend in the back yard with my telescope. Heh, she would always end up falling asleep and I’d have to carry her to bed…” Tears began to well up in Kyle’s eyes again, his throat beginning to tighten.
“Even though she’s no longer of this world, every night I’d look out at the stars, it felt like she was looking up at them with me.” The tears began to fall again, though not as hard as before. Luna draped a wing over him, pulling him into a confronting embrace again.
“If it’s not too much to ask, how did she die?” Luna asked, shifting into modern english. Kyle stiffened at the question and Luna shook her head. “This is too painful for you. Forget I asked.”
“No, it’s okay. After seeing that dream, I understand the curiosity, and I think that I need to get it off my chest.” he took a deep breath before continuing. “She was murdered. By whom, the Enforcers never found out. There wasn’t enough evidence to point to a suspect and the trail went cold.”
“I’m sorry. That is horrible.” Luna pulled him tighter against her side. “So, that scene was more of a memory than a dream?”
“Yes… A very, very painful memory. Would you mind if we changed the subject?”
“Yes, of course… What about the rest of your family, what were they like?” The pained expression that flashed across Kyle’s face made Luna regret asking.
“They were great, caring, loving, and supportive. My little brother, James, was brilliant when it came to sports, a true athlete. He could pick up any sport and excel at it in a matter of months. My mother was the head doctor at Hounsfield Memorial Hospital, a hospital known for its advancements in cancer treatment. Both of them were great people, taken before their time.”
Luna noticed the galaxy around them beginning to fade. “It appears that it is time for you to awaken. I will be taking my leave now.”
“Wait!” Kyle shouted causing Luna to turn. “Are you a figment of my imagination, as well?”
“Nay, I am as real as you are, Kyle.”
“Then, if it’s not too much to ask, can I meet you in person, I mean, in the waking world?”
Luna considered it for a second before responding. “I believe that could be arranged.” Kyle smiled, the first real smile he’d in a long time.
“Then I look forward to seeing you again, Luna.” As Kyle spoke these final words, the last remnants of the dream faded and Luna took her leave.
**********
Luna roused herself from the dream walking spell, stretching to work the the stiffness from her limbs. She was a little groggy, but refreshed, like she’d just woken up from a much-needed nap, which is essentially what she did. However, if anypony asked, she would simply say she was merely meditating to fully utilize the spell.
As she stretched, Luna looked around to see if she was still alone, and she was. She was in a secluded, hard-to-reach corner of the archives. This spot was one of the few places she could find peace and solitude from the nobles’ insistent prattling. They falsely believed, since she hasn’t been around for a millennium, it would be easy to pull the wool over her eyes and get what they wanted from her. It did not stop them, however, from trying during the Lunar Courts. Luna loathed their machinations.
“Makers! Why must these nobles be such insufferable twats?” Luna sighed, wishing she was back in the dreamscape. “Why could not all our duties be so refreshing, and, for that matter, why hast Tia not let us bring back the stocks? Forsooth, she wouldst not gage such a course.”
Luna had picked up many strange habits during her exile the past few centuries, and talking to herself was one she had yet to break. “Why didst that, what didst he call himself… homan, nay, hamon... nay, hmm… Ah, human! Why didst that human say such, and why doth his words affect Us in such a manner? The words were not ill-begotten. Nay, ‘tis always wonderful to receive such praise from Our subjects, but what did he mean by it?”
“You're... You’re beautiful,” Kyle said, looking her directly in the eyes before quickly looking away. As he did, a small blush formed on his cheeks. Luna felt a flutter in her chest at those words and couldn’t help the blush from forming on her own cheeks.
Thinking of the events within Kyle’s dream caused the rosy tint to return to her face. She sighed in exasperation. “What differs Kyle’s words from the others? Many a noble hast quoth such to us before and We hast ne’er had such a reaction…” She drifted off in thought, trying to figure out what made his words different. The memory of his eyes drifted through her mind and, suddenly, she knew. “‘Twas not the words, but what laid behind them. Those words flowed straight from the heart. He meant not to beguile us. Instead, they were honest and true.”
Luna was not sure how she should feel about this revelation, so she pushed it from her mind for the time being. She began to rise when she noticed a lock of multi-hued hair dart behind a nearby shelf. Not really in the mood to deal with her older sister’s antics, Luna sighed. “Tia, why doth thou hide from Us?”
Celestia stepped from behind the bookshelf. “It seems I’ve been caught red hoofed!” She threw a hoof to her forehead, striking a dramatic pose. “I have listened in on a private conversation between my sister and her imaginary coltfriend! Oh, I pray she has it in her heart to forgive my trespassing on such a private moment!” A sly grin spread across Celestia’s face.
Though Luna rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics, a small smile crept across her lips. “Verily, thou did not come just to jest with thy sister, Tia.”
“I see that you are still having issues adapting to modern Equestrian, but you’re right, I am not just here for a social visit. Did you sense the magical surge from the other day?” Celestia asked adopting a more serious demeanor.
“Aye, we… I mean, yes, I did notice the surge. It isn’t anything bad, is it?” she asked as worry played across her face.
“Not to worry, dear sister. There is nothing bad… at least, I hope.” She said the last bit under her breath.
“Tia, how long have we known each other? Do you really hope to hide anything from me? Please, tell me what is bothering you,” Luna said, a slight frown crossing her face.
Celestia chuckled. “You’re right, I can’t, and shouldn’t, hide anything from you.” She paused to take a deep breath. “My student… sorry, that is a habit that will be hard to break. Princess Twilight was practicing a new spell, and she summoned a being from another plane of existence. But that’s not what’s troubling me. The arcane circle that she used showed signs of magic tampering, and I was unable to discern what type of magic was used, let alone who did it. Also, the circle showed that it was changed while Twilight was casting and only somepony with the uppermost mastery of magic could perform such a feat undetected.”
Luna furrowed her brow, and looked down at the floor in thought, “Why wouldst someone tamper with an arcane circle, and for what purpose…? Tia didst thou find anything that could help?” She looked up at her sister and noticed she was covering a smirk with her hoof. “What doth thou find so amusing?”
“Sorry, it’s just so cute when you talk to yourself. I can’t help it.” Celestia took a deep breath to regain her composure and continued. “And no, Lulu. I didn’t find anything of use.”
“Dost thou…” Luna stopped to cough into her hoof. “I mean do you think that it was Discord that tampered with the spell as some sort of joke?”
“No. That was my first thought, and it does sound like something he would do, but he would make it known that it was him and would not try to hide his involvement. This is not his style.”
“Who else, other than Discord would be able to do this?”
Celestia’s face grew dark. “Other than us, Discord, and Twilight, none that I know of, and that’s what worries me the most.” Celestia went silent as her thoughts turned to the worst scenarios possible.
“Cheer up, Tia. There is nothing we can do at the moment and as far as we can tell, no ill effects came of this. Let it go for now, and, if anything else shows up, we will deal with it, if necessary. Though I am curious about this being that came to our world and why you did not tell me about it sooner.”
“Ah, yes, that. I couldn’t tell you much about him. He was unconscious when I saw him, and I have never seen such a being before. From what Twilight has told me, along with Spike, he came out of the portal that opened when the spell Twilight was casting changed. He was near death when I first saw him. I was barely able to save his life, even with the help from the local medical staff. We managed to stabilize him and he should still be under my anesthetic spell. As for the reason I didn’t tell you sooner, well… I was trying to figure out who tampered with the circle and if it was dangerous. I didn’t want to burden you with something just for it to turn out to be a trivial matter.”
Luna’s lips turn down into a frown. “Tia, We are not a little filly; We can handle ourselves! We do appreciate thy concern for Us, though it is still in our office, and, as such, thou must mark such events!”
Celestia cast her eyes to the ground, ears splayed back. “You’re right, I should have told you sooner. I’m sorry.”
“We… I mean I forgive you, just as long as you inform me of such events in the future. I think that is enough chiding, for now. On a better topic, does this creature lack fur on most of its body, save its head, and does it walk on two legs?”
“Yes... How did you know?” Celestia asked, confusion showing on her face.
“We were… I was patrolling the dreamscape when I noticed a particularly bad nightmare, so I went to deal with it. When I entered the nightmare I found a bipedal creature. At first, I didn’t know what action to take, so I stood back and watched it progress. The dream started out like many a nightmare I have seen before, fears of being alone and unseen playing out. His desire to find something familiar lead him to his home, the usual, but it did not stay that way. When he made it to his house, he found it empty. He ran from room to room trying to find somepony he knew. He went to every room until the only room left was the cellar. That…” Luna stopped to take in a shaky breath. “That was when he found his little sister… lying in a puddle of her own blood… But… But that wasn’t where it ended…”
Celestia has heard of some very disturbing dreams that her sister has witnessed over the years, but this one was by far the worst and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the rest if it got worse than that. She put a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “Luna, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
Luna looked Celestia in the eye, giving her a faint smile before shaking her head. “Thank you, but no. I need to tell somepony about this.” Luna took a calming breath and let it out before she continued. “After he found her, he immediately ran to her side, taking her in his arms. He held her, rocking back and forth, crying and whispering for a time until a voice spoke. Tia, this voice it… it… I cannot describe it. The only thing I could make out from it was its emotion, and I mean that literally. It didn’t sound old, or young, male, or female, but the emotion was clear as crystal. It sounded joyous in Kyle’s misery. It taunted him, saying things like it was his fault. At that point, I stopped it.”
Celestia saw how shaken Luna was from this nightmare, and her big-sister instincts kicked in. Before she could form a coherent response, she wrapped her sister in her forehooves and wings. Luna reciprocated the hug and buried her muzzle into her sister’s chest. Celestia could feel her shaking, so she squeezed tighter as she cooed, “Shh, shh, it’s okay, Lulu. It’s okay.”
Luna was silent for a long time as she lost herself in Celestia’s embrace. When she responded, it was with a shaky voice. “The dream was bad, but that was not what really got me, not entirely at least. It was the feelings that he experienced. It was exactly the way I felt when the Nightmare took over, Tia, and tried to hurt you. He felt completely powerless, useless, and so, so much pain. He blames himself for her death. I could see it in his eyes.” Luna broke from the embrace so she could look her sister in the eye. “When I looked into his eyes all I could think about was… was what if I had hurt you…? What if the Nightmare had gotten her way and had taken over Equestria…? What if–”
Celestia put her hoof over Luna’s mouth, silencing her. “She didn’t succeed in her plans.”
Luna pushed Celestia’s hoof to the side so she could speak. “But–”
“But nothing, Lulu. She didn’t succeed in taking over Equestria, and, in the end, was purged from you so she can never hurt us again. I don’t want to hear anymore of this. Do you understand?” Luna opened her mouth to argue, but decided against it. Instead, she nodded before she hugged her sister again.
“Thank you, Tia. I needed that.” Celestia smiled warmly and returned the hug.
Celestia was the first to break the embrace, however reluctantly, and helped pull her sister to her hooves. “Now, it is time we change the night to day, dear sister, and for you to get some much needed sleep.”
“Yes, that does sound good.” Even though she had just awoken from a nap, she was feeling rather drained from the emotional rollercoaster that retelling Kyle’s dream had caused. The royal sisters walked side by side as they exited the castle archives, Celestia with a wing draped over her sister for comfort, and Luna leaning on her sister for support.
Kyle woke to the sun shining in his eyes. He grumbled, pulling the covers over his head to get at least a few more minutes of sleep. As he moved the covers over his head, his ribs protested vehemently. The pain was a reminder of where he was and why he was there.
“Someone tried to kill me; someone pushed me from my window on the thirtieth floor. He… he may have actually succeeded and I might be in some sort of limbo. No, I don’t think I’m in limbo. There wouldn’t be any need for hospitals in the plane between life and death” As these thoughts passed through his head panic began to build.
Something felt… off. He remembered having a similar feeling from the morphine he’d gotten as a kid to ease the pain of a fractured femur. Though the effects were not as pronounced back then it was still very similar.
“Okay, Kyle, calm down. They aren’t going to kill you or hurt you. If they were, they wouldn’t have fixed you up… At least, I hope so… unless they’re healing me so I could be more useful to them…” He couldn’t help but think of the rumors he heard of people being kidnaped and either sold into slavery or made to fight to the death for people's entertainment. In both cases, he was worth more in good health than he was half dead so it would make sense to fix him up before then.
Kyle lost all sense of reason as those thoughts played in his mind. “I need to get away from here before they get what they want!” Kyle tried to sit up, but stopped when pain flared in his torso. He fell back onto the bed, taking a moment to steel himself for another attempt. Kyle’s breath came out in a hiss as he finally sat up. “Okay, now all you need to do is stand up and find a way out of here… Yeah, simple.” Kyle swung his legs over the bed, cautiously putting his weight onto them. He stood slowly on shaky legs, the sheet covering him falling away. Feeling a chill where he wasn’t used to, he looked down and was reminded of his missing clothes. He also noticed some wires attached to his chest and upper arms. Following the wires lead him to an early ECG machine. At least, from his standpoint it was an early ECG, but for all he knew it could be the newest model for this place. Unsure if removing the electrodes would set off an alarm, Kyle attempted to turn off the device. As he reached for the off switch, one of the wires caught and was ripped from his chest. This caused the ECG to flatline and in seconds an alarm started to sound through the hospital.
The sound of shouting and hooves on hard floors reached Kyle’s ears and his already panicked mind went into overdrive. He searched for a way out other than the door that led to the noise of panicking doctors and nurses. He found the window and thinking that it was the best way out, he ran to it. To his dismay, it was locked and had no apparent way to unlock it. Kyle ran to the bed and grabbed the sheet from it and proceeded to wrap it around his hand. With the sheet fully wrapped, he ran back to the window and punched it. The window didn’t even budge, so he punched it again with the same results. Remembering that Twilight had been sitting in a chair when she was here, he began to search for it. He soon found it sitting by the door, but before he could grab it, the door swung open, preceding a unicorn he did not recognize and Nurse Redheart. The medical ponies, noticing that Kyle wasn’t where they expected, stopped in the doorway, effectively blocking it.
The unknown unicorn quickly found Kyle standing by the window. He must have noticed Kyle’s fear, for he quickly took a non threatening stance and said, in a low and slow tone, “Kyle, it’s okay. You’re safe now. Let’s just relax and get you back into bed.” As the unicorn talked, he took slow, steady steps toward Kyle.
“You stay back! Stay away from me! I won’t play your sick and twisted game!” The unicorn stopped and Kyle got a good look at him. His coat was an earth-brown, while his hair and tail were a darker mahogany. His eyes were emerald green and his flank sported an image of a stethoscope. Kyle kept his eyes glued on the two ponies in front of him, looking for any sign that they would pounce.
Nurse Redheart took step toward Kyle and he immediately glared daggers at her. She froze beneath the hostile glare, shrinking back a bit before steeling her gaze, she spoke. “Kyle, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What game?”
“You’re going to either sell me as some sort of slave or make me fight to the death in battle for people's entertainment!” he accused, backing up to to the window. “The pain medication is messing with your head. Calm down. Take a deep breath. They aren’t going to hurt you and you know it,” a more rational part of his mind chastised.
Both ponies’ expressions turned confused as they processed what Kyle said. Redheart asked, “Why would we do something like that? Kyle, we would never do that. I swear that we’re not going to hurt you.”
“I not going to fall for your honeyed words. You’re only saying that so I’ll let down my guard!” Kyle shouted, not fully believing his own words. Again, a small voice in the back of his head spoke up, “Will you listen to yourself for a second? You sound like a lunatic.”
“Kyle, what Redheart said is true. We don’t wish to hurt you. We would never do something so… so horrendous. So, please, come and lie back down. You still need your rest,” the brown unicorn said, trying to sound reassuring.
Kyle scanned the ponies’ faces, looking for any sign of deceit, but he found none. All he found was a small amount of fear, some lingering confusion, and overwhelming compassion and worry. The last bit confused him. He’d only felt such emotions from his family and closest friends, never from complete strangers. Yet, here they were, treating him like they’d been friends for years. Feeling their concern soothed a bit of fear, but not enough for him to let his guard down.
“Kyle, please listen to Dr. Lancet and lie down. We don’t want you to aggravate your wounds,” Redheart said firmly, finally entering the room. Kyle relaxed some, finally able to get his thoughts back in order, until he remembered his lack of attire and began to blush furiously. He looked around for something to cover himself and remembered the sheet that he had wrapped around his hand. He hastily unwrapped it and threw it around himself. Redheart’s eyes got wide as he finished. Confused, Kyle followed her gaze to the sheet, where he saw a fresh blood stain. He looked to the arm that the sheet had wrapped and saw an inch-long gash on the back of his hand. “Now how did that happen?” he wondered as he looked towards the bed and found the culprit: an IV.
Dr. Lancet, noticing what Kyle and Nurse Redheart were looking at, promptly fell over. The dull thud of the doctor hitting the floor drew the others’ attention. Redheart just shook her head and rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to Kyle. She gestured to the bed. “Kyle, please come over to the bed and let me dress your hand.”
“Um… Is he going to be alright?” he asked, looking back over at the unconscious doctor.
“He’ll be fine. Lancet just can’t stand the sight of blood. He faints every time he sees it.” Redheart motioned at the bed again. “Now, will you please lie back down?”
After taking one last glance at Dr. Lancet, Kyle walked back to the bed and settled down. Redheart looked over the gash, eyeing it closely. “Good, it doesn’t look like you need stitches. This shouldn’t take long.” She walked over to a nearby drawer and took out some gauze before returning to Kyle. He watched in fascination as Nurse Redheart wrapped the wound on his hand with an ease that he thought impossible without the use of fingers and opposable thumbs. Yet, here she was with nothing but hooves, professionally dressing his wound.
“How are you doing that?” Kyle asked, watching her work.
“What do you mean, doing what?” she asked her eyes remaining on her task.
“How are you holding the gauze without fingers, or any kind of digits for that matter?”
Redheart paused what she was doing, her eyes losing focus as she mulled the question over. “I don’t know… or, rather, I don’t know the exact details behind it. All I can tell you is that it has to do with our innate magics and some sort of... field? I can’t explain it better than that. Now that I think about it, Twilight said that she would be here later today. I would ask her. She can explain it to you better.” She went back to her task as Kyle continued to watch with almost manic curiosity. He made a mental note to ask Twilight about it when she arrived.
The nurse quickly finished dressing the wound. She looked at her fellow physician, still unconscious on the floor, and sighed. “Hold on for a minute. I’ll be right back.” Redheart left the room, carefully walking around Lancet. A short time later, she came back in, carrying a pitcher on her back and walked to where Dr. Lancet was laying on the floor. “Doctor. Dr. Lancet get your lazy flank off the floor.” She prodded him with her hoof, trying to rouse him. When he didn’t stir she took the pitcher from her back and proceeded to dump its contents on his head.
“GAH!” The doctor jumped to his hooves and looked around, trying to find the one responsible for his rude awakening. He quickly found Redheart sitting next to him with the pitcher still in her mouth. “Redheart, what was that for?!” He glared at her, waiting for her response.
“Well, I tried to wake you so you could finish checking up on Kyle,” she said around the pitcher's handle, “but you wouldn’t wake, so I did the only thing I could think of.”
At the mention of the human, he froze up and turned stiffly toward the bed. Kyle sat there, covering his mouth, trying to hold in his amusement, but failing miserably. He erupted with laughter.
“Bwhahahah, the look, hahaha, on your face, hahaha, too good,” Kyle barely managed to get out. It took some effort, but he finally got himself under control. Whipping away a tear, Kyle said, “Oh, man. I haven’t laughed like that in… too long. Thank you. I needed that.”
“Um, yeah, no problem,” Lancet coughed as his cheeks turned red. He straightened with as much dignity as he could muster, and continued, “Now let's take a look at you, shall we?”
“Sure, doc,” Kyle snickered.
Dr. Lancet adopted a more professional demeanor as he started. “Now, let's begin with the standard questions: is there any pain, and, if there is, where and how severe is it, from one to ten, with ten being the very bad, and one being no pain at all?”
“Well, my ribs still are a bit tender, but I’d put it at a three. It’s not too bad. My arm, I would put at a five with a throbbing ache.” Kyle noticed Redheart jot down something on a clipboard at the end of his bed and again he found himself perplexed by the way simple tasks, like writing, were done by the ponies. Before long, he was lost in thought again and was brought back to reality by someone clearing their throat. “Hmm? Sorry. Drifted off, there. The pain meds you have me on are making it kinda hard to stay in the now.”
“Pain meds… Nurse, have we prescribed Kyle any pain medication?” Dr. Lancet asked, turning to the white mare.
She shook her head. “No, Doctor. We haven’t put Kyle on any medications. We didn’t know how he would react to them, and we didn’t want to accidentally poison him. The only form of pain management administered was when the Princess had performed her healing spell.”
Dr. Lancet put a hoof to his chin in thought. “Hmm. That spell shouldn’t have that kind of effect.” The doctor noticed Kyle’s face fall as he thought out loud and quickly tried to rectify his transgression. “I’m sure it’s nothing to be worried about, but I’d like to perform a full body scan just to be on the safe side.”
Kyle forced a smile as he replied, “Um… Sure.”
“Right, if you don’t have any objections, I’d like to perform the spell now,” the doctor said as he took a step forward, light shining from his horn.
Kyle scooted back. “This isn’t going to hurt, is it?”
“Don’t worry. You won't feel a thing.”
Kyle bit back a retort to the poorly-chosen words. It was what every doctor in horror films said right before they sliced their victims open. Instead, he closed his eyes and waited for the doctor to do what he was going to do. “Aaannd done. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Kyle opened his eyes, confused. “Wait, that was it? You’re done?”
“Yes, the scan’s complete. You show no internal bleeding, and, as far as I can tell, there’s nothing out of the ordinary. You’re free to go whenever you’re ready.” Dr. Lancet gave Kyle the warmest smile the human had seen in recent memory as he proclaimed the diagnosis.
“Wait, that can’t be right. I show up in the hospital with injuries that should’ve killed me, and you’re telling me I’m good to go? How is that even possible?” Kyle looked between the two ponies, trying to find some sign of their deception.
“The recovery was a bit fast. I know without the aid from Princess Celestia, you’d be looking at another few days, if not weeks, in bed before you were healthy enough to leave.”
Kyle was completely flabbergasted. The look of bewilderment was plain as day as it played across his face. He had heard of people that had similar injuries and it took at least three months before they were discharged. It couldn’t’ve been that long, could it? “Just how long was I out? I thought I was only here for a couple of days?”
“And you’d be right. You were brought in the night before last,” Redheart said, nodding her head.
“But that isn’t possible. The punctured lung, alone, would have me hospitalized for at least two or three weeks without complications, and my other injuries would’ve just caused more complications. I should be looking at at least a month before being released from the hospital, not two days! You have to be confused. Two days is nowhere near long enough!” Kyle couldn’t wrap his head around it. He may not have gone to medical school, but he had picked up some medical knowledge from his mom, and from what he had learned, there was nothing that could speed up the healing process to such an extent.
“Again, Princess Celestia is responsible for your quick recovery.”
“But you said that you didn’t know enough about my anatomy to heal anything other than my bones.”
“I see where we lost you. Yes, we do not know enough about your anatomy to directly heal it, but we were able to speed up the process with magic.” Kyle looked at Redheart as if she had just sprouted a second head for a minute before he shook his head, trying to clear it.
“Right different world, different natural laws… I think…” Kyle’s eyes lost their focus as his thoughts drifted again.
Redheart turned her head toward Dr. Lancet and cleared her throat. She motioned to the clipboard still hanging at the foot of Kyle’s bed. “Doctor, I think you’re forgetting something.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you, Nurse. Okay, next question: you showed a temperature of 97.9 Marenheit. Is that normal, for humans?”
Kyle snickered.
“What?”
“Did you really just say ‘Mareinheit?’” he asked with a large grin.
“Yes. Are you not familiar with Equestrian Standard?” the doctor asked, not understanding Kyle’s implication.
Kyle took a moment to regain his composure before asking, “In Equestrian Standard, what temperature does water freeze and boil at?”
“Well, water freezes at 32° and boils at 212°,” the doctor replied.
“Okay, so you use the same scale to measure temperature as I do, just with a different name. Anywhere between 96.8 and 98.6 is normal for humans.” Dr. Lancet flipped through the papers on the clipboard until he found the one he was looking for. Giving it a cursory glance, he turned back to Kyle.
“Okay, last question: are there any medically relevant issues that we should know about?”
“No. At least, nothing that I’m aware of,” Kyle said, shaking his head.
“Okay. We’ll leave you be for now. Twilight said she’d be back later today. She also asked us to let you know that until she finds a way to send you back home, she will open her home to you.” Dr. Lancet gave Kyle a friendly nod and left, followed by Nurse Redheart.
Kyle sat in silence. He hadn’t moved since the physicians had left his room. The last sentence the doctor had said left Kyle filled with dread. It wasn’t the prospect of living with Twilight that had him so frightened. That was actually a weight off of his shoulders; he no longer needed to find a place to sleep. No, what frightened him was the prospect of returning to his world and his bleak existence there. There was nothing left for him but memories, and that was the last thing he needed.
At some point during his musings, Kyle must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, he was woken by a nurse laying a tray of food at the foot of his bed. “Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” the nurse said, sounding a bit nervous.
“Don’t be. I’ve slept long enough as is.” Kyle reached for the tray, but stopped short when he saw its contents. “What is that?” he asked, eyeing the green mush plopped in the center of the tray.
“Ground alfalfa with a side of steamed carrots,” she said, giving Kyle a strained smile.
“Sorry, but I can’t digest alfalfa,” he said giving the mush a disdainful look.
“Oh, my apologies. I wasn’t informed,” she said, a small amount of fear showed in her eyes.
“That’s okay, no harm done. If you could maybe get me an apple, that should hold me over for a bit at least,” he said, trying to give the nurse a reassuring smile.
“Ah… um, yes, I should be able to do that. I’ll be right back,” she said as she made a hasty retreat.
“I wonder why she acted like that?” Kyle thought out loud. He didn’t get long to contemplate the nurse’s odd behavior before there was a knock at the door.
“Can I come in?” The familiar voice of Twilight sounded from the other side of the door.
“Sure, come on in, Ms. Sparkle.” She walked into the room, giving Kyle a look that he was all too familiar with. It was a look that brought up all of his worst memories, the look that said ‘I have bad news.’ “What’s wrong?” Kyle asked. He couldn’t help the anxiety that began to build.
“I have some good news and some bad news. What would you like to hear first?” The sinking feeling in his gut grew worse.
“Tell me the bad news first.”
Twilight shifted on her hooves uncomfortably as she looked at the floor. “Ihavn’tfoundawaytosendyoubackandican’tevenfigureouthowtoreplicatetheresultsthatgotyouhereI’msosorry!” she shouted in rapid succession. Her eyes never left the floor. A few seconds of silence fell between the two and Twilight’s expression continued to dampen as time ticked by. Soon, Twilight was near tears. “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault that you’re here and hurt. I can’t even get you back home. You must hate me…”
Kyle’s instincts as a big brother kicked in and he wrapped Twilight in a hug. “Twilight, I don’t hate you at all, not even the slightest amount of resentment.”
“But I stole you from your home, and, with the same spell, nearly got you killed! How can you not be mad?” she shouted as she pushed Kyle away.
“Well, for one reason. No, make that two. First of all, if you didn’t steal me away from my home, I would’ve died. Second, you got me to the hospital just in the nick of time to save my life yet again. So, no, I’m not mad at you,” Kyle finished with a genuine smile.
“Wait, how did me bringing you here save your life?” Kyle’s smile fell as he recalled the last moments before his arrival.
“Someone pushed me from my apartment window on the thirtieth floor,” he said, anger filling his voice.
“WHAT?! Why would somepony do that?!” Twilight shouted, visibly paling.
“I could only guess that they wanted me dead.” The room fell silent as the words sank into Twilight’s mind. She was a bit slow processing Kyle’s revelation, but, once it clicked, she wrapped him in her hooves and wings.
“Kyle, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Twilight said into his chest.
“What are you apologizing for now? You weren’t the one who pushed me,” Kyle said, absent-mindedly petting Twilight’s mane, taking comfort in her embrace.
“I know, but I just don’t know what else to say. How could anypony want to harm another in such a way?” Twilight said, looking up at Kyle.
“There are many, many reasons why someone would do that. Why someone would do it to me, I couldn’t–” The sound of a metal tray hitting the hard floor cut him off. Kyle looked to the door and saw the nurse from earlier staring at Twilight and himself with wide eyes, a huge blush covering her face. Confused, Kyle looked back at Twilight and it clicked. Twilight wrapped up in his arms, she returning the gesture, faces a only a few inches apart. To complete the picture, in his haste to comfort Twilight, he forgot to grab something to cover himself. The blush that covered his face would have a tomato envious of its shade. “It isn’t what it looks like!” Kyle shouted, grabbing the sheet from the bed to cover his shame.
“Yeah, what he s-said.” Twilight stammered out from the other side of the room, her face not looking any better than Kyle’s. Twilight, for her part, teleported to the other side of the room when it dawned on her what their position looked like to an outsider.
“Um… sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” the nurse said as she made a quick retreat out of the room.
“Wait! It wasn’t what it looked like!” Twilight said, trying to run after the nurse, but ended up slipping on the tray of food. Twilight only managed to stay standing with a few flaps of her wings. “Please, it wasn’t… Awh! Just what I needed: rumors running around about the new princess and her extraterrestrial coltfriend!” Twilight sank down and covered her face with her hooves.
The room quickly fell into an awkward silence that felt like it swallowed all of the ambient noise. The oppressive silence continued on for what felt like hours before Kyle couldn’t stand it any longer. He tried to find something he could use to break the silence. “So… Um… Nice weather we’re having?” Kyle winced at his awkward choice of subjects.
“Y-yes, the pegasi have made it quite a nice day out,” Twilight said just a little too enthusiastically, pulling herself from her hooves and looking over at Kyle.
“Wait, did you just say ‘pegasi?’ No, forget that question. Did you just say that they made it a nice day?” Kyle said, a dumbfounded look on his face. “You're not trying to pull a fast one on me, are you?”
“No, I’m not trying to deceive you, and yes, I did say the pegasi made the weather.” A thoughtful look playing across her face. “Why do you ask? Is the weather not controlled by pegasus ponies where you come from?”
“Um… No…”
Twilight waited for Kyle to elaborate, but when he it looked like he wasn’t going to, she asked, “So, then, who controls the weather?”
“No one at the moment, though there were a few promising developments last year. They just needed to work out some issues that arose from the testing. It still has a couple of years before it’s ready to be put into use.”
“So, if nopony controls the weather, how is it created?”
“Simple. Water evaporates and rises up into the atmosphere where it cools and condenses to form clouds. Once the cloud becomes saturated enough with water, droplets will form and fall back down to Earth to repeat the process.”
“So what you’re saying is that your weather just happens?” Twilight said, looking at Kyle with an enthusiastic glint in her eye.
“Basically, yeah,” Kyle said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I am curious though, how do you control the weather?”
“Pegasi ponies have innate passive magic that allow them to interact with and manipulate clouds. They get–” Twilight’s explanation was cut off by the door to the hospital room flying open and in bounced a pink poofy pony, causing Kyle to clinch his fists and tense up.
The pink pony looked like she was preparing to shout something, but stopped when her eyes landed on Kyle. Her ears folded back and a frown appeared on her muzzle. Even her hair seemed to deflate somehow.
“Pinkie! Did you really have to barge in here without knocking?” Twilight asked, looking over at the pink mare. Twilight open her mouth to say something else, but paused when she saw Pinkie’s demeanor. “Pinkie is everything alright? You look down.”
Instead of answering Twilight, Pinkie walked up to Kyle and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Mystery Pony. I didn't mean to scare you. I only wanted to make you happy because hospitals are no fun, and being hurt is no fun, and being in a strange place that you don’t know is even less fun. Since you’re in a strange place that you don’t know, hurt, and in a hospital, then you must be having less than no fun, so, once I heard that you were here, I thought, ‘oh, I know what would make me happy: having friends visit me in the hospital,’ but then I realized that you didn’t have any friends here yet, so I asked myself, ‘if you didn’t have any friends then what would be the next best thing?’ Then I was like, ‘making new friends!’ So, I came here as soon as possible so that we could be friends and then you wouldn’t be lonely and you can have start having fun!”
Kyle just sat there, unable to form a coherent response to the tsunami of words, and a little uncomfortable with how close Pinkie was. He looked at Twilight, silently pleading her to get this pony out of his face.
Luckily, it seemed that his message was received. “Pinkie, could you backup a bit? I think you’re making Kyle uncomfortable.”
Her hair lost even more of it’s poof, but she did as she was asked. “Do you not like me because I scared you?”
Taken aback by this question, Kyle couldn’t help but stare at the mare for a few moments as he tried to figure out just what was going on. “Um… I don’t know you, but I could say that I don’t dislike you just because you came barging into the room like you did.”
“Oh, good! I thought that you wouldn’t want to be friends with me because I scared you when you were hurt and bored and lonely! Now I’m going to go set up your Sorry-I-Scared-You-and-Nearly-Made-You-Not-Want-to-be-Friends-With-Me-and-Welcome-to-Ponyville Party!” Before Kyle had a chance to decipher Pinkie’s mile-a-minute speech, she was out the door, a pink, pony-shaped cloud where she stood. Just as Kyle was settling back in bed, Pinkie popped out from under his pillow. “Ooo, sorry! I almost forgot Rarity asked me to give these to you. See you, bye!” With that, she was out the door in a flash.
“Is… is that normal?” Kyle asked, looking over to Twilight, who had a bemused smile on her face.
“Only for Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said, putting up her hoof to quiet Kyle’s next question. “Believe me, it’s easier just to accept it and let it be.” Kyle closed his mouth, letting the unasked question die, and nodded. Instead he decided to look at the parcel that he had received from Pinkie. It was an unassuming brown paper package wrapped in twine. Kyle pulled the string off of the package, unwrapping it. He couldn’t help the smile that touched his lips when he saw its contents. There, in the packaging, sat his clothes, fully repaired. Even the holes that had been worn into his favorite hoodie had been mended.
“Twilight you will have to thank Rarity for me. She did a wonderful job! These look the same as the day I got them.”
Twilight gave him a nod. “I’ll let her know you approve.”
Kyle lifted his hoodie to take a closer look and a note fell out of its folds. Kyle grabbed the note and gave it a once through. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the rather unorthodox letter.
“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked, curiously looking at the paper in his hands.
“Oh, just this note,” Kyle said, handing the note to Twilight.
She took the note in her magic and read it out loud. “‘Darling, you simply must let me make you something that is not such a crime against fashion! Once you get out of the hospital, come over to the Carousel Boutique so I can take your measurements. Twilight can show you the way. Sincerely, Rarity.’ That’s Rarity for you,” Twilight said, chuckling as well.
“Would you mind stepping out for a bit so I can change into my clothes?”
“Sure. I’ll be right outside when you’re done.” Twilight walked over to the door but turned around before she exited. “Oh, before I forget, the doctors cleared you to leave. All you need to do is fill out some forms and you’ll be free to go.”
“Thanks.” With a warm smile and a nod, Twilight left Kyle to change. He couldn’t help but wonder what life had in store for him now. His expression darkened. “I hope that it is better than the last few years.” He quickly got dressed and walked out of the hospital room. Despite the dark thoughts, he couldn’t help a small amount of hope build inside him.
Twilight trotted out of the hospital room with a little bounce to her step. “Oh, I can’t wait to learn all about where Kyle is from. I get to learn from somepony that actually lived there and not just watch from afar. And to think that this was all possible because… because I messed up the spell and now he’s here, hurt and alone.” Twilight’s happy mood quickly evaporated after that revelation. Her mood didn’t stay low for long as her jaw set with determination. “I will help him get back no matter what!” Twilight said with confidence. “Spike, we’re going back to the library. I need to help Kyle get back home.”
“Sure thing, Twilight,” Spike said, walking up next to the purple mare. With a flash, they were standing in the middle of the library’s main room, which still sported the magic circle. Twilight paid it no mind as she set about gathering the material she would need to research Kyle’s return. The library was soon a frenzy of books and scrolls as Twilight looked for anything and everything even remotely relevant to her search. Soon enough, she had a stack of books that was easily taller than her.
“Okay, Spike, could you get my research on Starswirl’s Looking Glass for me?” she asked as she dove into the first book in the stack. Spike nodded and ran up to their shared room. A moment later, Spike returned with the requested notes, consisting of a box of scrolls and several bound journals, and set them next to the already large pile of literature.
“Here you go, Twilight. Every note you have about Starswirl’s Looking Glass. I’ll make some coffee. It looks like you’re in for a long night,” Spike said as he turned toward the kitchen.
“Thank you, Spike. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Twilight replied, not looking up from her book. Spike just chuckled at her response as he went about his task.
The hours passed and Twilight was no closer to finding a way to return Kyle to his home. Every lead she found met a dead end or ended up being a wild goose chase. “Grrah! I’m not finding anything at all in these books,” Twilight growled, “and I can’t replicate the results of the spell, either! Looks like I need to go to the Royal Archives. Spike, take a note.”
Spike, had fallen into a half sleep while resting on a stack of discarded books. He jumped at Twilight’s sudden exclamation.
“Right. One second.” It took him just a few seconds to find the required paper and quill. “Okay, ready when you are, Twi.” Spike began to transcribe as Twilight dictated
“‘Dear Princess Celestia, I am in the middle of researching a way to safely send Kyle back to his home. Unfortunately, I am coming up short with the books available here. With your permission, I would like to use the restricted archives and hopefully find a way to send Kyle back to his world. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.’ Okay, Spike, send it, please.”
“You know, technically, you aren’t her student any more,” Spike pointed out, and Twilight’s cheeks flushed a soft pink.
“It is a hard habit to break, sorry,” Twilight said, rubbing her neck with a hoof. Spike just chuckled and amended the letter with Your Friend, Twilight Sparkle, before sending it away in puff of smoke.
**********
“What is taking her so long to respond?” Twilight asked no one in particular. It had been over two hours since she sent the letter to Celestia. It wasn’t uncommon to take half an hour or so to respond to non-emergency letters from Twilight, but two hours and forty-five minutes never happened.
“She must have lost it in all of her paperwork!” Twilight mused. “Yeah that must be it. She just misplaced it, or she’s in the middle of a meeting with some dignitaries.” A few strands of her mane shot out as she began pace. The rest of her thoughts went unsaid, but not unheard.
“Twilight, it’s fine,” Spike tried to placate. “Like you said, she’s probably just busy and she hasn’t gotten around to reading it yet. It’s not like she’s disappointed that–” Spike covered his mouth before he finished the sentence but the damage was already done. More of Twilight’s mane stuck out and Twilight’s pacing increased. “Twilight, she is not disappointed. She’s just busy, like you said. You need to calm down. We do not need another Smarty Pants incident, so stop your pacing.” Spike waited until Twilight stopped before he continued. “Okay, good, now breathe like Cadence showed you.” She did as Spike ordered, and brought her hoof to her chest breathing in then letting it out as she extended her hoof out. “Good, how are you feeling?”
“Much better. Thank you, Spike. You really are the best assistant anypony could ask for,” she said as she walked up to him and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. Spike blushed at the praise and scratched the back of his neck bashfully as Twilight pulled away.
“It’s no big deal. It’s what anypony would do,” he said, trying to brush off the complement.
“Well, there’s no point just standing here. Let's get this place cleaned up!” Twilight declared and began to put the various tomes away when a loud gurgling sound filled the air. Twilight blushed when she heard Spike laugh.
“I’ll go make us something to eat.” He walked over to the kitchen door but paused before asking, “Is there anything that sounds particularly good to you at the moment?”
Twilight was already lost in her task and didn’t give it much thought. “No, there isn’t. Thanks, though.” Spike shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen to prepare the late dinner.
Twilight looked out the window towards Ponyville General and saw the moon high in the sky. She glanced at the clock to confirm the late hour and it read twelve thirty. “Wow, I didn’t realize how late it was.” Everything clicked into place and Twilight facehoofed. “Celestia is probably asleep. That’s why she didn’t respond to my letter.” With the mention of sleep, Twilight felt a wave of exhaustion crashed over her. Unfortunately, she still had several hours worth of cleaning to do. With a heavy sigh she went back to her task of sorting and shelving the books.
She found her task far more tedious than usual. Normally, Twilight didn’t see organizing and shelving books as a burden. In fact, she normally found the chore more relaxing, therapeutic even, but with the worries and guilt playing on her mind, she was unable to find the usual peace in the task. Her stress built as the minutes ticked by. She was unable to get the image of the creature that was hurt and in the hospital out of her mind. Twilight couldn’t help but feel responsible for the whole incident, even if there was no way to know that the spell would react in such a way with the mana reservoir. She even went through all of her notes and equations. Nowhere in any of it was she able to find anything that even hinted to it reacting in any way.
“I checked and triple checked everything! How could I have gotten everything so wrong? I went through all of my notes and double checked to make sure that there wasn’t something I had missed. but I found nothing. Yet, somehow, I failed. Somehow, I messed up, and I can’t find where. I’m I so useless as a student–” Twilight quickly forced that line of thought from her mind. “No, I can’t think like that and I won’t know for sure if there was anything I missed until I get the go-ahead to take my research to the Royal Archives. I just have to wait until the princess responds.”
As soon as Twilight left the room Kyle changed from his makeshift toga to the cloths Twilight's friend so graciously repaired for him. As soon as he was decent Kyle went to leave the hospital room but stopped just short of the doorway when he saw what was waiting for him next to Twilight. “Really? Are you serious?” Kyle asked in a deadpan tone.
“Yes. Yes, I am," Twilight said with the same tone. “I know that it may be inconvenient but it's hospital policy. Now, if you would please sit so that we can get you discharged, that would be great.”
Let out a dry chuckle. “Seems like there are some things that are universal, like pointless hospital policies!” he thought. Kyle sighed and asked, “Okay I’ll play along, but do they at least have a bigger wheelchair? That one looks to be a little too short for me.”
Twilight gave Kyle an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I looked, this is the biggest they have available.”
With a defeated groan Kyle sat in the undersized wheelchair. He felt like he was sitting in a kids seat. At least the chair was wide enough that he wasn't squeezing into the chair.
“Take me home, Colburn,” Kyle joked. When Twilight didn't so much as chuckle Kyle looked back to see Twilight giving Kyle a bemused smile. “Right, you have no idea who Hoke Colburn is, do you?”
Twilight shook her head, "No, I can't say that I have. Who is she... or he?"
"It's not important, just a reference to a movie from the late 20th century," Kyle replied letting out a sigh. "It's a pretty safe bet that most people back home wouldn't get the reference either."
The duo fell into silence as they continued through the hospital. Kyle's mind kept wandering to random thoughts. He wasn't able to keep his mind on a single topic for longer than a few seconds. His thoughts always did this when he didn't get enough sleep. Despite this, there was one thought that kept returning to his mind over and over.
“Hey, Twilight?” Kyle asked unable to keep his curiosity in check.
Twilight looked down at Kyle with a raised eyebrow, "Yes?"
“Earlier, you said something that I wasn't sure I heard correctly. Well, a few things actually. First, did you say that you recently became a princess?" Kyle asked.
Twilight nodded, “Yes, I became a princess a little over a month ago, but at this point, it is more of a formality. I won’t get any real responsibilities for a while yet.”
That was something that made Kyle stop for a second. How does one only recently become a princess? Isn't that something that you are born into? That or you are married into the position but even then isn't it called something else like princess consort or something like that? Though with the way that the nurse was talking earlier it doesn't seem likely that is the case with Twilight.
"So how does someone only recently become a princess? From the way that I understood it you are either born into it or you marry royalty?"
"That is the case in other countries like in Griffonstone or Zebrica," Twilight said. Her entire demeanor changed as she spoke. She lifted her head and her tone of voice took on a more professional quality. It kinda reminded Kyle of his college professors. "Their royalty is born into the position but here in Equestria, it works differently. The princesses are given their titles only when they have proven themselves as fair, just and, kind. Though that isn't to say that somepony won't get the title of prince or princess consort if they marry one of the princesses. And I'm sure that if any of the princesses have a foal they would most likely get the title of prince or princess but that has yet to happen."
When Twilight finished her lecture she smiled and gave a satisfied nod. A small amused smile spread across Kyle's face at the whole thing. It reminded him of when his little sister would go on about what she learned in school when he asked, and that was enough to get a chuckle out of him. At Kyle's chuckle, Twilight looked down at him to see him smiling up at her.
"What?" Twilight asked her cheeks warming up and her ears folding back. "What's so funny?"
"The way you nodded reminded me of my little sister when she would tell me about her day at school, before..." Kyle's smile fell and he turned his eyes down to the ground as darker memories surfaced.
"Before what?" Twilight asked.
“So, Twilight there was a term that I wanted to clarify. Earlier when the nurse had the misunderstanding you said something along the lines of ‘just what I need rumors about my coltfriend.’ Does coltfriend mean that someone is in a relationship with a male, and if so would fillyfriend mean that you are in a relationship with a female?” Kyle asked. Kyle hoped that the sudden shift in the topic was enough of a hint that he didn’t want to talk about it and would leave it at that. That was a whole can of worms that was best left unopened.
There was a second's hesitation before Twilight replied. “Yes, to the first one, no to the second. The correct term is marefriend, why are they called something different from where you're from?”
Kyle let out a small sigh of relief when Twilight didn’t push the topic.
“Yeah, we call females girlfriends and males boyfriends," Kyle replied as they moved past a set of double doors. If this hospital is anything like the one his mom worked at then the reception desk and main entrance should be right around the corner.
"Huh, it’s kinda uncanny how close our languages are, I wonder what-” Twilight stopped cold as soon as the reception desk came into view. Curious as to the cause, Kyle looked toward the desk and found himself in a similar state as Twilight. There sitting behind the desk was the nurse from earlier, doing paperwork.
"Please don't look up please don't look up," Kyle thought. Almost like she heard Kyle's thoughts the nurse looked up from her paperwork. As soon as her eyes landed on the petrified duo a small blush spread across her face accompanied by a smile far too devious for Kyle's liking.
Kyle was about to suggest that they turn back for now, but before he had the chance Twilight squared her stance and walked forward.
When Twilight reached the desk she cleared her throat and asked with a surprising calmness, “Hello, nurse, do you have the release papers ready for Kyle?”
“Oh, yes here they are, Princess," the mare said all the while that not quite innocent smile stayed on the nurses face.
"Thank you," Twilight said, taking the papers from the nurse.
“Um, P-Princess?”
Twilight stopped and turned back around to address the nurse, “Yes?”
The nurse shifted about in her seat for a few seconds before she cleared her throat, “I-I think you two make a cute couple.” Twilight’s entire face flushed a bright red as she sputtered trying and failing to form a coherent word.
“I was in an emotional state that was caused by lack of sleep because I was researching how to help Kyle late last night.” She finally managed to get out. The nurses blush brightened and Kyle winced at the poor word choice.
“Don’t worry, I won’t say anything about your late night research,” the nurse gave them a wink and turned back to her work.
Twilight looked more like a statue now then a pony, that is if statues had bright red faces and mouths that resembled a fish out of the water.
Kyle for his part was trying his best imitation of a tomato. He was positive that had he been standing he would have lost the use of his legs from all the blood going to his head. Wishing to get away from the mare behind the desk Kyle “Twilight… hey Twilight.” Kyle finally snapped her out of her stupor.
“Y-yes Kyle?” she stammered, the blush still filled most of her face but had begun to fade.
“Could we please fill out my discharge papers so we can leave?” Kyle asked hoping to get as far away from here, and all awkward misunderstandings, as possible. Twilight nodded and brought them over to a nearby table and placed the papers down in front of Kyle. She then teleported a quill and inkwell to them as well. Kyle stared at the quill for a moment before asking, “Twilight, do you have a real pen perchance?”
“What do you mean?” She said not understanding what Kyle was saying.
“You know a ball-point pen or at the very least a felt pen?”
“Um… I don’t know what those are…” Twilight said.
“You mean to tell me that you don’t know what a ball-point pen or what a felt pen is?” Kyle asked. “You're joking right?”
“No, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. What is a ball-point pen?”
Kyle gave a short description of what he was talking about and when Twilight shook her head he sighed and took the quill in his hand.
“Beggars can’t be choosers, I will just have to make do.” Kyle dipped it into the inkwell. Twilight had to get him a couple new forms to replace the ones he ruined before he got it right. Eventually, Kyle filled out the document and gave it to the nurse. She gave the paper a cursory once-over before nodding and putting the form in a folder and filing them away.
“Thank you, that should be all. You can leave the wheelchair by the doors,” Kyle and Twilight gave the nurse a nod and walked to the exit. “Oh, and Kyle really does need rest so no strenuous activities for at least the next two days, but after that, have at it to your heart's content.” She shouted at them as they reached the door. Both of their blushes came back full force and Twilight picked up her pace to a near run in her haste to leave. She quickly ran out the front entrance of the hospital and forced the doors closed behind them with her magic.
They stopped just outside the door of the hospital to collect their wits. The silence that lingered between them felt like hours, but in reality, it only lasted a few seconds. No longer able to stand the awkward silence Twilight spoke, “So why don’t I show you to bed, I-I mean let me get you to bed. Wait, no, that didn’t come out right, what I–” Kyle cut off Twilight’s increasingly hectic speech by booping her on her nose.
“Twilight it’s fine. I knew what you meant.” Kyle chuckled. “Yes, I would like to rest. I am feeling tired after all of that excitement. I’m sounding like an old man as well.” Kyle let out another chuckle and reached up to his hoodies neck but froze when he felt only fabric. The color drained from Kyle's face as he began to feel through all his pockets.
“Where is it? Oh god! Please don’t tell me I lost it! It has to be here somewhere. I have to go back and check–” Kyle was pulled out of his frenzied search by a gentle touch on his shoulder. He looked over to find a lavender hoof he followed the hoof to find Twilight’s concerned eyes.
“Kyle, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked. “You look like you’ve just seen a timberwolf.”
“When you took my clothes over to your friends did you happen to see a small-black-oblong device attached to my hoodie's caller?” Kyle asked, his voice wavering.
“Yes, I remember Rarity asking me about it, I–” Kyle didn't wait for Twilight to finish her explanation before he stood. Though in his hast he didn't pay attention to where his foot was located and Kyle found himself reacquainted with his longtime friends the ground, and pain. Before Kyle had the chance to push himself up, Twilight took him in her telekinetic grasp.
“You’re right, you're right," Kyle said taking deep calming breaths. Once he managed to get his breathing back under control he gave a Twilight a sheepish smile and asked, "Would it be terribly inconvenient to go by this Rarity's and grab my Halo?"
“Of course, Rarity’s place isn’t too far out of the way.”
Kyle let out a relieved sigh and gave Twilight a grateful smile, “Thank you.”
Kyle took this opportunity to take in his new surroundings. The hospital was by far the largest of the buildings on this side of the town. It was a three-story Victorian-style structure that matched the surrounding homes. All of which looked to have been plucked out of an early eighteenth-century town complete with thatched roofing. Kyle could see a few exceptions to the thatched roofing, the hospitable being one. The other two were further into town, one being a three-story building in the center of town and the other was a building with what looked to be a cupcake sitting atop its roof.
Feeling as if he was being watched Kyle turned his attention from the buildings to the people standing in front of them. All of which was staring at him unabashedly, and more than a few Kyle could see the fear behind the stares.
“Um… Twilight we seem to be making a scene…” Kyle whispered, a little unnerved by all the looks he was getting. Twilight looked around at all the onlookers that cleared the middle of the street as they neared.
Twilight let out a disappointed sigh and shook her head, “You would think that they would have learned from the last time not to judge a pony by their looks alone, but it looks like they haven’t learned anything from the time Zecora was ostracized for the same thing.” She looked back to Kyle and saw his unease. “Don’t worry about it. They will warm up to you soon enough,” She finished by giving him a reassuring smile. Kyle nodded, but he wasn’t sure about what Twilight said. They continued down the street towards the Carousel Boutique, and Kyle tried his best to ignore the looks he was receiving. It didn’t take much longer for them to reach their destination, much to Kyle’s relief. “And here is the Carousel Boutique,” Twilight said as a circular building came into view.
Kyle glanced at the business’ exterior, then did a double take, confirming that he saw everything right. The building was designed to resemble a multi-storied carousel. He mentally face-palmed, “I don’t know why I expected this to look like anything else. I mean it is in its name after all.” He couldn’t help but laugh a little in self-deprecation.
Twilight looked over at Kyle when he laughed, a questioning look in her eyes. He shook his head in dismissal. This caused Twilight to raise an eyebrow. “Wait... did she have eyebrows before? I don’t remember her having eyebrows before but was it because I did not notice them?”
“Is there something on my face?” Twilight asked, and Kyle realized that he had been staring. He flushed in embarrassment and quickly looked away.
“Nope, just lost in thought. Sorry, didn’t mean to stare at you like that,” He replied a bit too quickly.
“Well… okay then…” Kyle could tell by her tone that she knew that he was omitting something, but she let it drop and continued to the door of the Carousel Boutique.
“In any case, this is where Rarity lives and works,” Twilight added as they walked through the door. A small bell rang as the door closed behind them.
“I’ll be right there darling! Do make yourself at home,” a sophisticated voice called out from somewhere deeper in the building. Kyle looked around the room as they waited for Rarity to come out and greet them, and the closest word that he could use to describe it was posh. It was a showroom with pony mannequins in various corners of the room displaying high-class dresses and the racks of clothing filled with the same. There was a platform to the right of the entrance with three mirrors facing it to get different angles for showing off the clothes and just behind the mirror was an old western style door that leads to a hallway. On the opposite side of the platform was a set of styling booths and a staircase leading to the second floor where Kyle guessed was the living quarters.
“Oh, no need to rush, Rarity. We aren’t in a hurry,” Twilight said and sat on a nearby couch. Kyle followed her shortly after.
“Nonsense darling, one doesn’t keep guests waiting especially if they are good friends. Who else is wi–” A white unicorn mare with meticulously styled purple mane and tail walked out from the doors behind the platform. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Kyle sitting next to Twilight. Her expression changed from shock to barely concealed revulsion as she saw Kyle.
“Rarity, this is Kyle, the pony I transported here from another world,” Twilight said. She didn't seem to notice the destain in Rarity’s expression.
“I am Rarity, it is so nice to meet you, Kyle,” She said giving Kyle another quick look over her eyes lingered on Kyle’s torso, and the disgust in her look intensified.
“I’m not that ugly, am I?” Kyle asked, with a mock look of hurt on his face. He hoped it hid his unease beneath Rarity’s scrutiny. Rarity recoiled at the comment, a faint blush reaching her cheeks.
“Sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to stare and no you are not ugly even if your current attire is most… unpleasant,” She said while she gave Kyle’s hoody an exceptionally disdainful glare. “But at least you are here so that I can correct that issue.”
“Thanks, but maybe some other time. You may be able to help me in another way. Would you happen to have the black oblong device that was on the collar of my sweatshirt here?” Kyle asked a hopeful look in his eyes.
“Black oblong…” she trailed off bringing a hoof up to her chin in thought. Kyle’s hopes began to wane as the seconds ticked by. Suddenly her eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh, you mean the black sapphire! Yes, sorry, I meant to put it in with your clothes but I completely forgot. Let me go get it for you.” Rarity turned and went back through the saloon style door. Moments later Rarity returned with the device in tow. It was a small black oval shaped slab of sapphire with an aluminum backing. It was about one and a half inches wide by three inches tall and about one-fourth of an inch thick. The front was a black sapphire polished to a near mirror finish wrapped around to the back that had a black mat finish. Besides the clip on the back, which Kyle used to attach it to his hoodie, there were no discernible markings or facets. “This is a rather unusual sapphire. Never have I seen one with this coloration or one shaped quite like this one before. Is this common from where you come from?”
Kyle stood and took the ‘gem’ out of her magical grasp before answering, “This isn’t a sapphire as you are you are thinking. It’s a Halo, and no we don’t shape gem sapphires like this.” Kyle swiped a finger across one of the shorter ends of the device and a translucent image of himself popped up above the Halo, he let out a sigh of relief. He repeated the motion, and the image disappeared and he put it away in his pocket.
“I thought you said that you didn’t have magic in your world how did you do that?” Twilight said right next to Kyle. He jumped and let out a half-strangled yelp.
“Don’t sneak up on people like that. You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Kyle put a hand to his chest and took a deep breath trying to get his racing heart under control and noticed that he had balled both of his hands into fists. He quickly unclenched his fists hoping that Twilight hadn’t noticed how close he to punching her. Twilight either didn’t notice or was ignorant of his body language as she didn’t say anything. She gave him an apologetic look before walking forward to sit in front of Kyle next to Rarity. He took a moment to compose himself under before answering Twilight’s question, “This isn’t magic it’s was just a hologram.”
“What is a hologram if it isn’t magic?“ Twilight asked, her curiosity aroused. There was a glimmer in her eye one that reminded him of his little sister when she would ask questions a mile-a-minute. Despite his exhaustion, Kyle couldn't say no to that look even back then.
“A hologram is basically a fancier version of a projector for movies and the like," Kyle paused when it occurred to him that he had no idea where they stood when it came to technology. "Wait, do you know what I mean by movie and projector?”
“Yes, I know what a movie and projector are,” Twilight laughed.
At that Kyle nodded and continued, “Right, just making sure. Anyways a hologram is similar to that. The actual specifics of how it works is a bit beyond me. I never really understood the mechanics behind it.” Kyle covered his mouth as he yawned. “Excuse me I am still feeling quite worn out.”
“I would like to learn some more about this Halo of yours, but that can wait we should get you to the library so you could get some rest,” Twilight said getting up and nodded farewell to Rarity.
“Then don’t let me keep you. If Rainbow Dash is any indicator when she broke her wing, you will be feeling out of it for a few days now yet, Kyle.” Rarity said with a kind smile.
“Yes, it is fairly common for ponies that undergo a healing spell to feel tired for a few days. Again, Rarity, sorry for disturbing you. I know how busy you are during this time of year,” Twilight said, leading Kyle to the door.
“‘Tis nothing dear. You know that you are always welcome anytime, and that goes for you too Kyle.” Rarity replied with a kind smile Kyle nodded as he left the building. Rarity followed them to the door to wave them off.
After the door closed behind them Twilight turned to Kyle and asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, why is that Halo device so important to you?”
Kyle didn't reply for a moment, “It has the last picture I have left of them.”
“Of who?”
Kyle’s hand closed over the Halo a bittersweet smile formed on Kyle’s lips, “My family.”
They walked in silence for a moment before Twilight spoke again uncertainty clear, in her voice, “I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything, but I want you to know that I am more than willing to listen if there is anything that you want to talk about. It’s the least I can do after I stranded you in a strange world.” Kyle looked over at the purple unicorn-pegasus and saw the concern in her eyes. “If I didn’t know any better I would say that she was worried about a friend by the way she was looking at me.”
“I already told you that I don’t blame you, and I’m grateful for what you did, Twilight. And there is no need to worry. I’m fine.” Twilight gave him an uncertain nod. They fell back into silence and continued their walk to the library and Kyle’s temporary home. They rounded a corner and the library came into view. Kyle couldn't help but stop once he saw the building before him. But, to call the sight before him a building would be like calling the Pyramids of Gisa a pile of rocks. While technically it would be true it's a gross misconception.
What stood before him was not so much as a building as it was a tree that someone decided to make into a house in the hardest way one could think of. Instead of doing the smart thing and
Twilight politely coughed into her hoof breaking Kyle’s stupor. She led the way up to the library door and walked in. Kyle followed, lost in thought. ”This world is crazy; talking horses, pegasi, unicorns, libraries built out of living trees. I wonder… you know what I am just not going to complete that thought.”
Kyle was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that the room he was stepping into was completely dark, but he did notice when all the lights turned on and a large group shouted, “SURPRISE!”
Startled Kyle jumped followed by a sharp pain originating from his head hitting the top of the door frame. The next thing he knew was darkness.
Twilight walked into the library and found that all the lights were turned off and all the blinds were closed.“That’s strange. Why would all the lights be turned… Realization hit like a ton of bricks. Her eyes snapped wide, but before she could do anything to prevent what was about to happen she was blinded by the lights being turned back on.
“SURPRISE!” a large group of ponies shouted in unison.
Pinkie Pie had thrown a surprise party and had invited the half of Ponyville to it. Seeing how Kyle had reacted to when Pinkie dropped in on him at the hospital, she feared how all of this was going to turn out. A loud thud permeated the air drawing Twilight's eyes behind her and to Kyle's unconscious form. She rushed over to his prone body to look for injury. Not able to find any outward wounds Twilight did a quick scan of his head to make sure there wasn't anything internally. Twilight gave a sigh of relief when all she found was the beginning of a bruise.
With Twilight's minor panic attack abated she became aware of the gruff laugh of one of her closest friends. She turned her attention to a cyan coated pegasus clutching her sides as she rolled on the ground. Messing up her already windswept rainbow colored mane.
“It isn't funny, Rainbow Dash. He could’ve been seriously injured, especially since he's still recovering from a concussion!” Twilight exclaimed, leveling a glare at her friend.
It took Dash a few seconds to realize that Kyle hadn’t gotten up. When she did, her laughter quickly dried up and her ears pressed back against her head.
“It’s going to be okay, right?” Rainbow asked. She slowly approached the prone human as she glanced at Twilight.
“I think he is going to be fine. It doesn’t look like he was hurt too badly, but it isn’t good to have multiple concussions in such close succession.” Twilight lifted Kyle’s unconscious form with her magic and laid him down on a nearby couch. “Sorry, everypony, but the party is going to have to wait.”
There wasn’t any argument by the gathered ponies. In fact, a few were all too eager to leave. In a matter of moments from Twilight’s announcement, the library was empty except for nine ponies and a dragon. They all gathered around the unconscious human, the three youngest all but standing on top of him. “Now, Apple Bloom, Ah know Ah taught ya better than that,” said an orange-coated mare, she flicked her blond-haired tail in irritation.
“And that goes for you too, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Applejack is entirely correct. It isn’t polite to crowd around a pony like that,” Rarity chided, from a nearby chair. A chair that she had claimed for herself shortly after arriving. The aforementioned foals backed up but didn’t stop staring at the strange, mostly hairless creature in front of them.
“Oh, the poor thing. Are you sure he will be alright…? Oh, not that I’m doubting what you said,” asked a timid yellow coated pegasus peaking around Applejack. Worry plain on her face, despite the fact that it was half hidden behind her pink mane. “Yes, Fluttershy, Kyle should be just fine. I did a scan before I moved him and nothing looks to be broken and I don’t think there is any–” Twilight’s explanation was interrupted by a groan from Kyle.
“Is there anything I can get you, Kyle? Maybe some tea or water or maybe a pillow?” Twilight asked, her voice came out louder than intended.
“Can you keep your voice down? I have a killer headache,” Kyle said bringing a hand up to his head rubbing at his temple.
“Sorry,” Twilight whispered.
“You don’t need to whisper. Just don’t yell. You wouldn’t happen to know what aspirin is, do you?”
“No sorry.”
“That’s fine it was a long shot, to begin with.” Kyle let out another groan as he sat up. His eyes shifted around as he took in his surroundings. That was until his eyes landed on the group gathered around the couch he found himself on.
“Um… Who… are your friends?” His eyes going from one pony to the next.
“Oh, right, sorry. Let me introduce you. This is Applejack and her little sister Apple Bloom.”
“Howdy,” greeted the blond mare.
“Yer really weird lookin’, mister,” a little filly said. She had a bright pink bow holding back her red mane. Before Kyle knew it Applebloom had her front hooves planted on Kyle’s knees and face uncomfortably close. He was able to get a good look at her bright orange eyes filled with the unbridled curiosity of youth.
“Apple Bloom! Ya, don’ say that to ponies! An’ what did Ah just say about giving ponies their space? Apologize right this instant, li'l missy!” Applejack chastised as she pulled Apple Bloom back by her tail.
Apple Bloom hung her head her ears splayed back. She scuffed the floor and said, “Ah’m sorry, mister.”
Kyle chuckled, “It’s fine. I imagine I look quite strange to you, Apple Bloom.” Kyle smiled fondly at the filly and mussed her hair. She playfully batted his hand away and smiled up at him. Twilight couldn’t help but smile warmly at the display.
The moment was shattered by the sound of someone groaning. “Enough with the mushiness already!” Kyle looked over at Rainbow Dash then at Twilight and raised an eyebrow.
Twilight answered Kyle’s unspoken question, “That would be Rainbow Dash.”
“That’s right and you better remember that name ‘cause I’m the fastest flyer in Equestria,” she said as she jumped into the air doing a backflip then settled into a hover. Kyle was staring at her wings, which caused Rainbow to puff out her chest. “Yeah, I know. I’m awesome.”
“How are you flying with those tiny things?” Kyle asked. Twilight couldn’t hold back the wince at Kyle’s wording. If she knew her friend she would take offense to that. Now that Twilight thought about it there aren’t many pegasi that would take it as anything but offensive.
Rainbow bristled, as she asked in a low tone, “And what are you trying to say?”
“What I’m saying is that your wings should be too small to support your body,” Kyle said, seeming to not notice the tone of her voice. Twilight noticed her friend pull her hooves in closer to her body. Which Twilight has learned from watching pegasus guards practice is a sign that they are readying to attack. Twilight didn’t think her friend would do something that would harm Kyle intentionally but it was best to step in before it devolved any further.
“Rainbow, I don’t think Kyle meant anything by what he said,” Twilight said taking up position between Kyle and Rainbow Dash. She looked over her shoulder to Kyle before continuing. “Isn’t that right, Kyle?”
“No, what did I say?” Judging by the death glare that Rainbow gave Kyle that was the wrong thing to say. She flew over Twilight and forcefully pushed her hoof into Kyle’s chest causing him to wince as it pushed into his bruised ribs.
“You insulted my wings, you hairless ape! Now you pretend that you didn’t do anything?!” Rainbow Dash yelled. She jabbed her hoof into Kyle’s chest with each sentence making him wince at each jab.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it, honest!” Kyle crossed his arms blocking Rainbows access. “I simply meant that proportionately to that of a bird’s wingspan, yours is smaller. And from everything that I know about aeronautics, which I admit is very little, the size of your wings shouldn’t give you enough lift to fly.”
“He's right, Rainbow. If it wasn’t for pegasus magic, you would only be able to glide short distances,” Twilight added, pulling the flyer away from Kyle with her magic.
“But he called my wings tiny!” Dash protested.
“Yes, but he did apologize for that didn’t he?” Twilight argued.
“Well, yeah, but–” Twilight shushed Dash with a raised hoof.
“He didn’t know. Saying a pony has small wings must not mean the same thing where he comes from,” Twilight said.
“Fine, but don’t you ever insult me like that again!” She glared daggers at Kyle.
“I promise I won’t. I'm sorry it came out that way. I really didn’t mean anything by it.” Kyle rubbed the back of his head not meeting the pegasus’ gaze. An uncomfortable silence settled on the group for a few seconds before Kyle broke it. “So… um, where were we?”
Twilight frowned in thought as she mentally ticked off who was left to introduce, “Right, the one who has been hiding behind Applejack is Fluttershy.” She gestured to the yellow and pink pegasus that hadn’t moved from her spot behind Applejack. Applejack rolled her eyes stepped aside revealing the shy mare in full. Fluttershy let out a squeak as she shrunk in on herself. She tried her best to hide behind her mane. Kyle couldn't help but draw comparisons to the way his little sister acted
“Hello, Fluttershy was it?” The little mare did not show any indication that she had heard Kyle, keeping her face hidden behind her mane. “Well it’s nice to meet you, and I know that I may seem strange but I promise I am quite harmless.”
Kyle left his spot on the couch, instead, he took to the floor sitting cross-legged. Hearing the movement Fluttershy looked up at Kyle through her bangs to see his reassuring smile. She came out of her bangs a little more and gave him a small smile back, even if it was a little strained. Kyle’s smile brightened a bit more before he turned his attention to the last two who had yet to be introduced.
“And who might these two cuties be?” Kyle asked.
Twilight opened her mouth to introduce them but before she could a white unicorn filly with a main of purple and pink blurted, “Hello, I’m Sweetie Belle! Rarity is my big sister, and the cutie over here is Scootaloo,” She said gesturing to an orange coated pegasus filly. Her purple mane was just as messy as Rainbow’s mane but the way it fell looked like it was more intentional. “We’re friends of Apple Bloom.”
“I am not cute!” Scootaloo said pouting a little and crossing her hooves across her chest, which caused Kyle to chuckle.
“You’re absolutely right you're not cute,” Kyle said his smile turning mischievous. “You are absolutely adorable! Especially with that pouty face!”
Scootaloo glared at Kyle trying to look menacing but failed to look anything but adorable. Snickering, Rainbow Dash flew over to Scootaloo and ruffled her mane as she landed.
“You know he has a point, Squirt, you are adorable when you pout like that.”
Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash indignation in her eyes, “Not you too, Dash!” Everypony chuckled at Scootaloo’s outburst and she huffed and mumbled something about too cool to be cute.
“And that is the last of the introductions. You have already met Pinkie Pie and Rarity.” Rarity gave Kyle a friendly nod and Pinkie… “Wait where did Pinkie run off to… Oh well, she will show up soon, I’m sure.”
**********
Luna lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling. She had been tired when she went to bed this morning and had fallen asleep almost instantly, but something had awoken her and now she was unable to go back to sleep. What exactly had caused her to wake she couldn't say for sure no matter how she thought about it. Pondering what the cause may have been, did nothing more than prevent her from getting back to sleep. She laid on her bed staring at the stars through her enchanted ceiling.
She looked at the clock on her bedside table. It read 5:45 PM. There was little point in going back to sleep now. She would have to raise the moon in little over an hour.
“We might as well get our night started early,” she groaned tiredly and rolled out of bed. She made her way to the washroom but before she could take more than a few steps a flash of pink in her peripheral vision stopped her progress.
“Halt who goes there!” she growled as she lowered her stance and lit her horn readying a spell, a determined expression set on her muzzle. The response to her query was not what she expected. Instead of a stammering apology of a maid or the battle cry of a would-be assassin she heard a familiar giggle. “Pinkie, what art thou doing here?”
“Ooh, you’re good. How did you know it was me?” Said the pink mare bouncing out of a book about halfway up a bookshelf in the corner of the room.
“How did…” Luna said looking at Pinkie Pie to the book she just jumped out of. “Umm, never mind, what brings thou to Canterlot Pinkie?”
“Well you see there is this Human that Twilight accidentally brought through this portal and I met him at the hospital to try to cheer him up because nopony likes to be hurt and in the hospital but when I got there I ended up scaring him not the ‘ah where did you come from kind of scare’ but the ‘AHH DON’T HURT ME’ kind of scare. So I wanted to throw him a surprise Welcome-to-Ponyville-and-Equestria-and-Sorry-for-Scaring-You-Party at the library where he is staying until Twilight can find a way to send him back home because who doesn’t like a surprise party. Well, it turns out that Kyle doesn’t like surprise parties because he ended up being more scared than when I burst into the hospital room and he ended up hitting his head on the door frame like ‘BAM down for the count.’ So the first party was over before it really began and I felt really, really, reeeeally bad for scaring him a second time that day and just when he got out of the hospital too. So I would reeeeally like to make it up to him and make him a smaller party that he might like more so I thought who would be good to invite to the Welcome-to-Ponyville-and-Equestria-and-I’m-Really-Sorry-for-Scaring-You-Party-Take-Two, and I thought that it would be good to invite his friends but then I was like he doesn’t have any friends here yet so then I was like oh I should invite my bestest-of-best friends but they are already there so there is no point in inviting them. But I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make this party with just nine ponies and a baby dragon so I thought Pinkie, hmpf hrrm frmpf," Luna cut Pinkie off with a hoof over her mouth though she just kept going as if the hoof wasn’t there.
Luna took a moment to process what Pinkie said before asking, “So thou wants Us to join this welcome party for this Kyle?" Pinkie nodded in confirmation. “And at what time does this party take place pray tell?”
“Rmf nmf!” Luna removed her hoof from Pinkie’s mouth.
“Sorry…" She smiled sheepishly at Pinkie. “What time is it?”
“Right now! Won't you come? I know Kyle would like you to come!" Pinkie says bouncing excitedly.
“Why dost thou say that?" Luna asked looking unsure.
“I had an itchy back, creaky knee and, floppy ear," She said as if that should explain everything. Even though Luna didn’t understand in the slightest, she decided it best for her sanity not to ask Pinkie to clarify.
“We have a busy night ahead of Us, We are unsure if we could." Luna lied. She didn’t feel up to go to any gathering, even if it was with the mares she considered close friends. After the unrestful day she had, she did not like the idea of making a trip to Ponyville.
Almost before Luna finished speaking Pinkie slumped, looking defeated. Her hair went from its usual curly to straight. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she slowly began to walk to the door saying, “Oh… Okay then… I will just go then…"
Luna could feel a slight twang in her chest at the dejected look on Pinkie’s face. I didn’t think that this meant so much to her I… Luna let out a defeated sigh, “I might be able to work in a small visit to Ponyville." Almost instantly Pinkie perked up and a giant smile broke across her face.
“YAAAAY, I’ll go and let everypony know! See you in a few, Princess!" With that Pinkie bounced out of Luna’s room humming a happy tune. A few seconds later, a guard poked his head in with a bewildered expression on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Luna lifted her hoof to belay him.
“‘Tis better not to ask, trust Us," Luna said in reply to the unasked question. The guard nodded and returned to his post. Luna shook her head, an amused smile on her muzzle. “That mare does know how to brighten one's day." Luna went to finish getting ready for the night, she would need to inform her Majordomo that night court would be delayed this evening.
