Twilight stumbled back. There were many things she had considered saying once she'd heard them, but the last line that came in threw her for a loop. She was wearing the witch's eye?
"...You look like you've seen a ghost," Prancey said.
"I... Did you girls see anything when you were looking at the eye?" Twilight asked, worried.
"Nothing. Why?" Wound asked.
"...Earlier one of the voices said something along the lines of 'look into the witch's eye and see how you will die,' and now one of them said I was wearing the witch's eye..." She looked down at the artifact. She saw nothing.
"Well, we didn't see any death!" Prancey cheered. "All I see is a strange eye made of valuable materials! Veeeery shiny!"
"...At least I have a name for it now," Twilight said, looking closely at the Witch's Eye. "Definitely not its name, but it's something."
"So what else did they say? Huh Huh?!" Prancey said, flapping her wings rapidly in excitement.
"Er.. Well one of them said hello to you, though I don't know which one, they all sound the same to me. The only ones I'm pretty sure I can identify easily are Key, Eris, and Darkus - and I didn't hear anything about food last time so I don't think Darkus said anything..." She smiled sheepishly. "I sound like a crazy pony don't I?"
"We all saw the WItch's Eye glow," Wound said, "so there's something going on there. I felt quite a bit of magic... I've never felt anything quite like it."
"Oh but you're the expert on crazy weird stuff!" Prancey grinned. "C'mon! You're the wound dream! Whaddoyathink?"
"...AllI can really say is the magic is unique, and it's encased in the Black Steel the ancients used."
"Ancients?" Twilight asked, ears perking. "Who are they?"
"Nopony really knows. They left behind a lot of ruins, especially in the deserts to the north. All of them are inhabited by elemental spirits though, so they're all really dangerous places."
"Oh," Twilight said, "so looking into it would be a bad idea?"
"Not without a lot more information than I can give you. I'm just a clockmaking artist."
"Oooh!" Prancey said, bouncing into the air. "You could talk to Infinity! She knows LOTS of things!"
Wound laughed. "She's also wrong more often than not. Do so at your own risk, the library is a place wrought with misinformation and her crazy mind..."
Twilight frowned. All the ponies in this town were crazy, in one way or other, from what she had seen. It was a lot like Ponyville in that way. It felt... welcoming, actually. She was surprised to find herself admit that. She yawned again. "Well, I won't be doing anything until tomorrow, I need some sleep." She shook her head. She'd probably head out to the forest after asking around town a bit, the voices had given her a lot of good questions to ask... And a lot of things to mull over later.
Prancey's ears suddenly perked up. "Diorite's coming!"
"What?" Twilight said. She was not given time to process anything - the door to the inn swung open, and the green dragon stuck his head in. It barely fit. Using a claw, he opened one of the windows from the outside and tossed in the whitest stallion Twilight had ever seen - white wings, white legs, white eyes, white mane... Everything was white.
Twilight spread her wings and took a few steps back from them.
"No need to be worried!" The stallion called. His voice was high-pitched and nasally, the tones it hit grated against Twilight's eardrums. "I am Mayor Feckless! I welcome you to Pebbleton!"
"Uh... Thank you," Twilight said, bowing graciously. "Your town has been most kind."
"May I have your name?"
"Twilight Glimmer."
Feckless nodded. "Well Miss Glimmer, once again, welcome. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask." He turned to Diorite. "...Is that it?"
Diorite let out a deep, exasperated sigh. "...Yes, Feckless, yes..." His voice had a deep, throaty purr that accompanied every syllable.
"Can I go now?"
If Diorite would have facepalmed had the building's shape allowed it. "...Out the window."
Feckless nodded, climbing out the window without another word.
Diorite turned to Twilight. "You'll have to excuse him. He's an idiot."
"I... Wouldn't say that..." Twilight said.
"Would 'inconsiderate and lazy' work better?" Diorite smirked, his rows of long, sharp teeth glinting in the light of the inn.
Twilight gulped. "...Maybe?"
Diorite let out a chuckle. "My little pony, there is nothing to fear from me. I am this town's protector, nothing more. Unless you seek to destroy or harm us, you have absolutely nothing to worry about."
Twilight nodded slowly. "O... Okay. Sorry, still haven't gotten over my experiences with... Other dragons."
"We can be rather... predatory, I do admit. Though it has been a long while since I've met somepony terrified of us. We are pretty common around here..."
"I'm not from around here. ...Ever heard of a place called Equestria?"
Diorite furrowed his brow. "...The name sounds vaguely familiar... But I can't think of anywhere in the known world called that."
"Oh... Thanks anyway. So, your kind is common here?"
Diorite smirked. "Peran is a joint cooperation between dragons and ponies. We share this land and are all the better because of it."
"Dragons and ponies living in harmony? That's... That's amazing!" Twilight grinned. "How... How does your society work? How do you coexist? Who're your leaders?"
"Calm down there, Twilight, I'm not well versed in national politics and what not. We just... live together, and it works. The Council of Elders keeps it all together from the Palace."
She nodded. "...Are there any customs I should be aware of?"
"Well, first off, hide your wings and that eye. We are pretty accepting of the unusual this far north, you find ancient relics from time to time and you just have to learn to live with them. But if you ever to the bigger cities, I'm not sure what they'd do to you."
"...Akumakami said as much."
"Who?"
"It'd... Take way too long to explain," Twilight said, "really complicated."
Diorite blinked. "Fair enough. Aside from that... some dragons will take you fearing them as an insult. We have a long painful history that some of us would rather not be reminded of. And those that are older then Peran itself, well... Let's just say they could go ballistic."
"Don't show fear. Greeeeeat..." Twilight sagged.
"Make sure to respect the elders, and don't interrupt a dragon on the hunt, they might not be able to switch out of 'hunt' mode in time. And... I can't think of anything else that isn't obvious."
Wound raised her hoof. "Perhaps she should know not to scream, 'pony, do this! Pony, do that!' to avoid another scene?"
"She's not a dog," Diorite observed, saying the word dog with distaste.
Twilight decided not to comment on it. "Well, thank you all for helping me. I... I'm really, really tired right now. I need some sleep, and I need to think all this over."
"You're welcome to stay as long as you need!" Prancey said.
"Thanks, Prancey. Really. Thank you too Diorite. If I have more questions I'll come to you."
Diorite nodded. "It is my pleasure." He pulled his head out of the inn and went back to relaxing.
"Which room is mine?" Twilight asked.
"First door on the left. Here's the key." Prancey tossed the brown metal object to Twilight. She caught it with her magic and then trodded up the stairs.
~~~
Night had fallen.
Twilight still hadn't fallen asleep, despite being more tired than she could ever remember being. There was just TOO MUCH to think about. She was in a foreign land with no clue how to get home, a strange artifact that talked to her embedded in her chest, and had to live in constant fear that the Witch's Eye would just act up and stop her from doing anything!
She rolled onto her side. Maybe she should just go through the last message... She tried to ignore Key - he just seemed angry about something and the others didn't seem to be too happy with him - but she couldn't because what he said was just... interesting. He called her out on things that didn't matter but seemed to be eager to do... something. Was she just a show to him, or was there something else behind it?
She groaned - what was this 'adventure' anyway? Was it something to do with the 'ancients?' The island she found herself on? The mountain? The forest? Maybe the adventure was in this town! She didn't know! How could she? And how could they?
...because of what Akumakami said. She... She was extremely grateful for what they had said, putting it in as simple terms as possible, but she still didn't understand. There was a lot of them, and they could see into other universes - which was a wonder of technology. She had to admit human ingenuity was something, but she'd seen nothing to suggest they could get into other universes... Maybe it wasn't something they did? Something this... 'primary,' Blackjack, did? They sounded like some kind of ruler, or arbiter, from what Twilight could tell. She had an image of them as some kind of dark Applejack, based purely on the name. Were they responsible for her being here, or just allowing the voices to talk to her? What control did they have?
"Ugh..." She groaned, ramming her face into her pillow. "Thanks, Akumakami, really, but that's a lot to take in. And sorry, forgot to ask Diorite about those things. I'll see if I can tomorrow. And Crystal, sorry about forgetting your name, it's... Hard to keep track of."
There were, as usual, several things that had been said she just flat out didn't understand - the 'transfer,' the 'persona,' whatever those things meant. And then there was the 'being watched' bit - of course, she was being watched she had an eye stuck in her chest that saw everything! Afizah - apparently a girl - had done her 'scholar's tree' thing again, this time going off on a rant about some pony named Jack Sparrow and a compass.
Then there was that... song, probably from Eris. Twilight tried to tell herself it meant nothing, but it kept playing over and over in her mind, despite her efforts to think about other things. At least Zen was on her side - easily the voice she felt the most comfortable and safe hearing. He - she? "Hey, uh, genders? I... don't want to offend anyone again." Zen had the best shadow of a plan - talk to ponies around town, try to learn about the island, and... well then probably head into the forest then... And then what?
She supposed on what would happen once she got there.
...Would she get the flowers for Prancey? She seemed nice, but she was a bit... forward. Was sleep powder just a normal thing here? Like dragons? Or was she being asked to do something illegal, and taken advantage of?
She didn't know who to trust. She wanted her friends...
She started crying, exhausting herself to sleep at long last.
~~~
She opened her eyes. She was standing in an expanse of sand, the full moon high in the sky. It was a dream...
...a dream!
"LUNA!!!!!" Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs. "LUNAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Luna didn't respond. Something else did. The moon flashed a deep purple, and a ghostly aether of purple energy flowed out of it, coalescing before Twilight. It took a tall, ghastly shape - two translucent arms alongside a wispy, ghostlike body, on top of which a featureless head sat. She could see inside it - see sparks of magic swirling around a central symbol. A symbol she had seen on the roof of the room she had found the Witch's Eye. A symbol she had seen on her own flank for decades.
"W-what are you?"
"Quite interesting, how you've started." It said, speaking in a strange, reverberating voice. Twilight wasn't sure if this was part of the dream or not.
"Did you do this?!"
"I had no idea there'd be this many..."
"Are you even listening to me!?"
"Your vessel is getting antsy. Why would you choose this one? What is the appeal?"
Twilight took a few steps back. "W... What are you talking about?"
She didn't get to do anything else - for in that moment, the eye began to glow. Twilight was certain it was glowing in the real world as well. She gulped.