"Okay, so I had to steal some food! Sue me!"
Twilight was, strangely enough, arguing with the bunny currently sitting on her head. She had to quickly go back on her swear to not steal food, as the moment she stepped into the little cafe she knew she'd be overwhelmed and crowded without her spell. She rather clumsily slipped through between people's feet and around legs, and ended up having to snag someone's salad before they could even get to pay for it. And now...here she was, sharing said salad between herself and Angel. The pair of them were once again wandering aimlessly through the city. Well, they had a general idea of the direction they were going. East. They found a large ocean to the west after glancing at a map, so they'd go east and hopefully leave the city altogether.
The rabbit lightly stamped his foot a couple times on Twilight's head, as if reprimanding her. She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Angel, I know its not right, but...I panicked, okay?! Hmph!" She stuffed some salad in her mouth at her last words, and took a look around the area they were passing through.
Something felt...off. She couldn't place a hoof on the feeling, but it was off. There were less humans around, but she could still feel the presence of someone watching them. She frowned deeply, and began trotting a little faster. "I've got a bad feeling about this..."
Angel seemed less than worried. He was finishing off the last of their salad, so he was a bit distracted. Twilight just gave a quiet sigh and continued onward. They were nearing the edge of town, thankfully. Twilight never minded big cities like Manehattan or Fillydelphia. But being a fish out of water made things significantly more stressful on her. More stress than she needed, if she was honest with herself. She has had one heck of a day. All that has happened to her so far, combined with that unpleasant feeling she was getting, it was only making her feel worse. As she neared the outskirts of the city, she began to hear things as well. Something was following them, she was sure of it this time.
"Hold on tight, Angel..."
She only gave a short warning before she took off into a full gallop. This didn't stop the noises around them, however. In fact the sound of soft feet hitting the ground only grew faster to keep up with them. She started seeing streaks of gray out the corners of her eyes. Her head was darting left and right constantly as she made a mad dash out of the city. There...wasn't a lot ahead of her. Hills, trees, dirt, grass. Nature. Whatever it was that was following her, however, seemed to know the area quite well, as they continued to stay just out of sight while expertly following her.
She began to panic again, not knowing what could be so easily following them. She was losing focus, her eyes constantly wandering anywhere but ahead of her...which would be her downfall. With a loud yelp, she slammed herself face-first into a tree, forcing her cloaking spell to break and sending falling to the ground in a daze. Angel managed to avoid hitting the tree, and fell off of Twilight's back as she fell over. He seemed to be desperately trying to get her to wake up again, but it was no use. She slowly lost consciousness as several gray forms surrounded her.
Not again...
Warm. Twilight felt very warm when she finally regained consciousness. Though it did nothing to settle the pounding in her head. Slamming it into a tree was one thing, but only now did she realize she'd been holding a somewhat difficult spell for a very large amount of time. Now, of course, she didn't even want to open her eyes. She was someplace comfortable. There was another source of fur surrounding her body. It wasn't just her own, but she felt strangely safe. Like she was home again, or with a good friend. She imagined the bodies surrounding her to be her friends. She even smiled.
That cozy feeling was quickly shattered as one of said bodies gave a low growl. Her eyes snapped open immediately. Rather than being surrounded by her girls, she just saw a few wolves curled up with her on a large, soft bed. She knew it was a bad idea to scream. She knew wolves could be territorial and were not afraid to hunt even larger prey like ponies. But she screamed anyways.
"O-Oh...Oh no, oh no! I knew this would happen!" A soft voice cried from another room.
The room Twilight found herself in was...cozy, despite the wolves. It could easily be described as a very nice cabin. There was a fireplace going, and everything was clean and comfy looking, save for some stray animal hair. The moment she heard the voice, however, she stopped screaming and jumped up onto her hooves, temporarily forgetting her headache. She hardly noticed the wolves, as they made no move to get up or attack her. Rather, she was focused on the human who had walked into the room.
It was...a rather pretty, young woman. She had long and flowing blonde hair, green eyes, stood quite tall at nearly six feet, and wore a very casual outfit of denim pants and a white t-shirt. She also seemed...nervous. She held back at the doorway as she spotted Twilight standing up, and she looked ready to back right off into the other room again. "Oh dear...You woke up much sooner than I expected. I haven't even prepared food yet..."
Twilight seemed ready to bolt out the door, but the soft-spoken woman...calmed her, somehow. This girl was completely foreign to her, yet had a familiar warmth emanating from her that Twilight couldn't ignore.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?"
"Oh..." The girl's cheeks lit up red, but she giggled softly. "My name is Flora..." She said simply, and went quiet again.
"...T..Twilight Sparkle..." Twilight replied, still feeling something oddly familiar about her. This girl...well, she certainly didn't save her from hungry wolves. Rather, these wolves seemed to live with her. Wolves, of all things...this girl must be special to have been able to tame them. "Are these wolves...your pets?"
She quickly shook her head. "No, not at all. They're more like...friends, whom I take care of." She said, walking over and kneeling down next to one of the wolves that had just woken up, and lightly pet its head. It gave a yawn and licked her hand before standing up and wandering out towards the back. "...You just came from the city, didn't you? One of my friends found some of your tail hair and brought it back...It was weird, but...nothing else in the wild could have purple hair like that. Sorry if they scared you, they were just trying to follow you and lead you here..."
Twilight seemed a tad more relaxed at the explanation, though being stalked by wolves at the call of this strange girl felt a little weird. Still...she couldn't complain. She wasn't hurt, save for her head earlier, and she was someplace safe. "...Your wolves managed to pick out my tail hair? In the middle of the city? They must be very...sneaky."
Flora laughed a little at this. "Well...Yes, they are, but usually they keep hidden in the alleys. Actually, my pet bird Harley found it and brought it back. He's a smart bird."
She gave a short whistle suddenly, which the other wolves responded to. They woke up one by one, and began making their way out back like the other one did. Once they were gone, Flora stood up again and smiled at Twilight. "I've never met a talking pony before...But I guess if you're as intelligent as a human, you must be very special...Would you like something to eat? I was just about to fix something before you woke up..."
Twilight barely had to think about her answer to this. Her stomach growl told all. All she had to eat since she arrived in this land was a single, small salad. She needed something filling. She blushed lightly, and nodded, giving an awkward smile. "Yes please...And thank you very much for your help. I'd probably have gotten lost if you hadn't picked me up..." She had to admit to herself by now...she had no idea what she was doing.
...What was she doing? She'd been wandering pretty much aimlessly...Sure, learning more about her surroundings and the land she found herself in was good, but it certainly didn't solve any of her problems. Just what happened to Equestria, and the others? It didn't take a genius to figure out there was little to no magic in this land, which would only hinder her further. Would she ever even get back home?
Whatever the outcome may be...Twilight couldn't help but think of the worst ones. Equestria could very well be completely destroyed. Or her friends may very well be slaves to a wicked being. King Sombra...He was the one who started this mess. How he survived the incident with the Crystal Empire, she had no clue. The events from before she woke up were starting to return, but only barely. Discord himself engaged Sombra in a rather heated fight. Dark magic against chaos magic could only lead to disaster, she supposed. Her friends could very well be dead for all she knew. She didn't want to think about that, but she just couldn't stop the tears from creeping to her eyes.
Upon seeing this, Flora frowned again. She wasn't entirely sure why this pony was crying, but she wasn't fond of it. "Oh no...Please, don't cry..." She said, softly, and knelt down once again. She reached out to gently take Twilight's hoof, and pulled her in for a hug. "I don't know what your situation is...But I'm certain it'll all be okay. When you feel at your lowest, there's nowhere to go but up."
Twilight was surprised a bit by the sudden hug, but...it was more than welcome at this point. She was warm, and she felt an...oddly soothing feeling in her mind from her touch and her words. The sadness in her mind was pushed away for hope...a feeling she desperately needed. She would find a way to make things right, even if she died trying.
It was only after thinking that did she think of something else.
...How in the world did she do that so easily? This girl is special...and so kind. If only I could be as kind to myself...I need to carry on.
"Thank you, Flora." Twilight said, once again thanking her and returning the hug. She stepped away after a moment to wipe her eyes, and gave another smile. "I'll accept whatever food you decide to make. I've only had a small salad today, so I could go for just about anything."
Flora had to wipe a tear from her eye as well, but she didn't say anything about it. She simply smiled and nodded, and stood up once again to head into the kitchen. First thing she did, however, was grab her phone to send off some text messages.
Between texts, she began working on a proper meal. She knew very well what ponies ate, normally, but this particular pony was clearly special. So she settled for a healthy, vegetable stew. Sitting on the counter, nibbling away at some lettuce and carrots, was Twilight's little rabbit friend. Flora wasn't sure what his name was yet, but she found him absolutely adorable. She gave him a smile, and a gentle pat on the head. "You've taken good care of miss Sparkle...Such a good bunny."
Twilight, in the meantime, decided to explore a little. She didn't want to seem too nosy, so she stuck to the room she was currently in. Though, she quickly went to look out the window pointed out in the back. There was a lot of space in the 'backyard,' as one might call it, for the multitude of wolves out and about. She'd never seen so many in one place before, so it was quite incredible. She was so distracted by this, that she nearly jumped out of her coat when Flora came up from behind her.
"This is my wolf sanctuary..." She said, though paused to giggle a little at Twilight. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you...Wolves are uncommon around here, and people like to hunt them for sport and even skin them...I thought it would be nice to rescue what I can and take care of them here."
Twilight listened carefully to what she said. Taking in so many wild animals, all out of kindness and worry for their kind? This girl reminded her too much of Fluttershy. She wouldn't give herself the chance to tear up again, however, and continued the conversation. "Do you live here? With the wolves?"
Flora shook her head in response. "Not exactly. It is sort of a second home to me, sometimes. I have a small animal farm of my own a few miles from here, and that's my real home. But since this is my main job, I'm coming back and forth all the time. Animals are...pretty much my forte. They understand me, and I understand them...I'm not really sure how it works, but it comes really natural to me..." She said, smiling and watching through the window at a couple of the wolves running about after an unfortunate prey had wandered into the pen. "Anyways...I made stew! It should be ready by now. Your rabbit is in the kitchen, too." She said, gesturing toward the open kitchen door before heading in.
Twilight gave a sigh, hesitating at the window to watch longer. There was so much going on now...What was with this girl? Her empathic ability was clearly something above the norm, even for ponies. Just her presence was pushing back all those feelings of sadness and self-hate, if only for a bit. She finally had to wipe her eyes again as she felt tears coming back, but she was smiling. She was actually happy, to have finally found a friend amongst the humans. With a deep breath and a sigh, she made her way to the kitchen, grabbing one of her notebooks from her bag along the way.
Finally, a decent meal.
Entry 2, Day 1,
Today has been...interesting. Never thought so many things could happen in just a day. I likely won't write again until tomorrow. Two entries a day seems fair to me.
I'm in such a better mood than I was before. Its incredible what the kindness of even a single stranger can do to one's self-esteem. I jokingly said I'd just need a Fluttershy to go with my Angel, but yet here I am with a woman who reminds me so much of her. Flora, she said her name was. She runs this wolf sanctuary outside the city. She's full of kindness, but she's not at all shy, I don't think. Very friendly type...But what stands out the most is her empathy. Of course, most everyone has empathy, but I could almost feel her in my mind, helping me to grow more content and relaxed. I suspect she may be an empath. Whether she knows this or not, I'm not sure. Hardly matters at this point, and I can't complain. I'm enjoying my time here even more than I did at the library. Crazy, I know, coming from me, but at least its not as depressing as the history books.
I still have no idea what I'm going to do, though. I have no plans, no idea what the rest of this country is like, and no direction to go. I'm hoping Flora can give me some sort of advice, otherwise it'll be more aimless wandering for me. Whater brought me here, it definitely had to do with the fight between Discord and Sombra. But what happened before that? How did Sombra return? My memories of the fiasco are a big haze. Its really frustrating. Hoping it comes back to me soon. Maybe...Just maybe, I'll find Discord or Sombra out here. If anyone would have made it here with me, it'd be one of them.
Here's hoping its the former. He could have fixed everything by now, but you never know with Discord.
Well, I'm signing off for the day. I'm going to ask if I can stay a night with Flora, and get a good bit of food in me while I'm at it. If you're reading this right now, or rather in the future, make sure you eat healthy!
