Chapter 3
I would like to say that I kept my cool. After all, someone was asking for help from me, and that someone happened to be a cute little pony-pegasus-unicorn thing. But I definitely didn't keep my cool.
Instead, I laughed like a giddy maniac. “W-wait,” I forced through the laughter. “Y-you can't be serious!”
She took a deep breath, one eye twitching lightly, just enough to notice. “Very.” She raised an eyebrow.
I put a hand behind me to support myself as I sat cross-legged. “Okay, okay,” I said through broken laughter. I took as deep of a breath as I could, and tried not to be hysterical as something out of a cartoon played out before my eyes. “This is an absolutely crazy dream. Am I still high off of the stuff they gave me at the hospital?”
“It is a dream,” she conceded. “But no, you're not “high” off of anything.” It took me a little to notice, but she had trouble meeting my eyes. “I'm glad that you're okay, though. That fall could not have been pleasant.”
It clicked again. The voice here, the voice in my dream in the hospital, the one in my head at Crescent Harbor… they were all the same.
“Why on earth did you request I leap off that cliff in the first place?” I snapped.
She flinched, as if she knew that was coming. “I'm sorry. I didn't know at first that it wasn't a dream. I thought that I felt a magical presence in the harbor. Given that I have wings and all…” she gave her lavender wings a flick. “I thought I could fly down and investigate.”
I scowled, folding my arms. “Well, yeah, I ended up flying. Downward.” It took me a second to realize that I had said that aloud. Twilight flinched again, and her gaze drifted farther away from me. My heart sank to my stomach.
“I-I'm sorry…” I apologized. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
She sniffed. “I-it's fine,” she replied, although by her continual reluctance to meet my gaze, eyes softened and misty, I knew it actually wasn't.
A moment later she took a deep breath, tracing her hoof with her breathing, and returned to my gaze, back to the state she was in before. “After our… unfortunate first meeting, I knew that I needed to contact you again, somehow.
“You were found in my castle just as I passed through the portal. You were pretty beat up by the looks of it, and you were unconscious on the way through. When I returned, they had you laid out on the floor, and they didn’t know what to do with you. After talking, we sent you back. Everything was perfectly normal.”
“Until the dreams started happening,” I guessed.
She nodded. “Yes. Then I knew something was up. I tried various ways to try getting back to you, but then I got the bad news: Princess Celestia suddenly vanished. And from what I understand, your world’s... Principal Celestia also disappeared earlier this week.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Wait a second, you don’t mean to say that those two incidents are connected?”
Twilight nodded once more. “Yes. The Celestia of both your world and mine are both very powerful. So their disappearance has to be connected.”
I breathed in deeply. “Let me get this straight. You’re from an alternate universe, and you’re haunting my dreams because…?”
“We must’ve collided when we were changing form,” Twilight finished.
I hesitated. “Right. That. And there’s some crazy scheme to kidnap two powerful beings across our universe.”
“Yes,” Twilight confirmed. “That’s how I understand it, anyway.”
I folded my arms, looking up to the sky. “This is absolutely crazy. I…” I slapped my arms to my sides. “I just don’t know what to think.”
Twilight gave me a sympathetic smile. “I know exactly how you feel. It’s a lot to take in.”
I heaved a sigh. “Well—”
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEE--
I slammed the snooze button. My eyes slowly opened as I read the time: 6:30 AM. School. Great.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and stood up. Or I should say, attempted to stand up. My back and joints roared in pain as I extended my legs, forcing me to plop right down onto my bed.
Darn… a voice came from my head. Why can’t I get out of bed?
It was the same voice of the pony I saw before.
“Huh, I wonder why,” I muttered.
My heart involuntarily jumped. Oh! Right, you’re still here.
“Yep,” I replied. “I still sorta exist.” I attempted to get up once again, this time getting a little higher before plopping down once again.
Interesting, Twilight’s voice continued. It took me a bit to notice that my hand was involuntarily moved in front of my face, investigating every angle. I can see through your eyes, but I can’t feel your pain…
“Well, I can,” I said. “So, please stop commandeering my body, please?” I attempted one more time to stand, and despite the pain, I balanced on both my feet.
Woah, okay, this is weird! Twilight exclaimed. My arms started flailing.
“Twilight, stop!” I yelped as I was losing my balance.
I just need to balance on something--!
And I ate the floor. Despite my efforts to catch myself, Twilight’s flailing counteracted every movement that I tried to do. At least I was able to turn myself to the side a little as to not shatter my nose into billions of pieces.
My mom’s bedroom door adjacent to mine opened suddenly, and she walked out in a white bathrobe. She peered into my bedroom. “Oh my word! Are you all right, Rod?”
I picked myself up, flinching at the pain. “I’m fine, mom. Just tripped on something.”
My mom peered around the room, obviously noting how clean it was. “A-all right.” She turned back to her room but stopped short of her door. “And also, partner, you don’t have to go to school if you don’t want to today. Y’know, with fallin’ off the cliff and all.”
I got up from my knees. “I’ll see if it’s bad enough to keep me. Thanks mom.”
My mom nodded, and she went back into her room, closing the door behind her.
“Okay,” I hissed. “What the freak, Twilight?”
I’m sorry, she apologized. It’s just… this is confusing.
“Well, leave the moving to me, kay?” I stood, and limped forward. With that, I went through my daily routine. Everywhere I went there was the nagging and sharp pain in my back, enough for me to consider to ruin my otherwise perfect attendance record.
Then I walked to the bathroom, and checked my back. The bruise was a large splotch of purple, seeming to swell above the skin around it, tender to the touch. Sighing, I stripped down, hanging a towel on the towel rack, turning on the shower.
Wow. That’s very intriguing…
I jumped, suppressing what would’ve been an embarrassing screech while covering the important bits. “You’re still here?” I yelped, trying to keep my voice down.
Oh! I’m sorry… I forgot your customs.
“Just!” I realized that I was speaking too loud, and since I didn’t want mom to think I was crazy, I toned it down. “... just go, okay? Please.”
I waited. “Twilight,” I whispered. “You there?”
Silence. Just how I liked it.
But the shower wasn’t how I liked my showers. Each droplet of water felt like daggers on my skin, and no matter what temperature I set the shower head to, it was the same. I quickly cleaned up, completely forgetting to shave as I dressed into clean clothes. I brushed my teeth, got my shoes on, and made my way to school.
This was the last day before Spring Break, luckily. Otherwise, I would’ve taken my mom’s advice. The weather outside was a little brisk, making me wish I brought a jacket with me. But the walk to school wasn’t too far off; you could see the Stallions statue from just over the hill. As I walked, the soreness subsided, and it started to feel like an almost normal day.
Upon entering the school, I went to my advisory class for first period. Unfortunately, Al wasn’t in class today. Apparently, he had called in sick, which seemed to be happening a lot lately.
But given that I only had a half an hour to get this done, I got permission from my advisory teacher Ms. Brownwood to visit the principal’s office. Since Twilight had conveniently visited me that morning, I knew that my dream wasn’t just a dream. In order to know what was going on, I needed answers, and I was sure that Mrs. Butterworth could help me with that.