//------------------------------// // Act 1:1 - Welcome to Equestria // Story: A Sign of Things to Come // by TheMindsEyeOfMitchinator //------------------------------// Darren Location: ??? I groaned as I felt myself come back to the world of the living. The first thing I noticed was that I felt like crap. It was like my head had thrown a party and I wasn't invited. My body ached all over and I couldn't muster any amount of energy. The second thing was that I was laying on a hard surface, feeling what I could only assure was grass between my fingers. "Ugh... What happened?" I moaned to myself, trying to gather enough strength to at least open my eyes to see where I was. After a few tries, I finally managed to partially free my eyes from their dark imprisonment, but they could only squint. It was a big mistake; I winced as I was blinded by the cruel light that surrounded me. As my vision cleared up, I was able to open my eyes completely and see my surroundings. I was staring up at the slowly setting sun shining brightly down from the almost cloudless sky. I had somehow found myself lying in a grass field of sorts, a fence surrounding its borders. On the other side of the fence was a dirt road that followed the fence line and just past it was a drop off to what I could only assume was a cliff. But that wasn’t the weirdest thing about the environment I was in. Everywhere I looked, everything had an almost cartoony look to it, with colours so vibrant that they almost hurt my eyes from a single glance. It was almost like I had been pulled into a cartoon show. As I looked around in confusion, I grimaced and rubbed my head as the pain throbbed through me again. "Where the hell am I? Why do I feel like I was hit by a train or something?" I tried to get to my feet on shaky legs, only to fall on my ass multiple times. I felt quite disorientated. I managed to stand and walk around the area, albeit unsteadily. It felt like I was learning to walk again. "Now, to figure out where I am?" I thought the best place to start would be to look over the cliff to get a better idea of where I had ended up. I gradually made my way over to the fence, clumsily clambered over it until I fell over it and landed on my back with a thud. “Well... That’s just great...” I groaned, shakily pushing myself back to my feet and very slowly inching my way across the dirt path to another patch of grass that led to the edge of the cliff. I didn't like what I saw. There was nothing I recognised. The large expanse I saw before me was mostly countryside, but I did see a small town at the bottom of the huge mountain I had somehow ended up on, but I couldn't make it out too well because of how far away it was. It would be quite a long trek if I ever wanted to make it there. "Wha- how did I get all the way up here? And where is here exactly?" I question again, looking to see if there was anything I could recognise, like a landmark or something. Suddenly, I felt a large gust of air as something flew up the face of the cliff and right past my face. I staggered back from the force, once again falling on my back with a thud and a yell of “Woah!” I shook off the ache I now felt in my back, leant up on my elbows, and glanced up at the blazing blue skies to see what had just whizzed past me. My jaw literally dropped at what I saw. "I-Is that... a pegasus?!" I stuttered as I stared up into the atmosphere from where I lay. It was an orange Pegasus with a black mane, but I couldn't discern any other features since it was way too high up in the air. It joined other pegasi that were flying in the sky that I hadn’t noticed before. "W... h... how...? What is going on?!" I shouted, throwing my arms straight up in the air, my head laying back onto the grass. They stayed up there for a second before they fell back down by my side in exasperation. I stared up into the clear sky for a while, just trying to contemplating how this could have possibly happened. As I thought about this for a bit, it felt like there was something pinching the back of my brain. Like there was some important information that I was forgetting about. That pinching started to grow, and grow, until it became a giant slap in the face. I remembered everything. The weird day I had, the visions, when Twilight suddenly appeared, when I found out that there were alternate universes and that I had magic somehow, Twilight trying to persuade me to come to her world with her but I refused, her deciding to force me to go 'for my own good' before I intervened. I understood what had happened now. I was in Twilight's world. I was in sheer disbelief. There was no way I was in an alternate dimension. But here I was, in a cartoony world full of magical ponies. The vision had come true. I sat back up, looking at my surroundings again to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. I tentatively crawled back over to the cliff and hung my legs over the edge. I put my head in my hands and let out a groan of frustration. I still felt like shit. You would think that interdimensional travel wouldn't make you feel this rotten. Wait a minute... this is different from before. In the vision I didn't feel THIS horrible, and I was laying on a soft surface, a bed to be exact, not a solid surface with grass covering it. I had ended up in a completely different place than the vision had specified. So, I did change my fate after all, even if I didn't actually alter much. Don't know whether it was for the better or worse, but at least I tried to do something about it. For a moment, I just sat there, swinging my legs over the cliff edge, watching as the Pegasi flew across the sky at high speed and... destroyed clouds by kicking them? How can they even do that? That seems like it would be an impossible task, even for a flying pony... I probably shouldn't question how this world works. I reflected on today's events as I watched the sun started its descent towards the horizon; specifically, how I’d gotten here in the first place. My mind wandered to my family, sadness welling up in my body, tears starting to form in my eyes as my hand moving down to my necklace. I held back the tears, however, knowing that I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me. I’m not the type of person to cry my eyes out over everything; I'm not that weak minded. Instead, my thoughts quickly turned to why I was here, and my sadness quickly turned into anger as my blood started to boil and my fists clenched on reflex, holding the crystal tightly in my hand and pressing it against my chest. That pony... Twilight... When I find her, I'm going to make her pay. She's going to wish she never brought me here. My hands flew to my head to interlock with my curly hair, ready to pull it out at any moment. My thoughts were so morbid. I know I shouldn't feel like this, but I couldn't help it. She took me away from my family, my home, my LIFE, and I wasn't too happy about it. Knowing that I should calm down, I used some breathing techniques to calm myself, only marginally working. I promise I'll make it back to you. I promise you'll see me again, if it's the last thing I do. "Well, there's no point in sitting here and making myself angrier. I guess my next course of action should be to go to the nearest town or city and see if I can find her. She is going to send me back whether she likes it or not!" I reasoned, slowly pushing myself to my feet. I looked out upon the landscape below the mountain, only noticing the town I saw earlier. There was no way I would be able to get there before nightfall. But, just then, I looked up and saw the Pegasus from before suddenly fly to the right and dive bomb towards the mountain. I was scared for a second that they would crash into the side of the mountain, but that concern quickly evaporated as I noticed them dive behind the walls of a large city built into the side of the mountain down the dirt path. "Huh... how did I not notice that before? For that matter, how is that city even holding together. Oh well, it's a place I can go that's close at least," I said to myself, cutting my losses and heading for the city, hoping for the best. Twilight At Twilight's Castle, Within The Library... I could start to feel myself come to. I wasn't sure what had happened to knock me unconscious, but I did know that my head was pounding in my skull, my horn felt like it was on fire, there was ringing in my ears, and I had absolutely no energy. I couldn't even open my eyes. I could feel that I was laying on the hard floor though. As I lay there, the ringing started to lessen and I could actually make out voices, two in fact, but I couldn't define who they were. "...Is she going to be alright?" the first, distinctively young male voice, asked with worry in his tone. "She'll be fine. Things like this happen to her all the time. She doesn't have any cuts or bruises, luckily. I just wonder how she managed to get herself in that sort of situation this time," the second, clearly female voice, replied in an effort to console the owner of the first voice’s uneasiness. "She probably just fell asleep while reading again. She can get like that sometimes," the male voice said. "I wouldn't be surprised. Although I'm surprised it managed to knock her out," the female voice replied. I groaned as I started to feel my energy come back to me, the pain seeming to worsen and spread around my body as a result. "Hey, I think she's coming too," the male voice said. I slowly opened my eyes, momentarily being blinded by the bright sunlight hitting my eyes. After a few moments of adjusting, I was finally able to make out who the ponies that were standing other me were. On my right stood Spike, and on my left, Starlight, their eyes of green and purple, filled with concern, stared back at me. I looked around and saw that I was in the castle library, books filling the shelves in the wall from floor to ceiling. I noticed that there was a messy pile of books on the ground a few feet away from me. I shook my head to try and get rid of the pain, but it only seemed to make it worse. "Ow... my head... what happened?" I moaned, just about managing to move a hoof up to my head with the little amount of strength I had in me. "We were hoping you could answer that question. We were starting to get really worried about you; you've locked yourself in here for the last week," Starlight answered. "We heard a loud bang, so we rushed in to see what had happened. We found you under that pile of books knocked out cold," Spike continued, pointing towards said books as Starlight started to put them back on the shelves with her magic. "Are you alright?" "Not really. My head is killing me, my entire body hurts and my horn feels like it was cooked over a hot stove," I responded. Even moving my head to look at them was causing me pain. "Do you need to go to the hospital?" Spike asked. "...No. I'm sure the pain will be gone soon. No need to worry, Spike." I gave him a comforting smile. His tense body relaxed at the gesture. "What were you doing in here anyway? Must have been important for you to be in here for a whole week. You hid yourself away so suddenly. Just be glad that the students are away for the summer," Starlight inquired, trotting back over to us after having stacked the books. I racked my brain for the answer, but try as I might, it just wasn't coming back to me. It's like the pain was mentally blocking out the memory. "I... don't know. I remember arriving home from Canterlot, rushing in here not long after I got back, and looking through lots of books and scrolls, 'cause who wouldn't want to study piles of books for days on end..." I saw Spike roll his eyes at that comment. "I remember being really excited about something." Starlight looked at Spike and me with a confused expression. "Why were you so excited about A Study of Alternate Dimensions and Parallel Universes: Truth or Fiction? The last time something happened involving other universes... it didn't end so well." She levitated the two respective books off of the table, downcast look on her face. She really shouldn’t keep beating herself up about that. "Alternate dimensions?" Why was I so excited by alternate dimensions? It's not like we haven't been to them before. Why would it be so special now? I could feel my memory start to clear up. I remembered casting a spell that let me go to an alternate universe. There I discovered the human race and I met... DARREN! I gasped as I suddenly remembered what had happened over that time period. Realising that he was nowhere to be seen, I hastily tried to get to my hooves and run around like a mad mare to search for him, but with how little energy I had, I immediately crumpled into a heap on the crystal floor, almost falling into a bookcase. My ex-student and my number one assistant rushed over to me to check I wasn't hurt. "Whoa, Twilight! Are you ok? What's the big rush for?" Spike asked as Starlight checked me for any injuries. "No! Where is he? I have to find him!" I shouted, trying to get to my hooves once more, but ultimately struggling and falling, out of breath. Starlight said something, but I wasn't paying attention. "Where could he be? I'm sure I cast the spell properly, unless his little 'interruption' made me lose my concentration. What in Equestria was he thinking doing that? Maybe I shouldn't have brought him here. He did say that he didn't want to come, but I thought that I was doing the right thing. Oh, this is all my fault!" “TWILIGHT! Calm down... breath..." Starlight said, befuddled by my frantic behaviour. I was surprised by her loud voice, but I took her advice and tried some breathing techniques to calm myself down. Once I had sufficiently calmed down, Starlight continued, "Now, what are you talking about? Who's 'he'?" I signed. I don't know how they are going to take this. "I guess you two have the right to know... the truth is... I haven't actually been here the whole time." "But we saw you run in here with the biggest smile on your face, and you haven't come out since. Where could you have possibly been?" Spike asked. "...Would you believe me if I told you that I've been in an alternate universe for the past week?" I gave them a nervous smile, waiting for their reaction. To my surprise, they didn't seem all that fazed by this revelation. "Well, it's not like we haven't been to other universes before," Spike mentioned. "But this is so much different than those times. Nothing like those timelines where evil won!" I asserted, Starlight cringing at my harsh tone. "Come on, what could be more bizarre than Canterlot high?" Spike doubted with a wave of his clawed hands. "Yeah, from what I heard of this 'Canterlot high', I don't really see what could be any weirder than that," Starlight chimed in. "How about a human world where some of them have so much malice and hatred towards each other that they will literally do anything to get what they want?" I growled, thinking back to some of the horrible things I had seen and heard that those humans have done. I could almost see their blood run cold at my harsh words. "T... they can't b-be that bad... right?" Starlight sputtered. "Starlight, if someone even tries to disagree with what they believe in, they can go to some extreme lengths to 'rectify it.' Even to the point of starting a world war and... k... kil..." I couldn't even bring myself to say it. It was just too horrible. Starlight immediately knew what I was trying to say. "Whoa, ok. Spike does not need to hear about stuff like that." She quickly covered his ears, laughing nervously. "Hey! What is it? I can take it," Spike defended, using his wings to push himself out of her grasp. "No, she's right Spike. There is no need for you to hear about these things." Starlight gave me a questioning look. "Wait, how were you in such a horrible place for a whole week? Couldn't you just transport yourself back?" "No, I couldn't. The spell to take me there and back takes a lot of magical energy. I had to 'recharge,' so to speak, so I had no choice but to stay there." "Really? Well, you're back now. You don't need to worry about those dreadful things anymore," Starlight reasoned, putting her hoof on my shoulder. "A-About that..." I hesitated, looking away from the two ashamed. "What did you do this time?" Spike sighed warily. I couldn't look them in the eyes as I thought about my next words. "I may have brought a human to Equestria." … "YOU WHAT?!?!?!" they both shouted, before Starlight continued. "But you said..." "I know what I said, but he's not like that. He's kind, selfless and insanely loyal, especially to his family. He'd put everyone else's well-being over his own and would risk everything just to save the life of a complete stranger." Starlight continued to have a very confused look plastered on her face. "But how can you possibly trust him, especially after what you've seen from his species? You don't even know him very well." "Sometimes, actions speak louder than words, and I've seen him help multiple people out of the kindness of his heart, even if they are bad people and are mean to him afterwards. I trust him like I would with any of my other friends." "But you didn't know him until a week ago. For all you know, he could have been really bad before you met him." Before I could formulate a response, Spike butts in. "She trusted you, didn't she?" That comment definitely struck a nerve. "Spike! You shouldn't say things like that!" I scolded. "No, Twilight. He has a point. I wasn't very nice before you met me, but you trusted me anyway..." She sighed in resignation, and a little hesitation. "...Anyway, back on topic. Where is he?" "That's the thing. The spell should have sent us both here, but he's nowhere to be seen. I swear I cast the spell correctly, so I don't know what went wrong." "What happened before the spell was cast? Maybe if you recall what happened, you can figure out why the spell didn't work as intended," Starlight suggested. "That's not a bad idea," I replied, thinking back. "I offered him the chance to come to Equestria, which he outright refused because he didn't want to leave his family, I tried to cast the spell on him anyway, against my better judgement, but then..." I paused, quickly realising what was wrong. "Then... what?" Spike urged on expectantly. I did notice that Starlight had a thoughtful, yet confused look on her face. "He... tackled me, in a last-ditch effort to stop me. I must have lost my concentration and cast the spell before it was finished charging up. It sent me all the way, but not him," I finished, a worried look on my face. "And that means?" Spike asked, not completely getting what I was saying. Starlight had become suspiciously quiet. "It means it only sent him halfway! It was supposed to send us both here, but I’m the only one here, meaning that the spell sent him to a random location. He could be literally anyway in Equestria right now and we wouldn't know!" I clarified. "...W-wait a minute..." Starlight finally spoke up. “You took him AGAINST HIS WILL?!” I shied away for her harsh tone and glanced at the ground sheepishly. “Well… yes, I did…” “WHAT?! So, NOT ONLY did you bring an unpredictable and possibly dangerous creature to our world, you also KIDNAPPED HIM?!” I nodded my head in shame. “Why?! What possible motive could you have to bring him here?!” I didn’t know how to answer that. How would they react to the knowledge that he had Equestrian magic at his disposal. Starlight already thinks he might be dangerous, that would just add fuel to the fire. Maybe I should just keep that our little secret for now. “It’s… complicated. But that’s not what’s important right now. What matters now is finding him, before something bad happens." I started to get up again on shaky legs, still majorly struggling. "Whoa whoa whoa, you are in no shape to go on a full-scale search across Equestria, especially to find somepony like him. You shouldn't overexert yourself. You need to rest," Starlight advised, putting a hoof on my side. "No, I need to find him! It's my fault he is in this mess, I should be the one to fix it," I asserted, once again trying to get up, with mixed results. After a few more failed attempts, I finally managed to stand on four hooves, albeit quite wobbly. Starlight gave me another worried look, still clearly angry at my stupid decision. I needed to appease her concern somehow. “I know that I’ve made a stupid decision, but I can rectify this. I know that Darren is a good man. I wouldn’t have brought him here if I thought otherwise. If we don’t find him, who knows what could happen. I need you to trust me on this one. Please.” I silently hoped that she would understand as she pondered my words. After a few seconds, that felt like minutes, she finally responded. "There's no way we're persuading you otherwise, are we?" I shook my head adamantly. She sighed again. “Fine… but I’m coming with you.” “That’s fine. The more ponies, the better. Now, let's go find him," I finished with a smile, slowly making my way towards the door, Spike and Starlight close behind. As we got to the castle entrance, I tried using my magic to open the door, only to walk right into it, with Spike bumping into the back of my legs as a result. "Ow... what... why didn't my magic work?" "That spell took a lot out of you, didn't it?" Starlight said alongside us. "Yeah, but this is different. On earth, I could at least use my levitation spell. It's the most basic spell, so I don't get why it didn't work," I said, trying again, only to start sweating as I strained to use even an ounce of magic. In the end, only small sparks of purple energy emerged from my horn and I gave up, coughing and panting from the exertion of my mind. "Hey, hey. Take it easy. It probably took a lot more energy to bring this mysterious human here. It would make sense you can't even use levitation," Starlight stated, walking up to the door and opening it manually. "You're right. We can't be wasting time like this," I said, walking out of the castle and heading into the heart of Ponyville, intent on finding Darren before he got into any trouble. "Please be ok, Darren. Please be ok." Darren On The Streets of Canterlot... After hiking for about two miles up this steep mountain, I finally came to the main gates of the gravity defying city. I could see that the sun had set considerably since I left the cliff edge. I would have made it here a little quicker if it wasn't for the fact that I still didn't have all of my energy back yet, so I had a slow, leisurely walk to the top. As I meandered towards the gate, I noticed a wooden sign stuck in the ground outside the city limits that said 'Welcome to Canterlot. Capital city of Equestria.' "Wait, Canterlot..." I said to myself as I remember something said to me by Twilight. "Oh, of course. As I said, I am Twilight Sparkle. I am the Princess of Friendship, one of the ruling Princesses presiding over the Kingdom of Equestria." "Equestria? I've never heard of it before?" "That's because it doesn't exist here. It's in a parallel universe where ponies replace humans." "Ok, I guess that makes sense. Wait, you said you were ONE of the Princesses?" "Yes, along with Princess Celestia, the Princess of The Sun, Princess Luna, the Princess of The Moon, who rule from the capital city of Canterlot, and Princess Cadence, the Princess of Love, who mainly governs over The Crystal Empire." "This is where the rulers of this land live. Well, who better to find a princess than a fellow princess, right?" I reasoned, striding into the grand city, curious as to what awaited me inside. What lay inside was quite stunning. The city was massive, with high-class buildings on every inch of the streets, showing off their bright pink, white, and purple colours. Although there were no skyscrapers in sight, you could tell that it deserved the title of capital city of Equestria. Unfortunately, you could almost feel the snobbiness of the residents as they trotted past, noses so high in the air you could see them over the city’s walls, wearing the fanciest dresses and suits you would see in your life, and, unfortunately for me, my appearance hadn't gone unnoticed. As soon as these ponies spotted me, most of them stopped whatever they were doing to observe me. Some just sat and stared at me, some gave me the dirtiest of looks, others started whispering to their companions, some had fearful looks in their eyes. It was starting to make me uncomfortable. To try and get away from the large glaring eyes of these extravagant ponies, I quickly tried to make myself scarce. It was a fruitless venture, however, as there were classy equines wherever I turned. I tried my best to ignore the gawking eyes and murmuring voices as I stalked through the metropolis. It didn't take me long to locate the castle, seeing as it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the other buildings, and I swiftly made a beeline for it. After going up multiple hills and stairs, I stood at the bottom of the palace as it loomed overhead, glad to be away from all of the prying eyes, and I finally noticed that the castle was HUMONGOUS. Do two princesses seriously need this much space? Seems like a bunch of space would be unused. I get why the Queen of England has such a big palace seeing as she has such a large family, but why do two princesses with hardly any family as far as I know need all of these rooms. Oh well, it's not my place to judge how royalty live. I scanned the street and saw the entrance being guarded by some ponies in gold armour. I saw another pony just walk onto the premise with a simple nod to one of the guards. Weird that they would just let a pony in without asking questions, but if that’s how it works around here, I wasn’t going to complain. As I walked towards the entrance, one of the guards, a pony with black fur, suddenly shouted “SPIDER!” before running around like a headless chicken and firing beams of magic in all directions. I had to duck to avoid a stray beam. The white furred guard standing next to him rolled his eyes. “Seriously, you’re scared of a little spider. Ugh! You’re going to hit someone if you’re not careful.” “Yeah, like me!” I called out as I approached. He was able to calm down and brushed himself off without looking at me. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to-” He trailed off as he finally looked at me, freezing up at the sight before him, but I ignored it. “It’s ok. No harm done. Just be careful where you aim that thing. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to in the castle.” I replied calmly. The guards both looked astounded at me as I tried to go through the gate, but I was immediately stopped by a spear crossing in front of me; blocking my path. The white furred guard abruptly gain his professionalism back and stopped me in my tracks. "Halt! Who goes there!?" the white furred guard on my right demanded in a gruff voice. Really. 'Who goes there.' Could you be anymore cliché. He gave me a scowl, but I could still detect a hint of shock and fear in his eyes. The black furred pony on my left, however, was noticeably shaking with fear now. "Oh, sorry. I don't mean you any harm. I just wanted to see the Princesses," I answered quickly. "Do you have an appointment with Princess Celestia?" he asked, trying to keep up his professionalism, which I had to respect seeing as he was having to deal with an intelligent creature that he had never seen before. "Umm... no. I was hoping I could just... walk in?" I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck. His glare only intensified. "Then you are not allowed inside." "But you let that other guy in, and it's really important. Is there no way you could let this slide?" I asked hopefully. "No. HE had an appointment. You don’t. Unless you have an appointment, you're not seeing the princesses," he repeated sternly. "Oh, ok then. Thank you anyway," I said, slowly walking away dejected, knowing there was no way I was getting in this way. As I marched away, I couldn’t help but overhear. "Sir, what WAS that thing?" the black stallion on the left asked the other in a higher pitched voice. Must be younger. "I have no clue, Rookie, but you need to pony up and stop acting like a wimp. You’re making me look bad." "Sorry, sir. I'll do better next time," he replied. I think I can just about hear the white stallion reply with "You better," before I'm out of earshot. Asshole. How the hell am I going to talk to the princess now. I turned around and observed the castle, out of the eyeline of the guards. Just as I was contemplating this, I saw two ponies pulling a large cart with a tarp over it towards the main gate. "We have a food delivery for the Canterlot Royal Chef," one of the ponies said to the guards. That's my way in. A mischievous grin formed on my lips. I have a knack for not fully thinking through my plans before I execute them. In hindsight, it was definitely a very bad idea, but I snuck behind the cart, lifted up the back of the tarp, and jumped in anyway. The cart bounced slightly as I got in but it seemed like the ponies didn't notice, because I felt the wagon lurch forward. If I knew what was going to happen in the next few minutes, I wouldn’t have even tried. My nose was filled with the delicious scent of fruits, vegetables, baking goods and... hay? The ride was pretty bumpy, ricocheting me around the cart like a bouncy ball. After what felt like an eternity of this, we finally stop, causing me to release a small sigh of relief. "Is it just me or does the load seem heavier than usual?" a voice asked, who I could only assume was one of the ponies pulling the wagon. I gritted my teeth at that comment. "…Nah, you're just imagining things. C'mon, all of this pulling and lifting has made me hungry," the other equine replied nonchalantly. I could hear the clicking of hooves on the hard floor slowly fade away until it was gone. "Phew. That was close," I whispered to myself as I slowly peeked out from under the sheet of fabric. Seeing no one, I jumped out of the cart with a faint thump. I had ended up in a big storage room stocked to the ceiling with food. I quickly identified the way out and slowly inched the door open. I was now in a long hallway with pristine white walls and a vibrant red carpet rolled down the middle. In front of me was the kitchen, where I could see the chef preparing to make the princesses their meal. Knowing full well that he would be coming this way to get his ingredients soon enough, I swiftly creeped down the hall, checking down every corridor to see if I was being followed. After a few minutes, having walked down hallway after hallway, I was feeling like I wasn't making any progress. How could anyone figure out how to get around this place without getting lost? I came to a divergence in the path for the umpteenth time, one path going straight ahead and the other turning to my right. I was just about to continue forward when I heard voices and saw two shadows about to come around the corner, and from the fact that they looked like they were wearing helmets, it was more Royal Guards. Without much thought, I quickly and sneakily moved through the other corridor, hoping to get away before they spotted me. Unfortunately for me, I saw another guard’s shadow coming down the way I was currently shifting through. I was trapped. I looked around the hallway, hoping to find a way out of this mess I had created for myself, until I saw a set of double doors that were decorated quite extravagantly, but I didn't really pay the details any mind. I just needed to get out of that hallway, so I quickly ducked into the room and shut it behind me. I seemed to have found myself in a bedroom, but I couldn't be too sure since there were black out curtains drawn across the windows that prevented me from seeing too well. It was quite large for a bedroom, with dark walls with white shapes painted on them that I couldn't make out what they were exactly. I could make out various pieces of furniture, including a four-poster bed. Remembering why I was here and holding my breath, I pressed my left ear to one of the doors to listen for the guards. I heard three sets of hooves converge in front of the door and start talking to each other. "Is it just me or did you hear shuffling around here?" one of the guards asked the others, slightly muffled by the blockade between us. "...Nah. You're just hearing things," a second guard answered. "Did you find anything out of the ordinary?" a third voice questioned. "No. Nothing yet," the second voice replied. "Let's go down that corridor. It's the only way we haven't checked yet," the third guard suggested with a bit of authority. I began to hear two of the hoofsteps moving away, but, much to my dismay, the third set sounded like they were coming towards me. I gritted my teeth as the handle slowly turned and the door opened, light pouring through the crack as I slinked across the room and knelt down behind the bed. "Wait, what are you doing?" the third voice questioned, in a more hushed voice for some reason. "Checking Princess Luna's room," the first voice answered, leaving the door slightly ajar. "Do you really think it's a good idea to go in there right now?" the third guard mentioned. "...Oh yeah. She's still asleep. Duh. Ok, let’s go." The first guard realised his mistake and quickly closed the door behind him as the group left. "Phew, that was close..." I whispered to myself. … "Wait, Princess Luna's room?" I quickly realised what what they said meant, slowly getting to my feet and giving the bed a second glance. To my utter shock, there is a body lying under the covers, breathing softly in its sleep. I couldn't make out any discernible features, but she was definitely bigger than the ponies I'd met so far. "Crap. I need to get out of here." I carefully tiptoed away from the bed and towards the door, making sure not to step on anything, move anything, or make any noise. I got to the door after an agonisingly slow walk and opened it gradually. "HOLD IT INTRUDER!!!" A booming voice called out from behind me, stopping me in my tracks. The universe just seemed to have it out for me today, doesn't it? I exhaled the breath I had unknowingly been holding in defeat and turned back around stiffly. The desk lamp next to the bed had been switched on and, on the bed, sat Princess Luna, her night sky blue mane defining physics by flowing in the air like wind blowing through it. She was not happy, giving me the most intensely angry glare I had ever seen in my life. "I am so sorry Princess! I didn't mean to intrude on your peaceful sleep... I'll just be leaving now." I apologised, hoping to save my ass from getting arrested, before I turned to try and leave again. "Not so fast!" she shouted in a quieter voice, making me stop once again. "Who are you and what are you doing in my bedroom?!" "I... e-err... I-I'm... um..." I had absolutely no idea what to say to that question, so I did the only thing I could think of... violently swing the door open and sprint down the right hallway like my life depended on it. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve just answered the question and she MIGHT have understood, but I panicked. "GUARDS!!! WE HAVE AN INTRUDER!" I heard the princess bellow behind me as I ran. It seemed like every guard in this area of the castle had heard the princess's voice, because large groups of guards were coming from every damn hallway just to catch me, forming a massive horde behind me with Princess Luna leading the pack, beams of magic passing past me left and right. It felt like I spent an eternity running away from the mob of guards down a labyrinth of endless corridors. When I finally came to a crossroads, I swiftly turned right towards a closed door at the end of the hallway and pushed it open before closed it behind me, pausing to catch my breath and breathing a sigh of relief when I heard the trampling of hooves moving away from the door. As I rested my hands on my knees, I suddenly heard a gasp come from behind. I slowly turned around to see what seemed to be the main hall of the castle, chalk full of official looking ponies, all wearing fancy clothes and giving me surprised looks. There was also another hallway ahead of me, a door to my right that seemed to lead back outside, and stairs leading up in two directions. They just had to have some sort of event going on, on the day I decide to sneak into the castle. Just my luck. "For God's sake! Ok, Excuse me. I need to get through here!" I shouted to the crowd of ponies as I started making my way through the masses. Multiple ponies started shouting and screaming for the guards to get in here and making so much noise that I could hardly hear myself think. I needed to get out of here before- Too late. The doors on every side of the room burst open to reveal even more guards than before. "Princess Luna! It's in here!" one of the guards on my left shouted back behind him. I saw her fly through the hallway behind the guards and land in the hall before I could even blink. "STOP RESISTING YOUR INEVITABLE ARREST!" The princess roared, nearly making my ears bleed with how loud she was. There is no way I was going to pony jail. "Excuse me! Coming through! One side! MOVE OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!" I shouted aggressively as I pushed more ponies out of my way and moved towards the stairs to the second floor, making ponies fall to the ground, or in some cases fly up into the air, either with their wings trying to avoid me, or from me flinging them upwards in the process. I made my way up the first set of stairs and turned left to go up the second, the guards and Princess Luna on my tail the entire time. I was back in a maze of corridors, speeding past room after room trying to find a place to hide so I could reach my objective, dodging beams of magic that skimmed past my body. These hallways just never seemed to end. After an almost endless amount of running, I was starting to run out of steam. I needed to lose them, otherwise I was going to be caught for sure. So, even though it hadn’t worked out too well last time, I ran as fast as I could to put some distance between me and my pursuers, sharply turning a corner to escape their line of sight before then ducked into another side room. I closed the door as quickly and quietly as possible, the creaking of the door sounding like a foghorn to my ears, and placed my ear against the door, hearing the trampling of hooves, practically shaking the whole castle with how many of them there were, running towards my door… only to continue past, and away from me. I turned around to look at the room I had entered, not wanting to make the same mistake as last time, breathing a heavy sigh of relief when I saw that it was just a vacant bedroom. I was safe… for now anyway. I pressed my back to the door before sliding down to sit on the ground and catch my breath. What a mess I’ve created. This was such a bad idea! Why did I EVER think this was a GOOD idea?! I’m such an idiot… I need to get out of here, before I make this any worse. The main entrance is a no-go, so I need to find a back entrance of some sort. After I took a few minutes to collect myself, and to mentally berate myself for making such a stupid decision, I picked myself up and inched the door open. Peeking out, I saw that the hallway was empty, so I creeped out and down the corridor, watching every direction for somewhere that the guards or Luna could possibly be. After what felt like an eternity of sneaking around, narrowly avoiding guard patrols left, right and centre, I still couldn’t find the stairs back down again, but I did come to a set of wooden double doors. Seeing nowhere else to go, I hurriedly slipped inside. When I turned around, what I saw was quite extravagant. I was in yet another corridor, but this one was very different. It had giant windows with intricate designs of various ponies and creatures on them, the light from the sunset streaming through them and casting the room in a huge variety of colours that blended together, creating a heavenly light that gave the room a majestic air about it. I saw another door at the end of the room that had a sun symbol in the middle with light purple, dark purple, and pink designs, with six blue circles on it. A possible escape route. I strode across the room optimistically and reached for the door, only to find there was no handle. I tried pulling at the crack in the middle of the door and even at the hole in the centre of the sun symbol, but it didn't budge. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" I smashed my fist into the door angrily, creating a loud bang. I paused for a few seconds then kicked it, hard, making an even louder bang. I didn’t care at this point. I was on my last legs. At this point, I was ready to call it quits. There was no way I was going to be able to get out of here without help. If I turned myself in, maybe I would be able to gain their forgiveness and finally get to the heart of my issues… Or get nothing solved and be locked up for my crimes... … No. I can’t let that happen. I can’t give up now. I’ve come this far, I’m not backing down. If I can’t find a way out, I should charge towards my original objective. If I can just get to the throne room, I can still talk to Princess Celestia, even if I get locked away afterwards. Now with a better goal in mind, I marched towards the exit, determined to achieve my goal. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, a certain black furred guardspony had heard the banging and had split off from the main search party to find out what it was... On my way towards the exit, I couldn’t help but take notice of the stained glass windows out of the corner of my eye. I stopped for a moment to look at one of the windows in more detail, depicting six multicoloured ponies firing beams at a larger, more menacing pony. I glanced at some of the other windows and deduced that these must show different important moments in history. I noticed that one of the ponies depicted in the image looked familiar somehow. I quickly spun around and started examining the other windows with pension and confusion. On each of the windows was the same purple pony. I stopped turning and looked up slowly to see a window depicting the same purple pony ascending into the sky, wearing a crown with a purple star in the middle. It’s details immediately proved my suspicions correct. “...That’s Twilight. Most of these are Twilight… Is she really that important?” I wondered out loud, staring at the window intensely, like if I stared at it long enough, it would tell me all of it’s secrets. “H-hey!” I jumped as a male voice rang throughout the room. I turned around to discover that one of the guards, the black furred one from before, had uncovered my ‘hiding place’ and was trotting towards me shakily, the door closing behind him. “W-what do you think y-you’re doing?” Oh crap! What do I do now? "Look, I didn't want any trouble. I just wanted to talk to Princess Celestia. I didn't want it to turn into this, but I felt like I had no choice." I raised my hands in surrender, trying to keep the situation as calm as possible. "W-what is so important that you would sneak into the Princess’s castle?" he interrogated, trying to keep his cool. "Th-that’s none of your business. That’s between me and the Princesses. It's really important. I just need to talk to her and then I'll be out of your hair," I said defensively. He stomped his hoof, but shied away from me afterwards, like he didn’t want to get me angry. “T-that’s not good enough! You can’t just creep around here without some sort of weight to your actions. I-I’m sorry, but you’re coming with me.” I couldn’t help but scoff. “Ha! You and what army? I can’t help but notice that you are all alone. You seriously think you can take me on all by yourself? That’s rich!-” I sighed before starting to move towards the door. “...Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find the throne room.” He seemed to shake even more as I moved closer, but he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Pony up and stop being a wimp,” I heard him say under his breath, before his horn suddenly powered up and a wave of deep blue energy shot towards me. I had enough time to block the blast with my right arm before it hit me square in my chest, but the impact sent me sliding backwards a few feet across the room, almost knocking me onto my back. I regained my balance and looked at him with a dumbfounded look. “I said you’re coming with me!” Geez, this guy wasn’t kidding. He’s not moving... Well, I have to get out of here one way or another… “Oh… I see how it is. Well, if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get... Ok, buddy. We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way. One way ends with peace and harmony for all. The other ends with you becoming a bloodstain on this floor, and I don’t really want to mess up the aesthetic of such a REGAL room. It’s your call. I’d choose quick if I were you…” I growled harshly in a low tone, staring dagger right into his very soul. He was definitely quivering more so than before my threat, but he could hold a brave face, I’ll give him that. He didn’t budge an inch. If anything, he stood firmer than before. “...I see you’re quite adamant. Alright, I’ll give you one last chance. I’m going to count down from five, if you haven’t moved out of the way by the time I reach 0… well, you don’t want to know what’ll happen, trust me.” I continued to threaten, hostility dripping from my lips. “5.” I pushed on the knuckles on my right hand with my palm, a sickening crack echoing throughout the hall. “4.” I did the same with my left hand, the guardpony cringing more with each snap. “3...” I interlocked my fingers and stretched them outwards, ‘limbering’ myself up. You could almost see the inner conflict raging in the pony’s mind. “...2…" I slowly slid my leather jacket off my body, not wanting to ruin the fabric. The pony was breathing heavily now, shifting his head erratically and his eyes skittishly, before closing them and gritting his teeth. “...1-” I staggered back as I suddenly received an uppercutted to the nose, almost losing my balance once again. I rubbed under my nose, blood lining my finger. I stood there astonished, staring at the pony who had just punched me with their hoof. He gave me a vicious look back, which very quickly softened as he realised what he just did. “Wait, no… I didn’t mean-” “Well… I see you’ve made your choice.” I interrupted, abruptly speeding forward and punching him back, sending him sprawling a few feet away. After that first punch, my anger at being taken by surprise quickly took over. All I could see was red, steam practically coming out of ears, blood freely dripping from my nose. The pony slowly stood back up, shaking himself off, before turning to me with mock determination on his face. “Ok, I-I can do this… For the princesses… For Equestria!” He shouted before his horn powered up again and he shot another beam of blue magic at me. I was prepared for it, however, as I dodged the blast by rolling out of the way. Now that’s just unfair… Maybe, if I can just spark up my own magic, maybe this can be a fair fight… I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. I had no idea how I was going to do this, but what better time than now to try, right? After a few seconds of concentrating, I could’ve sworn I felt a twinge of energy in my head that I hadn’t felt before. I tried to focus on that feeling, but, because I was distracted, the guardspony took advantage of this and jabbed me in the gut, making my eyes pop eyes open and my body slump over winded. He took this extra time to punch me in the face again, this time making me flop onto my back. Fuck, that was stupid! I can’t let my guard down. I don’t have enough time to concentrate… Fuck it, I can beat this pony without magic. Who needs magic, anyway? I didn’t need it before, I don’t need it now. I pushed myself back to my feet, only to have to duck as another beam of magic came soaring at me again. Apparently he does though. To not give him a chance to use his magic again, I rushed him, striking him with as many punches as I could, trying my best to overwhelm him. He managed to block some hits, both with his hooves and his magic, but he managed to fire a large wave of magic, hitting me straight in my chest and sending me tumbling backwards again. I touched my chest and felt the tenderness of the burns that the magic had caused. Starting to shake, I push myself back up, my anger only rising at being bested. As I caught my breath for a second, I noticed that the pony had his eyes closed, horn lighting up with its blue aura again, trying to calm his breathing. I was prepared to start dodging shots again, but nothing happened. Instead, his eyes suddenly shot open with an intense stare, but they now had a blue glow in them, as opposed to the green they were before, just like his magic. I looked at him worried and confused, wondering what the hell he had done, but ultimately pushed those thoughts aside. It wouldn’t matter what he did in the end anyway. I dashed towards him thoughtlessly again, only for more beams of magic to head my way. I attempted to dodge, but the beams almost seemed to follow my movements, hitting me and pushing me back slightly. I pushed through the pain and inched my way forward, taking hit after hit. I was hit five more times before I even got close to punching range. I eventually was able to attack, making sure to roll to the right to fake him out and then struck him down… Only to be stopped dead by a hard surface and an almost metallic clang. The pony had somehow brought a blue shield out of nowhere to block my attack. It looked like something out of medieval times, curved slightly downwards on top and angling down to a blunt tip on the bottom, with an embossed symbol that looked like a four leaf clover for some reason. I looked past the blockade in disbelief at my opponent, only to see that he had a concentrated look on his face and the shield was connected to his horn somehow, a blue aura erecting from the tip. The shield was made of magic. “Oh, COME ON! REALLY!” I yelled, pounding the surface in frustration. Turns out it was very sturdy. Needing to experience the feeling of flesh against my fists, I strived to be crafty, moving and rolling around erratically to try and get a hand past his makeshift barrier. Unfortunately, he seemed to be able to predict my every move, blocking my attacks with ease. Anger boiling over, I growled as I, pretty stupidly, kicked the shield with my right foot, making the guardpony slide back a few meters. At least that was something. Unfortunately, that had the added effect of feeling like I just kicked a boulder. “OW! FUCK!” I roared, hopping on one foot and holding the other, before losing my balance and falling on my ass. In all honesty, I probably did look like an ass in that moment. I hissed as I felt the extent of the damage I caused. I could still wiggle my toes, but they were definitely bruised; I could hardly move them properly. I don’t know how much more I can take of this. How did he get so good all of a sudden? I’m starting to get tired, and he hasn’t even broken a sweat! I slowly wiped the sweat from my brow as I picked myself up for what felt like the thousandth time. I was getting sick of being beaten. Sadly, it wasn’t about to get any better. I looked over to my enemy to see that, instead of the shield, he now had a fucking CUTLASS that had the exact same style as the shield. I could even see the four leaf clover on the side of the blade, close to the tip. “SERIOUSLY?! Now that’s just plain dirty!” I was in utter astonishment at what I was witnessing. Why can’t I do that? I want to be able to do that! This sucks! He started galloping towards me, the intent to cut me to ribbons clear in his eerily blue eyes. “Hey, wait a minute-” I couldn’t even utter another word before he struck, sword moving like lightning as he swung. I could do nothing but just take swipe after swipe, searing pain screaming at me with every blow. He left no area untouched, no opportunity to retaliate. His onslaught was almost unending, and ruthless. After an eternity of suffering, he turned around and bucked me in the stomach, making me soar in the air and crash into the wall on the opposite side of the room, before landing on my front, defeated, my clothes shredded, my body burned. I creakily looked up to see the winner trot over to me, looking proud of himself. “Wow. I actually did it! YES! FINALLY!” He saw me glancing at him from my position on the floor. “U-um, I mean, ‘You’re under arrest for breaking and entering, and for the intentional harm of a royal guard.’” His horn lit up once again. I flinched, thinking he was going to hit me while I was down, but instead I felt a warm and almost comforting sensation. I was suddenly lifted up in the air by nothing and led towards the exit. ...I guess this is it. I’m going to be spending the rest of my life behind bars, in a world that I don’t belong in… What a degrading way to go, dying in the cell of a PONY prison… Why me? Why did it have to be me, out of all the people in the world? What did I do to deserve this...? I’m sorry. I guess you’re going to have to go on without me… Thoughts of my family started coming to me, memories of kids laughing and late night cuddling playing through my mind like a movie. I hung my head in shame, hoping they would be able to manage life without their husband and father… … No. No! I couldn’t give up now! I had to be close. I HAD to be! I made a promise to get back to them safe and sound, and that was what I was going to do, no matter what. I started struggling, trying to find someway to get out of his magical hold. The guardpony seem to notice this and scoffed. “You still have some fight in you? You’re like a bug that can’t be squished. Trust me, you’re not going to be able to release yourself. Try all you want. You’re not getting away this time.” I continued to struggle, only being able to wiggle my limbs ever so slightly, pain rising within me from the effort. I stopped for a second so the pain didn’t become unbearable. He was right. There was no way I was escaping his magic, not without hurting myself any more. But there had to be some way I could escape, right? I had to think of something before we left this room... Bug, huh…? Maybe I can’t release myself, but YOU can. A mischievous smile appeared on my lips as an idea popped into my head. I prepared myself, before saying, “Hey dude, there’s a spider on your shoulder!” The effect was instant. “WHAT?! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” He screamed, trying to swat the imaginary spider away, before running around in circles again. In his haste, he lost his concentration on the telekinesis holding me up and I came plummeting to the ground, falling on my knees. Ignoring the pain as best I could, I shakily stood up and observed the guard’s mad dash around the room, screaming his head off. I’m surprised no one has heard us yet. “Don’t worry, buddy! I’ll get it for you!” I said, winding my arm back and punching him in the face as he ran past. He stumbled backwards in a daze, swaying back and forth. “W-what…?” He slurred, trying to shake away the pain away, but just ended almost losing his balance. I moved closer and grabbed his shoulder to stop his stagger. “Oh, wait, I don’t think I got it. Let me try again.” I quickly hooked him swiftly with my right hand, then with my left and finally finished off with a hard kick with my right foot, sending him flipping back across the room, bowling along the floor for a few feet until he came to stop, sprawled out flat on the ground close to one of the windows, the one with the six ponies ‘fighting’ the menacing pony. I carefully hobbled over to him, making sure not to agitate my injuries. My everything still hurt, but it was bearable. I had been through worse. I peered over his body. He was facing away from me, so I couldn’t see his face or the extent of the damage I had done, but I could see that he was still breathing, but he seemed to be out cold. “Yep, I think I got it this time. You can thank me later… Now, to find that princess,” I joked, turning toward the exit, and back on my goal. However, a sudden yell stopped me in my tracks and caused me to turn back around. Apparently, he hadn’t actually been unconscious, so I was now looking at a pony leaping straight towards me. I had no time to react before I was tackled to the ground with hooves holding my shoulders down to restrain me. I could see that the pony now had a bloody nose like me and the start of a large bruise on his left cheek. We tussled for a bit, trying to win in an all out battle of strength, but neither one of us were budging an inch. “GET OFF ME!” I yelled, slamming my fist into his face, distracting him long enough for me to overpower him and chuck him off of me, sending him flying through the air again... And towards the window in front of us. I suddenly realised too late what I had just done as the pony crashed through the window, smashing it into millions of sharp pieces, before disappearing from sight, his scream echoing in my ears. "OH MY GOD!" My angry haze cleared immediately as I limped towards the edge. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." I stared over the precipice, seeing the jagged rocks at the base of the mountain. I was scared that I was going to see a red blotch on the unblemished landscape below, but, as I scanned the wall, I glimpsed the pony hanging on to a small ledge, hooves clasping on for dear life. Oh God. Oh no. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What have I done! How had things gone this far? I have to save him! I assessed the wall of the castle and noticed that there were some grooves that I could possibly use. They didn’t look all that stable and seemed like they could crumble at any moment. But they were my only way down, no matter how precarious it looked, so I did the first thing I could think of. After making sure I had no extra dead weight to weigh me down, and with my heart beating heavily in my throat, I turned around and slowly inched my way out of the window, not caring if glass cut my arms to shreds, finding purchase on the ledges. ...Maybe not as much purchase as I thought, as the moment I put weight on the ledge nearest to the window, it collapsed under me, making me lose my balance. Luckily I was only halfway out of the window, so I was easily able to stop myself from falling, but it didn't half give me a heart attack. Once I had calmed my shot nerves, I started lowering myself again, breathing heavily to keep calm. It felt like an eternity before I felt a ledge again, and to make matters worse, I could only just touch it with the tips of my toes. It was large enough for both of my feet to stand on, but it was too low down for me to just lower myself onto. Feeling like I had no other choice, and steeling myself, I let go of the window and landed on the lower ledge with the front of my feet, wobbling on the edge before regaining my balance. I paused to seriously recollect myself, before very slowly crouching down and placed my foot on the next overhang down. I gradually scaled my way down the side of the castle, pushing my aching body to its limit. I had never been more scared and determined in my life, my heart pumping at a million miles an hour. As I descended downwards crack by crack, my right foot slipped, causing me to lose my footing completely... If I hadn’t been gripping onto the ledges for dear life, I would’ve fallen. It took most of the energy I had to pull myself back up. Knowing that one false move would result in me ending up skewered on the rocks below, I tried to imagine that I was just descending down a rock climbing wall, with a soft mat to cushion me if I did fall, harness strapped tightly onto me making sure I wasn’t going to. Now with that image in my head, and a little more confidence, I shakily continued my descent. I somehow managed to clamber down until I was level with the guardpony, my whole body feeling like it was on fire, more so than before. You could tell from the way the pony looked that he was losing his energy. He was really struggling to hold himself up, face scrunched in pain as he put all of his effort into staying alive. It didn’t help that he had cuts all over his body from the glass, some of them looking quite deep, I could even see some glass shards sticking out of his skin, the reflection of the sun’s light standing out against his bloody fur. Luckily he was using his magic to give him some extra leverage, but I could see that the glow was weaker than before. He wouldn’t last if he stayed here for much longer. I extended my right hand and reached out to him, struggling to hold myself up with the other. I wasn’t close enough to reach him, so I couldn’t grab him. “Hey! Take my hand!” The guard seemed like he hadn’t even noticed that I had climbed down. He looked at me with shock, as if I was crazy. “What?!” he said, trying his best to hold himself in place. “I said take my hand! I’ll pull you up.” I stretched out my arm a little farther, wiggling my fingers, expecting him to reach out and grab it. Instead, he gave me a very sceptical look and tried his best to pull himself up so as to latch onto a higher ledge and climb up himself. “No way! How do I know you’re not… just going to throw me off the edge yourself?!” His efforts to get up only succeeded in causing him to lose his grip slightly and almost fall, resulting in him scrambling to reestablish his hold. “FOR FUCK SAKE, BE CAREFUL!” I stressed, ready to launch for him if he did let go. He now gave me a disbelieving glance. “Why do you care all of a sudden!? You didn’t when we were fighting up there… Why care now? You could easily… leave me here and continue on your way.” He did have a point. I could’ve just left him to die and went back to finding the princess. He had been my roadblock, one that had been metaphorically destroyed by a wrecking ball.... But that wasn’t me. That’s not what I wanted to become. I knew my answer immediately. “Look… I NEVER intended for this to happen. It was NEVER supposed to go this far... I just wanted to scare you before. I didn’t actually expect you to punch me… My anger took over after that, it clouded my judgement... I didn’t know what I was doing! All I knew at that point was that I had to get past, and you were in my way... “All I wanted was for Princess Celestia to help me get home. I was cruelly taken from my world by some stupid pony who thought she was helping. I thought I could stop it. Fix it even! But now I’m in a world I don’t understand. And look where we are now! You’re hanging on for dear life, while I’m just grasping at thin air, all because of my dumb decisions! “But I can still make this right! I know I can! And I can start by saving you. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I was the cause of someone’s death. You can trust me. Please... Take my hand. I can’t hold on for much longer… and neither can you…” I reached out my hand again, seriously hoping he would take it this time. I could feel my fingers slowly slipping away from the outcrop, whispering the promise of a painful death if I didn’t do something about it. The guardpony looked conflicted, still straining to hold himself aloft. After a few seconds, I was ready to try and climb back up to go find help, even at the risk of being sent to prison afterwards... But I felt the fur and hardness of a hoof as he shuffled along the ledge and placed it in my hand, giving me a weak smile. “Ok… I trust you.” I gave him a smile back as I pulled him off the ledge sharply, both of us wincing as I placed him on my back, his hooves hugging my shoulders tightly. With both of our conditions, it would still be a miracle if we both made it back up to the stained glass hall. “Thank you…” “No… thank you.” He repeated, lightly nuzzling into my shoulder as I started clawing my way back up, being careful about my foot and hand placement. “...Sorry for ruffing you up back there.” “It’s fine... I deserved it…” I grunted as I climbed. I was really struggling with the added weight, but determination pushed me through the agony. “We can sort out everything… when we get back up to the hall.” I looked up and saw that we had actually gained an audience of guardponies, watching with a mix of emotions on their faces, from worry, to confusion, to anger. Huh. I guess people did hear us after all. I must not have noticed, being so focused on this pony’s, and my own safety. It felt like I would never get back to the top, but with persistence, or perhaps stubbornness, I got back up to the last ledge before the window, the one I could actually stand on, a nice respite from the agony of rock climbing. I was running on tiny scraps of energy and my whole body felt like it had just risen from the grave. One more climb and we would be home free. But it wasn’t over yet. Because of my little slip up earlier, there was no way for me to actually reach the window, no matter how much I stretched. I didn’t know how I was going to get up… but I had an idea of how to get the pony up. “Hey. I need you to climb up my back and get yourself up.” “Wait, what about you? I’m not going to just leave you down here,” he replied, sounding genuinely concerned for me. I pushed aside the feelings of confusion. “Don’t worry about me… I’ll be right behind you. I promise…” I could tell that he was still nervous, but he nodded nonetheless. He pushed on my shoulders, me groaning from the added weight on my burns, and thrust himself into a standing position, before jumping hard towards the window, where the other guards grabbed him and pulled him to safety. I sighed with relief, knowing he was finally safe. I looked up at the guards, seeing them turn back around and get ready to help me up too… But it turns out that the ledge I was standing on wasn't as sturdy as I had originally thought. I could do nothing but yell as it started to give out from under me, sending me towards an early grave. "NOOOOO!" The pony I had saved shouted out as I fell, other ponies stopping him from foolishly jumping back out to somehow try and save me. He slowly became a smaller and smaller dot in my vision. Freefalling through the air to my demise felt kind of surreal. I felt like the whole world was passing by me in slow motion, but also in an instant, but at the same time, time had stopped, but also like every second was an hour. I was in a vacuum, destined to be falling for eternity. Then reality came crashing down when I noticed the ground approaching me rapidly, and suddenly, I felt like my head was going to explode. But then, a weird warmth seemed to surround me. It hurt like crazy, but I tried not to pay it much mind in my last moments. I then heard the sharp crack of my bones breaking on impact and felt a searing pain as I hit the rocks. I felt myself bounce off of more rocks as I tumbled down the base of the mountain, more bones breaking as I landed. I finally came to a stop on something softer. I felt blood pouring down my legs and arms, every synapse in my head was telling me I wouldn’t be able to move, but I had enough strength to open my eyes. I saw in my blurred vision that I had landed in a grassy field at the base of the mountain. It was actually quite serene. I tried to enjoy the scenery as the life slowly drained from my body and my soul started soaring to the heavens. My mind was slowly starting to shut down, I was starting to feel weaker and weaker by the second and I couldn’t hold my eyes open for much longer. I started to think about my family. Dani, Harry, Scarlet. I felt a small smile prick up on my lips thinking about them, but I knew they would never see me again. The image of that pony crossed my mind as well... Rookie was what I heard him being called. He seemed so full of life and had an incredible job, one that he would certain die for if push came to shove. My smile grew bigger as I thought about how I had saved such an inspiring youth. "I'm sorry... I broke... my promise..." I whisper slowly, my resolve breaking as I feel a single tear streak down my blood drenched face, making my cuts and burns ache. I didn’t want to die, but knowing that I might have saved a life made it all worth it. I suddenly saw a foursome of dark blue hooves land in front of me, but before I could look up to see who it is, I passed out from blood loss and pain, my final thought being that I hoped that I'd see my family again in the afterlife.