The gentle sun danced across Twilight’s eyelids to wake her. Raising her head she shielded her eyes from the sunbeams reach. From across the clearing, her movements had attracted the attention of her friends. Everypony but Applejack had gathered for breakfast and the group now motioned for Twilight to join them. Twilight noticed Applejack was still asleep, so she kept quiet as she groggily made her way to the others.
Pinkie Pie was overjoyed. “Good morning Twilight, day two of our picnic, well we didn’t do much picnicking yesterday, or anything really, unless you count sleeping, we did a lot of that, oh and walking, lots of walking and…”
“Yes Pinkie I know, but Applejack’s trying to sleep, so do you think you could try to keep it down?” Twilight said sitting down in the circle her friends had made around the saddlebags. “Anypony have any idea what time it is?”
“I don’t know, around six.” Said Rainbow Dash. “Wonder what time it is in Ponyville.”
“Darling don’t say such things. If you talk about home too much you’re only going to make it harder on the rest of us.” Said Rarity with a rather forgiving tone.
“I’m sorry. I just don’t like that we’re still here. We never told anypony where we were going and nopony is going to come looking for us here. If we can’t find a way back I don’t know how we’re going to get out of here.”
“Now Rainbow you say that as if we’re trapped.” Rarity replied.
“Well we are, until Twilight finds a way to send us back home we’re stuck here. Now that Applejack’s injured we have even less of an ability to leave. You guys don’t know what it feels like for me to be stuck here, or anywhere. I hate being forced to stay in one place. I can’t even fly around to blow off some steam.” Rainbow kept herself from shouting but Twilight could tell she wanted to.
“Rainbow has brought up a good point.” Rarity interjected. “How exactly was Applejack injured, Twilight?” Twilight told the ponies the story about how Applejack and Twilight came across the creature and its machine. She left out the part about trying to open the portal again, but from what she said the ponies were all stunned.
“Oh Twilight, that sounds horrible!” Said Fluttershy, cowering behind Rainbow Dash. “What do you think it was trying to say to you?”
“I don’t know. What worried me most though is it seemed to be friendly until Applejack turned around. With most creatures you can tell if they’re hostile or not just by looking at them, and this creature seemed to be friendly.”
“Until it tried to abduct poor Applejack and nearly broke her leg.” Said Rarity, the tone in her voice now harsher, but calm. “I hope we’re better prepared to face another one of these if they come back.” This is something Twilight never thought of. What if more of them come looking for her group of friends? Twilight had no idea how she could help the others if another creature came.
“Would somepony bring me some food, I’m a might hungry.” Applejack’s voice broke Twilight’s train of thought. She snapped quickly back to reality and gazed at the small amount of food before her.
“Is this all we have?” she asked the others. Rarity nodded, and Twilight gathered it in the center of the cloth it was placed on. She carried the bundle to Applejack and set it in front of her friend. “It’s not much Applejack, but it’s all we have left.”
“Aw sugar cube I can’t eat all we got. Has everypony else had a share?” In truth Twilight had not eaten. But Applejack needed the food more than she did.
“Yes Applejack, this is what we saved for you. You need to eat what you can to keep up your strength.”
“Twilight I ain’t dying, just got a little setback is ‘tall.”
“Applejack this is a little more than a setback. But just hold tight while I see if Rarity wants to try and open the portal again.”
“Sugar cube you remember last night, no offence but I don’t think the two of you can do it alone.”
“We can try.” Twilight said. She headed back to the group of her friends to talk to Rarity. Rarity was unwilling to try again, but with the coaxing of Rainbow Dash, and to a lesser extent, Twilight, she agreed. The two ponies stood next to one another and warmed up their magic. As the spell began to form and the line began to draw itself Twilight let herself feel a small glimmer of hope.
But as it neared one and a half feet high and the glow of the unicorn’s horns began to brighten noticeably the difficulty increased exponentially. Twilight tried to hold the spell together but when she saw the lines abysmal progress she dropped the spell. The ponies looked to one another but said nothing. Twilight feared the line had risen less than the previous attempt, as if their power was weakening even further. While Twilight and Rarity stood recovering, Fluttershy suddenly cried out and rushed behind the pair. Twilight turned to the startled Pegasus as she huddled staring into the woods.
“Fluttershy what’s wrong?” But Fluttershy could only manage a squeak in response. Twilight turned to look at what Fluttershy was staring at. Her head began to spin even worse when she saw it; a million things ran through her brain at once. Coming from the forest, was another one of the creatures. Twilight was still tired from trying to open the portal; she couldn’t count on magic this time. How could she fight this thing?
This creature acted much like the one before. Its speech was a garble of sounds Twilight couldn’t understand, and it took slow careful steps toward them. Unlike the first creature however, this creature had both its fore legs held out in front of it toward them. Both were bent in the middle as if the creature was holding them back. The blunt claws where slightly bent and faced toward the ponies.
Rainbow Dash was the first to react, standing up and jumping in front of the others. She flapped her wings and then left them erect at her sides. The creature stopped its advance. It now stood twenty or so feet away from the ponies and five feet from the forest it had emerged from. Again it tried to speak in its garbled language, but Rainbow Dash interrupted it.
“Look, I don’t know what your saying, but you better leave us alone!” Twilight had recovered from the shock of seeing another one of the creatures. She leaped to Rainbow’s side, allowing her horn to glow but careful not to use any magic. She saw the creature was dressed differently then the first one she encountered. This creature had the same type of pants but his shirt was missing the small beads down the middle, it almost looked normal.
But this small difference was only a minor distraction, Twilight had to come up with a way to defend herself from this creature if it attacked. She tried to look as strong as possible, bending her neck slightly and narrowing her eyes at the creatures. But something that disturbed her was the fact that the creature was smiling. Even with Rainbow and herself standing there it wasn’t enough to make the creature afraid. Could it tell she was bluffing?
Twilight raised her head slightly, not knowing what to do if the creature called her bluff. But when the creature saw Twilight raise her head it took another step forward. Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings again and shouted “Stay right there, don’t even think about it.” Whether or not the creature understood her it stopped again, pulling its fore legs closer to itself and straitening its claws.
“Twilight, how do we fight this thing?” Rainbow Dash whispered. But Twilight had no idea what to do. She couldn’t expect the creature to just leave, and both Rarity and herself were in no position to stop it. Could Rainbow Dash take this thing on her own? But then the creature did something Twilight didn’t expect. It looked beyond Twilight, and its face changed from a careful smile to one of worry.
Twilight didn’t want to take her eyes off the creature, but Rainbow noticed the creature’s expression and whipped around to see if there was another threat. “Is there something behind us Rainbow?” Twilight whispered.
“No, only the other ponies.” Came the reply, “It has to be a trick.” Rainbow turned back around and resumed her previous stance. The creature looked back at Twilight, its face still in an expression of fear. It tried to say something, but the ponies didn’t move. The creature pointed past Twilight and then at its leg. It made a fake grimace and grabbed its leg with both fore hooves before using one to point back behind Twilight.
Rarity spoke up from behind Rainbow Dash. “I think it’s talking about Applejack.” Twilight was suspicious, the other creature had shown interest in Applejack too. She wasn’t about to let her friend get hurt any worse then she already was. But the creature continued to alternate between pointing and holding its leg. After a few times of doing this, it pointed to itself and then back behind Twilight.
Twilight was definitely not letting this thing get behind her. She took a sharp step forward and slowly shook her head from side to side. The creature’s expression changed again, this time to one of desperation as it looked back beyond Twilight to Applejack. Fluttershy had stayed well behind Rainbow and Twilight during the exchange. But when the creature turned its attention back to Applejack she quickly made her way beside Twilight.
Twilight felt the brush of Fluttershy’s mane against her leg and wiped herself around to face the terrified mare. Twilight looked at her friend and almost facehoofed at her forgetfulness.
“Fluttershy,” she said. “Your good with animals, can you understand this creature?” Fluttershy looked up at Twilight.
“No, I have no idea what it’s saying. I’ve never seen anything like it before, I thought I knew every kind of animal there was but…I’ve never seen one like this.” Twilight processed that, if even Fluttershy had never heard of this animal where in Equestria where they? Twilight ran through her options, and an idea came to life.
“Fluttershy, do you think you can try and talk to it?” Twilight said. Fluttershy shrunk back.
“I don’t know, I mean from what you said happened yesterday I…”
“Fluttershy I don’t have many options right now do you think you can talk to it yes or no?”
“Well I could try but…but I don’t know what to say.”
“Just try and figure out what it wants with Applejack, I’ll figure out what to do once I know what exactly it wants to do.”
“You’re not seriously letting her talk to that thing are you.” Rainbow Dash protested. But a stern look from Twilight quieted her. Fluttershy took short slow steps toward the creature, it noticed this and turned its head to face the advancing pony. When Fluttershy was nearly ten feet from the creature she stopped and looked up at it. The creature looked down at her and lowered its fore legs and wrapped the claws of one hoof over the other.
“What’s your name?” Fluttershy asked, but it was clear the creature did not understand. Instead, it attempted to take a step forward toward Fluttershy. Twilight and Rainbow prepared to sprint forward, causing the creature to stop again when it noticed their movement. Turning back to Fluttershy it gave her a look of longing.
Checking the reaction of Rainbow and Twilight, the creature bent a knee and brought itself down so that it was almost at eye level with Fluttershy. Looking into Fluttershy’s eyes, it again tried to speak, stretching its arms out to the ponies. Fluttershy took cautious steeps forward. Before Twilight had time to say anything she was nearly five feet away from the creature.
Rainbow Dash reacted quickly, she raced in front of Fluttershy and turned herself sideways blocking Fluttershys path. The creature was startled at Rainbow’s speed and drew back its hooves. The creature looked around Rainbow at Fluttershy, Twilight couldn’t tell if Fluttershy was looking back.
Rainbow started to push Fluttershy back from the creature. The creature said something, a short simple phrase. It repeated itself, softer this time. Twilight was startled at the way it spoke, not the phrase it said, but the emotion with which it said it. It almost seemed like it was begging Rainbow Dash to stop. Rainbow had no idea how to react, she stopped pushing Fluttershy just long enough for the light yellow Pegasus to slip around her.
This time Rainbow did nothing as Fluttershy approached the creature. As Fluttershy came within the creature’s reach, it spoke again. But the creature did not reach out to touch her; it instead pointed at itself and then Applejack. First Fluttershy and then the creature looked at Twilight. Fluttershy with a soft expression befitting her nature, and the creature with a much more pleading gaze.
“I still don’t understand him, but I can tell he’s not dangerous.” Fluttershy said. Twilight feared the worst; this creature couldn’t be trusted. But on the other hoof it had been very cautious, and had left Fluttershy alone despite the fact she was directly in front of him. She didn’t know what to do; the pleading eyes of the creature and the piercing glare of Rainbow Dash didn’t make the decision any easier.
With clear disdain, Twilight let her horn’s glow dim, she stood up straight and nodded her head once so the creature would understand. As the creature stood, Twilight approached where Rainbow Dash was standing.
“Watch it closely, I don’t trust this thing yet.” She said as she passed Rainbow and joined Fluttershy next to the creature. Fluttershy stayed in front of the creature, leading it to where Applejack was lying. The rest of the ponies followed behind including Pinkie and Rarity. Twilight had to crane her neck in order to see the head of the creature, just as before it nearly doubled her height, she could only imagine where in Equestria something like this had hidden.
Applejack was facing the opposite way from the approaching group. “Alright everypony, what’s go’n on, I must’a heard my name in there at least once, you ponies plan’n somethin?” But when first Fluttershy and then the creature entered her view her joking tone turned to one of fear. “FLUTTERSHY LOOK OUT! YOU GOT ONE A THEM MONSTERS AFTER YA!” Fluttershy tried to explain they thought it was here to help, but Applejack would have none of it. “All it wants to help with is whisking me off to Celestia knows where.” She said, never taking her eyes off the odd hooves of the creature.
“Applejack please, we promise we won’t let it hurt you.” Fluttershy said, her wide-open eyes pleading her case. Applejack said nothing, but her suspicious gaze never left as the creature got on its knees beside her dislocated leg. Slowly and carefully, it extended its fore hooves toward the limb. Each of the ponies tensed as they made contact with the haunch.
Before anypony could react the creature pressed on the bone and Applejack cried out in pain. A swift kick from Applejacks back legs knocked the creature onto its back. Before the creature could do anything else Twilight was on him, pinning him to the ground. The creature coughed and sputtered but Twilight simply dug her hooves deeper into its chest to keep him still. Rainbow and Rarity quickly surrounded the creature on either side. As the creature’s eyes darted about at the angry faces around it Applejack spoke.
“Well look at that, it fixed my leg!” The ponies all turned to see Applejack get up effortlessly. The creature had popped the leg back into place. The pony’s faces softened as they turned back to the creature. Twilight removed her hooves from its chest and backed away. The other ponies soon followed, making a small group around the platform Applejack had been lying on. The creature put both fore hooves on its stomach where Applejack had struck it sputtering and coughing. After a moment, it sat up slightly and looked at the ponies. Applejack made her way through her friends toward the creature.
Fearing another strike, the creature drew back. But Applejack looked into the eyes of the creature with noticeable guilt, and the creature adjusted to be at her eye level. Applejack now stood a foot away from the creature, she allowed him to slowly lift its hoof and cup it on her cheek. It ran its hoof down her mane; a smile slowly forming on its face, Applejack returned one if not as broad, just as much sincere.
The other ponies watched the scene from where they had gathered; the world seemed incredibly quiet until Pinkie couldn’t take it any more. She ran up to the creature and nearly tackled him with a hug. “Thanks for helping Applejack,” she said squeezing the creature. The creature winced in pain, but managed to hug Pinkie back.
Twilight watched her friends interact with this creature. What exactly was it? Where did it come from? This one looked to be friendly, but Twilight couldn’t shake the feeling that she couldn’t trust it. Her friends one by one went to apologize and interact with it, even Rainbow’s curiosity got the best of her. Twilight was the last to approach, and she only went so as not to draw the suspicion of the others, or even worse, the creature itself.
The creature seemed overjoyed that the ponies now accepted it. It tried to speak again, but the ponies simply looked at each other, unsure what it had said. The creature laughed, and pulled out a small bag made of a clear material, inside was a collection of seeds. The creature poured some of the seeds onto the middle of its hoof and held it out to the ponies.
The ponies looked at the offering, but none took from it. As the creature held it toward each pony, Twilight heard her stomach growl, she had given her share of food to Applejack, and the sight of food reminded her she hadn’t eaten since yesterday. When the hoof came to her, she forgot her suspicion and approached.
The smile never left the creatures face as Twilight drew close. Twilight used her magic to pick up the seeds and ate them four at a time. The creature noticed her hunger, and offered the rest of the bag to her. Twilight took the bag with her magic and retreated back to the other ponies.
The creature sat looking at the ponies, and the ponies stood looking back. The creatures smile infected the ponies leaping from one to the other. Even Twilight softened at the stranger’s kind face. After a minute or two the creature stood up and went to examine the platform Applejack had been carried on. The creature said something, more to itself then to the ponies, and bent down to examine the platform closer.
The creature picked up one of the ropes and started talking to itself. The creature then looked at the ponies with an expression of curiosity and wonder. Looking around the clearing the creature saw the saddlebags of the ponies. Curious, it headed over to that location.
Pinkie walked next to Twilight whom had just finished the last of the seeds. “Why did you say this thing was mean? He doesn’t act very mean; in fact he’s really nice to me! To everypony really, and he’s just so cute I couldn’t resist giving him a hug, and the way he helped Applejack, what could we have done without that? Now he can help us get home...” That got Twilight’s attention.
“Now hold up Pinkie, slow down. There’s no way that thing’s helping us to get home.”
“But… but Twilight why else would it have come here? Look at it, it seems so excited and happy to see us, how can it not want us to get home?”
“Pinkie, we don’t even know what it’s saying. If we can’t communicate how can it help us?”
“Well, it seems to have food. It lives here so it must have something to eat. If we can’t go home today aren’t we going to need food and water?” Twilight couldn’t believe she had been so short sighted. Pinkie was right, if they didn’t find food and water they could be in big trouble.
“Pinkie, have you brought this up with anypony else?”
Pinkie shook her head, “No, why, should I?”
“No, Pinkie, don’t tell the others. I don’t want anypony to worry about our situation here. Getting used to our new… to that thing is enough of a shock to them for today.” Pinkie looked confused, but she agreed and ran off to talk to the creature.
Twilight had a lot to take in. In two days she had been taken from her home and sent to some place with strange creatures she’d never heard of before, learned the creatures were hostile, then friendly, and to top it all off her magic was getting slowly weaker. Twilight was sure this was true, low level spells seemed to be doable, but Twilight knew that if today’s attempt was any indication, if she didn’t find a way to get her magic back, they where going to be here a long time.
Twilight picked up the clear bag and took it to the creature. Pinkie Pie was darting around pointing at ponies and their bags communicating incredibly well being unable to talk. Twilight used the bag to nudge the fore leg of the creature. It looked down at her with puzzled eyes as it took the bag from the air.
Twilight used her own hoof to point to first the creature and then the bag. The creature shook its head; Twilight shook hers right back. She pointed to the creature and then herself before pointing to the spot in the woods the creature had emerged from. It might not be the best plan, but without assistance Twilight was unsure how she could help her friends.
The creature looked where Twilight was pointing and then turned back to see the other ponies making conversation in another part of the clearing. The creature looked back at Twilight and gestured broadly to indicate all the ponies and itself, then pointed to the woods. Twilight nodded and called the other ponies to come join them before instructing them to pack up their things.
“We’re going on a trip to see where our new friend comes from, I don’t know if we’ll be back so we have to bring everything with us.” The ponies gave little protest. But even saying it aloud Twilight was uncertain if this plan was a good idea.
She was about to trust the safety of herself and her best friends with a total stranger. Under normal circumstances this was unthinkable, but there was little alternative but to sit and wait for a miracle. When the ponies were packed Twilight turned back to the creature; its smile had turned into a more calculating line curved only at the edges. Yet when the creature saw the ponies where ready it turned to set off into the woods.
When it reached the edge of the woods it turned back around to make sure the ponies were following. Seeing that they were only a few steps behind it, it said a few words in its indiscernible language and started its journey through the forest.
Twilight felt like she did before entering the portal to this strange new land. A light fear licked at her, and everything she could possibly find in this forest ran through her brain. But the courage and wellbeing of her friends drove her onward. She was setting out into an unknown world, and there was a very real chance her only hope resided with its most inhospitable inhabitants.