//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Who Are Kinder Than They Seem // Story: Through the Aurora // by Starscribe //------------------------------// Theo couldn’t have said how long she held there, sobbing into the shoulder of a stranger. Whatever shame she might’ve had had been left behind on the ice, along with so much else. But eventually there were no more tears left, no more sobs in her lungs. She pulled away, sat up, wiped her face. “I’m sorry… I’m not like this normally, I promise. This is…” The stallion and the girl were both watching her, much more sympathetic than frustrated or annoyed. “You’re one of them,” the stallion said. “A Traveler from the other side.” She nodded. “Not by choice. I didn’t think I was going to go anywhere. Nobody knows this is… possible.” She held out one of her legs, turning it over in front of her. The claw at the end still looked strange to her, particularly from the way she also needed it to walk. “Other side of what?” the girl asked. This is getting really frustrating. I need to learn your names. “There’s a… bridge,” the stallion began. “At least, some really old ponies thought there was. From our world to another one where ponies used to live. It wasn’t us who made it, that was the hippogriffs.” He nodded slightly towards Theo, as though that was supposed to make sense for some reason. But he didn’t wait, just kept right on going. “I’ve been looking for it for… a long time.” “Wait…” She took a few steps further, glancing between them. “Now that I understand you, can I get your names? I’m Theodor, or at least I was. Who are you?” “Sharp Edge,” said the stallion, apparently relaxing. “Three-oh-door, hmm. That’s… going to be hard. What language is that?” Her eyebrows went up. “Names don’t really… English, I guess? German? Either one, you just say it a little different.” ‘Sharp Edge’ had said it quite a bit different, though. “I’m Emerald!” the girl supplied, apparently unconcerned with this mystery. “Emerald Aurora.” “Who certainly doesn’t belong here,” Sharp said. “You know your mother is probably having a fit to be missing you, filly. Fly on home.” “Fly on home?” she repeated, wings snapping to her sides. “You just said this creature is from another world! Makes sense, with the way she was acting. Freaked out half of Sleighsburg wandering around making weird noises. I don’t think anyone had ever seen a hippogriff before.” She bounced up in front of her, ears flattening. “Not that I mind you’re a hippogriff, Door!” She wrinkled her nose as she tried the name, and failed. “I heard about you, that magical city down south that came up from the sea. Is your world underwater too?” Sharp rested a leg on her shoulder. “Come on, Emerald. She’s stressed, confused. She doesn’t need to be bombarded with questions right now.” But from his face, it seemed he too had a long list of questions, probably more sensible ones. But he was more polite, and didn’t ask. It doesn’t matter. This pony knows where I came from. He’s been looking for it. “You know about the… you called it a bridge. Do you think you could get it to open for me? So I could go back home?” Emerald tensed, ears flattening. “You wanna leave already?” But as before, Sharp ignored her. “It’s a distinct possibility. I know where the bridge is located. I’ve never been able to get it to open from this side before… but something might’ve changed. You’re here after all, and surely past travelers intended to return to their homes. You… didn’t seem to intend to move in here.” “I didn’t. But… if you take me back there, I can… I can tell you anything you want to know about my world.” Once she knew she could return, Theo wouldn’t feel like she was in so much of a hurry to get going in the first place. But at least for now, she was trapped. She had to get out of her cage, back into her correct body. Then maybe she could stop and marvel at just how amazing this whole situation was. “O-of course, yes. I could certainly take you back. But it’s nearly nightfall, and the temperature will only keep falling. How about you spend the evening with me here, indulge my curiosity a bit, and we can be off at first light tomorrow morning.” Theo twitched slightly at the words ‘with me,’ but couldn’t detect any kind of double meaning there. Of course there’s not. You’re not even the same kind of animal as him, and he was right there for that rant. He’s just being polite. They would still be looking for him, up in Barrow. Maybe the storm would’ve died down enough to have a search team out by now. Or maybe they would still be on their way up from the town. Either way, they wouldn’t have given up after just a day. She could afford a little time. If going back works the same as arriving, I’ll show up on the tower. I stumble through naked and still make it into the base. “I could cook dinner!” Emerald suggested helpfully. “That’s what a good apprentice would do, isn’t it? I can take over the menial labor, so you can investigate this extremely mysterious magical event.” “I…” Sharp looked like he wanted to say no, but not with much effort. “Well, that’s probably for the best. My attempts at cooking would be… less than adequate for a visitor from another realm, certainly. But you know how much your mother hates when you run off, Emerald. You really shouldn’t act with such disregard for her wishes.” “I don’t,” the pony said, her voice growing a little distant. “She doesn’t mind as much as you think. Honestly, she probably wouldn’t notice if I came back right now. This late at night, she’s probably got into the cider.” But she didn’t elaborate, just fluttered off into the kitchen and out of sight. Sharp sighed. “Her mother owns the general store—the only trade with the mainland comes through her. They’re not native, if you can’t tell from the uh…” He nodded towards her wings. “Well, none of my business. She really would make an excellent apprentice. When she’s a few years older she’ll be able to decide that for herself, if she hasn’t changed her mind.” He straightened, rising. “Well, into the sitting room. We can sit by the fire, and you can tell me a little about your world. Perhaps there are things you’d like to know about mine. No reason we can’t have a fair exchange.” Sharp Edge did have a comfortable little home, despite the arctic wasteland all around them. It reminded Theo a little of what she’d imagined in the home of ancient gentlemen of years past, with dark stained wood and various adventuring trophies set onto the walls. There were plenty of books as well, with worn looking covers. The questions were less complicated than she’d expected. “Are there many ponies where you come from? Is the climate similar to Sleighsburg? Are there any pony cities near the exit? Did you notice the moment of Nightmare Moon’s return?” Her answers seemed only to make him curiouser, though. “We don’t look like you,” she had explained. “There’s only one kind of creature, with two legs and no fur. And we don’t come in nearly as many shades as you do.” “Non-equanoid intelligence…” Sharp scribbled that down on a notepad, as he had with almost everything she’d said. “Fascinating. Not impossible, for sure. The minotaurs demonstrate that much. But if you’re not equanoid, why are you a hippogriff now? I assumed… and I guess I was wrong, but I assumed… that the creatures who built the bridge would be the ones who lived on the other side. Not the case?” “I’m positive,” she said, voice flat. “If I’d been a magical bird monster, I’d know. In fact…” She rose to her claws, hurrying over to where she’d left her pack beside the door. She hadn’t been able to bring everything, but the bag still had some useful tools. Her heart sunk a little at the slight green glow from the radio. It wasn’t that she’d switched it off by mistake—no one had answered her call. Sharp Edge’s tea sat forgotten on the table as he suddenly crowded nearby, staring at each of her tools as they emerged. But she was only looking for the one. Her tablet wrapped in a protective plastic shell. The battery on it wasn’t long for this world, and it was still off. But she didn’t need to turn it on. There on the back of the case, secured with a thin layer of epoxy, was a picture of her together with her family, on her graduation day. The tablet was still oversized and clumsy in her claws, but she did her best to ignore that, turning it over. “That’s what we look like. Every person on Earth is like that. Only the skin is different, and not nearly as much as you ponies here.” Sharp leaned in close, staring at the screen with eyes almost as wide as his hooves. He squinted down, then glanced up at her. “One of these is you?” “The one in the middle, yes. Part of why I’m so upset. Walking around on all fours is… confusing. But for some reason, coming here appears to have… changed other things.” She blushed, sitting down firmly on her haunches. It helped with her modesty, so long as she kept her butt firmly planted beneath her. Sharp Edge nodded, finally letting go of the tablet. “It’s a variable in the bridge I didn’t anticipate. Why in Equestria would your ancestors build a bridge that didn’t let them come here as themselves?” He rose, pacing slowly beside her. “The answer appears obvious—your ancestors did not build it. Perhaps you, uh… ‘human’, you said? Perhaps you human creatures are the native species on this planet, and the hippogriffs and others who used it were mere visitors.” “I don’t know that could’ve—” But she trailed off. It was all well and good to insist on a rational interpretation of the past, but it wasn’t clear that interpretation would survive scrutiny. She couldn’t argue with being here, or being transformed. She could feel every part of her body just as well as ever. They just weren’t the right parts. “Actually, maybe they could. I don’t know. Maybe your ancestors did come.” “Not mine, or not many.” But he wasn’t peremptory, only matter-of-fact. “Yours. Or… perhaps the ancestors of the species you have become. Hippogriffs. Come to think of it, your current change might be explained under that context as well. They are masters of transformation magic. Maybe the bridge exposed you to something by accident, or… wasn’t configured properly by the last pony to cross.” “You can still fix it, right?” She was suddenly at his side, clinging as desperately as she had a few hours ago. “My whole world is back there! Everyone I care about, everything I’ve ever worked for. I need to get back.” “Yes!” He patted her on the shoulder in a way meant to be reassuring. Yet his actual tone didn’t sound that sure. “I mean, I’ll try. Try to join you on the return trip, if I can. Traveling across the Bridge has always been one of my personal ambitions. Perhaps you can give me hospitality in your world, as I’ve given you.” Theo laughed in spite of herself. “If you come back with me, it’ll be… quite the adventure.” She would certainly be famous after that. If they turn my life into a movie, I’ll have to make sure not to mention being a girl on this side. “Food’s ready!” called Emerald’s voice from the kitchen. Then she sniffed, and she realized she was hungry. She still couldn’t identify any of the smells, but maybe that didn’t matter. Just one night like this, then it’s back home. Back home to talk-show tours and being the center of a first-contact story. She could still try to talk Sharp out of it. She’d have to see how tomorrow went, then decide.