I put away the notepad that Ophi had handed me in one of the pockets of the coat. It was a long flight to the northern end of the continent, but I didn’t think that I could draw the landscape at the moment. I considered carefully what I should do. There weren't many options, so I decided to bite the bullet, so to speak. “Ophi, I was wondering… What’s your dream? I don’t think you ever told me. You can already guess mine, so…”
I turned to see her ponder the question. After some deliberation, she smiled. “Well, I always dreamed of becoming a famous actress. That’s why I’m taking a drama class. To see my name in the credits of a movie someday… now that’s a dream worth working for.” She turned towards me and gave a wink. “I hope you haven’t given a heave-ho to yours, Nate. Becoming a famous artist will take a strong belief in your gift, you know. You just have to keep working at it.”
I let out a small chuckle. “We’re two big dreamers, aren’t we? Though it might seem that the cards are stacked against us, given what we’ve been through.” I shook my head. “Still, when you talk about it like that, I just can’t help believing.” I paused to look out the side of the chariot before turning back to her. “We’ll always be friends, right? Even when we’re both famous beyond our wildest dreams?” I sighed. “I know that I should trust your promise, but… I just can’t help but worry. What if we drift apart when we bask in the light of fame?”
Ophi shook her head. “That won’t happen, Nate. I made you a promise, one I intend to keep. You promised me too, remember? We’ll always be friends, no matter what. We’ll just have to ensure we don’t drift apart. It’ll be alright, Nate.”
Though her words were comforting, they also felt… disheartening. We would always be friends, sure. But… that’s all we ever would be. She’d find some random guy and date him, while I wallow in the feelings that she would never return. Though, I didn’t have to regret that. I wasn’t ready to approach her about how I really felt just yet, but… I resolved to tell her when I turned 16. Maybe if I was lucky, things would work out.
I shook the stray thoughts away as I turned my attention back to the landscape. The last of the green hills were starting to ebb away as the ground started to give way to frozen tundra. I sighed. “Well, it looks like we will be landing relatively soon. Time to brace ourselves for who we will meet.”
I saw Ophelia nod from the corner of my eye. “Whoever they are, I hope that they are reasonable.” The chariot started to slow and descend as a cave came into view. Ophi smiled. “Well, now is the moment of truth. Are you ready?”
The chariot landed a bit aways from the cave, and I gave a nod. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.” We got out of the chariot into the brisk air of the frozen wasteland. I was a bit surprised that it wasn’t colder, but I was handling the chill better than Ophi. I gave her a sympathetic glance. “Come on. Let’s hurry so we can get back quicker.” She gave a nod, and the two of us broke into a sprint. It was scarcely a minute or so before we made our way inside the cave. I saw a fire glowing ahead of our position, clearly marking that this was the right one. We made our way further in, and I gasped at who I saw. My face then contorted into a glare. I’d recognize that face anywhere. “Ferris. It just had to be you, didn’t it?”
He turned towards me and scratched the back of his head with a guilty chuckle. "Hey... Nathan. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
I scoffed. “Not long enough, if you ask me. Come on, let’s get you out of here. I’ve places to be and things to do.”
He stood, and made his way over to a sleeping bag that I hadn’t noticed before. He shook it gently, and the occupant groaned a bit in a feminine voice. “Mh, five more minutes…”
Ferris gave a sigh. “Miara, somebody’s come to get us. You need to get up now!”
A grunt came from the occupant of the sleeping bag, but she did get up. She was wearing light winter gear, which spoke volumes for how cold it got at night. She opened her amber eyes blearily, and looked around for a bit. She then settled upon us, and yawned. “Oh, so there are others here. Not just another dream after all…” She got out of the sleeping bag and stretched. “Mh! That feels better.” She started to put away her sleeping bag as Ferris went to grab his backpack. As she did she made idle chatter. “So, you two fall from a hole in the sky too?”
Ophi nodded. “Neither of us know why. The natives are trying to find us a way home as we speak.”
Miara tied the sleeping bag to her backpack and slung it over her shoulders. Ferris raised an eyebrow at Ophi’s statement. “Natives? What are they like?”
I let out a sigh. “I don’t know if you’d believe us if we told you. Come and follow us out front- you’ll see for yourselves.”
Miara and Ferris shrugged, and followed us out of the cave. We took them to the chariot, and they went speechless. One of the pegasai that pulled the chariot spoke. “So you did end up finding other humans? Shall we go take them to Princess Celestia now?”
I smirked at Ferris’ shocked face. “No, not yet. I think they need to digest it all first. After all, you are quite alien to them.”
Miara recovered first, and she rubbed her eyes a bit. “Pegasai? And they talk too?” She turned to look at me with a curious look upon her face. “What other mythical creatures reside here?”
Ophelia gave a small chuckle as the two of us helped them into the chariot. “Pretty much any that you can think of, really. We haven’t seen them all, mind. Just been told about it by a very well studied unicorn.”
Ferris finally recovered as he turned towards Ophi with a look of realization. “So this entire world has creatures we would consider myth walking around and talking? I suppose that the only humans here are us, then?”
I huffed indignantly as we all sat down in the chariot. “We don’t know that, actually. There are three other places that the sky holes opened over, but we checked this one first. After all, it didn’t matter who we found here- if anyone- it only mattered that we got them out before they froze to death. You’re welcome, by the way.” I then spoke to our drivers. “Get us to Canterlot, boys. We’ve stuck around here long enough.”
The chariot lifted off slowly, probably due to the higher amount of weight than when we had first lifted off. After it started coasting out of the tundra, Miara spoke to me. “So you’re taking us to see this Princess of theirs? Why, exactly?”
I sighed deeply. “I made her a promise to let her meet any humans that we found, as payment for lending us this chariot on such short notice. After all, even if I did have their currency, it’s not like Princess Celestia would need more of it.”
Ferris twiddled his thumbs for a bit before broaching conversation with me. “Nathan?” I grunted, and turned to look away. “Look, I know that you likely won’t forgive me, but… I’m asking anyway. Please, I-”
I rolled my eyes as I looked out the side of the chariot as the green hills came back into view. “I may have rescued your sorry hide from that frosty place, but that doesn’t change anything. You broke my trust in you that day, and I’m not letting you back in. End of discussion.”
Ophi laid a hand on my shoulder, and I flinched slightly. She looked at me with concern. “Nate, it’s not healthy to keep grudges. Besides… it’s not what-”
I let out an exhausted sigh. “I know. But… I just can’t, Ophi. Not after what I told you that he did. Not yet, anyway.” I glanced towards Ferris, and shook my head. “Sorry for that outburst. If you truly want my forgiveness, you’ll have to earn it. Even if you do earn it, don’t expect us to be friends again, Ferris.”
He let out a dry chuckle. “I’ve no illusions of that, trust me.” He glanced towards Ophi, and raised an eyebrow. “So, Nathan. When did you meet her?”
I crossed my arms with a sigh. “Ophelia’s a friend, Ferris. She met me on Friday, in the earlier part of the day that we all fell into this place. We’ve stuck together ever since.” I glanced towards Miara. “I suppose the story is much the same between you two?”
Miara gave a slight nod. “Yeah. It’s been rough, but we’ve managed. To think, at first we thought it some dream. No dice there, though. I wonder if there are search parties combing the mountain we were climbing?”
Ophi raised an eyebrow. “You were on a hike when you fell through? No wonder your backpacks have so much gear in them…” She gave an embarrassed chuckle. “We were just on our way home from school when it happened, so we were a bit more unlucky- though, fortune did deposit us in a town, so it’s not all bad.”
Ferris gave a pout in jealousy. “Lucky! Probably had decent meals, too! We’ve had to ration ours for a while… we were running low when you stopped by to find us…”
Surprise lit upon my face. I hadn’t thought Ferris was that resourceful. Then again, it wasn’t much time between when we became friends and when he broke it off due to the pressure of those ridiculous rumors. I got a grip of myself quickly. After all, this was still turncoat Ferris. I shook my head. “Well, you’ve got to look at the silver lining of your situation. Now you don’t have to. The hard part is over. All that’s left now is waiting out them figuring out a way to get us back home.” I paused as I looked out the side of the chariot. The mountain that had Canterlot on it was approaching into view. I turned back towards Ferris and Miara. “Well, Canterlot awaits. We should be landing in a few minutes.”
They looked out of the chariot, and saw the immaculate city approaching. Miara whistled. “Woah! Now that’s quite the castle! That’s where we’ll be landing, right?”
Ophelia gave a nod. “Close enough. We’ll be landing in the garden near it. More space there.”
Ferris clung to the side of the chariot a bit as it started its descent, and I rolled my eyes. “Relax, Ferris. The drivers know how to land this thing. We won’t crash.”
He did try to follow my advice, and he took a few deep breaths. However, he didn’t fully relax until we landed. Once the chariot came to a full stop, we filed out- leaving the backpacks in the chariot. I took off my coat, and Ophi did the same. We placed them in the chariot upon our seats, and Ferris and Miara followed suit. Under the coats, Ferris had a simple gray long-sleeve and a pair of black jeans with blue snow boots, while Miara had a blue blouse and a pair of beige slacks with red snow boots. She sighed at my raised eyebrow. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to fit a skirt under snowpants? Let me tell you; it’s not very simple.”
I shook my head with a sigh. “Let’s get a move on. We’re burning daylight.” I led the way to the throne room, recalling from memory the way that the guards had led us last time. After a long awkward silence, we finally made it to the doors of the throne room. In front of the doors were a pair of royal guards. I spoke to them before attempting to knock on the door. “Is Princess Celestia busy at the moment? I’ve come to uphold a deal of ours.”
The guard on the left spoke first. “Ah, the resident humans of Ponyville. I see you’ve brought other humans from the frozen wastes to the north. The Princess is having an important discussion with an ambassador right now, so she cannot see you as of yet.”
The one to the right gave a chuckle. “Don’t be so stiff about it. She’d much rather see the humans, and you know it. These meetings with ambassadors are often quite dry and boring. I’ve even caught her saying so myself!”
I raised an eyebrow, and was about to interject when Ophi did so for me. “Beg pardon, but when will this meeting be over? Can you give us an estimate?”
The one on the left shrugged. “The ambassador went in about two hours ago, the meeting should wrap up shortly.”
The one on the right scoffed. “Newbie. Nah, I’d give it another half hour. Though, the Princess has often remarked that it feels much longer than that. Honestly, you might have better luck getting an audience with her sister- and she’s asleep right now!”
A sigh of exasperation left me as I shook my head. “Well, better make ourselves comfortable on the benches out here. Better than standing while waiting.” The others followed my advice as I sat down. The benches were something I hadn’t noticed on our last visit, but they seemed to perfectly fit for our natural sitting position to have always been there. I shrugged. It must’ve been a new addition in case we ever had to wait out another meeting. Considerate, and quite useful.
Ophelia broke the silence as she turned to Miara. “So, Miara. What school do you go to back home? I haven’t seen you around Provo High, so…”
Miara chuckled. “Timpview High. Funny, right? I mean, it’s not like in any other situation we’d get along. Our schools are rivals, after all.”
Surprise lit upon my face. The four of us here were all from roughly the same area. What were the odds of that? Astronomical, that much was clear. Unless it wasn’t chance at all. For now though, I decided to write it off as coincidence. I shrugged. “I saw a couple where the guy was from Provo High and the girl was from Timpview High. It’s not like it’s a totally out there idea, you know. Besides, stranger things have happened… aside from finding ourselves in a strange world of course. That tops the list.”
Ferris sighed deeply. “How will we explain our absence when we get home? It’s not like anyone would believe us if we told them about this place…”
A serious look of contemplation was upon Ophelia’s face. “I don’t know. We shouldn’t lie, of course. But… if we told them the truth, they might think that we’re crazy.” She turned to look at me, a concerned look on her face. “What do you think? What would be best to tell them when we get home?”
I was uncomfortable with all of them looking to me, like some kind of leader. I didn’t know what to do about that question! I tried to calm down and think it through. After a bit of consideration, I shook my head. “We’ll figure that out later. We shouldn’t be worrying about that just yet. After all, we’ll be stuck here for about a month unless they find some way to extrapolate the process of finding a way of getting us home.”
Our musings were interrupted as a griffon exited the throne room. We stood, and the old bird gave us a strange look. He huffed. “Well. I must be off.” with nary another word, he flew off.
We made our way to the doors again, and the guard on the right side of the door went to open it slightly. He called in. “Princess, Nathan and Ophelia are here to see you. They bring guests!”
I could hear a sigh of relief come from beyond the door and a jovial tune in her voice. “Send them in promptly.” The guard turned to smile at us as he opened the door fully for us. We filed in and the door closed behind the four of us. Celestia had a smile upon her face. “I see you did find humans up there. Might they introduce themselves?”
Ferris cleared his throat. “I am Ferris Lavinsky, and may I say it is quite nice to finally be out of the cold of the north.”
Celestia gave a chuckle, and turned to Miara. She was a bit more nervous, but she took a few breaths to calm herself. “My name is Miara Ramsey, your grace. I never thought that I’d see the day that I’d meet a real Princess!” A blush rose upon her face. “Er, sorry about that. Just a bit excited.”
Celestia turned towards me, a glowing expression on her face. “Are all humans so quirky? If so, it will certainly be quite interesting if you find more…”
A small sigh escaped my lips. “Well, hopefully no bad apples followed us here… Though, Ferris is stretching that.”
She noticed my subtle glare towards him, and filed that away for later. She turned to look at Ferris and Miara. “So, where will you stay? Ophelia and Nathan are staying in Ponyville, and there might still be room there. However, you may stay here in the castle if you so wish. There is plenty of room. What is your decision?”
Miara thought about it for a while, before turning to look at Ophelia. “The residents there… who among them might have room to spare if we were to stay there?”
After going over the ones she knew of in her head, Ophelia responded. “Well, I think Twilight said she has an extra room. Rarity does have another guest room aside from the one I’m using. I’d have to ask around for others that might have some extra space, but it’s a start.” She turned to look at me. “Does Applejack’s farm have room for one more, Nathan?”
I was about to say no, but thought better of it and sighed. “Yes, but I prefer my space. I’ve been bunked in the barn, but they can easily adjust the living room into another guest room.”
Ferris turned back towards Celestia, giving a slight nod of the head. “Thanks for the offer, but… I think that it’s best that we stick together. We’ll tough this out together.”
I rolled my eyes, and Celestia gave a sigh. “Well, that is understandable. You are all dismissed.”
We made our way to the double doors, and I caught wind of Celestia writing something. I shrugged, not concerned. After all, she was a Princess. Probably some letter to some noble. We left through the doors, and made our way back to the chariot. Miara and Ophi seemed to really warm up to each other, given their whispers back and forth. I smirked. So it was true that girls tended to make fast friends with each other. It wasn’t really my business who she decided to associate with, just as long as I didn’t have to as well. I remained silent as we finally made our way back to the chariot. We got inside, and it took off to take us to Ponyville.
It was then that Ferris tried to break the ice. “So, Nathan. How have you been? Since… y’know.”
I huffed, and gave a short answer. “Gloomy. Until I made friends with Ophi, that is. I’ve been better since then.” I paused for a while, and made the mistake of glancing at his face. His eyes spoke volumes of him expecting something. I sighed and rolled my eyes. “So how have you been?”
Despite the clear sarcasm in my tone, he answered it like a serious question. “Well, I have had a lot of time to think ever since then. You might not believe me, but I do regret what I did. I should have toughed it out, despite the unpleasant rumors that they were spreading about us.” He shook his head. “I should have just let it roll off of me like you did.” He gave a dry chuckle. “Aside from that, I have been well. Miara’s a good friend, if a bit quirky.”
A pause came upon me as I studied what he said. He… regretted it? He sounded sincere, but… I shook the thought away. No. I wasn’t going to be fooled again. He was probably just trying to use me for something, like others had. I gave a deep sigh as I shook my head. “Shoulda’s and woulda’s build no bridges, Ferris. You can’t just waltz back into my life and spout those words and expect me to believe you. I had confided in you about my troubled past with friendship, and yet when the time came… you choked. Now you’re just another part of that past, come back to haunt me. Just… drop it. Stop trying to get back my trust. You might one day be forgiven, but… I can’t ever trust you again. The wound is too deep.”
Ferris hung his head with a sigh. He shook it slightly and seemed about ready to say something, but he reconsidered. Miara turned towards us, and quirked her head. “Ferris, you had mentioned it before, but… you never went into detail. How did you two drift apart? You were good friends before it happened, but...”
Ophelia decided to pipe in. “Nate told me the story, and well… I understand why he’s giving Ferris such a hard time. Long story short, soon after they became friends, rumors that painted their friendship in a more… disgusting… light started the rounds of the school. Nate just tuned it out, as he had learned to do with the many names that bullies had thrown at him for years. Ferris, on the other hand grew more uncomfortable as time went on. And, when Nate confronted him about it… Ferris blew up at Nate, and started ranting about how these rumors were not what he signed up for. He distanced himself from Nate, and they stopped speaking to each other altogether.”
Miara looked towards Ferris with a look that practically asked if this was all true, and he sighed as his head hung low. “She glossed over many things, but yeah. That’s basically what went down. After a few months to cool my head, I tried finding him to apologize- but I couldn’t find him. He was actively avoiding me, though I couldn’t prove it. After all, we weren’t in the same class. He never went out to lunch or recess after that though, at least as far as I could tell. Then Middle School rolled around, and well… we completely lost contact until now.”
It was then that the chariot set down in Ponyville. We grabbed our things, and Miara followed Ophi to Rarity’s. I turned towards Ferris, and pointed him in the direction of Twilight’s. “Go to that tree building and go inside. Tell her that Nathan sent ya. I’m not bunking with you, no sir. Good day.” I ensured to watch as he left, and sighed once he was gone. I shook my head and went off to the farm. I ate a small portion of dinner, and excused myself early. I got back to the barn and ensured everything was in order before going to sleep.