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// The cost 
// Story: 代价 The cost 
// by Travis_Bickle 
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It was 00:30 in the morning, and I was lying in bed, still not asleep. This time, most of the ponies have already fallen asleep, because the lifestyle of ponies is very healthy, they should never insomnia at night. In Equestria, everything is full of happiness---- even sleep, and every night, Princess Luna, the princess of night in Equestria, take care of ponies' dreams to ensure that no pony wakes up in a frightening nightmare. It's a pity that now there's only Twilight to manage everything... I lay in bed, thinking about trivial matters in Equestria, my mind still seems to be as sensitive as the day, the sleeping pill does not work at all.
I've been watching "My Little Pony" for years. I have to admit that as a male brony, I had a lust  more or less for female ponies. But of course it's not a real-life dwarf horse, and I'm never desire for that kind of stupid ruminant. What I like is the talking, colorful ponies in "My little pony", and the names of my two favorite ponies are "Twilight Sparkle" and "Rainbow Dash"; Some so call friends can also know my little hobby, but they didn't laugh at me, after all, I'm not a nerd in real life, but I am not a attractive man. I'm a so ordinary person that the relationship with girls is also stopped between the tablemates.
I turned over and turned my mind. It should already be Valentine's Day. In previous years, I might not have noticed the festival, or as a "single nobleman"(means a man is cool or attractive but not care about romantic relationships), I would pretend i would not be interested in it. But the loneliness of insomnia can't even stop by the pillows wall. "Twilight Sparkle, this Valentine's Day to accompany me, okay?" "I'm full of such things in my brain before I finally fall asleep.
Being able to expect something that will never happens, usually means my brain is generally in a state of half-sleeping and half-awake chaos. But I fall asleep like this almost every night, almost a year. This nihilistic self-hypnosis has always been useful, and filling the brain with colorful ponies is really worked.
I was awakened by some noise on the morning of Valentine's Day, and the dark, thick curtains in the room blocked most of the sun and reflected my tiny bedroom with a strange purple. I subconsciously buried my face in the pillow, but Felt like I was holding a warm, furry thing. After half a minute, or perhaps half an hour, I realized that what was in my arms was not a pillow, but something alive. It has even, smooth breathing, a familiar hair and a familiar aroma. I secretly opened one eye and saw a creature resting on my arm, spitting wet my forearm, sleeping quietly. My nerves suddenly tightened... "TwiTwi, go down!" "The furry creature sounded a thrill and stood up, wagging his tail cheerfully, and barked excitedly in front of me. "TwiTwi! Get out of my bed! "I pretended to be serious, stretched out an arm to issue orders, and the family-owned Golden retriever slipped off my bed with hastily steps, and again almost stepped on my balls.
Because of this I'm not sleepy at all, picked up my smart phone on the nightstand, it is more than 10 a.m. My parents have gone out, and there are only dogs and me at home. Reluctantly put on my clothes, washed my face, and found my breakfast in the microwave. I also poured a bowl of his dog food for TwiTwi, so I ate it with a dog. At this time of year, I often wander around doing nothing, enjoying the harmony between Chinese New Year and Western Valentine's Day. But this year I've been staying at home during the holidays, responsible for feeding dogs and watering flowers. And the rest of the day, my life is basically in front of the computer. But today I sat in front of the computer but nothing interested in -- today is damn Valentine's Day! I don't want to stay with a dog. A feeling was encouraging me to walk down the street.
I turned off my computer irritably and take my coat. I was ready to go out. Then the dog followed, with a dog smile on his dog face. Apparently he wanted to go out with me. Thinking that I was going out to find some romantic meets, I didn't want to take this stupid big dog, and it's not the usually time to walk dog. I was going to "invited" him to his dog house, but found that half food is left, he is also sad? With the same sadness, I took him out eventually.
The dog was strangely obedient today, and didn't show much performance that will make me regret to take him out, find nobody around, I released him. Dog and I walked along the city's main roads and found few pedestrians on the roads and sparse cars passing by. The streets were quiet and quiet, with the faint wind and the occasional passing noise. In the northern small town in mountains, although the weather has been very warm, the snow has not yet melted through. I wandered aimlessly, Thinking of the subconscious should know nothing will happen when I leave my house, but... I couldn't help but say to the dog, "How can I come across the twilight sparkle here?" "The dog listened as if deep in thought.
In case of retuned with no gains, I decided to go home taking another road. Half way, the dog suddenly got excited and began to bark, just like he finds a rat. Dog keep looking back at me, looks like dogs wants to lead a way just like clever dogs in some movies. This is the strangest thing I have ever seen today. Out of a strangely keen intuition, I followed the dog's small steps to run. The dog sniffed the ground with his nose as he ran, and I chased it in the back. What the dog found seemed unusual, the dog was running across many roads, and I followed him. Completely did not pay attention to the sparse pedestrians on the road, and did not care to leave the direction of home. The dog ran quickly, like a well-trained police dog. I followed me with a gasp. I've been running dizzy with a heavy pollution mask when I go out. I don't know how far he ran, and the dog didn't seem to have the intention of stopping. Just as I was wondering if I would trust the dog's instincts, the dog suddenly had a sudden emergency stop after turning a path, and nearly tripped me, and then:
"Bang!"
Before I could look up and see what scared the dog, my head was hit by something and I fainted on the road.
But I didn't faint for long, and when I regained my consciousness again, the sky hadn't darkened too much. I want to check whether my brain has been damaged, and check if there are holes in the head, but found myself pillowed on the leg of a purple pony, and to be exact, this pony is - twilight sparkle!
"T-Twilight Sparkle？！ "I shouted in amazement, showing no calm and sane like I dreamed in my previous daydreams.
The pony smiled, as if she had finally put down her heart, and said, "You're finally awake, stranger... You know my name? "
"I'm Tom, and you can speak Chinese?" I said, reaching out my hand. The pony's Chinese pronunciation is as cute as the original English version, and much more comfortable than the Chinese version.(Just joking. Chinese cv is OK. Note for English readers)
But the pony obviously did not shake hands etiquette, the twilight flashed did not shake my hand, but just helped me to sit up. "I'm not speaking Chinese, I'm just using magic to make us understand what each other is saying." Seeing a pony speaking in front of me, I found that pony could talking with a smile, but most people couldn't. It occurred to me that I hadn't answered her question, and I said, "Uh... I saw you on a show that my sister always watching. She showed no doubt, and went on, "I failed in my experiment about space-time travel with another pony. The prism suddenly sent me to mid-air of your world, and then... "
But I was confused, countless words on my tip of tongue but I can't speak out, and I ALSO did not listen carefully to what she was saying. I found my dog is lost, but I don't care about it now. What I care most about is that the twilight Sparkle is right beside me, besides, I want to know how long will she stay with me. Fortunately, I've rehearsed this situation in daydreaming countless times. I know the main thing now is to prevent the government and the military from finding her.
"Do you know a high school called Canterlot around here?" My mind was interrupted. It turned out that she thought she was in the world of "Equetria Girl". It seems that she has no idea at all. I replied: "No. "I stood up and found i didn't show any signs of concussion. "Do you know how to get back to your world?" 
"No, and I'm sure that Canterlot High is not in this world." I answered. "I have a theory that may works, but I don't have any magic left now." The pony also stood up and looked up at me. It occurred to me that she had said that she was communicating with magic translation, and it seemed that my universe could use magic. I was worried if she would never be able to return to her Equestria without magic, but knowing that she had the ability to go back makes me feel a little sense of loss, though I shouldn't hope to imprison her in my world.
"Can you transform to humanoid?" You're so conspicuous. "I looked around and found that we were on the edge of a green forest, there're only few police cars and ambulances parked not far away. These cars might come here after my "accident" happened and didn't notice us.
Twilight Sparkle tilted her head in doubt (So cute!) "It's advanced Changeling magic, but invisible magic is easy."
So Twilight used her invisible magic, the result is I couldn't see her. But at least her voice could indicate that she was always around me. I saw a lot of police men with N95 masks standing near the side of the police car, but they didn't seem to came for me. I felt relieve a little. But in this high incidence period of infectious diseases, I don't want to get too close to the arrest team of police and doctors wearing masks, after all, in the "accident" I lost my mask. I took a detour down the road. By this time the sky had darkened. I took my phone out and put it in front of my face, pretending to be making a hands-free call in case passers-by mistook me for a maniac who was communicating with the air, or heard the horse language coming from the air. I thought of my dog, after all, he led me to Twilight. I suddenly had a terrible idea: this Twilight Sparkle is transformed from my dog?! I dare not think much, my dog is a negative IQ male golden retriever which has not had sterilization surgery!
But the pony around me seems to have no resemblance to my dog except walking on four legs. She has been telling me her theory with relish, and has shown a strong curiosity about the things that no one pays attention to on the streets of our world. But street-side flower hawker remind me of something more important, my wish: a Valentine's Day with Twilight! So I said to twilight (or the direction her voice came from) very gentlemanly: "Do you want to have a dinner with me?" (would you like to have dinner with me?) I realized that the English I had improved by watching "My little pony" was completely useless under black tech such as magic translation, but using it to ease the embarrassment of my words is excellent.
"Yes, course of course! "I don't know why, Twilight Sparkle answered in English.
I'm going to take her to the most upscale Western restaurant in our town, because she's my favorite horse. It was the only five-star hotel in the city, and I've only been there once, and happened to be a few weeks ago. I've thought ahead of time about a dimly lit corner, and no one should notice us, as long as that position isn't occupied by others... My thoughts until we arrived at the front of the hotel, only to find that the hotel was closed.
Damn curfew! How could I forget about it! (Another note for English readers, there's no curfew in China, I just what to add some Magic Realism in my story, you won't believe politics in short stories are real, will you? Btw, I want to imply Chinese reader this is not actually happened in China at first.)
Twilight didn't know where my house was, so we had to walk home. By the time we got home, the sky was all black. I found some quick food in the fridge and cupboard, I ensured that the food are vegetarian diet which Twilight could eat.
It was not a good dinner, but we both have good appetites (really hungry). I still haven't had time to talk about "Valentine's Day" with Twilight. Is it because I made a wish of "hope twilight Sparkle with me" instead of "Twilight Sparkle as my girlfriend"? Where the hell is TwiTwi? Why does my wish come true for no reason? My thoughts were interrupted again by the twilight words, because she said with a little excitement, "Magic should be enough, I can try the magic of going home!" seems like she's sharing her joy with me. She continued, "But it can be dangerous, I need to go to somewhere high and wide!" 
My mind was blanked. I can only remember saying: "I'll go, too." "When I realized, I had already stood on the roof of the Western Food Hotel with Twilight. The cold wind in February was unusually cold, especially on the roof of a hotel building. The cold had sobered most of my thoughts, and I saw Twilight Sparkle trying her magic, her body slowly rising into the air, while the light and constellations, and the strange matrix of symbols, spinning around her horn. I wanted to shout to her, "I love you!" or something like that, but I'm afraid it will be very dangerous to interrupt her." I looked at her as if I were watching a firework. I feel regret for my dullness. Just when I thought she was going to disappear with a strong flash, a beam of light was fired from her unicorn horn, hitting "space" not far in front of me. The air is torn apart an oval-shaped area, with the edges surrounded by colorful magical lights, centered on the landscape of the pony's land.
"... ... You did it. "I squeezed a smile from my almost twitched face.
Twilight Sparkle gently land on the ground, looked back at me "yes, I didn't expect it to be so smooth!" "There is real joy in her tone.
Then there was a brief silence.
"So, Twilight, you know I… "I was at a loss for words, but I want her to know I love her.
"Of course I know." Twilight smiled at my surprised face, and then said, "Do you want to go back to Ponyville with me?" 
That's what I ever dreamed of hearing! But the worry quickly replaced my excitement, "I guess my parents are already got home... They don't know where I am... And my dog, I don't know where he is... If I go to Equestria, my family will think I’m missing, I need to let them know... And who will take care of my parents after I go to Equestria? "When I say these words, I almost can't feel my voice and feel like a coward. But I went on, "Can you invent a tunnel that can travel between two worlds at any time? Or you will come and see me later? I've taken on the responsibility of this world since I was born... I don't like this apathy world at all... But I have to carry the weight. "
I expected Twilight Sparkle to agree my request and give me a "pony-style" hug before she left, but she frowned as if facing a child who had done something stupid.
"No, you must go to Equestria with me." "
"But why?" 
Twilight Sparkle's expression turned into an awkward smile, just like the time when Rarity giving her an ugly dress at her birthday party, or she need to agree with Pinkie's silly idea.
"Because... You're already dead. "